NOVEL NEXT Book 10 Chapter 23
One advantage of having the monster above trying to get all of them at once was that it wasn't very fast. Joan saw one claw raining down at Qakog, only for him to easily step aside before it could strike. One dropped down at Joan and she just had to slide a little to the left to make it miss her entirely. Bauteut stumbled, but managed to avoid hers as well.
Then one of the claws dropped down at Penthe and her poleaxe cleaved through it, causing the end of the limb to fly away to smack against the wall, sizzling as it burned away. Above, the monster made another angry cry before all of its limbs retreated.
Unfortunately, with the light following them they could see that the creature truly did seem to be massive, its web-like body seeming to go on forever.
For a moment she wondered if the creature had given up, then a dozen of the claws descended at once.
On her.
On the one hand, she was grateful that the monster wasn't going after her friends. On the other hand, she felt a little annoyed that the creature was probably targeting her because she was the smallest of the group. The claws rained down around her, one on every side. But they were slow and easy for her to dodge around, weaving between them as they hit the ground.
Then the claws suddenly jerked and started to close, moving towards her far faster than they had come down. She yelped and tried to pivot to the left, shoving off the ground as best she could. But she wasn't going to be fast enough. One of them was going to hit her into the others, she could see it.
Then the world seemed to dim for a moment and she felt incredibly light. She could feel the medallion around her neck going warm as her body just seemed to lunge forward, moving through the approaching claw, only for her to find herself on the opposite side of it.
Joan didn't stop, instead she kept running and glanced back for a moment, then down at the medallion. "Well, thank you Nameless One," Joan mumbled under her breath.
'You could learn to say things like that more often,' the Nameless One's voice echoed in her head, making her shriek and nearly trip before she caught herself.
"Joan? Are you okay?" Penthe asked, glancing back at her.
"F-fine," Joan called out before mumbling under her breath. "Nameless One? Can you hear me?"
'Of course,' the Nameless One said.
"Have you been there the whole time?" Joan asked.
'No,' the Nameless One said. 'I felt you activate the medallion. I was curious what danger you had enveloped yourself in now.'
"Can you see everything I'm doing?" Joan asked. "Can you tell me what that thing is?"
'Yes, and yes,' the Nameless One said.
Another shriek tore through the air and more claws rained down on her. She slid to the right, narrowly avoiding the closing claws this time and even twisted around, crashing her staff against one of them. The claw shattered, causing bits of weird, green goo to rain down around her.
"Well?" Joan asked, struggling to keep her voice down. The last thing she wanted was for them to have even more reason to question her choice to make a deal with the Nameless One.
'Oh, I won't,' the Nameless One said. 'It wouldn't help you much now and I believe you have more important things to worry about.'
"What?!" Joan asked, unable to keep the fury out of her voice. "Like wh—"
And then the light went out.
"Penthe?!" Joan called out. "Are you okay?"
"That thing attacked the light," Penthe called. "Hold on!"
A moment later a small orb of light appeared over Penthe's hand, only for another claw to pierce it, forcing Penthe to pull away and slash with her poleaxe.
Of course. It was going to be a--
Joan didn't see what hit her, all she felt were the blows, one from ahead, one behind. She rolled with it, ducking down and barely managing to get out before the claws could snap closed on her, but it laid her out on the ground. She rolled onto her back and held the staff up, only for something to hit it a moment later.
Unfortunately, it seemed the monster could see in the dark better than she could.
"Joan!" Qakog called out, but she ignored him. She already knew she was in trouble and being told that wouldn't help her much right now. She really, really wished she was as good at the spell to see in the dark as Bauteut was, though she quickly cast it.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough light for her to make much use of it. She could only barely make out a little bit of a shadow coming down at her, allowing her to shove up with her staff to deflect the blow. But a second got through, striking her from the right and sending her spinning through the air. She hit what felt like another one of the claws, which dug a large gash down her right side and sent her rolling across the dirt, slightly dazed.
Joan shook her head, trying to clear it. If she could hear the claws coming, maybe she could do something, but the rumbling made that impossible. She crawled to her feet, trying desperately to see the claws coming at her.
She turned to the right, barely managing to get the staff up in time to catch the claw. A second strike she didn't see coming hit her on the right, sending her toppling back again. "Ugh… stupid… dark… web… monster… thing…" she grumbled.
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She saw movement coming from the right and readied to strike out. A dome of dim light appeared around her and Qakog ran past, his rapier cleaving through one of the claws.
Bauteut slid in a moment later, moving through the strange dome as if it wasn't even there, a hand moving down to grip her arm. "Joan, are you okay?" she asked.
"Can't see anything," Joan said. "Other than that, I'm fine." The world suddenly became a bit more clear, if incredibly gray. She could barely make out the webbing and the claws. A few of the claws had been cleaved away already, laying across the ground.
"It's not deep, but you are bleeding," Bauteut said. "I'll--"
A roar unlike anything she had ever heard filled the air. Nothing like an animal, it sounded more akin to an avalanche. The world began to shake harder and Bauteut clasped her tightly. Then Qakog dropped into the sphere, landing with a pained grunt.
"What is—" Joan asked, but she didn't have a chance to finish asking her question before something like a wall hit them. All three of them were suddenly slammed into each other, against the edge of the sphere. The sphere of light was at least fully around them and, while it was picked up by something, it also kept them safely inside it. While all three of them crammed up against one side wasn't comfortable, it seemed to dampen whatever had hit them. She couldn't see anything outside, all she could hear was the roar as they were sent racing through the tunnels.
Whatever it was, it was moving fast and taking them along with it. Bauteut held Joan tight, struggling to brace herself against the wall of the sphere as best she could. She clung to Bauteut and Qakog as best she could, trying to brace herself as they were sent spinning off.
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The sphere of light tumbled and rolled, slower and slower, as the roaring quieted down. Gradually, the sphere came to a delicate, gentle stop.
Joan gave a soft, gentle groan. "You know, when I was the Hero? That kind of thing never happened."
"Sure it didn't," Bauteut said, still holding her tight. "How is everyone feeling?"
"F-fine," Qakog said. He looked like he was going to be sick, his normally red skin having tinted a slight green. He managed to, slowly, crawl off them. Then collapse onto the ground. The sphere of light faded away a moment later.
Depositing all of them onto piles of mud. Qakog just gave another groan, but didn't move.
"Bruised," Joan said gently. "Very bruised. Everything aches." She glanced up and then shuddered. They weren't that far from a wall that had a rather sizable dent in it, shaped distressingly similar to the sphere of light they'd been in. "Could be worse, though. Was that from Searle?"
"Y-yes," Qakog said, not moving from his position on the ground. "V-very good at making shields, that one. A worthy… worthy rival of… urg…"
Joan nodded. She, admittedly, wasn't feeling that much better. But nauseous and bruised was superior to broken and shattered. She'd been that more than once and she never wanted to again.
There was light here.
Joan's eyes went wide and she realized there was light. Torchlight. They weren't in a tunnel. She started to get to her feet, only to love her balance and drop back onto her face with an awkward, less than elegant splash.
It was times like this she missed being the Hero the most. Stupid needing balance to properly move herself. She shook her head and sat up, a little slower this time, before looking around.
They were in a massive arena of sorts, the ground covered in mud. Once it was likely dirt, but now? Mud. Everything was soaked. She could see a tunnel off in the distance, leading right into the arena. Large orbs of ice covered the ground. In the center of the arena there was a massive statue on a stone platform, of a winged woman on her back with a sword protruding through her chest.
Not far from the three of them was a staircase. Joan glanced up it and sighed. Oh, she knew exactly who that was.
Tall. Pale. Short black hair. She couldn't see from this far away, but she bet he had red eyes. Probably sharp teeth. The vampire she saw fight Penthe… and win.
On the upside, he didn't seem very focused on them. He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, hands together, chin resting on them. Peering towards the tunnel. As if he was waiting for something.
"That him?" Joan asked. "The guy who fought Penthe and knocked you two into the tunnels?"
Joan glanced around, but she didn't see where Penthe could have been knocked back. The mud everywhere probably did a good job of hiding any trapdoors, though. She used her staff to help haul herself to her feet, grateful she'd managed to keep her grip on it.
Amazed she hadn't lost her grip on it, actually. She really wanted to know what kind of magic was woven into it, when she had the chance. "Where… is Penthe, anyway?" Joan asked, glancing back towards the tunnel. She hadn't been in the sphere, though. Whatever had sent them here had--
Chase. It was Chase. It had to be Chase. The reason it had sounded like an avalanche HAD to be him! That wasn't a monster, that was a tidal wave! That had to be what all those ice orbs were! Him grabbing things and just launching them out of the tunnel. It--
Joan paused when she realized everything seemed a bit… off. The world seemed to have lost some of its color. More importantly, the light squishing sounds and heavy breathing from Bauteut and Qakog had gone entirely. She looked down at them, but they weren't moving.
Frozen in time.
"Huh," Joan said softly before looking around. Was Penthe at a doorway? Was--
The sound of heavy footsteps made her pause and then glance up.
"O-oh…" Joan said softly.
The vampire was, unfortunately, no longer focused on the tunnel across the arena. Now his eyes were locked squarely on her.
And he wasn't locked in time.
"Note to self, ask Penthe about that magic later," Joan whispered.
'And not me? I'm hurt,' the Nameless One said in a mocking tone.
"You're not-- wait, no, you are part fate, aren't you?" Joan asked softly.
'Indeed,' the Nameless One said.
"If I survive this I have so many questions to ask you," Joan said. "Does this staff work on vampires?"
'As well as any other blunt, nigh-invulnerable object would,' the Nameless One said.
"So no," Joan said softly before gulping and looking down at Bauteut and Qakog. Locked in time.
But Penthe was out there, somewhere, not locked. She just had to trust her to arrive in time. Between the two of them, she was sure they could handle this creature. All she had to do was buy time.
And that meant running.
"Okay, vampire, if we're going to do this, then let's do this," Joan yelled before she turned and ran towards the statue in the middle of the arena. She wasn't sure what she'd do when she got there, but she'd come up with a plan when she did. Probably.
She hoped.