Lily felt the impact vibrate through her very marrow. The dragon's massive, frantic thrashing slammed into her light affinity barrier with the force of a battering ram.
THOOM! CRACKLE!
The golden light of her shield flickered, the structural reserve of the energy straining, groaning under a load it was never meant to bear. She could feel the magical feedback, a searing, white-hot pressure against her palms, telling her the grim truth: the barrier was redlining.
She had approximately thirty seconds before the light shattered like glass, leaving them defenseless.
"Diana!" Lily commanded, her teeth gritted against the strain.
Diana didn't need to be told twice. She was already a blur of lethal, practiced motion.
In the split second the dragon had been pinned by the roots, Diana had drawn three arrows in a seamless, rhythmic sequence. This was the tactical archer's zenith, exploiting the brief, violent window of a held target.
TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!
