Eight Intertwined

134 - Yvon

Tressa swept her spear aside with a heavy sigh as she finally managed to splinter the walking skeleton she had been fighting off. That gave her just enough time to roll out of the way of Yvon's fist when he tried to strike down at her from above. Tressa winced as she came up in a crouch, doing her best to ignore the bruise that was already spreading across her abdomen thanks to Yvon's earlier blast of magic. When Yvon tried to punch her once again, she threw up a flare of light magic and scrambled away from the scene, doing her best to lure her foe away from Therion and Therese. 

Miraculously, it worked, and Tressa dodged yet another strike from Yvon as she jumped straight into the battle between Alfyn and the other skeleton monster. Cyrus cast another light spell at Yvon, and he was sent staggering backwards from shock. Primrose took advantage of this chance to stab at him from behind when he couldn't find the sense to retaliate, and H'aanit raised her axe before slashing at his muscles from a different direction. Olberic exploited the initial injury Primrose had left on Yvon's back and tore it open wider with his sword, ignoring just how thick Yvon's blood was when it poured out of the wound. The blood crystal had interfered with his body's processes in many ways, and seeing it in action was, to put it simply, grotesque. 

Cyrus was happy to not be up close to Yvon as he prepared a blast of light magic, knowing that if he had to see the dark details of his opponent's transformation, he wouldn't have been able to maintain his focus. He ignored the way his hands shook as he cast the spell, and he forced himself backwards as Yvon recovered. Cyrus felt his stomach hiss at him in pain, offering a dark warning to not push himself more than was absolutely necessary. He needed to rest as soon as possible, but as long as he was there in the cellars, he didn't have that option, so he would simply have to focus.

When Yvon fully recovered, he turned around and slammed his fist into Olberic. The warrior let out a strangled cry of pain as he slammed into the nearby wall, falling gracelessly onto the stone ground. He pressed his blade's tip into the stones below in an attempt to stabilize himself, but it was clear that between this and the attack he had sustained from Yvon when Therese was captured that Olberic wouldn't be able to join the fight again for quite some time. Primrose rushed over to his side and cast a healing spell to try and restore his energy levels. 

Alfyn slashed his axe in a wide arc as he let out a sigh, finally splintering the second skeleton beast. He glanced up to Yvon and saw his defenses had dropped slightly. Alfyn ignored the sight of blood gushing so freely from Yvon's wound before he created a quick blast of ice that stabbed into his injuries. Yvon screamed in anger and pain before whirling around to face Alfyn, already preparing himself for an attack.

Ophilia was faster than Yvon though, and she created a column of light between him and Alfyn to give the apothecary the chance he needed to escape. Alfyn scurried away as quickly as he could, gripping tightly at his axe along the way. As long as Yvon's defenses were so powerful thanks to his thickened skin, it would be difficult to open any other physical wounds. Magic was their best bet, but very little had an effect aside from light magic or the occasional blast of ice when aimed properly. They needed something better than that if they were to send Yvon to his knees once and for all.

Cyrus had figured out the same thing nearby, but he didn't know how he was supposed to defeat Yvon once and for all. There wasn't much space to use in the cellars, all of the bookshelves placed too close to one another for comfort. One wrong attack could send splinters of wood everywhere, and while they wouldn't hurt Yvon, they would deal massive damage to the travelers. They risked potentially bringing the entire building down on them if they used earth magic to restrain him. Yvon wouldn't be stopped no matter what they did. There had to be some other way to end his rampage, but Cyrus didn't know what it was.

Yvon let out a mighty roar of anger and pain, and one of his arms happened to strike the nearest bookshelf. The shelves were sent toppling over, one falling into the next until the entire right half of the room had been covered in fallen wood and drifting pages. Therion, who had luckily hidden behind the bookshelf closest to the door on the left side of the room, flinched and closed his eyes against the trembling of the ground. The thief ignored the way his entire body screamed at him to get out of there, knowing he couldn't risk moving yet when he wouldn't be able to guarantee a clean getaway. Therese was completely unresponsive in his arms, completely unaware of the battle taking place nearby thanks to her lack of consciousness. Therion would have normally been able to get away with running while he carried her, but he couldn't at the moment. His entire body felt heavy from the pain in his head, and he couldn't take any risks when there was enough danger waiting for him already.