Arwin heard the fight long before he saw it. Swathes of trees snapped in unison in a synchronized chorus. The crash of massive footsteps shook the forest floor, punctuated by massive roars.
A man’s voice yelled out orders, panic seeping into his tone. More trees shattered and screams rang out through the trees and rose up into the air. Amidst it all, the sounds of the forest continued unperturbed.
Birds chittered just barely out of sight, even though any logical animal would have been desperately flying in the opposite direction of the noise.
The Menagerie, however, ran directly toward it. They burst from the treeline and into a freshly made clearing littered with the pulverized stumps of trees. Jagged wooden splinters were strewn about the ground like firewood and dust floated through the air in large clouds.
Patches of blackened and scorched earth littered the ground and trees smoldered around them, several of them crackling with flame.
A towering, lizardlike monster stood on its hind legs at the far edge of the clearing. Its arms were comically short. That did nothing to make it even slightly less intimidating. It was covered with craggy, shieldlike scales with the consistency of lava rock. Muted orange light glowed beneath its skin like a pulsing flame trying to break free from within it. The monster stood taller than the trees, its glowing red eyes easily almost two stories in the air. Thick, jagged teeth of stone jutted out of its mouth in every direction.
[Overloading Crag Lizard – Journeyman 9]
The Crag Lizard’s tail was nearly as long as its upper body and ended in a large, spiked ball three times the size of Arwin’s head. A huge foot slammed into the ground as the monster twisted its body, sending its tail through another set of trees and ripping them apart like they were made out of paper mache.
The trees crashed to the ground, revealing two cowering adventurers. One of them — a blonde woman wearing loose, baggy clothing — thrust her hands forward and sent a bolt of blue light into the Crag Lizard’s face, only for it to scrape off the rough scales and fly into the air behind it, doing absolutely no damage.
“Godspit,” Lillia said as they all skidded to a stop. “Rodrick was right. That’s a big bugger.”
“Hey!” Arwin yelled, waving his hammer over his head to try and get the adeventurer team’s attention. “Over here! We’ll back you up. Just stay alive!”
The woman and the man that appeared to be the party’s warrior glanced over in their direction. Arwin didn’t wait to see if they were going to listen to him. There was no time to waste.
“Cover us as you can,” Arwin told Reya. “Lillia, focus on binding it down. Rodrick, Olive, with me. Let me keep its attention.”
“Trust me, no complaints there,” Rodrick muttered. The three of them charged forward and Arwin quickly took the lead as he sent [Scourge] into his feet, bounding across the ground like he were walking in half-gravity.
His feet hit the dirt a short distance from the huge monster and he launched himself into the air, whipping Verdant Blaze up in the direction of his momentum. It slammed into the Crag Lizard’s side with a loud crash.
The lizard stumbled a step, but force from Arwin’s blow was enough to throw him back through the air. A wave of blue slammed into him an instant before he hit the ground and froze him in place, followed by the sound of shattering glass as he was set back into motion and dropped him to his feet easily.
Arwin didn’t have time to thank Reya for the save. Rodrick and Olive had both arrived at the Crag Lizard. The former paladin brought his sword into the monster’s foot in a series of glowing slashes that bit into the grooves between its scales, sending blue blood spilling out.
A pained roar escaped the monster’s huge, tooth-ridden maw. It spun toward them, the other adventurer group forgotten. Orange light smoldered deep within the monster’s throat, rapidly growing in intensity.
“It can breath fire!” the female adventurer screamed in warning. Given the flames that covered the clearing, it wasn’t particularly useful — but the thought was still appreciated.
A wave of blue slammed into the monster, halting it for just an instant. Arwin used the brief time Reya had bought them to burst into motion, throwing himself back into the air and whipping [Verdant Blaze] for the lizard’s jaw.
It snapped out of Reya’s restrictive magic before Arwin could reach it. The light building in its throat grew brighter until flame smoldered within the back of its throat and stared at Arwin like a third eye.
The lizard roared and the fire burst forth — only for Verdant Blaze to drive up into the monster. Arwin poured [Scourge]’s power into the blow, slamming the Crag Lizard’s mouth shut and knocking its head back with a crack.
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Sputters of fire coiled out from its scaley lips and it stumbled, pitching back and tripping over its own tail. Arwin dropped to the ground and it crashed back into the trees, demolishing several more of them and sending up a huge cloud of dust.
The adventurers that it had been chasing limped across the clearing. Both the woman and the man were nursing several severe wounds. Anna rushed to meet them, healing energy gathering at her hands.
An enormous roar tore through the forest. The ground bucked beneath Arwin’s feet as the lizard’s tail slammed into the dirt and it pushed itself back up. It spun toward them, demolishing another group of trees in the process.
Water gathered around Rodrick’s sword as he burst into motion, sprinting across the clearing as the Crag Lizard reared its tail back, and driving his blade straight up into its underside.
Its eyes widened in understandable pain and it let out a scream, sending a burst of flame arcing into the air from its mouth. Rodrick ripped his sword free and threw himself to the side as the Crag Lizard brought its foot down where he’d been a moment before, nearly crushing him.
Arwin rushed to join Rodrick, whipping Verdant Blaze around and into the monster’s knee. He’d have loved to take advantage of Shieldbreaker, but he just couldn’t keep the monster still for long enough to hit it in the same spot every time.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Olive waiting at the sidelines, looking for an opportunity to attack herself. With how slow her sword abilities were, it made sense. She wouldn’t be able to do much if she grew close until it was somehow disoriented or incapacitated. They had to buy her enough time to attack.
Twin bolts of blue light ripped out from behind Arwin and struck the monster one after the other. Neither of them did anything, but at least one of the other adventurers was trying.
The Crag Lizard’s tail whistled through toward Arwin and Rodrick. Arwin grabbed the other warrior and threw himself to the ground, taking Rodrick along with him. The tail passed overhead with a howl.
“Thanks. I’m not doing too hot on magical energy,” Rodrick said, panting for breath as they scrambled to their feet. “I poured a huge amount of it into those first few attacks. Was hoping I’d cripple it.”
The lizard took a lumbering step toward them, and the forest bucked beneath it once more. There was a lot of blood coming out of its wounds, but it was big enough to have a lot of blood to lose.
“You’re doing fine,” Arwin replied. He’d managed to knock the lizard around a bit with his hammer, but he hadn’t done any significant damage to its armor yet. “We need to get Olive in the fight. Her sword is going to do more damage to this thing than anything we can do. Once she splits it open, I can finish it off.”
The Lizard leaned forward, fire gathering in the back of its throat. A ripple of blue energy slammed into it. Arwin and Rodrick threw themselves to the side and the monster returned to motion, sending a wall of flame pouring out over the ground where they’d been.
“I can distract it while you charge your bow,” Rodrick offered.
“No,” Arwin said. “It’ll take too long. You aren’t strong enough to hold it off on your own and Olive doesn’t have the defenses to play aggressive together with you.”
Rodrick grunted in a mixture of distaste and agreement. “I could hold it off for a few seconds with Liberate. Is that enough?”
The Crag Lizard roared. Its burning eyes locked onto them and its tail whipped out. Reya hit the monster with another Imprison, buying Rodrick and Arwin just enough time to scramble to safety. Arwin bit back a curse. It didn’t look like they had a choice.
“I’ll back him up,” Lillia called. Black wings of shadow snapped open behind her and she leapt from the treeline, landing beside them. “I’ve been gathering some shadow to work with. This is an awful environment for me, but I can help for a short while.”
We really need a way to lock enemies down better.
“Fine. Be careful,” Arwin said, spinning and running to the end of the clearing. He summoned Prism’s Reach as he ran and skidded to a stop. He braced the end of the massive bow against the ground and clenched his teeth as he activated [Scourge] and started to draw the string back, unable to do anything but watch as the Crag Lizard’s tail bore down on Rodrick.
The warrior flung himself back, landing in a roll, and shot to his feet as yellow light enveloped his body. It infused his skin and the air around him crackled with electric energy. The Crag Lizard brought its tail down toward him again and Rodrick blurred, launching himself out of the way.
He drove his sword into a gap in the monster’s armor, using it like a launchpad to fling himself onto its back. His fingers dug into the thick scales and he ripped his sword free, driving it into the monster’s side.
The blow was probably nothing more than the equivalent of a splinter, but the Crag Lizard screamed in fury. It twisted, trying to get Rodrick off itself, but lines of shadow erupted from beneath Lillia and stretched across the ground to wind around its feet.
They thickened as they wrapped around the monster, tearing at the seams even as she sent more energy into them. Lillia’s lips pressed thin and her hands trembled with exertion. Using shadow magic in broad daylight was clearly far from ideal when she wasn’t even a combatant.
Arwin groaned, pulling the string back farther. Power flooded from his body and into Prism’s Reach. The bow creaked in delight as it drank from him.
The Crag Lizard twisted abruptly, finally managing to fling Rodrick free. Its tail whipped around and water gathered before him a moment before it slammed into him. He slammed into the ground like a meteor and skidded through the dirt, the glow sputtering and fading from his body — his armor had drained every last drop of magic he had in reducing the force of the blow.
A wave of energy shot from Anna’s hands and flooded into Rodrick. He pushed himself upright with a groan. A victorious roar tore from the Crag Lizard’s mouth and it leaned forward, gathering fire to cook Rodrick alive.
Blue light enveloped the monster an instant before shadowy bands snapped its mouth shut, binding as tightly as they could. The lizard broke free of Reya’s magic and trembled in fury, starting to rip free of Lillia’s powers as well.
Arwin pulled the string back further, gritting his teeth. He activated [Arsenal]. His arrow snapped into existence, already notched. Power thrummed through his entire body and ran through the limbs of the bow as he took aim. There wasn’t going to be time for another shot. If this one missed, they’d have no way to take the lizard out.
He adjusted his aim once more, making sure the arrow would fly true.
Then he released the string.