Rushing around the corner and down a small hallway, Heather and Kylie stormed into a small underground cavern just as Seran roared again. “RRRAAAAAAGGGGRRR!” A bestial, primal roar full of half anger and half agony echoed back and forth off the walls. In the center of the small cavern, was a massive black beetle which stood as tall as a horse and three times wider; and there, standing directly in front of it and swinging his hammer like an idiot was Seran, thick black goo smoking and making his flesh bubble where the beast had already spit on him.
“Seran’s going to go down,” Heather screamed, as she tried to blast the beetle with a ball of flame to draw its attention away from him.
“Jackass warrior!”, Kylie cursed, pulling in her magic. Only by a split second’s realization, she manged to stop before she released it. “I can’t heal him,” she cried out the Heather.
“What?” Blasting the beetle a second time, Heather took a moment to look back, confused. “Why?”
“It’s the goo on him! It’s like what we saw earlier,” Kylie explained. “It corrupts healing magic and I’d end up killing him.”
Hit by another blast of fire, the beetle began to turn its attention away from Seran – but only for a moment! Taking advantage of the opening, Seran screamed again and slammed his massive hammer into the side of the creature’s massive head, causing it to stagger and reel for a moment.
“Then what the hell do we do,” Heather shouted, looking distressed. “The damn thing has barely lost a fraction of its heath! The acid alone will kill him before we take it down. I think this thing is the boss!”
“A mini-boss at least,” Kylie agreed, trying to desperately think of a plan. “Only one chance that I see,” she shouted back at Heather, “and that’s for you to blast him! Maybe you can burn the goo away and then I can heal him!”
“Burn him to bandage him? Sounds extreme!” Laughing wildly, Heather turned and unleashed her next attack – a massive area of effect fireball – into the center of the room, erupting flames all over Seran and the beetle both. “I like it,” Heather laughed. “Extreme is good! Especially if I get to blast Molester-Perv!”
The moment the flames flickered down, Kylie threw the most powerful heal she could muster and crossed her fingers; all the while preparing to run like a coward. Either it’d work and the flames would neutralize the goo, or else Seran would die and the beetle would be free to come from them next. If that happened, no matter how angry Heather might get at her, Kylie planned on using her as a speedbump and running like hell! After all, she was the one with the quest the increased her penalities for dying; but, much to her relief however, Seran’s health shot back up to full and he roared again with renewed vigor and continued to slam his hammer into the beetle’s face and side.
“Save your magic!” Kylie screamed at Heather.
“What? Why?” Heather looked puzzled, but she slowly released the magic she’d been gathering to throw.
“You’ll need to burn the goo clear off Seran when he’s hit again,” Kylie reasoned. “This is going to have to be his battle, with us just playing minor support. The fire didn’t seem that effective against the creature’s shell anyway.”
“Dammit! I don’t want to play support. I want to blast things to pieces!” Even though she griped and complained, Heather still held her magic in reserve and watched closely to see how the beetle did its acid attack, while Kylie continuously spammed tiny heals which only used a single point of mana over and over. “Shouldn’t you save your mana as well?” Heather asked, yelling.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“I’m fine,” Kylie assured her. “As long as it’s this small of a heal, my mana regen and energy pool could keep this up all day! I’ve got to try and keep Seran’s health up as high as possible so he won’t die the moment you blast him!”
“Fine. Whatever.” Feeling almost like a third wheel, all Heather could do is stand and watch the fight drag on for several long minutes. Seran bashed, the beetle bit and snapped back at him, Kylie tossed a minor heal. Bash, bit, heal. For the first time since she’d started playing Winter’s Tale, Heather regretted that she hadn’t tried to use any weapon at all. She’d told herself that having one would just take time away from her skill use and practice with her magics, but she was regretting that decision now. She wanted to do something. Anything!
And then that moment came! After a massive hammer smack to the creature’s torso, it staggered back several steps and then shook its head for a brief moment before spewing a steaming black acid all over Seran and everything else in front of it.
“Now,” Kylie screamed, but Heather was already blasting Seran and the beetle once again with the largest area effect fireball she could produce. Flames erupted all around them. Seran’s fur tunic smoldered, shimmered, and then disappeared, revealing his bare chest burning and blistering under the fiery onslaught. By the time the flames had died down, Seran’s health had dropped considerably and was blinking warningly.
“Maybe not so much flame next time,” Kylie suggested as she hurled a massive healing spell back into Seran, restoring him to perfect health.
“Sorry,” Heather laughed, not the least bit sorry. “I’ll tone it down a bit,” she promised.
Once again, it was a waiting game for Heather as the others did all the work. Bash. Bite. Heal. Bash. Bite. Heal. All she could do is stare and watch. Stare and Watch. Watch and Stare. For several moments, all Heather did was wait and watch impatiently, but then she noticed it again! That same pattern of movements; move back, shake its head…
Guessing that the acid spew was coming next, Heather unleashed a large ball of intense flame right at the creatures face.
KA-WHOOOSSH!!!
Fire erupted everywhere and the beetle exploded in all directions. Seran shimmered and instantly disappeared, blown apart in the same fiery explosion which sent chunks of smoldering beetle parts in all directions. A flaming leg rocketed forward, as if propelled by a missile, and buried itself in Heather’s chest. Half the leg stuck out of the front of her chest, while the other half burnt and spasmed erratically on the other side of her back.
One of the last things Heather saw before her health bar completely depleted and disappeared was one of the long sickle-like mandibles the beetle had been biting Seran with, flying in a flaming, spinning arc directly for Kylie. For a moment, as the world flashed warningly between red and black, letting her know that death was immenient, she saw Kylie take a step forward to stagger onto her knees, looking almost as if she was kneeling to pray, before her head fell backwards, rolled down her back, and bounced a few times across the floor.
With a last painful gurgle of, “Awww Hell..”, Heather’s health disappeared and she also died.