Just before Jie reached him, long blades of the same pitch black qi extended from his feet like stilts and he jumped with the motion, leaping backward with an impossibly quick, high jump as he flipped in the air, slicing at Jie with his leg blades.
Jie sidestepped the leg blades and dived out of the way of another trio of homing runic spheres that exploded near her. The shockwave washed over her as she rolled over the floor and sprang back to her feet. The shadow blade mummy threw his swords at her, and she ducked under them.
Both blades impacted the floor with wet, sticky thuds as the tar-like shadow oozed out over the surface of the floor like sludge and long cables of shadow connected the blades to the shadow mummy's hands. He yanked himself toward Jie with the cables as though his swords were grappling hooks. He spun his body as he did so, whirling at Jie with his leg blades as his grappling blades came free and retracted from behind Jie.
Jie evaded the myriad of blades as best she could. One of his leg blades sliced down at her neck and Jie parried it with a dragonfist, blasting it away from her. Yet, he pirouetted with the motion and whirled like a ballet dancer, using the force of her defense to increase the speed of his rotating attack.
He sliced at her again, a whirling dance of death as Jie slipped between his attacks and parried those she couldn't avoid. Then, he was beyond her and threw another sword away from her. He pulled on the cord of shadow and zipped away from her, exposing her to attack from the rune caster and the skeletal snakes.
Once again, Jie dived out of the way of a trio of homing runic spheres that detonated behind her, then used a lightning step platform to boost out of the way of a skeletal snake's snapping jaws. While she was still flying through the air, unable to evade anything, the second snake lunged at her, its long fangs barred as it struck.
Jie caught its jaws with her hands, holding them away from her as its momentum slammed into her. It hissed, struggled, and writhed, desperately trying to bite her, its gaping maw filled with a roiling green inferno.
Jie reinforced her muscles with qi as the snake drove her back down to the floor with its bulk. Her feet slid backward over the smooth surface as it continued slithering toward her, its jaws straining to close down upon her, its fangs draining her qi armor where she gripped its upper and lower jaws.
Driven by some primal instinct, Jie roared in defiance as she pulled open its jaws with all her strength. The skeletal snake's jaws dislocated, opening incredibly wide as only a snake could... but Jie kept pulling with all her might, forcing them wider still...
Bones snapped and the green fire animating it ripped like flesh as Jie tore the snake in half. The skeletal snake screeched but its cries cut off abruptly as she wrenched it apart. It stopped struggling, its jaws turning to dead weight in her hands as the green flames flickered and died. Jie let its jaws slip from her grip and crash to the floor as she stumbled, panting hard. Her meridians throbbed and her muscles felt like lead.
But her enemies did not relent. The shadow mummy hurled his blades at her and she sidestepped. The long, dark blades passed close enough to her for the breeze of their passing to wash over her and they thudded into the large metal pipe behind her. The blades penetrated the surface of the metal, and he yanked himself toward her, his blade legs skating over the floor as though it were made of ice.
Jie raised her hands, still panting hard as sweat dripped from her chin. She was nearly out of qi but there was no way out except through her enemies.
The shadow mummy sliced at her as he skated past her. She jumped back, narrowly evading the blows and cursing her slowness as she struggled to cycle lightning step to the degree she had previously. She was running on fumes now.
The shadow mummy's leg blades retracted an instant before he landed feet first on the vertical pipe. He then sprang back off as his leg blades extended, pushing him off the pipe and toward Jie with an increased boost of speed.
He twisted in the air, his blades moving in great sweeping slashes that were damn near impossible to avoid. The remaining skeletal snake barreled down on her too, its jaws open wide as the rune caster mummy created another trio of black spheres in the air, each with a purple rune in the center that vibrated with barely contained power.
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Jie leaped backward and the shadow mummy threw one of his blades at her. She boosted off a weak lightning step platform, doing everything she could to conserve energy and moving just enough to evade the blade. It whipped past her and thudded stickily into the floor as the shadow mummy yanked himself toward her.
Jie grabbed the shadowy cable as she reinforced her muscles with qi. The cable burned against her qi armor and oozed between her fingers as she spun in the air, hurling him like a flail into the approaching skeletal snake and smashing him into it like a wrecking ball.
His bladed legs stabbed through the side of the snake's skull, eliciting an agonized, shrieking roar from the skeletal snake. The tar-like leg blades caught on the undead beast's skull and wrenched it in line with the shadow blade mummy's momentum as the snake thrashed in wild, panicked death throes. Green fire gushed from the snake's wound as the shadow blade mummy struggled and failed to free himself before the pair crashed to the purple, glowing, transparent floor in a tangled heap.
The homing runic spheres hurtled toward Jie and she stepped toward the tangled mess of the shadow blade mummy and the skeletal snake as they approached. The spheres of dark energy took the most direct path to Jie, causing them to explode against the back of the tangled mess in front of her in a shower of black and purple qi, bones and green fire. What remained of the skeletal snake rained down around Jie as the shadow blade mummy lay prone upon the floor in front of her.
Jie stalked toward the shadow mummy as he struggled up on his hands and knees. She withdrew her two blood swords from her storage ring, as she no longer had the energy to expend on attacks, and sliced at his head with both swords.
The red crystal blades bit deep into his tar-like armor and caught partway through his skull, sticking in place. She tried to shake him off but his tar-like armor adhered to her blades, keeping them held fast even as it started to melt, exposing the mummy underneath as the green fire animating him flickered out.
Frustrated, Jie kicked him in the chest as she wrenched her blades free, sending his body flying back. He landed with a dull thud among the ruined bones of the snake. His armor oozed away and wisps of fire curled from his mouth like a final gasp before death pulled him into its embrace once more.
Some small portion of his shadow qi and the green fire animating him flowed through the crystalline blades and into Jie and she refined it as best she could, though it felt wrong somehow. Perhaps due to him being undead.
She staggered forward, barely able to stand as she glared at the final mummy across the room, the whirring, clanking gears echoed around the room as Jie panted heavily. The energy her swords had collected was too small to replenish Jie much at all and she stopped feeding energy to her qi armor as she could no longer afford to do so. It didn't immediately fade but its small energy requirement was too much for her to handle right now.
The rune mummy raised his hand and summoned more dark spheres containing glowing purple runes above it as his green fiery eyes glared at her. Jie stepped behind the large metal pipe nearest her and leaned with her back against it. The pipe was thicker than the average pillar and she hoped that if she was out of his line of sight, he'd struggle to hit her as she panted heavily and tried to cultivate and replenish her energy.
She stopped cycling lightning step too and the clanking whir of the gears sped up around her as she did so. It was a risky move, she knew. But she had so little energy that just closing the gap between her and the mummy would be nearly impossible and who knew what other tricks he had at his disposal? It seemed better to play for time and recover her energy and removing the drain from lightning step would help with that. Still, her lower speed made her vulnerable now...
"You've ssslaaain the others. But I sense your aura... you have nothing left. The statues will return them to un-life and you will stand with us. Forced to guard this ruined place for eternity," said the rune caster mummy with his hollow, rasping voice.
She felt fluctuations in his aura behind her, but no attacks came hurtling down. Instead, whatever he was doing built up in the air behind her.
She dared not come out from behind cover as she didn't believe she had enough energy for a finger of light or to close the gap. Well, at least my cultivation has finally settled. She thought and laughed darkly.
"What's so funny?" asked the mummy. His voice was apprehensive.
It made Jie laugh even harder until her laughter started turning uncontrollable and manic.
The mummy hissed and she felt him backing away.
Then, Jie heard the locks in the door click and slide as it unlocked. Instantly, her laughter died as cold fear burned its way up her spine.
No! What are you doing!? Why would you come back!? Jie thought.
Yet, even as she cried out in her heart, she knew the reason. They'd heard the fighting stop. Perhaps even heard her laughter. They likely thought the fight was over one way or another and were coming to help her. Or at least to free her from the chamber. If only they'd waited long enough for her to get her energy back and truly finish the fight... but they couldn't have known.
Jie stepped out from around the metal pipe just as the door began to open, exposing Pan Tian, Ithilix, and Xue as easy targets for the rune caster mummy. He smiled darkly and turned his gaze to them.
The air around him was a wall of thirty three runic spheres. Each of which contained enough power to kill her friends and no doubt the cause of the aura fluctuations she'd sensed a moment ago.
Pan Tian, Ithilix, and Xue's eyes widened as they stared at the wall of purple-black runic orbs and the mummy. But their cultivation was too low and there was no way they'd be able to react in time.