Maybe it was the tar like substance that slowed him down. It seemed to cover far of John than he would have liked. He was no fighter and he always did terribly unless he could find a way to cheat. A way to play dirty. For the time being he was trapped in an oily room and a large raging beast. His attacks had only seemed to anger it more.
The beast caught him again, knocking John back down to the ground. He tried to pull himself free from the mess. He knew what he needed to do in order to kill the beast. It was risky, but it was worth it. He had to lure it in to believing he was down and out. Lie there in the muck and focus as much as he could on creating a fire spell that would engulf the entire room while hopefully shielding himself. He couldn't hurt himself with his own fire or at least he hadn't been able to. He didn't want to risk that being changed by the strange black substance around them.
John lay there, looking up and over at the monster. He grinned as best he could. "Is that it?" he asked, raising a hand to give the creature the middle finger. Not that it would have done much. Certainly made him feel better though.