Rikan’s head hung limply to the side for a moment before the body flopped unceremoniously to the ground. Recoil Burst had created a split in the skin in addition to breaking bone; green blood pumped out of the wound in weak spurts.
When Jerome moved he found that he was freed from Leash.
Both gnoll guards stared at him, standing still, dumbstruck by what they had just seen.
Which was good. There was no way Jerome could take either of them in a fair fight, much less both of them at once.
He took the opportunity to transform into something that might even the odds.
Would you like to transform?
* Krystyna (human, level 9, 3 hours left)
* Ninuk (gnoll, level 7, 22 hours left)
* Rikan (gnoll, level 18, 24 hours left)
Only three possible transformations. It appeared that brushing elbows with someone in a crowd didn’t add the person to the list.
It didn’t matter, though; he had what he needed.
He transformed into Rikan, instantly gaining access to a high Alteration skill level… and the Hold technique. Both guards were now running at him, clubs back and ready to strike. When he applied Hold to them (okay, on his third attempt of applying Hold to them) they stopped in mid-air, center of mass pinned to the spot it had been in when the technique was used.
Alteration has risen to level 3.
MP drained from Jerome while maintaining the technique, but Rikan had a generous amount of MP as well as a high Connection score (high MP regeneration). Jerome’s version of Rikan could hold the guards for several minutes if he didn’t use any other magic.
The downside to this form was that despite the high level his HP, Strength, and Endurance were incredibly low. Everything had been put into magic, a feeble attempt by the gnoll to control its surroundings. An attempt that ended with the crunch of tiny bones.
Should’ve been more balanced. One snap of the neck and all the magical power in the world was useless.
Jerome kept Rikan’s death in mind as he went about his work. He kept the guards’ positions in mind as he freed the naked girl, worrying with the first strap around her neck. The buckle had been pulled tight by a guard with much greater strength than this new form and he had trouble getting it loose; worse, as he pulled ineffectually on it to try and loosen it up it temporarily tightened, cutting into her throat. Her tear-drenched eyes bulged at this new pain.
He could switch to Krystyna’s form. Her strength wasn’t quite as high as guard’s, but it was much higher than Nakat’s. He could probably get it done in her form. But if he did that the guards would be released and he might or might not be able to finish them off.
Then he remembered the scalpels. He grabbed one from the plate of tools and started sawing through the straps.
Or at least he tried to. The straps resisted cutting, allowing the knife to go only a tiny amount further with each stroke. Curse this form’s weakness! By the time he finished with this his MP would be almost gone.
He could kill the guards. That would work. He looked for a piece of damaging magic that could destroy the guards quickly. Surely a feared level 18 mage would have some sort of magic that could cause damage at a distance.
Sure enough he found it, attached to some skill called Flows.
Crystal Overload
Timing: Heavy channeling, with 2 second initial cast time
Cost: 15 MP/second (including initial cast time)
Scaling: normal
Damage: 2 * power(focus) HP/second.
Effects: Can cause muscle shaking, limiting actions taken by target
Limit: Damage to unsouled creatures is greatly reduced
He didn’t know how to read all that, but he figured it would be faster than cutting through the straps, and then he wouldn’t have to worry about the guards anymore.
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Jerome concentrated on the guard and using Crystal Overload. It took two seconds of intense focus for anything to happen, but when it did it was amazing. The guard he targeted had a brief look of shock and then its whole body started trembling. The damage started off slow but picked up power as Jerome got used to the technique. Eventually the whole body flailed and convulsed. The gnoll would have been writhing on the ground but the Hold technique was still in force. As it was the creature’s legs left the ground erratically and then came falling back down without any muscle control. Its face contorted grotesquely. On the whole it looked like a puppet being jerked around.
After a mere ten seconds it flopped to the ground, obviously dead and with smoke rising from its skin.
You have learned the skill Flows.
+1 Connection. You have touched part of what keeps us together, though in a destructive manner.
Flows has reached level 2.
Jerome saw that his MP was reduced by about half as much as the spell description had implied. Perhaps that was due to the fact that in Rikan’s form he had a Flows skill of 11.
“Please,” said the second guard, “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know what we did, but I won’t do it again. I’m too young to respawn. I don’t want to reset. I’ll do anything. I’ll pretend you’re Rikan. I’ll help you do what you want. I’ll kill the humans if you want me to…”
Wrong thing to say, monster.
Jerome sent electricity — because Crystal Overload was clearly fantasy-speak for electricity — through the remaining guard until it died.
He went over and touched one of them, then looked at his transformation list.
Would you like to transform?
* Krystyna (human, level 9, 3 hours left)
* Ninuk (gnoll, level 7, 22 hours left)
Drat. Looked like they had to be alive in order for him to add them to his transformation list.
He was left with two choices: transform into Krystyna for her strength but lose the awesome magic powers and the ability to blend in… or he could spend five minutes cutting through these straps.
What decided it was the sounds of battle from outside. Would the gnolls still be distracted in five minutes? That would be bad if the gnolls won. It might be even worse if the ockdine broke in. Continued chaos was the only way this worked.
He concentrated on transforming into Krystyna and was pleasantly surprised when he found he could do so without viewing the list first. That could be useful in heated battles.
The increased strength made removing the straps difficult but doable, and his changed form seemed to make the girl he was saving less scared.
“Where did you come from?” she asked after he removed the neck strap. “Are you the reason there was pounding on the roof?”
He undid the latch on the chest strap with a burst of effort and thought about how to answer her question. The truth clearly wouldn’t work, at least not yet. ‘Oh hi, I’m the guy who tortured you until it was convenient for me to stop. You sure are lucky the ockdine attacked when they did!’
Instead of answering her question he shared some of his plans. “We’re going to get you free. Then we’re going to get everyone else free, and then we’ll get out of here.”
He pulled off the last strap and she sat up. “We’re going to save my family?”
“Yes.”
The girl heaved a sigh of relief. Then she looked around. “Where is your father?”
“Not here.”
“Your husband?”
Jerome laughed. “Nope.” He hadn’t realized the confusion having a female body might cause.
The woman gasped. “Don’t worry, we will help you find them. Keep your virtue safe until then.”
What the hell was this? Women needed rescuing sometimes, but aside from that they were strong and independent and didn’t need no man.
Then he made the connection: deep tan skin, green eyes, ridiculously backwards views, and a reason for entire families to be sent to New Australia (the brutal unending war with the World Government).
She was Afghan.
On earth he might have hated her for being on the wrong side of history, but in this world humans were humans. They had to help each other.
He put his hand on her back, ostensibly to comfort her but also to steal whatever her unique power was. “Everything will be okay.”
She nodded, then moved gingerly off the bed.
Blood trickled down her leg.
Right, she still had giant gashes in her. It must have taken amazing strength of will to move despite her wounds.
She grimaced but didn’t complain.
Jerome grabbed the giant ring of keys off the guard’s dead body and then proceeded to free the prisoners. They were equal parts confused and grateful. The girl hastily put on clothes and then hugged her family: an older man, another woman a bit younger than her, and a boy of about eight.
“We’re going to freedom,” Jerome said. “Who knows how to fight?”
No one raised their hands except the boy.
Drat. They had all been taken prisoner. And, given the density of gnoll patrols, many of them would have been taken prisoner right after coming here.
He would have to do all the fighting himself.
He laid hands on each one, making an excuse of comforting them. They may not be trained in combat but they would each have a unique skill he could steal once they were out of here.
Time to make their escape.
The front entrance would likely still be guarded. Even if the level 15 gnoll was somewhere else (something Jerome couldn’t count on) they would be dumped straight into the main street where they were sure to be seen.
The back exit it was then.
Jerome placed his hands against the wall (there was not yet a back exit) and activated Recoil Burst.