Turning around quickly, I saw a massive clawed arm sweeping down towards me. I barely managed to roll to the side in time before the claw embedded itself into the clay where I had stood.

The large monster was truly grotesque. Standing over twice my size, the beast was a heavily muscled brute. Vicious horns and spikes jutted out from its craggy gray hide at odd angles. A narrow, bony tail akin to the skeleton of a massive fish lashed behind the monster. Within the horror’s craggy flesh, dense mana writhed before my mana sight.

The most horrific part of the abominable creature was its face. Set upon an elongated neck, the beast’s head was larger than my torso. Beneath a crown of horns, four beady, black eyes stared menacingly towards me. The upper portion of its jaw was like that of a demented serpent, filled dozens of dagger sharp fangs. Its lower jaw was more akin to a pair of toothy mandibles, stretching the terrible maw in three directions as it let out an irritated roar.

I had no idea what this terrible thing was, but one thing was clear; It wasn’t friendly.

While I had concerns after what happened with the monkey, I needed to stop this brute immediately. Springing to my feet as quickly as I could, I wove my mana into the form of the spell I had chosen to name phantom fire.

The spell struck as the beast readied its other massive claw for another strike. Immediately, the creature thrashed about as I watched the mana from my spell latch onto the nerves in the creature’s head. Its long tongue flicked about madly as the beast clawed at its face. Just as I was turning to run, a flash of the monster’s internal mana shattered my spell.

In the time it took for the brute to shake off the lingering pain from my spell, I had managed to put a few thick trees between myself and the monster. I didn’t expect a second casting to be particularly effective now that the thing knew how to break free from my phantom fire.

With a steadier hand than the first time I cast it, I wove my fire bolt spell into being. Based on the massive quantity of mana flowing through the creature’s body, I doubted that my spell would be able to kill it even if I used my entire mana pool.

Instead of aiming for overwhelming power, I only sank a few points of mana into my spell. I focused the fire and force as tightly as I could, before launching it at my target.

My practice with launching stones had proven fruitful, as my finger of flame struck the beast directly in one of its eyes. The painful distraction provided me enough time to weave a second fire bolt before the monster swung its claw at me again.

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I launched my spell as I dove behind the tree. Splintered wood exploded outwards as the powerful blow smashed through a portion of the ancient tree’s trunk. My aim was fouled, but at least I managed to avoid getting myself torn apart. I didn’t see the impact, but the tiny scorch mark on one of the monster’s horns revealed the fate of my fire bolt.

It didn’t look like I would be able to escape the beast with my magic alone. With the beast’s sheer bulk in mind, I didn’t even consider overcoming the thing in combat. Already, I could see the mana in the monster’s flesh slowly mending its burned eye.

I needed a plan, but the brute didn’t intend to give me time to think of one. I fled back towards the river as I rolled out of the way of another wood shattering strike.

Many long vines hung down from the canopy above, giving me a reckless idea.

Running as fast as my weary legs could carry me, I bolted towards the river. A parting swing from the beast tore through the back of my pant leg, but merely grazed my leg.

With an adrenaline fueled leap, I launched myself over the water. Compared to the width of the river, I didn’t make it far, but it was far enough to reach a vine hanging from above.

I glanced at the hulking beast behind me as I swung forwards. With agility belying its huge form, the beast hurled itself through the air after me. My eyes widened in disbelief. I wasn’t expecting it to be able to do that.

If I didn’t move, it was going to crash right into me. There was no way I could throw myself from the vine with enough force to get out of the way in time.

Force… Perhaps there was a way after all.

Almost completely emptying my mana pool, I crafted the largest version of my invisible force spell I could.

The resulting kick to the guts was definitely not pleasant, but it gave me the boost I needed to launch myself to the side of the beast’s trajectory. Its wickedly curved claws came within a hair’s breadth of my face as it soared past me.

The jarring impact with the water was not what my bruised and battered body needed. Somewhat stunned, it took me a few moments to flounder my way back to the surface.

Gasping for air, I tried to find where the monster had landed. It didn’t take me long to spot the hideous creature splashing about in the middle of the river. It was staying afloat, but calling what it was doing swimming would have been generous.

Relieved that the beast wasn’t going to be able to reach me again immediately, I began swimming back towards the river bank. Just as I set foot upon land, I heard a massive splash.

Rising up from the river was a colossal, serpent-like head covered in pale blue scales. Clenched in the titan’s enormous maw was the brutish horror. With a sickening snap, the jaws crushed the life out of the smaller monster.

I watched in awe as the titan’s momentum carried more of its body above the water. Majestic fins lined its snake-like form and the sun played beautifully off its scales.

With another massive splash, the colossal entity swiftly sank back into the river.