Chapter 88 Surprise Attack (Part 3)

Nila lifted her hand and blasted a bolt of energy directly at the cultist, ignoring the shadow creature. The bolt of red energy shot forwards and was halfway to the cultist before he even realized it was there.

The shadow moved quickly, it's body turning from a humanoid shape into a wave of shadows as it rushed towards the cultist. The shadow reformed between the cultist and Nilas attack, taking a humanoid shape again.

The energy bolt hit the shadow in the chest and once again it's body glowed slightly before firing the energy out its chest and back towards Nila. This time she was prepared and dodged the attack without issue as the energy blasted a hole through a nearby wall.

'How do I kill something that I can't even injure!? I'm sure that taking down the cultist would get rid of the shadow but that thing moves so fast that I can't hit him. Not to mention every failed attack gets thrown back at me. Even if it's slightly weaker than my initial attack, it still packs a punch!' Nila's mind was racing as she tried to find a solution that would allow her to win this fight.

The shadow charged at Nila, making sure to stay directly between her and the cultist, confirming Nilas suspicion that without the cultist the shadow would disappear.

The shadow raised all four of its arms and swung them down at Nila. She jumped backwards and avoided the fists, causing them to slam into the floor, sending splinters of wood across the room in all directions.

Although she avoided the fists, the force of the attack still pushed her backwards, sending Nila tumbling across the floor. A piece of the wooden floor shot outwards from the strike and stabbed Nila in the thigh. Luckily it wasn't a large piece of wood and it didn't penetrate too deeply.

She quickly lifted her hand and fired an energy bolt at the shadow as a distraction. Pulling the wood out of her leg she quickly got up while ignoring the pain and immediately fired another bolt at the shadow. As the first bolt was absorbed and fired back at Nila, the second bolt impacted the first, causing an explosion.

It was obvious that the second bolt was stronger as it continued moving forward for a few meters after the impact before it finally fizzled out. Nila continued to fire energy bolts at the shadow while dodging them as they were returned. After she had thrown out 6 bolts, Nila realized something when looking at the cultist.

'His posture has changed and his breathing is heavier. It seems it takes a lot out of him to continue absorbing my attacks and redirecting them. The energy that is fired back at me is always weaker than the original, perhaps the energy that's lost is actually damaging the shadow. Still, that means that most of my attacks power is useless... What a terrifying creature.' Nila thought while she continued to dodge the creature's attempts to hit her.

'I can't keep this up much longer... im almost out of energy.... I really hope this works, if it fails then I'm done for.'

Nila waited for the shadow to try and hit her again and dodged under its strike so that she was positioned behind it with a clear line of sight to the cultist. She had done this more than once but the creature always managed to change its shape and suddenly increase its speed to defend its master.

'When the creature loses its shape and becomes a wave of shadows, it's speed it dramatically quicker, but it seems it can't attack. That form's purpose is to protect the cultist.' Nila said internally as she fired an energy bolt at the cultist.

As always, the shadow came rushing passed her in the form of a wave and reformed in front of the cultist to absorb the attack. The energy was fired back towards Nila and she dodged it easily, having made the attack weak on purpose.

'Please work!' Nila shouted as she raised both hands and poured out all of her energy in one large continuous stream of energy aimed at the cultist.

Of course with the shadow having only just moved, it was still right in front of the cultist, being only two or three meters in front of him. The beam hit the shadow and continued to do so for several seconds.

The shadow was absorbing all the energy and its body began to glow a dull red, but it didn't stop there. The glowing intensified and the shadows body looked to be growing larger, swelling up from the energy.

"Just die already!" Nila shouted as she forced the last of her energy out. The beam stopped and Nila fell to the floor on one knee. She had nothing left inside of her and it took everything she had just to stay conscious.

She had been hit by several pieces of splintered wood throughout the fight, causing her to have many wounds across her body. Her clothes were soaked red with blood and her breathing was heavy.

"HA! There's no way you could have won! My shadow is invincible! HAHAHA! Now fire the energy back and finish her off!" The cultist shouted while pointing at Nila.

The shadow took a step forward and pulled it's arms slightly back, like it was breathing in deeply before shouting. It had done this briefly when redirecting the energy before, but this time it was taking slightly longer due to the immense amount energy Nila had used in the attack.

The shadow took a step forward and looked as though it was about to fire, but suddenly it stumbled backwards. It's body began to glow brighter by the second as it's body bloated up like a balloon. "Wha - What's happening!!" The cultist looked at the shadow and shouted out with fear and confusion in his voice.

The shadow started glowing brightly and let out a gurgling scream for a few seconds before it seemingly stopped swelling. Nila looked up at the shadow through her droopy eyes just in time to see a flash of red as the energy within it exploded, sending massive shock waves through the hallway.

The floor was destroyed and Nila was flung through the air, smashing into the wall at the end of the hallway. The wall cracked and splintered heavily with some of the wood completely breaking.

Nilas body was left dangling half way out the building, the last thing she saw was a blinding flash of blue light, then her eyes closed as she fell unconscious.