Vol.4 Ch.70 – Shock To The System
Chapter 70: Shock To The System
Objectively speaking, these leech monsters weren't the worst thing Cassie had ever fought. And the fact that he could say that about creatures that were part leech, part centipede, part spider and all nightmare was truly saying something.
Compared to the Red Rider and Caulder's other creations these things were less horrifying and not as dangerous. However, this was still the most stressful battle he had ever found himself in.
Several dozen creatures, every single one of which was capable of using Darklight spells, meant that Cassie was zipping across the battlefield like a pinball, blocking strikes wherever he went, his head spinning as a migraine and vertigo kept battling for dominance. Teleporting around the battlefield was disorienting to the extreme and the continuous effort of casting spells laced with his Shard Bearer powers was starting to take its toll on him. His vision was beginning to blur and he could feel himself slowing down. But he knew he couldn't stop. If he did, he'd put everyone in danger, including himself. His ice and Ophelia's shadows were the only things guaranteed to block those Darklight beams, and Ophelia was too strong to waste on defense.
He had to hold out, long enough for the others to beat these monsters. And then he'd toss back a couple aspirin and invest his EXP into mental resilience.
**
“Everyone!” Elaine called out to every member of her squad. “To me! Gather up!”
“What was that thing?” Esther asked as she joined them, her twinblade at her side and ready, and the fact that even she didn't know did not fill Elaine with confidence.
“Void Stalker,” Evelyn said. “Pretends to be other people, then attacks. Once it sheds its disguise it hides in pocket dimensions and strikes. And,” she said, glaring at an empty spot off to the side that Elaine suspected held the AR display of the scan, “apparently it can produce something that feels like spiderwebs and hinders your movement.”
“Come to think of it,” Elaine said, “its eyes also looked like a spider's, except swirling around in an empty void.”
“Humanoid nightmare spider,” Esther said. “Incroyable...” And it was a testament to just how tense the situation was that Elaine didn't melt into a puddle at the random French. “Is it gone?”
“No,” Elaine said. “At least I don't think so.”
“Can it take on a new disguise?”
“I...” Evelyn began, her eyes clearly scanning the entry. “Yes.”
“Head count,” Elaine ordered. “One.”
“Two,” Esther said.
“Three,” Evelyn said.
“Four,” Mare said.
“Five,” Aurora said.
And then came the resistance mages whose names Elaine was still getting used to.
“Six,” the Russian guy, Vitali, said. He was easy to remember.
“Seven,” said the blond guy, James.
“Eight,” whispered Julia, the adorable little sound mage.
“Nine,” the tall, dark-haired lady said. Sylvia, if Elaine recalled correctly.
And then a crystal pendulum embedded itself in Sylvia's forehead. The woman fell backwards, almost in slow motion. Elaine stared in horror at Esther and at what she had just done.
“Sylvia left with the hostages,” Esther said coldly, staring at the body, which was still falling backward in slow motion. Except... the rest of the world was moving at normal speed.
“Too obvious, huh?” the Void Stalker's horrid voice came out of Sylvia's broken body. Then the body melted into that of the Void Stalker, somehow already in motion and swinging at Julia.
Esther's blade blocked the nightmarish claw and a beam of light magic sent the creature reeling. But instead of leaving itself open to attack the creature scampered sideways and was gone, the movements way too much like those of a spider.
“Now what?” James asked.
“Backs to the wall?” Vitali suggested.
“It can phase through solid matter,” Evelyn said.
“So it can appear anywhere and as anything,” Esther said. “How do we fight this?”
“Make sure everyone has eyes on someone,” Elaine said. “We need to figure something out and stay alive while we do. Evelyn?”
“On it,” the girl said and began scrolling. Of course, being engrossed in her AR displays was a horrible idea when they had something like this thing hounding them.
She half expected the thing to take a swing at Evelyn but apparently it was too smart to attack them while they were on high alert. The issue was that while they could keep the thing from attacking, this would also keep them from dealing with it. And any lapse in concentration would be enough for the creature to strike.
“What's keeping it from rushing downstairs while we stand around here like idiots?” Vitali asked.
“Nothing,” Elaine said. “Hell, if it just ignores us all and goes to wherever Caulder is, that'd be fine too.”
“What if it tells the Zodiac Knight we're after it?” Esther asked.
“It said it wanted to rush past it,” Elaine said but already realized what Esther was getting at. “You think it lied to us?”
“I think it's willing to play all sides,” Esther said. “The Crawling Chaos is the most insidious of the three.”
“So you're suggesting we lure it out of hiding before it can tell on us?”
“I think it would be best for all involved if we killed it,” Esther replied. “I do not want to live the rest of my life wondering if anyone I meet is this thing in disguise.”
“Speaking of,” Evelyn said, “do we know when this thing started following us?”
“Of course,” Elaine said. “It was...” She trailed off and Evelyn cut in:
“Because I'm pretty sure that when we assigned the teams I heard Alexis agreeing twice.”
“Fuck,” Elaine and Esther said together.
“Yeah, this thing has to die,” Elaine said. “And once we get back to base we need to check if everyone there is who we think they are.”
“I would go a step farther,” Mare added: “Tell Prudence to make sure the civilians are all civilians.”
“Oh shit,” Elaine said very quietly. “This could get really ugly.”
“You know, this feeling is what I love the most,” Alexis' voice crooned into Elaine's ear and in response she swung her sword at where the sound seemed to be coming from.
“Come out you coward,” Elaine barked.
“The creeping dread,” the voice continued taunting. “'Who can I trust?' 'How many of them are there?' 'Just how compromised are we?' 'Did I just consign all those civilians to a very messy death?'”
Elaine felt the sensation of a finger under her chin and jerked away, almost but not quite stepping out of their circle.
“Would you like to know how my kind feeds?” the thing asked. “You compared me to a spider earlier. That wasn't entirely incorrect, you know?”
“I am going to kill you,” Elaine said. “I am going to skin you alive so I can keep your pelt after the rest of your body turns back into ectoplasm.”
“Ooo, scary,” the thing said, still in Alexis' voice. “You're not fooling anyone. This false bravado is merely masking your terror. And believe me: I know masks.”
Elaine tried to tune the thing out, tried to think of a solution. She knew there had to be some way to kill this thing.
“It's feeding on fear,” Aurora said, surprising everyone. “The reason it's not going after the Knight is because we're a better food source.”
“Clever little bug,” the thing said. “Although you got one thing wrong.”
“And what would that be?” Elaine asked.
A black claw burst out of the ground, wrapped around Aurora's head and dragged her out of reality. “I don't just feed on fear.”