Mantle of the Gods

My heart jumped into my throat.

“Ether get out of there!” I shrugged off Aelin’s grasp. "DASH!”

I started zipping across the room, but I wasn’t going to make it in time.

A skeletal snake had risen ten feet high and that was just what was off the ground. There was more behind it that was coiled. Its hood flared, multiple boney fingers shaking as the spot where its throat should have been was exposed.

I felt the magic waning. "DASH!”

I saw the head strike at her. It’s body was easily wider than she was. I wouldn’t have been able to touch both sides of its head at the same time.

“PEBBLE SHOT! PEBBLE SHOT!” I pointed at the thing's face.

The projectiles knocked small pieces off of it, but with a head and body that large, it was going to take forever to blast it apart.

The body collapsed over Ether. I heard both Aelin and Justia shouting behind me, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I had thought this was going to be easy. I forgot the other reason why people didn’t farm floor bosses. They were stronger than the monsters a floor up. Not only were they stronger, but they were also bigger and more durable.

The boney monster turned and looked at me, the closest person to it. I found myself wishing that I’d had a weapon, but Justia had the ax and Aelin had the dagger. Ether had the knife. Since I had a spell now, I was the obvious one to not get a weapon.

I pointed at it as it began to pull itself back, the fingers of its hood retracting back around its throat as it readied to strike.

“Pebble shot!” I grabbed my right hand with my left, so I could aim better. "Pebble Shot! Pebble Shot! Peb-DASH!” I sprinted to dodge the strike and I started running. I angled away from the other two women as the boss monster started chasing me. I found myself wishing that I’d rested longer before coming in here, because my legs were already starting to burn, but I’d done it all day yesterday, so I knew I could do it for this fight.

“Dash!” I cast it again as I ran, leading it on a merry chase around the room. To my surprise, it slowed down before I got tired.

There was a good fifty feet in between us as I watched it raise itself up to its ten foot height. Unlike last time it didn’t unfurl its neck into a hood, instead, it opened its mouth and let out a bone chilling hiss.

“Pebble shot! Pebble shot! Pebble shot!” It was giving me free hits and I was going to take it.

I saw Justia and Aelin running at us, but they were on the other side of the boss room. They were both yelling, but I couldn’t hear them. Not that it mattered. The only thing that mattered to me right now was destroying this monster in front of me.

“COME ON!” I beat on my chest, then got an idea. I pointed both of my hands like guns at the monster. "Pebble shot!”

Four projectiles tore into the monster’s head.

I felt that one actually drain me. It seemed to take more mana to cast it that way, but it would dump projectiles twice as fast.

I began wondering why it was just standing in one spot and hissing at me, so I continued to fire at it. While we were trading insults and projectiles, I realized why it had been just standing still.

It had been charging.

A stream of sand shot out of its mouth. I wasn't fast enough to dodge it, so I tried to roll into a ball as it knocked me into the wall that was about forty feet behind me. It felt like my skin was being torn off with sandpaper as the blast lasted for far shorter of a time than it seemed.