Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Blood ruse

Gjaki could feel something in her blood, something that had invaded it, perhaps corrupted it. Not her own blood, but her blood pool, the one she used for her blood spells. Every time she cast them, it affected her, numbed her, caused her to feell a strange drowsiness.

She had tried to counter it with Curses at me?. She had hoped it was a curse, to no avail.

"Oh, you've noticed. Unfortunately, it's too late now," the vampire leader mocked her.

He looked somewhat scruffy, and was trying hard not to show his fury. The vampiress' actions had exceeded his expectations, as had the irruption of her allies. Those people had decimated them, and perhaps the vampires were now at a great disadvantage. It depended on how their enemies' reserves were.

However, now the situation had changed again. Not only was an enemy no longer a threat, but a group of reinforcements was closing in. They were in sight, in the distance, and would hardly take a few minutes to arrive.

Eldi looked at her companion, not knowing what was happening, not knowing how to help her. He wanted to get closer, but the vampiress shook her head.

"You better undo this if you don't want to regret it," Gjaki threatened.

"Ha, ha. Do you think you can still threaten us? You're at death door. You can tell, can't you? It affects you more if you use blood, but it affects you little by little anyway. You'd better give up," he suggested. Nonetheless, he was less sure than he wanted to appear.

The silver-haired vampiress frowned. She drew both daggers and took a step toward them.

"Are you sure?" she asked, threatening.

"Don't think you're going to intimidate us. You won't last long," the vampire assured.

"Don't come near me until I'm done. Support me from afar," Gjaki ordered emphatically when looking at her allies for a moment.

She had been reviewing every spell and skill, looking for a solution. She had even looked at her inventory. Gjaki was sure that she could have prevented the invasion of whatever it was, had her blood abilities not been suppressed. It had been masked until it had been too late.

The only solution seemed to be getting rid of all of her tainted blood supply. It was something she could accomplish with ease if no enemies were nearby. She just had to push it out little by little. Unfortunately, right now, it wasn't an option.

The other possibility was to spend it, but that would stimulate the effect that made her sleepy. Also, she didn't even know if it could be deadly. She needed something that could wear her reserve down quickly, and some way to counter the effects. She could only think of a dangerous solution.

The vampiress had thought about Pass Poison, but she felt that it wouldn't work. If it was a poison, something she wasn't sure about, why it didn't target her but her blood pool? Besides, she could feel that it would be useless, though she didn't quite know how she could be so sure.

Therefore, Gjaki renewed her Dark Aura, and charged directly at her enemies. She also squeezed her mana to cast several Darkballs. Perhaps, they weren't the most effective, but she wasn't going to need her mana for a while. Any damage and chaos she could create was welcome.

This took them all by surprise. Given her plight, they didn't expect her to act so aggressively, neither her enemies nor her companions. Although that aggressiveness was nothing compared to what was to come. Her eyes, whose red was brighter than usual, seemed to foreshadow it.

"Berserker!" Eldi exclaimed when he realized.

It was a skill that the vampiress had rarely used in the game, at least not seriously. Only when her companions had irritated her so much that she had decided to surprise them.

For example, on one occasion, while she was boasting about her combat power, she had fallen into a dung patch. Eldi and Goldmi couldn't stop laughing, so she had activated the skill. Furious and embarrassed, she had left the computer, and had let her out-of-control character chase after them.

"What control does she have with that skill?" Nilgha asked, a bit intimidated.

She knew those kinds of skills, but they weren't all exactly the same. Some were more powerful than others, and not everybody could maintain control of their actions. Furthermore, the vampiress aura was changing. It was becoming more menacing and terrifying.

"None," Eldi answered, worried and taking a step back. "Help me set some traps before the reinforcements arrive."

The resistance member and the lynx also backed away, all attentive to the situation. If they could help, they would, but they couldn't get close. If they did, Gjaki might see them as enemies and turn against them.

From a distance, the elf had found out about everything through her sister. With Hawkeye, she could clearly see the approaching enemy reinforcements, about fifteen vampires. They were too many for them in their situation, almost exhausted. Therefore, she started shooting arrows at them, some with Light Overload. They were very annoying to vampires.

That stopped her enemies, who didn't know where the attacks were coming from. They quickly took cover behind some trees, but the attacks had stopped. As soon as they started to advance, the archer fired again.

The vampires' level was too high for those attacks to do much damage, but they were quite annoying. They alternated blasts of light, Wind Traps, Light Traps, Piercing Arrows, Wind ones, Ethereal, or even Rough Arrows. Also, with Curved Shot, she made sure that it wasn't easy for them to dodge.

The variety didn't give them a break, and they couldn't disdain the lethality of some attacks. Many ended up with burns, torn clothes and some injuries. Had they ignored them, the injuries would have been more serious.

This meant that they could not move as fast as before, although soon Goldmi would have to lower the intensity. Despite the Mana Link from her sisters, she would run out if she didn't.

At the very least, she had to buy time, not let them arrive too soon. It would be a problem when their enemies did, as they were low on mana and energy. However, the problem would be greater if the vampires were allowed to join their companions. That had to be avoided at all costs.