He poured his power into the augment, and braced himself for what was to come. The weapon he grasped with both hands let out a white shine as it dug deeper into the creature’s eye.

Then, blood and white flames spurted out of the wound.

The creature screeched and shook its head violently. It rammed the ground with its tail, shaking the very earth beneath them. Clouds of dust rose, and sand flew about as its body shook.

He twisted the sword-spear, fed it all the power he could, but all that did was widen the wound, and burn the area around it. The creature’s already darkened scales seemed mostly unaffected by the white flames, and as it violently shook its neck and head, Midhir couldn’t hold on any longer.

As soon as sword-spear’s grip on the creature’s flesh slipped, he found himself mid-air, falling to the sand covered ground below.

“Midhir!” a panicked scream reached his ears through the screeching of the serpent. Not a moment later, winds caught him, softening his fall. Still, he fell on his back, and while the pain was minimal, it was also the least of his concerns.

The creature’s right eye focused on him. The blue light in its eye seemed to grow even brighter. He could feel the pure hatred and wrath just from meeting the creature’s gaze. Its scaly lips curled upwards as it hissed. Something dripped from its sharp fangs.

Then, it struck.

As soon as it moved, so did his body instinctively. He rolled to the side, then the ground shook as the creature’s head rammed against the ground where he was a split second ago. He scrambled to get up, turned around, and dashed away from the creature as it lifted its head again.

It seemed to pause for a split second, turning its head around oddly. Blood dripped from its blinded eye as it rotated its neck, trying to find Midhir.

“Keep running!” Alistair shouted. The sound of flowing water accompanied the young noble’s words.

The creature’s tail moved in the darkness, lifting up high towards the upside down surface of the lake, but it never came down. Water flowed around it, restricting its movement.

He couldn’t keep running, he needed to help the others. Midhir slowed his steps and turned around to face the creature. It’s hate-filled gaze remained focused on him, despite Alistair’s resonance restricting its tail.

“Holding a grudge?” He whispered, wiping the sweat off his forehead, and tightly grasping the broken shaft of the sword-spear. He had blinded it in one eye – maybe he could do the same to the other one.

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A golden light flashed from the distance.

Arwen had raised her staff up high. A golden orb of light shone between the staff’s prongs. It pulsed, shooting a spear of bright light towards the creature. The spear of light hit the lower half of its body. Without pause, she shot another spear, then another.

Water crashed on the serpent from above. Alistair’s spear glowed brightly as he controlled the flow of water. The sheer weight of it forced the serpent’s neck down.

Yet somehow, despite the barrage of attacks from both of them, the creature seemed barely harmed. It shook its tail free from Alistair’s resonance, lifted its head up despite the water flowing from above, and slithered towards him, leaving a trail of blood behind it.

Midhir tightened his jaw as he watched the gigantic creature approach. Fear gripped his mind, freezing his body. Out of everyone here, it had focused on him. Unless they did something, he was going to die here.

Arwen’s barrage continued, spears of light hitting the creature. Its body shook with each strike, but not once did it even glance towards her. Its ire was focused solely on Midhir.

Something caused the creature’s head to jerk to the side. Its scales near its healthy eye bent with the hit, and blood oozed out from between them. “Hit the head!” Willow’s shout reached his ears. “The scales are weak there – Arwen, focus its head.”

Midhir glanced towards the two women. Willow was kneeling on the ground, holding her rapier in one hand, and the stake in the other. The stake’s shield was still maintained, and somehow she had even cast another powerful resonance on top of it.

She was visibly shaking with the exhaustion of dual casting – for someone who hadn’t done so before, even being conscious was a surprising feat, especially considering one of the resonances she was maintaining was that of the stake.

Arwen’s spears of light flew towards the creature’s head. The first one hit its jaw, causing the creature to stagger. It raised its tail, stopping the other spears with ease. As Arwen cast another volley, water crashed onto its tail, trying to bring it down so her resonance could hit its head.

As they struggled, Midhir closed his eyes. He didn’t have much spiritual power left in him. He couldn’t just keep assaulting the serpent from afar like Arwen and the others. He needed to get close to it. The sword-spear wasn’t long enough, he couldn’t cut deep enough to pierce its heart, but he could blind it fully.

It wasn’t the best of plans, but it was all he could think of. He just needed to stay on its left side. With a deep breath, he summoned his courage, opened his eyes, and kicked the ground, rushing towards the serpent.

It shook and turned its neck oddly, trying to find him as he rushed to close the distance. White flames enveloped the sword-spear’s blade.

“What are you doing?!” Arwen’s scream echoed, and at the same time, the serpent’s head jerked away from Midhir. “Come back here!” Willow shouted at the same time, stopping Midhir in his tracks. With dread, he turned his gaze towards the two of them.

Lonan had stepped out of the protective barrier of the stake. He seemed to be in a daze as he walked towards the serpent, still clutching that chain around his neck. His jaw was tight, and his visible eye fixed on the serpent. His messy hair covered the other half of his face.

The serpent seemed just as focused on Lonan as he was on the serpent. It’s wrath-filled gaze turned towards the historian. It seemed stunned for a split second before rearing its head back. Blue light gathered in its throat as it prepared to spew fire.

Willow let go of the stake, her winds enveloped her as she dashed towards Lonan. Arwen screamed something, her staff’s light grew brighter, but all of it seemed simply too slow.

Neither Willow, nor Arwen’s resonance could reach Lonan in time.

The historian pursed his lips. He seemed frightened, but also calm. He stopped, let go of the pendant, and pointed at the creature just as the blue flames burst out of its throat.