NOVEL NEXT “The Moon (K)night”
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Felix pov
He left the deserted mansion; all important people had already been kidnapped, and all valuable items had been stolen or made available for transport outside by the undead. The only thing they had to do now was take them to Nazarik and then be ready for the final part of the plan. He sighed deeply as he left the property and looked up at the sky. It was a full moon, and the bright light illuminated the forecourt in a mysterious way. It wasn't clear to him whether the time of the full moon was deliberately chosen for the invasion or whether it was just a coincidence, but the large, bright disk in the sky definitely created an ominous atmosphere.
A quick look at the insect maid confirmed that she had already taken care of the transport. Large summoned insects carried boxes, chests, and all sorts of other valuables in their claws and fangs. He carried the last bag full of coins to one of the less packed insects and stuck the tip of the bag between its large fangs.
"All right," he said and faced Entoma. "I think that was everything."
"Very good, fly then, my little helpers," responded the maid, and she gave one of the insects closest to her a small pat.
With a tremendous hum, the heavily laden swarm rose into the air. He watched as the swarm slowly disappeared over the horizon and could only shake his head in confusion as the insect maid waved after him with a torn human hand. A little disgusted, he then watched as she began to gnaw the flesh from the torn upper arm. He wasn't someone who shied away from killing, as he had shown earlier, and wasn't averse to drinking his opponent's blood since he was dependent on it as a vampire, but eating human flesh was a bit too much for him.
"Hey you there," a powerful voice boomed through the night.
It sounded feminine and yet hoarse and deep like a man's. His eyes followed the voice, and after a short time he was able to make out her origin. A massive woman in even bulkier burgundy full-plate armor that only left her hips and head visible. Her appearance was conspicuously self-confident, from her posture to the huge hammer she had placed over one of her massive shoulders. There was no doubt it was the "giant of the blue rose" Gargaran.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what are you eating there?" asked the giantss.
"Ohh that? It's just an arm. There used to be a human attached to it," answered "Entoma.
"Is that so? Man, and I thought I had seen everything, but a human meat-eating maid from a secret crime syndicate is really something new. Isnt it?" replied the armored woman.
"Hmm, and who are you?" She asked, confused, as if she had just noticed him.
"Lady Zeta, we should retreat immediately; this woman is part of an adventurer group, and while I think that you would be perfectly able to kill almost all of them, there is one woman among them that could pose difficulties, even for you." He informed Entoma, ignoring the red warrior.
"You are right, its not our mission to fight this woman anyway," Entoma replied.
"Hah, so you are ignoring me? Fine if you want to play like that; its not like I would let a vampire and a murderous maid get away," the armored woman replied and sprinted towards Entoma.
CRACKS
The powerful blow of her hammer shook the earth, and although Entoma had jumped back, she was hit by some debris caused by the use of one of her martial arts that broke the ground. He swallowed and looked at the deep hole; it was bad. If he had been hit by it, it would have been over, magical armor or not. But it seemed Entoma had other priorities.
"How dare you? This piece of clothing was given to me by one of the supreme beings, and you dare to make it dirty?" She angrily shouted
"Lady Zeta? We really should retreat, and if it is just to regroup." He suggested but was promtly ignored.
"Arg, fine, fuck it," he said, grapted one of the undeads and threw it at Gargaran, who reflexively hit its head with her hammer, leaving her exposed.
"Haaarg!" he shouted, and he let his sword rush towards her bare side with inhuman speed.
KLANG
The blonde warrior didn't even have to react because the sword simply bounced off the red armor, and now he showed his weak side. Fuck.
BAMM
The hammer hit his torso and knocked all the air out of his lungs. Not even his magical chain mail was able to prevent the broken ribs; his only consolation was that he could already feel them healing, albeit very slowly.
SLASH
He looked up and saw what had caused that noise. Entoma had taken advantage of the situation and wounded the distracted Gargaran in the back. The armor that seemed to have caused him so much trouble was just child's play for Entoma. A big lage gash covered the massive back and made the giant warrior stagger. She stumbled back and touched the wound with one of her gloves before it glowed and the wound closed.
A magical item.
Immediately after she was healed, Gargaran pounced on Entoma again; her hammer glowed and showed the activation of a martial art. A quick and inhumanly strong attack fell on Entoma, but the little maiden managed to do so without any difficulty with one of her summoned insects, which posed as a shield.
KLANG
But that wasn't all; without a break, the next blow came, and the next and the next. A combo was created by activating multiple martial arts in a row.
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
KLANG
Only an inhuman monster would be able to counter such a combo. And unfortunately, Entoma was one. But she didn't even have to KLANG the last hit; she hit the shield, and Gargaran lurched. The constant hitting and swinging of her massive hammer made her lose her balance; she wasn't normally used to someone surviving this combo, and that threw her off balance. Entoma raised her weapon and...
WUSCH
Tia, the assassin twin he met on the plantation, fought against him. She had somehow managed to pull Gargaran out of the way of Entoma's weapon and thus saved her life. He groaned and sat up. Everything hurt, but at least his ribs were almost healed. He raised his sword and went to Entoma's side.
The maid had now let her sword beetle go. He was about to ask her why when he heard a loud crawling noise. A huge centipede, longer than ten meters and thicker than his arm, approached them and happily climbed into Entoma's hand. The insect maid then swung it through the air twice as if she wanted to test it out and then concentrated on the opponents again.
"Do you have a plan?" He curiously asked, but the only answer he got was happy click noises from her hidden mandibles.
Why do I even ask?
He looked again at the two members of the blue rose, ready to fight, and sighed. Tia wasn't a problem; he had fought against her before and knew where to strike best. She was annoying, sure, but that was about it. As an assassin, she specialized in paralyzing and deadly poisons, but since he was a vampire, this was ineffective against him. Even her small weapon, which without the poison was just an oversized toothpick, was nothing more than an anoyence.
Completely different Gargaran, her armor not only made his sword ineffective, but with her powerful hammer, it also made him think twice about whether to attack her or not. Luckily, he had a solution to the problem. He bit the inside of his hand until blood dripped and then dragged the entire bloody palm across the broadside of his sword.
blood martial arts: glass sword
Where the blood touched the broadside of the sword, it seeped into the blade and turned the metal red. The metal began to become transparent so that one could see through it and finally began to emit a red glow, giving the sword an ominous, fairytale-like appearance.
He sprinted towards Gargaran again and tried to hit her again. Unfortunately, this time there was no undead to use as a distraction. Fortunately, the blow hit the giantess in the torso and shredded through her armor. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the red warrior from grabbing him by the collar and throwing him with all her might against the villa. For the second time that day, he felt his ribs crack, this time even more violently than before.
If he wasn't a vampire, he would probably have lost consciousness. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. He watched as Entoma used the brief distraction (which she didn't need) to grab Tia and immobilize her in her arms. The strangely protruding arms and legs indicated the type of method. Just as Entoma was about to take her mandibles out from under her clothes to eat Tia right here and now for Gargaran, something happened.
He felt something; Entoma seemed to have sensed it too because she let go of Tia and jumped back not a second too soon to avoid the crystal lance that was stuck in the ground where she had just been standing. A small person landed on the lance, her red robe glowing in the moonlight, then turned to reveal her face covered by a bone-white mask.
Fuck, he recognized that mask.