Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Dungeon, first floor (II)

After regaining her mana, she quickly left the rest area and moved away towards the remaining trap, without giving her enemy time to react. She wielded both daggers and applied Dark Touch, while waiting for it to lunge at her and get caught by the Tentacles. It wasn't for long, but it was enough for her to arrive at the side were the severed arm was. She slashed both daggers at another of its arms, in the same area, and then duck and jump away from it.

Gjaki sheathed the daggers and drew the whip. With it, she struck at the same point, thus hastening the degradation of the wound and the fall of the second arm. At the same time, she placed other Tentacles to have them ready.

The vampire tried using Grab to wrap the whip around the other four arms, thus trying to immobilize them. However, probably due to the level difference, she only managed it for an instant, so the weapon was put away.

She dodged its attacks by heading to the side where there were only two arms. After that, she used her left hand to stop one of the blades with Manual Block. Gjaki could feel that she would barely be able to stop it for a moment. Nonetheless, it was enough to block and dodge the other arm with Slippery Dagger, thus slipping away from the first one as well. She wielded a second dagger, and stabbed it into one of its elbows.

The vampire used the stabbed dagger to swing and place both feet on her enemy. She propelled against it, thus pushing it back as she backed away from it, while twice using Fleeting Dagger against the same spot. More Tentacles were set, and she also took advantage of the mannequin getting up to hide in Darkness.

She intended to retrieve the daggers while hiding, though she didn't think that just with her intent one of the fairies would come out of her. To her surprise, the mannequin simply ignored it, thus leaving it to pick up the daggers. They had fallen out once the arm had been severed.

There were four arms left on one side and one on the other. It made it look a bit more gloomy than usual, but also less dangerous.

She walked up to it, to the side with one arm, used Backstab to pierce its body, and was exposed at the same time.

She had considered cutting off the fourth arm, but decided it was better to deal with one. If it was busy attacking with it, it wouldn't be in such a hurry to turn and attack with the other four. She was confident to deal with one.

She had a hard time finding the balance between her movements and keeping the mannequin on the side that benefited her the most. Gjaki was spinning around it, dodging, blocking, and countering. She needed to change direction when it did, thus keeping the other four arms inactive and waiting.

She had to let that single arm to almost reach her, to be close, so that her enemy wouldn't have the compelling need to turn quickly and use the other four. If it did, it would have to stop the attack in progress.

It was risky, and needed a lot of precision and agility, which were precisely two of her best qualities, as well as not losing concentration. She had been the best one-on-one combat player for a reason.

Sometimes, she drew near it with Slippery Dagger to attack it up close. Other times, she used Surprise Dagger to reach out with her foot while dodging by an inch, her head thrown back, one leg bent on the ground, and another stretched out with a dagger. It was a position that seemed almost impossible.

Sometimes, she would wield the whip, after throwing one of the daggers with Fleeting Dagger, while waiting for a mini Gjaki to pick it up. If necessary, she used Decoy, but Blood Overload wasn't needed, and she didn't want to waste her blood pool.

If Gjaki get tired from the continuous use of skills, she only needed to go inside to rest.

With this, after little more than an hour, she managed to eliminate the spider mannequin. It completed a little more than half of the experience that she needed to level up.

"I need one more," she told herself as she entered the rest area.

She wanted to check if the mana stone she had taken out of her inventory upon entering the dungeon had absorbed some mana. However, after examining it, she wasn't quite sure if it had. After all, she had only defeated one of the lower level enemies. So, the vampire put it away again with the intention of checking it out when she had killed a few.

She took the opportunity to eat, and savored with some nostalgia one of those sweets that the goblins had given her. She almost ate a second one, but she didn't want to run out of them as it had been the case for the chocolate cake, although Gjaki wasn't sure how long she could restrain herself. At least, she managed not to eat a third.

She left the rest area with the intention of using the Bats to attract another of those beings. Before they could be summoned, eight arms rushed at her with great speed and no warning.

Drawn by the trail of mana from the fight, one of those spider manniquies had approached. It had even passed though one of the Tentacles, and had stopped near the entrance to the rest area, but far enough to not be visible from inside.

Her enemy had caught her completely by surprise, completely defenseless and unprepared. It was already too late to dodge those attacks that, as they came from a being four levels above hers, threatened her life.

She had enough reflexes to dodge two of them, but the other six stabbed into her body. They met no resistance from her or her armor, and passed through her completely.

She had reacted quickly enough to use Intangible, thus barely saving herself at the last moment. She jumped back and went back into the rest area. A shiver ran through her body, and she could feel the pain of having lost 10% of her health from the use of the skill.

Immediately, Self-Regeneration kicked in. It healed the damage taken, as her heart was pounding from the deep shock.

"Dammit! I can't be so careless! Shit!" she reproached herself, while clenching her teeth.

She had come close to losing her life due to carelessness, and there wasn't second chance. It took her a while to calm down and stop cursing herself, and even longer to consider getting out of again.

First she had to spend an hour to have again available the ace in the hole that had saved her. Of course, she also drank to replenish the blood spent.