Eliona's War 3: Lethal Healer

Ch. 28

Movement by his feet caught Severance's attention. One of those black things wriggled towards him like a snake. Maybe a foot long, it was covered in dark scales and had two long fins running alongside its body. It used these to help propel itself forward, adding speed to its slither. It wasn't exactly a snake, nor was it a lizard. It was more like a stubby earthworm in shape, with no distinguishable difference between its front and back ends.

One glance was all he needed to decide the thing was horrifying. He danced out of its reach, only to find himself dodging half a dozen more that were writhing on the ground.

What was this? An attack of mutated earthworms?

"Ah!" Snow let out a startled cry. "They spit!"

At the same moment, Snow's health bar in the party list began to flash. It dropped by a fraction with every pulse.

Severance sidestepped another worm, before glancing at Snow. The cryomancer had frozen the ground around himself, encasing four worms in solid ice. A fifth sat at his feet, its frosty body half raised as if trying to reach for him.

"Inflict!" Snow stretched out his hands, and cloud of icy mist closed in around that worm. In the next second, the cryomancer flicked out his wrist. "Frost Bolt!"

A spike of ice shot out and struck the worm. It pierced right through, shattering the rest of the ice that had encased it. The worm flopped over and wriggled, still very much alive despite the fact a shard of ice had impaled it.

"It's still not dead?! What are these things made of?"

The butt of Valentin's glaive came down on the worm, smashing in the bolt of ice. The worm flattened into a greasy dark smear.

Kiah's health bar also began to flash at that time. Severance had no time to help either of them, for several worms were closing in on him. Three had reared up, like the one near Snow. Their formless heads split open into little crescent maws.

Severance didn't even think. He leaped straight up, then arched his body back while lifting his legs. From this position, he could see fine threads of pale fluid shoot out from the worms. Whatever the goop was, it landed harmlessly onto the ground.

His stomach tightened. What the heck was that stuff?

The world tilted once as he flipped his body around. He landed deftly on his toe and immediately darted away from the worms. As he moved, wind gathered around him.

The second he was in a safe spot clear of worms, he skidded to a stop and snapped out a fan with a little flourish. "Radiant Dome!"

A translucent Dome folded down over them like a bubble. It filled the majority of the room, generating a gentle breeze within its shimmering walls.

As long as his teammates were under the dome, they'd regenerate up to 20% of their health. It should deal with whatever ailed Snow and Kiah, or at least keep their bleeding health bars from dropping too low.

A growl filled the room. Its source wasn't too hard to identify. Jack Coyote stomped on the back of a worm and hacked at its head. Without even looking, he swung his shield over to catch the milky spit from another.

"I can't hold their aggro." With several furious swipes, he finally managed to cut the worm into two. It still wriggled. "Rage Strike!" He pulled his shield in, before slamming it onto the worm. While the attack failed to squish the thing, it still stunned it.

"Vengeance Strike!" A golden light flickered around Jack's blade. He thrust it straight down, as if trying to plant the sword into the ground. A shockwave burst out, throwing both halves of the worm into the air, where they immediately burst into violet sparkles. The other nearby worms were shoved back a few good feet.