The Saxunt Lizard looked at Morne with a cunning, if animalistic, glint in its reptilian eyes.
It immediately started circling to the side, keeping its eyes trained on Morne as it licked its scaly lips.
As it walked, it had noticeable difficulty heaving its stony back half around. It could only keep its hind legs up for a few moments before the weight brought them back down with a *thump*.
Every step left furrows in the ground, along with a small amount of some blue liquid, and its tail was so heavy that it left a foot-deep trench wherever it passed.
The arena started to feel cramped in an instant. From tip to tip, the Saxunt Lizard was half the arena's width long, making it feel like it was a mere leap away from chowing down on Morne.
He pivoted on his heel to keep the beast within his line of sight. He was only a few feet away from the wall behind him, so the Saxunt Lizard could only go so far before it would have to either double back or charge toward him.
Morne kept his eyes peeled for any advantage he could find, scanning the Saxunt Lizard until he eventually found what he was looking for.
It didn't blink.
Its eyes stayed open in a perpetual stare even when a fly landed on it. It was enough to unsettle someone else, but Morne had more pressing concerns to deal with.
He acted on this knowledge as soon as he noticed it, pointing a finger at the Saxunt Lizard's eye.
"Splinter shot."
A touch of color left his cheeks, and a magical projectile flew through the air with the speed of a thrown rock. Surprisingly, the Saxunt Lizard didn't attempt to dodge or block.
'Big mistake,' Morne thought.
Once it hit, he'd charge in and swing at the beast's jaw. Then he'd-
The blob collided with the Saxunt Lizard's eyeball, dispersing harmlessly in a splash of reddish-black energy, and Morne threw his plans out the window.
He turned a tad more serious, gripping his mace tightly in one hand.
'No effect?' he wondered.
It didn't seem to have done anything at all.
The Saxunt Lizard's eyes flashed with a sense of smug superiority, and its lips opened to bare its teeth in a smile.
Was it… immune to magic?
Did such creatures even exist?
While it was too soon to say for sure for the first question, the obvious answer to the second question was yes.
Magic was easily the most powerful force on Xryn besides the Gods, how could the animals not evolve to take advantage after thousands of years existing in this world?
Such species were rare in the grand scheme of things, though this said nothing of their population. The majority of the wildlife species on Xryn were entirely mundane. But whenever these creatures did show up, ignorance could be just as deadly as their claws.
Take the goblins, for example. If the ones Morne had fought weren't immature and weak, with the intelligence of a toddler, their telekinesis could have meant the death of him.
What if they had combined their forces? What if there had been more of them?
It could only be said that Morne had lucked out with the last round, but that luck had dried up.
The Saxunt Lizard seemed to be almost gloating as it changed directions, dragging itself toward him. Its maw opened, blueish clear saliva dripping down its teeth, and when there were only ten feet between them…
It lunged right for him.
Its stone peeled off in a whirl of rock as it crossed the ten feet between it and Morne in under a second.
Morne dove to the side, earning a long gash along his right arm. Strangely, no blood came out.
He pushed himself to his knees just in time to swat away a bite from the Saxunt Lizard, his mace smashing into its teeth and sending it reeling. A tooth flew from its maw along with a splash of saliva.
He jumped to his feet in the time he had bought and swept his mace up and down on the Saxunt Lizard's head in one swift motion.
His mace bounced off, leaving only a few minor cuts where the weapon's flanges had cut into the beast's scales.
Morne's eyes widened. In the next instant, a swipe from the lizard sent him flying, tearing another long cut into his chest with its claws.
Morne landed on the ground several feet away and pushed himself to his feet with some difficulty, wincing as he put weight on his injured right arm. As he rose, he snagged his mace off the floor.
The Saxunt Lizard hissed at him as tiny beads of crimson started to well up out of its cuts. Only now did Morne notice that his previous attack had broken one of the beast's teeth, the missing half laying on the ground by the Saxunt Lizard's feet.
He stepped forward, raising his shield. Next, he raised his mace, only for a flicker of confusion to flash through his hazel eyes.
His arm felt stiff. He could still move it, but it was noticeably more difficult to do so, and when he did, he felt something grating against his bones where the beast had cut him.
When he inhaled, he noticed the same thing around the wound on his chest, almost as if small shards of stone had embedded themselves in his flesh.
He instantly realized that the Saxunt Lizard's claws carried some form of toxin, and connected that to the blue liquid that it left behind with every step.
Magic resistance, scales that could resist his physical attacks, and toxins? These Knife-Tongues must really want him dead.
He would be lying if he said he hated to disappoint them.
But now Morne suddenly had an unknown time limit. He didn't know if this stuff could kill him or not, but he did know that it was worsening. Every moment increased the stiffness of his arm incrementally. In a few minutes, it might be completely unusable.
Worse, he had to put conscious effort into breathing now, as if he had a weight on his chest. It wasn't hard to do now, but he didn't feel like finding out what would happen if he let it run rampant.
He had to end this, and soon.