Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Alone facing danger (I)

The vampires backed away from the trajectory of the grenades, wary. It didn't take long for them to congratulate themselves on having distanced from the subsequent explosions.

At the same time, Goldmi had started shooting at the artifact, but the slimy barrier had stopped her arrows. After a couple of tests, she started shooting Wind Arrows, which dealt increased damage. She opened a gap, but it would take time to cross it.

One after another, the lynx, Eldi and Nilgha arrived. They began to attack the barrier to create a gap as well. Nonetheless, they didn't dare to simply try to cross it, suspicious of its nature.

It didn't take them long to realize that the fire was effective, so the feline advanced wrapped in it. Meanwhile, the high human and the resistance member used Burning Spears that the former had created, helping the lynx.

At the same time that her companions were trying to break through, Gjaki threw some incendiary grenades, which were of a different type than before. This time, she threw them right after imbuing mana, thus giving them time to reach their targets instead of exploding in midair. She was confident that, as they were hidden behind the first explosion, they might be more effective.

She couldn't see them, but she could feel their blood aura. Therefore, she was able to aim quite accurately.

Explosive potions alone weren't enough to kill those vampires. However, the two who received them fully were engulfed in flames.

The operation of those incendiary grenades was simple and lethal. A membrane wrapped around a small source of mana, and separated it from a highly flammable liquid. When the membrane was corroded from the outside by the mana added to trigger the explosion, the mana from the inside found its way into the liquid. That started its combustion, plus an explosion to spread it out.

It wasn't lethal, but it was very painful. The victims' Self-Regeneration was weaker than Gjaki's, so it wasn't enough to neutralize the damage suffered. It didn't take long for them to squirm on the ground, as they tried to put out the flames.

Their companions were looking at them, not knowing how to help them, or whether to simply ignore them. Suddenly, Gjaki stepped out of the smoke towards one of the burning ones.

"Catch her!" the leader yelled.

The vampires reacted fast. Various magic, blood and weapon attacks flew towards her. Unexpectedly, they passed through her, and some of them even injured other vampires. It was a Clone, with which she had drawn their attention in order to get to the vampiress who was also burning.

That vampiress was too busy trying to put out the flames, so she didn't even see her enemy approaching. Besides, the others had moved towards the illusion.

Gjaki attacked the half-open mouth with a dagger, not stabbing it, but forcing it to open and swallow a grenade that had been previously activated. Immediately, she summoned six Mirror Clones.

It was evident that she couldn't escape without being seen. The best she could do was buy time, distract them, and try to destroy that artifact. However, right now, it was out of her reach, too far away and protected.

"There she is!"

"Which is her?"

"Boooooom!!"

The vampiress who had swallowed the grenade exploded. Her blood and entrails flew all over the battlefield, which created to a macabre scene. The lower part of her body and her head were the only half recognizable.

"One less," Gjaki said to herself, as she hid inside the smoke.

The other vampires couldn't stop their blood from running cold for a few moments. They had just started, and one of them had already died.

They didn't understand how that ancestral vampiress could give them so much trouble with her blood already suppressed. If they put themselves in her place, while they wouldn't be defenseless, they would have lost too much strength.

The truth is that Gjaki had lost some strength. She couldn't use her blood abilities, with special emphasis on Blood Overload. Without that spell, she had lost speed, strength, and reflexes. Though that only meant that the vampiress couldn't rise them to the extreme that she normally had within her reach.

Though weakened, she was by no means weak. Unlike most vampires, Gjaki had many spells and skills that didn't require blood, including illusions and dark magic, or her martial arts.

She made it look like she was attacking, and all her images mimicked her. Most looked a little ridiculous, but a couple were near vampires, who rushed to defend themselves. They had been intimidated by their companion's explosion.

She then released a few more smoke potions, ready to create chaos on the battlefield. Likewise, she created a pair of independent Clones, and sent them each in a different direction.

That only distracted her enemies for an instant. They launched quick attacks that weren't very powerful to check if they were the real one. They had learned their lesson.

"Damn! Dranbon! Disperse the smoke!" the leader ordered.

The vampire complied, thus creating a strong wind that swept across the battlefield to disperse the smoke. However, behind the smoke there was nothing. The vampiress had vanished.

In her place, there were multitudes of illusions posing as the vampires themselves, that had been created from the Dynamic World. The mana cost that Gjaki was incurring was high, but she had no choice if she wanted to survive. When her companions arrived, perhaps they would have a chance.

The vampires looked at each other, and so did the illusions. Too late they realized that not all of them were illusions.

Combining I am You and Costume, Gjaki had taken the form of a vampiress, and acted as one of the illusions. She knew that she could not maintain the illusions for a long time, and the one with the artifact was too far away. Therefore, she took the opportunity to eliminate another of the vampires.

This time, she used Backstab on his throat and heart. The latter was protected by the armor he was wearing under his clothing, but the dagger at his throat killed him in seconds.

"AAAAaaargh...!!" he barely managed to shout.

They all turned to her, still disguised. She was grabbing the vampire's lifeless body from behind.

"That's not me!" a vampiress exclaimed.

"Kill her!" the leader yelled.

They could only be ruthless, as she was too dangerous. So, a multitude of attacks were launched towards her, who took cover behind the corpse of the vampire. However, she couldn't help but suffer a few scratches and burns, which Self-Regeneration would take time to heal. The blood suppression didn't prevent it from working, but it did slow it down greatly.