The four lizards stayed behind the two Tank Demons, which forced Oakley to meet them head-on. Frederica had learned her lesson and was staying in stealth, but behind Ula, waiting for the moment when she could assassinate something.
The party leader held her warhammer in both hands as she walked just behind their Tank. Everyone was tense as the two sides slowly advanced.
Even though they had read the descriptions, Ula had still asked Penelope to release a volley as soon as the monsters got in range.
“Light Torrent!”
Penelope pointed her wand at the turtle. Each projectile strained against her will as they were pulled towards the Shadow Knight. All four of them smeared across the barrier, cracking it but otherwise doing nothing to it. By the time Penelope was ready to cast a second round, the barrier had already been repaired.
“You have more mana than it does. You could destroy the barrier and take out the Shadow if you dump everything.”
Penelope shrugged. “Not my role.” She kept her wand pointed at the turtle, but the words of her spells never left her lips.
“ARRGGG!!!” Oakley started running.
ROAR!!!
The Shadow Knight moved forward to meet him with the lizards crouching behind the larger reptile.
Penelope started moving to her left while Marlow and Dawson kept going forward.
The moment that Ula got close enough to hit the Demon, the lizards moved like snapped springs.
Penelope started running. “LIGHT BEAM!”
The spell shot out of her wand, tightened by the pull of the Shadow Knight, because she was aiming for the leader.
With the turtle in the middle.
Two of the lizards shot towards her, giving Frederica time to bury her daggers into the back of the head of one of the two that had attacked Ula. The older woman got knocked over but had the shaft of her weapon in the monster’s mouth, lifting it up off of her as its nails screeched against her metal armor.
“Light Torrent!”
Penelope just had to spread the
The barrier shattered like glass, unable to repair all the damage that the beam was doing. Once the barrier was down, the beam glanced off the shell of the turtle, then bent towards the Shadow Knight.
Dawson started throwing his poison spells at the Demon while Frederica helped Ula up. The last lizard lay dead beside the women.
The turtle started to attack Oakley, but the Demon roared again, and the car-sized reptile turned and started spinning towards Penelope. Its shell had started to crack, but that crack became impossible to see during the spin.
Penelope canceled her beam spell and kneeled down on one knee. She pointed her wand at the monster’s head level.
“Light Torrent! Light Torrent! Light Torrent!”
The turtle was spinning fast, but there were five holes, and she only needed her spell to be dragged through one of them. Penelope had to run to get out of the way of the dead shell, but she managed to get up fast enough.
With all the minions dead, it was just a matter of Ula and Oakley alternating hits until the shield came down. It didn’t take long for the stacks of poison that Dawson kept throwing to slow the Demon down enough for Oakley to stagger it, then Ula knocked its shield wide, letting the Tank shield bash it. The Shadow fell backwards where Frederica was waiting to bury one of her daggers in each burning eye and send it back to the Abyss.
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The Magnetic Shield went to Oakley. He already had an enchanted shield, but this one had the
6B had four turtles and the Shadow Warrior was able to cancel out their spells. Penelope made a show of using her
Penelope sniped the lone lizard so the blonde could get clear, then their Tank took a beating while spinning shells rammed into him while the rest of them worked on breaking through the shells.
The metal helmet was named
6C had four turtles as well, but the Demon leading this group was a Shadow Healer. It wouldn’t leave the comfort of the barricade of the four living boxes, forcing Ula to work on a turtle while Frederica used her sneak attack to deal with the lizard that attacked their leader.
Dawson got frustrated because he couldn’t do anything since he refused to use an attack spell over his poisoning ones. Marlow had his hands full healing the three physical attackers because the Demon kept poisoning them.
Penelope had to take a Mana Potion; she burned through so much with her
Frederica scrambled over the top of the dead turtle and buried her daggers in the Shadow Healer’s face. Finishing off the other three turtles after that wasn’t difficult; it just took time.
Marlow got the named helmet that was more of a crown with sideburns.
At that point it was almost four, so the group had just enough time to do another one before dinner. 6D was another Shadow Knight, but this one didn’t have
Compared to the previous ones, this square was much easier since they just had to deal with the Demon, who kept two turtles on either side of itself instead of in a ring around itself. Once the Demon was sent back, the turtles attacked, and it was just a matter of finishing the fight.
It was their fastest fight and their biggest problem.
Penelope walked away from the argument between Frederica and Dawson.
“What’s happening with them?” Judah ran up to his new idol.
“They’re arguing over loot.” Penelope pointed at the cooling meat. “Is that lizard?”
“And turtle!” Patrick beamed as he waved for her to come over to where they had wedged spider legs under the overturned turtle shell. Inside was filled with water.
Warm water.
“We thought after a few days of getting monster blood on you that you’d want a chance to wash some of that off.” Judah swallowed as he ran over to the front of the shell. On either side, they had leaned a bottom plate on its side to form a wall. There was even a ladder that had been made by tying spider legs together.
“What did you use for rope?” Penelope pointed at the rungs that were secured in place.
The younger man smiled. “I grabbed spider webs!” He knocked on the wall. “It even works like glue to hold something like this up.”
“Well…” Penelope nodded. “This is impressive.”
“I can warm it up to whatever temperature you want!” Judah beamed, then glanced around. “I promise that I won’t let anyone else get near while you’re taking a bath.” He pointed at the other wall, where eight robes were draped over the side. “We’ve got robes and clothes for you to change into!” His smile widened. “I washed them all myself!”
“That’s…”
“Ah, someone has a puppy.”
“Not helping, Jeru.” Penelope tried to keep the growl only in her thoughts. “... Sweet, but—”
“You’re the first one here, so you can go first!” He stuck his hand in the water. “How warm do you want it?”
“Might as well enjoy some comfort.” Jeru appeared in front of her and motioned at the other group. “Because I don’t think you’re doing any more today.”
Penelope forced a smile. “Judah, thank you. This is very thoughtful, but…” She steeled herself when his face dropped. “I don’t think I should jump in the bath until we know for sure that we’re done fighting for the day.”
“Oh-kay…” The young man sighed as he stepped down the small ladder.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I’m ready, though.” She looked over at the base of the shell on the opposite side. “Is that a stopper?”
Judah’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah. Pat made it so we could drain the water between each bath. But it takes all my mana plus some to fill it.” He sighed. “We don’t think people are going to want to wait over an hour for their bath, so some people will have to share water.”
“I can fill the tub each time if you’ll heat it up.” Penelope patted him on the shoulder. “My mana recharges four times faster than yours, so I’ll have enough mana to fill it back up again once someone is finished.
“That’s a great idea! Thanks Penny!” Judah tried to hug her, but she took two quick steps back. He looked down. “Oh. Sorry.”
Penelope sighed. “It’s okay. You’re a hugger, and I’m not.” She ignored the noises that Jeru was making in her head. “Just try to remember that next time.” Penelope nodded at the other man. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve cooked?”
“What about the others?” Patrick glanced at the other group.
“I think…” Penelope shook her head. “They’re going to be busy for a while.”
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