Multi-layered Trap

A pillar of stone rose from the bottom of the lake, lifting Ver Dilen above the water's surface. The limbs pounded and hit and kicked, but they never got within an inch of his flesh. He uprooted his enemy in front of him to discover it was Sindre.

"Well played," Ver Dilen said, coughing up the last of the poison. The world slowly shifted back into place. The light fell on his smiling expression as his lips and the rest of his flesh grew back. He tightened his meaty fingers around Sindre's brittle neck.

Sindre hissed and thrashed about like a cornered animal, yet not a ripple of emotion surfaced on her freckled face. She coiled her limbs around Ver Dilen's arm, tightening her grip until a soft, metallic screech echoed through the ruin.

Ver Dilen shook his head in disgust. "Did you lose your mind just because your acid didn't kill me?" he asked. "That's just sad, even if this is an act. Have some dignity!"