Some Hounds and Clones were preventing that every enemy focused on Gjaki. The threads she had managed to place in the middle of the fight were also helping. There were barely four of them, but she had managed to decapitate one of her enemies thanks to them.
It had been a kind of ostrich, although with six legs instead of two. It had had a longer and more pointed beak, that had wanted to skewer a Clone. The lost had gone to it at full speed, and the vampiress had manipulated the four resistant threads with Live Thread.
She had moved the Clone to the precise place, so that the threads could converge at a specific point. She had sharpened them with Lethal Thread, and with Deadly Net, they had converged to decapitate the corrupted being between the four.
Now, she was in trouble, since five enemies had surrounded her, and were charging at her. Luckily, the attack had been predictable, so she had had time to prepare Shadow Fusion.
She disappeared from her position to materialize in the shadow of a certain corrupted tiger, which hadn't recovered from ingesting a Fireball yet. She stabbed two daggers into its eyes with Backstab and Pierce, while wrapping a new thread around its neck.
Quickly, a Dark Wall concealed her, and she ran to hide behind a rock. From there, she pulled the thread, which strangled the badly wounded corrupted feline. When it was dragged, its unlife was barely holding on, so Twist Neck was final.
She had barely recovered the daggers when Goldmi warned her through the Bat near the elf. She had to get out of there immediately, but her situation made it impossible for her to retreat in time. Not only was she far from the safe zone, but several enemies had discovered her, and were heading towards her.
She hid behind the rock, activated Blood Overload, and pushed herself with Blood to the Feet to jump in the direction of the backyard. Although the vampiress knew she wouldn't make it, she wanted to be as close as possible.
With Fleeting Dagger, she threw a pair of her disposable daggers. Many adventurers would have wished to have such a quality weapon as their main one, but she had obtained too many of them in the game. Also, they weren't comparable to her main daggers, whose red gem wasn't just an ornament.
A spider with rather long legs and corrosive skin lost two of its eight eyes with the attack, so it had three left. Another three had been lost during the previous fight, although one of them seemed to be able to regenerate shortly.
It let out a sharp screech, which was capable of shaking the bravest heart. That had worked the first time, but now Gjaki had Frozen Heart, which made her immune to the skill.
The attack had slowed the spider, but it soon joined the vampiress' pursuers. However, they weren't having it easy. The two surviving hounds charged at them, thus delaying them. In addition, several Bloody Traps were placed after Gjaki passing. Although not very dangerous, they enveloped whichever stepped on them, and trapped them for a few seconds.
She glanced sideways at the tower after feeling the first tremor. It was certainly moving, unsteadily.
She thought about invoking Night to throw them off, but judged that there wouldn't be enough mana left. Therefore, she kept running, while drinking a vial of blood to recover her supplies. They were even temporarily overflowing thanks to Surplus.
Her enemies were close, but she wasn't worried about them. The tower would fall on them before they reached her, and she could easily dodge their ranged attacks. A Bat on her shoulder watched her back. That way, she could see through it, and not be caught by surprise.
She changed direction to dodge a huge rock that fell on which would have been her position a little later. In fact, they were falling all over the place, but Premonition was allowing her to find where it was safe.
Her pursuers weren't so lucky. It didn't take long for several of them to be crushed, or partially crushed, but the worst was yet to come. The tower had split to encompass the entire surface in its fall, but it was tall and thick enough to have enough material to bury them all. Soon, they were swallowed by the rubble.
Gjaki couldn't avoid it either. Premonition helped her avoid it for a few seconds, but the safe zones ended up disappearing. There was no place to dodge, since the falling tower covered everything.
The vampiress then deactivated Premonition, and relied on her trump card. Intangible made her immune to the rubble, which simply passed through her. She jumped over it, while ignoring the dust that blinded her. What she could see from one of her Bats in the distance guided her.
There was limited time to get to safety, so she ran as fast as possible. She even relied on Sacrifice to feed Blood Overload with her own blood. It would weaken her, but at least she would be alive, or so she hoped.
It was downright chilling to see rocks falling on top of her and through her, but she didn't have time to let the sensation overwhelm her. Time was running out, and it was becoming increasingly clear that she wouldn't make it to the safe zone in time. She had gone too far from there.
Luckily, the bulk of the collapse had already happened. Unfortunately, a large cloud of dust was enveloping her, and she was exhausted.
Gjaki closed her eyes when Intangible finished, to prevent the dust from getting into them. She gritted her teeth, due to the consequences of the skill once it was over. Her vitality had dropped by 10%, and some more from the dust now inside her.
She took out a vial of blood again and drank it, without caring if dust got into her mouth. She had spent it all on Intangible, and even her own. The vampiress needed Self-Regeneration to start working, and to recover her own blood through Resupply. She needed to recover from her weakness and injuries.
The problem was that she couldn't see anything, and the terrain was very uneven after the collapse. She had to move slowly, crawling, and even breathe with Oxygenate. Although she used more blood to extract its oxygen, it was better than letting the dust enter her lungs.
She was alive, but her situation was precarious. Apart from being uneven, the terrain was unstable, although she hoped that at least nothing could fall on her anymore. For now, she could only try to get out of that place while recovering.
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Return to Jorgaldur Volume V: Reunion (2)
FantasyThe three are together, but there is still a lot to do.