It wasn’t the same.

There was a big difference between tanking one monster with four heads that would attack one after another from the same central direction versus four different monsters that could attack from anywhere.

I watched one of the Sands get torn in half as the green and brown feline with barbs on it like a cactus tackled it before Tera could taunt it.

Haley roared and charged at the six foot high stone-skinned one. Her ax bounced off its solid hide, then the monster pummeled on her, cutting her pretty deep in a few places, drawing more words from Rishard than I’d heard him say since he’d arrived and most of the ones he just uttered were quite colorful.

The scorpion tailed one was chasing Garlin to the east end of the room and I realized that he had the right idea when I watched the one with bird wings swoop down and tackle Tera to the ground. The Sands Tank could only keep from getting knocked over if the attacks came from a cone in front of him. It was impossible for him to keep three monsters in front of him at all times given how large they were. And right now, he couldn’t keep any more than the one on top of him occupied.

“I’ve got the water one!” I started running at Tera and triggered my Cursed Attack as I shoved my sword into the feathered feline. I might not be able to damage it, but I could make it feel pain.

The flying monster screamed and jumped off the Tank, who I helped to his feet in enough time for him to step around me and take the shoulder charge from the cactus feline. Tera grunted as he planted his feet and absorbed the blow, releasing a painful shrill as the clusters of needle scraped against his armor.

I picked up his shield that felt like it was made out of chitin and tossed it to him before I had to roll out of the way of a pair of water bombs from the shaggy, mop-looking feline that was spitting barrel-sized globes of water. Compared to the other four, this one wasn’t quite up to my chest, but it was almost twice as long and had a thick, muscular tail. It was also not the one with yellow eyes. That was the flying one, so I was going to have to play with this one for a while.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

I sharted charging at it and had to sidestep another water blast before I was able to get close. When I was about two steps away, it twisted and did three full spins. I activated Cursed Attack as I backstepped and stashed at the hairy monster, painting black streaks on its side.

I was comfortable enough with how much damage that I’d influenced that I started running away from everyone else. I had already put almost too much distance between myself and Rishard to get healed by him and I realized that the Sands Healer had been the first one to die. I could only count six people standing around the stone feline, which meant that two more people had fallen, though it didn’t know if they were down or dead.

I didn’t have much time to worry about the others when the muddy mop that was chasing me was turning all of the sand on the ground into a slippery slush. My boots did have the Footing enchantment, but that only made it easier for me to keep my balance on terrain like ice or my feet not to get stuck in mud. It wouldn’t stop a mass of wet sand from moving when I pushed off of it.

I saw the eyes of the monster change to yellow as it started spinning, throwing mud away from it as the longhaired monster tucked in tighter, then started shooting a blast of water from its mouth while it spun around the area we were in. I got knocked off my feet, and spun through the mud a good fifty feet, leaving a trail of black blood from where the water had cut through the leather I was wearing.

I managed to get my sword into the ground to stop myself and stared at the monster that had finished spinning. I tried to remember when the ground had gone from being sand covered rock to dirt and mud, but didn’t have much time to think as the boss started sliding at me.

I sheathed my sword so I could take a health potion out of my CB and downed it while I ran. The monster slid past me on its belly, got to the wall of the room and scrambled back to its feet, but that had taken it closer to Garlin than it was to me. It’d been too long since I’d hit it for me to still have anything except proximity aggro, which meant that now its focus was on the Anubis.

“GARLIN!”

I used Shadowstep to get on the mop’s back, but it was already in motion. I sank my sword into its back, but that only let me ride that hairy monster as we charged the Anubis.