Part 2-Mirror matches
In the middle of the long hallway, Lilith and Vibey made their stand. The horde of shapeshifters from both ends of the path had seen them and the attack began.
Lilith set herself in the middle, stabbed her rapier in the ground and conjured a sanctuary for the duo. With both hands empty, she focused on chanting large scale spells.
Vibey took the role of the vanguard, with her extraordinary speed, alternating both lanes would be a breeze.
Everything was set, as the monsters were closing in, they took on familiar forms.
"Lili, there it is, the guys I told you about, a bunch of you's but they look mean and scary, oh there are also a lot of me's, but I think they are missing someone" Vibey exclaimed while pointing at the upcoming hordes.
"Focus, don't hesitate, immobilise and incapacitate, go hold the left lane"
"Which left?" Vibey asked.
Channelling her mana to both hands, Lilith conjured a high stone wall on one side, blocking the enemies behind. She then started channelling for another large scale spell
"The one without the wall, that's left"
"Aye aye, Lili!" understanding her commands, Vibey readied her blades.
With quick steps, she leaped towards the enemy frontline and wreaked havoc. A dagger in her left, unleashing rapid stabs and slashes to open her attacks. Followed with a shortsword in her right, deep heavy cuts to execute staggered enemies.
"Vibey... it's me"
"You are not me"
"Stop..."
Recognizable voices echoed from the shapeshifters in front of her, but the emotion was not there. With the detection spell applied, Vibey did not hesitate to deal a blow that would kill the clones of hers and Lilith's.
However, as shapeshifters, the damage was doing none but slowing them down. A couple of them had their core destroyed by Vibey's blades by chance, but the majority of them slowly regenerated and continued pushing through.
On the other side, digging noise could be heard and the stone wall was starting to crumble. With that as her cue, Lilith quickly instructed Vibey to retreat and handle the other lane.
"Right lane!" Lilith commanded,
With a cheerful tone, Vibey replied "Aye aye!"
Once Vibey moved out of the way, Lilith unleashed a large fireball that covered the whole left lane. The monsters wiped out and the hallways scorched, but a large amount of fleshy steps could still be heard approaching.
A quick wave of her palm, she erected another stone wall to close the left lane. Large scale spells drained her mana plenty, she grabbed a blue vial from her belt and started gulping it down.
"Bleh, can you make a sweeter version of this?"
Vibey, who was currently holding off the shapeshifters that are pouring through the crack on the wall, cheerily replied.
"That's a great idea! we will need a lot of blue grass though as honey or sugar lowers the effectiveness, a high concentration may do the trick, which means more budget for me please?"
Lilith gave a smirk to her reply and started to channel another large spell.
"So.. that's a yes or a no?" Vibey asked to make sure.
Not giving her sister another glance, Lilith continued to focus on gathering mana.
"Ugh... come on, you always do this Lili, just give me a clear answer!" Vibey grunted from her sister's usual obscure answer.
On the frontline, Vibey noticed a change in the enemies. The shapeshifters had given up the mirror approach and turned into assortments of monsters that fit the situation.
Big orcs as the vanguard with goblin and kobold infantry pushing through, direwolves slipping through the enemies and leading the attacks, and a group of goblin and kobold archers in the back readying their arrows.
"Whoa sis! Sis! They suddenly change to many different monsters, it's so cooool!" Vibey shouted in amazement while slashing through three of the dire wolves that lunged towards her.
"Less talking, more killing, don't get surrounded, these ones are smart" Slightly disgruntled, Lilith warned her sister to be more careful.
"Aye aye!" as per usual, Vibey replied with vigour.
The change in enemy types definitely proved effective, Vibey couldn't charge in further and had to occasionally retreat back to the barrier against the projectiles.
Their safe ground may have shrunk, but both Lilith and Vibey still packed a lot of firepower. Fighting inside the barriers allows Vibey to ignore the projectiles. Sticking to their main strategy, alternating attacks between left and right lane.
A few enemy waves have passed and Lilith downs her second blue vial. With that, she is all out but one red vial.
"Vibey, I need blue!"
"Got six!"
"Give me three"
"Aye aye!" In between her slashes, she sheathed her shortsword and reached for her vial belt. Three blue vials in hand, she lobbed the potions to her sister and returned to holding the enemies.
"Thanks, go to the left lane!" Lilith shouted once she caught the three vials.
With a swift gesture, Vibey quickly repositioned herself. Lilith put both her hands on the ground and casted quicksand alongside the right lane.
The monsters are stopped in their steps and slowly sink into the ground. The other shapeshifters that just arrived at the battleground stopped before their sinking comrades.
"Good, keep holding them off"
"Oohh.. blocking their movement, nice thinking sorcerer!"
"I kept telling you I am a spellsword you dumb arse!"
"Whatever you say wizard"
Leaving her miffed sister, Vibey continued her onslaught on the right lane, occasionally retreating back to the barrier to avoid the ranged attacks.
"Whoa Lili, these monsters are definitely smart"
With a grin, she gripped both her blades tighter and increased her pace. Direwolves stabbed and slashed, goblins and kobolds beheaded, the orcs dismembered.
Yet again, only a few were truly down and the rest regenerated back and continued their assault.
"Vibey, it's ready!" With a swirl of glowing mana in her hand, Lilith instructed her sister to move away for the closing move.
With her sister's cue, Vibey retreated back to the barrier. Lilith channelled her mana to the other lane and formed another body of quicksand that slowly swallowed their enemies.
Exhausted, they sat down and allowed themselves a quick moment of rest
"Alright nice work, let's have quick rest while we figure our way ou-" suddenly, Lilith cut off her sentence.
While planning their next step, they heard heavy stomps approaching from both lanes. On both ends, what they witnessed was monstrous.
The shapeshifters merged together, forming huge monsters. Giants, golems, and other large entities approaching from both sides.
Their size cramped the hallway and they could barely stand up straight, but with their size, they were able to waddle through the quicksand and approached the centre.
"Catch your breath and ready yourself, this is beyond normal" with quick instructions to Vibey, Lilith stood back up and began channelling her mana.
Vibey stayed seated with both weapons ready in hand, a moment of rest before the big ones reached their range. They move slowly, but the size of the shapeshifters was definitely a sight to behold with the hallway unable to accommodate their figures.
A giant closed in from the left lane and is now a few steps away from the barrier. With that, Lilith finished channelling an unleashed large fireball, obliterating all but its leg.
"Sis, another one approaching from the right!"
"Hold still, this one is-" unable to finish her sentence, she witnessed Vibey immediately leaping forward to hold the closest cyclops on its track.
A swift jump toward the head and the cyclops was stabbed deep in its eyes, however, Vibey forgot one thing. This was not a real cyclops, the eye was not its weak point.
In a flash, a dozen eyes formed around its neck and shoulders. With her shortsword still stuck, Vibey was too slow to react and the cyclops' big hand swatted her away. Knocked a good distance, her body hit the ground and rolled back to the centre.
"Vibey!" Lilith exclaimed in a panic.
"I am.. alright, I'mma drink.. two of these and I can continue.'' Her weak voice showed how badly injured she was, but her life was definitely not yet forfeit.
A quick change of plan was needed, Lilith redirected her channelled mana to her rapier. Adding a multitude of stone layers alongside the barrier, the shield now worked as a wall.
"Are you alright Vibey? The left lane has fewer monsters and I think we can charge through"
"*cough* this is definitely too bitter *cough*. Definitely not buying these 'innovative' potions", after emptying two vials, Vibey slowly allowed herself to stand up. Her shortsword stuck on the cyclops, but her dagger, still in her left.
"Fine, we will talk about that budget once we are out here", hearing her little sister's optimism, a smile came back to her face.
Outside the barrier, strong thumps and cracks could be heard from both sides, the monsters tried to smash their way through. With their size, the thick stone wall was nothing but a mere annoyance and the cracks on the wall were looking bigger.
"Alright left lane, and can we buy a new sword later too?" Vibey asked.
"Steel shortsword," Lilith replied.
"Boo... cheapskate," Vibey snarked jokingly.
The stonewall was slowly crumbling, Lilith readied herself to pull out the rapier and blast through. With each smash, they also heard heavy steps coming through the left lane.
Once a part of the wall cracked open, Lilith immediately pulled her rapier, deactivating the barrier. With palm open and spell ready she tried to blast through.
"NOW!" With her cue, the two of them immediately pushed through the disappearing barrier.
But to their surprise, they saw the giants were engaged with a familiar face.
"Deedeeeee!!! Golly goodness where have you beeennn!!" With Vibey's excitement, the middle-child had found his way to his sisters and joined the fray!