66 Chapter Sixty-Six – Doc, the Remedy for What Cuts You (1/2)

Gargorians came. Finally, they went. So much for grims-worth of uber oversized gargoyles.

Bacchae and maenads were next, insane revelers possessed by divine madness as they caroused, and wanting to tear apart anyone that didn't join them in their demented carousing. Sweeping up the townsfolk and turning them into a killer mob of giants… a horde/swarm of giants, and extremely strong and fast.

I used my last Potion to get though this, as I needed the reach to contest with theirs and deal the amounts of damage I needed to get through this, as their damage was basically AoE and unavoidable, so DR to the rescue.

Tremble totally pissed them off by Singing counterpoint to the chants and mad singing, and Stand began to chime in with a drumming backbeat that totally played with their heads. He couldn't talk yet, but Tremble was enthusiastically making music with him. My Wardance juked through their revelry, matching and tearing it apart all at once, and the gore that flew as I ripped through the madmen was extreme, to say the least. They felt no pain and died laughing and calling for more.

Amouraens were never fun to deal with.

Then the squads of soldiers with spears appeared, operating in tight squads, then alternated with swordsmen, group after group, one arriving as the one before fell, tests of endurance, skill, constant motion as they out-reached me and I had to close with them to kill them, One Strikes heaping big damage on me that couldn't be mended so easily. I poked them with Banestars, and they chased me, but if I ran too far, I'd run into a second squad, so I was tightly limited in my operating area, and Banestars took a while to bring one of them down, especially since they all had shields.

Battle Vigor was constantly stopping and restarting as I re-centered myself, and went after them again, but it wouldn't reset without at least some rest, so never during one squad, as truly running away was impossible in a dream. Thankfully they had no form of regeneration, or these could have taken forever. I could still kill them fast if I got in on them, but what generally happened is that I had to get them to expend their readied actions to make a move on me for a kill-stroke, and then flash in with a charge and kill one before they could recover and block for one another. Missing a squad-mate, their effectiveness fell sharply, I could get one out of position and kill him, then pick apart the last two as needed.

Spearmen had the weakness of fighting something a lot smaller and faster then them, and not having close defense. If I got in among their legs, they were going down. Swordsmen were better off, but couldn't threaten me from as far away, which meant they were more vulnerable to charges going after their legs.

I cut a lot of kneecaps and tendons, I used a lot of Banestars, and decided to name my Katar Doc, because Healing was a thing, and it deserved a name.

Its blade went all snow-white, with runnel, guard, cutting edges, and hilt turning crimson, in response to the Name. I was definitely amused at this, but as long as it did its thing keeping me going, I wasn't going to protest aesthetics.

The last of the patrol squads fell down heavily, hamstrung efficiently and his life pouring out a huge gash in his thigh. The amount of blood was tremendous, but the vivic flames took care of it all, and the bodies I'd left behind in a long trail down the stone road had basically all burned away with great speed, as the Curse wasn't going to fight the vivus.

Physically I was beat on, since they could hurt me faster then I could mend myself when together. I could slowly recover once I killed the second one, and was able to do a fair amount of mending with Doc on the last two.

Still, I ended up spending Vigor uses, just an endurance crawl, and I wasn't using Healing Potions without a good reason now.

It was enough to make it to the morning of the second day.

------------

The sun, as always, was gloomy in Nightmare, somehow casting long shadows even when bright, and overcast without a cloud in the sky.

Still, seeing it rising over the city around was impressive enough… and I actually got two minutes to appreciate it as the Curse decided what to do next in a fit of pique.

I was about at half Health, covered with thin cuts that Doc hadn't been able to completely mend, although I wasn't bleeding. The rest allowed me to fully refocus, and Battle Vigor would be ready immediately… although I had precious little Soak at the moment, even with speedier regeneration of it. Simply wasn't enough time…