Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds: A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (interesting books to read TXT) 📕

they were losing.  She couldn’t see who it was (though she could see that it wasn’t Arcen), but one of them had tried the same tactic of keeping his shield up in defense.  Tragically, it did absolutely nothing about the paw with 2-foot-long claws stomping down at him.  His shield, his iron armor, and his body were all vertically sliced cleanly into four different pieces, and the Fighter was dead before the formerly whole parts hit the ground.

She and the others were nearly in range, but it wasn’t looking good.  The massive Cat was just too fast, as it bit down on another Fighter – Freida, this time – and the poor former sailor couldn’t get her shield up fast enough.  The lower half of her body stood upright for a few seconds before it finally collapsed, as her upper torso was flung away by the monster as if being discarded as something nasty-tasting.

“NOOOO!!!!” Jeska heard from her side.  She recognized Tercel’s voice, Freida’s lover and their group’s Mage, as he somehow put on even more speed and rushed ahead of the pack.  She could readily understand his feelings, as it appeared as though Arcen was next up on the chopping block as he rushed forward and attempted to stab the Cat in the left paw.

Suddenly, there were 6 blurs that assaulted the back of the monster, the knives of the hurt-but-not-dead Scouts who had been knocked away earlier flashing out and scoring some hits to the rear of the Cat Champion.  A red bar appeared at the top of her vision and wouldn’t go away no matter how much she tried to dismiss it; after a moment, just as she got into a range that her Skills might actually work, she realized that it was the Health of the Regional Threat.

Despite some surprise attacks on its back legs by their Scouts, which she knew from experience did a lot of damage to weaker monsters, the valiant Heroes’ collective actions barely even made the red bar deplete.  She couldn’t see the wounds they made from her position, but she doubted they were more than tiny scratches that barely broke through the fur of the gigantic beast and to the skin beneath.

While there was a lack of significant damage, the Cat Champion didn’t like the surprise attacks.  Just as Jeska and the other Mages started launching their ranged attacks towards the Threat, she found out why it was called a Tornado Cat Champion.

An extensive and powerful whirlwind of air suddenly sprang up around the monster, picking up all 6 Scouts and flinging them off across the plateau and out of sight.  There was no way to know if they survived their flight or not, because they were so far gone that she couldn’t see them.  The whirlwind started to pick up the remaining Fighters, as well, but she could see that they had all activated their Stonewall Skill; they all seemed to sink into the stone and dirt of the plateau with their shields raised, and they stayed rooted in place.

As for the Mages’ attacks, none of them even got close to hitting, as they were bounced away. Some were reflected back towards the still-racing group, but fortunately, they were dodged by some quick footwork and frantic diving to avoid being hit.  Needless to say, the barrage of attacks from Jeska and the rest of the Mages stopped – at least until the powerful whirlwind stopped.  At least she hoped that it would stop; if it didn’t, then she would be practically useless.

The Supports attacked in unison next as songs rang out, concentrating on the Cat Champion.  Jeska saw the effects of their Skills slam into the monster as the tornado surrounding the feline beast didn’t affect them – and saw the Cat pause for about a half a second as it stalked the Fighters rooted in place.  A Puppet Master dance was next, which caused the Champion to freeze for a full second before the dance was rendered ineffective.

“This thing is too strong!  None of our Skills are doing anything!” Rosara screamed in frustration as she watched the Cat approach Arcen. Her brother was trapped in place by his Skill, which was the only reason he hadn’t been flung away.  In desperation, Jeska used her Fiery Explosion Tier 2 Skill which she gained from a Skillbook just a few days ago, causing an explosion to appear in front of the face of the Cat Champion.

As she had feared, her spell didn’t even make it through the wind, rendering it useless as a way to damage the humongous beast.  What it did do, however, was cause the Cat to pause for a moment in surprise before continuing its way forward towards Arcen.  A second and then a third explosion erupted in the face of the monster, which made it pause even more – but it was only delaying the inevitable.  Another few explosions occurred, and when they were done Jeska attempted to create an Ice Barricade – but it was blown apart in less than a second, sending shards of ice everywhere.

“Oops.”  That was an understatement, but she was desperate to save her brother with whatever options she had at her disposal.

Suddenly, the tornado-like winds around the Cat settled down to a gentle breeze, the monster’s Skill or whatever it was having been expended for the moment.  That didn’t mean it wasn’t still deadly, but now they could actually attack it!

Checking her cooldowns, she saw that her Tier 1 Skills like Ice Shard were already back up and ready to use, so she and the others started to launch a new barrage of spells at the Threat.  Sharp rocks, spears of ice, balls of flames, and fists of air impacted the head of the Cat, which shrugged off the attacks without even seeming to feel them.  At most, she saw a few streaks of red