Water crashed against earth with devastating force, spraying debris in a wide swath of destruction, forcing Jadis to dodge out of the way or be peppered with shrapnel. As her two selves, Dys and Syd, rushed to the left, Jay sprinted to the right, carrying Aila in her arms, angling her body so none of the flying fragments struck her.
“What the fuck is that?” Jay shouted as a third giant ball of water was lobbed through the air, landing in the wake of Dys and Syd as they continued to run out of the way of the deadly projectiles.
“It’s a Sea Bull,” Aila said while somehow managing to keep her voice relatively calm. “A magic beast, water bound, dangerous when provoked but usually placid if you keep your distance. But look at it, it’s been corrupted by a demon.”
Squinting at the distant creature, Jadis curled her lips in revulsion at what she saw.
The sea bull looked like some variation on an elephant seal, except rather than a tumorous nose, it had a huge thick dome of a skull, round and hard as rock. The creature’s mouth was unnaturally large, its wide maw gaping open, showing rows and rows of thick pointed teeth. Its front flippers were also far larger and more substantial-looking than what could be found on any seal Jadis had seen back on Earth. The beast was using those meaty appendages to pull its massive, blubbery body up onto the shore, its immense bulk jiggling with each movement. And the creature was indeed immense. Even hundreds of yards away, Jadis could tell the beast had to weigh tens of thousands of pounds and probably stood as tall as her while resting on its stomach.
Jadis would have thought the creature to be nothing more than an intriguing curiosity if it weren’t for the obvious signs of demonic possession displayed on its bloody body. There were large holes in its flesh where writhing dark tentacles could be spotted, some of them popping out of the open wounds like roots from a potato’s eyes. One particularly large tentacle was coming out of the sea bull’s right eye socket and was wrapped around the base of its head.
“Gross,” Jay said with disgust. “Okay, it’s demon possessed. How do we kill it?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never fought one before! I’ve never seen one before, not alive,” Aila said, letting a little panic creep into her voice.
Jadis was prevented from responding to Aila’s admission by another water bomb forcing her to run and dodge, more debris showering the area where it landed. With the speed at which the corrupted sea bull was able to lob the water spells, Jadis was fairly certain she’d have been struck dead on by the blasts if it weren’t for her high agility keeping her ahead of the liquid explosions.
“You’re smart, you know this kind of shit better than me,” Jay said to Aila as she continued to carry her companion across the battlefield. “I’m going to run over there and beat the shit out of it with my mallet unless you can think of a better idea! Or a better way to beat the shit out of it!”
“Alright! Hold on!” Aila shouted back, clutching at Jay’s neck as she changed direction suddenly to dodge another incoming water ball.
As Jay and Aila spoke, Dys and Syd ran in zigzags closer to the colossal seal monster, trying to grab its attention and instantly regretting her success when the monster started spewing torrents of high-powered water streams at them like some kind of satanic pressure-washer. One shot managed to clip Syd’s leg, tearing through her leather pants, and practically skinning her calf in just a second’s time.
Every time either of her two selves tried to get closer to the monster, it would spray the water jets at her, forcing her to back away or be blasted. She couldn’t get close enough to engage in melee, not without losing her skin.
“Sea bulls have strong water magic and can cast them quickly, like a sorcerer. Their magic is good at long range and close range,” Aila said, rattling off what she knew about the combat capabilities of the monster. “they’re slow on land but have extremely high vitality and fortitude. Even without their magic they can crush rocks with their skulls and bite through bone with their powerful jaws.”
“Okay, but what are their weaknesses?” Jay interrupted, dashing far enough back from the still lumbering along creature to feel safe in putting Aila down for a moment. “What’s the best way to kill them?”
“Ranged magic attacks would work best,” Aila said with clear frustration. “But we don’t have that, not yet!”
“Never mind what we don’t have, just focus on what we do.”
Biting her lip, Aila glanced around the valley, then turned her eyes upward.
“There! Lead it under that ridge!” she commanded, pointing to the overhanging peak of the rocky hill that made up the west side of the sea cove.
Jay grinned when she saw it, reminded of how she’d dealt with the bone thief matriarch.
“Now that’s a plan,” she said, pecking Aila excitedly on the cheek before picking her up and slinging her over her shoulder with a hurried apology.
Dys dodged around the corrupted beast, dashing to the rear of it and drawing its attention as she almost got close enough to swing her maul down on its tail. Before she could, the monster seal flashed ocean-blue sigils around its body, heralding a huge wave of water that exploded outward from it in a circle. Dys was sent flying back, crashing to the ground with a painful thump that was only partially mitigated by the chest and back armor she wore.
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“Really wish I had more coverage,” Dys grumbled as she quickly rolled to her feet and scrambled away from the demonically possessed sea bull, acutely aware of the difference between the parts of her that were armored and the parts that weren’t after her tumbling fall.
As the monster sent more blasts of destructive waterspouts after Dys, Jay and Syd reached each other. Tossing a flailing Aila to Syd like a sack of beans, Jay immediately ran after the demon to split its attention and keep its constant magical barrage from concentrating on just one of her selves.
“Is it normal to be able to cast so many fucking spells that are that powerful?” Syd asked Aila as she carried her with her up the side of the hill.
“It’s the demon,” Aila said, jostled around by Syd’s quick movements. “It can use both its magic resources and the sea bull’s.”
“Well that’s fucking unfair,” Syd cursed as she reached the top of the escarpment.
From the top of the sea cliff, Jadis was able to look down on the fight between her other selves and the monster. Dys and Jay were running back and forth in front of the beast, leading it back towards the ocean and the overhang of the cliff. The sea bull wasn’t as fast as she was, but it was certainly far faster than its bulk would lead one to suspect. It lunged after her dodging doubles, huge fins propelling it along in sudden bursts. All the while the monster kept casting water spells, constantly skirting close but never quite landing a decisive hit on either of Jadis’ sprinting bodies.
“Don’t get too close to the edge,” Syd cautioned Aila as she set her down. “This is a long drop.”
Syd couldn’t follow her own advice, however. Several large rocks and boulders were sticking out of the edges of the sheered-off cliffside. Getting behind one huge stone that was partially embedded in the soil, Syd tossed her lance to the side, dug her feet into the earth and heaved hard against the rock with all the strength she could muster.
The rock shifted forward slowly, leaning up and out of the ground as Syd struggled and strained to get the boulder into position to drop it onto the sea bull far below.
As Syd displayed herculean strength, Jay and Dys did their best to kite the possessed beast closer to the cliff.
It was difficult for Jadis to balance staying close enough to the repugnant monster to keep it moving in the direction she wanted without getting so close its spells would flay her alive. She wasn’t sure how long the fight had been going on for, but the way the possessed sea bull kept sending spell after spell her way made the creature’s magic seem endless. If this creature was any kind of typical example of how powerful magical beasts could be, she could well understand why most mercenaries joined companies and fought in large groups. The sea bull was a juggernaut.
Dys found that her bare feet were splashing in the salty waters of the sea as the possessed monster drew close to the right position for Syd’s boulder to land true. The shore of the cove was rocky and covered in pebbles. Each time water from the sea bull blasted the ground, hundreds of the rocks would spray outward and strike against Jay or Dys, some of them with enough force to bloody even her thick, high-fortitude skin.
Jay darted forward, spotting an opening as the monster angled another water jet at Dys. She swung her mallet like a baseball bat, the huge wooden head slamming into the exposed side of the beast. Jay’s fingers stung as the blow rebounded off the monster’s rubbery flesh and she was forced to backpedal hard as the giant seal slammed its meaty fin down at her with shocking speed. She could actually feel the air pressure pushing her back as the huge, wide limb struck the ground where she’d been standing a second before.
Despite the attack doing no obvious damage, it did have the positive effect of leading the sea bull to move directly under the cliff edge where Syd had managed to balance the teetering boulder, muscles straining to keep it in place.
“Fuck off,” Syd cursed through gritted teeth as she pushed the boulder over the side of the cliff.
Jadis really did need to work on coming up with some better one liners when delivering the fatal blow to her enemies. She was envious of how all the action stars made it look easy.
The massive rock, weighing more than a ton if it weighed a pound, fell through the air with near perfect accuracy. Both Jay and Dys rapidly backed off from the demon-possessed beast at the same time, not wanting to be too close when the boulder hit.
A split second before the deadly projectile hit, Jadis saw through Jay and Syd’s eyes as the sea bull abruptly shifted and then jerked its head upwards. The monster made no attempt to dodge out of the way. Instead, its huge bulbous skull met the falling rock with the force of a wrecking ball.
The sound of rock exploding echoed in the cove. Jadis stilled for a moment, shocked by what she’d just witnessed. The sea bull hadn’t been killed by the falling rock. In fact, it barely looked injured. It had slammed its head up into the multi-ton boulder and shattered it like the rock was nothing.
“Bullshit!” Jadis snarled in multiple voices.
“Look, it’s not uninjured!” Aila cried out from Syd’s side, pointing at the beast’s thick skull. Aila had joined Syd where she stood on the edge of the cliff, staring down at the monster.
More arcane runes began to appear in the air around the sea bull, indicating the monster was resuming its onslaught of water spells. Glancing at where Aila was pointing as both Jay and Dys started moving again, getting ready to dodge more attacks, Jadis saw that her companion was right. While the possessed beast had tanked the falling boulder, it hadn’t gotten out of it completely unscathed.
Large cracks were running across the sea bull’s skull, spreading out like spider webs from the impact point. Blood was also welling up from some of the larger cracks, showing that they weren’t entirely superficial. She couldn’t be sure, but the monster’s head and neck movements also looked more strained. Jadis could only hope there had been more internal damage to the bull’s skull and spine than was readily visible on the outside.
Encouraged to see that the attack hadn’t been a complete waste, Syd moved to leverage another boulder up out of the ground when the possessed beast’s spell flashed and another huge water bomb was sent hurtling through the air.
Only, the target wasn’t Jay or Dys.
“Aila!” Syd screamed as the powerful spell slammed into the edge of the cliff, water and debris blasting everywhere and near blinding her.
“Jadis!” Aila cried out, a wash of relief flooding through Jadis for a mere instant to hear that Aila was still alive.
The spell had struck more cliff than not from the angle it had come from, thus Aila was protected from the worst of the damaging effects. However, the cliff was still subjected to that devastating force.
Jadis’ blood ran ice cold as the ground beneath Aila crumbled, the cliff edge sliding away as the redhead screamed in terror. Syd lunged forward, long fingers reaching to grasp Aila’s hand, but she was too late.
Aila fell.