Chapter 22 - 21: Killshot and Spoils
"Now! All in—don’t hold back!"
Leon’s command slices through the chamber’s chaos. The mantis boss still surges forward, racing across the stone floor in a final, desperate assault. Its damaged leg buckles, but the creature compensates with sheer fury, its forearms slicing deadly arcs through the air.
The assassin leaps onto the mantis’s back, driving her remaining knife repeatedly into the exposed flesh where the carapace has cracked. Dark ichor sprays with each strike, splattering the chamber walls in a grotesque pattern.
The Grave Mage focuses all his energy into a massive freeze attack. Spectral ice erupts around the creature’s striking forearm, locking it mid-swing just inches from Leon’s throat.
The mantis lets out a deafening shriek—an unearthly sound that makes Leon’s bones vibrate and his vision blur. The ancient stone cracks under the acoustic onslaught.
Leon stands his ground as the creature’s massive head swings toward him. Its compound eyes blaze with alien hatred, and its mandibles spread wide, revealing the soft interior of its mouth.
Leon fires point-blank into that gaping maw.
Blue energy rips through its head and thorax. The manna round obliterates internal organs and shatters the creature’s nervous system. The mantis convulses once, its camouflage failing completely as death claims it.
The boss crashes to the chamber floor, its twitching legs gouging deep furrows into the stone before going still. Silence descends like a heavy shroud.
Leon slumps against the nearest wall, breathing heavily. His ribs ache from dodging strikes, and smudges mar his arms where debris has found gaps in his gear. But he is alive.
His undead companions regroup around the corpse. The assassin’s severed arm is already regenerating, fueled by necromancy energy. The Grave Mage flickers but remains stable despite the massive mana expenditure.