World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains 98 The Witch And The Knigh

"It's simple," he said calmly. "There are many things here that will help me in the Distant Forest. Well... Some items, artifacts and Chaosites' bodies."
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"What?" I was genuinely surprised.

"Here they are," Baldy grinned and pointed at the Major and Innokenty's corpses. "You may not know that some ingredients can be extracted from the fresh corpses of the Abyss's servants. These are pretty rare as people usually don't stay alive for long near them, so it's difficult to get the ingredients. I almost forgot to warn you that those two aren't dead yet."

"You mean that...?" Lera started talking.

"Exactly," Baldy nodded. "Well, Cat, we won't disturb you. We'll continue our conversation as soon as you're done with them."

He leaned back on the tree as if he were a bald gargoyle who had done its dark deed and returned to its place. I didn't understand anything of what he had just said, but my gut was telling me that something was wrong. Major's body began to s.h.i.+ver barely noticeably; accelerating with each second. Finally, it exploded with a loud sound, showering the surrounding area with blood. I flinched, ready to throw up. I had gotten used to almost everything in this world. Almost. Seeing b.l.o.o.d.y bits of flesh and gore squirm like worms move to gather into a single ma.s.s was disgusting to say the least.

Another explosion; another wave of sticky blood. Major, that is, the blue lizard, was alive once again. Both of his hands were unharmed, and he seemed to be even bigger this time. Why is this Chaosite alive? It must have been the advanced Mark that provided him with a special skill that let them resurrect.

Innokenty's body also started to move. I would have to face both of them, but I still couldn't use either Arcobaleno or Unity of Magic. What can I do?

"Maybe we can make a deal?" I whispered to Major though I doubted that my idea would work. It was still worth a try though.

"Urr?" Major grumbled in surprise. Honestly, his form looked quite strange. The lizard's eyes were close to falling out of their sockets; he then rolled them at me, grimacing.

"Do you understand me?" I asked, suspecting something. "Mikhail?"

It took me a while to realize that those strange gurgling sounds were his laughter. He even threw his head back, trying to close his empty, expressionless and bulging eyes. In the meantime, Innokenty, two heads taller than he was before, appeared near his pal and dashed toward me. Bad day for me, bad day for me…

I got the wild idea to lure both of them to Dorea so that they solved her riddle. Then I thought about leading them to the Forbidden City so that they would meet someone very dangerous... However, I had enough self-control and common sense to sc.r.a.p those ideas. Luring them to Dorea would be a violation of my agreement with her, and all three of us would end up dead. Moreover, those two didn't have any desire to communicate. Leading my enemies into the Forbidden City was an even crazier idea. Danger lurked at every step, so there was no telling who would be lured into a trap first. In the end, I had only one option left: running around and dodging Innokenty's fists, while thinking about how to cope with both of them at once. Major was out of the game for now. He tried to pull out of his feet one of the huge Stone Spikes that I successfully cast while his new armor hadn't formed yet. However, even that didn't help me much.

Letting out low, guttural growls, Innokenty chased after me, trying to pummel me into the ground or kill me with one mighty blow. Maybe I should have let him finish me off. I would've resp.a.w.ned at the camp and we could talk this entire thing over.

No. I promised myself that I would let myself be killed only in the most extreme case. I won't give up as long as there's a slight chance of survival. Ideally, it would be nice to come out of this as the winner. Fox and Baldy were just enjoying the show. I wished that at least one of them helped me! Baldy lowered his head and grinned, and Lera watched me closely and even appreciatively.

If they expected me to win, then they must've known something I didn't. Am I really capable of defeating the resurrected Chaosites with advanced Marks? In search of anything that could help me, I rummaged through my inventory and turned out my pockets, hoping to find a solution to my problem.

Gra.s.s! It dawned on me. The shadow gra.s.s! Before killing Vlada, I used it to unlock the Way of Shadows. However, I had a strange feeling that it wouldn't be able to help me again. Still running around, I frantically searched through my pockets but didn't find a single piece of gra.s.s. However, I did find something else — a screwdriver, the thing I found on my first day here.

I thought it to be useless back then, but life proved that there was nothing useless here. I still had a tiny chance. It's important to survive until Arcobaleno's cooldown ends.

Major managed to free himself from the Spike, although he left a good chunk of flesh on it. Now he was chasing me too, dragging his right leg. Fortunately, he wasn't that fast and I even managed to burn him with my flame spell, while Innokenty was getting ready for another strike.

In a fit of anger or despair, I ran toward Baldy and Fox, wis.h.i.+ng they would fight as well. However, some strange force literally turned me around and made me run in a curved trajectory, pa.s.sing grinning Baldy and the girl who was pursing her lips.

Outraged that I kept avoiding a fair fight and knowing that I wasn't going to stop running, Innokenty growled like a dog and then roared like an ox. It was getting harder for me every minute. Working at the railway station and jogging everyday had developed my endurance, but everything had its limits; even in this crazy world. I was running out of breath.

However, I managed to do the impossible — avoid direct contact with the enraged Chaosites for almost an hour. A vial of Azure Sedge, which granted me with seconds and inches that separated me from death, was nearing its end. My fate was sealed. If I lose, the only option would be to give up and return to the camp.

Arcobaleno.

"Stop!" I shouted, standing, as if rooted to the spot, right in front of Innokenty. I summoned the screwdriver and put it forward, under the first rays of the dawning sun. "You have angered the Light, get ready for a torturous death!"

Talking this nonsense has become kind of fun. Taken aback, Innokenty froze in front of me in surprise. A heartbeat later, he fell apart, followed by a nasty, splas.h.i.+ng sound. It looked so disgusting that I threw up. Coming to my senses, I turned around and saw that something similar happened to Major. The blue lizard limply hung from the Spikes, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. His hands and clawed fingers had fallen off and were now lying on the ground in a shapeless pile.

What the h.e.l.l was that? It couldn't have been my screwdriver and pompous speech. I turned around and looked at the silent audience.

"Well done," Baldy nodded. "Honestly, I was starting to doubt you."

"Frankly speaking, me too," I blurted out without thinking; n.o.body seemed to have noticed. "What the h.e.l.l was that?"

"Each fraction has its pros and cons," Igor explained. "Chaos prefers brute force. As you can see, these two managed to advance their Marks and unlocked the ability to plunder settlements."

"What does that have to do with this?" I asked but immediately got it.

"Let's imagine that a Chaosite breaks into a village," Baldy confirmed my doubts. "Usually, it dies pretty quickly. After a while, once the inexperienced people had calmed down, it comes to life with enhanced stats. However, it isn't a Chaosite anymore, but a Cadaver brought to life. The higher the Mark's level, the stronger the Cadaver is. There were cases when only one such monster was enough to destroy entire detachments. Dealing with such a thing is a very challenging task. By the way, I'm surprised that you managed to avoid their attacks. Their speed alone is usually enough to deal with someone of your level; if one doesn't unlock a Mark or a Mask, of course. However, unlike this meadow, it's not that easy to run in a village as there's not much s.p.a.ce. The Chaosites take advantage of that. They kill everyone, disappear and then return in their human form in order to collect the loot."

"I see," I nodded. "So, Major and Innokenty…"

"They are safe and sound, waiting for you in the camp," Baldy finished. "Unless Petrovich decided to kill them for good. However, I don't think that he will break their tombstones. The battle time is over. Law protects even such thugs."

"You were right not to fight them head on," Fox joined in. "Even a large detachment would have a hard time with them. But you shouldn't have shown off with your 'Sword of Light'. The illusion was interesting, but it could've been your last one."

"Sword of Light"? So, that's what my pathetic screwdriver looked like in her eyes. Odd. I thought that Arcobaleno doesn't affect her. She was the only one who saw the real me when Petrovich "killed" my illusion. Either she wasn't completely honest with me, or that had been a coincidence. As for Baldy, he didn't say anything about my "weapon of Light". I wondered what he saw.

"A standard Chaos Cadaver's life span is forty-five minutes," Igor added as if nothing had happened. "It seems short, but it's enough to destroy a small detachment. Experienced leaders know that it's better not to fight it, but to make it run. As you did today," he smiled discreetly. "That is, of course, if you don't have someone who's stronger than a Cadaver."

"Not bad," I nodded. "However, I believe that it's much harder for an entire detachment to escape from a Chaosite."

"Especially, if this is its more powerful version," Baldy confirmed. "This one lasts for an hour and a half. You can't avoid casualties in that case. But still, the damage would be less than if the entire detachment rushed at a monster and died. You were lucky with those two as their level wasn't high."

"So what are those ingredients you mentioned?" I decided to ask.

"You aren't able to extract them," Baldy shook his head. "Yet. In order to do that, you have to be an experienced alchemist. As soon as you level up, find me. I'll teach you some tricks. By the way, thanks for getting rid of them. It was nice of you not to make me run away from them."

He grinned smugly as if saying that coping with those creatures would've been as easy as a pie for him. A "thanks" won't suffice though.

"I think that you can thank me with something more valuable," I stated impudently.

Baldy seemed to be taken aback by my demand.

"I think that you don't know your limits," he calmly said. "Do you have an irresistible desire to lose an unnecessary part of your body? Anyway," he waved his hand, having noticed my tension, "I accept the deal. Take this and give it to my father. He'll be grateful."

He handed me a small amulet in the form of a brown clay fang.

"He'll understand," Baldy continued. "It's his gift. And don't you dare to keep it. I'll feel it right away."

"Your father is looking for you, by the way," I said. In the heat of battle, I had completely forgotten about Old Jones's quest. Fortunately, Baldy decided to use my postal services.

"I know," Igor nodded. "You'll tell him that I'm all right."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"That's all."

I hoped that Jones Senior would accept this clay amulet and greetings from his son instead of the son himself. Otherwise, I couldn't even imagine what he would do with me.

"Am I free to go then?"

"I guess," Baldy shrugged and went to the Cadavers. He summoned four large gla.s.s bulbs out of his backpack. "I don't need you."

"They're probably waiting for you, Cat. Good luck with Petrovich," she said, smiling slyly like a true fox.

"I think they can wait for me a little longer. So, Lera, tell me why you decided to help me. You know, it's hard to believe that you wander near Abyss artifacts and save hapless researchers every day." She looked at me, her eyes s.h.i.+ning. I hoped there wasn't too much sarcasm in my words.