BXBX NOVEL Chapter 206: It Will Be Tight
*THWIP!*
*BAM!*
Five watery-blue tentacles struck out and slammed into him to force him away before he could. They only managed to push the Creature about two feet away from Louis because it stood its ground and locked in its knees so it slid across the ground hard enough to leave grooves.
Henry controlled the tentacles to wrap around the Werewolf\'s body while he downed a second Mana potion. The first one he drank had given him enough Mana to cast this spell and the second was for emergencies he was sure would arise.
Sure enough…
*BANG!*
… With aggression, the Werewolf thrust one of its large hands out of the cocoon of water that was wrapping around his body and centering especially around his head to restrict his breathing.
Three tentacles were shattered but Henry was already expending 120 Mana Points to recreate them so they were stretching out and wrapping around the Beast before it could get completely free.
Meanwhile, a considerable distance away…
*KOFF!*
Andor finally rose off the ground where he had fallen after getting slammed. He had been choked awake by the blood filling his lungs and rolled onto his side to spout out a bunch of it and free his airways enough to take in proper breaths.
Every breath he took hurt. His lungs expanding put pressure on his shattered chest and even the slightest movement made that worse.
Andor heard the sounds of combat from feet away. Lightning, gunshots, and, of course, the slam sounds made by the Werewolf in all its physically overwhelming glory. Pulling a Healing potion out of his Storage bracelet, he lifted it to his lips and forced his head back just so the liquid could flow down.
He could barely even manage the swallow motion but fortunately, the liquid in his body was enough. It flowed to the area most affected but was barely able to put his chest back to how it should have been. His internal bleeding was also only barely mended.
He drank three more potions as he had drank the first and only then did he manage to make his body obey his commands.
\'This is it,\' Andor thought with a sigh of resignation.
He was far too injured and Healing Potions had not quite helped with that. He\'d need rest and the expertise of an actual Healer to be able to move as he\'d normally move.
\'One last attack. I\'ll have to make it count.\' He added as his eyes roamed in search of the battles he had heard when he\'d barely been able to pay attention.
He saw Henry standing in place with Tentacles stretched out from behind his back and wrapped around the Werewolf who was straining against its constriction.
"It won\'t hold," Andor said as he forced his legs to move and quickly kicked into a run.
He arrived within a foot of the cocooned Werewolf just as it broke free. Its hearing was so incredible that even with water wrapped around its head, it had heard the approach but it had been so constricted that there was very little he could do in terms of an escape attempt.
Andor picked the spot to stab almost on instinct. There were crisscrossing patterns all over the Werewolf\'s body. The patterns had been put there by the most recent painful electrocution it had suffered from Louis and there was one spot where a particular pattern intersected that seemed to beam at Andor like a spot marked \'X\' on a map.
The tip of his Spear cut through that spot far more easily than it had ever cut through the creature\'s body so far. The skin had been made weak in its natural or unnatural defenses so the entirety of Andor\'s Spearhead stabbed into the Werewolf\'s body in a second and he wasted no time discharging his Mana-surge.
*BANG!*
"ARRGHHH!!!*
The Werewolf yelled with its maw opened wide. Henry had \'Cudgel\' out and fired a shot into the wide-open mouth. The force of the shot forced the Werewolf\'s head back at the same time a shudder ripped through its body from the damage Andor\'s Mana-blast had done to his already-brittle bones.
Andor almost found it funny that the most effective attack he had made thus far was not the one where he stabbed his target\'s neck twice.
Almost.
His enjoyment of such irony was marred when the Werewolf closed his mouth and its red eyes still burned with hate. Its arm moved so swiftly that it was only by replying on Instinct that Andor had been able to retrieve his shield from his bracelet and raise it to intercept the blow.
*BANG!*
The shield vibrated violently on Andor\'s arms as he was sent sliding many feet away until he slammed his already weak body against a mountainside and fell to his knees. Any further movement was doubtful.
Any further attack would surely have killed him. He wouldn\'t even be able to erect a defence but the Werewolf no longer has eyes on him. He had his red eyes on Henry.
*PTUH!*
He spat and a crumpled bullet hit the ground covered by his spittle and blood. The bullet had certainly injured him just as many of the shots Henry had fired on his body had injured him but just like them, the bullet fired into the Werewolf\'s mouth was unable to travel completely through to cause a far more fatal wound.
"The Mage is down," the Werewolf said as he grabbed the shaft of the Spear in his side and ripped it out, causing blood to flow out of the wound. More blood flowed out than from any of the other numerous wounds all over its body but it hardly paid it any mind.
Henry paid attention though. He saw it for what it was.
To confirm what he thought as he believed he would not get two chances at this, he called on a recently acquired skill.
[Activating <Insight Lv.3: Weakness Assessment>…]
The skill scanned the Werewolf\'s body and multiple points where the cracks caused by Louis\' spell had intersected, were marked as vulnerable but they glowed a dull light. Far duller than that spot in the werewolf\'s side: the spot it just pulled the Spear out of.
All this took a second at most and the Werewolf let out an imperceptible groan of pain as it continued,
"The fighter is down as well. I can smell their ineptitude. Should they rise again, they will fall.
Now, all that is left, is you."
Henry\'s finger twitched on the trigger of \'Cudgel\' as he held the Werewolf\'s gaze and his mind worked fast to come up with a way to aim for that spot in the creature\'s side while ensuring he wouldn\'t miss.
He could tell he was being studied. Every movement he made was being eyed and the moment he made a move, the Werewolf would move too. Traveling too fast for him to follow.
Hell, the recent finger twitch had caused the Werewolf to twitch in reaction.
"Before I end this, I must say I\'m impressed," The Werewolf said, "From what I sniffed from you three, I never would have thought you\'d push me this far. I mean look at me…"
The Werewolf paused to let out a chuckle to gesture at its body. Burnt by the electrical currents of Louis\' lightning and punctured by Henry\'s bullets and Andor\'s spear.
"Oh well, it has certainly been fun," it said to complete its speech and then hunched forward with clear intent to leap into a charge too fast for Henry to follow.
\'Abominable Curse,\' Henry thought. He had seen it work once and believed it would work again.
Alas, the skill had a limited range. To use it, the Werewolf would have to get within melee range and that range was dangerous.
\'Alright then. <Quick Thinking> first and then activate <Abominable Curse> in the time-stopped state.
It will be tight. I could die.\'
Henry\'s lips twitched at the thought and he steeled himself. As he saw it, there was a 70 percent chance he failed… Maybe 75…
He took a deep breath and raised \'Cudgel\' as though to shoot. As expected, it forced the Werewolf to move and it did so with a wide excited grin.
Henry had no intentions of shooting. Not yet at least. But just as he thought to activate <Quick Thinking>, he heard a voice in his head. A voice louder than the swift padding of paws or the clopping of horse hooves.
"-Get away from him!-" Nyx yelled in Henry\'s head but her words were translated into an angry Whinny right before she intercepted the Werewolf\'s charge like a bullet leaving behind a trail of shadowy mist in its speedy trail.