Max explained his idea while keeping one eye on the Skybreaker Roc.
"Those things in its chest aren’t just for breathing. It uses them to control the pressure under its feet. That’s how it changes direction without flapping."
Darius followed his gaze. "So if we break them..."
"It falls. At least for a moment."
"And then what?" Ilan asked.
Max looked at his gauntlet. "Then I get close enough to finish it."
Ilan stared at him. "That’s the terrible part of the plan, I assume."
"That’s the good part."
Cass was sitting against a fallen pillar with her broken fins folded awkwardly behind her. The healing potion had closed the worst of the wound above her eye, but she still couldn’t put much weight on her left arm.
"I’ll stay down," she said. "But I can give you one good gust if you need it."
"Save it," Darius told her. "If this goes wrong, we’re going to need a way out."
The Roc wheeled overhead. Max could see it struggling to keep one injured leg tucked beneath its belly. They’d hurt it, but it still had enough power to smash the island apart if they let it choose the next exchange.
Darius stepped forward and held both hands apart.
"On my signal."
He pulled.
The stones surrounding the Roc lifted into the air, then spread into a rough ring around its body. Rather than trying to hold the enormous creature down, Darius gave each stone a different direction of gravity.
The Roc twisted to avoid the first, only to find another moving upward into its path. It kicked against an invisible foothold, changing course, and Ilan fired.
TWANG!
The arrow curved around the beast’s injured leg and struck the transparent sac beneath its breastbone.
POP!
A burst of blue vapor escaped. The Roc lurched, one wing dipping as it fought to remain level.
"One!" Ilan shouted.
Max was already running.
Burst Step carried him to the edge of the island. He jumped, and Darius caught his weight for a fraction of a second, turning his fall into a long, upward leap.
’Whoa!’
The Roc rushed toward him, beak open. Max had no ground beneath his feet and no way to change direction once Darius released him, but he knew exactly where the creature was going.
He raised his left hand.
KRRRAACK!
Stormbolt struck the exposed side of its throat.
The Roc shrieked and swerved. Max caught its feathers with the gauntlet as it passed, dragging himself onto the armored ridge above its chest. The wind nearly tore him loose, but his left hand found a gap between two plates.
’Got you!’
He drove his claws into the second glowing sac.
SHNK!
Blue vapor burst across his face. The Roc jerked violently, and Max felt the air beneath them disappear.
They began falling.
"Darius!"
"I see it!"
The captain reversed the gravity around them. For one heartbeat, Max and the Roc stopped dropping, suspended high above the island. The effort made Darius stagger, and his nose began bleeding again.
"Now, Max!"
Max tore his gauntlet free and punched the damaged chest plate.
BAM!
Bone cracked. The Gatebreaker title flickered at the edge of Max’s vision, its bonus adding to the force of the blow. The Roc screamed, flapping its huge wings desperately. With two sacs ruined, it couldn’t form the same stable footholds, but it could still fly in short, uneven bursts.
It tried shaking Max off. He dug his claws deeper, allowing the monster’s movement to carry him toward its throat.
The gauntlet flashed crimson.
[Sanguine Claim Activated]
Warmth rushed through his injured shoulder. Some of the pain faded, but the joint still protested whenever he moved. The damage beneath the skin was too deep for one brief pulse to repair.
’I’ll take what I can get.’
The Roc twisted and slammed him into a stone projection rising from the island.
CRASH!
Pain exploded through his back. His grip broke, and he fell onto the rock, coughing as a sharp ache spread beneath his ribs.
’That one definitely broke something.’
He forced himself up. A few steps away, the Roc had landed awkwardly, its injured leg dragging behind it. Dark blood ran down its chest, and one of its great wings hung lower than the other.
It looked ready to collapse.
So was Max, but he wasn’t going to let it recover.
He retrieved his iron beam from Stomach and swung the jagged end toward the creature’s wounded breastbone.
THUUUD!
The impact drove the broken plate inward. The Roc shrieked and staggered sideways, its claws scraping trenches through the stone. Max stored the beam again, then rushed beneath its head.
The beak came down.
Max slipped past it, caught the underside of its jaw and drove his gauntlet into the exposed throat.
SHNK!
Blood poured over his hand. The Roc strained to pull away, but Max tightened his grip and forced its head lower. The creature was enormous, yet after all the damage they’d dealt, he could finally overpower it.
’One more!’
He raised his left fist, blue sparks crawling between his fingers.
Then the island cracked.
CRRRAAACK!
A long fracture split the stone beneath them. Max felt the ground lurch, and the Roc’s remaining wing snapped open in a final, desperate attempt to escape.
The gust struck the broken pillar where Cass had been sheltering.
"CASS!" Ilan shouted.
Max looked over his shoulder.
The pillar toppled toward her. Cass tried to rise, but her injured arm gave out. Beyond her, the broken edge of the island was already sliding into the ravine.
Max had the Roc by the throat. A Stormbolt fired at this range would almost certainly finish it.
But Cass was about to be crushed.
’Damn it!’
He released the monster.
Burst Step exploded through his legs as he raced toward the falling pillar. There wasn’t enough time to reach Cass and drag her away, so he aimed at the stone above her instead.
KRRRAACK!
Stormbolt struck the fracture running through the pillar. The weakened section shattered, spraying dust and fragments across the ground.
Max caught Cass around the waist and threw himself sideways as the rest of the stone collapsed behind them.
BAM!
He hit the ground hard, rolling to keep his body between her and the falling debris. A heavy fragment struck his back, driving the air from his lungs.
For a moment he couldn’t breathe.
Then the entire island shuddered.
A horrible, wet crunch came from behind them.
Max turned his head.
Darius stood on the far side of the Roc, both hands clenched. The stones that had been floating around the creature had collapsed inward, and with them came an enormous pressure that forced its wounded head against the ground.
CRUNCH!
The beak broke. The neck twisted beneath the weight. Then the creature stopped moving.
DING!
[Gate Boss Defeated]