Helen rocketed across the shattered marble flagstones like a silver comet, leaving a smoking trail of frost in her wake.
Seventy paces ahead, recessed deep into the shadowed eastern alcove, the master anchor of the ancient basilica pulsed with blinding crimson fury.
Behind her, the ground shook with apocalyptic violence as the colossal two-headed mastiff crashed into Captain Seret's defensive shield wall.
The thunderous impact of thirty tons of enchanted volcanic rock against ironwood tower shields echoed through the cavern like a fortress collapsing under a siege ram.
Captain Seret roared with primal border defiance, his broadsword wedged beneath the rim of his shield as four seasoned veterans braced their shoulders against his back.
The beast's left head discharged a torrent of superheated volcanic ash that blackened their breastplates and filled their nostrils with suffocating sulfur.
