Day: 1230

Days Left: 4250

Lives Saved: 6

Alfreda clutched her stomach, wincing as her open wound pained when she attempted to get back on her feet. Fortunately, in her monster form, she was far sturdier than an ordinary human; however, even being a fire demon could not protect her from being thrown numerous feet. There was a crack in her lower torso, her rock-skin split open, and her molten lava blood slowly oozed out. If she used any of her fire abilities, it would likely open up even more, but since she was facing a dragon, using fire was perhaps unnecessary.

Over in the distance, Princess Alfreda could see Ms Ivette on the ground, having been knocked away by the dragon's wings and tangled amongst a pile of collapsed tents, her long snake tail flickering in agitation as the naga hauled herself up.

To Alfreda's surprise, Oscar was still on the dragon's back; he had purposefully pierced himself like a mushroom skewer on one of the spikes on the dragon's spine to prevent himself from being blown away. He pulled the spike out, revealing the gaping hole in his mushroom body, then after a moment, it began to seal itself up.

Alfreda groaned, looking down at her injury that would never heal that quickly, even in the Eternal Abyss.

A mushroom gets to have fast healing abilities, but a fire demon gets easily broken if I use my fire abilities?

Oscar continued to wander around the dragon's back, spreading more mushrooms that looked like dots from this distance, as if the dragon had freckles. How many did there have to be until the dragon finally slowed down? At the very least, they were buying time, which was all that was important.

But Alfreda wanted to kill this bitch, remembering what she had done to Calixte, taking away his mask and not giving it back even after seeing him permanently suffocating. What if he never regained consciousness? What if all this suffocating had damaged his brain to the extent that he had lost his memories?

And then there were the imps who had been hurt when captured.

The fire demon clenched her fists.

No...

Forget about buying time.

I'm going to kill her.

I will rip out her throat just as I warned her if she tested me.

Finally baring through the pain, Princess Alfreda stumbled up to her feet, and a puff of smoke slowly fumed out her mouth. "Alright..." Alfreda tied a side of her red dress into a knot, allowing herself full movement. "Let's stop playing around, pet."

The fire demon headed to the dragon, walking with her head held high.

The dragon let out a low grumble, its eyes focused on her, before slamming its paw on the ground. It snarled as the fire demon rolled to the side, evading being squashed. Again, the dragon swiped its paw, but the fire demon's reflexes were too quick for the dragon's slow and heavy movements.

Alfreda continued to walk towards the dragon, conserving her energy and controlling her breathing, waiting when to dodge. As she approached, she found it more difficult to take another step, not because of her injury, but because of the realisation of how enormous this monstrosity was; how could she possibly defeat such a thing? Wait until Oscar had covered this beast in fungus and collapsed with fatigue? No, it wouldn't be satisfying to slit its throat while asleep. She wanted to do it when the dragon was in its prime, to show who truly had power.

And that was when Alfreda noticed the dragon's underbelly. Now that she was closer, she could see it hidden in the large crater, the thin line and the remnants of blood, though the injury was no longer bleeding.

Was that its weak spot?

There were none of those tough scales...

And the dragon had remained in the crater, hiding its underbelly when it could easily move and chase after the others.

The ones who went underground after Annika must have realised this, too and managed to land a hit...

Yes, that's it.

With a newfound determination, the growing fear from before immediately extinguished inside Alfreda, and the fire demon launched into a sprint.

The dragon appeared to realise her plan as it shifted its body, turning slightly and swiping its tail across the battlefield.

Alfreda barely escaped, throwing herself out of the way and then hauling herself up.

So close...

The fire demon reached out her hand.

Almost there...

The dragon spread its wings, and with a single gust, the fire demon was launched back. She dug her claws into the ground, stopping herself from being blown back further, but with the dragon's wings constantly flapping, she was fighting against a gale storm.

Alfreda slowly reached out her hand, digging her claws into the ground and hauling herself through the wind, climbing closer in small and cautious movements. Each time she moved, she could feel her body almost tear away by the wind if it weren't for how desperately she clung on. But the pain from her wound was too much, her energy all exhausted just from fighting the wind, and the fire demon was again thrown back, further away from the dragon, unable to close the gap.

*

Everyone was safe now in the forest, hidden underneath the emerald canopy, far away from the dragon, and yet Sumit felt nothing but safe. His chest panged as he thought about Oscar facing the dragon, even in his monster form. How badly could he be hurt right now?

What if he had lost his memories...

Sumit glanced around at the injured they had carried to safety because Oscar, Ivette, and Princess Alfreda had stalled for time. And then he remembered how many people had gone underground to the Land of the Lost to apprehend Annika.

They were still down there, weren't they?

What about them?

What happened?

Are they all...

"Sumit?" said a quiet voice.

Sumit snapped out of those spiralling thoughts and looked to see Rin, who was treating someone's broken arm with a makeshift splint.

"They..." Rin began, then faltered and glanced away. "They're..."

"Is this really all we can do?" asked Sumit.

"Our masks are hardly ideal against a dragon," said Rita. "Everyone is doing their part, and ours is to help the injured."

Sumit winced, unable to look at Rita directly as the siren to him looked like Oscar, reminding him that Oscar was risking his memories and fighting against the dragon.

"Which is an important job," added Kai. "What is the point in fighting if we have no one to fight for? Oscar, Ivette, and the princess are risking it to ensure we got away safely-"

"And we have!" Sumit looked around at the other prisoners. "The injured are safe here. We can go back and help-"

"I hope you do not take any offence here, Sumit," said Jules, finally back to looking as himself instead of Kai's doppelganger. "But what can an octopus do against a dragon?"

Sumit glanced at the red, and orange speckled octopus mask clipped to his belt. He bit his lip, not wanting to admit that he was right. An octopus on Land was hardly a game-changer against a dragon. Aside from his usefulness, he could not breathe without water after a while, and then it took him longer to transform back into a human than others depending on the size.

"You also don't know what size octopus you'll end up being," said Rin flatly. "You could turn into something tiny, and how would that help things?" She sucked in a quick breath. "We're all worried; we all have friends who were underground and are currently fighting the dragon. But we will be more fodder if we rejoin the fight. Our masks can't do anything against that dragon-"

"What about your mask!" Sumit motioned to Rin's mask at the side of her face, plain white with moving blotched inks of unintelligible words. "What can yours do?"

"I don't have control when I transform," Rin sighed. "Not only that, but I turn into a monster made of paper... and I would be up against a fire-breathing dragon."

"Kai!" Sumit looked at the goblin. "You're super strong as a goblin!"

Kai hesitated. "I am stronger than an average human but not strong enough for a dragon that size."

Sumit looked around at the others; Jules, who could turn into another person if he ate some of their DNA; Rita, the siren who appeared to be the perceiver's desire; Rachel, the invisible woman who did not have her mask; and then there were the others who could transform into monsters of diminutive size or had no unique gimmick that could possibly combat a dragon.

"So, what then?" Sumit forced a laugh as his eyes welled up. "This is it? We hope that the others defeat the dragon?"

Kai paused. "Or maybe they just escape."

"Maybe it's best if we surrender the Land of the Lost to Annika," said Rachel. "Give her what she wants, and we won't get hurt."

Sumit shook his head, unsatisfied, but inside he knew they were all right, that there was nothing they could do to help against the dragon...

He looked down at his octopus mask; the transformation was always a gamble.

"Right..." Sumit sighed. "This is all we can do for the moment."

They all returned to tending to the wounded and preparing to transport everyone to the village for proper bedding and supplies. Rin, at first, watched Sumit like a hawk, ensuring that he wouldn't do something stupid, but the man remained helpful and focused on aiding the injured. Finally, when it seemed that Sumit had gained some sense, Rin stopped her constant surveillance briefly and headed to retrieve more twigs for splints when she saw that the writing on her arm had changed.

'He's gone to do something stupid'.

Rin rushed back and found that Sumit had disappeared. She sighed, looking at her arm and nodding.

"Yep," she said. "You got that right."

*

Princess Alfreda clung to the ground, claws ripping the grass up and revealing the earth underneath. She had no energy left, all of it depleted in just staying grounded and not flown away even further by the dragon's flapping wings.

Oscar was still on the dragon, parts of the scales covered in tiny mushrooms, now more visible but still not enough to have any effect on the dragon yet, or at least it appeared not to do anything. Perhaps it was because they were on its scales, not directly in contact with its skin? Who knew how Oscar's mushroom monster mask worked?

The fire demon glanced behind and saw that Ivette had finally gotten up, her face bloodied and bruised, her naga form not so durable as Alfreda's fire demon. The naga hissed and slithered forwards, only to be pushed back by the relentless wind, the monster's mind too wild and animalistic to come up with the same strategy as Alfreda to stay grounded.

What could they do now? Wait until the dragon became too tired to flap its wings? Would she have any energy left to do anything when that happens?

She looked behind, wondering if she should call all of them to retreat; the others must have gotten far away now to somewhere safe, perhaps to the village-

Alfreda froze as she saw a figure running in the distance.

"What are you doing here!" she yelled at Sumit. "There's nothing seafood can do against a dragon!"

"Where's Oscar!" Sumit shouted over the wind, keeping his body low to prevent it from being blown away, stabbing the ground with his sword. "Where is he!"

"He's on the dragon!" Alfreda shouted back.

Sumit's face fell. "He's in the dragon..."

Alfreda noticed the panic on Sumit's face and then the change of anger in his eyes. "No! I said he's on the dragon! On!"

But it was too late; Sumit was already donning his octopus mask, tears welling up in his eyes, teeth gritted as he ran, screaming at the dragon.

"Oscar's fine!" Alfreda screamed through the wind, wanting to explain that Oscar was the safest against the dragon, what with his weirdly indestructible mushroom body, but her voice could not be heard through the gale.

The wind pushed Sumit back, propelling him back.

"You idiot!" Alfreda clawed her way forwards, attempting to reach the man. "Go back! We're going to retreat!"

Light shone around Sumit's mask, enveloping his body as it morphed and changed, no longer humanoid, but instead almost a blob shape that grew bigger and bigger and-

And it kept going, growing, the light ever expanding.

Alfreda allowed the wind to push her back as the light almost enveloped her too, making space as the form expanded and eight long tentacles shot out and slammed on the ground; and there, towering above her, was a red and orange speckled octopus but not a feeble baby one like Alfreda had seen Sumit change into before, nor one that was human-sized, no, this one was the same size as the dragon, with large teeth bordering its circular mouth, short spikes scattering its body:

It was a kraken.

*

Grunting, the giant tiger heaved off the remaining debris trapping her body, freeing herself finally from being buried by the avalanche of items caused by the dragon breaking through the ceiling. She glanced around, calling out all the names she knew, receiving a few responses from people she did not know.

"Are you okay?" asked Bruno, his plant body battered and torn but had been able to squish into moldable vines to escape from being buried. "Betty and I are working on freeing everyone." He motioned to the black hole travelling around sucking up debris trapping monsters, then spitting them out when she had reached her limit.

Lili nodded slowly, unable to think clearly with the migraine attacking her brain. How long had she been unconscious? She hoped that no one had lost their memories from the fall.

Her eyes widened, darting around and saw a faint glowing light in the distance, then bounded towards it, finding the celestial pacing around slowly to prevent setting the place on fire. Lili let out a sigh of relief.

"All memories intact?" the tiger asked.

Corinna nodded, smiling as she saw Lili approach. She was about to step forward and reach out to Lili but stopped as she remembered that she was currently in her monster form.

"Do you know where the others are?"

Corinna pointed over to where Dex was, the headless knight's horse struggling to scale a pile of items to reach everyone else, aided by Bert, the killer clown.

"And Calanthe?"

Corinna shook her head, glancing around. She pointed to herself and then motioned to suggest that she would help search.

They split up, helping anyone in their path as they searched for the minotaur.

Eventually, Lili found Calanthe cowering and in hiding, the mighty minotaur trembling and in the fetal position.

"Calanthe?" Lili slowly approached, though still startled her.

Calanthe raised her labrys in fear from the sudden noise, then lowered it, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Lili," she warbled. "I ran away- I-" Her voice broke, words unable to form.

"That's... understandable," said Lili, unsure how to console someone. "I was tempted to do the same."

"You were?" Calanthe sniffed.

The tiger nodded. "It's a fight that we shouldn't really go into unprepared. None of us knew what we were going up against until it was too late." She stared up at the broken ceiling, seeing that only the dragon's legs were now visible; most of the dragon was up on the surface, including its weak underbelly. How were they going to reach it? They couldn't escape stealthily either, as the Land of the Lost entrance would be in its view.

"What are we going to do?" Calanthe clutched her minotaur labrys close to her chest. "We can't fight, we can't escape..." She glanced up at Lili. "Are we going to remain here forever?" She looked down at the ground and mumbled, "I hate this place; I hate it..."

Lili hesitated as Calanthe continued to tremble and mutter how hopeless everything was. Lili was starting to believe it herself.

That was until the ground started to shake again.

"No! No, not again!" Calanthe clutched onto Lili. "It's going to bury us again!"

But it wasn't the dragon that was causing this earthquake.

Lili looked up and saw a giant red tentacle wrap around the dragon.

"Mr Sumit?"