you wouldn't be the first renegade to need somebody
The bolt hits true—square in the serpent’s neck where scales shift and shimmer like oiled glass—but it might as well have been a pebble. The creature doesn’t falter. Doesn’t bleed. It simply shudders, adjusts, and keeps coming. "Great," Flora mutters, already reaching for a feathered dagger, assuming that this stupid snake was going to take a bit more effort to take down.
With a practiced flick of her wrist, she sends the blade spinning through the violet air. It sinks deep into the serpent’s flank, the impact punctuated by a metallic thnk and a burst of black ichor that sizzles where it touches the cavern floor. Still not enough.
The Shadow Serpent coils with a speed that betrays its size, muscles rippling beneath void-dark scales as it whips forward again. Its maw crashes into the stone where Callum was just moments ago, striking with such force that shards of glowing fungus rain from the ceiling. Flora ducks behind a crooked outcrop of rock, her heart hammering, breath held as the creature rears back and lets out a soundless hiss—like pressure being sucked from the room itself.
"Okay," she breathes, eyes darting to where Callum’s reloading, her aqua eyes sparkling with mischief. "You're gonna need to look a lot less cool while doing that if you want me to focus on the snake instead of you."
With a practiced flick of her wrist, she sends the blade spinning through the violet air. It sinks deep into the serpent’s flank, the impact punctuated by a metallic thnk and a burst of black ichor that sizzles where it touches the cavern floor. Still not enough.
The Shadow Serpent coils with a speed that betrays its size, muscles rippling beneath void-dark scales as it whips forward again. Its maw crashes into the stone where Callum was just moments ago, striking with such force that shards of glowing fungus rain from the ceiling. Flora ducks behind a crooked outcrop of rock, her heart hammering, breath held as the creature rears back and lets out a soundless hiss—like pressure being sucked from the room itself.
"Okay," she breathes, eyes darting to where Callum’s reloading, her aqua eyes sparkling with mischief. "You're gonna need to look a lot less cool while doing that if you want me to focus on the snake instead of you."
