Chapter 156 – Desperation

 “You will not leave me here and you do not get to save me,” Thana growled. The crystalline structure behind her back was set aflame, flickering as metallic-high pitched noises filled the room. The perverted sound of violins screeched, intensifying as she crouched down. She bent forward, right arm connected to the ground, left raised above her head. More and more of her blood flowed towards the raised hand until it was encompassed in a crimson claw three times the size of her actual hand.

A series of notes, deep, deep, high, deep, high, then she jumped forwards, right at John. There was nobody who could react, not even Sylph was able to intercept the pale woman’s assault and so she tore through the sorry remains of John’s barrier.

The impact was gruesome. The claw tore open his ribcage, spikes of crystallized blood making the wound worse and worse, fraying his skin like cheap cloth under strain. Then, he was catapulted back. Sliding over the carpet with high speed that added burning pain to the very real and disgusting feeling of fresh air close to his exposed heart. This act alone had cost him over 1500 HP, he would not survive another strike.

Thana pulled the hand back. “Any last words?!” she asked with pure anger in her voice. The pulsing red of her wings, so John realized, would be the last thing he would ever see. Thana was about to gouge his throat out when a fist plunged into her face. It barely even moved her.

Everybody stared at Herman. The Apothecary had appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He smiled at John, “I was afraid the plan had failed so I came to check.”

“How sweet of you,” Thana said and grabbed his arm. “HOW ABOUT YOU CHECK INTO HEAVEN?!” She threw him across the room and in a disgusting display of raw power Herman flew into the next wall. His body broke on impact, the crunching noises a disgusting undertone to the continued shrill sounds from Thana’s wings.

Herman’s sacrifice did buy enough time for Sylph to arrive. The tempest elemental was less than a fly to Thana but it was annoying and in turn allowed Aclysia and Rave to get to them. She blocked the punch from Aclysia but Rave’s kick did actually make her budge, reinforced by Rave’s martial arts skills as well as a ripple of light that followed a moment later.

“This time, it better work, I am tired of dying every couple hours!” Copernicus announced as he too pounced onto Thana and covered her face in burning claw marks.

The blood mage jumped off John and gained some distance. Copernicus, having learnt from last time, did not follow her around to be bitten apart again. “You fucktards are all seriously getting on my nerves,” Thana spat out.

‘Undine, heal Herman,’ John instructed.

‘Your wounds are-’ Undine started, but John interrupted her-

‘Already healed, Gamer’s Body. My HP can be played around, him bleeding out cannot. Now get to it. Mono, give her your mana.’

“This is looking pretty bad right now,” Rave said looking at the supremely pissed maniac that was between them and the exit. Even if they got up there, they would still need to punch their way out of the barrier. “you are out of mana and your HP is low.”

“Is it?” John asked and allowed himself a sly grin, he had prepared for this emergency. He took the Flask of Grinding and quickly pulled the cork off, emptying the golden liquid inside into his mouth.

“Restored to full,” John said and put the flask back into its holster, he also deactivated his Mana Protection, it would be unwise to have his newly regenerated mana be burned away by a single attack.

“Bullshit,” Rave laughed. “We are fighting a Nazi experiment, that got into Soviet hands, that then got stolen, that we accidentally freed and now wants to kill us and you’re still the weirdest thing around.”

“Name’s Thana, nice to meet you too, bitch,” the experiment in question shouted out. “Are you done? I am being nice for a change.” Thana was indeed keeping her distance and her fight to a more leisurely pace. Her mood appeared to have swung back, now that they were all away from the entrance.

“Things might not be as bad as you think, Jane,” John said, he had realized that Thana heard every whisper anyhow. “She has lost more than twenty levels already, the more she uses her ability the quicker she loses her powers.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“You get Herman, I will preoccupy her and then we try to get out of here,” John explained.

Thana crouched down again, after forcing Copernicus back. “You just try,” she dared him, her shaking and her anger seemingly had died down and she grinned again. Not that that was necessarily a good thing. A deep note struck, the wings flared up.

“I won’t let you!” Gnome shouted and the ground under Thana’s feet suddenly shifted, threatening to ruin her balance. Thana jumped forwards immediately and was met by Sylph who created a gust of wind that managed to get the blood mage slightly off course. Maybe the tempest elemental could have done more, but her mana reserves had not recovered like John’s had done with the level up and so that wind was all that she could throw out at this point.

But it was enough for John to dodge the attack. The Gamer ran for it as Rave did the same and picked up the somewhat recovered Herman, who aided Undine’s healing with his own abilities.

Thana managed to land on her feet and created an immediate counterattack. There was a new series of tones, high, higher, deep, high, as she used her momentum to turn around on her heels. A whip of crimson lashed out and connected with Sylph, wrapping around the tempest elemental and pulling her backwards, right into Thana’s hand.

John tried to quickly make Sylph incorporeal, but he couldn’t. Something was blocking her return to a spiritual form. ‘Does Thana have the Touch of the Abyss too?’ John made the only logical conclusion and with terror he saw the tiny air spirit get crushed in Thana’s hand.

John was tempted to throw attacks of revenge at the blood mage but he needed all of his mana to create an escape route.

“Run!” he screamed the obvious as he gave Gnome several hundred points of mana. She used it to create another prison. Last time John had given most of his mana to Salamander, hoping that the need for regeneration would stop Thana. Now all he wanted to do was contain the girl and so Gnome not only created but continuously reinforced the earthen walls while everyone made a break for it.

“Thank you,” John gasped while running, “you really saved my ass there.”

“Don’t thank me just yet, we haven’t even gotten through with half of the plan,” Herman said but gave him an encouraging grin, his grievous wounds healed already.

“Y'all should shut up and run faster!” Rave was the unlikely voice of reason here as a series of muffled booming sounds came from inside the prison.

Rave and Herman were already on the stairs when Thana broke out. “YOU ARE HELL-BENT ON LEAVING ME BEHIND, AREN’T YOU?!” a scream came from inside an explosion of dirt on pebbles. Thana stormed after them, no care for anything else that was going on.

And that was exactly what allowed Mono and Aclysia to surprise the maniac. First two holy bolts hit the blood mage in the legs and then Aclysia, having retrieved Ashkandi amidst the chaos, aimed at Thana’s torso. The blood mage tried to duck under the attack but overestimated her own speed, her body likely decaying faster than she hadanticipated with the amount of power she used. Instead of dodging the blade she merely changed it from a strike at her ribs to a strike to her neck, a clean cut.

Her severed head tumbled through the air but in perhaps the most ridiculous feat of Thana’s regeneration John had seen so far it kept a connection to the main body through strands of blood, which pulled the head back down as she just continued running at John.

To everyone’s terror she caught up. John tried to keep her away with a quick usage of Mana Blade, but even weakened as she was, she was still several times faster than John and side-stepped the attack. Finally, she came to a halt between John and the other two humans of the group. 

“I told you that I only wanted to fight you,” Thana said and clenched a fist, “and now I’ve had it with mingling influences.” She turned to the wall and punched at it, producing a fist sized hole there. Cracks formed all around but it still held. Thana was not done with that alone. Her wings expanded into a wall of thorns and needles, simultaneously tearing apart the concrete and forcing Rave and Herman back.

he stability of the staircase was ripped apart within moments. They tried to intercept but by the time Rave was close enough it was already too late. The tunnel caved in, tons of dirt crashing down on Thana and gradually shredding more of the ceiling. John barely saw Herman drag Rave back far enough to get out of the immediate danger zone.

The blood mage herself backed away from the newly created separation between John and the rest of the group, pulling the Gamer with her and then throwing him back into the room below. Now he was alone with his remaining familiars. Being tossed just now had cost him a mere 50 HP. Considering he had been fully healed, the situation was not immediately dire, but most of his lifelines had been exhausted. Mono still had about eight hundred HP left, so it wasn’t that bad. Aclysia had regrown her arm and regenerated to about 75%, Gnome and Undine were ready to follow whatever idea John would have.

“You will stay here with me until one of us dies,” she said, her smirk empty and grim.

John had other plans, he had a lot of mana, so he could get out of here with Gnome’s help, all he needed to do was to get up the stairs again. His staring at the exit must have been obvious as Thana clicked her tongue.

“You are still trying to escape, not fight,” she complained, her eyes falling on Aclysia. “Guess I need a new fucking hostage to get your cunt-seeking attention.”

She crouched down for the third time. John did not know what she was planning but he didn’t care to wait to find out. ‘Gnome!’ he shouted into his thoughts, his mana pool opened to her to take what she would need. Thana catapulted herself forwards the moment she was in position.

Aclysia tried to block but the force of Thana’s assault drove her backwards. Blocking the initial strike with Ashkandi, the flat of the blade braced against her arm, she was defenceless against the blood-clad hand snapping forwards. The blood mage’s hand plunged deep into her chest, grabbed something and ripped it out. Aclysia’s body fell backwards, a soulless chunk of metal, as Thana jumped off her and landed back in her original position.

“Knew I knew something about Artificial Spirits,” Thana giggled and waved with the Artificial Crystal that was Aclysia’s heart.

John threw a panicked look at his Interface. Aclysia wasn’t dead but her HP maximum had been reduced to five.

“I guess I was correct in thinking this is important to you,” Thana commented on the look on his face. “Man, If I had more time, I’d give you shit about running around with your personal fucking harem. Now….OH SHUT THE FUCK UP!” she suddenly lashed out and broke the floor with a stomp. “…Sorry about that, cocksuckers keep talking,” she failed at an explanation. She looked at the crystal in her hand for another moment and then raised it to her mouth, swallowing it whole. “There, now you either fight me like a man, instead of hiding your balls in your babymaker,” Thana told him, “or I will destroy that pretty little servant of yours by using my blood, we clear?”

John clenched his fist, “Why? Why won’t you let us just save you?!” he burst out, “Why are you this bent on dying? You have never known any of the joys of life.”

He was left without an answer, as Thana just crouched down again.