Penelope found herself wishing that she’d held on to one of the shields that she’d used in earlier runs. “LIGHT-” Penelope cut the spell short and dove to the side. The heat from the flames kissed her right arm as she rolled away from the danger.
“It’s like a slime in a cup!” The Cabbit Demon laughed. “You can’t reach me from here, and you have nowhere to run!” It threw another fireball at her, this time missing by a few feet.
“You didn’t say anything about it having magic!” Penelope gritted her teeth as she tried to think of a solution.
“It’s a Demon! What did you think it would have? Ice cream?” A nervous squeak accentuated the e in cream. Jeru coughed to fix his voice. “Look, the main thing is, this thing doesn’t have a very high Magic stat, so you can do more damage to it than you’ll take.”
“And which one of us can take a bigger beating?!” Penelope dodged another lazy fireball.
“You just have to drop it! Once it’s out of the air, you can corner it and finish it off.”
Penelope closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. Penelope set her jaw, then twirled her wand in the air above her as she opened her eyes to glare at the monster in the air above her.
All of the clouds raining down ice moved towards her.
“Really! You plan to freeze me!” The Demon cackled. Flames erupted over its body, yet none of its fur burned. “Ice has no power over me!” It threw another fireball at the human woman.
“FINE!” Penelope clenched her wand so tight that the wood bit into her glove. “TORNADO ALLEY!”
The hail began to blow up instead of down. Frosty strands of hair slapped her face as she began directing the storm like a conductor.
The monster tried to back away from the storm, but Penelope wasn’t going to let it get free.
“TORNADO ALLEY!!!” She dropped another pair of twisters behind it, making it harder for the Demon to stay in the air.
The black-furred abomination dropped to the ground and sprinted to the north side of the quad. It posed in front of the opening to the Dungeon with its paws on its hips.
“And… you fail!”
Penelope banished the ice and wind, letting the weather calm. A pair of shivers ran through her as she cupped her hands and blew into them to try to take the chill off.
The Cabbit Demon clicked its tongue. “Now you’re going to die tired.” It flashed a Cheshire grin. “Delicious!”
DING!
Experience +1
It was Penelope’s turn to smile. “Looks like I’m not the one that’s going to be dying.” She took a few deep breaths and stood up straight. “When the others get here, it’s over!”
“You’re the last Mage!” It laughed. “You think I’m scared of some hag with a stick?” It floated into the air as if to accentuate its point.
Penelope looked around, but there was no one else alive where they’d been summoned. She could see a few people watching from the windows in the building to her left.
Great, I’ve got an audience, AND there was a way to get into the buildings.
“The admin building is where the best stuff is, but it’s also the one that’s locked up the tightest.” The blue Elf shrugged. “Besides, you needed to be in the Dungeon, not hiding in a dorm room.”
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Penelope’s eyes widened, and if she hadn’t been facing a killer bunny, she would have turned to her parasite.
We’re talking about this later! She rolled to her left to dodge a fireball.
Embers rained down on her, forcing her to cover her eyes with her left sleeve as she backed away from the new danger.
“That’s new.” Jeru sounded impressed. “You’re learning all kinds of new stuff about this thing!”
“Shut up if you’re not going to be helpful!” Penelope aimed diagonally away from her. “Tornado Alley!”
The twin columns of air twisted out of the ground in front of her and snuffed out the embers, providing her with a reprieve. “LIGHT TORRENT!!!”
She twirled her wand, sending the balls of light on a fool's errand.
The Cabbit Demon let out a deep, happy laugh as it dodged the projectiles like an adult playing tag with a group of preschoolers.
Penelope looked around. Her methods for grounding the Demon weren’t working, and since it could move faster in the air than she could, there was no way for her to get close enough to use her AoE spells to kill it.
Sweat beaded under the hard fabric that made up her helmet. The effort of keeping the spells active while moving them took more focus the longer she maintained the spell. Even though it wasn’t costing her mana like
The Cabbit Demon blinked and appeared in front of her.
“LI-!”
Claws dug into her chest, poking small holes through the fabric as the Demon punched her, sending her tumbling across the quad. She stopped rolling when she ran into the corpse.
Penelope coughed and pointed her hand at the Demon, except she wasn’t holding her wand anymore.
The Demon pinched it between two clawed fingers. “Looking for this?” It slipped the wand into the waistband of its loincloth. “You have to say your spells to cast them. I wonder how you’ll do without a tongue.”
“LIGHT BLAST!” Penelope released the spell, which fell very short of where the Demon was strutting.
The gravely laugh grated her ears. It crouched, the hunger to cause pain etched into the smile that kept widening. It flexed its claws as its eyes bored into the panicking woman.
Pain erupted from its lips as it twisted to the right.
Frederica took a wingbone to the face as she tried to get clear. The blonde woman slipped on the ice where Penelope had been standing and fell on her rear, dropping her sword before she hit the ground.
Penelope was on her feet and closed the distance as the Cabbit Demon kicked the sword away from the fallen woman.
“That HURT!”
“LIGHT BLAST!” Penelope had to stay far enough back so that her spell didn’t wash over the other woman.
The Demon leapt into the air, and crashed to the spot where Frederica had been sitting. The blonde rolled to her left, putting more distance between herself and her weapon.
The Demon, on the other hand, face planted since its left wing had a long tear in the side. It had sensed Frederica’s attack and moved fast enough to keep the blade out of its back, but not fast enough for it to not get hit.
Penelope ran over to her ally and helped the other woman stand. Penelope pulled Frederica behind her. “You okay?”
“YOU SIRENS!!!” The Cabbit Demon roared as it stood up. “I’M GOING TO TEAR THE SKIN OFF YOUR FLESH AND MAKE YOU WATCH AS I EAT YOUR-”
“LIGHT BLAST!” Penelope cut off the rant as she blasted the Demon in the face.
“Keep him busy!” Frederica pushed off of the other woman and ran west toward her weapon.
The blur of fur pounced at her, but Penelope was already casting her spell again, this time with both hands. “LIGHT BLAST!!! LIGHT BLAST!!!
The ball of anger and hunger barreled into her. Teeth bit into her shoulder as claws dug into her sides. Her breath was driven out of her as her back slammed onto the concrete.
“LIGHT BURST!”
Light magic erupted out of her as Penelope slammed the side of her head into the monster’s mouth. She grabbed for the wings and pulled, tearing the webbing on the left one more.
The Cabbit Demon let out a howl, grabbed her shoulders, and slammed her into the concrete.
“JUST DI-!”
A sharp pain cut into Penelope's gut as the weight on top of her increased. Her lungs burned as she fought to hold the Demon close.
The sharpness dulled as the pressure diminished. The Demon roared in her ear, leaving a ringing as it pulled away, but Penelope wouldn’t let it go. She tightened her grip and pulled it down.
The sharp pain blossomed in her gut again, then again, then again. The Demon began to spasm as it tried to get free, but its movements were weakening every second.
Blood dripped onto her face, then the familiar noise announced that the fight was over.
DING!
Experience +1
A bright light washed over her.
The Demon’s forehead hit her in the face, then rolled off to the side.
Penelope opened her eyes and blinked away the blood as she looked up at the triumphant woman standing over her.
Jeru grimaced. “You’re not going to like this.”
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