Mist of Doom

23. Father's Fury

A silver serpentine figure hurtled towards Brandon with its clawed hands in front. Brandon dived out of harm's way, only to find its twin coming at him like a missile. It slammed into him, driving him into the wall as its knife-like fingernails pierced through his chest.

Brandon regained his composure just as the serpentine figure darted away with bloody claws. Snake man, huh? Wounds regenerating, Brandon cleaved the creature in two and kicked the bifurcated body away.

Brandon raised an eyebrow at the lack of gushing blood from the corpse. These snake men were no different from orgmen; hell, their silver scales shared the same color as those ogres' skin.

The other snake man slithered towards him, fast as a speeding motorbike. The claws came, at which Brandon sidestepped and swung his axe. The blade ripped through the creature's waist, and the snake man dropped dead in two parts.

"Come back here!"

The bodies of the snake people crumbled to silver dust, and the particles shot up into the air. They streaked towards the man in a dark blue suit in the distance and went into his open mouth. Hmm, this must be the person he heard about before he fell asleep: David Rossi, the dean of Metaslica Faculty of Science. But what kind of alien sorcery was this? What would consuming these snake people give him?

Brandon didn't have the time to think about it anyway. Two snakes with the upper body of a bodybuilder stood around David, hissing while flicking their forked tongues. When David roared and pointed at Brandon, they curled themselves into a ball and rolled towards the undead man.

Brandon hopped over them and held his axe overhead, ready to swat the dean. Despite feeling a pang of guilt from mocking the minotaur earlier, he remained poker-faced. Oh, well, could David survive getting cleaved in two? If the dean died, who would give him a clue about where Mika had gone?

David grinned as he jumped back; Brandon believed the dean was calling him a clown in his mind. The axe smashed into the ground and sent marmoreal fragments everywhere.

As Brandon charged at David, the dean retreated. Silver scales coated the dean's body, and his fingers elongated. Snakes. All of David's stretchy fingers transformed into these pesky little reptiles.

Something rumbled behind him.

Brandon and David stopped in their tracks and leaped. Two silver spheres rolled beneath their airborne figures.

David's snakes shot out at Brandon, whose axe struck him like a racket against a ball. David crashed into the wall, his serpentine fingers reverting.

Brandon landed on his feet and rushed towards the crash site. Hearing rumbling noises from behind, Brandon jumped. Two silver boulders rolled below him and towards the sprawled David.

"Stop!"

The boulders disintegrated, and the remains flew into David's open mouth. Brandon still didn't know what the alien sorcery was for, but it sure saved the dean's scaly ass.

As Brandon continued his stride, David got up and clapped. Then he smacked the ground as though it was a war drum.

A huge portal of swirling light opened up between Brandon and David. A massive silver fist shot out of it and slammed into Brandon's chest, sending him flying a few feet away. Thousands of needles punctured his lungs, but the sensation vanished a few seconds later.

Brandon got up to see a colossal snake man slithering out of the fading portal. The creature reminded him of the muscular snake men he saw earlier, but this one was much bigger. If not for its slightly stooped posture, its body must've smashed through the tall ceiling.