Sticking to the plan we had made was definitely sound advice; because I was thinking I should send my squad in immediately. Lucas had sent me a couple of glances as if about to suggest the same. As if Alan had been predicting the future, it soon became clear how bad of an idea it would have been to do so.

The gigantic Child of Sobek grasped its polearm firmly with both hands and then started to spin, similar to the move that the normal version of the mob did. This would have been a blender for my skeletons and probably Lucas as well if he had moved in to backstab. Every strike into his shield was vicious and sent Alan hurdling backwards. It was all he could do to hold on as the beast spun like a top.

The special attack didn’t stop for over ten seconds, but as soon as it did, I knew this was the development we were waiting for. My squad went in; Lucas went in; the fight truly started now. I didn’t know how long of a cool down that monster’s ability had, but it couldn’t be less than thirty seconds. That was the window we gave ourselves to go all out.

I counted in my head from a safe distance while sending out Decay after Decay. My focus was mostly on the right thigh where my warriors were also putting most of their attention. Even with the focused attacks and Decays, the mob’s scales were slow to come off, and under the outer layer were even more scales. Only after four casts in the exact same spot and the combined effort of ten undead melee soldiers did I manage to draw blood.

This burst of attacks hadn’t even created a big enough wound to constitute a band-aid in my opinion, which wasn’t great news, but any progress at all was better than nothing. “Twenty-five seconds!” I yelled to Lucas, who retreated along with my minions. We had to keep our melee units safe, especially since Alan was putting in his all, and Thomas was doing fine on MP.

I didn’t stop counting though, to learn for next time. The spin attack actually didn’t come for another 40 seconds after our retreat. The chance it was a minute cooldown or slightly longer was probable, and I made the quick decision to stay in for that long. “Next time, in for a full minute!” I shouted across to Lucas who nodded. This was a calculated risk we would need to take in order to end this fight sooner than later. Allowing the fight to be drawn out risked Thomas running out of MP or some accident letting aggro slip, with disastrous consequences.

The sight of black blood on the white scales of the monster’s thigh abated some of my frustrations, and eased my worry. We could slowly chip away at its life while maintaining our own. At least, that was the hope. Hope wasn’t always reality, though.

It became clear that the monster’s leg, while bloodied, caused no hindrance on its physical prowess. There were no signs of it weakening, or any change in its abilities at all. Even worse, it attacked with more fervor and frenzy than before.

This was what they called a soft-enrage mechanic. We were on a timer, and eventually this beast would be strong enough to swat all of us in a single hit. My minions couldn’t reach any higher than the lower thighs, which meant vital damage to organs higher up was left to Jessica and Maria.

This far, though, they hadn’t found any opening to work with. We needed to change that and quickly, “Both of you, focus on the eyes! Just keep shooting!” I shouted. My attention completely shifted away from the thigh. During the next lull in the whirling ability, Lucas was doing his best to turn that small wound into a large one. Wind Slashes came in over and over. I turned my attention towards creating a vulnerability in the face of the beast.

Although I was already down twenty percent of my MP just from focusing on a single thigh, I cast Decay again and again as soon as that little rotating lid that covered the eye came forward. Decay rose to Level Three right after my second cast, but I had no time to study any changes the new level brought about.

My entire focus was on that thick film covering its eyes. Maria had no luck with her arrows; she missed the target, but Jessica pelted the left eye with pinpoint accuracy over and over. At first the oval shape acted as the perfect deflective surface, but within seconds that drastically changed.

Targeted by my spell, the crystal-clear film slowly tore open, turning foggy and gray and deflated. Jessica’s fourth arrow didn’t deflect but struck home; even though its sharp tip went just an inch or so in I felt elation, and the next pierced directly through the eyeball. The boss was so shocked from what must have been a sudden burst of pain that its attacks halted for a moment as it swatted at its eyelid and dislodged the arrow.

This success was enough to know our attacks were working, our strategy was working, and we weren’t going to let up. Jessica and I were sufficient to weaken the mob’s eyes, “Maria, help Lucas with the thigh!” I yelled. She wasn’t getting close enough, and by now Lucas had made a big gash that her little bombs would help expand.

A red aura started to glow around the boss that was visible to the naked eye. Even at the distance we were from the mob, the effect became increasingly noticeable. This was ominous. Some kind of AE effect might be about to trigger from within. Thomas yelled a warning to Alan and only received two words in response. “I’m fine!”

I was so absorbed with the struggle to penetrate the mob’s eyes that I hadn’t appreciated that Alan hadn’t found it necessary to move from his spot in some time. Even with the boss growing stronger he was holding his own. He was learning how to wield his shield properly, and definitely getting a better feel for it no doubt.

The monster’s eyes were its most vulnerable organ, and I even instructed my skeletal mages to begin bombarding its face. The attacks weren’t dealing real damage, but it made it impossible for the creature to know what to try to block with its membrane covers and what to ignore. Jessica’s arrows slipped in repeatedly and by now the film over the left eye was completely useless. It couldn’t even flick the film back anymore as an arrow had gone directly through and lodged into its pupil.

The left eye was completely done for, and the right thigh was no better. The gash was so large now that tendon could be seen beneath. Lucas was thick with blood and the white scales were hidden under a slimy layer of black.

Lucas and my undead warriors retreated a moment later as the boss went into death roll, and for the first time in a long while there was a new development in battle. The boss swapped its stance. It’s pose changed as it shifted its weight onto its left thigh and moved the right thigh back.

The polearm swapped sides, with the clear signal that anything attacking its thigh would be priority number one for dispatch. That wasn’t the only issue either, it used another ability I’d yet to see: a spell that seemed to have no cast time or preliminary animation, or at least I didn’t recognize any spell being cast

Spinning blades appeared all over the arena that swirled like saws of death. Three or four feet across, they rotated about five feet off the ground, high enough to bisect anyone in two or lop off a head in a lapse of judgment. These blades started to move around the area randomly.

The red hue of death swirled and continued to grow more dense around the lizardman’s frame. It was impossible to have any accurate information about how much the aura was increasing in strength but there was a change that was visible to the naked eye. The speed and ferocity of the monster’s swings left no room for doubt that it was becoming more frenzied, nor did the ever louder clash of metal on metal.

There was nothing any of us could do except to push on. Jessica knew what I was thinking already, and we simultaneous switched to the second eye. Blinding it completely was one of the only things we could do to ease pressure on apart from kill it outright, which wasn’t going to happen soon.

Time felt like it was going at a crawl, and yet the ringing metal clap of gongs became more frequent in my ears. The red hue was no longer faint, and I imagined we were nearing the point where tanking it wasn’t going to be possible any longer. With that in mind, Jessica and I needed to disable it as quickly as we could. Jessica and I pummeled the second eye with all we could muster, and my MP quickly dropped to below 30%.

The film melted away as arrow after arrow smacked into the creature’s eyes. It took only moments to create what resembled the quills of a porcupine’s coat. Now the boss was fully blind, but that didn’t seem to deter it in the slightest. It lost its accuracy, but still swung that polearm left to right haphazardly hoping to connect with anything.

Lucas was of the mind to move behind it, but the monster’s tail started to sway and whip out like lightning. It had previously rested behind motionless except for when it started to spin like a top. If I were to guess, it provided some form of balance or stability to that burly frame and was the reason why it hadn’t been used before.

With no sight now, it moved forward like an unstoppable machine. The tail whipped from side to side, completely negating any hope of Lucas or my warriors attacking from behind or the sides. The polearm came across repeatedly in the front, hoping to bisect anything unfortunate enough to remain in its path.

Several of my squad had been taken out by just two attacks and all that remained was my shield-wielding skeleton general and a single reanimated Child of Sobek. My ranged minions continued to pelt at the face to little effect. The two remaining melee minions I had wouldn’t last more than another attack.

Alan was barely holding on as he remained in front of the boss. One knee nearly touched the ground for stability while the shield remained firmly grasped in both hands. There was no time to retaliate or even raise it, all he could do was shelter behind it as the boss slowly pushed him around the arena with each attack.

That red hue of death had grown to a full-blown aura, and the initial slowness of the boss had vanished completely. It moved without lethargy or restraint, and even the spinning axes began to move more rapidly around.

For a moment I felt hopelessness. We’d never encountered an enemy with such a strong physical defense, and our party was severely lacking in magical damage. It was all I could do to continue casting Decay on its wounded thigh. The only hope in my head was being able to put the beast to the ground so it couldn’t move.

Maria ignored the sweat dripping down her face and into her eyes as she let fly another explosive arrow. It was hard to miss the soft fleshy thigh that was as large as a barn door. The wound was seared black in places and the tendons had been ripped to bits, and yet it only slowed the beast a small amount.

The saws around us were growing faster, and eventually evading them while keeping track of the boss would prove impossible. We were already incredibly lucky that none had pathed towards Alan, who remained like a turtle in his shell.

There was less than a minute remaining before the saws would be moving at a speed hard to dodge even if you saw one coming well in advance. My mind oscillated between calling a retreat or not. I wasn’t even sure we could retreat. The boss could perhaps keep up now, or perhaps the saws would chase us down.

If the saws followed us, we had no way out. As a test, I focused on one of them and cast Decay. The blade turned dark as if rusting, but the speed at which it was spinning didn’t change, nor did its pathing slow at all. Decay wasn’t enough for these.

Almost as if to put us in full despair, the boss ahead started to spin again, and this time the spinning didn’t stop. It built up speed and started to swirl like a whirlwind. Alan could no longer sit still and be pummeled any longer. He rushed away in our direction as we grouped together.

“What do we do?” Thomas said in between casting heals. It was the question on everyone’s mind. Our avenue of attacks seemed to be gone now. The monster didn’t need sight to spin randomly around; eventually we would be forced into a corner and the blades would cut us to pieces.

Not only that, the lizardman’s weak points had become hard to target. Only Maria or Jessica could even deal damage without being minced to pieces, with a low chance of hitting the damaged thigh that was now untargetable while it was twirling so quickly.

For the first time since the apocalypse, I couldn’t make a decision. Calling for retreat was just as likely to lead us to death as not. Once we ran, there would be no chance of finishing off our enemy, and it would only continue to grow stronger over time. Those blades might find us ten or even fifteen minutes after our retreat, coming so fast that no one would even see their death coming.

We were stuck between a rock and a hard place, and even Lucas struggled for an answer. “Can we retreat?” He asked the question that probably every person was thinking. Oddly enough, they all looked to me for an answer. No one voiced their opinion, and for a moment all that I heard was the heavy breathing of Alan.

“I… don’t know,” I confessed. I looked at Jessica feeling regretful and sorry for being so useless at this moment, there was also something of a plea in that look. There had to be a way out of this situation, but a Hail Mary was something only Jessica or Maria could produce.

Our breather had felt like it lasted an eternity, but only five or six seconds had passed. “Watch out!” Alan suddenly yelled. He moved as fast as he could and collided with a spinning saw that was going to cut straight through our group. The resulting sound was like a high pitch scream as it grinded to a halt and then deflected off his shield. It then began building up speed again and moved along a different path.

There was no way anyone else could survive a hit like that. It was as strong as the boss’s polearm swing, and my fear that they would hunt us down became reality in everyone’s mind. “Give me thirty seconds!” Jessica suddenly said. “Thirty seconds and I’ll think of something!”

“Keep moving!” Lucas reminded everyone, and we quickly broke apart as another saw came hurdling through the area where we were just standing. I cast Shallow Grave and then quickly resummoned my melee skeletons. My MP was dangerously low now, and I could do the same just one more time.

My plan wasn’t to attack, but instead assist in defending my friends. I sent every skeleton out and around a party member, ready to dive in front of a spinning blade in case someone was too slow to react. My skeletons proved little resistance, but after the saw blade connected with something it always swapped direction, which would provide a moment of relief.

Only the shield-wielding skeleton general could put up any resistance. He was sent flying backwards, with bones nearly cracked, but he didn’t perish in one blow. My eyes repeatedly looked around in every direction, hunting for any incoming projectile. My mind was continually racing for where to move so the boss didn’t corner me and lop me in two.

Everyone was doing anything they could to avoid being bisected, which was growing more difficult by the second. Thomas had barely managed to evade having his arm cut clean off, a red gash at least an inch thick rested over his bicep. I couldn’t wait any longer and summoned my last batch of minions and sent two of my generals to him.

Lucas was having a better time of it and was still swiftly dodging. He had found it necessary to use the Nodachi once to deflect a blade, which seemed to have left his hands numb and shaking. Alan had his shield, and so long as he wasn’t in the path of more than one could deflect an attack with minimal injury.

Maria was still recovering from severe injury, and her moves were definitely impacted, but she was quite agile. I sent her a few skeletons as well, which would be life savers in the worst-case scenario. It was when I looked at Jessica that my heart caught in my chest.

She had suddenly stopped moving, and she closed her eyes and nocked her bow. My mind was ringing alarm bells as I sent the remaining warriors beside me directly to her. Without a care for their own existence, they hurried to encircle her.

Even then, that wasn’t enough. “Alan! PROTECT JESSICA,” I yelled. Everything was happening so fast, and even within those short two seconds did I lose three minions. Two different blades had come right for Jessica, and no doubt would have ended her.

She let loose her bow and nothing shot forth. A sign of frustration covered her face as she opened her eyes and seemed to be experiencing a sense of failure. Another blade connected with a minion and shattered it to pieces before Alan reached her.

I eyed her with quick curiosity before having to dive out of the way of a blade. My stomach rested flat against the floor in hopes that would help in some way, but it truly didn’t. I rolled like a madman as one of the blades turned vertical and nearly sliced me in two. A huge slash was cut out the side of my hip, no doubt mitigated greatly by bone armor.

Jessica’s eyes closed again, and again she prepared an arrow, this time with more confidence. Alan was deflecting blade after blade and even Lucas had rushed over to assist. I continued to roll along the floor before getting to my feet and making distance for myself.

Three, four, five shots and there was suddenly a change: the boss stopped spinning. It stood upright and then remained motionless for a moment. A thick burly hand rested upon its chest and a gurgle escaped its throat. That gigantic maw opened and then acid and blood poured forth from within.

“Maria! NOW!” Jessica suddenly yelled. And as if they had planned it, Maria shot explosive arrow after explosive arrow into that now opened throat. Explosion followed by explosion echoed out, as tongue and throat and gore flew from the boss. The blades around us stopped spinning, and then clattered to the floor.

The beast shook and wobbled. The firmly grasped polearm loosed and clanged into the floor, loud and hard enough to shake the very ground. The boss didn’t remain standing any longer and collapsed forward in a heap, its innards slowly slithering out of its half-opened maw and pooling on the floor below.