Science is Dangerous

Louis enjoyed directly ordering us to fight in combat. He was used to complicated strategies, ones in which thousands of men were in his command. A simple party almost seemed like a joke to him.

At the moment, we were hunting a large reptilian monster that was guarding the entrance to some sort of cave or dungeon. The reptilian monster was like a very large lizard, with a ball of steel at the end of its tail. I would have called it an Ankylosaurus, were it not for its lizard shaped head and light green skin.

We also had the pleasure of discovering that the monster would leave lava anywhere it stepped on. But even worse was discovering that it could spit it. The monster only did it when it was angry, as at the beginning of the fight it had no desire of doing so.

Louis was in the backline, shouting orders. He was really good at it too. He, after looking at our powers, wanted Lucius as the tank, Alexander as the vanguard, and May as the damage dealer.

But because of Alexander’s attitude, Louis conceded into making him the tank. He then forced Alexander to do some training, so that his power would fit the role more properly.

May would now act as the vanguard, and Lucius would have to be flex, as damage dealer and tank if needed.

I would be in the middle, healing anybody that needed it. The reason I would be in the middle was that I would need to be close to heal, and in case somebody would ambush us.

This general formation worked rather well for the first half of the fight, until the monster started spewing lava everywhere. The reason it failed is because Alexander had the power of ice.

Louis, the moment he saw the lava understood, and ordered Alexander to go back.

He reluctantly backed down, and Louis ordered Lucius to take over for now. Alexander never liked backing down, even if it meant dying, but he had promised Louis to follow his orders if he made him the tank.

Louis’ mind started racing, calculating his nest moves. He told May to use her powers to try and cut the monster as much as she could. He had a new idea. Three shadows came out and started to attack the lizard. They left a couple of scratches, but this was enough for what Louis wanted.

He then ordered Lucius to move around the monster and to draw its attention as much as he could. After Lucius started to move, he told Alexander to get ready and prepare a bridge.

"It's gonna melt" said Alexander. Louis looked at him, and he started creating it without uttering another word. Alexander made the bridge, and as it started to melt, Louis told Lucius to escape.

Lucius had just circled around the monster multiple times, and he finally realized what Louis had done. He had not noticed himself, because he was enjoying the fight too much.

The monster, between spitting and stepping all over the place, had made a circle filled with lava. It was a simple idea, but we were fighting a monster, so he had no need for spectacular tactics.

The monster was surrounded by lava. It then decided on the long-range approach. Louis did not move, even as lava flew past him. But Louis had been expecting this.

Then, he told Alexander to raise a dome surrounding the creature and the lava.

“And try to keep it up for as long as you can”, Louis told him.

Alexander made the dome around the monster, trapping it inside. The monster started spewing lava everywhere, but it was being trapped by Alexander’s dome. The lava would seemingly fall, and not melt as much of the ice as it should have. The reason being the vapor was not letting the ice directly touch the ice.

That, and Alexander constantly making the dome.

Louis plan was simply to make the monster suffocate, and it had worked. All he had to know for this to work was the interaction between lava and ice.

If you have ever cooked anything with hot water, you should know what happens when you trap vapor for too long a time. Before this happened, Louis ordered them to get back.

A huge explosion came afterward.

They had successfully killed the monster and could now enter the dungeon.

Louis was curious on what was it exactly what killed it. He wanted to know if it was the explosion, if it choked to death with the lack of oxygen, or if it was the poisonous gas entering its body thanks to the cuts May had made before.

He did not want to probe around right now with its corpse.

The doors were huge. Metallic, with gold and white decorations all over it. They stood looking at it in shock. But when they opened the doors, they did not expect what they saw.

And, after arming themselves with courage, they decided to enter.