For a few seconds after the decaying image of a bird disappeared into David's back, it seemed that no change had occurred. However, as the fight continued, it quickly became evident what was happening. David's movements began to slow, as though his arms and legs had suddenly become heavier. His chest heaved rapidly as he desperately tried to fill his lungs with air, a look of exhaustion overtaking his face. The leader's spell had an overall weakening effect, sapping the strength from David's muscles and reducing his available stamina.
The fight that David had been winning immediately turned against him. Now, instead of victory, all he could hope for was to prolong his life by a few moments at a time. His unnaturally exhausted body struggled to avoid one crushing blow after another from the relentless creature before him.
I need to act now!
Lucius was still a few steps away from the leader, but he no longer had the luxury of time. David was going to die soon if he didn’t do something. Lucius took a deep breath to strengthen his resolve and commanded Whisper to aid David the moment he launched his surprise attack on the leader. Regardless of whether his ambush succeeded or failed, Whisper was to focus on saving David first.
Thankfully, when communicating mentally, Lucius could pass the command to his companion much faster than he would have been able to with spoken words. In the time it took him to take one step, he had resolved himself, given Whisper his orders, and activated Flicker.
Time seemed to slow as Lucius threw caution to the wind, dashing forward at full speed to close the remaining distance between himself and the leader. Matriarch's Fury snapped forward with tremendous power, aimed for the back of his enemy’s skull. The man before him appeared frozen in place due to the overwhelming speed advantage Lucius gained from Flicker. His heart pounded faster and faster in his chest from his nervous excitement as the tip of his blade connected with the enemy’s head.
The skin on the leader’s head was pierced, and Lucius could feel the tip of his blade pushing through the hard bone of the man’s skull. Yet, instead of sinking into soft brain tissue, the resistance on the blade suddenly vanished. The leader’s head shifted from flesh and bone into a ghostly mirage, allowing Matriarch's Fury to glide through unopposed.
Lucius' eyes widened in shock as he watched his killing blow fail. However, when he noticed the red glow on the blade burning away some of the ghostly mist, he realized that his attack was not entirely ineffective.
The men around the campfire stared in confusion as they watched their leader’s aspect suddenly activate. Something strange was happening to his ghostly form. One line after another rapidly appeared where the ethereal vapor of his body was being disturbed by some invisible force. What they were witnessing was the additional magic damage destroying small lines of the leader’s ghostly form as Lucius unleashed an intense flurry of attacks, striking as quickly as he could before Flicker ended.
Meanwhile, Whisper was sending messages to David, doing his best to explain the situation. At the same time, the tiny bat worked to distract the rampaging beast that was dangerously close to sinking its teeth and claws into David’s flesh.
As Lucius felt the effects of Flicker waning, he stepped back from his opponent to avoid a counterattack, relying on his aspect to shield him from the leader's revenge as he fought to shake off the wave of exhaustion that followed each use of the skill.
The moment Flicker ended, Lucius watched his opponent stagger forward as the man's aspect deactivated and his flesh reappeared. Long, bloody gashes stretched across the man's skin, covering his entire body. Even the wounds beneath his clothing were visible due to the dark, bloody stains seeping through the fabric. The attack had inflicted significant damage, but it wasn’t as devastating as Lucius had hoped. The leader was still fully capable of fighting back.
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When Lucius looked at his enemy's face, expecting to see confusion or panic, a sinking feeling began to grow in his chest from the glaring absence of such a reaction. The leader wore a nonchalant smile as he rose to his feet, glancing around as he searched for his assailant and began speaking in his deep Slavic accent.
"You're finally here! Baba Yaga told me you would come. She said the little bloodsucking assassin would be a deadly obstacle that I must overcome!"
Lucius moved swiftly in a half-circle around the leader, narrowing his eyes from the unexpected statement, and responding in an attempt to delay the leader while preparing for his next round of attacks.
"Baba Yaga? Is that the name of the mythical creature you bound?"
"Hahaha! No one binds Baba Yaga. The great witch is powerful beyond your imagination, and she is kind to those who obey her! Become one of Mother's children if you wish to live!"
"No thanks. I already had one crazy mother—I don't need another."
"That is unfortunate... What happens next will not be pleasant for me."
As Lucius prepared to launch his next attack, his lips fell open slightly, his eyes widening at the scene he was witnessing. The leader had dug his finger into his own left eye, screaming in pain as he tore it from his face. Blood and veins spilled from the empty socket as the leader held the eye in his trembling hand, muttering something under his breath. The eye was soon covered in dark red veins and a consuming darkness, much like the chicken egg had been earlier.
Realizing his enemy was preparing something dangerous, Lucius dashed forward to stop him. He slashed Matriarch's Fury at the leader’s outstretched palm and attempted to snatch the eye using telekinesis. The slash left only a shallow gash as the hand and eye both faded into ghostly forms, the magical damage the only thing that ignored the leader’s aspect. At the same time, an unseen force prevented Lucius’ mind from taking hold of the object in the man’s hand. It was the same feeling as when he attempted to move one storage ring into another, the object suddenly became too heavy for his mind to move.
Lucius decided to ignore the eye and focus on inflicting as much damage as possible, building up stacks of Assassinate before his enemy could complete whatever he was doing. He once again began opening more and more gashes on the man’s body. Swinging his sword with all the speed he could muster, while glancing occasionally at the eye in the man’s hand. The organ had grown to ten times its original size, transforming from its natural colors of white and blue to a deep black and vivid red as it expanded.
As Lucius pulled his arm back to land another strike on his opponent, the eye suddenly began to float up into the air, turning to fix its gaze on him. At the same moment, the leader seemed to gain the ability to see him. The man rolled forward just in time to evade Lucius’ next attack. The floating eye continued to hover, orbiting around the leader while maintaining its unyielding stare on Lucius.
Lucius recognized the eye as a serious threat and attempted to destroy it again, this time using Piercing Throw as he hurled his sword at the moving target. The floating eye’s orbit accelerated sharply in response, dodging the flying sword with ease. It evaded the next two rapid fire throws just as deftly.
“Tsk.” Realizing he wouldn’t be able to hit the object from a distance, Lucius gritted his teeth and charged after the leader.
A few dozen meters away from the battle, the massive red-haired bear was struggling to break free from the multitude of shadowy ropes binding it. David, whose side had been torn open by the creature’s claws, was limping weakly away. The enraged bear pursued him with the single-minded focus of an angry predator.
When Whisper saw that the ropes wouldn’t be enough to restrain the beast, he switched tactics. Instead of continuing to bind the creature, he moved all his shadows to its legs, wrapping them tightly around the moving limbs fast enough to throw the beast off balance. The massive creature toppled forward, unable to catch itself.
The moment Whisper saw his ploy succeed, the shadows binding the creature’s legs vanished, replaced by a new set in the form of jagged spikes rising from the ground where the bear was falling.
RAWWWRRR!
The creature let out a pained cry of anguish as the long shadow spikes pierced halfway into its body from the force of the fall. It tried to push itself off the ground, but more ropes appeared, wrapping around its back and slowly forcing it deeper and deeper onto the spikes.