Broken

Chapter 63

The water of the lake was undeniably cold. On top of that, it almost seemed unnaturally dark.

As I sank into the darkness, my senses briefly knocked out of me, I noted that there was light down here. It was the Avatar of Frost. Its long body of crystal glowing like Christmas lights, here, in the all encompassing darkness. I watched blearily as it moved about, its shimmer almost hypnotic.

Then reason reentered my rattled brain, and I observed that I was both sinking due to the weight of my winter gear, and drowning. Getting ahold of myself, I started frantically paddling for the surface. Luckily I was a raider, and the weight of my gear wasn't as huge an obstacle as it would have been for a normal person.

As I got nearer the surface, I could make out the various ice flows. Low on oxygen, I didn't have the breath to be picky. I made a beeline directly for the nearest one, and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't pop up right under Agatha's single remaining, hovering, foot. Not that crossing my fingers had ever done me any good before now.

I broke through the surface, and did my best to not make noise as I sucked in precious air at last. As silently as I could, I pulled my shivering carcass up onto the tiny ice barge, and tried not to choke on frigid air as it raced gratefully into my starved lungs.

Falling back on the ice and panting as silently as I could manage, I took a quick look at my surroundings. The first thing I saw was Kuro. His dark attire, and the shadows he used, stood out well amongst all the snow, though the lake itself was nearly as black as the shadows he dominated. Our eyes met, and I saw a small flash of relief pass over his face before he returned to his distraction attempts, luring the snake away from me so I could breath in piece for a moment.

Right. No time for breathing. Got to get back to work. Breathing was overrated anyways, right?

Moving my eyes- and my eyes only, ignoring my mental nudge to get up and move- I saw that I had come up right behind Agatha. Literally, we were only half a dozen meters from one another.

I immediately clamped my mouth shut. My gasping breaths were going to get me caught at this rate. I knew breathing was a bad idea.

The problem? despite the nearness, we were still separated by half a dozen meters of frigid water. Agatha was hovering over a different ice float as she commanded her avatar to attack Kuro with gusto.

Cursing as silently as I could, I rolled over and crawled to the other edge of my ice flow, and lowered myself back into the water. I prayed internally that my raider immune system would be strong enough to stave off pneumonia after this was all said and done.

Then again, I was currently under a death curse, so illness was probably the least of my worries.

Ever so slowly I made my way towards the distant icefloe, keeping Kuro and the snake at the edge of my vision as best as I could, and hoping another section of the avatar didn't knock me down under the surface once again.

It wasn't until after I'd, ever so slowly, pulled myself back out of the water and onto Agatha's chunk of ice, that I realized a truly crucial piece of information: the damn throwing knife was gone! I must have lost it when the snake threw me into the water.

Momentarily thrown into a panic, I thought that I might just have to take a page out of Argus' book and literally wrestle the stupid banshee into submission. She was half dead, it was possible... Right? Even if I could just hold her still long enough for Kuro to leap in and finish her off.

Just as I was about to think that was as good a plan as I was going to get, my eyes landed on the shattered ice scattered about the icefloe. Technically these were sharp. Who said that a 'blade' needed to be man-made? All <Curse of Misfortune> required was a 'bladed weapon', and a sharp piece of ice could be that. Surely it could.

With nothing else to loose, and no new ideas making themselves known, I snatched up the deadliest looking piece and clutched it tightly in my grip. Perhaps, because I couldn't possibly get any colder, holding the shard in my bare hands didn't really hurt as it should have. Indeed, I noted that I was pretty numb all over just then.

That couldn't be good.

I shook my head, banishing the idle thoughts and refocusing on the goal at hand.

"<Curse of Misfortune>" I whispered over my chosen weapon. To my genuine surprise, it worked! The shard of ice glowed with the skill's green light, and I slowly get to my feet, ignoring that I couldn't really feel my body all that well.

I was mere steps from Agatha when I saw Kuro stumble out of the corner of my eye. I nearly panicked again. I'd never seen that man stumble before, but this was a really tiering battle where the chill of ice ate away at a person's stamina...

Then I saw that determined look on his face and understood: He had done it on purpose.

Agatha let out a manic laugh before me, and gleefully sends the snake in to take advantage of the man's supposed slip. Exactly as Kuro had planned it. Taking the chance that Kuro had bought for me, I advance the last three steps and lift the ice blade above my head with both hands. With all the force I could muster, I brought it down, plunging the green shard directly into the banshee's lower back.

Agatha let out a blood curdling scream, whipping around and back handing me with such force that I was sent flying across the rather large ice barge, slamming into another chunk of ice before I could be dropped into the lake once again. How the heck did such a scrawny, dead looking creature, have such physical strength?

However, as I slam back-first into the ice- feeling the bones in an arm that I was sure Agatha had shattered with her hit grind together- something that none of us thought could happen, did. The 'random effect' option of <Curse of Misfortune> activates.

Agatha visibly stiffens as the skill locks her into a paralyzed state, her eyes wide and wild as she glares a hole into my soul, laying there in the snow.

Her temporarily frozen state gives Kuro just the chance he needs to get in close. Dark shadows bloom behind the banshee, and the Chaos guild's 'dark knight' emerges from them, sword drawn, and a look of cold furry on his face. Looming up behind him is the Avatar of Frost, attempting to swallow Kuro whole before he can land the last blow on its master.

But, the beast is far too late. In an instant Agatha's head parts from her shoulders, and the snake explodes into a flurry of tiny ice crystals before the decapitated head even touches the ground. In a single strike, the mid-boss is killed and this raid is done.

Only three more bosses to go...