I cast [Death's Icy Breath] as soon as I exited the Shadow realm. I had managed to place about fifty feet between me and Cirein Croin, the farthest I could reach in this space System had designated for the boss fight. I hadn't tested the range limit of the spell, but the spell landed easily, so I wouldn't need to reposition.

The spell did not act as I expected. Instead of spreading and the slowing effect encompassing the entire creature, the opposite happened. The Cirein Croin was comprised of hundreds of interlocking silverfish. This gave the monster the ability to shrug off attacks and debuffs by re-focusing any incoming damage to one of those individual fish that make up its body.

I watched in stunned disbelief as the creature redirected the damage and effects of my spell to an individual silverfish. It died and sloughed off as if Cirein Croin was shedding skin cells. If the creature was able to do this with physical attacks, that ability presented a larger problem. That would mean that there was no way to kill Cirein Croin without killing every single one of that original school of fish.

It was an interesting defense mechanism, even more, it was effective. Our battle would become one of attrition. Would our endurance remain strong enough as we whittled the creature down one fish at a time? I wasn't worried about our magic, but the longer the fight lasted, the sloppier we would become as fatigue set in.

Thutmose was my real concern. He hadn't been exactly forthcoming about his attributes. Although even if he had, knowing his [Stamina] wouldn't tell the entire story. I didn't know how Egyptian attributes compared to Sidhe, so wouldn't be able to really understand how his stats stacked up against mine. He'd seemed capable, never complaining, and any damage he'd taken had healed, so I'd never really pressed him to share his information.

I hadn't paid attention to how he healed, or how quickly the process was. Something I should have done. It was a dereliction of my duty as a leader, not fully understanding the capabilities of everyone, and not monitoring issues of injury and repair.

The last fight with a Murloc patrol had occurred ten minutes ago. Was that enough time for him to regain his [Stamina]? Was he fully healed? I had been ignoring vital information I shouldn't have, assuming his body worked the same as the Sidhe and healed instantly. I hadn't thought to question whether he regained [Stamina] in seconds like Bob and me.

As the battle continued, Thutmose continued to hold aggro. Beag darted in and out of the shadow to slash at Cirein Croin's flanks every chance he had. Sieph's attacked using metal spikes. And I continued casting [Death's Icy Breath]. I watched as the creature began shrinking in size as more and more of the silverfish died, the re-directed damage killing them.

Bob's return to fighting form was met with a great scream of rage as he barreled into Cirein Croin, grabbing the serpent with his tentacles and using teeth to begin shredding through the creature with righteous fury. He knew he had screwed up and was determined for payback. His return to battle allowed me to gauge how long we had been fighting.

Bob's attack did gain the creature's attention as well as its aggro. Thutmose was helpless to regain its attention no matter how much he [Taunt]ed. I decided to abandon spell casting; the damage was too easy to shrug off.

I was hoping that using slashing damage, I might be able to direct my attacks at the individual fish that made up its body, killing more than one fish at a time. I was wondering if our mistake might be treating Cirein Croin as one creature while attacking when it was clearly comprised of multiple entities.

A quick [Shadow Passage] was all that was needed before joining Beag in the creature's shadow. We had to be mindful of Bob's position so that we didn't take collateral damage, but we had learned how to coordinate with him by now. Once I was in melee range, I made the mental adjustment necessary to attack what my mind knew was there, not what my vision was reporting.

I had summoned [Shadow Blade] and instead of stabbing, I only attacked using slashing attacks. Each attack backed by intent. I was aiming for the silverfish, not Cirein Croin, and the difference was immediately apparent. Instead of one fish taking all the re-directed damage, each fish that I slashed was forced to take shadow damage. The damage was not concentrated, and dozens died with each of my attacks.

"Sieph," I said, gaining her attention. "Stop attacking Cirein Croin and start attacking the silverfish that make up its body.

"Bob, if you don't chew your food before swallowing this time, I will be sure to mention your poor dining habits to your creche mother." He grunted in annoyance at my joke, but I could see him make a real effort to grind and the sections of flesh he was tearing from Cirein Croin. I hoped that this fight would influence and temper his instinct to simply dive in and attack without thinking at the start of every fight.

When the creature was about half the size it had been to start, it screamed in fury. A glowing aura enveloped its body, making it impervious to all damage. The aura didn't last long, only long enough for the school of fish that remained to release a fog of roe, eggs that quickly hatched into silverfish.

The fish began eating the dead fish that were scattered around the area, growing in size, until barely five seconds later they were back to adult size and taking up a position to repair the damage we had done to Cirein Croin.

"Now that is cheating," Thutmose opined.

"It is," I agreed. "Sieph, can you make a wire net? Something with a tight mesh that will keep those fish from healing?"

"Yes," she agreed. "Give me a moment."

[Sieph has sent you a private message]

[Sieph: Do you think this thing is really Sidhe?]

[Ryu: Probably, the System is trying to merge this world and ours. Why?]

[Sieph: If it really is Sidhe, wouldn't it have a weakness to Iron?]

[Ryu: Interesting… Do you have access to any iron to test?]

[Sieph: Not in storage, but there are trace amounts in the water that I can use.]

[Ryu: Make that net, but instead of trying to trap the fish, try to use it as a sieve and shred them.]

Cirein Croin had healed and was even larger than it had been. The aura that had been protecting it petered out, and it bellowed in triumph as it went to re-engage with Bob.

Sieph's mastery of metal allowed her to filter the iron out of the water easily. The speed with which she created the metal net made it obvious that her thoughts and intent were all that was required to filter the iron from the surrounding water and construct the interlocking mesh she envisioned.

"Bob," she ordered once the net was complete, "back off for a moment."

He responded instantly, the trust between the three of us had become rock solid at this point, so there was no questioning her directive. He moved so quickly that Cirein Croin had barely registered he was no longer in range before Sieph attacked.

The net she created worked exactly as I thought it might, her control of metal allowing her to position the net at the tip, where all the tentacles were placed, and then began forcing the net forward. As the net traveled up its body, a gathering pile of fish slurry was all that remained. The silverfish dying in such large numbers that Cirein Croin's size diminished drastically.

The fish had been reduced to paste; the trick of spawning roe to heal removed. The water was able to dissolve the fine paste, leaving nothing for any spawn that might hatch to feed on. That ability became academic as Sieph continued her attack. Her control over the net absolute. There was the occasional tear in the mesh, but she repaired that immediately.

The net's inexorable progress up the creature's body ended only after System had acknowledged our win.

[Cirein Croin Defeated]

[Reward: Barrier deactivated]

[Reward: 2000 experience]

[Reward: 528 silver coins]

[Reward: 528 fish fillets]

[Reward: 528 fish scales]

[Level up]

[Name: Ryu de Teigh y Cyronax]

[Race: Volar-Fey/Unseelie/Cu-sith Hybrid]

[Level: 7 (350/17060)]

[Class: Shadow Druid]

[Hit Points: 399]

[Magic: 259]

[Stamina: 378]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 25]

[Agility: 32]

[Dexterity: 27]

[Constitution: 27]

[Intellect: 19]

[Will: 18]

[Skills:]

[Shapeshift: (2 of 3) Unseelie, Cu-Sith]

[Dagger: (level 4 B) 2/100]

[Dodge: (level 2 B) 2/20]

[Shadow Blend: (level 4 B) 1/20]

[Shadow Passage: (Level 4 B) 5/25]

[Inspect: (Level 4 B) 7/20]

[Spells:]

[Shadow Blade: (level 3 B) 25/100]

[Death’s Icy Breath: (level 6 B) 18/25]

[Portal: Summerlands]

[Portal: Bind Point]

[Professions:]

[Skinning: (Level 1 B) 95/100]

[Affinities:]

[Cold:] [Ice:] [Death:] [Shadow:]

[Pet: 1 of 1]

[Name: Beag]

[Race: Cu-Sith/Volar-Fey/Unseelie Hybrid]

[Coins:]

[Copper: 98]

[Silver: 528]

[Gold: 8]

[Platinum: 0]

[Silinium: 0]