Penelope was the second one through the barrier. Her wand twirled in the air as she focused on the boars. The hump on the back of the monsters reached Oakley’s shoulder, making them the largest monster that they had faced. A second set of tusks grew out of the boar’s mouth, and with the pair of horns that sprouted out of the top of its head, each boar was equipped with three sets of horns. A second set of smaller eyes blinked above the monster’s main eyebrows, adding to the assurance that it wasn’t a normal animal.
“Light Torrent!” Penelope guided the balls of light into the face of the closest boar. It took all four of them to put down the charging monster, but it was enough to keep it off of the Tank.
Frederica slipped through the barrier further to the east, running as silent as a whisper around the brewing fight, her eyes set on the Demon.
Ula was through next, charging towards the giant scorpions.
The ceiling was closer to twelve feet high at this point in the Dungeon, and the bend in the scorpion’s tail could reach the ceiling. Its pinchers were like a giant pair of scissors with blades longer than yardsticks. Green poison oozed out of the barb on its tail as all of its many eyes burned with hatred as they focused on the human encased in metal.
Marlow was already chanting a spell as he walked through the barrier with Judah. The pair were on high alert as the boars turned their attention from the party leader to the squishier combatants.
“Light Torrent!” Penelope focused her attention on the closest monster. “Judah! Cover the left!” She stepped to her right to give him a clear line of sight on the third and final boar.
A stream of fire shot past her as she focused on the charging boar. Penelope had to move farther to her right so that the running mass of bacon would turn. When it died, the momentum kept it moving until it rolled into the barrier.
The Demon screamed just before its head rolled across the stone floor and out of the helmet, then disintegrated into smoke. Frederica flicked the black blood off of her and stood over the loot pile with a triumphant smile on her face. Her victory pose lasted only a few seconds before Ula started yelling at her to help with the scorpion.
The party leader was banged up, with multiple dents in her metal armor. Oakley’s taunt was only holding one of the monsters at a time, even with his group taunt, which left the other armored person to off-tank.
“PENNY!” Marlow’s voice tore her focus away from the battle in front of her.
Judah had a deep gash in his stomach, and his right arm was covered in blood, hanging by his side. The young man had dropped his staff and was trying to cast with just one hand, but his usual bad aim was even worse. A green glow was pulling the red back inside the Caster, but not faster than the monster could remove it.
“Light Torrent!”
Penelope turned her focus to the monster attacking her companion.
The
“GRAWWW!!!” The Demonic Boar heaved and fell over on its side.
JERU! Penelope couldn’t see the young man on the other side of the mountain of uncooked bacon. Is he okay?
Penelope didn’t have a healing spell, so she wouldn’t be able to do anything more than pour a potion on the wounds.
“I can only see what you can see.” The blue Elf floated up towards the ceiling and shook his head. “I can’t tell, but his injuries didn’t look life-threatening."
“UGH!” Penelope turned her attention back to the fight. All three boars and the Demon leader were dead, leaving them with just the two gigantic scorpions to finish off.
“Light Torrent! Light Torrent!”
Penelope looped the balls up towards the ceiling, then sliced her wand down, dropping the
Ula was heaving as she swung her War Hammer back and forth, knocking the giant pincers back while Frederica wove behind the monster, jabbing her dagger through the joints in the armor, trying to destabilize a leg.
The spells rained down, leaving smoke rising from the cracks in the giant bug’s back. But the weakened shell didn’t help either of the melee allies because they couldn’t reach the damaged section without opening themselves up to a pincher or the tail.
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“Light Torrent! Light Torrent!”
Penelope twisted her wand around in the air. “I’m going to hit the base of the tail!”
Frederica took two hops backwards while the stinger shot across the monster's back. Ula managed to deflect the attack but staggered.
Penelope diverted a pair of
“I’VE GOT THIS!” Frederica’s daggers grew longer as shadows wrapped around the blades, dripping black ichor on the stone floor. “DECAPITATE!”
The blonde slashed both of her weapons and sliced clean through the cracked shell protecting the base of the tail. The amputated appendage squirmed on the stone like a panicked worm while the giant monster shrieked and twisted away from the group.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Ula hefted her warhammer over her head, then spun it around her body in a 360-degree arc. “Earthen SLAM!”
The head of the warhammer slammed into the side of the monster, knocking it over. As the flailing monster tried to right itself. Frederica began running at it. She threw herself into the air, both of her shadowy blades over her head. “BACKSTAB!”
The blades sank into the monster’s back, dropping its legs out from under it. The base of the tail quivered as the monster tried to use the lost appendage. Its pincers were too short to reach the target on its back, snapping at empty air over its head.
“BACKSTAB! BACKSTAB! BACKSTAB!!!”
The giant monster let out a single sigh, then stopped moving.
Frederica wiped the blue blood off of her face with the back of her glove, but that just smeared it more.
“We did it!” The blonde held up one of her swords as she breathed heavily.
“A little help!” Oakley grunted as the monster he’d been tanking began to bend his shield. The giant scorpion had both pincers on either side of the top of the shield, locking the young man in place, while its stinger hovered overhead, waiting to strike.
“LIGHT TORRENT!!!”
Penelope directed her projectiles at the barb. One after another, they slammed into the tip while the tail struck at the defenseless Tank.
A severed appendage slammed into Oakley’s helmet, knocking his hands off of the shield and sending him rolling across the cold stone floor.
KREE!!!
The giant bug threw the bent shield away and turned its attention to the three women.
“Come on, you overgrown fish bait!” Ula slammed her right boot on the stone. “SHOCKWAVE!”
The solid stone trembled like it was made of gravel. The Demonic Scorpion struggled to maintain its balance, keeping it in place while the others recovered.
“I’m out…” Frederica heaved. “Of stamina…” She held up her hand. “Gimme a sec.”
The monster seemed to sense their weakness and turned towards the prone Tank.
“How many times can you do that?” Penelope looked at the party leader.
“Do what?”
“Shockwave!” Penelope flexed her fingers on her left hand.
“Three more times, but why—”
“Just keep it locked in place!” Penelope pointed her wand and left palm at the monster. “LIGHT BEAM!” A stream of light shot out of the tip of her wand. Penelope thrust out her free hand. “LIGHT BEAM!”
KREE!!!
The monster flailed as it tried to get its claws in the way of the burning light. It started moving away from her spells.
“SHOCKWAVE!” The monster stumbled and fell as it failed to maintain its balance and defend against the spell. Its legs scraped at the rolling stone as it failed to find its footing.
“SHOCKWAVE!” Ula didn’t wait for all the tremors to die down before she let out another one.
The monster flailed its pincers, but the longer Penelope maintained the spell, the more powerful it became. Shell melted, then the twin beams chewed through the soft flesh underneath. Penelope released the spell when the barrier came down, before the beams broke through the other side.
Penelope swallowed and blinked away the fog as she checked her stats.
“That could have gone better.” Jeru shook his head.
“We won.” Penelope looked over at the southern side, where Marlow was tending to Judah. She let out the breath that she’d been holding when the young man sat up and leaned back against the dead boar.
Frederica helped Oakley stand while Ula looked over the square.
“The rooms are getting harder.” The grandmother shook her head. “This one took us almost an hour, and we’re all going to have to rest up before we can do the next one.” She looked over at 8G, then at the rest of her party. “It’s going to be a long night.”
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