Finally…
The beast came to their view…
A serpentine-like beast slithering and creeping towards them.
At that moment, they could only feel hostility from its deadly glare as it was still a few distance from them. It stopped abruptly as it fixed its gaze on them as if measuring them up.
It was a huge and terrifying one.
Like a giant worm, the beast has an elongated cylindrical body similar to that of a sinuous, black serpent. Its body is covered by iridescent dark blue scales that shimmer in the bioluminescent light. There were also glowing markings, like pores, on its skin, pulsing with a soft, blue-green light, like eerie, underwater creatures.
The facets of its eyes glimmer like polished obsidian, reflecting the faint light, while being fixated in an unsettling manner on its prey. Also, dark vines were writhing like living shadows from its body, as if they're conduits for the underworld's dark power.
It was a horrendous sight to behold. Emelda gasped, her eyes widened as she saw the sheer size of the serpentine beast.
She grabbed Lyra's arm, her voice barely above a whisper. "What is that thing? Is it going to kill us?"
Lyra's face was pale, her eyes not deflecting from the beast with a mix of fear and awe. Indeed, her mind was racing with worst-case scenarios that could occur if they were to engage the beast.
However, gradually Emelda's composure changed as she gathered her courage to take the offensive initiative, charging after the beast with her tendrils modified into sharp-pointed whips.
There is someone important to her that she had to live for and meet up with soonest, no matter what…
….
Other than the Terraclaw that they had met previously on its verge of death, this was the first beast they had encountered and will engage in a fight with.
Sure they had met beastial plants, but those were plants and they never had any serious skirmish with any of them. There was the Tendrilwort which was exterminated by Drake, the Arcana Blossom dealt with by Lyra and finally the Abyssmaw which gave them no chance to fight back, the main perpetrator of their current plight.
Therefore, immediately Emelda saw the huge worm-like beast with all its hostile intent gleaming from its eyes coupled with the urgency to reunite with the others. She lashed out against it with her conjured, thick tendrils to finish it off as fast as possible.
This is yet another lesson taught to them by the High Priest during their preparation for this quest to the Lost Temples: To always attack the enemy first, not giving them the opportunity to strive back with all they had.
When Emelda attacked, her swift movements sent the tendril whips, wound round her hands, lashing outwards to deal a devastating blow on the beast.
Behind her, Lyra was a little shaken as the encounter with the Tendrilwort flashed across her eyes. She was watching everything unfold from behind, her mind racing with thoughts of their next move. Slightly trembling was her hand that was loosely gripping her wand.
Unfortunately for Emelda, before the tip of her whips connected with the scaly body of the serpentine beast, it had moved, hitting the whips with its tail. It collided with Emelda head-on with an incredible speed, pushing her back to where Lyra was.
"It's fast," Emelda muttered while wincing in pain.
Thanks to the Magma Shroud, there was no scratch on her body except for the pain she felt at the point of collision with the beast - the side of her abdomen.
Emelda turned to Lyra, her voice almost a shout. "Are you going to stand there all day?" She urged Lyra to act, as the beast charged towards them like a buffalo, closing in fast.
Lyra snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes wide with terror. She looked around, but seemed helpless. "What are we going to do? It's pretty fast!"
Without hesitation, Emelda turned to run back the way they came. "I guess we need to find a bigger space to fight it!"
Lyra followed closely behind, her heart racing.
Emelda and Lyra were on their heels but the beast seemed to be on their tail, slowly catching up.
That was when Lyra, who took off after Emelda started running, seemed to have become faster herself. In that instant, she caught up with Emelda.
Then to Emelda's amazement they both zoomed off after Lyra touched her slightly and soon they both had arrived at the spot where four tunnels had met.
It was at an incredible speed which far surpassed what Emelda could achieve on her own. That was when Emelda saw the glowing wand on Lyra's hand.
'It must be one of her abilities as an enchantment mage. Sure, their abilities are strange but it came in handy… the beast is far behind us now.' Cognizant of their current predicament, she shook off her thoughts and gazed straight at Lyra. Both courage and fear were etched on her countenance.
"Can you hold it off for some time when it catches up? I might be able to cage it but it requires some time to conjure very thick tendrils that can cage it." Emelda said to Lyra while breathing heavily from the run.
"Might? You want me to just gamble with that monstrosity just like that?" Lyra was frustrated by the whole event.
"What do you mean? This is the only thing we can try out now unless you have some powerful spell you will use against it, just like the superspeed one you used earlier. But I doubt you have one, if not you…"
The beast was hot on their heels, its speed incredible. Lyra responded quickly, cutting her off, her voice firm this time. "Okay... just be quick!"
'I guess it's time to try out the two basic enchantment skills I learnt from the High Priest,' she thought, as she charged forward, her enchantment at the ready.
Emelda was shocked but seized the opportunity, dashing towards a tunnel entrance at proximity to harness her ethereal energy.
From her previous use of her powers, she had noticed something strange in here. Gathering ethereal energy beneath the mountain was a bit harder than above it… so her previous attack wasn't as powerful as it would have.
It was why she had to take her time to make a stronger attack this time around while Lyra distracts the beast.
Speaking of Lyra… she ran towards the approaching beast with confidence screaming from her face, as though she knew what she was doing.
Few inches apart just before she collided with the beast, she vanished. This made the beast to screech across the cavern ground in an attempt to stop as its target was nowhere to be seen.
Then, from the corner of its eyes it spotted Lyra by the wall of the tunnel it had just ran out from.
That was a teleportation spell she had used. She had teleported in the last second that she would have collided with the beast as her wand was still glowing white.
It was a suicidal move because it was her first time using that skill in a real fight against a beast. The other time she had done it was while training with the High Priest and she was bad at it then. Only teleporting half a meter or so. But now she succeeded in teleporting a few meters away from the beast, confusing it as well.
However, as if tipped off the wrong way by the trick from the human, the beast lashed out its tail and vines at Lyra and then for another hit with its body as well.
Lyra teleported again, farther than before.
This continued until she was beginning to tire out from her constant teleportation. It was expending more of her energy than she had envisioned. So, she began running around relying on her enhanced speed from earlier.
But, the beast's vines were making things difficult for her as they were like tentacles trying to wrap her up.
Once again, she teleported far away. Then she hurled two condensed energy attacks at the beast.
When the energy attacks hit, it seemed to have affected the beast as it shrieked angrily. Though, it left a deep scratch on its body allowing some black viscous liquid to ooze
out. But in the next instant, they would close up as if it had healed instantly.
"It runs fast and heals quickly too. Can we really kill this thing? I have almost used up my energy reserve." As Lyra was about to launch another energy attack, after taking another different stance and waving her wand, Emelda stopped her.
"Don't worry… I'm done now!" Emelda screamed as she slowly came out of her hiding and walked up to the beast calmly but cautiously.