Penelope couldn’t use her trick of staying safe here either. The Dungeon floor was flat, with very few obstacles in the way that could stop her from seeing the fights that were ahead. That meant that all of the Demons could see her and the other team, and they had plenty of time to strategize how to fight her.
To give herself the most room to move, she walked over to the middle of the barrier. She gripped the wand tight and flicked it in the air as she ran through how she wanted to handle the fight.
She’d seen how brutal the Demonic Beetles had been each time the other two parties had been killed. The Shadows leading them seemed to take great pleasure in finishing off the last survivor. It ended faster than their allies died, but it was still brutal and not something that she wanted to remember.
Neither of the fights where the other groups died would give her any insight into this one. The room the first group went into had a Caster, and the room the second one went into had an Assassin. The monster in front of her was a Warrior. Unlike the first one that she fought, this one didn’t have a helmet, so its earthen finger-length horns were on full display.
The armor was similar, but the weapon was different enough to give her a reason not to go in this room first. Instead of a longsword, this Demon had a mace. The shaft was as thick as her arm, and the round head was bigger than hers, with spikes almost as long as her hand jutting out of it.
Penelope glanced at the other group out of the corner of her eye. They were in the room they usually started, but this time they were getting close to finishing. Ula, the strong grandma, and Patrick, the man who looked like he’d seen more sun today than in the last year, were both in full metal armor.
Marlow, the Healer, had a bow and was trying to shoot the monsters while also healing everyone. Dawson, the youngest person on the team, was a little older than Penelope and dressed in the same leather armor as Marlow. Except instead of using a bow, the younger man was casting only spells.
As uneasy as she was about this fight after how difficult the last one had been, the thought of lingering in the safe zone and being approached by the other group a second time pushed her to get in the square.
Penelope stuck her foot through the barrier. The monsters were crouching, like a sprinter who was waiting for the race to start. She took a deep breath and pushed forward. As soon as she was more than halfway through the barrier, the Demonic Beetles charged, their forked horns lowered, aiming to impale her.
“Light Orb! Light Orb!”
Penelope created two balls in front of her to keep the Demons from continuing their charge. With a small chance to breathe while the Demons readjusted, she let loose three quick streaks of
DING!
Experience +12
She was getting better at hitting things, and the seeking function of her new spell ensured she had a much larger margin for error. All three spells found their mark and dropped the first monster. With one less monster to her left, it was the best direction to rotate to get away from the pair that were charging from the right.
“Wha-!” Penelope started to run to the left, only to have the Demonic Bat swoop down at her. She had been used to the ceiling monsters being slow, and the aerial monsters were the fastest thing that she’d encountered so far.
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Kree!
She got her right arm up in time to block the claws on its feet from tearing up her face, but it still had smaller claws on the wings that pulled at her hair as they dug into her scalp. When it tried to bite her, she grabbed it by the throat
“LIGHT BOLT! LI-”
DING!
Experience +12
The spell tore through the monster’s neck, severing it off and letting the snapping jaws roll over her head, jerking her head to the left as it tangled in her hair as it fell.
“Ah! Oomph!”
One of the Demonic Beetles reached her, goring her right side with its forked horn. The force of the impact drove her back; the monster didn’t stop running just because it had collided with her.
Penelope dropped the wand as her right arm fell limp over the monster’s horn.
“Light Bolt! Light Bolt! Ligh-! UGH!”
Her back hit the barrier, and she began to slide along it as the monster kept charging. Penelope’s mind began to visualize what would have happened if the monster had driven her straight into the barrier instead of diagonally. She pushed those thoughts out of her mind and clenched her jaw as she focused on not resetting.
She’d hit the barrier about a third of the way from the wall, but with this angle, it wasn’t going to be long until she was pushed into the corner. She twisted so she could point her hand better at the running monster pushing her across the wall.
“Light Bolt!”
DING!
Experience +12
You are now Level Six
Stats increased: Defense +1, Magic +1
You have learned: Light Blast
The weight of the monster attached to her side pulled her to kneel on her right leg as she stumbled.
CRACK!
Penelope didn’t know what broke, but she didn’t have time to worry about it. The other two Demonic Beetles were still charging.
Her numb right arm felt like it was being torn off as she braced against the stone floor and pushed herself off of the forked horn. She needed to take a Healing Potion, but with only one usable arm, spellcasting was the more important action.
“Please be good…”Penelope muttered under her breath as she threw her hand out at the charging Demons.
“LIGHT BLAST!”
A blast of light shot out of the palm of her hand in a cone that reached thirty feet away. Both Demonic Beetles were burned by the light, but that didn’t stop them.
“LIGHT BLAST! LI---”
DING!
Experience +6
Experience +6
The Demons died, but their momentum wasn’t so easily arrested. The corpses slid the rest of the way, the painful forks aimed at her feet. Penelope tried to move out of the way but tripped over the horn of the last monster and face-planted on the stone floor.
“Ugh!” Pain shot through her as Penelope rolled over and started digging in her robe pocket for the right potion. She pulled out Infernal Water on her first try.
“Come on!” She jammed her hand back in her pocket, but pressure clamped her arm against the stone floor.
The Demon had its bare foot on her only usable arm. The spiked mace in its hands rose into the air as a smile split its bare head. Glowing orange eyes focused on her face. There was nothing magical happening, but the gaze alone was enough to make her heart speed up and lungs heave for air.
“HA! HA! HA!”
Penelope clenched her jaw and closed her eyes.
The pressure on her arm increased as the other foot pushed down on her pelvis.
She opened her eyes and saw the mace wiggling around above the Demon as the oppressive gaze smiled even wider.
“DO IT!” A chill gripped her lungs as she ordered her own death. “DON’T JUST STAND THERE LIKE A—”
The wind whistled as the mace rushed to her face.
Her world blossomed into pain.
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