James takes out one of his slugs from the belt around his waist and propels it at the one in front of them with a touch of magic. It strikes the creature in the foreleg and lodges itself beneath the skin.

Crying out in pain, the creature stumbles slightly and then resumes its course toward them.

“You’re going to have to do better than that!” Miko yells to James when he sees the slug did little to slow it down.

Reaching down, he picks up a stone off the beach the size of a baseball and throws it at the creature, tripling the amount of magic he usually uses with the spell.

This time when the stone hits, it strikes the creature in the chest and blasts out the back, spraying bone and gore.

At the sight of what happened to that one, the creature behind them roars and doubles its speed toward them.

James doesn’t have time before it’s upon them to do anything. They jump to the side but the creature grabs his leg with his mouth, teeth sinking into his calf as it lifts him off the ground.

Crying out in pain, James reflexively lets loose a blast of magic that burns into the creature’s side. Roaring in pain, it lets go of his leg.

As he falls back to the ground, he rolls away from the creature, blood welling quickly from the wounds the creature’s teeth had inflicted. He comes to a stop then begins scooting backward along the ground away from the creature, his leg unable to support him enough to get to his feet.

Miko throws sticks and rocks at it to try to divert its attention from James to no avail. It looks around and sees him there on the ground. With another roar, it charges forward, slowed only slightly by the wound in its side.

James takes out another slug and throws it at the charging creature. In panic, he calls forth a tremendous surge of magic which leaves him gasping and dazed. The slug strikes the creature where its neck leaves the main body, and the incredible force of the impact almost completely severs its head from the rest of its body. Attached only by a thin layer of skin and muscle, its head lolls to the side as it falls to the ground, blood spraying forth upon the sand.