Wyn rushes forward into battle. The scene is utter chaos. Jets of blue flame flash between the trees, and swords clash against the trees. Wyn tries to understand the battle she’s charging into, but finds herself unable to process her surroundings. The canopy of trees from the thick trees makes the twilight forest a maze of dark wood and shadows. Around each corner, Wyn expects another boomfrog to explode in her direction.

  She only has one sense to go off of, her hearing. With each dodge around a tree, she hears the battle coming ever closer. The crackling of flames and grunts of fighting became clearer.

  Fwoom!

  A jet of blue flame erupts, just inches from Wyn’s face. She feels the scalding heat and jumps backwards. Her heart racing, Wyn feels her face, surprised to find she still has her eyebrows.

  “Watch it, girl!” says an unseen voice.

  “I’m here to help. Where is the damn boomfrog?”

  “You’re here to help?” The voice says while laughing at her. “Yeah right. You’re a whelp rank, you can’t do anything to the Elder.”

  Wyn glares toward the voice, rage creasing her brow. Who is this person to tell her she can’t fight an elder? In Wyn’s opinion, she has more than enough skill to take on the elder boomfrog. She won’t take no for an answer.

  Fwoosh!

  Another flash of blue flame, this time, some trees catch fire. A mouselike voice lets out a frightened “Eek!” and Wyn gets a proper look at her fellow combatants. The person who admonished her attempt is a tall woman clad in heavy gleaming plate armor. She dwarfs Wyn’s height. While Wyn has always been short, this woman emphasizes that point at a near 7 foot height. She swings a massive two-handed greatsword, forcing the still unseen boomfrog back.

  Behind the armored woman stands another who quite literally resembles a mouse. Gray fur covers her skin, and soft pink ears twitch atop her head as she trembles, murmuring healing spells toward her allies.

  “Eek! Look out, girl!” says the mouse woman.

  Wyn barely has enough time to react when the massive Elder Boom frog charges at her. It slams its rotund body through the trees, snapping them like twigs as it careens towards Wyn, its mouth open and ready to consume her.

  “Shit!” shouts Wyn.

  She activates Fortify self, knowing she won’t have time to dodge the attack. The frog strikes her head on, and were it not for the fortify self ability, she would certainly be dead. The impact knocks the wind out of her and sends her slamming into a tree. While the fortify self was able to protect her from the initial impact of the frog, it did not protect her from the impact against the tree.

  “Oh, no!” says the mouse woman, running over to Wyn.

  She places her hands on Wyn, muttering a healing phrase. Golden light surrounds the pair, illuminating the area. Wyn feels her bones stitching themselves back together, nearly as painful as the first strike. She cries out in pain as the healing finishes.

  “I know I’m sorry. I had to heal you fast, so couldn’t make it easy on you.”

  Psai pops out of Wyn’s robes and looks her up and down nervously. Froggy also catches up with Wyn at last. Though skilled in many ways, the frog is hardly built for speed. Sure, it can launch itself with an uncontrolled explosion, but that won’t be great for getting it where it wants to go.

  “Is that?” says the mouse woman, pointing to Psai. “And you have a pet boomfrog?!”

  “Yeah,” says Wyn, groaning as she stands. “Psai, and Froggy. Meet… this person.”

  “I’m Tilly. And did you say Psai? Like the weird character creation guy?” she asks Wyn.

  The larger woman dives in front of the two chatty women. “Get it together, Tilly. This thing won’t kill itself!”

  The woman manifests a shield, blocking a boomfrog explosion from striking the pair. Wyn doesn’t need anymore prompting, and quickly gets up to face the boomfrog. The forest is now alight with blue flames, illuminating the battlefield and the massive boomfrog. Unlike the previous boomfrogs, which were mostly brown and appeared quite similar to normal frogs, this beast is truly massive. At 8 feet tall, and about 10 feet across, the thing dominates the area, flattening the trees as it moves. Large black, scaled hornlike eyebrows glisten with a dangerous, magical energy. Whatever this thing is, it has some new tricks up its sleeve.

  “Your fire is doing nothing, Timnos!” The armored woman calls out.

  Following her gaze, Wyn spots yet another member of their group. A wire-thin man wearing wizard robes similar to her own. He carries a large orb in his right hand, and a staff in his left. Despite his compact frame, he jumps through the battlefield with a strange sense of confidence, as though he feels he is the king of the battlefield.

  “Nonsense Elara! Surely this will work! My blue flames always strike true,” says Timnos, who apparently is blind to how his magic isn’t damaging the frog whatsoever.

  “Dammit all,” says Elara. The armored woman turns to Wyn. “Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?”

  “I do.” Wyn points at the Elder boomfrog’s belly. “Its stomach is weak to stabbing. You have anyone who can do that?”

  Elara groans. “Yeah, I do.”

  The boomfrog charges at Elara again, who holds firm, blocking the attack with her shield. For all her apparent worries about taking the boomfrog down, Elara seems far stronger than Wyn and her other companions.

  “RENNICK!” Elara shouts.

  A small man, a dwarf by the looks of him, phases into existence nearby. His eyes flit across the scene, a devilish grin creasing his lips. He twirls a dagger in his hand, his feet bouncing from side to side.

  “What do you need, boss?” he says, his voice almost serpentine.

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  A shudder runs up Elara’s spine. “This girl here has fought these things before. Be useful, would you, and stab this thing in the belly?”

  Rennick nods, twirling his sharpened dagger before fading back into the shadows with a sickening grin. Wyn can only hope he’s actually on their side, and not some secret psychopath.

  The Elder Boomfrog croaks deep and low; his golden eyes gleaming with anger. Despite its continued attacks against Elara, she hasn’t budged an inch. Deciding she’s too hard a target, the Elder boomfrog chooses a new target: Timnos, the fire mage.

  It sucks in a deep gulp of air and fixes its gaze on Timnos. He swallows hard, sending another futile burst of flame toward the creature. Elara shouts and charges, throwing herself between them, but she’s too slow. This boomfrog is different from the ones Wyn has faced before. Its movements are deliberate; its power focused. Instead of scattering its attacks in a wide burst, the elder boomfrog shapes it into a dense cylinder of explosive gas, leaving a narrow hollow through the center. Timnos stands frozen, eyes locked on the shifting air in front of him, waiting for what’s coming.

  BOOM!

  A sharp jet of flame shoots through the hollow core, perfectly timed to ignite the cylinder in a single, devastating explosion. The air rings with pressure and heat, sending a crushing wave outward from the blast. Elara throws up her arms as the shockwave ripples through the forest, splintering trees as it travels.

  Timnos lies crumpled where the blast struck, smoke curling from the scorched ground around him. He breathes, but it’s faint. Burns cover his body; his staff is nowhere to be seen. The elder boomfrog settles back on its haunches, chest pulsing with slow, deliberate breaths. Its eyes gleam, sharp and aware, as if measuring the damage it has done.

  Elara is the first to steady herself from the blast. Turning to face Tilly, she shouts. “TILLY. Heals, now. Girl, do whatever it is you're going to do. Rennick, be ready to strike. I’ll take its focus.”

  The woman mutters words of power under her breath, and her armor glows with magical light. The rest of her team moves into action. Tilly sprints across the battlefield with remarkable speed, and Rennick pops in and out of the shadows to deal what damage he can to the beast.

  Wyn, inexperienced in working with such a group, is the last to move. She turns to her two companions and gives them directions.

  “Psai, get as bright as you can. I want to see what’s going on here. Froggy, go to Elara. Make sure that big frog stays focused on you.”

  Psai bobs his orb in acknowledgeable and floats into the air, shining brighter than ever, casting dramatic shadows across the forest, but granting them clear vision of the surrounding area. Froggy, being a frog, doesn’t fully understand Wyn’s direction until she points emphatically at Elara and the raging boom frog. The boomfrog uses its muscular forelegs to try and slap down Elara, though she stands firm.

  “C’mon Froggy, just go over there!”

  The frog listens and bounds over, chirping loudly to garner the larger beast’s attention. Upon seeing the smaller boomfrog daring to challenge it, the elder boomfrog roars with frustration, and redoubles its efforts. Launching a barrage of attacks against Elara.

  But she holds firm. Each strike hits the woman’s shield as she acts like a total brick wall, her defenses impenetrable. The elder boomfrog launches all of its dirty tricks. It fires small bursts of flame, gusts of poisonous gas, brute melee strikes, and even a handful of explosive blasts, but it’s no match for Elara’s immaculate defense. Throughout it all, despite opportunities to do so, her sword never touches the frog, only used as a tool to ward off strikes.

  But Wyn doesn’t have time to ponder that mystery; she has a job to do.

  The elder boomfrog is a fast creature, never staying in the same place for long. Unless it stops moving, Rennick won’t get a chance to pierce its belly. And given her experience fighting these creatures, the perfect moment will be when it fills its gullet with explosive potential. If she can time her illusion in such a way that it stops the frog right in its tracks, right as it’s ready to fire a burst, then it’ll be the perfect moment to strike.

  “Elara! Get it to puff up.” Wyn shouts in her direction.

  “So it can just detonate us? The last one nearly killed Timnos.” Elara says, blocking another strike.

  Wyn glances at Timnos. Tilly casts her healing spells as fast as she can, but it looks rough. In some ways, Elara is right. If it doesn’t freeze up like Wyn believes it will, it could lead to another devastating blow. And judging by Tilly’s frosted breath, she couldn’t bring another back like she’s doing with Timnos.

  But fortune favors the bold, and since this strategy has worked for Wyn before, it’s bound to succeed once more.

  “Trust me. I’ll get it to stop moving, and Rennick will get his shot.”

  Elara grunts as the beast belches another small blast against her. For the first time, her perfect defense falters, her back foot slipping on the muddy ground.

  “Fine. Make it quick.”

  Elara leaps backwards, distancing herself from the massive frog. The frog grins, eager to strike. Froggy, not one to be shown up, shakes his behind at the larger frog, taunting it. Between Froggy’s taunts and the opportunity Elara afforded it by putting some distance between them, it’s enough to get the larger frog to charge up another massive attack.

  It sucks in air, its gullet expanding, and churning with potential energy, as the essentia within it changes the air into its signature attack.

  This is her chance.

  Wyn focuses her mind and casts her Illusions of Beyond ability once again. She channels over half of her remaining essentia pool into the spell, willing it to be as lifelike as possible. The elaborate interconnecting purple circles of magic float, the runes pulsing to life.

  “What the hell is that spell?” Tilly asks.

  Timnos sits up, having regained consciousness. “Hell if I know, but that is one crazy-ass spell.”

  With a thought, Wyn releases the spell and directs it to the ground, aiming it a few feet in front and to the left of Elara. If this creature chooses to strike the illusion, she doesn’t want anyone standing behind it.

  The bead of illusory magic swells and reshapes, unfolding into the towering form of a massive eagle, its body rising over ten feet tall; larger even than the elder boomfrog. Feathers shimmer with a faint, otherworldly sheen, each one edged with delicate flickering light. A sharp, curved beak gleams like polished bronze, and its eyes burn with the steady focus of a predator born to rule the skies. When it lifts its head and lets out a piercing cry, the sound cuts through the air like a blade, a clear and deliberate challenge to the creature below.

  All creatures present pale with fear. Elara turns to face Wyn, her eyes hot with fear, her stern composure breaking.

  “Did you summon a damn Velkorr? You idiot!” Elara shouts. She mutters a string of profanities under her breath, followed by an equally long string of magical words. Her sword and armor glow with radiant light as she steels herself to fight the new foe before her.

  Wyn is about to correct her when she sees the awareness in the elder boomfrog’s eyes. There’s a chance that it understands language, and Wyn can’t risk that. She’s out of illusions, so if there’s ever a moment to take this thing down, it’s right now.

  “Rennick. Anytime now!” Wyn calls out to the shadows.

  With a sickening laugh, the shadows respond.

  Rennick emerges from the shadows beneath the boomfrog with a sickening grin. At his whispered command, his curved dagger darkens, the metal bleeding an oily black ichor that drips in thick clumps. The boomfrog senses something is wrong, and readies its prepared blast, but Rennick is faster. His blade drives upward, carving into the creature’s distended gullet with a sickening squelch. The boomfrog recoils, its body convulsing in a shudder that ripples through the ground. A low, guttural roar tears out of it, echoing through the mountainous forest and shaking the trees.

  The poison takes hold almost instantly. A dimming glow spreads across the great beast as its muscles twitch and lock, its massive frame trembling uncontrollably. Sharp tangs of burning gas and decay fill the air while it staggers, each movement growing slower and more desperate than the one before. With one final, heaving breath, it collapses, the impact sending a tremor through the earth before everything goes still.

  The utter silence of death takes hold. Wyn dismisses the illusion, and eyes dart to one another. The silence is deafening until Timnos, barely functioning, breaks it.

  “That’s what you get, you oversized stupid froggy bitch!” he shouts, releasing a few lackluster jets of his blue flame toward it.

  Tilly and Wyn burst into laughter, while Rennick just grins, and Elara glares, entirely unamused.

  “You. Girl.” Elara says, staring pointedly at Wyn, “you have some serious explaining to do.”