Chương 56: Seven Drunken Nights

Ever since rebuilding her fórsa weaving Roise had been itching to get out into the field. Her limbs felt taut with potential energy. She had never been a particularly studious fórsa manipulator, but after Cian's instruction she began to weave her fórsa every moment she wasn't training or sleeping. She could feel the little explosions in her joints getting denser and denser. Fourth felt tantalizingly close. She continued layering fórsa into her mesh as she stalked the jungle, doing it now almost unconsciously.

The new mesh absorbed what she had to give it greedily, so much more so than the old root version had. She barely had to think about doing it anymore. She had mixed feelings about her new technique. The first creature she had discovered was a monstrous turtle, which seemed to have another monstrous turtle attached upside down on its back. Róise supposed that would make it impervious to being turned over, but it also had the dubious effect of being all soft underbelly.

It also breathed fire, so maybe nature had known what it was doing when it evolved this unholy thing. She had discovered a number of things about Seven Drunken Nights. First, the effect increased the longer she applied it - the first night to the seventh. Banks of Red Roses was a little similar, but that really just depended on whether she used the murderous version or the less lethal one - power built to the appropriate climax.

Here, the turtle had gone a bit glassy-eyed, stumbling and looking around at the jungle with what Róise chose to interpret as a goofy smile. However, that only happened to the bottom turtle at first. The top turtle seemed angrier than before until the second phase of the technique began, after which it too became glassy-eyed. After some experimentation she felt like she had a good handle on it.

There were seven stages, and each of those stages could be applied to a different enemy, but they didn't stack at the same rate. Meaning, if she had only one enemy she could run them through the entire technique without issue. However if she had two, the first enemy targeted would not pass on to the next phase until the second enemy had reached the same stage. So that meant for two enemies, she could get one to stage four and the other to stage three.

It seemed like the maximum number of enemies she could affect would be seven, but she hadn't run into that many grouped together yet to test it. What was interesting though was what Cian had told her about what happened when the technique had activated at the party - it seemed like dozens of people had been affected. Róise guessed it might have been because of their lack of fórsa density. Perhaps with Firsts, she could target many more than just the base seven.

Conversely, that could also mean that she could apply the technique successfully to people at higher Rings, but each successive stage would be greatly diminished in potency.

"Hey! Got a surprise for you!" Cian said, popping into existence next to her. His clothes were a dark enough chartreuse to be only a hue or two shy of full green.

"Oh? Did you bring me one of those strawberry pastries from last night?" Róise was getting hungry - Róisín Dubh was a miracle for reversing hangover symptoms, but it didn't resolve an empty stomach.

"No - I'm afraid you ate most of them. The villagers are hoarding what's left," Cian joked.

"I brought you something even better!"

"What's that?"

"A challenge!" Cian said, winking away once more. Out of the thick vegetation ten creatures stomped into view like a pack of dry sailors making their way to the bar. Róise cursed the boy and flipped backwards to avoid the charge. Instinctively she almost started Banks of Red Roses, but she caught herself in time, dismissing the fórsa blades that had popped into being in her hands.

The first creature leading the pack looked like a rhino - but in place of a head it had the upper body of a man, though the man seemed to have a goat's head. What in the hell kind of place do these things come from? Róise took a moment to wonder. Following were an assortment of a few of the tentacled cats she had tangled with before, as well as a lizard that was also double-bellied, similar to the turtle she had seen earlier. Rounding out the crew were a few much-larger-than-normal baboons.

The first phase of Seven Drunken Nights hit the rhino-goat-man almost instantly. It slid to a confused halt, causing a few of the monsters behind it to crash into its enormous behind. Reading emotion on a goat's face would be hard on the best of days, but it seemed as if the creature was suffering appropriately from the first Night's effects. However, the remainder of the monsters didn't stop advancing.

Róise had been taken by surprise and was completely exposed - no chance to hide in the bush to apply the technique from cover as she had been doing so far. Two of the tentacled cats began to stalk her, tentacles writhing like snakes tasting the air. The second Night of the technique started, but Róise was shocked to see that her target - the cat closest to her - seemed to be unaffected, still stalking her. She was forced to retreat, only a hair faster than the cat as it pounced.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. What was going on? Why wasn't Drunken Nights working like it had before? Róise dodged out of the way a few more times before noticing that the cats weren't just attacking randomly. They were herding her towards the other pair of cats which had hidden in the trees. She noticed just before a cat leaped towards her from a branch. The sharp fang at the end of one of the tentacles tagged her right arm, drawing blood.

That was the moment Róise realized she was in trouble. Some part of her was treating this like another training exercise - that surely Cian wouldn't throw something at her she couldn't handle. As the fang stabbed deeply into her arm, she realized the truth. This really was a fight she couldn't win. Each of these beasts were Thirds. Even if she were to spin up Banks of Red Roses and go in with the intent to kill, she would fail.

Cian had orchestrated a situation where she would need to use something like Seven Drunken Nights to escape - any attempt at combat would result in her death. Meanwhile, her right arm was beginning to go numb. Venom, she realized. Perfect. She stopped Seven Drunken Nights in favor of Róisín Dubh. She had no idea what the poison would do, but she would have to take her chances with all the beasts being un-charmed to prevent it spreading through her body. She could only see one path. Róise ran.

She burst through the space between the cats as she heard the strange roar of the rhino-goat-man and the howling of the baboons. Róise managed to keep ahead for a few seconds, but she wouldn't be able to outrun them. They were Thirds - every bit as fast as she was - maybe even faster in bursts, like the pounce of the cats. Róise needed a better plan. The moment she thought her arm had full sensation again, she killed Róisín Dubh and spun around.

The rhino thing was in the lead again - not the fastest, she was sure, but clearly in charge. As it barrelled towards her, she activated Seven Drunken Nights again, preparing to duck backwards when the rhino-goat-man came to a stop. Which didn't happen. Róise gaped and juked left as the rhino thundered by her. Why didn't it work? There had been no issue before. Looking more closely, she realized she was wrong. It had worked. The goat eyes were glassy and the rhino body's movements were sluggish and clumsy.

But it was still after her. She had a sudden idea. Keeping the technique going, she ducked behind a tree, breaking the eyeline for the beast. Now, the rhino-goat-man heaved to a stop, allowing the beasts behind to surge forward. Róise threw herself out from behind the tree, but once the rhino-thing lost sight of her, it didn't pick her up again. Róise needed to be out of their sight when she activated the technique! She grinned wickedly. This, she could work with.

Róise launched herself forward, sliding under the unified pounce of the two forward cats right as the technique hit the second Night. WIth the pixie no longer visible to the cat, the leftmost one crashed to the ground, dazed. What followed even Róise herself found impressive. She danced among the raging beasts, flipping over and under the now-docile hulk of the rhino-goat-man, timing the start of each Night to when she was obscured from her target by the larger beast.

Within a short time, she had five of the creatures ensorcelled. They all seemed afraid to strike the rhino-goat-man and they hesitated in their approaches. This wasn't enough, though. Róise gritted her teeth as she moved, swaying with the rhythm of the world. If she was right, she could only mesmerize seven of these creatures. That would leave three to deal with. So far she thought she could outrun the double-bellied lizard, but the cats and baboons were swift. Could she control the hallucinations?

When she ducked behind the massive back leg of the rhino-goat-man, applying the Sixth Night, she tried to imagine what it was the baboon she targeted would see. The other baboon is me, she thought fiercely. Get the other one! The outraged squawk of the other baboon as its now-charmed brother sank its fangs into it was all Róise needed to hear. She repeated this tactic with the one remaining cat, directing it to another baboon. But now she was out of Nights.

And two more enemies remained - the double-bellied lizard and one last baboon. Again, she ran. This time though, there was no thunder of an angry herd coming after her - only the scrabbling of the two remaining beasts through the brush. She suddenly realized what she needed to do. Róise ran as fast as she could for as long as she could stay ahead. Only when she felt the nails on the baboon's hand scrape her back did she act. She killed Seven Drunken Nights and began it all over again.

Somewhere out in the jungle, eight beasts were shaking themselves out of a drunken stupor, but she was long gone from there. They wouldn't find her now. The two behind her fell easily, as soon as she found a low-slung palm tree to hide behind. As she stopped, panting hard, she wrapped the rest of the Nights on the two creatures until they were basically drooling messes on the jungle floor. Róise laughed softly to herself as she caught her breath. That had been kind of fun in the end.

Wait - now there was something happening. She felt… inflated. Her fórsa was pouring out of her for the technique, but there was too much. Her body was shaking as she couldn't control the flow of power. She couldn't breathe.

"Weave it!" Cian shouted, suddenly in her ear. Róise sank down to the jungle floor, compressing the fórsa into the explosions in her joints. She worked through each joint, weaving as tightly as she could before being forced to move on to the next. Finally, the pressure began to lessen and she took a gasping breath. A few moments later and her fórsa was back under her control.

"What the hell was that?" she asked, taking long, deep breaths. Then a low growl sounded from just in front of her. She had forgotten about the lizard and the baboon. The technique had ended as she lost concentration on it. The baboon lunged at her, fangs bared and snarling. Róise moved before she even meant to. In an instant she was on her feet, left foot planted, right fist pulled back. Just as the baboon got close enough to bite, she slammed her fist into its skull.

It flew back like a meteor, crashing through several sizable trees and landing with a deep furrow in the ground. It was difficult to see what if anything remained of the creature that hadn't been torn apart by its launch through the jungle. The double-bellied lizard apparently had a change of heart after that, as it just wandered away, looking apologetically over its dual shoulders. Cian stepped out from behind her, now in bright, cheerful green, a proud look on his face.

"Congratulations Róise! That's the punch of a Fourth!"