Настучать в бубен / Hit the tambourine: Глава 12-3

Back on earth, Stepan, who had not yet emerged from adolescence, read somewhere a study, a theory, or a fiction posted on the Internet that originally bears were called in a completely different way, in Slavic and Germanic-Romanic languages. But the name of a cute bear so afraid to call, with superstitious horror fearing to attract this name of the evil beast, which attributed to the most different and extremely terrible mystical properties, that they began to speak allegorically, as if it was "medved", "ursus" or "bear", from which over time it is allegorical name and became permanent. At that time, the guy missed this information by his ears. He had enough other tasks and things to do than to check every story on the Internet. But now, for some reason, it came to mind.

Camrad_RIP 24.06.24 в 20:18

The creature was fearsome in too many ways. It embodied the very essence of unprecedented animal cruelty and mercilessness to prey, inevitability and fear, the fear that every living and not-so-living creature feels when encountering an ultimatum predator for whom everything encountered and all encountered is prey. Wild power, curbed in the shackles of spiritual flesh, in the dark haze covering the image of a killer bear-ogre. Strength, speed, the ability to stalk prey anywhere without losing track of it, but also monstrous armor and resistance to both the abilities of spirits and classical magic, the ability to kill in both the higher realms and the real world. He would have tried to call it if such a thing had been a little bit communicative, instead of seeing everything around him as munching, not munching yet, soon munching, and too strong munching for now.

Camrad_RIP 24.06.24 в 20:29

Against this one, it will be necessary to throw one of the elite summons to the deliberate devouring, just in the hope of at least delaying the ass while the young man will deal with the rest of the armada and then concentrate on the Bear-from-Hell. Oh, and against the Mustache he'd need to throw in some serious fighters, not to mention the Fish and the Skinny Sucker... He hoped his elite summons would be enough, those with contracts that allowed them to be summoned to fight other spirits, not mortals. Stepan would have panicked a long time ago, but he was already constantly spraying this panic in all directions since the moment of his return, rejoicing to himself that he was used to meeting panic with frantic actions, not stupor, thirst for escape, or reflexive attack. There was nowhere to run to, and trying to strike could only end everything faster, but no less painful.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 06:51

The spirits pressed together, pushing through the second of the barriers. Stepan did not even hold on to it. The totems and the bed with his body were covered by the third most powerful barrier. It would be better to channel his strength and nourishment into the spirits being summoned and incarnated. He had accumulated a lot of summons, mostly not easy ones, with exotic and unusual abilities, but mostly still weak. It appeared that his weak and medium strength summons could easily tear apart even a noticeably large crowd of similarly inferior entities, but there were not enough elite fighters to match the elite scum that had come after him, ready to fight on such terms.... they were in short supply. He could only hope that he would be able to hold out until the ordinary summoners had dealt with the ordinary meat, and then the rest would be kicked together.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:33

A lizard-like warrior, armed with two yatagans, rose near one of the totems, covered in a plume of smoke and smoke. He smelled of blood, war, fires, smoke, and victory. A one-time contract, but the spirit had accepted the terms of the deal, having already chosen his opponent and received Stepan's confirmation. The smoky veil surrounding him was no darkness but concealed no worse. Its smoke served as both weapon and armor, and the two blades were only slightly inferior to the nose of a swordfish, if you counted them together, of course. Two totems fed him at once, one fully powered, the other in reserve in case he needed a boost. It gave him greater speed, and the ability to save effort and spend more of his strength while taking it from his allies.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:36

The great and mighty Kolobok summoned beforehand, was already spinning nearby. In pure power, he was not so powerful, yes, but in specialization, if the conditions of his existence were met, oh, a surprisingly pleasant addition to their ranks. A spirit whose purpose of existence was to protect the shaman's body, deprived of its inhabitant, could, in a prepared territory, with the nourishment of the place of power and the approval of the shaman, devour any of those present, except, perhaps, the Creepy Bear. Or even one for two, if you were lucky and supported it competently. Alas, but it will neither be possible to get him on a permanent contract, nor to summon another similar one - such aspect-exots do not conflict with each other, but both of them will weaken at once, without changing the total power of their presence. Now this toothy and slightly furry, eyeless ball was almost bouncing in place, seeming to be the only one present who was not only okay with the situation but enjoying it.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:39

Next to the lizard appeared a trio of animal-like spirits, bearing some very obscure connection with the sphere of unity and cohesion. Named Nif-Nif, Naf-Naf, and Nuf-Nuf in the shaman's notes for himself, they were, of course, not cute pigs, but very formidable incarnations of wild boars, large, powerful, fast, and quite vicious, especially if they were angry. They had an aura of unity that allowed the three spirits, who had bonded to the point of near fusion, to work together, stretching out all the damage to the three of them, proportionally reducing it, and losing some of it along the way. You can hit them for a long time, but you can only kill them all together, preferably at once. They are not particularly dangerous in attack, despite the fact that all three of them formally belong to the same rank as a Lizard or a Mustache, but they will be able to occupy the enemy at least for a while, and then it will be seen, as the shaman hoped.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:49

Another spirit seemed to flow from a partially cracked jug of snow-white milk, embodying aspects of domesticity, parental care, warmth, and peace. Despite all its power, it did not make a threatening impression. It was hard to believe that a carrier of such a peaceful sphere of home, combined with such non-combat aspects, would be of any use in a harsh battle, but perhaps the other shamans thought so too. And so the guy who had contracted with an entity so unspoiled by the attention of the summoners had gotten an extremely powerful specialist in reinforcing effects, barrier defenses, and even a bit of healing, especially after severe exhaustion. But even in direct combat, this milky something can support both the guy who is tired of constant acceleration of thinking, and his spirits, the main thing is not to cut off the feeding, because the spirit's reserve is not very good, as for the owner of such abilities.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:51

Everything stood in precarious equilibrium for a brief moment, but then the last large group of little things emerged from the torn maze, centered around several not particularly strong guide entities, and then the barrier around the clearing shuddered and began to bend into the fifth dimension, signaling the imminent collapse. Stepan spent the time on one last attempt to reduce the number of opponents, even if not by striking, but only by diplomacy. He flashed the Black Root Mark on his spirit, literally shining it in all directions, and turned to one of the three strong chasers, the most powerful, whose retinue was not the most numerous, but very toothy.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:52

The creature had no clear image, a cloud of ivy-covered stone with a bunch of eyes made of leaves, but it was undoubtedly a naturalist with a dark aspect. And the young man signaled to this shit in a very businesslike manner, saying, "You didn't manage to eat the quick prey, the prey was too toothy, so do you need to continue the quarrel if you can retreat?" He will even give free passage through the arrays, albeit under the assurance of a contracted spirit, letting both the guide and his retinue go. And if the spirit refuses, then losing his battle this insolent shaman will still - call it - find something to repay before his death. And all this is supplemented with the image of the very leaf-not-leaf left with him, which served as an anchor of summoning for the twice summoned spirit of monstrous power. The very one that would devour not just one insolent spirit, but everyone present in the clearing, even if they were five times that many and fought together.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:55

The spirit in the enemy's camp reasonably remarked that the shaman's fate was not to be envied, for he would be the first to be devoured. In response, the shaman expressed his indifference to the inevitable death, as well as his understanding that it would be pleasant for him to die together with his killers. The enemy only gurgled with a series of perplexed images at such human strangeness in the shaman's performance, but he did not hear any falsity in the very sincere assurance and was forced to accept the offer and schedule it for his entire retinue. He may have wanted to deceive, but Stepan had a whole totem, albeit small, set aside specifically for contract spirits, and he would not hesitate to squeeze them all out, making a deal with horse fines to the violator before letting the already-not-enemy to the door open for him. And, most importantly, the opponent didn't realize that this leaf, though nearby, but not activated, and the shaman outside the body, might not be able to activate it, because there you need a very specific impact, requiring a physical impact of the body and blood.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:57

Next, everything happened quickly and swiftly, as it happens in real battles.

Camrad_RIP 24.06.24 в 20:32

The second of the barriers collapsed, letting in all this filth. Then the events began to race, not even at a breakneck pace, but as if they had been fed by nitro afterburner and went to near-sonic speed, merging into a single chain of simultaneous events. Even though it was difficult to react to all the factors, Stepan's ghostly face lit up with a satisfied grin, because he still had the first move this time. In such heavy battles, it is hard to find anything more important than initiative properly utilized.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 08:15

A moment, and it was as if a corridor had opened up before the spirit of dark nature and his entourage, where the will of the shaman and his totems did not restrain or slow down these very spirits. He still had time to offer this entity to change sides in the coming battle. The spirit even tentatively agreed, but he asked for a lot of extremely specific things. To the offer to pay later in double amount answered indifferent refusal. The pack of creatures flew down the corridor quickly and very hastily, because no matter how uncomfortable the feared betrayal of the earthling felt, for them under so many attentive gazes and the will of the contract - the whole totem inhabited by the spirits of the deals went into cooldown, they gave all available forces for the sake of such a rapid and very punitive contract - were many times more unpleasant and frightening. The shaman couldn't vouch for it, but it seemed as if the main creature had mauled a couple of disobedient servants when they tried to grab a piece of the totem formation's power. It wasn't surprising, given the severity of the sanctions and the power Stepan would have over the offenders, since the spirit had taken responsibility for his retinue as well.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 06:56

The other spirits from the enemy camp froze for a while appreciating this maneuver, but just for a while, thinking they would get more. The most cautious could have realized they would get more, not only in terms of power, but also in terms of kicks, but the minority voice meant little. The only way out of the trap was to kill the shaman and tear apart his retinue, which they tried to do. The swordfish rushed forward without the deceptive clumsiness deliberately displayed in the mocking pretense, and shot himself not even like an arrow, but a real bullet, an artillery shell. Fish was not aiming at any of the strong spirits or even at the ghostly shaman frozen in their midst. He was aiming at the material Stepan, hidden by the third barrier, at his empty body, which could be occupied having received a receptacle and a source of power or could be nibbled and satiated. He ignored the unhappy-hating hissing-screaming of Balls with Mustache, as well as his intention to take the shaman as a whole, clearly showing the level of cooperation and mutual understanding between the enemies of the earthling.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:14

//"Cool, badass, fast as a bullet..." - flashed in Stepanova's mind an old meme, and then he continued it already with his addition. - "...fast, agile, and, damn dead." Donut, fulfilling his contract and most important role, rushed towards this blow without a second thought, right under the blow of the unambiguously deadly nose-blade, impossibly managing to intercept the attack even though he should not have had such speed to intercept it. Swordfish put most of his reserve on the line to break through the barrier and his defenses, so the defenders wouldn't have time to react. And he could not turn from the attack he had already planned, nor did he want to, nor did he see any way Donut could interfere with him and stop his dash.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 08:01

The young man somehow aloofly thought it was very in vain that he called this spirit Donut, appealing to the old anecdote that //"now I'm a meat pie", because it should have been called at least Honorary Langolier. The jaws of the spherical spirit opened to its full frontal area, it became one huge maw with dozens of rows of constantly twisting teeth, concentric rings descending ever deeper into the bottomless throat. All the power of the swordfish's blow went into that mouth, and only a few scraps of spiritual flesh flew - all that was left of the entity that had lost its swift and seemingly win-win battle. Donut Langolier also spent a lot, and the creature's desperate death blow slightly hurt his mouth. It was an uncontested victory at the cost of a scratch and barely a fifth of the spirit's reserve. His strength was rapidly replenished by the boost coming from the totems.
Колобок.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 08:06

The spherical bullshit that instantly ended its fight, literally fountaining pleasure and happiness into the surrounding spiritual space, immediately rushed towards the Skinny Sucker. However, there was no such an easy walk. One of the remaining chasers, an earth elemental who reeked not even a Stone, but the Depths, came to the skinny one's aid almost instantly, covering him with the risk to himself. Stepan and his scanners only now began to see the thin threads of power, stretching from the skinny one to the mighty elemental spirit - a mental web, practically invisible, since even the strong essence did not see anything until the last. The skinny shit had suddenly shown himself to be much more dangerous than originally thought. Stepan didn't have time to change the orders and tactics had already been conveyed to the retinue.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 08:34

The toothy ball struck quickly and swiftly, even though it was not the same as the jerk of a devoured fish, but it was still a very decent speed. But the retinue of the spirit, braided with vampiric threads, and he himself stood in Donut's way with a jerk, covering the skinny one with his own spiritual body and flesh. An attempt to put up a protective barrier from his retinue failed, the spherical shit simply made its way through and even hit the guide, but that was the end of the spurt and the protector had to retreat. He broke out of the encirclement, having received only a couple of scratches, which under the intensive nourishment from totems immediately began to heal. Then, he was attacked, tried to squeeze, did not let him out of the encirclement, and the Skinny tried to put his control thread on Donut. In theory, it should not give the result. This Langoler is a very specific spirit, but the Sucker has already once managed to surprise very seriously. He would help Donut, but the picture was completely blurred, all forces had already been thrown into the battle and neither Stepan nor the enemy had reserves left. Unless the trifles, but the trifles will only help this scum, very quickly coming under control.

Camrad_RIP 25.06.24 в 07:29

The three brave piglets turned out to be not only brave but also wise. Therefore, they did not attack the beastly terror but only marked their presence and took a defensive position. By their actions and broadcast images they hinted that the enemy would either have to attack them or they would stab him in the back. Shrouded in a haze of anger and pain the bear was not intimidated by their demonstration. He does not even seem to pay attention to it, attacking decisively and swiftly with the confidence in his superiority that was part of his spiritual nature. He is a predator. All others are prey and food. That is the only way the world exists. That is the only way it can have rules, it cannot be broken. The beast's blow was not just a blow of spiritual reflection of a clawed bear's paw, no. It was a literal embodiment of the concept of the inevitable victory of the predator, a fatal blow to the defenseless victim, after which there is no need for a second one. Stepan didn't understand how the three didn't run away at once, but it seemed greed had played its part. The shaman had promised them a very generous reward for not even a victory, but for holding off the threat for a long enough time.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 08:52

He was willing to pay it, of course, but he realized there was a high probability there would be no one to pay it to, even if the young man survived the whole battle. When he gave them three minutes of active confrontation, he still flattered all three of them. The bear creature didn't just strike quickly. It managed to do it suddenly, even though everyone was prepared for the attack. That was also some of the spirit's peculiarity, an emphasis on the absolute predator's right to strike first, always first and always unexpectedly to the victim. Stepan would have called on the spirit of some analog of the Amur tiger, as no less glorious and fearful animal image, which in real life sometimes eats bears. But the tiger was not among the contracts, and right now it was too late to start making a deal with someone comparable, so instead of the tiger, it was the pigs who had to take care of the tiger. No, the pig, of course, is a great topic, but it's still sad.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 09:06

The first blow of the bear's nightmare simply tore through one of the piggies, not the front one, which was preparing to meet the blow, but one of the side ones, unnaturally bypassing their protective formation. And the spirit-beast appeared from the side. Although it rushed into the battle straight ahead, distorting the metrics of the spiritual world in front of and underneath it, despite the shaman's opposition and power over this piece of Reality. Rather, the beast didn't even notice this power, so to speak, it's not his problem that someone's power over the spiritual space is falling away. More and more Stepan regretted he did not bother to summon such a spirit, as well as that this shit is too cruel and does not go to dialog, or he would not have spared any expenses and would have signed a permanent contract. Anyway of the three pigs one immediately said his last grunt, but... now it was their turn to show their aces. In less than a blink of an eye, the two remaining beast-spirits of the united trio received horrible wounds on their sides, and the already torn unit suddenly reassembled itself from the pieces, almost whole except for the same wound on its side, continuing the battle as if nothing had happened at all.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 09:14

Well, maybe not three minutes, but at least a minute and a half.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 09:03

The milky spirit of domestic comfort didn't attack, just spewed out a snow-white glow, covering all the allies, including Stepan, who was directing his subordinates, with a protective and reinforcing barrier, giving them some of his confidence and peace, as well as keeping them safe from relatively simple attacks. It meant little to the stronger entities, but the crowd of allied minutiae, already more advanced than the enemy's was greatly strengthened by the move. When the two armies of weak spirits came together clashing in battle, Stepan's summons matched into mutually reinforcing units, began to sharply dominate over the mostly ordinary and simple small creatures that had no serious trump cards to answer with. The last large group consisting of several not particularly strong guides received a stream of whitish fog in the very center of its swarming, which slowed them all down and restrained them. The counterattacks either knocked out the trifles alone or were intercepted by streams of the milky protection, preventing them from knocking out the weaker spirits with strong blows.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 09:49

The milky spirit covered itself from direct attacks with the same barrier, only extremely concentrated. It also pressed and weakened all those who attacked it. The spirit of the house had the right to protect the comfort of the house, to preserve its good, to preserve the warmth of the hearth, and everyone who attacked him automatically received a kind of weakening curse, which slowed down the replenishment of forces or sucking them out of the reserve. It was an extremely tricky ability, just like the Creep Bear's absolute dominance property. It is derived from the basic nature of the spirit, coming from the concepts of its specialization, which makes it particularly effective. Conversely, he is unable to use this trick in attack at all, only defending the territory that can be called the home of the one who summoned the Milker in the first place. Even if with a glance, but to call it a home, a place that belongs to the summoner on a deep level. With long calls and specific invocations and offerings, Stepan was able to make himself, the spirit, and the higher spheres believe that this clearing was his home, which was even partially true. He spent too much time here, often sleeping overnight, considering the glade a kind of continuation of the house allotted to him. What to say! He regarded his dwelling as home to a much lesser extent than his call place!

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 09:59

So, the reinforced small but nimble spirits meeting the attack of their colleagues from the enemy camp confidently and cheerfully dominated, dominated, and humiliated. Stepan's manner of summoning not just any small spirits, but skillful, possessing some particularly powerful, as for its rank and power tricks worked. There, a phantom warrior is fighting, already used once against a dead man with a lantern, and right above him is a lunar, shining only for his partner and allowing him to attack continuously and effectively. This spirit only has fifty arrows paid for, but the boost from the totems will allow it to land those arrows continuously. The spirits of the weapon sphere, sitting in the rear and not showing themselves from the totems, amplify these arrows turning a very serious weapon into something that kills entities equal in reserve and spiritual body saturation with literally one, or two, hits.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 10:25

Here, the five air spirits circling in a continuous chorus are striking with lightning. Each next lightning strikes the same target and ignores more and more defenses penetrating the most delicate and sensitive parts of spiritual organisms, bringing discord and depriving them of control over the pseudo-body. Sometimes they even shoot towards the stronger opponents, but such blows are too weak for them anyway. It's distracting at most. And at the very edge of the clearing hangs a gray-colored cube with absolutely smooth edges. The spirit of not just stone, but stone blocks of what make all sorts of pyramids or large buildings. In its essence of deep and complete immobility, contentment is monolithic rest. This immobility he transmits to all the entities around him slowing down and not allowing them to approach, attack, or maneuver. If the allied spirits do not care, they, the spawn of the sphere of fire, crushing heat and flame even in the spiritual world, still hit from a distance, then oppose them mainly leeches and beast-entities, they are just in close combat are trying hard. They are rushing with the desperation of a doomed beast, trying to impose their vision of battle, but they can not. They can not approach. They can't utilize numerical and qualitative advantages. They crumble against the synergy of exotic properties of shamanic calls. Stepan did not immediately come up with this tactic and realized it, no, at first he had chosen it for a long time, using both the knowledge of his class and the experience of a combat shaman, creating effective bundles that would give much more than just individual units. And now he saw their combined effectiveness firsthand, smiling wanly at each small victory that brought the larger one a little closer.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 10:47

As if to counterbalance the crushing success of the lower ranks, one of Stepan's strongest summons met with decent resistance. Smoky Lizard attacked the hovering mustached balls swiftly and tactically, trying to use the advantage in the presence of spiritual reflection of real weapons and his own maneuverability, which he hoped to outmaneuver the slow and sluggish opponent. It did not work. He turned out to be clumsy, but not slow, or rather even his surprisingly swift mustache, which indeed turned out to be real tentacles, albeit thin, but no less dangerous and poisonous-proclamatory than those of a couple of jellyfish covering Stepan's expedition. The blades of the paired yatagans could barely cut such hairs, but there were plenty of them, enough to cover vulnerable balls and attack back. At the same time, the lizard's protective haze held the blows of the maneuvering and constantly bent entities badly. The mustaches stung, poisoned, cursed, and slowed the lizard, forcing it to use the power of its totems to remove effects and heal instead of replenishing its rapidly dwindling power reserves.

Camrad_RIP 26.06.24 в 20:01

The Lizard tried to get closer, but it didn't work very well. He had to jump back from new tentacle strikes now and then, and the mustachioed Balls were suspiciously indifferent to the possibility of getting closer as if they weren't even afraid of him. Of course, it could have been paranoia, but it might not have been. The enemies had managed to surprise him several times during today's battle. Constantly manipulating his charges, the shaman took another free moment to activate another line of defense. Now of an offensive nature. The totems pulsed, all together and separately, and then gave out a powerful cone of spiritual attack, primitive but extremely intense, which he directed not at the most dangerous Creep bear, which would not have scratched at such a pitch, and not even at the mustachioed enemy, which so far confidently dominated. He did not even touch the almost dead Guide and the Sucker, no.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 11:32

All kinds of spiritual entities, in the vast majority of cases, at the level of instinctive, do not succeed in attacking stronger and more powerful spirits than themselves, and if they do, then only from under the stick and with a dramatic loss of effectiveness. This is the main reason why rare and powerful contracts with powerful entities rule in the world of shamanic battles and not a mass of simpler contracts. You can not just collect a hundred thousand five hundred small spirits and set them on the three top shamans, it will not help, just as a shoal of trout will not destroy a single shark. There are exceptions. There are ways. However, you need to be a very cool shaman or use some unique and often specific techniques. Like now, when one of the fundamental principles of spiritual battles was temporarily and partially suppressed for a short moment of "home protection". And weaker spirits pounced on stronger ones with the fury of ants, on whose anthill someone's drunk and naked pissed ass sat down.

Camrad_RIP 01.07.24 в 10:54

Stepan's summons was not a specific pack or swarm of parasites. Though there were some representatives of similar archetypes among them. United by the will of the Milkman, who was defenseless in direct combat, they managed it. Not perfectly, the tormented guides and the remnants of their retinue still reaped a considerable harvest, but solidly well. Most of the victims were from the simplest possible summons, various elementals, and leeches, not distinguished by any exotic properties. Well, if the higher efficiency and ability to fight weren't considered exotic, Stepan could easily gather and enlist many more such summons, as many as he wanted, as long as he had the opportunity, as long as he managed to survive the current night.

Camrad_RIP 01.07.24 в 10:44

Fortune once again turned to Stepan's face, and not the ass, when the Milkman, who had received permission to act at his own risk, as he considered the most optimal. It was impossible to control everything alone. He invested the rest of the reserve not in a new mass reinforcement, but in a point, on one single spirit. All this time, screaming panic images, which are analogous to the spiritual swearing of eight floors at least, the Three Boars were actively communicating with the Milkman about something. And so, he took and invested all the rest of his strength in helping them, going backward, under the totems, only to avoid being hit by the already exhausted. And all his power flowed into the already badly battered war pig, which had no living spot on it. And not on her alone, because the wounds, as well as the very first, on them, were divided. If not for this effect, the bear would have already finished the battle and went straight to the totems, there would have been no one to stop him, unless Stepan personally decided to detonate the entire structure of the totem glade in a purely etheric explosion.

Camrad_RIP 24.06.24 в 20:23

The blessing of the Hearth Spirit had mended the wounds and infused the spiritual image of the animal spirit with new strength, even making it appear to grow wider and taller, a little more menacing. And then the initiative of the Milk Spirit became clear. This healing was repeated twice more, for each of the three boars, and each time more and more wounds were healed, and now, all three of them, though not completely healthy, were again very capable of fighting. The boars had grown not even to boars, but to full-fledged HOGS, which, however, did not help much. The nightmare of the inevitability of the alpha predator pressed on them and continued to humiliate and dominate them, stepping on them, occasionally teleporting, appearing where it should not have been to strike them in the side. Actually, he tried to hit him in the back, but the Three Piggies fighting back to back did not allow such a fatal accident, nor did they allow any of their own to be raked into their arms, otherwise they would have been all tied together.

Camrad_RIP 01.07.24 в 13:22

And again Fortuna spins the underground millionaire at the interrogation at the tax office, again showing Stepan her plump and juicy ass, but not to fuck, no. Disaster strikes suddenly, showing that the remaining spirits are not morons either, and they realize they need to win quickly before Stepan can create another totem-based attack, or else they'll be next. They apply their trumps simultaneously and both trumps immediately pass with critical success, too suddenly they were put on the table, and just when all the free spirits on the rollback, fueled by totems, which give all their power to them. There's no way to change the setting quickly, either, and you need to react right fucking now.

Camrad_RIP 01.07.24 в 13:24

Gritting his teeth, Stepan tries to minimize his losses, but to no avail. The move is already made and finished, even before the young man could begin his countermeasures, and he wasted time trying. Sucker abruptly finishes off his food slave for good, showing for the first time why he has so many dried and drunk scraps of spirit flesh around him, and why he still has his threads in them. All this time it had seemed to the shaman as if it were just another layer of defense, which was indirectly confirmed by the way the creature covered itself with such layers from Donut's bites. Now Stepan was shown a very unusual manifestation of spiritual necromancy. The sucker gave some of its drink back into the scraps of its victims, temporarily making these spiritual bodies its own, merging them into one amorphous ghostly necro-body with a dead guide at its center, and throwing the lump itself at Kolobok, who had no time to react.

Camrad_RIP 01.07.24 в 13:26

Here, too, there was an unpleasant surprise. Although the threads could not get a foothold inside the guardian, subjugating his will and pulling him to their side, because it was impossible due to the nature of the toothy spirit. However, they still managed to drain his power and deprive him of mobility. No one, neither Stepan, Donut, nor the multitude of spirits watching the events noticed these threads of vampirism until they appeared. In the same second, he easily tears and chews them, but the lump of spiritual fragments soaked with aspects of withering and death, which turned into a huge amoeba-predator, covers Donut. That is, it covers the whole.

Camrad_RIP 01.07.24 в 13:28

This shit can't exist for long. It unlives and exists only as long as it is fed by the Sucker and his will. Now the ghostly mass is crushing the cute and kawaii Langholier, doesn't let him defend himself, and the skinny abomination is slowly and unconcealedly unwinding its threads to the full. A few small spirits, who came closer, suddenly stopped feeling obedient to Stepan, froze, and leisurely swam up to the Sucker, which is not just a Sucker, but SUCKER! More and more threads were entering the body of the amoeba, which the creature was pulling to the swallowed victim, obviously wishing to gain access to the power over the clearing and its creator through him, who was bound to this place and Stepan himself. Indeed the weakest of the dangerous four turned out to be the most skillful and dangerous. He could be considered not even just a spirit, but actually an analog of a real magician, possessing a whole pleiad of complementary various abilities.

Camrad_RIP 01.07.24 в 13:31

As if one failure wasn't enough, there was a second one. At the same time with the Donut's failure, the Smoke Lizard was also caught, also very unpleasantly and also with a high chance of dying. The hitherto practically motionless Mustache covering itself with its tentacles, but not moving its scrotal base, showed that it was not slower than its opponent rushing towards it at the next approach. The more maneuverable lizard was unable to deflect or avoid the blow because the tentacles struck all at once. The defender summoned by Stepan had severed many of them doing more damage than the rest of the battle. However, he was swept away by the enemy's spiritual body and squeezed between the enormous balls.

Camrad_RIP 01.07.24 в 10:41

Stepan was having a fit of hysterical hilarity, because it looked just as ridiculous as you'd think, but it was also fucking terrifying. The maw hidden between the two sagging balls nearly chewed the lizard's head off, and he barely had time to block it with his yatagans. But only he was shackled, deprived of mobility, while the remaining tentacles began to tear away the remnants of the protective haze, tormenting the almost defenseless spirit flesh, and the spirit itself slowly moved towards the derelict body of the shaman and the panic-stricken master hovering over it, dragging the agonizing lizard behind him. And there was obviously reason to panic. Any of the two lost fights of his main defenders threatened him worse than just death, and he would have time to help, and in the totems of power for help, there would be only one of them, not two!

Camrad_RIP 17.06.24 в 13:43

No, there can be no two opinions: this is not an accidental success, both creatures coordinated deliberately, just as realizing the truth with the impossibility of helping feed both spirits. They deliberately and very successfully put the shaman a death fork, forcing him to choose between two evils, and the lesser of the two has not appeared among them. Both options threaten a fate worse than death very soon. Stepan's life did not prepare him for such a thing, just as the whole Witcher trilogy did not...

Camrad_RIP 17.06.24 в 13:44

It's even a little funny, but the only defenders who were successfully holding on were the three Boars. Reinforced by the Milkman they take a big beating from the Bear annoyed at his ability to finish them off. Yes, they got kicks, but they endured it confidently, with pathos, and even, one might say, with dignity! And they continued to hold on, to fight, and did not demand help right now at this very second. Stepan again disperses his consciousness, thinking over all the possible options in a few seconds, and then makes a decision, which may very well cost the life of not him, but the whole village and the surrounding area. An untested methodology, which may not work at all, may work wrong or even worse, but he just did not see any other options. As the great master of taming sorceresses said: "You should not choose between two evils at all" - and the young man does not choose either, or he chooses both.

Camrad_RIP 17.06.24 в 13:51

A moment of concentration and into Donut, constrained by the constantly gnawed and still too slowly tormented amorphous spiritual necro-mass, goes... the blessing of systemic characteristics. All that remains is to pray to the Admins and St. Randomius that the stats fall out enough and where they need to go. Still, Donut's basic characteristics are not so strong, he is weak, but he gains his terrifying power by multiplying those characteristics when working "by specialization", and therefore, the received increase will be multiplied, which should be effective, much more effective than if one blesses a lizard or a trio of Boars, which are slowly being reduced to mere boars, covered again with numerous wounds under the blows of a bewildered bear, which still can't chop a snack for itself.

Camrad_RIP 26.06.24 в 20:09

At the same time, Stepan's main focus was on totems. He used the blessing of the meta-skill and forgot about it, but here he tried his best, working up to the bottom and emptying his reserve, which was almost full and not wasted. A new order and from the totems a direct and thin ray hits the Lizard, completely removing the effects of poison, completely restoring strength, and also the spirits of the weapon aspect made the reflection of his yatagans much more dangerous, albeit for a few seconds only. Together with the cursing spirits, they adjusted the new power of the blades strictly against the Flying Scrotum, and there was enough time for adjustment. The creatures, both Sucker and Moustache, were really smart, and they had coordinated their ace attacks so confidently for a reason. They realized the shaman could pull off one defender who got into trouble, but not two at once. Indeed, the guys were smart enough to analyze the mechanics of the totem system. Why not, for that matter? Just because they're spirits doesn't make them stupid, they just think in different categories, but they do.

Camrad_RIP 30.06.24 в 09:02

So, Mr. Moustache Balls jerked forward quite reasonably and deliberately, not trying to close the lizard from the feeding beam, but pulling it closer to the shaman's body, attacking it with a couple of tentacles. Smart move. And he lost because the creature had a chance to kill the lizard before the reinforcements kicked in. Break through the third of the barriers, the most powerful and protected? In vain. This barrier was as strong and saturated with power as the second one, but it covered a very small space, which made it more concentrated, therefore it withstood the blow with honor. No one present, not even the nightmare bear, had the strength to penetrate it on a single attempt, and the swordfish, as the only spirit capable of doing so, had already been successfully devoured. The enemy rushes forward, he realizes that he has been hit, but he is sincerely confident that salvation is very near, as is the dainty essence of the shaman who has fallen for their ruse. After all, it is only skinny to finish with Donut, to subdue the whole clearing or even the shaman, as the victory will belong to the two of them, well, and the bear, which will still take everything he wants to take.

Camrad_RIP 19.06.24 в 09:36

It didn't work.

Camrad_RIP 19.06.24 в 09:41

Fortune, such a fidgety girl, again turned her face to the isekai and even kissed him, albeit on the cheek, not in the mouth with tongue. The collapse of the enemy's plans also came at the same time: Donut suddenly exploded with power, breaking through the wall of necro-spirits in one bite, biting off a clump of lovingly prepared threads, and even the hands of a skinny humanoid with his bottomless maw of absolute destruction, which seems to have taken a new level of coolness. The Sucker even managed to send into the surrounding reality the thick images of bewilderment, which could be translated on earth as a spiritual analog of the famous "NANI?". Donut did not utter any less famous phrase from this exchange of legendary lines, he just rushed forward, biting off half of Sucker's body in the second go, and started to rattle the rest as if it were a dog's favorite toy.

Camrad_RIP 19.06.24 в 09:48

The lizard, absolutely energized, and backed by the Milkman's crumbs of power, swung its blades sharply apart, tearing open the jaws of the hovering balls as if they were two cellophane bags of rot and pus. Moustache could have prevented it, but he was in a stupor when he saw the death of his ally, and he threw all his remaining strength into attacking the shaman, his body and spirit now almost merged, so close were they in a coordinate sense. And lost, having failed to break the protective barrier around Stepan. The creature took much longer to die than the skinny one; the lizard, exhausted and saturated with borrowed power at the same time, went into a kind of battle frenzy, working its blades as if it had decided to whip eggs, and, it must be said, it did it well, though Stepan would not have dared to order such cuisine. Well, he wasn't Gordon Ramsay, he wouldn't yell for not following the recipe, but it would have been better if the process of whipping yolks hadn't been so close to the shaman's body because the entire third barrier was splattered with toxic residue. Apparently, the reserves of spiritual poison were stored in the analogs of poisonous glands right inside the huge balls.

Camrad_RIP 28.06.24 в 17:43

The series of big and small victories was completed by the war pigs, who cynically and sneakily waited for the moment their opponent would fail in the attack especially hard, and then attacked themselves, probably for the first time since the beginning of the battle. The alpha spiritual predator, to his credit, didn't pay much attention to the fact that his support group was stupidly dismantled, he was immersed in the process of cutting down the resisting prey. If Stepan hadn't been so tired and morally exhausted, he would have patted himself on the head at that moment for the fact that he had successfully matched his opponent with the most invincible of the enemies that had come to visit him - the Lizard and Donut and even both of them together would have lost to this creature almost instantly, while the three boars successfully held out until the help arrived. And even managed to attack at the very end. Successfully. Well, how successfully? It wasn't much use, but it seemed to be a matter of pride for them, or why the hell were they being beaten here?

Camrad_RIP 28.06.24 в 17:45

They didn't even try to squeeze through the armor on the torso of the bear, and they couldn't. The creature really fought skillfully, and if they tried to get closer, they would immediately find themselves in a strong, but not friendly, embrace, and then that was it. The pigs struck at the paw that was stretched out in attack. One of the three deliberately set himself up, and the remaining pair struck towards each other literally clamping the spiritual reflection of the paw in pincers and severely traumatizing its image, depriving the enemy of weapons. Clever, clever, nothing to say. In this battle, Stepan had not once seen a manifestation of intelligence among the spirits, as a selection of all intelligence gathered. There was no way they could harm the Creepbear. And now the dark essence, dark to the last hair, had lost the ability to attack normally, even though it remained as dangerous. After the beating he had already suffered at the hands of a trio of chained spirits, the beast's diminished capabilities were no longer scary.

Camrad_RIP 28.06.24 в 17:48