Chapter 114: Chapter One Hundred Fourteen

We woke up about two hours later, and Jessie was already awake and  ready to take on the world. It made me smile to see how much happier and  more energetic my friend was. Not just because of the rest, but because  she had HOPE. She'd been keeping her plans to herself, and probably  half convinced she was crazy and chasing ghosts, and knowing that I not  only believed in her but had another solution if hers failed clearly  made a big difference.

I was pretty sure she wanted to try  to get her powers up to a level strong enough to try it first, but I'd  keep an eye on my ability each rank up just to check. Still, seeing her  so chipper sent a flash of guilt through me. I hadn't even noticed how  subdued she'd been lately. Oh she smiled just as wide, but it didn't  reach her eyes anymore. Now that light was back and I was determined to  keep it there.

We formed up ranks in the doorway, the  others letting me do a quick scan with my Seek Hidden for skeletons  while Callie used her tracking skill to look for traces of passage or  traps. The former was unlikely given our lookouts, but you could never  be too careful. We scanned the hallway in both directions, and once we  were sure there were no traps we started slowly forward again. I felt  refreshed after the downtime and the nap, so I was ready and waiting for  any danger. Despite our vigilance though it took quite a while before  we hit the next blockage in the path.

We were walking  through a shadowed portion of tunnel, the ghostfire torches guttering  low on the walls, when we got jumped by wights. They came out of the  walls, literally two dozen of them, but the wights were hardly the  biggest threats. A pair of massive armored forms stepped from well  hidden alcoves in the path, clearly having been waiting for us to reach  them to ambush, and they barreled toward us at top speed. Each massive  gargantuan shape was covered in black metal and wielding a massing two  handed axe...and missing their head.

Sarah squeaked in  fright. "Dullahan! They're an elite vanguard unit of the undead. They're  legendary for their power!" The rest of her warning was cut off as I  leaped forward to meet one, Cark coming at the other to stop it Might to  Might. The axe smashed down at the bare handed brawler, and I saw his  blazing blue hands catch it between his palms. He wasn't able to stop it  cold, but he sure as hell came close. The heat also softened the metal  enough that what little force did hit him dented the axe instead of the  other way around.

I...was less fortunate. My arms buckled  under the weight of the axe as I slammed my tonfas into the blade,  releasing my force enchantment and...nothing. I was lucky I managed to  hit the thing as hard as I had, because I was pretty sure my armor would  have split in two without the force my blow leached off. It still  wasn't enough to prevent the battering ram of pure force that impacted  my chest. I left my feet and sailed back to skid across the floor, and I  heard Callie scream my name furiously, but it took me a second to clear  my head enough to actually process what was going on.

One  of the wights was on me, but since it was H rank its scratches and  bites were more annoying than deadly. I reached up absently and crushed  its fucking head with my bare hands before crawling to my feet to look  around for my weapons. My chest hurt, my head hurt, my arms hurt. I was  pretty sure that blow had cracked my sternum, but I was recovering from  the shock at least fairly quickly thanks to my Focus and Vitality, which  left me dealing with something else.

I...lost. I mean it  wasn't over obviously, I would be getting back into it, but I'd gotten  so used to my tricks and skills being enough to dominate things in my  own weight class. I guessed now that I was higher rank the variation in  enemies even at my own level were going to make those fights much less  certain. I finally found my weapons, and I stopped to think about what I  should do. I could use my mistwalker skill, but I was positive that  would impede my friends and allies. I needed to focus on the one I had  committed to. Cark was clearly able to handle his but the others would  need me.

I stood and looked down the hall at the towering  form trying to bisect my girlfriend, and blinked. Callie was...pissed.  Her face was set in a mask of cold rage and Jessie was headed my way as  Callie basically single handedly dealt with the Dullahan on her own. I'd  expected her to run into the same issue as I had, and she had, but her  response was much different.

The Dullahan was raining down  blows with its axe, but unlike my dumb ass, Callie wasn't meeting them  with strength. She moved like a shadow, whispering between swings, her  fists covered in shadows gauntlets that occasionally flicked out to  guide the blows a bot to one side. She had a series of chains  with  spikes on either end hanging from her arms. Each time the Dullahan  stopped to retrieve the axe she darted in, jammed on end into a joint  and the other into the marble floor and then darted out.

She  was circling the thing, slamming the spikes home quickly and  efficiently. It broke several of them. Easily in fact. But Callie kept  shoving more of them in, and as the chains per limb started to add up  the jerks to free itself were getting less effective. She was slowly  weighing it down, stripping its mobility. I was in awe. I'd thought I  was doing ok with the fighting, not perfect but pretty well, but seeing  Callie actually fight with an opponent who was her equal was...an  absolute revelation.

I needed to step my game up. Jessie  reached my side and smacked her palms on my chest, which fucking hurt,  not that I complained. She shoved a bunch of green energy into me and I  almost groaned with relief as the damage started to knit back together.  Bones mending, muscles untearing. My armor was still pretty fucking  banged up, but it was also totally full, so I knew exactly what I could  do next. I glared up at the slowly lagging form of the Dullahan as  Callie stripped its freedom and reached for my DS Mastery.

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Touch  of Tears, Consecration of Flame, Leaf in the Wind, Mercy Kill, Flurry  of Blows, Afterburner. I layered my strongest and most effective series  of skills on top of each other. Jessie jerked a bit as her power yanked  more life force out of her. She was trying to get me to full and the big  drop in my bodys energy had forced her to compensate with a new burst  of life force. I was grateful for it too, since I'd forgotten how much  strain fast triggering skills could put on me. Luckily the extra power  from Afterburner and the life force were more then enough to keep me  right, and I caught her, offering her a grateful nod before I hurled  myself down the hall at the Dullahan.

Callie had the thing  pinned by this point, at least its legs, and I timed my lunge for right  after a swing of that massive axe so I wouldn't need to dodge. I felt  like a fucking flaming meteor as I sailed down the hallway at the undead  powerhouse, raising my tonfas in preparation, and when I finally came  within range...I struck. A hail of flaming green attacks thundered  across the shoulders and chest of the armored abomination, leaving  blazing green cracks and dark green smoke behind as the plate splintered  under the force.

Sadly the damn thing didn't go down with  the blows, but I was able to push off and drift lightly to the ground  to land next to Callie, who looked relieved. She smiled happily at me.  "You're ok. I saw that thing hit you and you just...went flying." Her  voice was shaking a little. I winced since I hadn't actually considered  how complicated the team dynamic could get in combat with us dating, but  then again it's not like she wouldn't have cared before we got  together. Any of us getting hurt would shake the others, but we were  both fine, so now was the time to focus on dealing with the Dullahan.

Still  I holstered one of my tonfas and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently  so she knew I appreciated the concern even if she couldn't see my face.  We turned to the Dullahan, which had finished tearing free of the  bindings while we talked. Despite that, the effort seemed to have  worsened the damage to its upper body. I turned to Callie. "I think my  big mistake before was trying to meet it head on. I got so used to being  able to muscle everything because of my Might stat I forgot I've been  dealing with freshman and rookies...an cultists I guess, but they're on  the low end of the spectrum too."

She  nodded. "It's not an uncommon mindset. It's honestly better you're  dealing with it now, I've heard it can be really dangerous at higher  ranks where there's a much wider variance. Anyway, can you keep the legs  busy while I handle the shoulders and torso? With all your damage I  should be able to finish it quick." That wasn't even a question really. I  was still in Afterburner and I felt like I could punch out an F ranked  bear. Without even needing to say anything I bolted at the Dullahan.

I  activated Sucking Mud as I leaped, confident between the walls and  Cloud Step I could maneuver pretty easily. I came in at the legs and  used my second tier rogue ability. Kidney Blow bypassed armor, and since  this entire thing was armor it would basically be a hole punch. Stacked  with all my other skills there was a shattering crash as I hit the  knee, Kidney Blow increasing the size of the cracks from my poison fire  ability.

I  had to dip back out pretty fast to avoid the axe blow, but I succeeded  in distracting the thing long enough for it to start sinking. Luckily  marble counted as earth for Sucking Mud and this big bastard was heavy. I  continued to harass the think for another minute or two, managing to  batter the knees so bad it was about to literally fall off its own  calves, but Callie had already finished up the fight by that point, a  fact I was glad for as I felt Afterburner tick down.

Callie  had made more of the lengths of chain with the spikes and been driving  them into the cracks in the shoulders as the Dullahan was completely  distracted by me cutting it off at the knees. She was aiming for  shoulders mostly, and I was wondering exactly why until I saw her merge  all the chains at one end into a giant lasso and toss them across the  room to wrap around the other Dullahan, the one that was on its last  legs fighting Cark.

When  it felt the restraints it roared in defiance (which was weird since it  had no head or mouth) and hurled itself against the chains to escape.  Given how fucked up the shoulders and upper arms were and the hooked  heads of the chains, not to mention the sheer mass of the chain lasso  the second Dullahans escape attempt managed to rip the arms clear off  the one we were fighting.

With the  knees so damaged the snap back from the arms being stripped was enough  to break off the legs too and the limbless armor collapsed into the pool  of Sucking Mud. I touched down outside of it and slumped against the  wall, exhausted. That fight had been tiring as hell. Luckily Cark didn't  seem to be having any problems. One down, one to go. But I needed a  break for a second.

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