6.46 – Chieftain II

6.46 – Chieftain II

Full body [Illusions], at least in combat, Natalie had found too unwieldy to be useful since they became more difficult to control based on the size, complexity, and strength of their deception. However, [Empower] as an ability raised the potency of a skill. In this case, that meant those same factors.

A second full-body version of herself shimmered into existence, coming to life just ahead of Natalie, charging for the chieftain just like she was. Carnal Energy sagged out of her alongside a significant portion of her mana, draining her in an indescribable way. But she couldn't afford not to spend everything she had. Against a monster like this, one that could slap away her hammer blows, a single proper attack could kill her, much less a more fragile teammate like Jordan. If Natalie didn't use everything in her kit, she wouldn't ever forgive herself if something went wrong.

Both she and her illusion yelled at the top of their voice as they charged forward, and in the racket they created, they grabbed the chieftain's attention, pulling the hulking beast away from a growing-harried Malice. She was limping by that point, even only having to weather the chieftain for a short time. Natalie hadn't seen how she'd been hurt. She had to fight down the spike of concern, seeing the injury. And almost more importantly, the thrill of anger that went through her. Passion could help in a fight, but it could as easily be a person's downfall.

[Empower], at its current rank, amplified an ability by a factor of two and a half. With that upgrade, her illusion was all but identical to herself, and not just that, supernaturally imbued to draw the chieftain's focus. Still, she saw the huge, muscled creature hesitate as its eyes flicked between the two Natalies, trying to decide which was real. Like the Raid Leader, this thing was intelligent: she could tell that at a glance. There was some level of sapience behind its eyes, though they certainly wouldn't be having a conversation—if they even shared a language.

One Natalie went left, the other right. The chieftain chose incorrectly, influenced by the deceptive nature of the skill. Natalie didn't want to reveal that it had chosen wrong, though, so she mentally influenced her illusion to dodge away, preventing the chieftain's grasping hands from passing straight through it. Unlike her lewd application of an empowered illusion, this clone had to be manually controlled. It wasn't as difficult as piloting a second body, though it did take a fair amount of mental overhead.

The huge goblin backpedaled, keeping both Natalies in its vision. She couldn't move fast enough to stop that. But after a series of exchanges, with Malice and Jordan finding careful openings, Natalie saw her own opportunity. With a two-handed sideways swing, she slammed a blow into the beast's thigh. It didn't even make the creature stagger: in fact, Natalie sent a spike of agony into her own injured shoulder more than she hurt it.

But that wasn't the point. One side of her hammer had scored an attack. Now she had to land a second to trigger [Valentine]'s stun. Then she could execute her plan.

Since the skills 'potency' lay in its duration, that was what [Empower] would enhance. Two and a half seconds into [Smite]'s channel, [Valentine]'s stunning effect broke. The chieftain began to thrash wildly. But a firmly planted boot kept it pinned to the ground. Natalie was invulnerable and immovable to anything remotely inside her level bracket: and this thing was, ultimately, only a level four. It flailed impotently, flattened into the ground by Natalie's foot, crushed by a mountain as far as physics was concerned.

All while a crackling ball of energy gathered at her hammer tip, pointed for the chieftain's skull, increasing in strength by the second.

Natalie couldn't even move her eyes: her entire body was locked in place during [Hunker Down]'s effect. She watched with a mad sort of excitement as seconds ticked by, both impossibly fast and slow. [Smite] grew in power. The crackling bolts of pink lightning made her teeth ache, burned lines into her vision.

Six seconds. The full duration. Even against the Raid Leader, she'd only gotten five. And that one hadn't been [Empowered].

The channel concluded just as [Hunker Down] expired. A bomb of energy exploded straight into the chieftain's skull, engulfing it and blinding her.

And, no longer invulnerable—and [Hunker Down] only granting resistance to physical attacks, anyway—the explosion also consumed her.

She went flying backward, losing consciousness immediately.