No Really, I'm Not A Necromancer,Chapter 13: Den Mother,book card

  Before the words had even finished crossing Rheagan’s lips, Ignaris had already lifted his staff which glowed brighter and brighter with red light. Sibil for all of her seeming timidity also began chanting a prayer a few moments later as the regular bramble wolves began to stand up. Their growls started to fill the den. Xander was filled with instant regrets about his choices upon seeing the size and apparent power of the monster they had come here to slay. Of all the strange things about this new world he found himself in, none had been as overtly magical and dangerous in appearance as this monster was. he thought incredulously.

  While he remained frozen in place, the others he had just met were already moving forward, Rheagan pushing past the two patiently waiting plant minions and lifting his sword and making the edge light with flame again. The second that Ignaris was past them as well, he leveled his staff and a bright ball of condensed heat streaked towards the nearest normal bramble wolf. The attack caused the struck wolf to howl as fire ate at it from within. And that animalistic cry snapped Xander out of his shocked inactivity. he scolded himself, and promptly commanded Stabitha and Swordthony to follow Rheagan and assist him. The two weren’t exactly brilliant yet, but their ability to follow orders had improved enough that he could mostly let them operate on their own if he wanted to.

  Not that he had much idea what to do with himself in the meantime. He hadn’t really been able to use most of his spells and abilities directly in fights. The poisonous mushrooms did nothing to the bramble wolves, and his osteomancy spell was both slow and not applicable to plant monsters who didn’t have real bones in the first place. His only options were to control one of the wolves in a pinch now that he had improved his mana regeneration, or provide a distraction. The latter option seemed especially poor since his only weapons were already being wielded by his minions.

  Multiple balls of fire descended from overhead like mini meteors as Sibil invoked her god’s name. The fire seemed particularly good at destroying the wolves, but they were agile and leapt out of the way of the relatively slow attacks more often than not. Ignaris’s spell moved faster and the molten bead actually lasted for more than one hit. The mage was able to control it in flight with his staff, curving the deadly magic to slam into wolves even when they dodged the first attack. There were simply too many bramble wolves though, and several of the beasts broke through the ranged attacks, getting within striking distance of their squishy foes.

  Xander instinctively reached out a hand towards one of the three bramble wolves, grasping the magical connection and forcing his mana and will to subjugate the feral creature, even as the much larger wolf let loose a bone chilling howl that shook him. Fear prickled all down his spine, but Xander would not let himself be distracted from possibly saving the lives of the first sort of friendly people he had met. He targeted the bramble wolf closest to him, spending a huge chunk of his mana to dominate it. Taking full control, he turned the beast and made it slam into the middle wolf, its thorny jaws going for the throat of its fellow.

  A heavy impact on the ground could be felt as Rheagan and the boss battled, but Xander remained focused. It turned out that without needing blood flow, the bramble wolves were only inconvenienced by having their necks gnawed on. The surprise still effectively removed that wolf as a threat as it turned to face its former pack mate, leaving only one other wolf for the two magic users to handle. Ignaris used his staff to hold off the snarling wolf for long enough that Sibil managed to get a continuous stream of fire to erupt from her medallion. It was somewhere between a flamethrower and a cone of fire, but it chewed through the bramble wolf more effectively than a chainsaw. The girl looked briefly confused at the other two wolves tussling with each other, then just turned and swept the spell over them as well.

  Xander cried out “Wait!” but it was already too late as flames washed over the wolf that he controlled. He felt the damage blazing through his wolf thanks to his spell’s link, and even though he didn’t feel the pain itself it still wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. That same sentiment repeated itself moments later as Stabitha was ripped in half by the massive wolf. His head whipped around just in time to see both halves go sailing across the mostly open space and smash into one of the lower stone perches. The animating vine had taken massive damage, the lower portion severed and unresponsive. Portions of the bone including a good number of the ribs and the lower third of the spine had been shattered by the heavy impacts, and pieces of vine and bone alike were scattered about.

  For all that though, Stabitha wasn’t entirely dead. Xander ran over to his fallen minion, pouring mana into healing it through his Nurture Vegetation spell. The vine responded eagerly, drinking it in and regrowing its lost portions, though many of the lower bones were flung about and couldn’t be easily integrated back into the minion without spending too much time retrieving them first. Xander decided that he would wait until later for that, and coached the vines to grow multiple thicker offshoots as leg replacements. He chuckled to himself as the result looked a bit like an eldritch horror, a skeletal gnoll top-half with an octopus-like bottom. It was both functional and badass looking to him, and he turned back to the battle with a grin as the plant charged in once again.

  By now, all of the lesser bramble wolves had been destroyed, but his smile faded as he watched the behemoth of a boss attack Rheagan again and again with massive claws and fangs made of thorns. It somehow got even worse though, as Xander caught sight of multiple rows of the fangs in the wolf's maw like a shark might have. Rhegan seemed adept at fighting, but he was entirely on the defensive, barely able to dodge or block the heavy strikes. “Damnit, guys, there’s something wrong!!” the red headed warrior grunted as he rolled away from another paw. “I don’t think this is the normal Bramble Wolf Pack Leader…”

  Ignaris hissed something that Xander couldn’t make out, but Sibil looked pale in the moonlight. “Y…you… don’t think… it… it’s a…??” she stammered, unable to even finish her question through her fear. Rhegan yelped as he dodged an attack too slowly, and several gashes appeared in his calf while he flung himself behind one of the large stones, blood spraying in an arc around him. He screamed in pain briefly before answering through gritted teeth, “Yeah… I think it’s the damned Den Mother, but my skill still isn’t high enough to identify bosses” he ground out.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  The wolf in question was still stalking with calm purpose through its den, like an inevitable doom, starting to circle around the rock Rheagan was behind, but Xander’s minions still obeyed their command to support the warrior and came at it from both sides. Stabitha’s smooth charge on multiple squirming limbs and Swordthony’s lurching lunge were enough of a distraction to buy some time for the rest of the party to regroup.

  Ignaris spun his staff in a circle, the tip glowing more and more fiercely while he hissed at Sibil, “It doesn’t matter, buy time for the noble punk like your life depends on his survival, because it likely does.” Rheagan pulled a small item from a pouch that looked almost like a caramel candy, and popped it into his mouth, chewing quickly. He breathed a sigh of relief as his wounds began to close up, while Sibil started calling down more fiery blasts at the Den Mother. The lava mage let loose his spell a few moments later, and a larger version of his molten ball went flying towards the boss, blasting a hole through one foreleg and leaving flickering flames behind on the scorched bramble wolf.

  “Hell yeah, that’s a badass spell!” Xander crowed. His minions had bought the time needed for the attack, even if it had not been without cost. Swordthony had been entirely disarmed… as in both arms had been torn off and flung away or consumed, while the ribcage of Stabitha had been smashed nearly to powder and damaged vines hung like gruesome viscera. Xander was sorely tempted to call them back to spend whatever remained of his mana to repair the two plants before they were entirely destroyed, but he never got the chance.

  The mounting damage from both steel and flame finally pissed the Den Mother off, and it lifted its head to roar once more. This was no mere bestial scream, however. The glowing runes along the beast’s flanks flared brighter and a shockwave blasted out in every direction. The storm of green magic moved faster than any of them could react, and picked up Stabitha, Swordthony, Sibil, Ignaris, and Xander and sent them flying away. Only Rheagan behind his rock managed to avoid the worst of it while everyone else was slapped away like naughty children.

  Xander must have blacked out for a few seconds, because when he came to, he found himself hanging upside down, ears ringing, and pain flooding through his whole body. Several windows greeted him, including an incredibly helpful and familiar one.

  Warning: You have fallen below 25% HP

  He tried to groan ‘Fuck You’ at it, but found himself unable to speak. Looking down (or up really), it was quite easy to spot the cause. A jagged shard of bone pierced his throat, his thick amber blood starting to flow down into his face. Somewhat detached, likely due to shock, he noted that it must have been an arm or leg bone to be as long and straight as it was. His eyes travelled down the rest of his body, the ragged clothing even more torn up. The ribcage armor seemed to have done its job for the most part, absorbing some of the force and impacts from flying debris, but the force of the shockwave had driven him into the thorny walls of the den. To his surprise, his eyes caught movement as Ignaris stood up.

  The mage discarded his now tattered cloak, and Xander’s jaw would have fallen open if he had been right side up. It was now evident why the man had spoken with a strange hiss to his words, since he wasn’t a man at all, but rather a roughly man shaped pile of obsidian. Shiny black rock made up the majority of his body, with what looked like lava (or was it magma?) running under the surface and visible through cracks here and there. His eyes were smoldering coals as he gripped his staff and lifted it once more to summon another orb.

  Rheagan was back on his feet, and looked over first at Sibil’s crumpled form, then at Xander’s impaled body. "Shit," Rheagan said, "Ignaris they’re probably both dead, fight or flee?” he asked grimly, holding his weapon defensively. The obsidian mage just made a hissing roar and unleashed an orb at the Den Mother in lieu of a response. The boss seemed to have paused to recover from the massive expenditure of magic, making it a stationary target. Its size meant that it was hard to miss to begin with, but this orb didn’t hit a limb, it was aimed directly at the monster’s chest. Xander thought at the team’s leader, though if he were honest with himself he probably looked like a lost cause. He watched the ball of lava smash through the brambles of the Den Mother’s chest and disappear inside, causing light to shine out from between the corded ‘muscles’.

  While it was an impressive attack, it wasn’t enough to actually take out the boss. The wolf roared in rage and pain and went back on the offensive, attacking Rheagan even as flames guttered within its body. Xander had no idea how he was still alive, let alone conscious with the wounds he had taken, but he didn’t seem to be getting any worse. It was time to get back into the fight. Reaching up with shaking hands, he grabbed the bone lodged in his throat and ripped it out with what little strength he had. The bone did come loose with a ghastly sucking noise, but the motion also caused him to fall free from the thorny wall he had been hanging upside down from. He would have gone ‘Oooof’ from the impact if he could, but all that came out was a sort of forlorn whistle from his trachea instead.

  Picking himself up from the ground was a chore by itself, but he couldn’t just lay there either. His poor minions had been pulped by the blast and bits of them were scattered everywhere. This meant that his mana regen was back to full for a change, but his mana pool didn’t currently have much left in it at the moment. The only ‘weapon’ that he had was the same piece of bone that he just pulled from his own neck, still covered in thick amber blood. Not really wanting to try stabbing the boss up close, the only other thing he could think to do was check on the downed priestess.

   came an unbidden voice in his head. Seeing as how he didn’t have any minions left, Xander was confused for a moment and searched for the source with his eyes. After realizing his mistake, he reached out with his core sight to trace the connection instead. The wall of thorns stained in his blood spoke again as soon as he identified it as the source.

  Xander narrowed his eyes and thought back at the uppity wall, The brambles just sent back smug cackling as the sounds of combat continued in the background, and Xander shook his head while forcing the connection closed. This fight wasn’t over yet, and he had at least one way he could still contribute.

Chapter 13: Den Mother

Recommended Popular Novels