CHAPTER 33 – MUD SALAMANDER

  Fifteen minutes later, Duncan stood just around the corner from the Salamander’s lair, ready for battle. He felt Phevona pat his shoulder from behind, prompting him to slap Sonny’s shoulder in turn. It was time to begin.

  Sonny, nodding to himself in reassurance, took three anticipatory breaths, then silently turned the corner, DJ following on his heels.

  The 60 seconds that followed were both uneventful and momentous for Duncan and Phevona. This was the part of the plan that neither of them had liked, though they knew it was essential. If it failed, they’d likely end up retreating all the way back to the realm entrance.

  After he reached a mental count of 60, Duncan received another pat on his shoulder, confirming Phevona had also been keeping track of the seconds.

  Duncan didn’t wait; he turned the corner as quietly as possible, noticing two crucial things the moment he entered the salamander’s lair. First, the monster was still asleep. All four of its eyes were closed, and its breathing was deep and rhythmic.

  Second, Sonny was ready, waiting just outside the opposite entrance to the continuing cave system, just 50 meters from the pond where the salamander slept. It took the wolfkin less than a second after seeing his friends enter the prime monster’s lair to draw, aim, and shoot.

  Duncan knew the arrow would land exactly where Sonny intended, so he began running the moment he registered the arrow leaving the bowstring.

  ***

  Sonny knew his shot was good, and less than a second after his release, his years of practice with his weapon of choice were rewarded. A cacophony filled the cavern, starting as a hiss of pain and soon morphing into a roar of anger. Giant wave-like ripples formed in the pond due to the displacement of the Salamander’s rising body.

  His first arrow, now lodged halfway up to its fletching in one of the salamander’s eyes, had done its job to perfection. Every iota of the prime’s attention was firmly settled on Sonny, who continued sending arrow after arrow at the salamander’s heads, desperate to keep the monster’s attention exactly where it was.

  Why did I volunteer for this? Sonny asked himself, a hint of desperation and fear leaking into his thoughts. The salamander, now entirely out of the water, was much more intimidating with its full size now on display.

  Close to nine meters long and at least two meters tall, the salamander was undoubtedly the largest monster he’d ever faced with intent to kill. While large doesn’t necessarily always mean powerful, he knew it very much did in this case. This was an enemy that a normal team of six tier one delvers would be wary of, even if they all had the full five Abilities available at tier one.

  A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye reminded him of the reason he’d been confident enough to take on such a monster, and as the bait no less. He turned to see Phevona’s pumping arms and look of deep concentration as she sprinted directly at him, giving him a confident nod when she caught him looking in her direction.

  He wasn’t alone in this fight, and his friends were far from normal.

  Sonny continued launching arrow after arrow at the salamander, forcing it to weave its heads around to avoid losing another eye. Now halfway to his position, the monster suddenly slowed down, opening both of its mouths to reveal rows of long, sharp teeth and a dim brown glow.

  “DJ,” Sonny yelled, releasing the arrow he’d just knocked. A horse-sized mass of dark fur dashed into the cavern from around the corner leading to the continuing cave system. A second later, Sonny was riding on DJ’s back, holding on for dear life. A second after that, he felt a breeze against his back, followed by a bang from where he’d just been standing.

  Looks like I was wrong about its magic, Sonny thought. That was definitely not a battlefield control spell.

  His thoughts were confirmed moments later as DJ swerved to avoid a second cannonball made of hard-packed mud, which proceeded to fly into the wall, causing another boom and shake in the cavern.

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  “To me,” Sonny heard Phevona yell, then felt DJ’s muscles under him shift to intercept the still sprinting half-elf.

  ***

  Phevona watched as the salamander finally decided it had had enough of Sonny’s arrows. The first mudball had come from the head with both eyes still whole, soaring through the air with no arc and extreme speed.

  The resulting boom convinced her she’d been right to set up her first [Leach Trap] the moment she was close enough to where she expected to meet DJ and the wolfkin now riding on his back.

  After DJ just barely dodged the second projectile, this time fired from the head with only one good eye, Phevona cast a second [Leach Trap] just a few meters away from her first, then yelled, “To me.”

  The midnight wolf didn’t hesitate, sprinting directly at her with Sonny on his back. Not wasting any time, Phevona mentally activated both traps, then took control of as much mass as she could with [Plant Manipulation].

  The growing roots twisted together, and branches fused. She packed every ounce of growth into a wall of vegetation two meters wide and tall, then sent everything else into making it as strong as possible.

  Phevona and DJ both slid to a stop behind the growing barrier at the same time, Sonny along for the ride on DJ’s back.

  “Boom! Boom!” Another two mud shots left the salamanders' mouths, slamming directly into Phevona’s barrier. The entire wall shook and bent, but the only thing that made it to the other side was a harmless shower of loose dirt.

  “It won’t block another hit like that,” Phevona shouted, peeking around the wall at the salamander. It was waiting where it had stopped, about 30 meters away. All three of its enraged eyes met Phevona’s gaze.

  Phevona saw two things in that moment. First, she saw unbridled hate in her enemy's eyes, a hate that told her they had no chance of escaping that cavern without one side ending up dead.

  Second, she saw him- their sole hope of clearing the realm- jumping from behind the salamander unnoticed, a giant sword appearing from nowhere at the peak of his flight through the air.

  ***

  The most important part of the plan was for Duncan not to be seen. It was why they used Sonny to draw the salamander’s attention to the opposite side of the cavern. It was why Sonny used his first shot to take out the eye closest to Duncan’s approach path.

  It was why he’d agreed to let his teammates put themselves in harm's way when he had always been the first into the fight in the past.

  He needed to get to the salamander unnoticed, and he did, thanks to his friends.

  Now, soaring through the air, Duncan finally summoned his sword from [Quintessential Armory].

  He’d always known he would end up fighting monsters more often than people, and monsters tend to get bigger as they grow more powerful. When this is the case, the perfect sword for the occasion is often times a giant slab of metal. This fact had prompted him to prepare for just such an occasion.

  The sword was massive, with a straight, double-edged blade nearly two meters long, two centimeters thick, and as wide as his head. He’d crafted it out of a mix of tier one steel and the ground-up remains of a powerful earth elemental they’d encountered on one of their monster hunts. When he’d made it, he hadn’t even expected to have the strength to wield it for more than a single, sluggish swing until he was tier two at least.

  He’d been wrong.

  He raised his arms above his head, and the instant his hands wrapped around the greatsword’s hilt, he activated [Sword Kin], flooding his muscles with strength unlike anything he’d felt before.

  While he loved the speed from using [Sword Kin] with his short swords and the balanced boost provided by his arming sword, sometimes the solution to a problem was pure, unapologetic power.

  He swung down with all his might, using gravity and every drop of strength he’d gained from years of rigorous training, his ascent to tier one, and his activation of [Sword Kin]. It all went to work to deliver as devastating an attack as he was currently capable of.

  An attack capable of severing a giant salamander’s head from its body.

  Duncan landed, followed by two seconds of unnatural silence, then the thud of lifeless flesh falling to the cavern floor.

  Then… there was chaos.

  A twisted cry of agony and rage escaped the salamander’s remaining mouth, once again shaking the cavern walls as the creature thrashed in pain.

  Duncan was suddenly hyper-aware of just how close he was to a giant, raging prime monster. He began frantically backpedaling toward where his friends had been taking cover with Phevona’s magic. He didn’t get far.

  He barely noticed the incoming tail early enough to position his blade into something resembling a block. The sheer force behind the blow would have sent him to the back wall were it not for the combined boost to his strength and weight from [Sword Kin].

  Instead, the strike only sent him flying 20 meters through the air before he landed against rough wood and leaves instead of sharp rock.

  “Get up, Duncan,” Phevona said from beside him. “One down, one to go.” She’d managed to catch him with what was left of her wall. Groaning in pain, he forced himself to his feet, his greatsword still in his hands.

  The salamander remained where it was, now sniffing at the dead flesh at its feet. It keened in sadness, almost as if it had lost a friend. The wound on its neck from Duncan’s strike was already half closed. While there wasn’t a new head forming, the salamander wouldn’t die from blood loss anytime soon.

  “Well, that’s part one of the plan complete,” Sonny said as he brought a new arrow to his bowstring. “What was part two again?”

  Duncan rose to his full height as Phevona began using her wand to heal the strain he felt in his arms from the salamander’s single strike. He slammed the point of his greatsword into the ground at his feet, then moved the hilt back and forth until he could easily tilt the giant slab of metal from side to side.

  “Part two is all on Phevona,” Duncan replied, smiling as the salamander finally decided to continue its assault.

  Its mouth opened to once again reveal a brow glow of magic. The new mudball shot straight for the group, only to slam into Duncan’s largest creation as he shifted the still grounded blade to meet the attack head-on. A spray of mud spread out from the impact, leaving none of the group unharmed and the salamander hissing in frustration.

  “I can’t wait for all that loot,” Phevona said, as she began to cast.