NOVEL NEXT 166: A Slow Grind Of Attrition
Watching sweat pour down Yan Mingqing’s face as Gao Kunshan’s sword passed overhead once more, Lin Songmei decided to hop into battle. Drawing her bow back, Songmei began letting loose a gentle stream of arrows as Mingqing began slowing down and backing off.
With a wave of crystal obstacles now dividing the battlefield, Songmei descended from the rooftops as Mingqing disappeared into the icy mist now-blanketing the battlefield. Kicking plank to send it flying forward, Songmei’s distraction pulled Gao Kunshan’s attention away as she met back up with Mingqing.
“Doing alright?” Songmei crouched down, putting her hand on Mingqing’s back. “Want me to go for a bit while you catch your breath?”
Pulling Songmei back a few steps, Mingqing shook her head while gulping for air. Raising a finger to ask for a moment, Mingqing leaned against the wall while sheathing her sword. With Songmei nodding and crystalizing more arrows into existence, Mingqing pressed her hands together in a ‘thank you’ before closing her eyes.
Still fresh, Songmei was, by far, in the best condition out of everyone on the battlefield. She was unharmed, full of energy, and brimming with Qi. Suppressing her own Qi even further, Songmei sent slivers of it into her eyes.
Aiming the arrows towards various areas on the ground, Songmei tried her best to create an unending crystal barrage to outpace the smashing Gao Kunshan was doing.
With her irises now cracked and dyed purple like amethyst, Songmei scanned the area to gain a better understanding of Gao Kunshan’s actions. From the way he was circulating Qi, Songmei was pretty sure he was trying to mitigate the wounds Mingqing had caused.
At the same time, Songmei could see the innocuous pouch by his waist was leaking a faint red-tainted Qi mist. Considering the pills Gao Kunshan had taken earlier were from the same bag, Songmei decided to go out on a limb and guess the bag was still chocked full of those pills.
Pulling out a couple of her old arrows, Songmei left them unmarked from any of her Qi. Given the fog-like mist Mingqing had spread across the battlefield and her own advantage in the visual acuity department, Songmei motioned for Mingqing to follow her.
It was time for a little stealth.
Sneaking around their makeshift arena by making their way through the abandoned houses surrounding the cul de sac, Songmei and Mingqing stopped and crouched behind a low wall.
“Why the old arrows?” Mingqing murmured under her breath, now recovered and ready whenever. “Sorry, the Taurus sword form just takes a while to recover from.”
“Mn, it’s fine,” Songmei nodded, as she did a quick count of her arrows. “Old arrows because they’ll throw him off, and also because they’re harder to sense.”
Standing up as Mingqing stayed crouched, Songmei flooded her eyes with Qi. With a twinge of pain tickling her eyes, Songmei zeroed in on Gao Kunshan and searched for the wounds leaking Qi.
Shooting a couple arrows in quick succession, Songmei crouched back down and motioned for Mingqing to keep moving. “Our location’s going to be kno-”
Cut off by Gao Kunshan’s scream and subsequent growl of pain, Songmei and Mingqing tucked their weapons away. Shuffling away as a barrage of sword slashes decimated their previous hiding spot, the two did some acrobatic running as Gao Kunshan slammed through some of the dilapidated walls still left.
“You know, be careful with that,” Mingqing warned with a low whisper. “Your eyes glow purple and start letting off faint purple mist when you do that.”
“Wait, really?” Songmei asked before waving Mingqing off. “I’ll wonder why that happens later, but thanks.”
Getting a few pats on the back from Mingqing, Songmei dodged a pinch as she squinted. “I can see the tearing up too, if it causes pain you probably shouldn’t be doing it. We’re here to buy time, not to win against someone a couple levels above us.”
“True, I’ll be more careful.” Songmei pressed her lips together, toning back the Qi in her eyes. “Can you start just pumping out as much mist as you can? I’m going to shoot, you run the other way.”
Hearing a quiet “On it, ma’am,” Songmei peeked out, letting loose another couple arrows before running again. Looking back to see mist billowing out of Mingqing’s hands, Songmei grinned before booking it.
Songmei, also, couldn’t help but notice the mist billowing out of Mingqing’s mouth like a dragon everytime she exhaled. A weird sight but... it was good Mingqing was going full out? Songmei had no idea how to react. She just didn’t expect it.
Settling into a rhythm, Songmei let time pass as she moved and attacked in a conservative manner. Having planned out this battle with Mingqing in their bed over the course of a couple nights, they had tried to develop a strategy to achieve two things.
The first was obvious, buy time. They had no idea how much time the others needed, but they’d need a lot. Time spent while fighting too always felt a lot longer than time spent, say... searching through a file cabinet.
The other, though, was to stay in control. So far the situation had remained under control—for the most part. The mayor was a little more powerful than expected, Mingqing had taken a few more hits than expected, and they hadn’t bought as much time as expected, but Songmei and Mingqing were still sailing in smooth waters.
And so, the game of cat versus two mice began.
With Mingqing spreading as much mist as possible, she ensured a thick blanket of fog kept everyone but Songmei’s vision obscured. Switching between moving with and without Songmei, Mingqing just ran around, causing some sounds and throwing some rocks every once in a while to keep Gao Kunshan on his toes.
Songmei, on the other hand, did the same as Mingqing and chucked any remaining pride she had aside—Pride was on the opposing side anyway. Hiding in barrels, ditches, behind houses, and more, Songmei went through every possible hiding place while using her old arrows.
Having gone through a couple quivers, Songmei checked her terminal while crouched in a house with Mingqing. Worsening a lot of the small wounds Mingqing had opened, Songmei was still a little annoyed. The use of arrows untouched by Qi meant any arrow would bounce clean off of Gao Kunshan’s body reinforcement should they not hit an existing wound.
Gao Kunshan, for the moment, though, was out of the picture. He was crashing through houses on the other side of the cul de sac to look for Mingqing and Songmei through brute force.
“He’s getting better at predicting which way, and how I'll run...” Songmei sighed, raising her leg up to let Mingqing wrap it with bandages. Earlier, in a moment of careless confidence, Songmei had let up and taken a flying Qi slash to the leg, leaving her with the long gash Mingqing was bandaging. “Are you okay still, Mingqing?”
“I’m fine,” Mingqing chuckled under her breath. “I’ve run with a lot more than scratches before. My job is easy too, I just have to generate mist. Easiest thing ever, don’t worry about me. We need to worry more about the mayor. He’s getting really mad and probably will pull something out we don’t expect soon. He doesn’t know where the others went, so he probably doesn’t expect frontal penetration, but his urgency is still growing.”
“Well... at that point we’ll just transition, yeah? To a frontal battle?” Songmei flexed her leg, testing it out before giving Mingqing a hug. “We’ll figure it out. Just stay safe. Thanks for bandaging my leg.”
“Of course,” Mingqing laughed, “It’s repayment for all the times you haul me up the stairs to our bed when I fall asleep early.”
