I turned to the right and ran around the edge of the trees, so that we ended up flanking the melee between the cougars and the snakes instead of having it between us and the Cobra. The Flora Whelps were bashing themselves against the Cobra’s Force Barrier, but the monster’s level was so high that it didn’t seem to be making any difference. The zombies were advancing on the Cougars, and there wasn’t much time left before they joined that fight. I wasn’t sure how well the cougars would hold up against 20 zombies and a bunch of snakes.

“We can’t deal with them piecemeal,” I said quickly, “we need to divide our enemies up and stop them helping each other. Selena, concentrate on sending suppressing fire against the Cobra to get its attention and stop it casting any more spells. Astrid, get ready to transform into your werewolf form and attack the Cobra. We’re going to have to hit it with everything we’ve got all at once, because we can’t afford to give it the chance to mimic any more of our attacks.”

“What about the zombies and the zombie snakes?” said Astrid, sounding worried.

“Let me deal with them. Selena, begin suppressing fire now!”

As Selena crouched and began firing Storm Spheres at the Cobra’s Force Barrier, I formed the correct mudras and flung a Force Barrier of my own up around the zombies, corralling them in a tight circle which they could not escape from. They thumped against the invisible surface with their rotting hands, and I knew the Force Barrier wouldn’t hold forever, but it would last for long enough for me to enact my plan.

I recalled the three Flora Whelps and ordered them to help the Cougars against the snakes. One Cougar was limping where a snake had caught its forepaw, but the Cougars were using their Frostbreath attacks to slow down the relentless slithering mass. They were holding their own. As soon as the Flora Whelps sprinted across the short distance and joined them, they began to have the advantage over the snakes.

While the Cobra was distracted by Selena’s assault on its Force Barrier, I turned my attention to the zombies. I drew on my Summoning Sphere, using three more summoning points and causing three green Flesh Muncher portals to appear in the midst of the packed crowd of shambling undead.

These were slow zombies, thankfully. I’d watched enough zombie movies in my time to know the difference. If we’d had a pack of 20 fast-moving rage zombies to deal with, things might have gone very differently.