Mantle of the Gods

I had sand everywhere.

It hadn’t helped that I’d only been wearing shorts, but at least I was still wearing those. Maybe tucking my knees into my chest helped save them, I don’t know. I did know that I was missing patches of skin.

The way I was able to tell that was the dust coating my body started breaking out in little brown spots all over the tan crust covering my snow-white body.

I pushed myself up and spat out dust. I had only a moment to realize the skeletal snake was shooting at me before I had to react.

“DASH!” I sped out of the way, my body burning in a new way as the sand and grit was blown off my body.

“Atlas!” Aelin screamed. "Break the fins!”

I looked back at her to see Justia throw the ax at me.

“Minor Heal Wounds!” Justia’s voice was sounding hoarse from all the yelling she was doing.

At first, I couldn’t tell what Justia was healing, because it wasn’t me. I picked up the ax and turned back to the monster when I saw the target of her heals. There was a hand hanging out of the snake's throat.

The snake dropped down to its belly and shot towards me.

I ignored the warning bells in my head that screamed for me to run away and instead ran towards the monster.

“DASH!” I screamed, took two steps and jumped, swinging the ax over my head.

The snake veered up to intercept me as I went higher into the air than I’d ever jumped. I pointed at it with my left hand.

“Pebble shot!”

I’d hoped that shooting the projectiles would push me back. It didn’t. I’d also hoped that the projectiles would change its trajectory. It didn’t.

The nose of the snake rammed into my chest. I felt my skin tighten right before it hit me, which is probably what kept it from knocking the wind out of me. I finished the swing, burying the ax in the side of its face as the snake dove for the ground.

Little thorns dug into my skin and I realized what looked so familiar about the skeletal part of this. It was the same exact material as the Bramble Skeletons.

That was able to move it enough so that it hit the right side of its face as I pulled myself around to its left. I braced my feet on the skull where its eye should have been and pushed, freeing the ax and throwing myself mostly clear.

The ax and I went in opposite directions. I found my feet while I rolled and came up ready to sprint. “DASH!” I shot towards the ax, sliding the last little bit so that I could ensure that I grabbed it. Once I stopped sliding, I got my feet under me. “DASH!”

The snake was trying to get its bearings, which gave me the opportunity to get close to the back third of it. I grabbed the ax with both hands as I brought the head down on the spine.

The Snake turned to focus on me, but it was a clean strike. The part that I separated vanished in smoke.

“Pebble shot!” I pointed at its head. I didn’t wait to see if it connected. "DASH!” I ran away from the strike.

Once the magic ran out, I turned around. The boss was a few feet shorter and its strike had been off from where I had been standing. Missing a body part was throwing off its aim.

If we had another Hitter, or a Shooter, this would have been a much easier fight. I began to understand the mechanics of the fight. Someone held the snake's attention, while someone else slowly whittled it down. Once you get the first segment broken, the fight becomes much easier.

Except for the breath.

The snake must have realized that it couldn’t strike me, so it rose up and began charging its breath.