November 3, 2022
Day 14
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Ivan smiled as he saw Maya's progress, how her fireballs turned into smaller and smaller pebbles and finally into bullets. That smile turned into a wide grin as the mana bullet, beating all his expectations, burned straight through the rogue's cloak and sunk deep into his arm.
The happy expression instantly froze on Ivan's face when the rogue looked toward the outer walls and tried to find the culprit behind his injury. He activated haste the instant the man's wandering eyes locked on Maya and reinforced his body with Immutability in preparation to stop the rogue.
Defying Ivan's expectations, the rogue looked away from the mage and rushed toward Matt instead.
The tank didn't let his surprise distract him and moved to intercept the rogue before he could reach his friend.
The rogue too had anticipated Ivan's interference and turned midway through his motion to face him directly.
With his haste in full effect, Ivan could perceive the rogue clearly, with all hints of the shadow that hid his every motion gone. And so, he was able to see all the three punches that came at him one after another as the hooded figure started attacking furiously.
Being able to see something was unfortunately not the same as being able to move fast enough to do something about it. Ivan's haste skill was barely enough to keep up with the alpha's punches, and not all the attacks could be blocked.
Thankfully, the reinforcement that his use of intent afforded him was rock solid, and Ivan suffered little damage from the rogue's strikes, irrespective of whether they were blocked or not.
That just means I'm using too much intent. I need to be more stingy with it.
Ivan realized as the duo engaged in a fast-paced fistfight, albeit one with one side always attacking and the other constantly defending.
As the fight went on, Ivan could feel his quickly depleting stock of intent, which had already half dissipated due to the lull in battle when the rogue was taking on the mages.
If I had known how long he would keep that up, I could have poured the intent into the dungeon. But if he had attacked me when I was without my time intent, I'd be helpless.
Pressed on by the knowledge that he couldn't keep this up much longer, Ivan modulated the amount of intent he poured into his defenses and also started anticipating blows and reinforcing only the areas where the punches landed.
The task proved exceedingly difficult, even though Ivan had already done something similar when he had reinforced his internal organs.
Focusing the reinforcement on a particular area was not the hard part. The problem was the amount of concentration it took to rapidly move around that reinforcing intent across his body in response to the rogue's attacks. The fact that his haste was barely enough for him to keep up with the enemy meant that splitting his attention between blocking and guiding his intent led to even more strikes making their way past his defenses and landing on his torso.
In an area that was not always reinforced on time, leading to actual injuries and a noticeable loss of HP.
As the fight went on, Ivan's proficiency with controlling the movement of intent within his body also grew. But that growth was slow.
The same could not be said about the rate at which injuries and bruises had started to accumulate on his body.
If his economical use of intent had only been a novelty, Ivan would have reverted to his earlier style of fighting and simply reinforced his entire body.
But that wasn't the case. A full body reinforcement was too expensive and Ivan could not sustain that. He'd have to continue like this.
What are you waiting for Rahul, I could use some help right now.
Ivan desperately thought.
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Rahul had put his entire accumulated momentum in that single all-or-nothing attack earlier, but started to recover it during the heated battle that followed, as the rogue terrorized him and everyone else with Rahul's knife.
Unfortunately, the pause in the battle once again eroded his momentum, reducing the Intent points to the low 2s.
That measly amount of accumulated momentum made Rahul wary of entering the fight between Ivan and the rogue. His lack of experience when it came to using intent for prolonged durations added to that hesitation.
Ivan is definitely using his accumulated intent gradually, or he wouldn't have been able to sustain that speed for so long. I, however, have only ever used my intent in brief spurts of motions and for fast decisive attacks. It won't be such a leap in complexity to learn how to sustain it longer, but does that mean I learn it right now? And how long can that period of enhanced speed even last?
Rahul's concerns with entering the battle were many, but as he saw Ivan taking damage and flagging, his hand was forced.
Before he jumped in, he did one last thing.
Hey buddy, I want to get into an extended state of kinetic empowerment, is that possible?
Upon receiving a confident affirmation from Momentum, Rahul continued.
I'm thinking of allowing a continuous stream of the intent to flow into my body, rather than discrete bursts of it. Am I on the right track?
Another affirmative feeling emerged, and Rahul let go of his doubts and allowed himself to be imbibed by a very small continuous stream of mana. As he did, that kinetic energy flowed through him, empowering his movements far beyond what his body could otherwise manage.
This is surprisingly easy.
As this was the first time that Rahul was standing idly while in that state of heightened capability, he started to notice and feel the kinetic intent coursing through him.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
This intent feels so restless, so erratic, almost as if there's electricity stuck in my body, electricity that is neither getting used nor finding a way to ground itself. If I don't get moving soon, I'm afraid it would burn me instead.
So, Rahul moved toward the fighting duo, carefully increasing the width of the intent stream until he could move fast enough to match the pace of battle.
Time to help Ivan.
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Rahul's arrival, unfortunately, was rather disappointing.
The rogue simply chose to ignore him and continued to incessantly punch the already battered Ivan. Rahul saw most of the attacks getting past the tank's defense and cursed.
Why are Ivan's movements looking so uncoordinated? He must be more injured than he appears to be. I have to help quickly, just standing here and presenting myself as a new target is not going to cut it.
Realizing that he would need to attack the rogue and force him to acknowledge his presence, Rahul started widening the intent stream further and reached for his weapon.
Then he stopped himself.
The rogue had dropped my knife when Ivan had crashed into him earlier and is now fighting with his bare fists. An unarmed fight is certainly in my best interest. If I equip myself, I'll just end up giving that asshole a new weapon.
His decision made, Rahul moved exceedingly fast and managed to land several solid punches on the rogue's back, forcing him to finally turn toward him. Ivan seemed quite relieved at the change, but as Rahul reduced his speed back to what he had started with, he was not happy.
The intent points still say two, but I can feel that series of attacks used up almost half of my accumulated intent.
Rahul revised his earlier estimate to 30 seconds, fully aware that it won't be enough. As he alone now faced the brunt of the rogue's attack while Ivan quietly drank a healing potion and recovered, Rahul wondered if he could lower the intent consumption any further.
If I'm any slower, I won't be able to dodge consistently. But if I keep burning through intent at this rate, it won't be long before I'm a sitting duck.
Seconds ticked by, and Rahul's panic grew.
What's taking Ivan so long?
Thankfully, the tank returned to the battle with Rahul still having about fifteen seconds' worth of kinetic intent left in his bank.
With two foes, the rogue's attention was divided, and the fight got a lot more comfortable. Sensing the opportunity, Rahul reduced the intent consumption further and bought himself more time.
This will just prolong the inevitable. Even at this reduced rate, the intent would barely last another minute. Something has got to give.
The Laysan duo fought on, surrounding the rogue, dodging and blocking, not taking any damage but also failing to do any in response.
A stalemate that was definitely not in their favor, as the rogue could probably keep this up forever.
As he danced away from the hooded figure's punches, Rahul pondered on the situation, the kinetic intent infused wheels in his brain turning quite rapidly.
And then the solution occurred to him. He needed to rectify the mistake he had been making ever since the integration began.
I'm being too careful. I have to slow down my use of intent even if it means that some of the rogue's punches start to connect. I already know that the blunt force of his attacks is far from enough to kill me in one strike, so I can use HP as another resource that can be used. Sacrifice one resource in order to conserve and eventually start accumulating the other.
Rahul told himself and began the first step of his plan.
Reducing my speed to the extent that the production outpaces the consumption is not yet feasible, but I can cut enough to bring the two processes into equilibrium. That should, in theory, allow me to stay in this empowered state forever. In practice, my body will give out due to exhaustion.
Rahul got to work, making the precise adjustments to his stream of intent, dreading the pain he knew was coming.
And sure enough, it came. Rahul was still dodging most of the attacks, but every once in a while, an attack would get through, and his health was starting to steadily fall.
I'm buying time, but if nothing changes, I'll find myself in the same position with the same amount of intent points, but significantly less health.
The duo kept fighting in that state for some time, and when his health had fallen to about 60%, Rahul morbidly realized that he had traded one countdown for another.
A countdown toward my death a 0 HP. At least I have some time before that happens.
Rahul thought, and focused his attention back on the battle. With his reduced ability to fight, Rahul found out that Ivan was also being forced back and was taking damage. He also noticed something else.
His defense is still bad. Why is he missing even those easy blocks? Had he not recovered completely?
Rahul wasn't sure, but as he kept watching, he realized the lack of hand-eye coordination was not a physical but a mental problem. Ivan's focus wasn't completely on the blocking, he was doing something else.
Whatever it is, it better be worth it, cause at the rate we are taking damage, neither of us is going to last much longer.
Rahul thought, as his injuries started piling on, and the pain from the bruises all over his body started to become too much for him. He checked his HP and found that it was at 107/220.
Hurts a lot worse than that HP indicates.
Rahul thought, and immediately chided himself for being a whiner as he recalled his commitment to increasing his pain tolerance after what had happened with the alpha.
Despite his valiant attempts at stoicism, the truth was, Rahul's ability to focus on the fight was already getting impacted by the pain, and the attacks that he couldn't dodge kept growing more and more frequent.
His health soon plummeted into the two digits and kept falling.
I must endure a bit longer, give Ivan time to succeed at whatever he's trying to do.
Rahul thought, opting not to increase his intent consumption. Despite that resolve, his movement grew sloppy, and the rogue was all too happy to take advantage of it, pressing harder and harder.
And finally, one powerful punch got past his defenses and crashed against Rahul's chest, breaking his ribs.
Rahul staggered backward, blood spurting out of his mouth, almost ready to give up and surrender.
The rogue advanced, unrelenting, and two more punches aimed at the same spot were somehow blocked by Rahul's raised forearms, which cracked from the impact.
Better my forearms than my ribs.
Rahul tried to be sardonic, but gave up and just smiled sadly.
Who am I even kidding?
On the verge of tears, Rahul checked his HP again, 56/220. Once again, it was more than he had expected, but now, he felt grateful for it. That number meant that he wasn't as close to dying as he had thought.
Rahul blocked one more punch, further breaking the bones in his forearms, as the rogue's attacks continued unabatedly.
Everything hurts so damn bad.
As Rahul failed to block the next punch, his ribs cracked further, and every breath he took started punching holes in his lungs.
This hurts just as bad as when the alpha was thrashing my back. Maybe even worse.
Rahul thought, breathing shallowly now to keep the pain in his chest under control, and trying to look for any chance to take a swig from a healing potion.
There's no way I can outrun or outmaneuver this guy. I can run if burn up all of my remaining intent, but if he chooses to follow me, I'll be in even more trouble, and if he stays and fights Ivan alone... I can't do that either.
Tears of pain, anguish, and helplessness were now welling up in his eyes, and Rahul's dam of emotions finally broke.
Just last month, I worked a desk job in an air-conditioned office with all the luxuries I could dream of. Things changed so suddenly. I have been trying to be strong. I have been trying so so hard, going above and beyond, taking risks to level up, to make sure I'm prepared for whatever crisis comes our way.
Tears were now freely streaming down his cheeks.
But this is not fair. It isn't. Just last night, I had been paralyzed by this same amount of pain, and today I'm standing and fighting through it. And yet things get worse and worse. I can't fight anymore.
Rahul stopped moving, surprising the rogue who managed to land one more punch on his now undefended and bloody chest. More ribs cracked and his entire chest seemed to have caved inward.
This is too much to ask for. I can't change my entire damn personality overnight. I can't become a new person just because the situation demands it. I've done my best, and then some. I can't keep moving. I can't keep fighting.
Rahul looked defiantly at the man who had broken countless bones in his body, shattered his ribs, and caved in his chest. The stream of kinetic intent came to a sudden halt, and the two just stood still and looked into each other's eyes.
If I die here, then so be it. But I'm no longer fighting.
There was cold resignation in Rahul's eyes as they seemed to ask the rogue.
So, what's it gonna be? Are you going to kill me now? In cold blood?