Chapter 29

The creature hit Ria’s ice shield like a runaway train, the barrier shuddering, cracking, but holding. Whoa. The thing was fast, its massive, hooked talons lashing out, tearing chunks of ice, shards flying like broken glass.

One swipe caught Caleb, sending him flying across. He slammed into the wall, his body slumping to the ground.

“Caleb!” Alex yelled, his hands already moving, a torrent of ice shards hurtling toward the creature’s gaping maw.

They shattered against its hide, leaving no mark. It didn’t even flinch, its attention fixated on Alex, its massive form lumbering towards him.

“Disperse!” Ria shouted, already darting away.

They scattered, the cavern echoing with the creature’s heavy footsteps, its guttural growls, the rasp of its mandibles.

Mark rushed to Caleb’s side, hauling him to his feet. “You okay?”

“That bastard packs a punch,” he groaned, clutching his ribs. He spat out a mouthful of blood. “What in the fuck is that thing?”

Mark’s heart raced as he turned around just in time to witness the monstrous creature closing in on Alex, its razor-sharp jaws snapping hungrily.

Alex fired another blast of frost, but it shattered harmlessly against it.

Shit ... we are running out of options.

“Shit!” Alex roared, slamming his hands on the ground. The cavern floor quaked, and a forest of jagged ice spikes burst up, impaling it from every angle.

Yes!

Nisha saw her chance and pounced. Her blades glinted as she landed on the creature’s back. With swift precision, she stabbed into its flesh, filling the cavern with a piercing howl of agony.

With a violent shudder, the creature busted out, ice bits and chunks of its own flesh flying everywhere.

Nisha, thrown off balance, managed to flip away just as the creature turned, its focus honing in on her.

“Caleb, can you still move?”

“Y-Yeah,” he grunted, straightening up, his face pale.

Nodding grimly, Mark’s eyes tracked the creature as it set its sights on Nisha next.

The air was thick with its fetid, ever-shifting stench - a miasma of rotting aromas that seemed to shift and intensify with each rattling exhalation.

Holy shit. How do we kill this thing?

His eyes narrowed as he studied the abomination’s erratic, loping gait toward Nisha.

She was quick, her blades flashing, but she couldn’t dodge forever.

Time for a distraction. He shot a quick burst of plasma, a searing blast of energy that caught it’s attention.

A low, guttural growl bubbled up from its maws as it veered towards him.

“Huh, that was easy,” he muttered, already backpedaling. Too easy ... This thing is fast.

Turning on his heel, Mark broke into a sprint, leading the slavering horror away from the others. He risked a glance over his shoulder - it was keeping pace with disturbing ease despite its ungainly, convulsing form.

Have to keep moving ... think, damn you! There has to be something!

The sound of heavy footfalls and rasping breaths filled his ears as he racked his brain.

Thinking quickly, Mark channeled his lightning at the cavern ceiling above. Showers of rock and debris rained down, momentarily obscuring it from view and slowing its relentless advance.

He spun, unleashing a torrent of lightning into the dust cloud, the cavern walls flashing blue with raw energy.

The dust settled, and the creature stood there, unfazed, not a scratch on its hide. What the fuck? It roared, its three maws snapping, and then, with shocking speed, it scooped up a chunk of rubble and hurled it at him.

He barely had time to raise a barrier, the impact shattering it, sending sparks flying.

The creature closed the distance in a single, thunderous leap, the ground shaking beneath its weight.

Mark stumbled, his shield flickering into existence milliseconds before a hooked talon slashed towards him, aiming to rip open his stomach.

The attacks came in a flurry, each blow powerful enough to shatter stone, slamming into his barrier, a cacophony of shrieking magic and raw force.

Dodge. Block. Parry. He reacted instinctively, his void barriers flaring into existence, deflecting the creature’s onslaught. But there was no pattern, no rhythm, to its movements. One moment a talon would be slashing at his face, the next a maw would be snapping at his legs.

More than its sheer brute strength, it was the thing’s erratic, twitching movements that made it so impossible to counter or evade. I can’t keep this up.

Sweat dripped down his forehead, his heart hammering against his ribs. He couldn’t keep this up forever. Sooner or later, he would slip up, and one of those blows would find its mark. Gotta find an opening.

His boot snagged on a loose rock, sending him stumbling backward. Shit! He hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of him. Looking up, he saw a massive talon, as thick as his thigh, plunging toward his face.

Fuckfuckfuck!

The talon stopped, frozen in mid-air, inches from his face. The creature, its entire grotesque form. was locked in place as if someone had hit pause.

From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Ria - arms outstretched, jaw clenched in concentration. She stopped it.

Alex and Caleb wasted no time, unleashing the full brunt of their arsenals.

Alex’s ice shards, like frozen daggers, crashed against its tough skin. Caleb roared, his hands pulsingas he sent shockwaves blasting into the beast, making the whole cavern tremble. Mark jumped in too, adding his lightening to the chaotic mix.

“RRAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!”

For a moment, it looked like they had it—their combined attacks shredding its flesh, its monstrous shape twisting in agony.

But then, just as quickly as it began, their attack ... vanished.

The spells faded, the ice melted, and the shockwaves died down, leaving the creature standing there, unscathed, its cold, pitiless eyes locked on them.

Mark stared, his mouth open in disbelief. They had thrown everything they had at it, and it hadn’t even flinched. How?

A wave of despair washed over him, cold and suffocating. He knew, with a chilling certainty, that they were fucked.

The creature, shaking off the last vestiges of Ria’s frost, started towards Mark again. He raised a barrier, bracing for the impact. But then, it veered away, moving towards Caleb instead.

What the ... Why...

Alex blasted out another wave of frost.

Mark’s head spun as he saw the creature pivot again, its hulking form jerking towards Alex with terrifying speed.

“It’s not working!” Alex yelled over the chaos.

“We have to keep trying!” Ria howled back as they both continued their assault on the creature’s impenetrable hide.

“Hold your fire!” Mark shouted, sending a small, harmless spark of plasma.

As expected, the talon-laden horror pivoted once more, zeroing in on Mark with those unblinking eyes boring into him.

“Don’t attack yet!”

“Are you crazy?”

He held up a hand, cutting off the others’ concerned shouts.

“Mark...” Ria began.

“Just ... hold it. And attack when I give the signal. Not a second sooner.”

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he simply stood his ground and waited as the unholy juggernaut closed the distance with horrifying speed. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to flee, to raise his defenses. But he remained stock-still, fixing the oncoming horror with an unwavering stare.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Nisha shouted from somewhere behind him.

“Just wait...”

The creature was nearly upon him, fanged maws gaping wide to rend flesh from bone. Its stench overwhelmed his senses, a mix of decay and rot that made his eyes water.

Wait for it ... wait...

Finally, as the first serrated talons descended towards his unprotected form, Mark gave the signal.

“NOW!”

Ria reacted with blinding speed, unleashing a torrent of deadly icicles. The sheer mass of frozen projectiles slammed with enough brutal momentum to halt it’s attack mere inches from Mark’s face.

He felt the passing rush of frigid air across his cheek as the thing’s trajectory altered again, carrying it towards Ria. That’s it.

“Guys! Listen up!” Mark shouted. “I think I’ve got it figured out!”

Caleb, wiping blood from his mouth, gave him an incredulous look. “You’ve what now?”

“It’s targeting whoever attacks it last!”

Testing his theory, Nisha casually hurled a rock at the creature’s side. It bounced harmlessly off its leathery hide, but the creature instantly pivoted.

Before it could reach her, Alex wreaked another blast of ice, forcing the creature to change course again.

“Well, I’ll be damned...” Caleb breathed. “It does have tunnel vision!”

Nisha nodded. “Insane singular focus, tracking nothing but its last attacker.”

“Exactly!” Mark confirmed. “Which means as long as there’s someone actively engaging it...”

“ ... we can control where it moves,” Ria finished, lips curving into a grin. “Great!”

Caleb let out a bark of grim laughter. “Not bad! But how exactly does this help us bring that damned thing down?”

Mark grimaced, his mind racing. He didn’t have the full solution yet, but he had a starting point, a way to gain some control over the situation. We can use this.

“First, let’s tighten the circle around it ... Spread out!” He commanded, waving his arms in a fanning motion. “We need to start pulling it in different directions, making it harder for it to maneuver. Don’t let it get close. Play it safe.”

Alex snorted. “One hit from that fucking thing will be pretty damn final.”

“Exactly,” Mark nodded grimly. “Ria, whenever you get a chance, focus on its neck. Try to freeze it. Immobilize it.”

“Got it.”

With that, they dispersed - spreading out into a wide perimeter around the lumbering horror. Caleb took the first turn, hurling a brutal sonic blast that slammed into it’s shoulder with enough force to crater solid rock.

Predictably, the creature responded by reorienting towards the warrior in a flurry of twitching appendages and raking talons. But as it gained speed, Nisha struck, her blades hitting their target precisely, splashing ichor everywhere.

It pivoted again with alarming swiftness, completely disregarding its previous target as it bore down on the inked mage with thunderous footfalls.

But no sooner had it reset its trajectory than Alex joined the deadly dance, ether lancing forth in searing waves of annihilating power.