Chapter 374: Suicide Mission(6)

Point-of-View: Tearstrom

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"Ah, you can still move, I see...impressive, I knocked you away so far that I assumed you must have died, or at least sustained a significant level of damage," I remarked, as I reached the Halfling, whose body was crackling with lightning. 

"I will not be killed so easily by a lowly Vampire such as yourself, do not underestimate me," She responded threateningly, before swinging her chain at me, lightning coating it and the blade at the end of it. 

I swiftly swooped down to evaded it, zipping straight towards the Halfling as I used my Cross, Bulk Arms, to drastically strengthen my arms, swinging my club down with all my strength as I closed in on her. 

Right as I swung it down, she rapidly jerked her arm back to pull on her chain while simultaneously springing back and out of the way of my swing...tch, she is quite fast, it will be difficult to land a direct hit on her. However... 

My club struck the ground with a devastating impact, the ground breaking apart as a massive shockwave burst out upon impact, chunks of earth and rock flying out all around as a huge dust cloud rose up, as I quickly tilted my head out of the way to avoid the blade attached to the chain that she had pulled back. 

The tip of the blade struck the side of my neck and slashed through it, leaving a deep gash in my neck as blood burst out of the wound, which healed shortly after it was inflicted. 

Tch, I did not like that...I opened my hands, straightening my fingers out as I charged up Blood Magic at each of my fingertips. Let us see if she can dodge this...I simultaneously fired out of each of my fingertips, in thin yet powerful streaks, all bursting out towards her. 

As she hurriedly raced out of the way, the streaks changed direction in response and chased after her...she noticed them and quickly reacted by making sharper turns in direction right as she neared obstacles, some of the streaks hitting trees and rocks, before a sharp scream of pain escaped her lips as one of the streaks struck the back of her left leg, followed by several more hitting her back, knocking her down onto her knees as she trembled in pain. 

Good, it appears that I will be able to capture her instead of killing her. Now, then, I shall render her limbs useless with my Blood Magic, after that I will restrain her and take her back to Abyss-...suddenly, she fired a bolt of lightning at the ground, kicking up a dense smokescreen of dust. 

I instinctively reacted as I heard the slight rattle of chains to my right, turning in that direction, before letting out a hiss of pain as a lightning bolt struck my left side, stunning me. 

"Damn you-...!" I began to snap, turning in the direction the lightning attack came from, when suddenly, I was cut off as something hit my back, something sharp, before piercing into me and bursting through my back, eliciting a cry of pain from me as blood poured out of the wound. 

Enough...I have had enough! As the blade began to get withdrawn from my body, I quickly reached behind myself and grabbed the chain, before spinning around while wrenching the blade out of me and giving the chain a violent and furious tug, an alarmed yell echoing out as I pulled the Halfling towards me rapidly. 

As she neared me, I grabbed her face and slammed her onto the ground with immense force, a powerful shockwave bursting out upon impact, before I stomped on her torso, crushing several internal organs and breaking the bottom row of her ribs, a fountain of blood pouring out of her mouth as her expression twisted in agony, before the sheer pain caused her to lose consciousness. 

I raised my strengthened arms in rage, ready to bring them down and crush her head into a bloody paste, before coming to my senses and stopping just in time...right, I was supposed to bring her in alive if possible. 

She in in rather bad condition, but I do not think she will die immediately. From personal experience against Halflings in the past, she will probably die within a few hours at least. I reached down and broke the bones in her arms and legs to ensure that, if she regained consciousness, she would not be able to resist to any significant degree. 

Now, then, I suppose I should go see if Lusk and Prato require any assistance... 

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Point-of-View: Prato Cichudde 

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Hm, this has gotten locked in a stalemate...the Fairy was evading both my and Lusk's attacks with ease, while we were able to keep her from countering by attacking relentlessly. Since she was so focused on evasion, she could not counterattack as much as she would have liked to. 

And since she is unable to attack freely, her accuracy has suffered, making it easy for us to avoid her attacks as well. 

At this rate, either she will eventually overwhelm us once our Mana reserves are used up, or we have to land a good strike against her and incapacitate her...yeah, but it's easy to say that we just have to land a single blow against her to win, actually pulling it off is a different story. 

What can I do to turn the tables? Is there anything I can do? My attacks are too slow to hit her...in that case, I'll try making them faster... 

"Lusk, I'll focus completely on landing a finishing blow on her...could you cover me, make sure she doesn't land an attack on me in the meantime?" I inquired, after gesturing to him fall back and regroup. 

"Are you certain that you can pull that off?" He responded uncertainly. 

"No, I am not...but I cannot think of anything else. Trust me...I have a feeling that I can do this," I replied confidently, despite having no basis for that confidence. 

The moment we regrouped, the Fairy didn't follow after us, instead opting to hang back, a suspicious look on her face...her suspicion worked in our favor, giving me the opportunity to tell Lusk my idea. And now, I have to ensure that we take full advantage of that opportunity. 

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled in order to sharpen my concentration and focus, and as the Fairy began to charge up a fireball, Lusk swiftly fired out a couple of water bullets, not letting her attack. I ignored what was happening around me and continued to focus...this is practically suicidal, dropping my guard like this in the middle of a battle, and yet...I feel so calm. 

I generate my heat beams by compressing the output of my flames as much as possible and then forcing the flames out while stably maintaining that level of compression...right now, I can't increase the compression above the current level that it's at, that's something I can only do gradually with a lot of practice. 

Hm...but what if I decrease the output? Less output will be easier to force out, or in other words, I can force it out with a lot more momentum than with a greater amount of output...in theory, that should increase the speed and penetration of my beams, at the cost of intensity. 

No, wait...depending on the extent, the increase in speed might make up for the decrease in literal firepower. Well, no point in simply theorizing about it...time to put it into practice... 

"Prato, I cannot keep this up forever!" Exclaimed Lusk, as he continued to keep the Fairy at bay. 

I took aim at the Fairy, reducing the output of my flames while maintaining the level of compression...just as I thought, with less flames, I don't have to focus as much on compression as usual...which means I can focus more on forcing it out! 

As I locked on and fired, the Fairy noticed and evaded my attack, but...not nearly as easily as before. I...I can do this. I fired again, while continuously sharpening my focus and concentration, ignoring everything except for my opponent... 

The Fairy then managed to shoot down a fireball at me, but her accuracy was a bit off and the speed of the blast had also suffered. It was still a fairly powerful attack though...and I evaded it easily, fluidly jumping back without missing a beat, firing another heat beam as I backed away. 

She began to evade, but this time...my attack grazed her shoulder, as she screamed in pain. 

Still not fast enough...I'll decrease the output further. As I adjusted and fired again, the Fairy evaded, before flying up and charging up a fireball, Lusk quickly responded with a barrage of water bullets, forcing her to evade, the flames dissipating. 

I'm starting to get used to it...her speed, timing and movement patterns of evasion. It's only a matter of time before I land one of my heat attacks...but I'm not satisfied. Faster...I can still make my attacks faster, and more importantly, I want to...I want to see how fast my attacks can be, I want to push those limits... 

I know this is selfish, and I feel bad for Lusk, but-...wait, that's it. Lusk...his water bullets, he fired them out of his fingertips instead of his palms. What if I try that... 

As I closed my fist and extended only my index finger, taking aim...it felt like something clicked, as if this made sense. The Fairy then attempted another fireball attack, and on cue, Lusk responded by firing out a barrage of water bullets at her...and in that moment, it felt like time slowed down... 

My focus and concentration had peaked, my senses were heightened and incredibly sharp, I felt...incredible, and yet, I was perfectly calm and composed... 

Lusk's water bullets are zipping towards the Fairy from her left...based on the way she's been moving till now, she'll evade...up and then left, right about...there! 

Huh? A second later, I snapped out of the immensely deep state of concentration I had sunk myself into, just in time to see the Fairy plummeting towards the ground, a small, barely visible hole in the left side of her chest, as drops of blood flowed out of her mouth. 

It took me a moment to process what I'd just done...in what was nothing more than a fraction of a second, I read the Fairy's movements, predicted where she would be after evading, and then attacked with perfect timing, with a beam of heat so narrow that it was probably no wider than a pinhead, and only marginally wider than a pin. 

Was I...was I really the one who just pulled that off...?

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