Mantle of the Gods

The splashes in the dark made it even spookier than normal.

Every time there was a splash, I knew that someone else had entered the room.

“Here!” Justia’s voice sounded far away.

Another splash.

“Ready!” Mitchel, sounded nervous. I didn't blame him. Even though he hasn't lost aggro again, he still had panic in his voice every time he'd taunted a monster the rest of the way here.

The next splash was right behind me.

“I'm here.” Fray’s voice was like a whisper. She probably had the most dangerous job of anyone here.

Before I could say anything another splash cut me off.

“Let’s get this finished.” Jovena did not sound happy.

I didn't hear the last splash, just Aelin's voice.

“Justia! Light this sucker UP!”

Fray giggled behind me as Justia cast Light to start the fight.

If it wasn’t for the water at our feet or the front two tentacles having pincers on them, I would have thought this was the same fight as the last one, I pulled out my pistol and aimed at the things face and waited for Mitchel to grab aggro.

“LOOK AT ME!” The blonde man pounded his chest as the boss turned from Justia towards the Tank.

“Note to self…” I muttered. "Have the Tanks be the ones with the Light spell.”

The first pincer snapped at Mitchel as the entire mass surged forward.

“Go!” I shouted over my shoulder and saw Fray dash towards the monster. I started shooting at the face. Maybe I could get lucky and take out one of the eyes or something.

“Hey Atlas!” Aelin ran behind me and headed for the Tank on my left. "Watch this!”

The blonde woman pointed at the Tank. "Thorns!”

Pink thorns sprouted all over the Tank's armor and shield. They were only the length of a single knuckle of one of my fingers, but the scream of the monster told me that they did something.

“Harden!” Aelin danced behind Mitchel as a tentacle tried to smash him. He was over ten feet away from the monster that loomed over us but it was still close enough that it could hit him.

I checked on Fray, who was having trouble getting close to it, The way the tentacles were moving, they were splashing her with water making it almost impossible for her to start hacking away at it

I pointed at the main body. "BIND!”

A pair of roots shot out of the water and wrapped themselves around the main body, pulling it down. Instead of pulling it all the way to the ground, instead, it got about a foot away before the pincers reached back and cut the vines.

Fray was able to connect with a tentacle as she sliced into it. She wasn’t able to cut it off, but she did get about a third of the way through the one she’d aimed for. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been one with a pincer.

The homely brunette moved back as the boss got its bearings and began flailing its tentacles again.

“Let’s do that again!” I pointed at Jovenne. "Can you pin one of the pincers down with that thing?”

She glared at me. I took it as the answer was stupid question, though I wasn’t sure if that meant yes or no.

“Move behind Mitchel and aim for the face then! I’m going to try that again with Fray!” I nodded at the woman with a katana, then pointed at the monster’s body.

“BIND!”

Then I remembered why I wasn’t supposed to be using magic.

The bubble shield appeared around it as the monster began charging. The good news was that it looked like the flailing tentacles were only protecting the sides now.

The bad news was that I was pulled face first into the water by vines.