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

the Bat shattered like ice under one last blow.  As the pieces of the monster landed like shrapnel around her, she fell to her knees, the numerous wounds all over her body srapping her energy.

What little vitality she did have gave out and she fell forward on her front, her head turned to the side to see the bodies of her brother, Pascale, and Kelty.  Rosara was unconscious behind her, having had her head impacted by a charging Boar as she had bent over in pain, but she was still alive.  Jeska wouldn’t be for long, though, as the venom coursing through her veins from that stupid Pond Serpent bite was finishing her off.  In the corner of her vision, she saw that she was down to 1/10 Health – and her body certainly felt it.

It had started so well, too.  They had rushed inside as a group, taking position behind the Ice Bats’ platform, as they braced for the incoming attacks.  Rosara had already done her sexy dance to boost Arcen and Pascale’s Attack, and she immediately began to sing for her other skill, which froze the Spitting Serpent and prevented it from attacking.

But it was all chaos from there.

The Ice Bats had risen into the air and swooped down on them as one.  Two lucky hits batted an equal number of them away, only slightly hurt; Jeska had hit one of them, and it had felt like smacking into a stone wall.  The third Bat had managed to land on Kelty and bit down once before taking off, which had some unexpected side-effects.  While it did damage, it also conveyed a “Debuff,” called Slowing, and the former seamstress had shivered as if she were suddenly super-chilled.  Her movements were only about half as fast as before, which was why she had been bitten by the Gliding Serpent as it arrived and attacked.

Fortunately, the quick Serpent’s bit was not venomous.  It was, however, rather painful – especially when the bites came in rapid succession.  Pascale was there to smash his weapon into the Serpent, but not before Kelty was more than half-dead.

And that was when the Boars, who were waiting to see if the group of Heroes would move, charged across the platforms.  That was the plan, however, because they did exactly what Jeska had hoped: They trampled over the “Captivated” Spitting Serpent, damaging it extensively, but they unfortunately did not kill it.

Arcen braced for the Boars’ charge out front of everyone else, slamming into one of the Ember Boars with his body in turn, picking it up and then slamming it against the floor.  He had yelled out in pain, however, as his hands were burnt from handling the flaming fur of the Boar, but he kept going and pushed through the pain, nonetheless.

From there, it had turned into a chaotic melee of bites, blows, gores, and death.  Kelty got a glob of acid spit to the face from the not-quite-dead Spitting Serpent, even as she swung her Training Weapon around in blind fury as the Slowing effect from the Ice Bat bite wore off.  She managed to hit another Bat that was trying to hit her, slamming it against the wall behind her, where it shattered upon impact.

The Boars, now that they didn’t have room to charge, gored Arcen in the legs. Retaliating, he grabbed the other Ember Boar and started to crush it with his enormous strength, eventually breaking its back as he literally squeezed it to death.  Unfortunately, he suffered tremendous burns all over his arms and chest, and was gored again by the Glimmer Boar in his hip.  Jeska had come to his rescue by knocking the Boar’s head away with her own weapon, but then she found out what made it special: It disappeared from where it had been knocked, only to reappear next to Jeska.

Surprised, it took all her fledgling skills to defend herself, doing a bit of damage to the boar – but taking a significant amount of injury to her body in the process.  Meanwhile, Rosara went for the Spitting Serpent herself, using her hands to grab it and turn it away from the group, stomping down on its already-trampled body to kill it.  Unfortunately, she was bitten by the Pond Serpent in the process, and when she bent down to check herself and suffered the first effects of the venom, the Glimmer Boar broke off its attack on Jeska and charged the Support member of the group, hitting her hard enough in her head to knock her out.

The next minute was a blur as Pascale attempted to save Kelty from the other Ice Bats, but she was blind and couldn’t defend herself. She fell not too long afterwards, and their Scout was bitten once from behind, which slowed him down considerably.  A bite from the Pond Serpent – who seemed to be making the rounds of all of the group members – was enough to finish him off after he suffered a few more bites.

Arcen was also struck with the venomous Serpent, even as he tried to fight on his knees because of his damaged legs, facing off against the last Boar, the Bats, and the Gliding Serpent. A few powerful strikes of his weapon were enough to take out the Boar, and he finally nabbed the super-quick monster with a lucky grab, tearing it apart with his superior strength before his body gave in to his numerous wounds and the venom wracking his body.

Which left Jeska, who got bit by the Pond Serpent as she was defending against the last Bat.  As soon as she was bit, however, she reached down and picked the Serpent up by the tail as it tried to go for Rosara again. Jeska slammed it against the ground, stomped on it, and finally shattered its skull with her weapon – just as she was bit by