Thunderous Rage

Mindfully, I monitored Renold’s HP bar for any hint. There were no signs that he escaped back to us. I could only be ready at a moment’s notice. And the others were advancing carefully. Though the monster roared, there were no signs it had found Renold and attacked. It must have a strong sense of smell to pick him up.

But I heard something tearing through the rock. The health of Renold didn’t change, but it was on the hunt. We had to hurry to get him out of danger. More clawing and smashing rocked the cave as everyone went into a sprint for the chamber. I looked over to Denica. “Is this the demon?”

“No, just a monster that shouldn’t even be here. It’s never been south of the Urth Mountains.” A monster out of place and a demon causing trouble. This was clearly set up, perhaps it was a guard for whatever it was doing. With that, she suddenly increased in speed, breaking out ahead of us.

I saw Renold’s health take a sudden hit. No one had been harmed the whole time down the cave. So I had no frame of reference how bad the hit was, but it took out nearly a third of their health. Without thinking, I did as she wanted and cast Lunar Ray quickly. Once it finished, I also applied Divine Excision to the hulking beast. There was no sign of the demon, but it seemed like we were going to be in for a bit of a fight.

And as though she had timed it perfectly with me, a moment after my Ray showed light from nothing within the cave she slammed down with her spear. A deep shout came from her and immediately locked the behemoth on her.

We all arrived into the chamber one after the other. I found Renold nursing a heavy gash on his left arm with blood soaked through the leathers. But Derik was already on it. I just needed to focus on attacking so that Denica had the extra healing as I moved Exchange once more. Though it was hard to tell how much I was even doing against it. Much like the bear thing Eri’Sol and I fought, it didn’t even have a burn mark from attack. And even her spear wasn’t making much more impact on it.

But with the monster’s focus on Denica I could take in the whole environment more clearly. It was a very large space with an almost dome like structure on the ceiling with stalactites jutting down. From the narrow tunnel it looked small, but it was surprisingly spacious. Which made sense given the massive creature that guarded it.

It was even larger than the bear. It felt like I was staring at a raid boss. Just a leg was taller than even Denica, the tallest of our party. It was a massive muscular monster on all fours with claws the size of half of me. A thick long mane of hair that looked more like a lion in full beard and regalia. Long horns stretched from its head over its back sparking with magical energy. The green-gray hide looked more concrete and hit like metal, impossibly tough and alien. Two wide tails pounded the ground with mini quakes carving up earth in its spikes. A monster by every definition and yet I was still relieved.

While I kept up my attacks, I watched everyone else. Denica did an excellent job keeping the beast on her, though the claw attacks hit in such a wide radius they were more cleaves than just a focus strike. Eri’Sol had to keep to the side to not take collateral damage. And even then I could see that she was still getting harmed slightly. And worse, even with the Excision applied, the HP drain wasn’t restoring almost anything. Which only meant one thing. They weren’t damaging it in a meaningful way.

“Something’s wrong, we’re missing something.” I could believe I wasn’t doing much, even after the cave leveling me up I was only eleven without another advancement in my class. I was still weak and Eri’Sol wasn’t much better off. The four adventurers though were veterans. And based on what I knew now about how their world worked, I’d have to imagine from everything I got explained about their abilities and skills using decades old weapons. They were talented and still doing almost nothing.

I wanted to look for clues, but the intensity of the battle increased as the horns glowed purple, sending out a burst of lightning through the air. It jumped over the ground and through the air clinging to anything it could reach, including us. Everything froze in me for a moment as it burned through to my core.

Heat radiated outward from my body forcing me to gasp for air. It almost brought me to my knees. Everything in my body was on fire and sharp like razors running through my veins. And then it finally released me. The hand that choked me disappeared. I staggered a step forward trying to recover. The heat might have been gone, but the pain spread still to every corner before subduing.

As it passed, I could finally see clearly the party’s health and even mine. ‘That one nearly killed me…it felt like it.’ Most of the HP was missing while a third of everyone else other than Denica. And to my curiosity, Eri’Sol seemed to have avoided it entirely. ‘Not a raid wide then?’

I juggled trying to keep up attacks or barriers while fumbling for a potion. Derik had more of a priority to keep the tank alive. Though I did get an eye from him planning to get me as well, but I shook my head to save him from the cast. Finally, I found the Health Potion, which was two steps above the Weak version. Downing it, I saw it completely fill my HP even if my body still ached. It reminded me that restoration didn’t mean repair.

The party kept trying to lay attacks into the massive creature. Spells of flame shot out from Ferin while Renold struck with his dagger and scythe. Each rang out almost hollow against the hardened skin of the monster with a brief flash over the horns.

I backed away trying to judge if the lightning attack had been one of range, even if that didn’t count for Eri’Sol. The rear made more sense, but unlike on a third person camera of a game, I had no way to see around something the size of a small house. If I couldn’t see the person I couldn’t target them with a spell. Everyone was spread out in forward facing flanking positions other than Renold and Eri’Sol. They leaned more flanking, but Eri’Sol had to keep further back because of the swipes.

Another purple lightning attack spread out like before. The wider view gave me a better look, but it was a mess of sparks everywhere, depth wasn’t doing me a kindness. It brought me to my knees this time and once more to critical condition. And worse I saw in my recovery that Eri’Sol took a hit this time as well. ‘Dammit!’

There wasn’t going to be a choice anymore for me. Rear was the only option, out ranging the beast wouldn’t work, but I still needed to know the safe place from the attack. It had enough of a tell that I could prep a single barrier to protect someone, but not enough around.

I rushed back in while still keeping clear of the melee strikes from the people sized claws of the tree mulcher monster. ‘Eri’Sol was safe at one point, I just need to find it to tell them.’ The safest point was directly rear, but the twin tails made that impossible with a life of their own it seemed. But I could get into a rear flanking position.

As I found a spot that wasn’t getting smacked by a ton of meat and bone flailing about, I saw subtle charring on the stone ground. It wasn’t a clean line, but I could see a clear area of damage and not. ‘This has to be it. A 270 AoE with a wild tail is a nasty safe spot, but it’ll have been enough!’ Around me only Eri’Sol and a little bit of Denica were visible. “That big purple lightning attack hits all sides but the rear flanks! I’ll shield Denica during it if you can all move before it lands!”

I couldn’t see everyone, but it seemed like they understood. ‘I’m glad that they have enough professionalism to not ignore me.’ It wasn’t something I even considered until after I spoke, but they could have easily blown me off. But I started seeing feet on the other side of the tail and Eri’Sol fitting in front of me trying to shield off the tail if it got too friendly with me.

When the next attack came, we were well prepared. A shield to Denica softened the damage, even if it still stunned her momentarily. The monster tried to turn. It had a degree of intelligence, but she maneuvered it well and we could keep adjusting as well. ‘First hurdle cleared…but we’re still not making a dent in its defenses. This is still a losing battle if we don’t find a solution!’