Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds: A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities Book 1) Jonathan Brooks (book recommendations txt) 📖

before they could succumb to their wounds.  Breathing another sigh of relief at the close call, she was glad she thought to place her Mage Shield on him, mitigating a little of the damage; otherwise, it was possible that he would’ve died from the initial hit.

Limping and bleeding from dozens of wounds across its own body – but still advancing on them – the Cat kept coming for them.  A familiar blur from behind the Threat let her know that the Scouts were readying the attack, but it seemed as though Jeska wasn’t the only one who knew they were there.  Both back legs kicked out in rapid succession, smacking into 2 of the Scouts with claws extended, piercing them through their bodies before they were flung off of the plateau.  A sob escaped her mouth as she thought one of them might be Pascale, but he appeared less than a second later as he stabbed the meaty side part of the Cat’s left leg, while the other Scout popped up stabbing the other leg.

A yowl came from the feline as it rounded on the two Scouts, who were rapidly backing away – leaving a perfect target for Jeska as her Ice Shard came off cooldown.   She wasn’t the only one to have something ready, as stones and flame orbs smashed into the Cat’s sensitive rear end at the same time.

Unfortunately, as anyone who had ever accidentally touched a cat near their…uh, “booty”…would know, this was a very poor idea.  The Tornado Cat Champion – despite having a hurt foreleg – shot into the air with a painful screech.  Whether it was because of that hurt foreleg or some other reason, the feline didn’t jump straight up; instead, it jumped backwards…right where all of the Heroes had grouped up to combine their forces.

Jeska’s shout to “Scatter!” was too late, as the move by the Regional Threat was extremely unexpected.  Jeska and the rest of her group managed to move in time, but they were some of the lucky few.  When the Cat landed with claws extended, back arched, and hair standing straight up, its paws squished or completely sliced up 2 Mages, 3 Healers, 2 Supports, and a Fighter who was still trying to recover from her wounds.  A hiss coming from the Champion so close by nearly deafened Jeska as she helped to drag Arcen away so they could regroup, even as she tossed out more of her projectile Skills.  Her Fiery Explosion was unfortunately still on cooldown or she would’ve used it too, so all she really had at the moment were Rock Strike and Flame Orb, which the massive monsters didn’t even seem to notice as those Skills impacted it.

When she and the other survivors – the fractured groups now scattered in different directions – were far enough away, various other Skills were used to try to finish off the Cat Threat, but nothing seemed to do more than superficial damage.  After another 15 seconds of ineffective attacks, Arcen got to his feet after being healed, and Pascale joined his side.  “We need to attack now before it recovers.  We can’t let this thing survive, even if it costs us our lives.”

Jeska hefted her own staff, more than willing to do her best at bashing the Cat, but Arcen shook his head.  “Stay back and attack from a distance; if we fall, you and the other Mages are our only hope.”  He didn’t say no to Kelty and Rosara coming, mainly because the Mayor’s daughter looked determined to stay with Arcen until the end and most likely wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise.  And Kelty would be there to heal them if possible, so Jeska was on her own.  She wanted to argue, but she knew it made the most sense; they needed to strike now while the Cat Champion seemed still frozen in its shocked state.  Even now, its hair was starting to fall back down flat, and its back was starting to collapse from the extreme arch it had.  “Fine.  Go!”

She only had a few seconds until her next cooldown was done, so she readied herself as they rushed ahead. In her peripheral vision, she could see that the remaining groups had the same sort of idea, as they also rushed forward with their Mages in reserve.  As they closed in on the Regional Threat, something else at the edge of her vision caught her attention, and it was so out of place that she actually turned to see what it was, breaking her concentration and her intent to use another one of her Skills.

“HOLD!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, and all of the Heroes still alive blessedly heard her and froze in place.  The next moment, a cloud of darkness obscured two-thirds of the Tornado Cat Champion; she saw the Threat’s red Health bar start to deplete, until there was just a little sliver of it left.  There was another howl that came from inside of the cloud and the Cat finally moved, stumbling out of the darkness in obvious pain.  As soon as it was clear, its vision centered on the Nether Mage Slime that had unexpectedly appeared on the edge of the battlefield.

No, not this time!  “Now!” Jeska screamed, unleashing the three Skills she had off of cooldown.  Another ball of flame, a shard of ice, and a chunk of rock she shot towards the Cat were joined by others from the remaining Mages, doing very little damage…but a little was all that they needed.

The red Health bar at the top of her vision completely emptied and disappeared, and the Regional Threat fell over on its side before it could take more than a couple steps towards the black-colored Slime.  Jeska couldn’t help it; she fell to her knees in exhaustion and relief, and she saw that many of the other Heroes had done the same.  We…we did it?  Yes,