Chapter 17: Book 1, Chapter 17: Courage and Desperation

Shane's three Skeleton companions were back in all their bony glory. His doppelganger's battle-ax was still lodged in Alabaster's arms as both played tug of war with the weapon. Shane observed this, and an opportunity formed in his mind. He began executing it without hesitation.

Tank and Rogue rushed to opposite sides of the mutated man with their weapons drawn and began attacking. Tank continually stabbed under the man's rib cage, while Rogue tried to penetrate between its ribs with two sharp daggers. Shane and Mage dashed to the distracted man's rear and began charging different elemental spells.

2 Damage!

4 Damage!

3 Damage!

Tank and Rogue couldn't do much between their meager strength and basic weaponry, but the consecutive hits would add up over time. This malformed Shane they were fighting didn't even seem to notice. Shane wondered if it could even feel his minion's attacks through all of its honed muscle. He was initially shocked to see a version of himself that was so built—it was like staring into the reflection of a funhouse mirror.

Streams of wind gathered around Mage as he funneled the very essence of the air into a flat crescent moon shape. Meanwhile, Shane charged Icicle Gun, and three elongated ice shards twirled in front of his palm. He waited as Mage fired blade after blade of razor-sharp wind at the thing's back.

11 Damage!

10 Damage!

11 Damage!

Each concentrated blade of wind cut into the man's rippling muscle leaving long thin openings in the skin that trickled out blood. They were barely better than flesh wounds, but that was fine. Shane aimed for where the wind blades cut the deepest and launched the floating icicles. The jagged pieces landed directly in the light but open wounds—sinking deeper into the muscle and flesh than usual.

31 Damage! (Critical Hit)

32 Damage! (Critical Hit)

33 Damage! (Critical Hit)

Normally a basic spell to the back wouldn't be critical, but the utility applied through Mage's wind spells allowed it to be so. The deformed Shane grunted in pain as it continued to push the ax deeper into the vampire's bleeding arms. Alabaster grit his teeth, trying to match the man's ridiculous strength and keep it from cutting through to his chest.

Hearing Alabaster's struggle spurred Shane onto his next battle plan as he relayed further instructions to Mage. He grabbed his heavy spiked mace and ran to where Tank was still repeatedly trying to stab the large man's left side. As Shane got closer, he could see shallow but numerous cuts made by his tanky minion. He looked above the doppelganger's head and saw his health bar was just above half. Not bad, but not good either.

Shane had Tank join Rogue's side, with both of them now stabbing and doing minor but consistent damage. Meanwhile, the malformed man eyed Shane with a furious acknowledgment. With his smaller left arm, he slammed a clenched fist into Shane's left side. Shane had taken a mere second to make sure Mage set up a new spell when he felt a heavy fist shatter some of his ribs.

-66 HP (???? 's Slam)

The blow sent him tumbling past the road's edge, through the brush, and into the side of a tree. He blacked out from the pain of the attack while hitting the tree roused him out of that comforting dark pit of unconsciousness.

-13 HP (Fall Damage)

He laid there for a second, gasping for air and unsure if one of his lungs had collapsed. Shane coughed uncontrollably and spat out a palmful of blood. This is fine, he thought as he got to his feet. I have to overcome this for Alabaster. Shane's battle spirit and determination doubled. He took off running while picking up his mace that he dropped while tumbling.

As Shane ran, he cast "Restoration" on himself, and the tiny golden orbs began dulling his recently acquired explosive pain. Alabaster dropped to one knee as the ax slowly cut deeper into his arms. The vampire's health bar was already below half. Shane knew he would lose his friend if the ax cut through his arms and into his chest.

-Notice-

Tank and Rogue have been defeated

Shane knew why too. Being tossed away like he had been gave the beast the opening it needed to blow them away with a free arm. Thankfully, Mage had still been pelting him with sharpened waves of wind.

10 Damage!

9 Damage!

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The morphed man's health bar was now below one-third—but that wasn't good enough. Without missing a beat, Shane ran up behind his beefy doppelganger. Before the big man could react, Shane planted his feet like he had against Alabaster and, with a huge arc, swung his spiked iron mace into the biggest ice crystal sticking out of its back.

70 Damage! (Critical Hit)

Splinters of ice burst from the man's chest, covering Alabaster with blood and chunks of melting ice. To Shane's delight, the ice acted as a conduit for the kinetic force from Shane's mace. So instead of knocking the malformed man into Alabaster, it only did that to the icicle shard—smashing only half of it in the process.

The monster reeled forward from nothing but the pain of having its chest impaled from behind. It twisted its face towards Shane in indignant anguish—blood dripping from its snarling mouth. It was surreal for Shane to see a warped version of himself from a mere few feet away.

Its eyes of two wildly different sizes were bloodshot, its grown white hair filled with dirt and dried blood. Shane was angered and saddened by his opponent. He wished it would be anything but what it was. The crazed version of himself must have seen this feeling conveyed on Shane's face because it became even more enraged.

Seeing this, Shane used "Leap" to jump backward and put some distance between himself and what was him. The beast stayed where it was and used a burst of furious strength to cut an inch deeper into Alabaster's arms. The vampire grunted in pain and fell to both knees; another concentrated push from the doppelganger would be enough to finish him.

Shane knew he had mere moments left to stop this abomination. While concentrating like never before, Shane opened his inventory to use the scroll of "Minor Self-Empowerment." He thought the physical increase from that, combined with "HandSword Chop," would be enough to end things. To his utter disappointment, he noticed he was a mere one point of Wisdom short of being able to use it.

He audibly moaned in frustration as he closed his inventory and readied "Soul Siphon" instead. More magical wind blades pounded into the doppelganger's back as Shane began ripping HP and Mana from the man's very core.

9 Damage!

10 Damage!

50 Damage!

0 Mana Damage!

Wow, he doesn't have mana? His class must be different from mine. Does every 'Shane' have a different class? Shane briefly pondered as tendrils of red energy were forcefully dragged out of the malformed doppelganger's left side. The HP he stole entered his body and completely healed the rest of his wounds in conjunction with his "Restoration" spell that was just ending.

HP: 150/150

Mana: 27/112

Fatigue: 45/133

In a desperate bid to reduce the strain on Alabaster, Shane commanded Mage to move from behind the creature to ten feet from its right side. Shane charged up "Ice Gun" with the last of his available mana and aimed for his doppelganger's left arm as Mage cast wind blades at its right arm. The icicles quickly formed and were shot forward from his open palm. One of the icicles lodged into its side, with the other two piercing its muscular forearm.

15 Damage!

16 Damage!

14 Damage!

9 Damage!

9 Damage!

10 Damage!

The misshapen man reeled backward from the pain inflicted on both of its arms—its health bar held only a tiny sliver left. It didn't let go of its battle-ax, but Shane could tell it wasn't putting as much pressure on Alabaster's bloodied arms as before.

Shane sheathed his mace and was preparing to charge in with a final "SwordHand Chop." He had to stop in his tracks when he saw Liz slowly approach the ax-wielding maniac.

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