"[Fire Bolt]!"
Rest unleashed the offensive spell without a second's delay. A torrent of crimson hellfire erupted, engulfing the monster’s face.
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"It didn't work...!"
The creature flinched from the direct hit of the mid-tier spell, but the damage was superficial at best. Pulling Primula tight against him, Rest instinctively leaped back.
"GYAO!"
The monster brought a massive, thick arm crashing down. A webbed hand slammed into the spot where they had stood a moment before, leaving a giant indentation in the earth.
"Kh...!"
"W-what is this?! What is that thing?!"
"Calm down, Primula!"
Rest took flight, carrying the frantic girl into the air. He hovered in the sky, scanning the perimeter, but the landscape was unnaturally empty. There was nothing but the vast swamp, surrounded by a darkness so thick it felt like stagnant mud.
"It’s night... but there are no stars or a moon. I can see clearly enough, yet there's nothing here but this swamp and that monster."
The place was utterly bizarre. He had assumed they had been teleported, but the sensations were wrong.
"Wait, could it be...?"
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Easy there."
The monster lunged, its neck extending as it tried to snap them out of the air. Rest veered away and pushed for more altitude, only for the world to suddenly be swallowed by shadow.
"What—!?"
An instant later, Rest and Primula were bursting out from the swamp's surface. He had been flying upward, yet somehow, without even realizing it, he had been submerged in the murky water.
"Impossible!"
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Uwah!"
The monster didn't miss its chance. It swung a massive arm in a wide, horizontal arc. Rest reacted instantly, manifesting a Wind Barrier to intercept the heavy blow.
"Guh... Primula, are you okay?!"
"No... no, this can't be real. How did this happen...?"
Primula huddled in his arms, trembling violently. While she wasn't physically hurt, her glassy eyes were vacant. She continued to mutter deliriously, lost in her own terror.
"Primula... Dammit! My date is completely ruined!"
How had things gone so wrong? Rest shouted in frustration, glaring at the beast with pure loathing. As if delighted that its attack had connected, the monster slapped its hands together and let out a series of gleeful cries.
"GYA! GYA!"
"Don't get cocky... I'm going to make you pay for this!"
Channeling all the rage of a ruined date into his mana, Rest prepared his next spell. The monster lunged again, but the massive arm it swung down simply vanished into nothingness.
"GYAO!?"
"[Star Eater]."
A sphere of absolute black appeared before Rest. It was the Dark Star—a void that consumed and annihilated everything it touched.
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"That's more like it...!"
It was working. Feeling the solid impact of the spell, Rest followed up with a relentless barrage.
"[Fire Bolt]! [Thunder Bolt]! [Ice Bolt]! [Wind Bolt]! [Earth Bolt]!"
"GYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHH!?"
Fire, lightning, ice, wind, and stone—element after element hammered into the creature, shredding its hide and tearing through its mass.
Rest didn't let up. He intended to bury the thing under a continuous storm of magic. He pressed the advantage, determined to end it right there, but then the monster’s bulbous compound eyes fixed on him with a piercing stare.
"SYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"What...!?"
The monster shrieked. At that same moment, the flesh Rest had just obliterated began to knit back together. Though the process was slow, the ravaged areas were mending themselves—even the arm the [Star Eater] had erased was beginning to reform.