Jolthar and Wymar stood there, shocked. The skin on the abdomen was just like before. The wound had been healed. The regeneration worked faster, and they weren't expecting it.
Then, with shocking swiftness, it charged.
The creature's arms stretched towards them, like vicious snakes.
Wymar reacted quickly and raised his arms, summoning a barrier.
The ground before them erupted upward, forming a wall ten feet high. The arms smashed through it like it was made of parchment, but the brief delay gave Jolthar time to summon his Voidwrath.
Dark silver light swirled around him, coalescing into a second skin that enhanced his natural abilities tenfold.
"Strike low, I'll take high!" Jolthar called, already springing into action.
Wymar nodded, whispering an incantation as he drew a complex sigil in the air. The ground beneath the creature suddenly transformed into a quagmire of grasping, animated mud that clutched at its massive legs. "Moriate Virteus," he intoned, and the earth split open, revealing a chasm thirty feet deep.
The abomination lurched, momentarily thrown off balance, and Jolthar seized his opportunity. With Voidwrath-enhanced, he darted forward, keeping low to the ground. Knashii hummed with anticipation as he swept the blade in a perfect arc across what passed for the creature's hamstrings.
The blade connected, and for an instant, Jolthar felt triumph surge through him.
The runes on Knashii flared brilliantly as they tasted the thing's unnatural flesh.
But his victory was short-lived.
Though the cut was deep enough to have severed the legs of any natural being, the creature merely staggered. Before Jolthar's horrified eyes, the wound began to close, tendrils of black and violet tissue knitting together with sickening speed.
"Its regenerative capability is extraordinary!" Wymar shouted, already weaving his next spell. His fingers danced in complex patterns, drawing glowing sigils that hung suspended in the air. "Crystallum glaciei infinitum!"
The temperature plummeted instantly. The entire area seemed to be caught in an ice blizzard.
Frost formed on Jolthar's armour, and his breath emerged as white plumes.
A wave of intense cold washed over the battlefield, so fierce that it froze the very moisture in the air, creating a brief, localized blizzard. Ice formed over the creature's massive form, encasing it in a crystalline prison that gleamed with an inner blue light.
For a heartbeat, it seemed they had succeeded.
Jolthar was intending to launch an attack, breaking the creature when it was frozen, but he stopped as he noticed the cracks on it.
The hairline cracks appeared in the ice, spreading like a web across the frozen surface.
With a sound like a mountain splitting, the creature broke free, shattering its prison into thousands of glittering shards. It threw back its head and emitted a sound that could only be described as laughter—a manic, discordant cacophony that bore only the faintest resemblance to human mirth.
"Impossible," Wymar breathed, genuine fear flickering across his face for the first time. "That spell should have frozen it to its very core." ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel★fire.net
His breath was coming harder by the time it passed; that last spell was one of the best offensive spells, but it had no effect on the creature thing.
Jolthar noticed that Wymar was staggering slightly; he seemed like he wouldn't be able to fight for very long. His grip on the Knashii tightened as he turned towards the thing, thinking of using his lethal moves.
The creature's arm extended with unnatural speed, stretching to twice its original length as it grabbed for Wymar.
Jolthar reacted instantly, channelling more Voidwrath into his legs for a swift leap. He intercepted the attack, Knashii slicing clean through the extended limb. Noxious black blood sprayed in an arc, sizzling where it struck the ground.
The severed appendage fell, twitching obscenely—but even as Jolthar landed beside Wymar, he saw new tissue bubbling from the creature's stump, forming into a new arm within seconds.
"FUCK! Just how strong is that regeneration?" Jolthar spat.
He looked at the newly formed limb; it was like a new one. The creature was making screeching noises while the arm came out.
From the sidelines, Myron was equally stupefied.
While Yilar was grinning, proud of what he created.
"Having fun here, eh?" A voice came from behind, and Yilar quickly turned back to see Dagur.
He didn't even notice when he came. He appeared behind him and was standing a couple of feet away.
"Dagur, what are you doing here?" Yilar frowned as he asked.
"I thought I would see what sort of creation you sent. You even boasted before coming here."
Yilar, still unsure of his arrival, said, "Weren't you supposed to be leading an army to the county?"
"Don't worry about me." Dagur walked to the front to get a clear view of the battlefield.
He stared at the thing, and his expression remained blank. For a second, there was a surprise on his face, but it quickly disappeared.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield,
"We need to destroy it completely, all at once," Jolthar said, his chest heaving from exertion. But he was far from over. He still hadn't used the main techniques. He was saving energy because he sensed a few presences around the area, eyes watching the battle. He didn't know for sure who they were, but they were strong. After killing this thing, they may have to fight yet another one.
His drake was not able to fight because of the foul energy coming from the thing. So, he made the drake to step back. It was watching from the sidelines too. He thought of calling her when the time was right.
Wymar nodded grimly. "I have one spell that might work, but I'll need time to prepare it—and your protection while I cast."
"Two or three minutes. No more."
Jolthar's face hardened. "You'll have it."
The creature roared again, both arms now fully regenerated, and charged with renewed fury. Jolthar stepped forward to meet it, drawing deep on his Voidwrath.
The silver-coloured shadows around him darkened, taking on almost physical substance as they swirled and coalesced into winglike extensions from his back.
"Void Phase," he whispered, activating one of his most dangerous techniques. It was the first time he was using it; he thought of saving his strength, but the time was running out. He can't go on fighting like that, nor could Wymar.