Dutch reared beneath me as rocks, soil, and tufts of grass blasted upwards. Jax similarly launched his front hooves skyward as empathetically as his brother. Tallos and I held on for dear life as our horses struck out into the air in distress. The twin eruptions happened nearly simultaneously, the first detonating off to my right and the other a foot from Tallos’ left. Situated in the middle of the explosions, our sight of the previously empty savannah was stolen from the sheer amount of destroyed earth churning around us. As a result, it was impossible to identify what caused the explosion. Dutch’s front legs slammed down, allowing me an opportunity to calm the alarmed animal down.
Neither Ripley nor Lowki were anywhere to be seen, though I doubted either could be until the dome of debris rained back to the ground. Worse, Ripley seemed to have been standing right over the blast sight. With so much sensory stimulation, I was too overwhelmed to determine if she had been injured or, at worst, killed. My only concern in those first few moments was pacifying Dutch not to bolt off. Only after doing so could I hope to determine what attacked us.
Unfortunately, our aggressors would not grant us any such concessions. Faster than I could react, a long cylindrical body thicker than my waist snapped around Dutch’s neck. As if the largest boa constrictor imaginable had latched onto my friend, my eyes widened in disbelief. In a blink of an eye, the scaled form coiled further down Dutch’s neck before coiling under his heaving chest before coming within inches of the front of my saddle. Unable to do anything for my friend, for now, the realization dawned I would soon share the same fate. Thinking quickly, desperately wanting to avoid becoming snared, I launched back in my seat while simultaneously kicking my heels forcibly into my stirrups.
Flinging myself clear, I crashed heavily on my back several feet away from where Dutch continued to struggle to break free. Fortunately, given how hard I landed, my breath had not been blasted from my lungs from the impact. I had only time to lean forward as Dutch was forcefully thrown to the ground. Dutch grunted in pain and immediately set his legs kicking to escape as the snake continued to slither around his body. To my left, Tallos and Jax did not fare any better. Unlike me, Tallos had not been able to extricate himself before he, too, was wrapped in an unforgiving, scaly body.
With only faint particles of dust still hanging in the air, I took in the scene and easily marked our attackers. Two massive snakes with emerald scales and white chevron patterns reminiscent of a python or cobra worked methodically to immobilize their victims. Each had to be well over thirty feet long, with bodies wider than my chest. As my friends continued to struggle against the mounting pressure as more coils looped around them, a uniformly off-white underbelly was visible. Considering the hardened scale plates covering most of the snake’s body looked more than capable of turning aside the fiercest of blows, perhaps the underside was a weakness I could exploit.
Following the snake’s body leading away from where Dutch and Jax writhed, my eyes widened in surprise as the true horror of what we were up against became apparent. Rising upward to loom over its victim, the snake’s body transformed from jaded scales to a man’s lower torso. My eyes roved higher, taking in pale flesh, washboard abs, chiseled pecks, and arms generous enough to put Arnold’s Terminator body to shame. The pasty white body looked incongruous as if the body hadn’t seen a wink of daylight. If I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn I was staring at a dead body. Obviously, this appalling foe was far from it.
Taking in more of the creature, my eyes scanned higher, taking in the inhumanly long neck, which sprouted twin cobra-like shields flaring outwards to either side. What sat fat atop the pallid neck was far from a human head. Instead, an abnormally wide snake head with the same green and white striped pattern as the snake body stared furiously at me. The serpent's face glared at me with such intensity it was as if my very existence was an affront it could not, would not tolerate under any circumstances. It was a mask of utter hatred for the living, more akin to the malevolent gaze of an undead, promised an excoriating death. This was foe that couldn’t be bargained with. It couldn’t be reasoned with and would absolutely not stop until we were dead.
Glaring daggers in my direction, perhaps the most appalling aspect of the monsters arrayed against us were their eyes. Instead of piercing vertical slitted pupils, round human eyes, a light shade of blue looked… forlornly at me. While the rest of the head was a mask of fury, its eyes bore straight through, carrying a look of abject suffering. So disjointed were those terror-filled orbs compared to the rest of the creature’s demeanor that I nearly fell back in shock.
This was a beast unlike any I had ever encountered and, with how easily it manhandled Dutch, contained such raw physical strength I had no hope of overcoming through strength of arms. It may come to that, unfortunately, and the point was driven home when a squeal of pain wrenched from Dutch. Regaining my feet, Frostrend felt light in my hand, the weapon having been summoned without conscious thought. Closing its human eyes, a black forked tongue flicked from the snake’s broad face as it tasted the air. Grinning wickedly as if enjoying the fear permeating the air, my eyes narrowed in anger. The damnable thing was enjoying the panic it was causing to radiate away from my terrified companion. Firming my will, my friends needed me, now more than ever. I would make this pitiful excuse of a grass snake come to learn genuine fear as its body was obliterated from within and without.
The snake’s creature’s whip-like tongue flickered back behind its scaled lips, cocking its head to the side as if pleased. Eyelids opened, and pleading human eyes locked onto me, the only challenger standing up to its cruelty. An old memory flashed through my mind as I considered my plan of action. From my past life, I recalled once reading cobras had better eyesight than other types of snakes. My enemy appeared to use both sight and smell to track prey, so I doubted this obscure knowledge could be taken advantage of.
Shaking the distracting thought from my mind, a flash of gray from off to the snake's side caught my attention. The darting form going unnoticed by my opponent, the tall snake slithered forward confidently as it stalked closer to my position. I thought I was the only challenger present.
It uses its superior sense of smell to hone in on a target before relying on eyesight to engage in close quarters, I mused to myself. My snake hadn’t burst from the ground earlier in an attempt to destroy or disable Ripley. It was sheer happenstance she was above the buried snake before it rocketed upwards, springing its trap!
Had the brute bothered to use its eyes as it lay in wait, perhaps it would have spotted the armored skeletal figure riding alongside me. Like a living tornado, the completely odorless Ripley slammed her great sword horizontally with considerable strength against the oblivious creature’s armored scales. Sadly, the first of our foes was not so easily bested. Despite Ripley’s prodigious strength, she only managed to break a few scales, her sword penetrating scant inches into the monster’s ironclad scaled body.
With how tall the erect snake stood in the grass, Ripley’s perpendicular strike hit only hardened scales a foot below where the human torso was. “Aim for its human body!” I scream, hoping my hunch would prove helpful as Ripley threw more tremendous strikes against her towering foe.
A blaring hiss of pain emanated from the snake’s lips as its serpent body undulated, retreating from Ripley and bringing it closer to the struggling Dutch. The snake, more than aware of the threat Ripley’s hacking attacks could be, was determined never to allow her free liberty to deliver unfettered assaults ever again. Its forked tongue darted out agitatedly as if attempting to pick up the skeleton’s nonexistent scene. It shook its rotund head in confusion, but, as I suspected, its human eyesight would make up for where its superior sense of smell failed it.
Throwing back its torso to avoid another blow, the monster’s human hands reached unexpectedly to seize something from behind its muscular back. A moment later, its hands rushed downwards in an overly truculent motion. The brute was pissed.
With a start, I realized the purpose of the aggressive maneuver. The creature had somehow armed itself! White-knuckled fists now gripped twin scimitars. With a skillful flourish of its wrists, the snake demonstrated superb control of its weapons as the pair swished through the evening air.
Having gone unnoticed before now, the snake wore two bleached white baldrics crisscrossed across its bare human chest. Against the deathly pale skin, the leather blended in perfectly and was nearly impossible to detect. Hidden from view, two downward-swept sheathed sabers gave the monster the necessary arms to defend itself against any steel an opponent could muster against it.
Cursing inwardly, I had allowed the fight to go on too long without my input. I moved. With Ripley’s skill with her blade, she would have to be enough to handle her frightening opponent and distract it from crushing Dutch’s life to a pulp. Tallos and Jax needed me. Focusing on the leftmost snake, I analyzed my foe even as the first words to a powerful spell formed behind my lips. Not affording to be distracted, I allowed the information to flow into my subconscious.
Invidious Naga Burrower (Level 38)
Created through a laborious profane ritual, an Invidious Naga Burrower is an unholy fusion between a moribund human held in the final throes of death and an enraged Naga Delver. Never seen before, this creature abhors all living beings with the contempt of the living undead and is incredibly territorial. Lying in wait feet beneath the earth, this predator bursts like an exploding geyser, ambushing its unsuspecting victims with diabolical efficiency. Only the strongest opponents stand any hope of surviving the savagery of a Naga Burrower's attacks.
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Preferring to strangle its prey to death, wary Hunters should also take great care to avoid its virulent venom. Unlike a classic Naga, the Invidious Naga Burrower’s venom grows far more potent the more massive the creature is. If even a droplet of the malevolent venom enters a victim’s bloodstream, potent neurotoxins immediately begin debilitating its victim with initial symptoms swiftly transforming from seemingly harmless paresthesia to gut-wrenching emesis, hemiplegic migraines, plegia paralysis, and eventually complete circulatory failure.
Hopefully, the stars will align in your favor this day, Hunter. Good luck!
Gods, what a fiend!
My new mark continued to writhe its serpentine form around Tallos and Jax yet wasn’t focused on constricting the pair overly much. It was paying its trapped victims little heed, instead focusing on where I stood. It was as if the snake, nay, the Naga was attempting to puzzle out an unseen foe hidden in the ankle-tall grass. Not hesitating a moment longer, and with an infuriated flick of my wrist, Frostrend was sent spinning end over end at its muscular back, where another set of sheathed sabers sat angled toward the ground. All the while, the words to my strongest single target spell grated through strained lips as potent mana gathered in my chest before lancing to my awaiting hands.
Hoping to relieve some of the tension coiled around Tallos, effectively pinning him against his saddle, I purposely upcast Vivisection now that my hands were free. Against such dangerous adversaries, we would need every ounce of damage we could call upon. Better still, in light of my conversation with Stella, the forthcoming whirling blades had the best chance of triggering the secondary flee effect the moment the razors touched and tore deep lacerations across the snake’s body. If it did, I hoped the Naga would release my friends before rushing off to its companion in abject terror. As the final arcane words were uttered, I held out hope my friends would live to see another day.
My incantation completed. In a blur of motion, a specter of dust teeming with incorporeal blades shot away like a Tasmanian devil. Crashing into the distracted serpent’s form, a muffled echo of ricocheting steel reached my ears as deep gouges appeared all over the monster’s body. Red blood from mauled flesh dripped, soon mixing with a ghastly inky fluid escaping between emerald scales. The beast howled in anguish, arching its back in pain as it flung its serpent head upwards into the indifferent sky. The cry was deeper than expected as if it came from a man instead of a slithering animal. Unfortunately, even as the spectral blades continued to tear rents in flesh and scale alike, the Naga didn’t so much as budge towards its companion.
“The fear effect didn’t trigger,” Stella shouted beside me, though I had already ascertained as much myself.
Damn it, I cursed inwardly. Desperately craving to cast the same spell immediately, hoping to materialize the fear effect, I dismissed the notion. The spell couldn’t be cast again for another five seconds due to the cool down. Moreover, even if recast upon the same target, I doubted it would do more than reset its duration to the maximum. It was highly doubtful that the initially high chance of the special effect triggering would occur. Until the spell completed, I could now only rely on the standard twenty to thirty percent chance Stella shared earlier.
Lost behind the cloudy apparition of blades created by Vivisection, I could not determine if my thrown axe had done any appreciable damage. If any, I thought grimly. Recalling Frostrend to my grasp via my enchanted ring of recall, I noted with some satisfaction a glint of red running down its blade. Smiling wickedly, I began reciting another of my most potent damage over time spells.
A thunderous crash to my right threatened to pull my attention aside at quite possibly at the worst possible moment. If I diverted my gaze, my spell would be lost. Undeterred, I locked eyes on my target, willing the twisting magic to complete as mystical syllables flowed hurriedly from my mouth. My hands twisted before me, weaving necessary gestures. Pyroclastic Funeral Pyre completed in less than two seconds, thanks to my addition of Quick Cast and burning embers encircled the already suffering Naga. Burning cinder and ash crashed against its form, stealing even more sight of the dangerous foe.
Choosing this particular area of effect spell was not done by accident. Not only would it damage my opponent, but with the proximity to my struggling friends, its secondary effect would provide both with a significant dose of healing magic, the same as if my regeneration spell was each.
Glancing over at Dutch, hoping he was close enough to benefit from the same beneficial healing, I was perplexed to discover him resting on the opposite side of his body from before. It was the crash from moments earlier, I realized. The only way he could find himself this was if the Naga had violently flipped him over. Outside the range of my healing, I whispered the words of my lesser regen, hoping it would help him outlast while Ripley dealt with his aggressor. As my spell completed, I eyed Ripley. She had retreated under the incessant attacks of her Naga, the snake’s crescent blades coming in one unending flurry by the look of it. In a fit of anger, the Naga must have unceremoniously thrown the restrained horse to his other side to be able to continue advancing on the lone skeletal figure.
Trusting in Ripley’s abilities to keep her foe occupied, I internally berated myself. I could ill afford inattention against Tallos and Jax’s fearsome foe as it could lash out at its hapless victims at any moment. While it was preoccupied with the suffering it was enduring at the hands of my two DoTs, based on the creature’s description, if given a chance to inject its venom into either pinned friend, the Naga could seal their fate without direct intervention from my cure poison spell. With how potent the venom was, it would undoubtedly take a dedicated back-to-back casting to cleanse the toxin. At the moment, I could hardly attempt such a feat, not with an enraged snake barreling down on me.
Hearing the sound of my voice as I chanted a new spell, the Naga vehemently ignored the wracking pain savaging its body and fixated on my position with vengeance brimming across its serpent face. Unfortunately for me, the enraged beast was blistering fast and acted before my spell completed. With how distracted the Naga was, I opted not to cast my latest spell with Quick Cast triggered. It proved a poor decision as it hurled one of its swords toward my chest. Instinctively diving to the side to avoid the spinning projectile, the saber passed within inches of me before sending a shower of grass several feet behind me. The move cost me. Slamming hard against the hard-packed earth, I desperately attempted to hold onto the final words of my incantation. Sideways on wilting grass, my eyes opened wide in shock as another object was sent racing, this time directly at my face! A gobbet of sizzling amber liquid was suddenly scant inches away from me. I had no chance of dodging.
I had only time enough to close my eyes in abject horror. At the same moment, Stella screamed something, but I didn’t hear it. The crackling of the venom hissed like a vengeful demon, promising pain unlike I had ever felt before. Horrifying mental images of my eyes dissolving under the roiling venom sparked wildly through my panicked mind. The fear was terrifyingly primal. It was the instinctual freeze response, like suddenly finding a predator hurtling toward your unprotected body or stepping into a crosswalk only to glimpse an eighteen-wheeler barreling towards you about to smear you into an unrecognizable paste.
Every muscle in my body locked tight at the anticipated torture about to be visited upon me. My imagination worked lightning fast and promised me the same fate as a doomed Marine sprayed with caustic Xenomorph blood. Stella shouted something anew, but it didn’t register as my entire being was focused on the forthcoming agony. Yet, nothing happened. No pain greeted me as I opened my frightened eyes. Only then did Stella’s words finally penetrate my addled mind.
“You’re protected!” Stella bellowed.
She was utterly right, I instantly realized. My Empowered Aegis prevented anything hostile from touching my body!
Feeling a fool, the still bubbling liquid slowly slid towards the ground as I regained my feet. My shimmering protection kept the acidic sludge incapable of coming into direct contact with my body. The magical shield, ordinarily invisible and undetectable, only made its presence known when struck with either a physical or magical attack. With how high my mana pool was, only the minuscule fraction of the globule's impact had been felt and had been no more potent than the slightest gust of wind.
Having lost my previous incantation, I swiftly determined my next spell, forcibly ignoring the humiliation attempting to wage war in my chest. Synaptic Toxin. Yes, it would do nicely. Recalling the spell’s description, its debuff would work nicely and markedly impair the Naga’s mental faculties. Perhaps it would cause the raging beast to forget the two entities wrapped in its clutches.
[Synaptic Toxin]. A wave of contamination engulfs a target within 100 feet, imparting a deadly toxin which invades the target’s central nervous system causing 200 plus 3n damage immediately and then every 6 seconds until the spell expires, where ‘n’ equals Intelligence. The target is also afflicted with the debuff, “Neurotoxin,” which interferes with all cognitive abilities, such as spell casting, concentration, and focus by 25%. Cost 200 mana.
Cast Time: 1 seconds. Cool down: 1 second. Duration: 168 seconds (base 120). Plus 10 feet maximum range, plus 25 base damage, and plus 0.3% additional cognitive impairment per spell level.
Note – Once this spell expires, the debuff will remain until the target is restored to full health.
As the arcane words left my mouth, the Naga hissed before leaning towards me in a head-long rush to come within melee range. Yet, the snake’s frenzied pace was bogged down because of simple physics. No matter how powerful the creature was, the thousand-pound weight of an adult horse dragged across the dirt was nothing to be snubbed at. As long as I backpedaled away from my foe, I should have enough time to finish my spell.
What I had not been expecting was for the Naga to angrily release its two hapless victims when it was yards from my retreating form. Confident I had ample time to complete my invocation, I was unprepared for the suddenness of the monstrosity’s blitzkrieg. My eyes widened in shock for what felt like the hundredth time as the ferocious Naga loomed over me. Forgoing its sole remaining blade, the Naga instead opted for its natural weapons. Twin fangs, each over a foot in length, glinted in the fading sunlight as the snake’s head hurtled downward.
There was no hope of dodging aside. It was too close and far too fast. While my Aegis would prevent its fangs from penetrating my flesh, and a lethal dose of its venom, my primary defensive measure was ill-suited to protect me if its wide-open maw swallowed me whole. Coming in sideways, this appeared to be exactly what the snake aimed to accomplish.
Fear gripped my heart as the final words of my spell escaped my quivering lips. Little good it would do me now, however.