Chương 35: 34-No Surrender

"Take them!" shouted the Achillean, spurring his companions into action. He must be the leader, Jenna thought. The Achillean focused for a moment, and his right hand began to glow with a foreboding crimson light. He looked fit and athletic—Jenna had assumed he was some kind of fighter, but he turned out to be a mage. She realized that assuming anything about these three would get them killed. The Achillean aimed with his right index at Bob, and a beam of crimson light erupted from it.

Jenna barely had time to push him out of the way as the ray went through the wall behind Bob. She saw the Interloper face Billy—he conjured his spear to hold him back. Billy was currently in Whisper form, his favorite shape for infiltration. Then the Entropist was on her. She was wielding one dagger with consummate expertise.

Jenna tried to shift points into Body, but something screamed within her mind; she recognized her immediately—it was Wu Na's aura, which had proved so effective against her during their battle with the Hunters, warping her powers and making them unpredictable. The Entropist suddenly grew larger, up to the size of a building. She proceeded to try to stomp Jenna, who barely managed to dodge the enormous feet hitting the floor near her with the force of a howitzer.

She turned around to ask for help and saw giants battling in the distance. At that moment, she realized the Entropist had not really changed her size—she had turned Jenna's power against her, shrinking her to a tiny fraction of her normal size. Body + 3 Small +3 Spirit -1 Billy wished he had come back in a more combat-oriented form. Truth be told, he did not expect the ambush to go south. His Thousand-Faced Assassin shape still had some tricks up its sleeve, though.

-Poisonous Spit: Once per thirty seconds, the poisoner may spit his poisonous blood at mid-range. Billy spat a glob of phlegm that the Interloper avoided by inches. It struck the wall with a sizzling sound, leaving a decent-sized hole. I can do this, even in this form, Billy thought. Then, the Interloper jumped into a shadow cast by the flickering light of the enchanted orb and vanished. Billy spun around, searching for his foe, only to feel the assassin's dagger plunge into his belly.

Damn, he thought as he entered the blue room. Then he understood something was wrong—Paul would never have let him die; he would have incapacitated him and left him thrashing on the floor. What was this guy's game? With a flash of light, the Interloper materialized inside the Blue Room. Billy tried a quick respawn, only to find that the button was still greyed out. The Interloper had trapped him in the Room. Billy clearly remembered slaying the Thing from Beyond using this same tactic during the Battle of Babylon.

He suddenly realized that, for the first time since the Apocalypse came, he could really die the true death in battle. While in the Blue Room, he was Billy, a nineteen-year-old with no powers or enhanced stats. He was facing a high-level supernaturally enhanced assassin.

"I will make this quick," the Interloper said. Bob rolled nimbly on the floor as Jenna pushed him, causing the light ray to miss him by inches. He used the momentum to resume a standing position in combat stance. He would not have been able to do this without both his War Form and his Pugilism skill. He used the brief respite this granted him to swallow an Alchemy pill that would speed the rate at which he learned the next three perks during a life-or-death situation.

It was an expensive pill, but he had a feeling he was going to need it. He is a mage; I need to go ranged. He was loath to lose the War Form, as it would limit his physical skills. That meant Palooga—it would work better at short range than the bow. Idrial's Cunning (Palooga 4): Throw the ball marked with Idrial's name. It will strike the target from a totally unexpected direction. If the target does not see it coming, it behaves as if thrown with a 50% bonus to Body. Usable once per fight.

Idrial was one of the original thirty-four, a warrior known for her prowess at setting ambushes. Bob threw the Palooga ball at the Achillean. It vanished just as it left his hand, and reappeared following a trajectory that would strike the Achillean from his blindside. Just as it was about to connect, a force field appeared around the assassin, effortlessly deflecting Bob's attack. Gaze of the Eternal Warrior (Truthfinding 4): The Achillean is protected by a very powerful force field.

One out of two combat patterns was detected. Weakness detected: The force-field will not work against perks based on the Harmony Pantean skill. I detected its weakness on the first try, without even having guessed all the combat patterns, Bob thought. This felt fishy. The perk usually didn't work like that. He had to do a shoulder roll to narrowly avoid the next blast. He conjured his bow from his inventory as he rolled, releasing a Flame Arrow just as he completed the maneuver.

He was not going to play the Achillean's game. The arrow exploded harmlessly against the force field. The Achillean raised his hand, energy gathering in his open palm. Bob knew he was not going to be able to dodge this one. He had to go on the offensive or get hit. If it is Harmony you want, it's Harmony you get. Sonic Boom (Harmony 3) Your fist emits a powerful sonic energy that will blast any target within three feet of any punch you throw with it. Requires Fist Mastery 3. There went his first Perk.

Bob launched himself on his opponent and threw a powerful martial arts punch before the Achillean could throw his spell. Bob smiled grimly as the sonic boom struck his foe, sending him halfway across the room, ignoring the forcefield. He jumped on the prone form of the Achillean, going for the kill with the same technique, but this time the force-field stopped it completely. Gaze of the Eternal Warrior (Truthfinding 4): The Achillean is protected by a very powerful force field.

One out of two combat patterns was detected. Weakness detected: The force-field will not work against perks based on the Harmony Bartering Pantean skill. The Achillean can change the weakness every thirty seconds. The exempt skill is chosen randomly. Bob gasped as the weakness changed—the Achillean could alter the properties of his force-field. He understood now the subtleties of the class.

He had tens of different skills; the possibility of the randomly chosen skill having no combat value was great, and even if Bob got lucky and obtained offensive skills like Flamecraft or Sword Mastery, the Achillean could trigger the process again in thirty seconds. That moment of surprise nearly cost Bob's life, as the new bolt grazed him, burning him across the chest and making his body scream in pain. Something broke inside him.

When he rose up, he had lost the War Form and all his Fleshshaping cooldowns were gone. Gaze of the Eternal Warrior (Truthfinding 4): The Achillean's adaptive blast works better when used against skills that have already been active during the present battle. Two out of two combat patterns were detected. Things were looking grim for Bob—not only did he have to adapt his attacks to the Achillean's defenses, but his enemy could also increase the functionality of his attacks if he kept defending using the same skills.

He was now back in his true form, weak, frail, and out of shape. If the Achillean wanted to battle a mage, he would get one. Billy floated away from the enemy. The Interloper pursued him, moving in the same fashion. Billy realized he could not win this fight. This did not mean he had to lose it. The assassin was 20 feet away from him, but they both moved at the exact same speed. The slow, ponderous, levitating motion was granted by the room itself and did not depend on their stats.

They were both intangible, able to phase through furniture and walls. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. As long as he kept floating away, his pursuer would never catch him. All he had to do was to continually Expand the Room. As long as he kept expanding it, he would never run out of room to flee. He suddenly felt the Interloper emit a magical pulse. The Room changed, inching towards reality. They both suddenly fell on the floor, floating no more.

Billy touched the nearest wall, afraid of what he would find. He found resistance. They were still ghosts, but only partially intangible ones. They could no longer float, and walls could stop them—they could not interact with reality, but reality could interact with them.

"It is over, kid. I can make it painless. Please, do not try to resist," the assassin said as he ran after Billy on his much more powerful legs. Stats were back in the game. He screamed on the mind-link.

"Guys, I am not making it through this unless I get some help right now." Jenna felt her desperation mount as she tried to avoid the Entropist's stomps. She was going to feel Billy's death inside her mind in seconds unless she intervened, but there was nothing that she could do. Her powers were thoroughly contained by the Entropist. It was Bob who saved the day. Target Piñata (Gamble 3): Exchange your position with that of another nearby being of about your same mass.

The being will be randomly chosen among all possible candidates. Requires knowledge of Blink (Waycraft 3)—seven-minute cooldown. There were only two possible targets, Jenna and the Entropist, as the Achillean was not currently vulnerable to Gamble perks. Suddenly, the Entropist was fighting Bob, while Jenna faced the Achillean.

"Bob, Celestial Dropchute," she screamed inside the bloodlink. They had taken to naming some of the combat maneuvers they had discussed. Bob just refused to use numbers, as the Federation did.

"I have too much respect for math," he said. Bob used the momentary surprise of their opponents to create a Celestial Gate at the right side of the Entropist. Nat lunged at Bob, but her jump was interrupted as she got hit by a large projectile—Jenna had regained her powers as soon as she put some distance between her and Nat; she had picked the Achillean and, using superior strength, had thrown him at Nat. They both went through the open rift. Bob dispelled it one second afterward.

"Where did you send them?" asked Jenna.

"As far away as I could. I could not pick a specific location," answered Bob. Jenna concentrated on Billy's visual input—there! The Interloper was about to catch him. He could not see them directly, but she could extrapolate their present positions in the adjacent reality from Billy's visual feed. She enhanced her Body and kicked a section of the wall with all her strength. The phantom equivalent of the wall exploded, showering the Interloper with debris and knocking him to the ground.

She had bought a few seconds for Billy, but that would not mean anything as long as he was locked inside the Blue Room with that killer. There was only one chance. There was something she and Billy shared, besides the Blood Link. The Chant. Jenna dove inside her own mind and looked for the familiar presence: "HELP ME!!" she screamed. Suddenly, she felt a connection between the seventy-three codas in her mind and the single one inside Billy.

She pumped Billy's mind full of Spirit, and woke something hidden inside him. Billy felt something cold and powerful grip him. Belegrin was again with him. He gained access to all her powers and felt Belegrin's presence in his mind, a calm, inspiring teacher who made him believe he could win. Billy, I can lend you my skill and my power, but I am working with your human stats, not mine. Your opponent is stronger and faster—there is only one way we can survive this, she told him.

The Interloper was on him like a cyclone, a dagger in each hand. He believes he has you, Billy, use this. Feign weakness. Billy started to clumsily dodge the unending barrage of attacks. He tripped, screamed in fear, started running in one direction, changed his mind, and went another way… he was the perfect image of an amateur in a panic. Belegrin was guiding each and every one of his moves. -The Dance of Battle x3: You skilfully dodge all attacks.

Double your body and derived stats only for the purpose of defending while moving, without attacking. If you move and attack, the bonus is halved. The assassin screamed in frustration as his perfect strikes failed again and again, not hitting Billy by inches. The Everlasting was a fool and a coward, but he seemed to have luck in spades.

"Stand still, and fight like a man," the Interloper screamed. Billy's movements became even more frantic. He suddenly had no more room to run. The Fed made a perfect circular strike, meant to sever Billy's carotid. Squirrel Evades the Hunter: Billy ran towards the wall, letting his momentum carry him upwards as if the wall itself were horizontal and falling behind the Interloper after somersaulting over him, doing a backflip.

-Lethal Repertoire x2: Once per minute, remember a lethal spear fighting technique that adds 50% to Body and derived stats for your next attack or defense. If the situation is desperate, you create a new technique which will be added to your repertoire, and the cooldown is only 10 seconds. The assassin gaped at Billy. This fight was not going as it should. He kept pressing it and noticed something he had missed. Billy's techniques kept getting more perfect, his movements less erratic.

The Fed was no longer an adult attacking a child, but a karate student fighting another with only a couple of years less training. -Five Steps Ahead x2: You learn your enemy's method by observing them while they are fighting you. Enemies fighting you hand-to-hand get a cumulative 1% penalty each second to their Body stat, which only applies to their attacks when directed at you or your attacks targeting them. The penalty is lost if they manage to hit you or stop one of your blows, but it starts building again.

The penalty is capped at 50% The Fed went for a gut thrust; Billy activated Lethal Repertoire again. Caress of the River: Billy let the dagger almost touch him, gyrated on his feet, and conjured his own elven dagger in his free hand as the Fed went by him, scoring a deep cut on his arm. His elven weaponry had been granted by the Chant and could be used even inside the Blue Room. The Interloper reacted in shock after receiving the wound.

When Billy came back into his line of sight, he was armed with his Elven spear and covered in armor. It was clear that he would die if he kept fighting Billy. Time to change tactics. Special Ops soldiers were nothing if not adaptable.

"First your friends, then you," he coldly told Billy. He left the Blue Room in a flash. You are not getting rid of me that easily, Billy thought as he summoned his respawn screen and ordered it to restore him to life in Belegrin's full shape. Nothing happened. The button was still grayed out. The Fed did not need to be present to keep him trapped inside the Room. And trapped he was. Billy felt panic rise again inside him. The Interloper reappeared in a flash of light. Jenna faced him.

"You are outnumbered, and your powers do not match ours. Surrender, and better pray that Billy is not harmed." The Fed looked at her coldly.

"How long have we been at this? Five minutes at least, I think." Call to Arms: (Leadership 5) Teleport to the location of any of the members of your Squad. Five minutes cooldown. With a flash of light, the Entropist and the Achillean teleported back into the fight. Jenna swore. Three against two. They were winning again. The Feds just did not give up, and they knew how to turn situations to their advantage. Much like the Losers, she guessed. Bloody cheaters.

The Entropist charged at her while the Achillean focused on Bob. The Interloper vanished into the shadows— bad news. The guy is an assassin. One of us is going to get knifed as soon as he spots an opportunity. She suddenly felt entropic magic caressing her soul. It was not the chaotic scream of the Entropist's aura, but something more precise, directed at a clear target. Jenna felt her Spirit drop to -3 as her freebie points increased. Why is she targeting my Spirit? We are in physical combat.

A ghostly doppelganger separated from the Entropist and attacked Jenna, brandishing a transparent dagger. Soul Dagger (Small Blade 5): Create a ghostly copy of yourself that attacks your target. The attack is lethal, but it is resisted with Charisma rather than physical stats. Three minutes cooldown. Lasts for a single attack. Jenna quickly understood the Entropist's strategy. Her greatest weakness was that she could not boost two different stats to great effect simultaneously.

She was being attacked at both levels: physically by the Entropist and spiritually by her copy. Bob, I hope you can pull a rabbit out of your hat, or this fight is over. Bob saw Jenna scramble, trying to avoid the Entropist's lethal attack. The Achillean was charging his right hand, intent on casting one of his lethal bolts at Bob. He was currently only vulnerable to Barter, not a great combat choice. The Interloper was stalking both Losers, trying to decide which to attack first. He was wounded.

The burn the Achillean had previously inflicted on him was taking a lot of the fight out of him. Not promising. But he still had two uses left of his Alchemical Pill. Better make good use of them. He aimed his right hand at the Entropist and prepared to cast his most powerful healing spell at her. He could see the Achillean aiming at him from the corner of his eye. Just before the spells were released, he improvised a perk. Exchange Weapons (Barter 3): Exchange the next attack of your target with your own.

Resisted by Spirit. Will not exchange attacks when there is a significant power difference. Seven minutes cooldown. He activated the perk at just the right moment. The Achillean's eldritch bolt surged from his hand, striking the Entropist right in the chest, taking her down. The ghostly apparition vanished. Bob's pain receded as his own healing spell surged from the Achillean's index and restored part of his health.

"Bob, watch out!" Jenna screamed, and he knew the Interloper was upon him. He reacted at the last instant. Wood Armor (Woodcraft 3): Once per hour, turn your skin into tough bark, and your limbs into wood. Your body is considered doubled for the purposes of resisting kinetic attacks. Still, it will be halved again for all movement-related actions or for attacks based on fire or specifically designed against plants. The spell lasts for seven minutes, and it must run its full course.

He grunted as his suddenly wooden back was pierced by a dagger. The perk had saved his life. This blow would have pierced his heart, but it still hurt. God, it hurt. The Interloper kicked him in the back, going for the kill. Bob scrambled on the ground, watching the Entropist rise from the ground. She was hurt but not out. Last perk. Last chance. The Interloper's powers came from the system. Anything he could do, Bob could do too. Blue Gate (Waycraft 3): Opens a gate into the Blue Room that lasts for ten seconds.

Anyone can cross it. One hour cooldown. The Interloper suddenly grunted as a spear hit him in the back and ran him through. He fell down, revealing Billy standing just beside him. Jenna took advantage of the Entropist's momentary distraction to boost her Body to maximum levels and throw her spear at the Achillean before he could shoot. The impact was so powerful that it pinned his lifeless body to the wall. The Losers turned to face the sole remaining Fed.

"Please, give up, Nat. It does not have to end this way," Jenna said, almost pleading. Nat lunged for her with her daggers, only to be struck in the skull by one of Bob's Palooga balls. She fell to the floor, never to rise again.

"You dumb bastards," Jenna said sadly.

"It did not have to end this way," she repeated.

"I am afraid it did, Jenna," Bob answered glumly.