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Jiron nods and returns to his side. “What are you going to do?” The creature’s snout has now begun to inch its way through.

James doesn’t reply, his mind is working too hard on the problem. He comes to notice the area where the creatures have been pacing along the outside of the barrier has been scorched from their passing. Add to that the reaction when Jiron struck it with his knife and he comes to a disturbing conclusion.

Creatures of fire? Hell hounds maybe? Where did they come from? Sensing the hand of Dmon-Li in this, he tries to come up with an effective attack. Already the creature has managed to get its head in and is starting to move its other foreleg through. It won’t be much longer before it’ll be completely inside.

Jiron puts his other knife in his belt. He knows it will be useless and there’s nothing he can do here. It all rests on James now.

How do you fight a fire creature? Cold? Water? Ice? Glancing above them to the clouds, an idea forms and he staggers slightly as he begins to implement it. Jiron puts an arm around him as he settles to the ground.

The clouds above become denser as they race together from all directions. James is beginning to sweat, the strain from maintaining both the shield and summoning the storm is rapidly draining his strength.

By the time the creature has its other leg and all of its head within the barrier, drops begin to fall from the sky. When they strike the creatures, hissing can be heard as they quickly evaporate.

The rain begins to fall in increasing intensity, but that’s not what he’s wanting. He hunts through the clouds above until he locates what he wants and pulls it closer. The strain of doing so brings black spots to his eyes and he’s not sure how much longer he’s going to last. Hopefully long enough.

The temperature begins to drop as he brings the system he wants closer and the rain changes to hail. Where the rain didn’t seem to bother the creatures, the hail does. As it strikes them, it almost appears to be causing them pain. Also the creature making its way through the barrier halts its progress. The pull of magic needed to maintain the barrier eases off slightly.

Watching the other creature on the outside, Jiron notices that where the hail is striking, dark patches are beginning to appear. “I think it’s working,” he says encouragingly. There was also a note of hope in his voice too.

James has his eyes closed and can tell that though this may be working to slow and bother them, he’ll have to do more in order to vanquish them. Besides, he’ll not be able to keep this up for long. The clouds above are fighting him as the winds in the upper reaches work to pull the storms away.

Maintaining the hail storm, he sends out an additional tendril of magic toward what’s already fallen on the ground around them. Ice pellets begin moving along the ground toward the creatures and begin attaching themselves. He also attempts to change the barrier, similar to how he did it another time long ago. Back then he changed it to fire to burn off an acidic ooze, this time he’s changing it to extreme cold.

As it begins to change, the temperature within the barrier drops dramatically and the creature caught in the middle of it begins to exhibit panic. It tries to get out but James continues to reduce the temperature of the barrier and it cries out from the pain being inflicted.

The other creature on the outside starts growling and snapping at the barrier but when it comes into contact with it, an audible sizzle sounds. The hailstorm still falls outside, the hail beginning to accumulate around them. The odor of sulfur begins to permeate the air as the creatures are struck by the falling hail.

James and Jiron begin shivering from the temperature within the barrier, it has to be below freezing now, way below freezing. The creature caught in the barrier starts thrashing about from side to side in a panicked attempt to free itself but is unable to extricate itself from the barrier. Finally, with a nightmarish cry, the half within the barrier comes away