The one good thing about the appearance of the Alpha Giant Bat was that it didn’t give a damn about the rats, and they knew it. Those of us still on our feet had been on the verge of being overwhelmed, but when it appeared, all the rats that were swarming us disappeared like a magic trick; those that weren’t fast enough learned why they should have spent more time on cardio as dozens of them were crushed under the bulk of the giant bat as it heaved it’s bulk from side to side trying to fit through one side of the broken front doors.

With a screech of failing metal that mirrored my own failing courage, the part of the door frame that used to separate the two glass doors gave way and the monster shot into the room and directly towards me. I had faced battle before, I was no novice, but it had been a long time, and nothing I’d gone through could compare to the terror that this thing struck in my heart. I’d never considered myself a coward, but all I could think about in that moment was getting away, in any direction, and saving my own ass.

I jumped to one side, narrowly avoiding the talon as long as my forearm on the thing’s wingtip that buried itself in the floor where I’d been standing. Somehow, I had the presence of mind to conjure another MANA ARMOR II as I came up from one of the worst jump recoveries I’d probably ever executed. I staggered a few steps before turning around and casting WALL OF FLAMES, hoping to give myself a second to think.

That, at least, did something as the creature reared back from the burning WALL OF FLAMES, but my respite was short lived. It opened its ugly maw and I steeled myself for another sonic attack, but not well enough. I was concentrating on fortifying my WILLPOWER to resist a knock down, but this time, the thing’s scream conjured a blast of wind that snuffed out my flames like a birthday candle and blew me back into the wall at one side of the lobby.

I didn’t even think of it when I hit and my MANA ARMOR II crashed into pieces around me; I just threw myself to the side and scrambled away on hands and knees, headed vaguely in the direction of the front doors. I’d like to say that I was trying to protect everyone by leading it away from the barricades, but I was going on pure instinct and adrenaline, just trying desperately to stay alive.

Whatever my motivation, it did cause the thing to swivel around towards me, back the way it’d come. Thanking anyone who would listen, I was relieved to see that the thing didn’t totally break every law of physics, because it took some bit of effort for it to heave its mass around until it could face me head on, which gave everyone else a chance to get over the initial shock and Rob’s arrows began to pepper it, quickly followed by weak ranged MANA attacks from those who were able.

I don’t think it even noticed.

The kid’s arrows weren’t imbued, I guess he’d shot all of his imbued ones off, already, and it didn’t look like any of them could penetrate its fur or hide, and the others’ LEVEL 1 spells didn’t seem to have any effect, either.

With a thought, I slotted my knife and equipped my staff and fired off another focused MANA LIGHTNING aiming once again for its (hopefully) sensitive nose. That again had some effect, but not nearly as much as previously. Its face dipped to one side as the bolt hit, but instead of being knocked down or incapacitated, it shook it off and came at me, screaming its rage.

I saw my death in its eyes, and something inside me snapped. I matched its with a scream of rage of my own. Barely even aware of the thought, I switched back from staff to long knife and ran towards it as it ran towards me.

I think I had some notion of leaping up and stabbing it in an eye, I’m not sure what exactly I was thinking, but whatever it was, it was ill planned and poorly executed. My foot hit a piece of debris on the ground and slid out from under me, causing me to fall forward just as it reached me. I had my right arm fully extended with the knife turned to where the blade was parallel to my arm--evidently so that I could stab better from an overhead swing--meaning it was in the worst possible position to do the creature any damage as its great head the size of a boulder suddenly stretched out and its gaping maw clamped down on my arm.

My hand spasmed when it happened and I knew I’d lost the knife, though I couldn’t see it where it was buried in the thing’s mouth. There was little pain, at that point, just a feeling like a terrible weight had been tied to my forearm, and the thing reared its head back and I flew into the air.

When my arm snapped, I felt it down to my toes, but the best riposte I could manage was to puke all down my front as I whiplashed back towards the floor.

Then, it got worse.

The bat opened its mouth and screeched and started worrying me from side to side like a terrier with a chew toy. I couldn’t tell at the time, but from what I’ve been able to piece together, one of the two great fangs that dominated the front of its mouth had become stuck between my radius and ulna. One of the bones had snapped in two, I distinctly remember seeing a flash of one jagged end sticking out through a bloody rent in the skin of my forearm, but it was not only stuck on the one fang, but jammed up against the other, it would have to chew my arm completely off to get loose of me.

I knew I was in shock, I’d experienced it several times in my life, so while I should have been panicked and screaming my ass off in pain, the world just seemed to slow down. Everything seemed somehow detached from reality and the whole scene in front of my eyes was framed by tattered edges where everything lost focus. I knew I was going to die, and I seemed Okay with it, but I was just stubborn enough not to want to go out without a fight.

I didn’t know how much MANA I had left at that point, I knew not much, but I hoped I had enough for one good spell and concentrated on focusing MANA LIGHTING through my broken arm. I felt the discharge and saw that the bat did as well when its piggy eyes grew twice the size, and felt it even more as its jaws clamped together as it began to convulse from the internal tasering I was feeding it.

That’s when the shock passed and the pain hit.

Hard.

I screamed and all rational thought fled my mind. I couldn’t tell you what my thought process was at that moment; I can only guess that I wanted to shield myself from the pain, somehow. I tried to cast MANA ARMOR II again, but I came up dry. Not enough MANA. So, I defaulted to my weaker and less costly MANA SHEILD, instead.

The first thing I knew was a brief, but oh-so-wonderful feeling of relief as my arm stopped shaking with the thing’s convulsions. The next was a pain that made the previous one feel like a tickle as the giant bat’s head—with my arm still firmly clamped inside its mouth—came crashing down to the floor. The third thing I felt was when I was nearly drowned by the fountain of blood that hit me from my 5’ MANA SHIELD going off inside the bat’s throat and completely severing its head before shattering.

The last thing I felt was blessed oblivion as I passed out.