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The Twisted Path of Fate
8. Daring Escape

8. Daring Escape

Dave took a few steps over to the doorway, positioning himself between the others and the Nodefoxes that would be emerging. Bixby stood slightly behind him.

Adrenaline pumped through him again, he still had the smell of charred fur in his nose and he knew he would soon get more of it. Strangely he wasn’t scared. He knew he stood between those beasts and his friends. So he took a deep breath as four Nodefoxes stepped warily through the door.

They quickly scanned the room, their eyes drifting over Dave's friends, who were already halfway through the hall, before fixating on Dave and Bixby. Dave wanted to Minor Spark one of them, but they were still too far out for him to do enough damage. And he didn’t want to end on cooldown again without having taken one out.

They started spreading out, two of them slowly started circling around. Dave couldn’t rush them but he also couldn’t let one get behind him. His mind was racing.

Dave calmed his mind and steadied his hand. He watched one of the Nodefoxes out of the corner of his eye. It was almost behind his shoulder line. One was doing the same on Bixby's side while the others still stood in front of them hissing. They were wary because they had already seen one of his victims..

But they weren’t wary enough, the one that was circling Dave also got a little closer, so Dave decided to risk it. He had to or else he would’ve been flanked soon.

Dave lunged out at the squirrel to his right, shortening the distance to only a few meters and fired Minor Spark at him. The electric charge surprised the squirrel and hit it right in the chest. By shooting it so far, Spark had lost a lot of its power though and the Nodefox seemed dazed but unhurt, still it was still on its feet.

However Dave expected this from his last fight and immediately rushed at the Nodefox. He quickly crossed the distance. The Nodefox still stood there a bit disoriented not having recovered from the previous attack as Dave’s spear pierced its chest. Dave knew he had hit something major as the Nodefox immediately went down.

A quick surge of power went through Dave. He couldn’t quite describe the feeling but it was like he had just broadened his horizon. Something clicked in his mind. A message window appeared in front of him but it instantly closed by itself this time as Dave turned around to see another Nodefox jumping at him.

At first he felt like he would be too late to react, the Nodefox was already in the air sailing toward him, its claws looked like they were made out of metal, surely some skill. Dave was still half turned away with his spear stuck in his previous opponent's chest, eyes wide in fear.

But somehow instincts he never knew about took over. Dave sidestepped, pivoting on his back foot, cleanly pulling his spear free and letting Nodefox sail past him by inches. All in one fluid movement. The Nodefox looked as shocked as he was but Dave didn’t give it a second to contemplate.

Dave immediately pressured it with spear thrusts, mixing wide lunges with faints, always staying out of reach. The Nodefox was barely able to dodge them despite its nimble nature and was constantly one the back foot.

He drew blood with a few shallow cuts but the Nodefox held strong. Then it suddenly surged forward, seeming to have seen an opening. It dived below one of Dave’s attacks and went for his still wounded leg. But Dave saw this coming and turned around, flicked his spear around and hit the Nodefox in the head with the butt of his spear in a spinning attack.

A crunching noise was heard and the Nodefox fell to the ground. In one smooth motion Dave turned back and raised the spear and thrusted down, ending the Nodefoxes life.

Daves heart was racing, as was his mind. What had just happened? When had he learned to move like that? He felt like a ninja.

But he had no time to think about it further as he saw Bixby in a close fight with one of the Nodefoxes while the other looked like it was casting something, moving his hands in strange patterns and being surrounded by greenish mist.

Dave saw no Spells coming from the caster. A look back at the fighting Nodefox showed it was surrounded by a faint green aura as well. Maybe the Nodefox in the back was some sort of buffer. Bixby had already collected a few nasty wounds and Dave had to intervene quickly.

He did what video games taught him and rushed toward the casting Nodefox. Always take out the support first.

It was still at least 20 meters away and noticed him running towards it. It swiped one of its paws through the air and Dave suddenly stumbled and fell down. Looking to his feet he saw roots had grown out of the floor and entangled him. He tried to get free but they were tied tightly around his ankles. Little thorns piercing his flesh.

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Dave heard a sound of something hitting metal and looked over to Bixby's fight. He saw the buffed Nodefox pounding against a almost a meter tall giant acorn. What was that? Is that some sort of skill from Bixby?

The Nodefox seemed to get angrier and hammered and hammered onto the shell. It looked sturdy but Dave didn’t know how long it would hold. He had to move quickly, he cut loose as much of the roots as he could with the tip of his spear, not the best weapon for cutting he noticed. He tried pushing to his feet, but he still couldn’t get up, the few roots left still held strong.

The caster hadn’t spared him another glance, apparently believing him out of the fight for now. Instead it seemed to double its focus on boosting its companion. Whose green aura began increasing and its punches against the acorn now left tiny hair cracks.

Panicking, Dave cut down all the roots tying his left leg and put his hand close to the biggest one still holding his right leg. Dave concentrated Spark into his palm and touched the stem. With a sizzling sound he burned the root. It wasn’t as big an impact as he wished for but he was now able to tear the rest off with force as he was getting up.

His right foot was still holding him to the spot but at least now he could stand. The cracks in Bixby’s defensive acorn grow every punch. The other Nodefox pounding on it relentlessly. It looked to be only a matter of seconds and he knew he couldn’t reach him in time, an idea formed in his mind.

So he again chose to rely on his instincts. Dave hefted his spear in his right hand and took aim. He took a step forward and flung his weapon with the weight of his whole body behind it. He had never thrown a spear before, only in sports video games, and even then not particularly well.

The spear soared through the air and towards the Nodefox. It looked up towards the incoming projectile, making a noise of surprise that turned into an audible wet gurgling as the spear impaled it.

Daves weapon went straight through its body, embedding itself in the floor behind it. Dave was impressed by his throw, it wasn’t just forceful, it was accurate, way exceeding his expectations. Especially against such a small target.

The dead Nodefox slowly slid down the spear, inch by inch, seemingly in slow motion, until its body sagged on the floor, the spear towering out of its stomach like a flag, fully smeared in blood.

But now he had a problem. His weapon was gone. The last Nodefox stopped watching his lifeless brethren and slowly turned towards Dave. No green glow surrounded it anymore but it looked extra pissed now. With a series of hissing sounds it slowly moved towards Dave, the acorn in front of it forgotten.

“Oh shit” he thought.

Dave knew he couldn’t make it to his spear in time and Spark was still on cooldown. He tried to urge the spear into his hand again but he only saw it vanishing in the corner of his vision. Then he got the same feeling he had when he tried using Minor Spark before. Cooldown.

“Oh shit” he thought again, even more panicked now.

The Nodefox was coming closer and even though it wasn’t buffed anymore and didn’t seem to have any obvious physical skills, it was still a frenzied beast and Dave didn’t want to face it barehanded.

The Nodefox, seemingly convinced Dave didn’t hold any more tricks in his sleeve, made a series of angry screeches as it started storming towards him.

He thought about running but there was no way he could escape it. So he saw only one option.

Dave also charged at the Nodefox. “Ohh shiiiit” he scremed.

The Nodefox seemed surprised to see him embracing the fight but that surprise quickly turned into a grim smirk as it jumped at him. Dave knew before that he wouldn’t be able to use his uncanny fight skills he had shown with the spear before. He just didn’t feel those instincts in him right now.

So he chose to make use of his size advantage. The Nodefox sailed through the air towards him. Dave braced himself and just as the thing landed on his chest he let himself fall down with it, slightly turning in an attempt to squeeze it between himself and the floor.

He felt its claws piercing into his shoulder and Dave had to stifle a cry of pain, he however managed to land on top of it. Dave tried to make himself as heavy as possible but the Nodefox didn’t seem to mind as it bit deep into Dave’s shoulder. It’s claws wreaking havoc on his chest and stomach.

But Dave didn’t care, he only tried to protect his head and not give the Nodefox enough space to generate real power with its attacks. As it were, most of its clawing was surface level. Dave was lucky it didn’t seem to have any other physical skills. Still it opened gash after gash and Dave cried out in pain.

He tried to control the beast with his hands a little but the Nodefox bit down deep into Dave’s left arm. He felt its teeth putting pressure onto his muscles and he thought he could feel scraping on this bone. It was agony.

But he held on, rather giving up his arm than his vital organs. He knew he just had to hold on for a bit longer.

He saw black spots appearing in his vision and his voice no longer seemed to come out of his mouth. Or maybe he just already felt dissociated from it. He had lost a lot of blood by now and just as he was about to fade out, he noticed the familiar feeling of being able to put energy into Spark again. He channeled as much of the energy as he could into his hand, fighting to keep concentration against the ocean of pain overwhelming his nervous system. When he couldn’t hold it any longer, he pushed his hand against the side of the Nodefoxes head underneath him.

A short sizzling was heard and Dave could feel the beast spasming under him as it finally released its jaws from his arm. After a second or two the movement underneath him suddenly stopped and the Nodefox went limp.

Dave followed just a second later as blackness overtook his vision.