Chapter 180 - Day DXV, Part IX

Boss let out his battle cry again, but this time we didn't freeze as we did before. Instead, we charged at him. I was first to attack, thanks to my shadow walk skill. My punch landed but because it was left hand, it didn't do much, enough to grab attention though.

He grabbed me, and threw me on the ground, while the rest tried to deliver as much damage as possible, but for him, our mightiest attacks were just scratches. It was like a swarm of mosquitos was trying to take down a bull.

I hit the warm cobblestone and immediately rolled to the side, avoiding the cleaver. Blue landed again on the boss's face, and Martin grabbed the hand with the weapon, preventing the boss from swinging it. Others just kept striking and cutting.

Monster punched martin with his free hand, sending him flying. I hear a nasty crack upon the impact of the fist. Then pealed the werewolf off his face, and smacked few people gathered around with the beast's body.

I jumped on my feet and used void manipulation to gather as much void essence around the enemy head as I could, but it was not easy as I had to really concentrate to do it, and he just simply kicked me to the chest. I flew like a ragdoll, bouncing off the ground and spinning. Finally stopped, over ten meters away.

I picked myself up, and from far away I finally saw how desperate our fight was. We just couldn't take that giant down. It was impossible.

Cleaver sliced through a few werewolves, killing them instantly. Hailwic tried to use that opening to strike, but got backhanded, and send rolling on the ground.

On the side, I saw Martin crawling his way to the device. He wasn't using his legs at all, which indicated that maybe his spine was broken.

With every second our forces were getting thinner and thinner, as more and more people fell. The situation was hopeless, terrific.

They needed me there, so I charged again, summoning more shadows. As soon as I got closer Boss focussed on me. I managed to avoid few heavy strikes, and deliver a couple of cuts, but nothing was deep enough. We could barely cut his skin, but the muscles under remained intact.

Over the few next minutes, most of us got either killed, badly wounded, or just simply retreated, avoiding death. Massacred bodies and cut-off limbs in pools of blood covered the entire city center. Few people, still alive, tried to crawl to the device to save themselves. Some injured so badly that it was the only thing that could possibly save them.

At some point, I heard Jayadeva screaming for help, but I was too busy not dying to even look his way. I heard Hatta responding to him, and a few other voices, but that was all.

I knew I won't be able to hold much longer, unfortunately, there was no help from anywhere. The situation seemed hopeless.

Maybe I got slower or did a mistake with my footwork, but avoiding death from the cleaver, I got hit by the gigantic fist of the boss. I was knocked off my feet, tumbled on the ground, then shadow walked, but he was incredibly fast and followed me with ease.

I saw the blur of the grayish blade arching through the air, to deliver the final blow. I tried to shadow walk out again, even knowing I'm not gonna make it in time to survive.

- Noo! - my ears caught Nadia's voice.

I couldn't see her with my eyes glued to the incoming final strike, but she had to be close. Then, in the last moment, cleaver turned midair, and struck right next to me, as I escaped through the void.

Then I saw what really happened. Nadia's body, cut in half, was lying on the cobblestone in a pool of blood, just a bit to the right where I was before escaping. I didn't know how she got there, or what was she trying to do.

At the first second my brain just refused to accept the situation, but then it hit me, and I just charged. Mindlessly, consumed by rage.

My memories here are a bit hazy. I remember jumping in and out of the void. I remember dodging and striking, and I remember hopelessness. From what I heard later, I fought really well, but the difference in strength was clear. I got hit few times, but those blows were not clean, so they didn't stop me. I kept coming and coming at him.

There was a lot of yelling and screaming around us, but the words just didn't make it to my brain. I couldn't understand anything. I had no idea what those who survived were doing, and I didn't care. I just wanted to kill that monster. 

I somehow managed to make him drop the cleaver, thanks to a cleans trike to his hand, but he grabbed me right after. Threw me on the ground, and then stomped on my torso. I heard bones breaking, and immense pain just shook my entire body.

This was a fatal hit. Probably most of my internal organs just got damaged. I barely could breathe as one of my lungs collapsed, and the other got probably pierced by my own rib. Every single inhaling of air was bringing me a lot of pain. I was done. I lost.

I couldn't stand up, I couldn't move. I could only watch. As I was steadily fading away I desperately tried to heal myself, but the damage was just too severe. My eyes were shutting down as eyelids became too heavy to hold them open. I saw the boss picking up his cleaver. Then, surprisingly, an explosion shook the entire city, as I slid away, into the darkness. That's the last thing I can remember from that fight.

The long day came to an end with 5 513 510 points remaining on my account, and 1 class point.