519 Boss Mary, Second Attempt

Selene pumped her fist in the air, "Let's take Mary down today!!"

The others also cheered alongside her while I watched them with a warm gaze.

Mmm… This is fine.

All of them turned to face Mary who had been patiently waiting for us this entire time after bringing us to the same cave as the last time.

When she saw us turn to her, she gave me a smile, "Are you all ready?"

"Yeah!!" Everyone shouted in unison.

I simply gave Mary a nod and she adopted a combat pose.

This time, our party's composition looked to be more balanced as Delmare seemed to have switched out her rapier for my [Storm Bow] instead.

I'm guessing Seraphine must have talked her into it yesterday? Or maybe she's just trying out a new role for herself?

Anyway, we have Odeta, Tiara, Selene and Gwen as our front liners; Katsuki would be our assassin; Delmare and Seraphine would be our back line; Lisa is our mage and I am the support.

This time, Selene and Gwen led the charge first, both of them raising their shields before running at the Trasif maid.

I was expecting Mary to do the same as before by transforming her arms into weapons or something, but this time her entire body melted into a puddle before reforming herself again.

Where Mary had once stood was now replaced with a black dragon.

The dragon Mary roared into the air before swinging her tail towards us.

Selene and Gwen were both blown away by that single tail swipe, the two of them crashing into the wall on the far side of the cave.

If it wasn't because of the fact that I had started healing them midair, I think they would have already been teleported out of the cave by now.

The dragon Mary roared at us again, causing all of us to pause in our tracks as we felt intimidated by the sound.

Odeta then let out a roar of her own, overcoming the intimidation effect and charging towards the giant dragon fearlessly.

Erm… Odeta… While I believe that one day you will definitely become the strongest in the World… Today is not that day yet… Just charging towards Mary isn't going to-- Ah. Mary smacked Odeta away with a claw…

I flew up to catch her since I already expected something like this to happen and thus could react in time, preventing her from suffering the same fate as the first two.

"Attack her from range!!" Seraphine instructed, firing her arrows at the dragon.

Delmare joined her as well, pulling on the Storm Bow I lent her to start shooting magical arrows at Mary.

To the side, Lisa also started to chant the beginnings of a [Laser] spell, trying to empower it to be strong enough to hurt Mary.

Both arrows shot from the girls bounced off dragon Mary's scales harmlessly, even the magical ones shot from Delmare's bow.

Mary then reared up her head and the air around her heated up.

Before I could even react, a gout of white hot flames were breathed out from dragon Mary's jaws, completely enveloping Delmare, Seraphine and Lisa in the inferno.

Ah…

Well… Three of our team members just got incinerated without being able to do anything…

Mary, can't you go a little bit easier on us? What happened to holding back like you did yesterday?

"No!! Damn it! Take this!!" Selene cried, tossing her spear towards dragon Mary's head.

Mary easily dodged the attack and swung her tail towards the weaponless Meslatar, only to suddenly freeze in place as my [Static Bolt] hit her.

Of course, this was not enough to completely freeze her in place, but it was enough to buy time for Selene to get out of the way before her tail came crashing down on where she had been just a moment ago.

Gwen rushed up and smashed her hammer down on the exposed tail, but her attack did nothing aside from bouncing off the hardened dragon scales without even leaving a mark.

Mary reared up her head again and I shot another [Static Bolt] at her to buy time for Gwen to get away. Unfortunately for us, the Trasif already learned of my tactic and shifted herself back to avoid my spell.

Gwen was the next to be incinerated by dragon Mary's flames, the Rejmar's figure completely disappearing within the flames.

Katsuki tried to attack her by dropping down on top of her, my Inugami maid having used this time to conceal her presence to sneak above her while we had been drawing her attention away.

She stabbed her dagger into the top of dragon Mary's head, the blade sinking just an inch deep before stopping.

Katsuki tried to pull the dagger out to attempt another stab again but dragon Mary flung her head up and slammed herself against the ceiling, smashing Katsuki against the rock.

I was already healing her but Mary was not done.

She flung her head to the side and Katsuki was sent flying towards the end of the cave, my Inugami maid smashing into the wall and disappearing into particles of light.

Ugh… Even if we didn't stand a chance, this is a little too much isn't it?

We've already lost more than half our members and Mary barely even got a scratch on her…

Odeta and Selene arranged themselves in front of me, the latter with only her shield left.

Despite how bleak our situation looked, neither of them seemed willing to throw in the towel yet. That's why I wasn't giving up yet either.

"Sister Aster!" Odeta called out, charging towards Mary with her fists clenched.

I responded to her call by buffing her right fist with [Lightning Clad] and [Body Current].

Mary could have just used her fire breath again but I guess she wanted to let Odeta compete with her using pure strength so she clenched her claws into a fist and punched down at her instead.

The Amrap did not even stand a chance as she was smashed into the ground by dragon Mary, her figure dispersing into particles of light.

Now it was just Selene and I left facing against dragon Mary.

Selene, even being the only vanguard left standing in front of Mary, did not look resigned at all.

And even though Mary knew Selene stood no chance of beating her, she did not ask her to surrender either.

I watched as the Meslatar charged towards the dragon Mary, but this isn't some scene where she gets a super power up at the last moment and defeat the dragon… That's why a quick fire breath ended her charge just a few steps later.

Now it was just Mary and I left.

She turned herself back into her original form before walking towards me.

"Cookie? Aster?" She offered, presenting the piece of snack to me.

Of course I took it and started munching on it, enjoying the sweetness that flooded my mouth.

When I returned to my senses again, I found myself standing in front of my party members, all of them making satisfied faces at me.

Ah… Looks like Mary teleported me out while I was distracted. How cunning of her.

And for some reason, she deposited me right in front of my party members who were watching me enjoy my cookie.

I recovered from my cookie eating and tilted my head at them, "What?"

"Nothing~" All of them said simultaneously before pretending to be busy with something else.

I cleared my throat, "So… Our second try was also a wipe… Any new ideas?"

Odeta raised her hand, "We try it again right now but this time I charge in first!!"

I gestured for her to come over and she quickly skipped over to my side eagerly, her eyes sparkling.

I then went ahead to start groping her abs, "That's what you did the first time, Odeta! What makes you think this will be any different?! And Mary easily crushed you in her dragon form too! What if she transforms into something even bigger this time?!"

Odeta was completely unfazed by my groping and simply let out a bark of laughter, "Wahahaha! Then I just need to get stronger and stronger until I can fight her head on!! Leave it to me, Aster!"

Ngggh!! I love this Amrap to bits but I'm afraid that one day this stubbornness might cause her to end up biting more than she can chew.

Then again, I guess that is already happening right now with the fight with Mary.

I felt someone tugging on my sleeve, causing me to turn to the side to see Delmare pinching my sleeve.

She then gestured to her head and I realised what she wanted.

Removing one of my hands from Odeta's abs, I started patting the Siren's head, causing her to preen at my touch.

"Ah!! Not fair! Me too Aster!! Actually, don't pat my head! Pat me down here instead!" Lisa pleaded, lifting up her skirt unashamedly.

I was saved by Katsuki who smacked her on the back of her head.

Good job Katsuki! I'll fluff your tail later!

Then I realised everyone else had moved closer to me.

"Pat my head too, Aster…"

"Young Mistress… Me too…"

"Pats please?"

Ah… Umm… I guess just line up in a row everyone~