Его не звали, но он приперся / They never called, yet he is here: Глава 28

Chapter 28

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 12:29

I wish I could say that after I learned how to deceive my opponent's precognition, things got fucked up and I literally kicked her while cosplaying Syutkin all the while. Alas, such a statement is not just an exaggeration, but a huge pile of lying crap. Simply because even my sudden leap in development was stupidly insufficient to confidently suppress my opponent. I mean, she finally stopped kicking me like a yard dog, but nothing more.
T.N.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 14:32

She was still monstrously fast, incredibly strong, and nearly invulnerable to my shadows. And I'm not even mentioning the properties of the various seals on her body, because she didn't demonstrate all that she could. My clairvoyance, which worked to the bone, made me realize a simple truth. Her most ultimatum abilities were either very long cooldown, or they wore out her mutated body mercilessly, or they were simply disposable. And for some reason, she doesn't want to waste them on me.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 14:38

I attacked incessantly, using only the shadow steps and my trusty daggers in shadow - anything else was useless. Theoretically, I could have thrown a potion at her, but I didn't have time to do it. To let up even for a second would mean losing the initiative, and I wasn't about to test another of her cleverly twisted "tattoo" attacks on myself.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 14:55

There was no good time for me to trick the cultist's instincts again. She was a real pro, unlike the experienced dilettante as me - she instantly realized that I had managed to deceive her and just stopped using foresight, using only the most reliable basic intuition and her native combat skills. I could already confidently contain such an enemy, and even try to attack, but I still could not confidently break through her defenses.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 14:59

A continuous succession of steps made me dizzy, but there was no pain, nor was there the approaching despair of imminent defeat. It was as if a second breath had opened, and then a third. We almost immediately disappeared from view, heading back to the ill-fated warehouse. I didn't want to shine my skills on the public, and she seemed to be trying to keep me away from any possible backup. That help, however, was no threat to my person, for the elite of adventurers who could participate in my fight had been beaten out by the maiden herself, and the others were too busy massacring cultists to interfere in our duel.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:04

So there's only hope for yourself.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:05

As always, though.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:08

As always.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:08

The battle with the use of clairvoyance is reminiscent of... It's not reminiscent of anything, to be honest! It's not a game of chess or trying to see your opponent's actions before he sees yours. You can't describe it at all like you can't describe a color palette to a blind person. It was as if I was trying to hear, to understand, to accept the truth that would have to become reality a second later. Which was a reality that had already happened, even if it was only moments before it happened.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:09

To find out the truth, and then to implement it with the necessary movement. No pictures in front of my eyes, just pure intention and understanding of what is happening. That must have been how the famous enlightened sages felt. If my opponent had been an ordinary man, even a very fast and strong one, she would have died before the battle had even begun, but the universe had screwed me up pretty badly by choosing an opponent to match that of a humble Hero.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:12

She was really a true master, impossible to defeat even with the superiority given by the gradual dueling of clairvoyants and the constant use of steps. From the outside, it must have seemed as if she were fighting several creatures at once, appearing in reality only for a fraction of a second, so fast was my dislocation.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:18

Now I could really see her movements, even if it was subtle and fuzzy, but I could damn well see them! And still, I couldn't get her! As powerful as she was offensive, she made me look like a child when she was on the defensive. All I could get was a few quick healed cuts on her skinless body, which couldn't give me an advantage in combat. She was getting tired, too, and she had her limits, but there was no way I could see them.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:19

Our fight was not the "beautiful dance" described in legends and songs; it was devoid of grace and beauty. We were both two killing machines, trying to find each other's weaknesses and exploit them as much as possible. Was it beautiful in its own way? I have no idea. I didn't care for it.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:22

One of the advantages of my suppressing her clairvoyance by making her ability to foresee, figuratively speaking, "go on the defensive," was that she was too focused on me. I even understand her, to be honest. She needed to track my attacks on all planes, to constantly expect a shadow or potion strike, to keep a building plan in mind in hopes of catching me in the sphere of a paralyzing skill, to continually renew her pins with which she blocked the shadow-filled steel... Amid these tasks, the seemingly non-threatening mage she had broken my spine and thrown under the vault of this building just fell out of sight. And how much could he do in such a state?

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:26

As it turned out, quite a lot. The man wisely decided that paralyzed from the waist down, he posed no threat to the mutant, so he simply crawled to the farthest corner, where he watched us fight. He was able to see very little, for all his magical power was not very conducive to physical might, and then there was the total darkness and the distracting factor of the slaughter that was going on behind the walls. But he chose the moment to attack, even though he was aware of the possibility that he might fry me, too.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:34

It was either his nervousness or his assumption that I could deflect, since I could teleport so deftly, but he put probably everything a mage of his level and class had in his desperate blow. I have a nasty relationship with electricity. They're always trying to kill me with it, or at least cripple me!

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:36

The hit was good!

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:31

The twisting lightning was like a real pole, literally vaporizing the matter in its path. Lucky for me, my opponent, through my efforts, had almost lost her foresight, and its remnants were concentrated on me alone. I, of course, also weakened my tracking of the surrounding territory, fixating completely on the skinless abomination. Except that it's hard to miss the gradually (you can't prepare such a blow instantly) growing threat and the clear understanding that in a few seconds I would be left with nothing but greasy ash.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:40

I did a really nice job of not only reacting and shadowing myself vertically upward to the ceiling but also framing the cultist, forcing her to be exactly in front of the spell that was coming at her. Even so, the unbearably bright lightning was quite painful to the shadow form, and I had to put a lot of effort into my stepping technique to keep myself from being thrown back to reality out of the Shadow's wake.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:40

However, I was willing to forgive the man his blunder, just to see the damn bitch fried to a crisp... ...if it had been fried! Remember when I complained about the ineffectiveness of the shadows against her defense? Forget what I said! The shadows were amazingly effective, just a hundred and thirty-five percent effective! Whereas the shadow techniques she ripped through with almost no effort, the lightning, even as dangerous and powerful as it was, the bitch simply ignored it.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:44

No, she turned sideways and covered her head with her hands, minimizing the impact area, but it was probably a simple reflex of an experienced fighter. The flow of magic bypassed her disfigured body as if the electrical discharges were unable to touch the vile symbols. She took some damage, but not enough to even slow her down, let alone hurt her.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:47

Almost immediately, the cultist threw a trio of pins at the shocked, unharmed mage who was staring at her. Before I could even think about trying to save the loser, the bearded man I'd forgotten about intervened. Apparently, the minute and a half that had passed since the start of the second round (and it seemed like an eternity and a half!) were enough for him to clear his mind of the enemy's charms, orient himself on his surroundings, and even choose where to apply his considerable strength.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:49

And the way turned out to be a delight: all three pins were knocked aside by a huge wooden cartwheel thrown at the most opportune moment... with a huge wooden cartwheel. Either he was a genius, or he was fucking nuts, but it worked. And it worked for me, too, because the short amount of time she'd had to shift her focus from the unkilled mage to the unkilled arm-wielding monk was enough for me to prepare my attack.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 15:52

I stepped out of the Shadow and managed not to touch a single strand of her web of probability, striking the hardest blow I could, literally driving daggers as black as the night itself into her body... not in, fuck! She didn't have time to react and put a block in, but as it proved, she had no internal organs under the protective tattoos and layer of muscle. Instead, there were pins like the ones she'd been fighting with. A body made of fucking blades! Is that even legal?

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:00

I barely managed to get away from the snake-turned creature when it tried to use the inertia of its failed attack against me. And then I activated the second layer of my attack, unleashing the eager shadows on it. This time, for a change, the result was even as microscopic as the tax collector's conscience.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:03

No, outwardly it was cool - the shadow cloth that covered the mutant seemed quite capable of slowing her down and wounding her, if not killing her. And then there was a flash of her nasty, empty magic, and all the shadows on her just vanished. I could see the oozing black marks on her body and the two rapidly healing wounds from my daggers.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:06

Ooops...

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:07

I was expecting another round when the creature used my favorite karate move - it's not for nothing that she's such a badass hand-to-hand fighter - strangely blinking and disappearing from view. Suddenly, my clairvoyance, which had come into full activity, told me that she had teleported very far away. I wouldn't count her as defeated, though.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:12

I must have exhausted her enough for her to think I was too much of a distraction. To be honest, I don't even want to know what our fight distracted her from. Because I am clearly convinced that she will be back for a rematch. And before this whole carnival of meat and guts is over.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:13

"Gone." The bearded man, who must have a patent for the rank of captain, sounded in the background. "She's definitely gone."

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:15

Even if I didn't turn around to face him, he might see my masked face and try to kill me. I am tormented by the eternal question, the one of "what to do?" because there is no need to doubt who is to blame. I am also infuriated and disturbed by the lack of understanding of the situation. The point is that this attack by the cultists is doomed to fail from the start. Yes, they can stage a massacre extravaganza, bleeding the streets and catastrophically reducing the number of guards and adventurers, but that will not give them victory. The guards and new ones will be hired, the adventurers will never be outnumbered, but the number of cultists is limited. If they don't have a dozen ladies like the one I just fought, they won't win. Humans are easy to win over.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:25

A question then.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:26

What the fucking sense of this actions?

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:26

I don't believe that the creature in charge wanted anything more than to walk away beautifully. I don't believe it! Perhaps they want to perform some kind of amplifying ritual, or something that can distort all the inhabitants of the city together? That's more believable, it even seems logical to bet on zero when death is breathing down your neck. For lack of a better guess, let's assume this evil thing is going to do something like that.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:28

Now let's think about where exactly the ritual for which we started this massacre will take place. I am not a ritualist, not even a member of that class, but it's hard not to note the presence of specialists among the cultists in this very direction. Conclusion? This massacre is one part of the ritual. Blood, death, torture, and lots and lots of black slop will have to yield some result.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:30

But which one and, most importantly, where exactly?

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:32

There has to be a point of concentration, a place where all the power can be applied, otherwise, this situation makes no sense at all. It would have been easier to try to get out of the city than to stage a useless banzai attack here. I need to find that point of application, and preferably to thwart the creature's plans. I don't care about heroism, of course, but since I've started my own personal war with the cult, I should bring it to a logical conclusion, not just snap the mouth.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:33

"I don't know whose side you're on, but on behalf of the guild, I offer you a full contract of gold rank with double payment for your help in the current battle.' At last, the monk gave birth to his offer. "Your word?"

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:37

Although, no, not "At last," because only a few seconds had passed. It's just my clairvoyant consciousness that's caused me to misread the time. And I'm not even going to think about the contract - I'm not going to go to the guild to collect my fee anyway. Or I'd rob the guild of the same amount they'd owe me if anything.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:38

"This massacre is not pointless." Keeping with the image, I add a bit of power into my voice, almost shuddering at my own words. "The blood, the pain, the hatred... They need them for something."

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:46

The cold rustle of a thousand voices goes all the way to my heart. The man is tense! Like a wire is strung, ready to defend his life against another creature in my face. It seems to me, just a little bit, that I have just convinced him that I am not human myself by trying to "keep the image of a mysterious stranger".On the one hand, it is even good, because an ordinary alchemist will not be searched for guaranteed. But for some reason, I don't know why these arguments remind me of empty excuses. It's as if I screwed up, and now I'm trying to justify my idiocy with some cunning plan.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:56

But it can't be, right?

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:57

Right?

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:57

My interlocutor got to me very quickly. A professional, I could tell! But I had never heard some turns of phrase in his speech, though I considered myself a good connoisseur of non-literary vocabulary. I did not wait for the end of the tirade, though.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 16:59

So far I still don't know where the center of the ritual is, but I do know that there's a huge amount of free experience running right outside the wall. And also a lot of people who could have been saved from a terrible fate. Well, you get the idea, right? There's nothing cooler than racking up experience while everyone around you thinks you're doing it from the bottom of your heart and are willing to pay you extra. I don't think anyone's going to pay me, but I've got enough extra levels to go around.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 17:03

I stepped out of the step, right in front of another twisted boogeyman with a throwing ax sticking out of his back. I don't know what happened to whoever threw it. But the big guy was pushing the three guards around just like that. And originally there seemed to be a dozen of them: the cultists very successfully attacked from the back and flanks, depriving the guards of their main advantage - a strong wall of shields and a forest of spears with halberds, which could stop (or at least slow down) even the most over-leveled creatures.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 17:08

Smart, bitches.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 17:08

The guards saw only the glimpse of my mask, and that was doubtful, for they were too focused on surviving and retaining an even number of limbs. The changeling saw nothing at all - I pulled the ax sharply from his body, infused it with shadow, chopped off his supporting leg while he was pacing, and then plunged the blade of my dagger into the back of his head. He had no neck, by the way, and his head grew straight from his shoulders.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 17:10

I did not wait for the reaction of the guards and stepped back into the shadows, hurrying to honor the memory of an old acquaintance. The fat teenage boy, with a great emptiness in his soul and torso, had already let loose a swarm of his birds, which, however, were successfully burned by a wave of fire launched by some mage. She had nice tits, but her face was not. Maybe she's pretty, too, but I'd have to find her head first to be sure.

Camrad_RIP 17.01.22 в 17:24