Chapter 101: Let’s Put This Doggy Down

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Let’s Put This Doggy Down

"Now it’s our turn to attack," Xavier said with a low chuckle, tightening his grip around his sword.

When the beast lost its sight, it didn’t realize it had been blinded. It felt no pain, so it assumed the light had simply gone out. But the moment it lost Xavier’s scent its instincts screamed that something was wrong. It had only its hearing and sixth sense left. All six ears twitched as they felt the air shift in the front.

Grrrk... hsssk...

A quick slash from Xavier’s sword came from the front; the beast dodged, stepping back and immediately raking its claws in that direction.

GRRAAAARGH!!

Xavier tanked the blow with Miss Incinerator’s blade and pulled away.

He sent several slashes of flame toward the Cerberus. The beast tried to destroy them with its jaws. The fire landed inside its open mouth but did almost nothing, vanishing between its fangs.

SKREEECH!! GRRAAARGH!!

Meanwhile Elena and Melli were inside the beast’s chamber. A pedestal had just risen from the floor, an incredibly beautiful bracelet floating above it. Elena looked at it only once and immediately felt the power radiating from it.

"It has to be the power source of this entire rune," she said, but she didn’t move. She kept her hands on the runes, holding the mana flow steady. If she stopped supplying the arrays the pedestal would sink back underground.

"Melli, you need to do this. You see the little socket in the center of the pedestal? That’s an enchanted switch. Turn it off and this whole thing ends here."

"I see it, but are you all right? Will you be fine by yourself?" Melli asked.

"Yes. I can keep going for at least ten seconds on my own before the circuit starts to recoil. You have that long to deactivate the runes. Just remember—don’t step on them or you’ll disrupt the flow. You have to reach the socket from where we are now."

Melli nodded. She stood, taking her hands off the arrays.

10

She swung her arm in full circles and launched her fist toward the socket. Her slimy, gelatinous arm stretched, the fist flying clear above the runic inscriptions and landing dead-center in the socket.

9

Her fist sank into it and she began feeding the enchanted switch her mana.

8

"What the hell?" she muttered.

"What’s wrong?" Elena asked.

7

"It’s not a simple enchantment. It’s a locked variation. Like a key. I have to supply mana, then turn and twist inside the switch in the right order to activate it."

6

"Can you do it?"

"I’m trying."

5

Elena’s heart raced as the sudden obstacle appeared, but she believed in Melli. If she had learned anything about her, it was that Melli was obsessed with enchantments in a way no one else was. Even if she didn’t know how, she would find a way.

4

It wasn’t the time to get excited, yet that was exactly what Melli felt even as the seconds drained away. She still couldn’t fully control her own feelings. She stood there and thought for a moment. Infinite combinations existed, and she didn’t have time for most of them.

3

She simply let the slime of her fingers sink deeper into the socket. Instead of twisting and turning the mana, she let her jelly flow all the way to the end and reach the activation point.

2

"How much longer? I’m at my limit!" Elena screamed.

"Hold on, I’m almost done," Melli answered, finally reaching the activation receptor and pouring mana straight into it.

1

A shockwave erupted from the pedestal and flung Elena and Melli backward. Their backs slammed into the wall and they dropped to their knees. The blast was intense enough that they nearly lost their vision for a second. Elena gritted her teeth, forced herself upright, and walked over to Melli.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes. I’m fine. I’m a Gelkin, we don’t feel pain, but somehow that still hurts," Melli answered in a half-broken voice, looking up to Elena.

"Look!" She pointed behind her at the pedestal.

The serene light that had bathed it was gone. The pedestal was ordinary stone again. The bracelet simply dropped onto its surface, still as beautiful as ever.

"Hey owner, let’s put this doggy down. Aim at its neck and slash with my full power," Miss Incinerator’s sweet voice tried to goad Xavier, but he ignored her.

With his free hand he aimed at the left wall and shot a fireball. It struck right beside the beast’s right foot. The ears twitched; the beast reacted instantly, slashing the area with its left claw.

SKREEEEE—AAARGH!! GRRAAAARGH!!

Xavier saw the opening and lunged, pouring a little mana into his blade until the black steel was sheathed in a thin layer of green aura. The beast could neither smell nor see him. It could hear him, but in the tight corridor it wasn’t fast enough to withdraw its claws—defend or dodge. It simply flexed its muscles and took the strike head-on.

Xavier aimed for the jaw of the middle head, but the beast suddenly dropped its head and drove its forehead straight at him. Xavier was already committed; he couldn’t change the angle. He simply drove Miss Incinerator between the hellhound’s ears in a diagonal slash that cut across its left eye.

SKREEEEEAAARGH—!!!!

The beast didn’t flinch. It stood there as if the wound meant nothing. Xavier’s sword hadn’t cut deep, only left a long shallow gash from the center of its forehead down over the left eye. Thick, dark-red blood welled out—so dark it could almost be mistaken for black, yet under the moonlight Xavier clearly saw the red tint in the viscous fluid.

Grrrk... hsssk...

He withdrew and landed on the floor, but the beast was already on him, all three jaws aimed at his torso.

GRRAAAARGH!! SKREEECH!! HOOOOWL—!!

Before he could move, an incredibly dense shockwave slammed into him, racing past and shattering every window in the hallway. He heard the glass exploding even from the far ends of the corridor as the wave kept expanding outward.

His eyes stayed locked on the beast in front of him. Golden specks of mana began leaking from its body. Within moments the entire creature disintegrated into mana dust and vanished. The beast was gone.