CH 280: Interior Breached

“Keep going,” Jasmine ordered Elsie. She was continually firing at the women below them. Several of them had already transformed into their wolf forms. But no more had died yet.

“I am,” Elsie huffed. She could feel her body growing tired from the continual use of her magic. She was cycling through spells on cooldown, trying her best to kill any that she could. “They’re too tough.”

“Some are heading towards the windows,” Jasmine called out to Claire.

Claire glanced at the side rooms. There was one on both sides of the main entrance. It was one of the places Victoria left alone. Still, these women were tough. “Hannah, with me. Ursa, you take the other room.”

Ursa sauntered over to the left room and paced in front of it.

They could hear the glass shattering, then the metal straining as the women entered. The ones closest to Claire were immediately hit by one of the fort’s traps. Her gargled screams were followed by an explosion that sent her dead body and her companion out of the room. Claire could only hear what happened, but Jasmine and Elsie confirmed her death.

“That’s three!” Elsie said, a bit out of breath.

“We should lure them into more of these traps.” Jasmine shot several arrows into the dead body to confirm her death. She expected her wolf form to burst out, but it never happened.

“They do seem more effective than my magic,” Elsie wiped the sweat off her forehead. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.”

“How much mana do you have?” Claire asked from below.

“Half maybe?” Elsie was guessing. She was too focused on using her magic to check.

“Not the best idea to announce that around a bunch of women with super hearing!” Hannah shook her head at Claire, but was smiling under her helmet. “I’d assume they figu-”

Her words were cut off by the other room exploding. Ursa barely reacted to the explosion. She just shook her head and huffed. She could no longer hear anything moving inside those rooms, meaning the woman who made it in was dead.

“Well, judging by her reaction,” Hannah was holding back a laugh. “I’m guessing that the fourth is dead.”

“I hope so.” Claire focused on the door to the room. It didn’t sound like any were coming through there. “That leaves eleven more.”

“See! This will be no problem.” Hannah nudged her arm.

“Stay focused,” Claire sighed. She had to admit she was feeling more confident now that the numbers were dwindling. “Are we ready to move back?”

“They are starting to catch on,” Elsie called down to them. “Jasmine?”

Jasmine picked her up, and they dropped down to the second floor. “Next position.”

They backed up to a more defensible position. They had moved rubble and statues to make natural cover for them. Toni stood behind the two piles, right next to the last set of doors. His nervousness was thinly masked by his veil. Hannah was quick to put herself between Toni and the door, shielding him from the women and his blessing from them.

“If we need to retreat from here,” Jasmine whispered to Claire. “We’d need to call on the Goddess.”

Claire nodded. She could feel the lipstick mark tingling on her cheek. “I hope it doesn’t come to it.”

The door behind them opened, and Lily and Ana joined them. Ana quickly inspected her sister before Lily handed her a potion. It’d help her inherent mana regenerate. But she also had her slingshot out.

“I hope these work.” Lily smiled nervously at Claire and Jasmine. “They should be stronger than the ones I last used.”

“Any bit helps.” Claire turned towards the giant front door.

There was banging coming from it, but the reinforcements held. Above it were the second-floor balconies. They, too, had reinforcements barricading them, but not enough to hold. Several women were already climbing up to the balconies and trying their hand at getting in from there.

‘Elsie?’ Ana asked within their linked minds. ‘I’ll hold them off on the left side.’

‘Right. Keep them occupied.’ Elsie finished downing the potion she was given. It helped with her growing fatigue. She raised her wand and waited for her Fire Trap to go off. Then, she’d drop her new Ice Golem on them.

The twins moved in unison right when Elsie’s trap went off. Her Golem formed just after the explosion died down to engage the wounded enforcer. On the other side, Ana’s ward replaced the door and reinforcements. She kept the other two at bay while Elsie did her best to handle the two to the right.

“Jazz?” Elsie called out. “Help Ana.”

Jasmine was already waiting for the ward to drop. Her new bow was already glowing with her Deadshot skill. She aimed at the stronger-looking woman and waited.

“Now.” Ana’s voice was extremely quiet compared to the chaos her sister was creating.

But Jasmine heard it. Her arrow flew the moment the ward dropped and nailed the woman in the chest. The added strength of the bow and the skill she used knocked the woman back several feet. She did not fall, however.

Both of them dropped down, one after another. They’d made it inside the fort now. Ursa was quick to meet them, with Claire by her side. Ursa charged the non-wounded enforcer while Claire took the wounded one. She was unknowingly joined by Jasmine, who dropped her bow for her knives. The moment Claire clashed with the enforcer, Jasmine struck. Her Vengeful Lover skill combined with the backstab felled the woman.

Claire was shocked for a moment, but quickly recovered when the werewolf burst from her dead body. Claire was quick to move; she bashed the wolf with her Defensive Strike, capitalizing on its brief disorientation. It staggered back only a few feet before growling at her. Its form looked even more corrupted than the others, almost entirely hairless and sickly grey-skinned.

Still, Claire stood her ground.

It howled and charged forward towards Claire. But a ray of glowing light fell between it and Claire. Ana’s totem appeared, causing the wolf to crash into it. Claire felt a surge of power fill her as she charged at the beast. Her body was glowing with Ana’s white magic, fueling her charge. She bashed the wolf with her shield, then stabbed at its chest. She drove the wolf straight into a statue, pinning it to its side.

Jasmine followed her strike up with another backstab. This time, she was quicker. She pulled the knives from its back, then went for its neck. Claire held the wolf down while Jasmine hacked away at its neck. It took a moment, and almost all of Claire’s strength, but they beheaded the beast.

They didn’t have time to recoup, since one other woman made it through Elsie’s barrage. Claire quickly glanced at Ursa, who had the body of the beast she’d slain in her hands. The Ravian threw it at the burned woman charging them, causing her to falter.

Claire followed the throw with one of her own. Throwing her shield, which slammed into the woman’s head. It bounced back, and Claire caught it.

“Top left!” Elsie called out. She’d been juggling keeping the women from coming in from both sides, but it was overwhelming her. Even with her shared pool of mana with Ana, hers was quickly running out. Lily was doing her best to help, but the unstable potions were barely affecting the enforcers.

Jasmine was quick to scale the wall. She was on the woman who’d made it past. Now was as good a time as ever. Killing this woman would mean half of them were slain. And they could regroup after killing the one inside. Her body was enshrouded by shadow as time seemed to slow around her.

The enforcer’s body lost all features in Jasmine’s eyes. Red lines lit up across her shrouded form, signalling the killing strikes Jasmine could take. She focused in on two, her chest and then her neck. Then, within the instant, her body had already moved. Her left hand was guided across the woman’s chest, killing her human side. Then, before it could even manifest, Jasmine’s right hand struck down the woman’s wolf side.

In two quick strikes of her Lethality skill, she’d killed the woman and the werewolf.

She jumped down before reassessing the situation. Her mana was cut down by ten, well over half her mana in one blow, and dangerously close to 0 given the use of her other skills. But it did its job. That was the seventh woman down.

She glanced behind her, still in the slowed state. Ursa and Claire were engaging the eighth woman in combat now. Hannah was behind them, steady and protecting their backline. After they killed this woman, they’d be more than halfway through this.

Jasmine sprinted to help. She struck the woman from behind alongside Claire. The dual blow to the back, combined with Claire’s, killed her human form. The wolf popped out of the lifeless body and landed before Ursa, who was more than excited to bring her axe down on the wolf. With a few quick hacks, she had killed it.

“That was eight!” Toni called out excitedly. “We can do this.”

“Hold on.” Elsie was out of breath. She was downing another potion of Lily’s. “They’ve stopped. Why have they stopped?”

Claire looked up at the balconies, but they were empty now.

“Regrouping?” Hannah asked.

Jasmine was already scaling the wall. She looked down to see the rest of the woman, and their leader in the courtyard now. The woman was walking towards the door with a scowl on her face. There was blood dripping from the bandage that covered where her left arm used to be. She glanced up at Jasmine and gave her a wicked smile.

Then, she kicked the door.

The entire fortress shuddered under the blow’s weight. With one kick, she’d nearly knocked the reinforcements away. Then she kicked again. Budging more of the rubble and shaking the fortress again.

Jasmine dropped down from her perch and regrouped with her party members. She could see the fear emanating from almost all of them. Hannah and Claire’s faces were obscured, but the rest weren’t. All but Ursa were motionless and shocked with wide eyes.

“C-Claire?” Toni's voice was shaky. He looked to the redhead for confidence.

Claire was stunned by the sheer amount of strength. For a moment, she nearly let her instinct to run take over. But Toni’s voice cut through that. She could feel her hands shaking, which she focused on steadying with deep breaths.

“Ursa?” Claire’s voice came out surprisingly strong. “Think you can keep her distracted?”

Ursa shook her head. She wasn’t scared, but she knew when she was outmatched. Even with her axe, this would be a tough fight.

“Goddess,” Claire muttered under her breath. She contemplated letting the Goddess take over now, but held off. “Jasmine, Ursa. Focus your attention on that armless bitch. Hannah, Elsie, Ana, Toni, Lily. We need to hold off as long as possible. Kill as many as possible while they distract her. Our best chance is ganging up on her.”

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the leader’s kicks. Then Ursa let out a war cry. This was followed by the rest of her party. Their backline was more hesitant, but Hannah and Ursa drowned that all out.