Re: Intense Struggle Season 2! (Round 3: Castle Suterrea)
03-04-2011, 10:41 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
Ah, alright, more fighting monsters that she couldn’t really kill.
Sarika sort of stood back guiltily and thought for a little bit. She thought about what a killer headache she was having right now. She thought about getting a staff-sword. She thought about how heavy that would actually be and dismissed it immediately. She thought about the passengers that were possibly stranded in the train and found that she didn’t actually care about them. It was sort of surprising. But not really.
Okay, so she fancied herself a vigilante. But…she wasn’t really a good one. She wasn’t good at fighting and she wasn’t good at protecting and, really, she supposed she had a rather simple definition of ‘justice.’ And now she was finding herself completely apathetic to civilian lives.
Not to mention she was just leaving Karen to fight everything that was coming along.
The monsters that came this time were built more like tanks instead of the more lithe form of the scout. As usual, Karen appeared to fight them off rather easily. But she couldn’t fight all of them at once.
Before she even realized it, Sarika walked up behind one of the large beast and smacked it on the back of its head. It probably didn’t do much besides give a light bruise. In any case, it worked to catch the attention of some large monsters and at least one had a grudge against her and a good reason to follow her down to the end of the hall. Away from Karen, at least.
Being light had its advantage. Sarika sped easily ahead of them and they lumbered and shoved each other aside, trying to squeeze pass each other to get to her first. She looked behind her often to check that they hadn’t fallen too far behind, and finally jumped high enough to reach the ceiling. One metallic arm forced its thin fingers in the stone to hold her up. She immediately regretted this. It almost felt as though the implants would rip right out of her shoulder. She let go of her staff to use her other arm to hold on and it clattered to the floor. The demonic beasts, even more eager to reach their prey, hurried forward as one.
The next moment, thick, barbed spears thrust forward through the walls on each side of them and pierced through all three. A few seconds later, the spears retracted and tore them apart. Sarika waited a little before dropping down, making sure not to accidentally land on a switch. She rubbed her shoulders painfully and picked up her staff once again and looked towards Karen, who was already taking care of the rest of the wave. “Let’s go!” she shouted to her just as a clamorous baying started down the hall. Karen cleaved the last heavyset beast in half before rushing over to her.
Sarika immediately held onto her arm and started running back where they came from, hopping strange patterns on the floor. Behind them was a loud wall of shadowy beasts, advancing swiftly, teeth and eyes shifting to the surface before sinking away again, somewhat like boiling soup. Every once in a while, the beasts would accidentally trigger a trap and their numbers would fall by a few, but not nearly enough.
Sarika suddenly veered around a corner, somewhat surprising Karen, who skidded a little as she was tugged along. “Where are we going!” she shouted.
“No clue yet,” Sarika called back. “I’m just following, uh, me?” She turned around another corner and this time, Karen was able to keep up. Immediately afterwards, she turned around another corner. “Did we lose them? No, of course not,” Sarika answered before Karen could even look back. “Wait, wait, there’re some stairs coming up…”
“We’re—“
“No,” Sarika responded firmly. “We’re going down. Down,” she emphasized to a protest that hadn’t been voiced yet. “Don’t question the seer,” she hissed as Karen was thinking about mentioning that going down to the possible basement would potentially corner them in the future.
So when they came to the stairs, they went down, almost slipping down the stone steps. They had already left the shadowy mob behind and already their baying was growing fainter.
“Alright,” Sarika breathed out, managing to rub her eyes while still running. “I think—eep!”
The squeak of surprise seemed quite uncharacteristic, and actually rather cute. When Sarika completely stopped, Karen crashed into her back. “What is it?” she demanded, drawing her sword again.
“Nothing,” Sarika shot back. “Never mind. Let’s stay down here for a while before going up again. Maybe someone else is down here.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Karen could tell that whatever it was she saw, it was still bothering her. The tense way she moved was obvious enough. But if Sarika was not willing to talk, she was pretty sure she couldn’t force her. At least not for now. If anything dramatic happened later, she would be sure to bring the subject up again.
Ah, alright, more fighting monsters that she couldn’t really kill.
Sarika sort of stood back guiltily and thought for a little bit. She thought about what a killer headache she was having right now. She thought about getting a staff-sword. She thought about how heavy that would actually be and dismissed it immediately. She thought about the passengers that were possibly stranded in the train and found that she didn’t actually care about them. It was sort of surprising. But not really.
Okay, so she fancied herself a vigilante. But…she wasn’t really a good one. She wasn’t good at fighting and she wasn’t good at protecting and, really, she supposed she had a rather simple definition of ‘justice.’ And now she was finding herself completely apathetic to civilian lives.
Not to mention she was just leaving Karen to fight everything that was coming along.
The monsters that came this time were built more like tanks instead of the more lithe form of the scout. As usual, Karen appeared to fight them off rather easily. But she couldn’t fight all of them at once.
Before she even realized it, Sarika walked up behind one of the large beast and smacked it on the back of its head. It probably didn’t do much besides give a light bruise. In any case, it worked to catch the attention of some large monsters and at least one had a grudge against her and a good reason to follow her down to the end of the hall. Away from Karen, at least.
Being light had its advantage. Sarika sped easily ahead of them and they lumbered and shoved each other aside, trying to squeeze pass each other to get to her first. She looked behind her often to check that they hadn’t fallen too far behind, and finally jumped high enough to reach the ceiling. One metallic arm forced its thin fingers in the stone to hold her up. She immediately regretted this. It almost felt as though the implants would rip right out of her shoulder. She let go of her staff to use her other arm to hold on and it clattered to the floor. The demonic beasts, even more eager to reach their prey, hurried forward as one.
The next moment, thick, barbed spears thrust forward through the walls on each side of them and pierced through all three. A few seconds later, the spears retracted and tore them apart. Sarika waited a little before dropping down, making sure not to accidentally land on a switch. She rubbed her shoulders painfully and picked up her staff once again and looked towards Karen, who was already taking care of the rest of the wave. “Let’s go!” she shouted to her just as a clamorous baying started down the hall. Karen cleaved the last heavyset beast in half before rushing over to her.
Sarika immediately held onto her arm and started running back where they came from, hopping strange patterns on the floor. Behind them was a loud wall of shadowy beasts, advancing swiftly, teeth and eyes shifting to the surface before sinking away again, somewhat like boiling soup. Every once in a while, the beasts would accidentally trigger a trap and their numbers would fall by a few, but not nearly enough.
Sarika suddenly veered around a corner, somewhat surprising Karen, who skidded a little as she was tugged along. “Where are we going!” she shouted.
“No clue yet,” Sarika called back. “I’m just following, uh, me?” She turned around another corner and this time, Karen was able to keep up. Immediately afterwards, she turned around another corner. “Did we lose them? No, of course not,” Sarika answered before Karen could even look back. “Wait, wait, there’re some stairs coming up…”
“We’re—“
“No,” Sarika responded firmly. “We’re going down. Down,” she emphasized to a protest that hadn’t been voiced yet. “Don’t question the seer,” she hissed as Karen was thinking about mentioning that going down to the possible basement would potentially corner them in the future.
So when they came to the stairs, they went down, almost slipping down the stone steps. They had already left the shadowy mob behind and already their baying was growing fainter.
“Alright,” Sarika breathed out, managing to rub her eyes while still running. “I think—eep!”
The squeak of surprise seemed quite uncharacteristic, and actually rather cute. When Sarika completely stopped, Karen crashed into her back. “What is it?” she demanded, drawing her sword again.
“Nothing,” Sarika shot back. “Never mind. Let’s stay down here for a while before going up again. Maybe someone else is down here.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Karen could tell that whatever it was she saw, it was still bothering her. The tense way she moved was obvious enough. But if Sarika was not willing to talk, she was pretty sure she couldn’t force her. At least not for now. If anything dramatic happened later, she would be sure to bring the subject up again.