Liam stared at the fight before him.
The amount of damage they had been dealing while Artem was healing the other two attackers had diminished a bit. They needed to do something that could help up the damage.
The strategy to use the added damage from landing fire on plant and iced areas that were landed could help, but they needed to rely on their crowd control abilities to pull it off.
They could have Ariyana and Inyis take turns using Entangled Roots, but the spell wasn’t big enough to hold the whole body down while they used the magic combination. Plus, the fire would destroy the vines and release the creature before they could get back into position.
How can we incorporate that spell combination. If fire won’t do then maybe… Liam started to think until a thought came in to mind. It was when Artem called out for someone who could use water magic.
“I guess if using Grasp of the Shadows is only suitable for that strategy…then Entangle Roots could be used for that strategy instead,” Liam muttered under his breath as a smile formed on his face. His smile disappeared as he noticed a slight twitch in the spider’s left leg and shouted, “Incoming swipe! Back out!”
Macro, Blair, and Roman jumped back right as the Black Widow Matriarch brought her left leg back and swung. As she brought her leg back Marco rushed back in without waiting for any orders.
Liam watched as he rushed back in and swore under his breath before yelling, “Marco don’t rush in, stop!”
But, it was too late.
As Marco ran back in the Black Widow Matriarch was already swinging her right leg right for Marco’s torso.
He tried to stop and was going to jump back, but Liam knew he wouldn’t make it in time. Marco brought his hands and arms in, getting ready for contact, but then grew wide eyed as Artem rushed in as fast as he could and swung his shield up and over his head, parrying the strike above both of them.
“Yes! Great job Artem!” Liam yelled. He then barked out, “Alright, everyone back in!”
Marco gave Artem an appreciative nod before resuming his duties. Artem ran back to the side he was originally on while Blaire, Avery, and Roman resumed their attacks.
Liam watched as Danny reappeared by Marco’s side, but before he could attack, Lector called out to him, “Danny! Give me a boost!”
Danny turned around and cupped his hands together and crouched his legs a bit as Lector rushed over to him. With a smooth solid motion, he placed a foot in Danny’s cupped hands and was launched into the air arcing over the massive spider.
Liam watched Lector look around, found something interesting, aimed for it and threw a couple of daggers.
The Black Widow Matriarch let out a loud shrill sound indicating it was in pain as it tried to swing around and swipe at the dual colored fairy winged man.
Right before it could swipe its sharp leg at him, Lector suddenly split into two. One of the versions of the man ran as fast as he could out of the striking range while the other ran towards the creature gaining its attention and having her attack it instead.
The Black Widow Matriarch’s leg swiped right through that version of Lector’s torso cleaving it into two. However, the body didn’t shoot blood, but instead looked like a puff of smoke being pulled away.
“Great timing, Ariyana!” Liam shouted. “Buff the casters and replenish your mana before attacking again.”
Ariyana nodded before doing as she was told.
“Mercer, rebuff the defenders then the attackers!” Liam ordered.
“Lapis help out with…,” Inyis started to say.
“Hold up on that,” Liam interjected making Inyis turn to him.
Lapis looked at the man too, slowly growing a scowl, and was about to complain about how he had the nerve to stop her lady from giving an order but stopped as Liam continued.
“Lapis, you have water magic right?” Liam questioned.
Lapis looked at Inyis who stared at her waiting for her to answer.
“Yes, why?” Lapis asked holding back her disdain.
“Can you land a water spell big enough to get that creature wet?” Liam asked.
Lapis thought about it. She then replied, “Yes but it takes up a good portion of my mana.”
“That’s fine,” Liam nodded. “Cast it as soon as you can.”
Lapis wasn’t really sure why he wanted her to use a water spell that would probably only get the creature wet and was going to argue about it.
“Do it Lapis!” Inyis barked giving her an irritated look.
“Yes, my lady,” Lapis stated before channeling her mana.
“Inyis and Ariyana, use Entangled Roots on that creature to hold it down. Spread it out so you both are able to pin as much of the body as you can.”
Inyis and Ariyana nodded as they started channeling their mana before chanting.
“Front line!” Liam shouted while turning to face the front. “Lapis is about to cast a water spell over the creature, do not get wet or stay in the puddle that’s about to form under the creature! Marco and Roman! After the spell lands use your most powerful Lightning spell! Lector, get over here when this goes on!”
“Got it!” the others shouted.
Shortly after Liam barked out his orders, Ariyana and Inyis finished their chanting. Several vines suddenly shot out from the ground underneath the Black Widow Matriarch. Each vine snaked around the legs of the massive spider, tightened and pulled down, restricting the creature from moving. A couple other vines wrapped around the abdomen and tightened as well, but the amount that wrapped around wasn’t as tight as the ones around her legs.
The Black Widow Matriarch struggled as she tried jerking and twisting her legs around but failed to free herself.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Liam turned to look at Lapis and watched as the mana she was channeling grew bright. Once when the level of brightness reached the amount she was able to take she started chanting, “Water, clear and pristine. I call upon you for your aide. Wash away any that I point you towards. Water Orb.”
Liam watched as the mana she had channeled poured into two small orbs of clear water. With each bit of mana she pushed into them, the orbs started swelling. Before he knew it both orbs grew too big and were merged together. The size of this orb was almost the same size as her. She lifted her wand up a bit to let it grow some more as she continued to pour in more mana she had channeled.
Liam grew a bit worried as he watched this giant orb of water grow. It reminded him of a water balloon being filled. It looked like it was ready to pop at any second.
Finally, it had reached the size of a small car and she slowly guided it right above the struggling creature being held down by vines.
After getting it right into place, Liam shouted, “Everyone out now!”
As soon as he shouted this, Lapis popped the massive orb of water and watched as it washed down and drenched the Black Widow Matriarch.
The wave of water that hit the ground spread out a few feet from the giant creature.
“Marco and Roman!” Liam yelled out as he pulled out a vial that flashed every other second.
“O orb of sparks pure and true. Shoot and engulf the one in your path. Ripple through the muscles and make them lock. Electro Orb!”
Two orbs of purplish-yellow electricity suddenly sparked right in front of Roman’s and Marco’s hands. They grew to the size of basketballs as Marco and Roman focused hard.
Shortly after that they both ran to opposite sides and threw the orbs at the drenched creature still struggling to break free.
As soon as the orbs of electricity made contact with the spider, a bright light of purplish yellow suddenly flashed as several arcs of lightning danced around the Black Widow Matriarch’s body. A few wild flashes of electricity snaked out and around the edge of the giant puddle.
The Black Widow Matriarch let out a loud agonizing shrill noise as her body looked like it was tensing up. However, thanks to the vines, she couldn’t move her legs enough to curl up.
“And for extra damage,” Liam muttered before throwing the vial at the spider. He then added, “Back up some more people!”
Everyone ran back as they saw the vial hurling in the air. As soon as they got back far enough, they watched as the vial shattered against the Black Widow Matriarch’s head releasing a raven black orb that floated up above her head.
The massive size spider’s body looked like it was trying to be lifted off the ground to get closer to the orb but was stopped by the vines that held it in place.
After a few seconds had passed, the orb that hovered above suddenly flashed and sent a shockwave of lighting out washing over the creature within it.
After the shockwave dispersed, lightning suddenly bounced all around the spider’s body, causing it to scream even louder and started to convulse.
Liam quickly glanced at the creature’s stat bars.
“Raised Black Widow Matriarch. 6,157/9750 HP. 0/0 MP. Level 18 (Partially Sealed).”
“That is amazing to see,” Lector stated as he appeared next to Liam.
Liam turned to look at the Fairy man and gave him a grin. “Right?”
“Anyways, you needed me?” Lector said prying his eyes away from the sight.
“Yes, what did you do when you jumped into the air and threw your daggers?” Liam started. “It looked like you got a couple of crits in there.”
“Crits?” Lector questioned as he gave him a puzzled expression.
“Never mind,” Liam waved.
“Okay…there are a few cracks on the top of the abdomen. I threw my daggers there and got some extra damage in,” Lector informed.
“Interesting,” Liam started to say and was about to continue until someone shouted to grab his attention.
“Liam!” Mica shouted. “We could use one of those fire bomb things you have over here!”
Liam turned to see Jude’s and Aranis’ group struggling to fight the Spider Tailed Horned Viper.
A couple of their melee strikers jumped back to dodge a tail swing and swift snap of the snake’s jaw.
“In a sec!” Liam yelled back. He then turned to Inyis and stated, “You’re in charge till I get back. I’m taking Ariyana with me though.”
Inyis and Ariyana swiftly turned their heads to look at him.
“Huh?” Ariyana questioned.
“Are you sure?” Inyis inquired with a confused look.
“Yeah this should only take a moment. We’ll be right back,” Liam stated as he motioned for Ariyana to follow.
“Um okay,” Inyis replied back before looking at the paralyzed spider.
“Why do you need me?” Ariyana questioned as she ran next to Liam.
Liam looked at her and answered, “I’ll need your help to distract the giant snake while I try to restraint it.”
“I don’t think any of my charm spells will work on it though,” Ariyana stated.
“I don’t need you to charm it I just need you to distract it. I think your Dancing Lights spell should work,” Liam stated.
Ariyana looked at him before saying, “I kind of forgot about that spell.”
“I know,” Liam stated. “It has a lot of potential, so you need to use it more.”
Ariyana nodded. “Alright. When should I use it?”
“As soon as we get there get as close as you can without getting into harm’s way and cast it,” Liam replied as they quickly approached Mica.
“Got it,” Ariyana nodded as she changed her trajectory towards the Spider Tailed Horned Viper.
“How are you guys doing over here?” Liam asked as he reached Mica.
“We’re surviving,” Mica quickly answered. “Those damn scales are as hard as rocks and are still a pain even after becoming an Undead type.”
Liam nodded as he stared at the creature’s health pool.
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“Raised Spider Tailed Horned Viper. 7150/9750 HP. 0/0 MP. Level 18 (Partially Sealed).”
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“Alright, we’ll give you guys a quick hand before we head back to the other monster,” Liam stated as he watched Ariyana throw out three different colored orbs towards the viper’s head.
The Spider Tailed Horned Viper suddenly whipped its head back before shaking it. It then tried snapping its massive mouth at one of the dancing lights, but failed.
“What the hell?” Jude yelled out. “What is that?”
“It’s one of my spells,” Ariyana replied as she started channeling mana.
As everyone on the front lines turned to look back they heard Liam finish chanting, “Remind them why they should fear their own Shadow. Grasp of the Shadows!”
Bernard and Jude instinctively jumped back as shadowy tendrils shot out from the Spider Tailed Horned Viper’s shadow. Each tendril wrapped around parts of the snake’s massive body and yanked it down to the ground. A loud thunk sound echoed as its head was slammed down hard against the floor.
Shortly after the shadowy tendrils constricted over the creature, Ariyana finished chanting and released several razor sharp leaves that flew towards the mid-section of the snake. A couple of the leaves bounced off while others lodged themselves between the rocky scales.
Liam saw this and thought of an idea. He turned to Rez and asked, “Can you land as many ice spells as you can before I throw this vial?”
Rez turned to look at him. At first he was confused, but after looking at the bottle he understood what he wanted to do. Rez nodded before he started channeling as much mana as he could.
As soon as he channeled enough mana he chanted, “Liquid condensed, Freeze and take form. Sharp as a sword, but hard as steel. Fly forth and pierce my enemy. Icicle Lance!”
Two orbs of water suddenly formed right in front of the Elf. They stretched out a bit before suddenly freezing over.
As soon as they fully formed Rez threw the two Icicles and watched as they pierced into the other side of the giant snake, freezing the areas around where they landed.
Liam waited for another round of Icicles to land on one side and another round of razor sharp leaves to pierce the other.
After they landed once more, Liam barked out, “Frontline back up as much as you can!”
Aranis, Bernard, Jude, and the others turned around and ran as fast as they could away from the creature. As soon as Liam believed they were well out of range, he threw two small vials of tannish brown liquid. One crashed right between the Spider Tailed Horned Viper’s eyes while the other landed on its back.
“Time for a fire show,” Liam said while tossing the bigger vial.
Liam watched as it arced a bit and shattered right behind the creature’s head.
A raven black orb slowly rose and started sucking in anything within the radius. Bits and pieces of dust and broken floor tiles floated into the air and towards the orb.
Liam stared at this and grew a frown. Something about seeing those clumps of broken tile starting to cover the orb didn’t sit well in his stomach.
Liam tried to think about why he was feeling this until the orb started to drop.
As soon as it dropped down, Liam’s Danger Sense suddenly flared up.
“Shit! Everyone, duck!” Liam shouted as he started to drop down himself, but it was too late.
As the heatwave exploded outwards, the rubble that was collected shot out like a shotgun.
Two pieces, one the size of Liam’s fist and the other the size of his stomach collided right into Liam’s stomach and chest. The force of the objects crashing into him sent him flying backwards like a skipping stone until he slid to a stop.
“Liam!” Ariyana shouted.