Chapter 44.5- Doom Days

Moving past the slug led me to a dead end. I backtracked a step or two and took the other turn instead. I was met with a deep chasm instead of a pathway and turned to the wall instead. The wall besides the chasm, unlike the walls and hedges about the rest of the maze were not spelled to resist charm work so I started with that instead, stabbing my wand into the hedge to create a series of steps along the side of the hedge.

I followed them carefully, allowing my ritual enhanced body to keep me balanced despite th relative precariousness of the situation before me. I moved without opposition and cleared the task without issue. I came to a sharp right, took that and had to backpedal to avoid a blast of green liquid taking my head off— the green stuff had hit the wall behind me and was melting through it quite throughly. I swung my head about the corridor again and came face to face with a creature that my vast knowledge of magical creatures could not place. Beyond the corrosive liquid it could fire at high speeds, there was little of note about the creature. It was humanoid with a protruding midsection, and only about 3 feet tall, all of it just about coming up past my waist.

I aimed a banishing charm at it but it just barelled through the spell like it was not there and spat another deluge of venom at my head. I swing it right back around the edge again. Okay, so magical resistance. Maybe on the same level as something like a troll? That banishing charm had done absolutely nothing to it.

I turned again and this time caught it with a retching curse. It burped, releasing an ugly sound that grated at my ears, but beyond that there was no other effect. Definitely about the same level of magical resistance as a troll then. Or at least, it most assuredly didn’t have a lesser level than those creatures. Mind made up, I fully stepped into the clearing again.

This time, it spat the venom as soon as it saw me. A tight circle with my wand saw the venom float before me in mid air. Good. That confirmed something. I sent the liquid flying right back it. The thing seemed to eep as it saw its venom coming back before it began running backwards. My aim was impeccable, however. The venom hit, and the creature let out a scream as its body began to dissolve from its own produced liquid. Use like I’d thought. The venom had been bubbling when it had been about to hit my head, but it had been inert when it had left its mouth. That was why my first dodge had been so slow— confusion as to what was going on. Now I knew what it was. For some reason, the liquid the creature produced did not become corrosive until it had been exposed to the right amount of air— could have been ambient magic that activated rather than air, but I was going with Occam’s razor here.