BXBX NOVEL Chapter 721
It wasn’t enough to take him out, but the kick was enough to push him backwards... and snap the binding rope around the two of them. The instant the vine snapped both were teleported out of the arena and Kat couldn’t help but stare at the place he’d just been. *It’s that easy to snap the vines! Why the hell have I been brawling with Nell when I could have just tried to sneak in a tail attack and slice the vines!*
Kat glanced up at the battlefield but things were wrapping up. Kress and Merick were helping keep the remaining enemies behind that big stone wall and they were no more than thirty seconds from falling off so Kat decided to focus back on Nell.
Things were not looking the best for the bear girl. She was still clearly smiling and the dwarf was trying to use a healing potion on her wound, but what Kat didn’t know was the damage was a bit too extensive for a potion like that. Nell’s tendon couldn’t just knit itself back together like magic. It needed to be stretched into place and then healed or completely regrown. The potion just didn’t know what to do with something like that so it didn’t bother.
The wound closed up, the other muscles knitting together slightly as the skin grew over the area. Nell knew enough about how potions work and the likely quality the dwarves had. They were good for long cuts, could deal with some deep cuts, and bruising was easy to fix. They did not deal with major muscles like the achilleas tendon being sliced through. Something like that required better supplies or a better healer.
Still, with the floor closing in on her and the rest of her team slowly falling to everyone else she needed to go after Kat hard. The only issue was that she couldn’t exactly charge Kat anymore. A charge, even a suicidal one, for a given definition when Thyme was around, was impossible due to the state of her leg. She could hope for at most one good hit and that would be her limit.
Still, she shuffled forward towards Kat and Kevin. One of course, was doing what he could. Supporting Nell from the side as best he could with his height. Kevin’s spear in hand, and mace forgotten at his back. It was clear anyway that he wouldn’t get to use it. He needed the reach and this white spear was good enough for that.
.....
Kat glanced behind her and saw that they had a rather large amount of space. Part of her wanted to go back into the fight but... she had time and space to move and Nell just didn’t. Kat started to move backwards but Kevin was gearing up to fight instead. “Kevin, we can just back up,” whispered Kat. The twitching of Nell’s ears made her suspect it didn’t matter.
“I’ve had my spear taken from me Kat. I cannot let this go without a fight. I’m afraid I cannot let you drag me away from this fight,” said Kevin with a steely look in his eyes.
*Oh come on. Why is now the time he finally gets a bit of a spine? If I wasn’t so worried about Thyme calling me out for it I’d knock this guy out. I’ve had to deal with him causing me so many problems. We just needed to fight together but he couldn’t do any damage to One even with a huge range advantage and nearly no retaliation meanwhile I had to keep Nell from taking either of our heads off while doing as much damage as I could.
Sure I might have taken a few hits but every time I managed to keep us together and prevent the vines from snapping like Five and Blues. I wouldn’t mind carrying this team if I felt like Kevin was appreciating the effort or at least pleasant to work with. Ugh... whatever. Fine I guess we’re fighting.*
Kat rolled her eyes and followed Kevin as he stepped forward to meet Nell. As soon as they were in spear range One lashed out and that kicked off a battle between Kevin and One for the control of the thing. One was trying to do damage, while Kevin was trying to catch a solid grasp on the surprisingly slippery spear without the plate armour to trap the head.
Over to the side the remains of Nell’s team tried to get around that rock wall. Sadly for them, Gareth was underplaying the wall. For the last ditch effort, instead of meeting them head on Gareth let it drop to the ground then increase in size to wrap around the four. There was nothing they could do anymore. The dwarves threw a few potions over that managed to explode, but Irwin and Gareth took the brunt of that on their shields, and body respectively with Nixilei healing what little damage was done.
Nell, seeing this decided she needed to take this chance. She stepped forward, putting what weight she had to on her bad leg, stomping it into the ground, cracking it, and using the divot for support, even as she grit her teeth against the pain. Nell pulled her arm back and the gauntlet started to glow. Kat’s eyes widened. She wanted to run away, dodge, find some way to get away from whatever the heck was coming for her. She could probably manage to trade the blow for a cut on the vine, but that didn’t matter at this point.
Kat just wanted to delay somewhat but she knew Kevin would never let her pull him back. The spear strikes against him didn’t help either and she wasn’t sure she could safely get her tail around him without getting it cut, and Kat felt sick just thinking about putting her tail in such excess danger. She knew it was part of her demonic flaw, but she didn’t much like acknowledging that fact.
Kat grit her teeth, while she was daydreaming the lightshow had settled into a fierce orange with steam coming off the gauntlet. Kat didn’t think the heat would be a problem, but what was coming next would be. Kat sucked in a deep breath and pulled out her fans, trying to get ready for what was to come.
With a yell Nell threw her fist forward. Kat was ready to deflect and dodge right up until the gauntlet tripled in size, steam billowing off the gauntlet making it look as though the increase in size had been four or five times instead. Kat realised in that moment she wouldn’t be able to dodge. Not with Kevin. Maybe not even without him. Kat threw her fans in front of her, choosing to block with her thumbs barely hanging onto the front and all of her fingers at the back.
Kat tried to loosen herself up as much as she could even as she readied herself for the strike. Kat knew she wasn’t strong enough to resist. She wanted to smoke out, but that would mean the vine was left behind loosing anyway. A small part of her mind told her to do it anyway. Cut the vine, let Thyme teleport her out...
But Kat felt she couldn’t do that. She felt like she needed to at least try and take whatever this attack was. It was a good thing she decided to do so, because she also no longer had the chance to do anything else. Nell’s armoured fist struck Kat’s fans like a freight train. Even with four fingers this time instead of one they snapped like dry kindling, knocking the fans towards her face, one leaving a large gash on its way back past her, the other hitting butt first and bouncing off.
Kat’s arms were being forced back, as if in slow motion but Nell’s fist kept chugging forward, as if nothing could stop it. She caught up to Kat’s arms and Kat felt as they snapped too. Her bones creaking for a moment before giving out as well. Then that fist hit her in the chest. Kat blacked out in that moment.
The impact was simply too jarring. The pain of multiple broken bones in quick succession before the punch took all the wind out from her and sent her flying. The vines holding her and Kevin snapped instantly and they were both teleported away for Thyme to heal. It was all Nell could do, for she collapsed down to her one good nee. Even as her fist smoked and burned. Nell sucked in a deep breath and tried to get up, only to find her face meeting a rock wall, and One and Nell found themselves falling off the edge.