The shorter alchemist leads the way through the forest, fidgeting with the pouch of literal toxins that she’s holding. By her side, a few more pouches wait, held in a sling that the Valkyrie slapped together before they left. For all intents and purposes, the chemist would be able to be quite a threat to any unprepared attacker.
This is why she’s rather miffed about the heavily armored spearwoman still shadowing her. “Do you really have to be so tense?”
And in return, she only receives a look like she’s being an idiot. How infuriating. “You’re unarmored and barely armed. One attack from behind could leave you dead.”
Okay, maybe she has a point. That doesn’t change the fact that it pisses Lavender off, though. If it weren’t a life-or-death situation, she might have thrown the pouch in her hand right at the uptight warrior’s face.
…Like any self-respecting, perfectly qualified scientist would do. The thought crosses her mind briefly that she is quite literally in lawless lands, but the spear on Kara’s back, the times that she’s saved Lavender’s ass, and most importantly the fact that she has to rely on the Valkyrie are sufficient deterrent. And also the fact that the chemist doesn’t exactly dislike her anyway.
Lavender is consequently cut out of her battles against poison-related intrusive thoughts by almost tripping over a tree root. She looks up to find her bearings, but…
She’s in a clearing she hasn’t seen before.
Alone.
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Kara stares at a wall of fog that just emerged between her and the chemist. Damn it! She should have considered that there would be something in this forest capable of using magic. She experimentally prods the wall with her spear. Maybe, if she can figure out how it works, she can get through…
But, oddly enough, her spear isn’t stopped. Not immediately, at least. It only meets increasing resistance as it pushes through the fog, until she has to pull it out.
“No physical force… Magic is needed to break through, then. I’ll need some time.” She concludes the barrier’s nature, and starts to call upon a power that is both familiar and not.
Hopefully, she makes it in time.
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Unaware of her guardian’s attempts to reach through, the chemist only steps into the clearing, glancing around.
And that’s when she hears it. The crinkling of something, or someone stepping on leaves. She turns around curiously to look, but all she sees is…
A human? A disheveled man, dressed in ruined rags. Or at least, that’s what it looks like at first. Its ‘face’ is obfuscated by fog, and misty claws sit on its hands rather than fingers. More beast than human.
But most of all, this entity gives off one distinct feeling.
Something about it feels Twisted.
That is the only word that comes to mind.
And now, the Twisted once-human takes another step forward, seemingly slouching down as its hands reach behind it-
Lavender moves to the side out of instinct, claws ripping open a red line on the side of her face. Had she not moved, that could have been her head.
Syncing Knowledge with System...
Skill Obtained!
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Footwork
Level 4
Assists in short-distance movement.
She takes hurried steps away from the beast, and it too moves back for another rushing attack… but she has different plans, reeling her hand back, still holding the pouch of hazardous powder.
To some, the Twisted’s human-like appearance would put them off from attacking.
Unfortunately for it, Lavender is not one of those people. The pouch of toxic powder hits it in the face bursting open, and it pauses its attack to swipe it out of its face.
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Skill Obtained!
Throwing
Level 11
Assists in throwing objects.
“Now’s not a good time!” The chemist yells at the popup in front of her.
The damage has already been done, however. While its face is not visible, it still must breathe, and it doesn’t recognize the powdered mix of substances as harmful, reeling back for another attack while the poisons begin to set in.
The chemist is more careful this time. She stands by a tree, waiting for its attack, and-
She ducks out of the way the moment it begins moving, taking a pouch off from her side. She hopes that its claws will get stuck on the tree’s bark, but it goes cleanly through with no issues. That’s not her, at least. She shoves the pouch into its face, holding her own breath. The powder spreads out as expected, but she has to pull away when it takes a swipe at her outstretched hand, hurriedly moving away.
And now… she smirks. At this rate, the Twisted will just wear itself out trying to hit her. Things are going well.
But something about the Twisted… changes. A light mist begins to from behind it as it moves…
For it’s done playing with its prey.
Lavender sidesteps a sudden swipe with no warning, only for another to catch her in the side. The flurry of fog and claws doesn’t stop, and she has to decide fast. As she takes another gash to her side, she tries to mentally prompt the system for something.
HP: 142/ 175
It’s not too bad yet. But if things keep going this way, things could get bad.
The Twisted steps forward again with another deadly swipe, but…
It oversteps. It stumbles. It’s slowing down, and it’s not capable of keeping up with what it wants to do anymore.
And Lavender takes advantage of this.
Namely, she decks it across the face.
Syncing Knowledge with System...
Skill Obtained!
Pugilism
Level 14
Assists in unarmed combat.
…And something cracks, but it’s not her target. The resistance from just punching the beast was enough to completely stop her hand, and it did nothing. It only swipes at her again, nearly disemboweling her, going by the red line across her stomach.
But the fog-covered Twisted gives no time to think, lunging forward again. She stumbles backwards, almost falling over to avoid near-instant death, but…
On closer observation, isn’t it getting slower?
The Twisted’s movements are winded, desperate. The toxins it’s inhaled are still doing their job, and the creature has yet to adapt to it.
The Twisted backs away, but Lavender isn’t letting this chance go.
She tackles it. While before it would have killed her in an instant, now… It topples backwards from the weight, as she grasps at its throat, with no purpose but to extinguish what’s left of its life.
The cornered beast only continues to slash at everything it can: The chemist’s back, mainly, from this position. The adrenaline rushing through Lavender’s veins is far too much to even notice the would-be pain of sharp claws ripping through flesh and sinew, and almost breaking apart bone in their paths.
But its frantic attacking starts to slow down. It’s just a matter of if Lavender can keep this up for longer than the wounded beast can, and…
A claw reaches for her throat, in the dying beast’s last moment of clarity.
But before it can rip it open…
The beast gives one last shudder, the fog around its face fading as its life comes to an end.
The Twisted of Desperate Mists has perished.
And for Lavender, shadows start to close in from the edges of her vision…
Until nothing remains.
HP: 6/ 175