Just a few seconds prior, Ottar, Allen, Gareth, and Hedin were locked in an impossible situation. Fighting a horde of monsters each with ridiculous strength.
"Damn, these things are tough." Allen grit his teeth as his barely usable spear pierced another monster's crystal.
"Aye, they're much stronger than they were earlier." Gareth agreed, moving in with his shields to block a few scorpion stingers from striking Allen.
"Thanks…" Allen clicked his tongue.
"Not a problem. We're a team!" Gareth roared out, with a heavy push strong enough to stagger the few scorpions.
Hedin's magic ray swallowed the three strong monsters whole, and several others. Only to be replaced with a fresh batch of scorpions. However, these ones felt stronger, and had two separate tails to attack with.
The scorpion tails attacked with force against the shield wielding Gareth, pushing him backwards, two distinct lines appeared in the ground as he was pushed back. Hedin began a chant again, as Ottar joined Gareth, yet, the addition of Ottar wasn't enough.
"Damn it. What's with these monsters?!" Allen grumbled angrily, flicking his spear around to nimbly dodge spewing acid.
Hogni, who'd been dancing with a wild bloodlust finally received a powerful blow into his lungs, dropping him to the ground. "That's, my blood? That's not supposed to happen."
"Allen, get Hogni out of here!" Hedin ordered, and was echoed by Ottar shortly after.
"FINE! DAMN IT!" Allen grit his teeth and charged. "RUN THROUGH CARRY THE GODDESS' WILL!!!!"
A brilliant blue streak of magical light stretched to the center where Hogni was… Supposed to be.
"Huh, where did he go?"
The monsters turned to dust, Gareth and Ottar, stumbled forward due to the sudden lack of a resistant force.
"What just happened?" Hedin uttered… the sentiment was shared among all present.
It had been just a sudden moment amid the chaos of battle, but now… that sudden moment brought the chaos to heel. It was then that Hogni's passed out body flew into Gareth and Ottar both, finishing their already shaky stances, all three of them hitting the ground.
It was only after their eyes followed Hogni's trajectory, they saw it, clad in the deepest, blackest armor, wielding a single slab of metal, stretched to the side in a relaxed pose. In the other hand, a scorpion's claw with a missing chunk as if it had a bite taken out of it.
"Hmm, ya know what, that didn't taste all that bad… A little salt would make it better, but oh well. A shame there wasn't much in the way of stats, still though, far more appetizing than the Behemoth was." Zald chuckled, licking his lips clean of the scorpion meat. "Now then, how about you wastes stay out of my way. This one's mine." He pushed again, turning the remaining monsters to dust, as he single handedly cleared the Elsos Ruins before arriving face to face with Antares himself.
"Heh, not that big a deal. Resistant enough that I can slowly ramp it up, but not strong enough to really do anything against me… Talk about a foolish monster. You screwed up!"
Zald dashed forward, removing a claw, and a handful of tentacles in an instant. A flood of arcanum poured out from the wounds as Antares cried out in agony, though it wasn't alone.
"Nephew! There's a deeper connection, if I hurt Antares, it hurts Lady Artemis." He grit his teeth.
Origin Wolf could hear Zald, but communication would be difficult, since Zald couldn't hear him. And so, he crashed into the open chamber from above. Directly countering any action Antares could possibly make.
"Aim for the crystal behind its forward shell. Lady Artemis is similar in scale to big sister Meteria."
Zald readied himself. "Thanks for that, these eyes are good, but I'd imagine yours are a little better."
"In some ways, and not in others… NOW!"
Zald dashed forward, slicing through Antares' carapace, freeing the crystal containing Artemis within. Shurry ran in, wrapped his tail around the crystal, and yanked it the rest of the way out.
This is the point where Finn would have to give an order for action, however, Zald already prepared himself for action. Antares was diced to pieces in the very next instant. The stolen Arcanum leaking into the world was devoured by Shurry for the moment.
After ensuring that Antares was thoroughly defeated, Shurry and Zald nodded to each other, and took their leave of the chamber. Zald opted to run back through the ruins one more time, just in case his and Shurry's senses were struggling due to Arcanum exposure, He picked up a few of the fallen who had accidentally been left behind by the others before he left the ruins himself. He caught up with Ottar and the others before they managed to return to the village.
"You're in a sorry state." Zald scoffed.
"Yes, we are…" Ottar answered, with the right tone in response.
In the village below the Tsugunai had just managed to get over their freight from seeing a wolf larger than their homes appear out of nowhere, only to see it appear once again and howled a sorrowful victory.
Slowly Shurry set the Artemis crystal down in the village's center, then returned to his Humanoid form. It was only now that people could tell this was the hero they saw fighting the evil gods. He stretched, and looked around for the chief.
"Bring the Lady Artemis a change of clothes at once."
"Right away sir hero!" A few moments later there were many who'd come to offer some of their best garbs. "This is everything we have available to us sir hero. Is it enough?"
Shurry shrugged. "I'm not the one who'll be wearing it. This is just to keep the Lady's purity…" He turned to the Artemis familia who'd managed to make it back to the village with the aid of some platforms he had created. "You are to form a wall to block anyone's sight, and men are to go inside, and cover their eyes. Blindfold yourselves if you must."
"And what of you, Origin Wolf?" Rethusa asked, curiously.
"I harbor no lust for any woman other than the four who've borne my children. I'm sure Aunty Artemis will still hit my head a few times but that's a small price to pay for your mother to return to you." He smiled, and then sighed… "Alright everyone looks to be ready, let us begin."