1

Five Inmates ran to the perimeter of the chamber, hoping to flank the beast.

Kali, who never moved from her position between the portal and the guardrails, opened her mouth, and five separate tongues snaked out of her throat. The thirty-foot-long appendages flew through the air and wrapped around the Inmates’ bodies with incredible quickness, binding them with their sticky lining. The members crashed to the floor, writhing and struggling against the snake-like minions, but the tongues tightened their grip.

Zack, the only Inmate Kali didn’t bind, was left standing at the south end of the chamber, near the guardrail. He raised his sword and shield. The boss sailed higher and passed over him. She touched down on the other side, close to the portal.

“Come on!” Zack shouted.

Kali laughed. “You!” she growled. “You are the one who mocks me!” The boss charged at him. Zack swung his sword. The monster’s tongue shot out and wrapped around the sword, tearing it from his grip and flinging it aside. The weapon clanged against the far wall. Kali fired her tongue again. Its sticky substance yanked the shield out of his hands. Zack equipped his hammer and axe next, but the monster plucked away those weapons just as easily.

“That is the problem with you blood-beings,” Kali confided to him. “You are arrogant.” Her tongue smacked against his helmet and tossed it aside. “I will drink from you first,” she whispered. “Then I will consume your tribe, one… by… one.” The boss finally withdrew her barrier spell.

As Zack clenched his fists, he noticed that the five binding spells being used on his teammates were consuming Kali’s mana points.

“Don’t worry, sarcastic one,” the monster advised. “You will all be dead by the time my mana runs out.”

Kali lunged at Zack. Her tongue shot out and wrapped around his body. Zack raised his arms to block the move, and they were pinned to his chest. The swollen pink appendage encircled his body twenty, then thirty times. He landed on his back, smashing against the marble floor.

Kali mounted him, and her weight pressed against his lungs. The monster’s elastic tongue pulled her face close to his, and when she spoke to him, Zack could smell old blood and decay on her breath. “Mock me ttnow, blood-being!” The monster’s mouth stretched, and her tongue tightened around his body.

Kali’s hand settled on Zack’s chest. He felt a searing pain as her sharp fingernail tore through the skin just above his trachea. He felt his blood gather into the hollow between his neck and breastbone.

The boss’s red eyes glimmered at him. Her third white eye rolled down to stare at his pooling blood.

He saw thin lines of his blood rise from his neck and touch down on the monster’s tongue, spreading like a watercolor on her saliva. The crimson streams gushed down her throat. Kali moaned orgasmically. The monster wiggled against his bronze-plated pants, shimmying up his body.

In his display, Zack could see his hit points sinking.

479 of 510…

461…

443…

425…

As she drained the blood from his body with alarming speed, his strength diminished and his eyesight blurred. Like the week before in the transfer room, Zack closed his eyes and his mind went dark.

2

Harper crashed down on the eastern side of the chamber. The tongue coiled around her body so quickly she couldn’t even brace for the fall, knocking her head against the marble floor and passing out.

When her vision returned, she looked around and saw Jordan, close by, in the same predicament.

“You’ve been out almost a minute,” he said breathlessly against the tightening grip of the binding tongue.

Harper groaned. She couldn’t see anyone else from her floor view, but saw Kali at the front of the chamber, by the guardrail. The monster was bent over with her arms extended like a spider.

“It’s draining Zack,” Jordan muttered.

Harper could barely see the orc’s body through the guardrail posts. He lay underneath the monster. She pushed her arms against the tongue, but it clenched her tightly.

“Yeah, I tried,” Jordan told her. “I can’t get out. We’re all tied up like this.”

Harper spat Acid Reflux, trying to aim at the tongue that confined her, but the acid projectile over-shot the appendage considerably.

Jordan laughed hollowly. “Looks like my brother got off lucky,” he said thickly. “At least he didn’t have to get drained by that fucking vampire!” He looked at her miserably.

Harper tried to think, to find a means out of the situation, but she was disoriented from the blow to her head. In the dim lighting, she scanned the chamber for a switch, a clue, anything that would save them. It’s not going to end like this, she panicked. It can’t end like this!

Harper stared at Kali and could see Zack’s blood trickling up the monster’s tongue. She wanted to throw up. Her vision became blurry again and her head throbbed. She inhaled against the vise-like coils that constrained her. The tongue tightened against her body and in response the blood rushed to her head. She saw stars, and when her vision returned to normal, she spotted someone coming through the solid portal.

3

At first, Harper couldn’t believe what she was seeing as the body seemed to move in slowmotion through the opaque portal. She saw a hand, then a glimpse of leather, but in the darkened gloom of the chamber, it looked so generic.

Who would come? She remembered Brett. God, not him, she thought. On top of all this, not him!

She watched a sword pass through the portal. Then she saw the blade was wavy. Janna! she realized. That’s what her flamberge sword looks like! Harper wanted to scream from her excitement. Instead, she turned to face Jordan. Do not make a sound, she telepathed to him, just in time. He had seen Janna and looked ready to call to her.

She turned back and saw that Janna had made it through the portal. Their eyes met. Janna! Don’t make any sounds, Harper telepathed. If anyone in the chamber sees you, you need to communicate to them that they have to stay quiet!

Janna turned to the chamber’s west and quickly raised her finger to her lips. She glanced back at Harper. What do you want me to do?.

That thing in front of you is killing Zack, Harper answered.

Janna moved instantly, raising her sword, and advanced two strides forward.

No, no, no! Harper howled at her. Stop!

Janna stopped.

That monster is just about invincible. All we have going for us right now is the element of surprise.

The nurse grimaced at Harper, her face constricted, her body urging to bulldoze ahead.

I want you to sneak up behind the monster, Harper telepathed. It has wrapped its tongue around Zack’s body. Reach in under its head and cut off its tongue.

Janna nodded and crept in on the purple goddess, relieved she didn’t have to delay anymore.

4

When Janna entered the last chamber, her body was screaming from the re-aggravation of the injuries to her left arm, ribs, and legs. She had lain sobbing on the floor of the eighteenth room. Under the enormous stack of bones, she had accepted that she would not make it.

Ten minutes later, she saw it on the wall.

She squinted her eyes, stunned that she could overlook something so obvious. The floor switch protruded from the wall, fifteen feet away from the bone mass. She sat up and stared at the mechanism, dumbfounded.

Janna shouted victoriously through the desolate chamber and regretted it a half-second later as her ribs howled in pain. “I’ll bring the ceiling down to me,” she muttered. She cast the Boulder spell, directed the rock to the switch, and pushed it down.

The second floor rumbled and started descending, generating a loud scraping noise. Janna gaped up at the contraption, shaking her head at her foolishness. Stalactites snapped off as the ceiling lowered to two feet off the floor.

Grinning, Janna hopped onto the ledge and pushed the switch back up with the boulder. The floor started climbing up. Janna took a deep breath as her feet left the floor. She stopped the platform when it was level with the exit portal, using the boulder to move the switch to its center position. After that, the nineteenth room, though it was filthy, had been a breeze to get through.

Now, Janna stared at what looked like a gigantic purple crab huddled over the body of an orc. Ready to charge it, her intuition whispered to her again, stopping her in her tracks.

Holy hunches, of all the times for my sixth sense to appear…

Janna hesitated. She searched the perimeter, which was illuminated by two glow spells. She spotted Harper bound to the floor. The mage’s desperate face stared up at her. As she heard slurping sounds coming from the beast in front of her, Janna listened attentively to Harper’s instructions.

5

… and cut off its tongue, Harper finished telepathing to her.

Janna didn’t wait a moment longer. She sneaked up on the monster, resisting the urge to run. In the gloom, she found it difficult to get a good look at the monster’s face. Janna noticed that its long black hair was drifting up toward the ceiling, further obscuring her view.

As she moved in closer, the sucking sounds became louder.

Good, Janna thought, it may not hear me coming. She slid to her right as she closed in on the enormous creature, hoping to jump it from the side of her strong arm. Tightening her grip on the handle of her flamberge sword, Janna lunged at the monster.

The bones in both of her legs snapped from the force of her jump. She landed on the coarse skin of the monster’s back, screaming painfully as her injured ribs were pushed inward, rupturing her spleen.

The purple monster uttered a startled mmmm! and bucked her upward, but its tongue remained fixed to Zack’s body, restricting its movement.

Using her quads to boost her up, Janna screamed again as her leg bones scraped against each other. She wrapped her left arm around the front of the monster’s torso. Left arm, she thought, don’t fail me now! Finding a grip on the beast’s left side, Janna brought her sword around with her right arm.

She peered carefully through the monster’s floating hair to ensure she didn’t inadvertently stab Zack. His pale body was tilted to her right and, even though his eyes were closed, the edges of a smile graced his lips. Is he leaning against the monster’s tongue? she thought wildly. Of course he is! she answered herself. That is so fucking Zack!

“Hang in there, Zack!” Janna cried painfully. “I’m getting you out of this!”

The monster heaved its body up.

Lifting the sword high against the monster’s face, she felt for the vibration that would tell her the blade had connected with the flesh of the beast’s tongue. There it is! Janna ripped the blade across. Warm blood splattered against her right arm.

“Uuuuueeeeeiiiihhhhhh!” the monster howled in a muffled voice. Its arms flailed as its hips gyrated up and down.

It’s still attached! Janna realized. With her entire body feeling like it was made of broken glass, Janna brought the sword in again. She caught another glimpse of Zack. His eyes were closed and his mouth had fallen open. Don’t you die on me now, Zack! she thought.

She tore the blade across.

The monster vaulted upward, severed from its tongue, which was uncoiling from Zack’s body. The black hair, which had been drifting high in the air a moment ago, settled onto the monster’s shoulders.

Janna saw blood spraying to the sides from the front of the monster’s face. She hung on tightly with her left arm. She lifted her sword with her right arm and drove it into the monster’s back.

The beast screamed furiously as its five arms clutched at the embedded sword. Janna could feel blood pouring onto her thighs as one of the monster’s hands closed around her hair. It yanked her forward, flipping her body.

As her view of the chamber tilted and sped by, Janna reached for anything she could grab on to. Her fingers wrapped around the back of the monster’s gold halter… and slid off. She continued her somersault, doing a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree rotation. The last thing Janna saw was the stone guardrail rushing up to her face.

6

Janna’s body landed facedown fifteen feet away from Zack, who had lost consciousness during the battle.

Kali pounced on the body, not realizing that Janna was dead, and started ripping away her flesh in a frenzy of rage. The monster shrieked wildly as three of its arms tore at the nurse while the other two attempted to pull the sword from its back.

With the monster’s tongue severed at its base, the appendages that had bound the Inmates uncoiled. The team members slipped quietly from their restraints, unseen, while Kali continued her assault on Janna’s body.

Harper noticed that the monster’s color had changed back to blue. From the blood loss, she thought.

In their visual display, they could see the boss’s hit points were at 471 out of 1088. Its 363 mana points, which it had stolen from Harper’s total, had dwindled to 113 due to the five binding spells. As far as the Inmates could tell, Kali didn’t have any regen capabilities other than her incantations.

That’s twenty-two seconds of barrier time left, guys, Harper informed the group.

Damon, Harper, and the hunters circled the boss. Kali finally took notice of them. She vaulted up from Janna’s body, swerving around to face them, but staggered to her left as she moved, indicating her maneuverability was severely handicapped. “Yu wee iiiieeee,” the monster mumbled through her decapitated tongue while activating her barrier spell.

The Inmates retreated toward the wall. As the only orc still standing, Damon didn’t move. He planted his feet to defend Harper and the hunters. Kali rushed him, swinging her sword. Damon raised his shield to block the weapon.

Harper dashed back to his side and threw her arms forward, firing Dirt Squall. The spell created a gale-force wind that drove the monster toward the guardrail. From the wall, Emma cast Dirt Storm, which blanketed the blue goddess in a cloud of dirt and disoriented the beast. The boss pushed forward, but the squall kept it pressed up against the stone rail.

Harper directed her Fire Glow spell away from the throne and closer to Kali. The monster reacted savagely, trying to strike at the light orb. Emma moved her orb near the beast. It yowled painfully.

Readying her Mana Flash spell, Harper telepathed to Emma, Get ready to hit Kali with your Boulder spell. Let’s see if we can blast her over the guardrail!

Kali hissed at them and threw her last sword at Harper. The weapon pinwheeled through the air, striking Harper in the right shoulder. The blade tore her leather armor but didn’t cut her skin. It dropped and got snagged in her enchanter’s cape. Harper kicked the weapon aside. Hey, it doesn’t have a weapon now! Harper telepathed to the Inmates. With the boss down to its last 53 mana points, the hunters walked closer to the fray, ready to barrage the monster with their weapons.

Kali raised her arms and started another chant. “Om klim kalika-yei namaha.” Swords materialized in the monster’s five arms. Kali pointed the blades at the Inmates.

“Oh, great,” Jordan muttered.

As the Inmates waited to attack, they watched Kali’s mana diminish.

13…

8…

3…

As the green barrier around the boss vanished, Harper and Emma unleashed their spells.

With the squall spell still pushing against her, Kali never had a chance to move. The bombardment of the Mana Flash and Boulder spells drove the monster over the guardrail, falling into the empty chasm of the courtyard. The beast reached out desperately for the railing, but they had driven her into the center of the opening. She plunged toward the bottom of the tower.

The five members screamed triumphantly and rushed to the guardrail to see…

7

… the blue goddess suspended in the air, sprawling against an unseen barrier, like a gigantic sheet of barely perceptible cellophane.

Kali laughed at them. “Supib bood-being!” the monster croaked from her severed tongue. “I am bouu boo is room!”

The two spells had knocked Kali’s hit points down to 429 out of 1088.

The beast leaped up from the invisible boundary and swung its multiple swords at the startled Inmates. Harper felt one blade slash across her cheek, drawing blood, while Damon suffered a large gash to his left arm.

The boss landed on the marble floor. She retreated to her throne and ascended the gold stairs, seeking an elevated battle position. Harper and Emma directed their light, storm, and squall spells to the throne.

Damon, I need you to tank Kali at her throne, Harper telepathed. Keep her pinned in.

Damon moved up the steps and covered his torso with his large shield. He slashed at the monster’s legs.

Everyone else, start laying suppressing fire with your spells and ranged weapons, but make sure you don’t hit Damon!

While a flurry of shurikens, arrows, spears, knives, and Boulder spells pelted the beast, Harper wielded Mana Flash. Meanwhile, Kali reassessed her position and attempted to move down the steps, but Damon used his strength, aided by the squall spell, to drive her back, making her an easy target for the shooters.

Within thirty seconds, the monster looked like a pincushion, and its HP sank to 327. Emma kept firing her Boulder spell at the boss, breaking bones and mashing the monster’s flesh.

Kali, hobbled from the aerial onslaught and the sword in her back, leaned her weight against Damon. As her HP dipped to under 300, the beast dropped her swords and clutched at Damon’s shield desperately, struggling to pry it away and find an escape route.

Damon groaned, feeling his grip loosening.

In behind everyone, Jordan left the perimeter of the battle as the monster tore away Damon’s shield and threw it across the chamber. Kali pounced on the orc general. They slammed against the hard floor at the foot of the throne. The flurry of wind pushed them both against the throne’s stairs. Damon plunged his sword into the monster’s stomach and watched as her hit points sank to 156.

Kali didn’t react to the brutal assault and, instead, scraped at the exposed skin at his neck. She pushed her face into his neck as blood gushed from the fresh wound. Damon could feel the severed stump of her tongue wiggling in his flesh, seeking to recover valuable hit points from his blood.

Damon checked his HP. 387 out of 544. That wasn’t bad, but the blood drain was dropping his HP by 5 points per second. As the other Inmates closed in and switched to their melee weapons, Damon ripped his sword out of Kali’s stomach and aimed for her neck…

8

… but he never had the chance to strike.

“Heads up, everybody!” Jordan bellowed from the east side of the chamber.

The Inmates looked and quickly backed away from the battle. Perched on Damon, Kali looked up. Her red eyes found Jordan, and her third eye bulged fearfully.

Standing by the guardrail, Jordan held the dharma wheel he had retrieved from the balcony. He drew the weapon back and hurled it at the boss. The razor points of the spinning blade sliced through Kali’s neck like a circular saw, decapitating her. Her head bounced twice on the rim of the guardrail before rolling over into the courtyard opening.

In his display, Jordan saw the words, Critical Hit!

As Kali’s massive body slumped against Damon, blood gushed from its neck in a torrent. The orc closed his mouth and his eyes, disgusted. The hot, metallic blood filled his nasal cavities, tunneling its way into his mouth. Unable to move the heavy beast off, he turned and retched onto the marble floor. As Damon struggled to his side, the crimson fluid clogged his left ear, and soon he couldn’t hear anything.

The Inmates ran to him and, between the five of them, they pushed the monster’s carcass off his body. Revolted, Damon rolled away from the site, his armor slick with Kali’s blood. Fresh water squirted onto his face from a wineskin. He wiped at his face and his eyes to clean away the sticky blood. As his eyes cleared, he saw Harper squeezing the wineskin. He looked up at her and exhaled.

Good job, Damon, Harper telepathed.

He sat up slowly and glanced at the other four Inmates, who were bleeding from their various wounds. “Let’s see if Zack is okay,” he told them.