Half-Tale: The Fallen

Chapter 5 (3/3) - Home

Characters are not mine. Half-Life and Adrian Shephard belong to Valve Corporation, and Undertale and Chara Dreemurr belong to Toby Fox. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 5 (3/3) - Home

/ / /

"Now this... is much more my speed."

In an instant, before Adrian could properly prepare himself, Toriel launched her balls of fire magic towards Adrian. Attacking with conviction and determination, she seemed like she was aiming to kill the marine. "Fight like your life depends on it! Because it very well may!"

Adrian, caught off guard, was barely able to dodge out of the way, rolling to the side. However, right as he recovered, he was met with a rain of magic fireballs descending upon him with immense speed. Instead of dodging, this time, he reached to his side and took out a knife. The fire balls, he knew, were small enough for him to block a few.

With the knife, he managed to block some of the fire balls along with the dodging to maximise his chances of avoiding the attack.

This succeeds partially as, while a few of the fire attacks did manage to graze him, he was able to roll out of the way again, this time being fully on guard.

Toriel looked at him with some suspicion, staring at the knife as she got into a specific fighting stance, specifically a defensive one focused on countering with magic attacks. Right as she was going to say something, Adrian spoke up.

"Don't worry about me using this to hurt anyone. I know how to use knives defensively. Trust me."

Toriel nodded as she resumed her barrage of attacks. This time, however, she blitzed forward, quickly changing her fighting stance from one of defence to offence. Adrian took note of her ability to change fighting styles quickly and went to clash with the RUINS caretaker.

Adrian's eyes darted to Toriel's right hand, which seemed to shift a little, contrasting from when she previously hurled her magic attacks. Watching that specific hand, he saw her launch not a fire ball, but pure fire itself right at him.

Knowing this was something he absolutely could not block, for obvious reasons, he opted for dodging. However, Toriel had other plans. The goat woman, with her other hand, launched a flurry of fire balls towards all of the possible escape routes the marine could have used to possibly avoid the fire. "Damn, not good!"

So, he decided to try something a little riskier.

Kicking himself off the floor, he ran toward Toriel rather than evade backwards to where the other fire balls would have exploded upon. He knew this was a risk due to the fact he was going right up to his opponent, potentially giving her a chance to retaliate quickly, but if there was an off chance of Toriel not expecting this, then he would take it.

"Wha-?"

It worked.

Adrian smirked as he witnessed Toriel's expression contort into one of confusion. Pocketing his knife, he went for a tackle, intending to knock her off balance and thrust her backwards. This succeeds as the both of them crash into the wall.

"Ach, not bad, Shephard!"

Toriel then kicked her off of him with ease, launching him far backwards. Although he managed to recover quickly, rolling backwards upon his impact with the ground and returning to his feet, he grabbed his chest, coughing slightly. "Damn. She's strong."

Damage sustained.

"No kidding. My vest absorbed that, too... I'll have to be more careful."