Large Cave Expanse near Eldor

Olea Munroe

After my agreement with the current course of action, and my subsequent relaying of the information to Rocky, we were all on the same page. It was time to roll.

My team moved forward; Rocky heading straight toward the beast while Selene moved off to the right to come at it from the side.

The salamander for its part, was warily watching them as they parted from one another. It had seen my elementals and was deciding on its own course of action.

I took a moment to study the creature as we traversed the cave. I took note of its mottled brown and gray skin, it also had small flecks of black, green, and red dotting its body. The two large yellow and green striped eyes were swiveling in their sockets, broken up in the center by a slanted split iris. The beast appeared to be nearly three feet in length, with nearly half of that being its lengthy tail.

It had two thick rear legs and two narrow legs at the front, each topped with toes that ended with webbed digits that ended with short, thin, and sharp claws. As we approached, I saw the creature part its lips for the briefest moment and shoot a narrow beam of sand at Rocky.

Rocky was of course unfazed as he was composed of hard rock, though I could see how that strategy may have been quite effective in its earlier fight with Selene. Now that I was thinking about the past fight, I gave another look at the body of the creature, surely Selene would have left some mark on the beast.

It did not take long to find the evidence of their earlier fight now that I knew some of Selene’s capabilities. Above the front leg, near the shoulder, was a large patch of skin that was several shades greener and more yellowed than any other section of the creature’s body. He had not quite healed from all the previous fight’s damage.

A moment later Rocky had engaged, launching himself at the lizard’s front legs attempting to brings it body down to the ground for a good wrestle, I was beginning to doubt his planning ability as he rolled forward under the now-raised leg of the creature.

I watched as a stream of water ejected from Selene’s mouth, feeling the substance leave her body and the minor subsequent drain on her body. It would make sense that she could not use the skill without some cost, I was assuming that she gave up some of her own body’s fluid and a bit of energy when converting it into a projectile poison.

It was a good thing we had water aplenty down here.

The water splashed across the lizard’s side and slowly dripped to the cave floor. In its wake was a slightly paler portion of flesh, though I did notice that Selene had managed to get some to once again cover the weaken area I had noticed prior. It showed a greater level of damage and discoloration as the poisoned liquid fell away, as some places were now taking on the appearance of first- and second-degree burns.

Rocky by this time had gotten to his feet, and just in time to see the lizard hop to the left before swinging to bring its tail around and smash into the little plumber-pot.

He went rolling another ten feet before he stopped with his head buried in a pile of loose sand and gravel.

The lizard then shot a glare at Selene as it leapt toward her location, she had drawn agro.

Selene dropped to the ground, taking on the form of a thickened puddle to flow across the ground, passing the shadow of the creature that was still airborne and quickly reforming into her humanoid shape to shoot another stream of poison at the creature’s underbelly.

The shot contacted the rear of the body, splashing along the inside of the legs and mostly soaking the tail.

Even now I could see the pale poison discoloring the sandy skin of the beast. It was slow, but I once again marveled at her abilities. She was as effective as a kid with a super powered squirt gun. Always dodging and running off while the giggled only to wait for you to tire and fire again.

I was not a highly active individual, ok. The kids at some of the foster families were just evil demons possessed of far greater stamina and energy than was natural so of course I would lose in those types of confrontations. Alas, the older children, the ones my age would never deign to acknowledge others in such situations. No, by then most of us had just been living by rote, sticking to a routine of apathy or feigned superiority.

But, enough of that.

The salamander hit the ground, absorbing the momentum with its legs and it wheeled about, tail swinging wide to collide with an until then standing Rocky. He went skidding across the ground again, though not nearly as far this time.

Selene was prepping another blast of poison as the salamander lined its body up with her. As the poison left her body, Selene was struck by the lizard’s long tongue. It hit her like a fleshy rock, and the small barbs on its bulbous end punctured her watery form.

I sensed her body sag by a small amount of the tongue was retracted, quickly coiling back into the mouth of the salamander. I had never heard of a salamander possessing a frog’s tongue, or even that the tongue could be used as a weapon; live and learn.

The creature seemed to frown slightly as it tasted the small amount of poison Selene had managed to expel before the tongue had made contact, served it right.

Selene for her part was still standing though I could feel small tremors in her body as it adjusted to the decreased volume. I was beginning to think she should step aside for a recharge and let Rocky take another hit or two even as she tore off to the left in response to the beast lunging forward to gobble her up.

It slid to a stop, mouth closing on empty air as it twirled around swinging its tail and just missing Rocky as he barreled forward.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He jumped from his flat ponderous run and made some good vertical progress before he wrapped his arms around the neck of the beast and began to squeeze.

I, myself, was happy that Rocky had ended his comedic relief role and finally helped in the battle.

Selene seemed to agree as she paused for a moment, absorbing some of the moisture from the air. It did not feel as if it would be quite enough for sustaining her, it would do for now.

She moved forward as the beast reared up and shook its long body to dislodge Rocky and thwart his chokehold. It took but a moment before she was under the creature and shooting a stream of liquid under its chin, all along its neck below the spot Rocky had wrapped himself.

The poisoned water splashed all along its chest, covering its neck and chin, and even splashing harmlessly onto Rocky. I was not yet sure why Rocky seemed to be immune to what I was beginning to assume was a somewhat acidic liquid but pushed the thought away to be more of a future Olea problem.

The beast quickly lowered its body, hoping to shake Rocky even as it moved to respond to the elusive water spirit. Too slow was the thought I had when Selene was nearly bisected by the lengthy tail which sent her careening through the air as her form was struggling to maintain itself. There was a gash in her mid-section that went from her left side to her right, not quite making it the whole way through.

A human would have been missing their intestinal track at this moment, while Selene was only losing copious amount of liquid life. Her body was slowly reforming itself as Rocky and the beast tussled in the sand at the center of our natural arena.

Rocky did not look tired at all, though I did notice a spot or two on his body where a chunk of stone had been chipped away, letting a darker stone underneath be made visible. He continued squeezing the thick leathery neck even as it weakened under the poison coating its slimy skin.

He sure was stubborn, and I approved.

Selene herself had stopped halfway to the fight as she happened upon a small pool of water that had formed under a dripped stalactite and was busy topping off her reserves.

I swear I could almost taste the high mineral content of the water as it flowed up from the ground to fill in the missing pieces.

Elementals were strange.

Having reached a level of equilibrium she took off, covering the distance almost as quickly as she had been when tossed aside by the offensive appendage.

I watched the terrain slide by as she picked up speed and shot forward to grip the creature’s tail with both arms. At first the creature paid her no attention as he was fixated on the creature slowly closing his windpipe, but then things shifted.

Selene’s arms stretched around to meet hand in hand as she gripped the creature’s tail near the base of its spine where the merged to form a solid band of encompassing water before shifting to that off-green color of her poison.

I felt the drain in her system immediately but one could not ignore the effect. The skin beneath the band was quickly turning to a sickly color, that of green mold and yellowing-brown pus before sloughing away and falling to the ground.

The salamander roared out in pain, an oddly high-pitched sound with a warble of rubbery flesh as its vocal cords were taxed under the pressure of the earth golem.

Selene fell to the ground as the tail separated from the body of the lizard as it shed its tail to preserve its body. My little elemental had just removed one of its weapons and caused it grievous injury.

I approved.

The lizard turned to glare at Selene, even as Rocky hung from its neck; his feet trailing the ground as the beast circled around.

He resembled one of those oversized rock necklaces from the Flintstones in that moment, adding a little levity to an otherwise serious standoff between these tiny titans.

My attention was drawn back to the now as the lizard shot its tongue forward at incredible speeds, though not quite as quickly as it had earlier.

Selene noticed this as well, moving to the side before the barbs could make contact and damage her further. I had a feeling that reshaping herself with water was not enough to restore lost health or whatever represented that for my water elemental but only served as a band-aid or stand-in for much needed rest.

She gripped the tongue with both arms even as it began to retract, wrapping herself around it just above the barbed tip.

The lizards slitted eyes gaped as the tongue entered its mouth and then all I could see was darkness.

I realized the issue as Selene was now in the cavity served as the little beast’ skull and switched my focus to Rocky.

My sense seemed to shift again as I swapped elementals.

Rocky had senses that were slightly more off-putting than those of Selene. His vision worked in shades of gray with less focus given to stationary objects, making things that moved stand out with elevated clarity.

I could feel the vibrations of each impact as the beast moved between the wrapped arms of my elemental along with the sloshing of water that was Selene in her puddled form.

The ground below occasionally sent sharp thrums of impacting energy up from Rocky’s feet as he was bounced along, though his grip never faltered. I had at first thought he was blindly holding on as it was the first grip he had managed to secure but now, as the beast made retching sounds, and I felt it trying to swallow I realized that Rocky was just exceedingly early in his claiming of a tactical position.

Yes, he was slow, and he got knocked around quite a bit. It was funny and it was seemingly pointless at the time, but now that the battle had reached this stage I could see that it was a well thought out, if poorly timed, strategy.

As Selene was inside the beast mouth and unable to be forcibly removed by the slowly dying creature Rocky was doing his best to stop the thing from swallowing his teammate.

I was unsure of the wisdom in swallowing a creature that could become poisonous, but the lizard had defeated Selene while she was alone and I could surmise that maybe her death in a vat of stomach acid would negate future damage and at least allow the creature to begin regenerating again, if not very slowly.

Rocky was putting a stop to that with dogged determination. I could feel the heartbeat of the lizard slowing even as its body warmed. The skin around Rocky’s arms was beginning to soften and lose cohesion.

I swapped back to Selene and saw that light had begun invading the creature’s mouth via small gaps created by the loss of flesh along its jaw. I regretted my choice to swap bodies as I was now watching the inner workings of a soon-to-be-dead salamander. The tongue was an oozing mess loosely hanging out of its mouth even as Selene continued delivering a toxic payload down its ever-eroding throat.

This slow agonizing death was finally delivered in full as the salamander’s head, now bereft of all supporting tissue, fell to the ground in a heap of melting flesh.

Rocky dropped to the ground with Selene forming up on his right even as the notification rolled through.

You have killed: Sand-Borne Salamander [Level 14] Experience earned 840. Experience increased for killing a creature one rank higher than yourself, plus fifty percent.

Total Experience Gained: 1,260, Experience Till Next Level 52,750.

You have advanced to level 13: Minor regeneration bonus applied, three free attribute points gained, nine free skill points gained. You now have access to increased system information.

You have reached Rank 2, known by the locals as being a Capable Adventurer.

As your rank has increased, you will deal increased damage to lower ranked entities.

Your spells will be ten percent more successful upon entities of a lower rank and shall take ten percent less damage from these same entities. Your chance to cast a saving throw against impending attacks and abilities has increased.

Your soul has undergone a level of strengthening:

Removing Seals on your Triumvirate Soul: Abilities Unlocked.

Soul Link – Rank 2

Soul Vessel – Rank 2

Advance further to empower yourself and unlock more abilities.

Postscript: You need to hurry, little bird.