Chapter 81
Chapter 81
Every part of her wanted to shout that this fight wasn’t fair and everyone knew how it was going to end. Yet Cordellia didn’t complain at all. Watching Batrire as she faced down Rakonath, not flinching as the silver dragon’s mouth had bit into her, ending their match immediately.
“Quit yer dancing and come fight me!” Fowl shouted, banging his hammer on his shield. “I don’t want to play chase the elf around the arena for another day!”
She ignored the dwarf’s taunts. The scowl on his face told her that her plan was working.
Fights don’t have to be won in a few seconds or in an hour.
Over a day had passed as she shot arrows occasionally at Fowl, ignoring the pain she felt whenever one connected, and slowly let the poison shots she managed to land take effect.
Fowl had already drank two potions, and she knew he was holding back. He was playing for his moment. After having tried to charge her once and failing to land a solid blow, he had even pulled out a stool for a while, sitting in it and blocked all the arrows she had sent with his shield.
That forced her to get close, trading attacks until she used the bomb Max had let her acquire from him.
Max had laughed longer than she had expected when she had approached him. Part of her had felt embarrassed at asking for help, but he had been happy to. Cordellia realized that he was waiting for someone to think outside the box and so they had spent a few days coming up with different items that might help against Fowl and his insanely large health pool.
Cordellia only had one ensnaring trap left. She had run out of the elemental bombs Max had made her. The truth was, she was starting to understand why Max had pitted them together. Fowl was a monster when it came to the defense game. His armor and shield blocked or deflected every attack she tried to use unless she relied upon one of Max’s items. His problem was that he couldn’t catch her. His taunt was a problem at first, having caught her off guard, but thankfully, she was able to free herself from it quickly and escape before taking more than two hits from that stupid weapon Max had made their warrior.
Her choices were limited. She could waste another boss arrow on Fowl, but it wouldn’t do anything if she couldn’t get it into one of the small weak points in that plate armor. Without being able to immobilize the dwarf, that wasn’t going to happen again either.
I guess this means I’m down to plan G or H or whatever… Neither of which is going to be fun.
Storing her bow, she summoned a pair of short swords and ran at Fowl.
“Finally!” the dwarf exclaimed, lowering himself slightly.
Cordellia went in for a feint with both swords, choosing to leap over Fowl and drive both weapons down at the area around his neck.
The lip of his shield caught one blade, pushing it off target and harmlessly scratching his plate armor. Her other blade managed to push past the section of thick metal and cut his skin.
Pain radiated through her arm and hand, as his Torn Aura struck back, telling her that she had managed to do actual damage again.
Fowl didn’t wait; a wave of pressure assaulted her mind as she started to land on the ground. Both of her eyes and all of her attention were focused on him, fighting to break free of the Taunt ability he had used again.
A spiked black tip crashed into her side, sending her tumbling half a dozen yards.
His power wasn’t that great, but she had managed to free herself enough to react and move with the impact she couldn’t dodge.
Cordellia rose, a new pair of swords ready, a smile on her lips as she watched the dwarf store his weapon and reach up to yank the sword still stuck in his neck.
“That was a good attempt,” Fowl said. “You…” He paused, and she watched his eyes look at the blade, noticing the purple liquid that was coating the last few inches. “Did you seriously poison me again?!”
A scowl appeared on Fowl’s face as his beard danced due to his facial movements. “You… what did…”
Cordellia waited, taking a few steps back as she watched the sword fall from Fowl’s armored hand. It clattered against the stone, and he staggered a few steps.
“Poison… I need…” As he spoke, a vial appeared in his hand and Cordelllia pounced, knowing this was the moment she had been waiting for. She summoned her purple wolf and sent it charging at Fowl’s left side while she went for his right.
Both blades moved with all the speed she could put into the attack, and as Cordellia moved close, ready to break the vial and drive the other sword into the throat of her dwarven friend, everything changed, inches from her plan working.
Fowl glowed gold, and before she could curse or say anything, his hand snaked out and grabbed her arm with the blade coming for his throat. He was smiling, the scowl gone, and his eyes shone with power.
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“It was a good attempt, but you lose,” the dwarf said as he brought his shield toward her face.
Lifting her hands did nothing as the overwhelming power difference in that moment played out and everything she had tried fell apart.
Pain came and finally it stopped when the room seemed to shift and buckle and Fowl stopped his beating, letting go of her and letting her fall to the floor.
Gasping for air, Cordellia felt the pain of what had just happened.
I was beaten to death… with a shield…
She looked up at Fowl and saw him holding out a hand, his smile gone, and a softness to his eyes.
“Forgive me… I… I can’t lose.”
His words took away the sting of what she felt, and as he took her hand, she let him help her stand.
A warmth filled her body and Cordellia turned to see Batrire lowering her hand, the soft green glow already fading.
“You played me this whole time,” Cordellia said. “Did anything I do to you actually hurt?”
Fowl chuckled and shook his head. “No… I mean, the poison wasn’t fun, but nothing you used was going to overcome my resistances. That last blade was covered in something you got from Max, but I’m guessing he didn’t tell you that I’ve been slowly training my poison resistance with him.”
“You’ve been what?!” she exclaimed, glancing at Max and seeing a toothy grin upon their bald friend. “How?”
“Talk to Jazzjak and Max. It’s all possible with a little bit of DP and a lot of pain. Though it has only been about forty years that I’ve been training it and a few other abilities.”
“Why didn’t someone tell me you could train resistances?” Cordellia asked, feeling her frustration rising.
“Because you can’t,” Jazzjak replied. “You don’t have what Fowl has, which is natural resistances to certain things. You could try and train your natural resistances to emotional and mental attacks but I’m not sure we have anyone here with the ability to inflict that kind of pain and suffering upon you.”
Cordellia pointed at Rakonath, her finger shaking. “Are you training some also?”
The silver dragon chuckled, and his humanoid figure almost seemed to stand taller as he shook his head. “No. Only Fowl has that ability. I’m not spending any DP to try and acquire such a thing. Not when my own resistances are already naturally high.”
“Not high enough,” their helper muttered. “You all still don’t get it. What you’re facing right now is just a drop in the bucket. I mentioned it once, and I’ll mention it again. I know why you don’t want to spend Divine Points, but it would be better to have spent some and acquired a few skills to help live longer than to find yourself on the receiving end of an ability that could have been negated.”
Cordellia remembered that conversation. It had been a casual discussion about how to spend their DP and how tight the race to Tier Four was going to be. Back then, it was easy to say no to everything, yet seeing how Fowl had overcome what she was certain would help change the tide of this match made her consider that choice.
“Don’t worry about it,” Max said as he came to stand beside her and Fowl. “You two gave us all exactly the match we were hoping for. Fowl demonstrated the power of pretending to be weak and letting you believe what you’re doing is working until the moment the trap they set triggers. You showed everyone that it is smart to prepare for potential fights and have a variety of things on hand to help even the odds.”
“That’s my husband,” Batrire said, coming over and grabbing Fowl’s beard. She then kissed him, causing everyone to look away as a few grunts were uttered.
“Does the sensation that fills my stomach when they do that ever lessen?” Sog asked.
“I wish,” Cordellia muttered. “I’m just…” She paused, her eyes widening as she realized what she had been missing. “Tanila, did you spend DP to help make those runes and cast them like that?”
“I did,” her friend replied, smiling. “I think it was worth it.”
“Don’t worry, dear,” Batrire said, having freed her lips from Fowl’s. “I’m going to spend some time with Jazzjak and look at a few things I might purchase to help even the odds of a fight or two.”
Rubbing her face and groaning, Cordellia felt the frustration that had been rising start to decrease. Pointing an accusing finger at Max, she growled. “You planned all this, didn’t you?”
“Planned what? For you all to realize, like I did, that spending some Divine Points might be worth it in the long run? That I just said you should do so would have been met with hesitation and reservation? Please… we both know I’m not smart enough to do such a thing.”
Chuckles came from the others as she realized that Max was once again teaching them, but in a different way.
“You’re a… arg… go hump an ogre!”
“Wouldn’t Tanila find that upsetting?” Jazzjak asked, causing everyone except their archer to burst out laughing.
“Why do I feel like I’m the only one who missed out on something?” Cordellia asked. “I even spent time preparing with Max, and yet I feel like I was somehow kept in the dark.”
“You aren’t,” Sog stated, tapping his chest with his fist. “I’m the one who played and got killed for it. I’m also the one who thought I didn’t need to take this serious. That’s all changed. Don’t forget who I get to face next week.”
Cordellia snorted and nodded, knowing that Jazzjak had offered horrible odds if anyone wanted to bet something on Max losing.
“Don’t be upset,” Tanila said, patting Cordellia’s shoulder. “Max convinced me only because he has a way of doing so… and not like that.”
Fowl said nothing, holding up both hands, not hiding the grin he displayed.
Clearing her throat, Tanila turned her attention back to their ranger.
“Now you know. You’ve got some time to work with Jazzjak and figure out what you might acquire for a little bit of the DP you’ve been saving. Eventually, you’re going to have to spend it, and I’d rather have a chance to train with it before then.
Taking a deep breath, Cordellia let it out slowly. “I guess that means I’ll have some time to train and prepare for my rematch against Fowl.”
“Anytime you want me, I’m here,” their dwarf replied, receiving a bonk with Batrire’s staff on his shoulder.