ALL NOVEL Ch. 46 Acolyte
Wine colored liquid poured over the sides, sloshing to the ground in a wave. An acidic smell wafting over the small area. The ashen hand tightened on the black iron cauldron, thick tendons popping out. Panic welled through him as he stared at the rising hag. Its clothes sloughed off in a ruin of fabric as the hag rose to its full height. It was taller than the others had been, towering at over slightly seven feet.
The black hair was slick and wet, fuller than the stringy hair had been. The fat had dissolved, transforming into hard muscle. The wide black eyes stared out with a newfound vicious intelligence. It smiled, showing off its dagger-like teeth as a long leg came up and over the cauldron’s lip.
Night Hag lvl. ?
“Oh, shit.”
The dagger left his hand immediately, flipping end over end to sink halfway into a muscled shoulder. The hag’s smile just widened, but Santi wasn’t paying attention to that. He was already running.
“Fucking ascended in the middle of a raid. Fucking bullshit,” Santi hissed as he darted through a hole in the wall. The jagged edges of a stud tore at his arm while white plaster dust coated his clothes. He pushed with all of his might, his legs churning as fast as possible as he raced toward the stairwell.
An Acolyte monster wasn’t something he could deal with in his current state. Without some type of heavy weapons he wasn’t going to be able to match the monster's physicality or harm it in any significant way. The loss of his saber was really starting to weigh on him.
The stairwell loomed up and he raced straight for it, leaping down the stairwell to the lower landing. He teetered and overbalanced and slammed into the wall. A wave of heat rose over him, baking the air and drying his eyes as a ball of fire slammed into the wall above him. Santi rolled down the next flight of stairs as concrete turned liquid and dripped to the ground.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Santi chanted as he raced down to where Daniel was fighting the remnants of the coven. He couldn’t abandon the other man to face the Acolyte class monster.
“Daniel! GET YOUR ASS RUNNING!” Santi wove Air Current into a weak megaphone. It was a strain on his willpower to twist the spell into something it wasn’t designed for but he was too busy running to contemplate the strain.
The wounded on the third floor wouldn’t even be a speed bump for the newly ascended Night Hag. He leapt down and spun to the next landing and rushed into the third floor. He had only been gone for twenty minutes and the only change was that they were all clustered together at the end of the hallway.
“Run! RUN!” Santi screamed at them, all four of them looking at him confusedly. Santi had a chill run down his spine as instinct more than anything saved his life. He leapt forward while casting Gust behind him. A blast of heat and flames washed through the doorway as he triggered the skill, the concentrated air pushing the wall of flame backward and into the hallway.
The four of them were getting up as fast as possible, their wounds still lingering and slowing them. Chloe was trying to move forward, placing herself in front of the others with her axe. Rayleigh was being supported by Tank while Hana swayed as she stood, still weak from blood loss.
They were in no condition to fight the creature or run. Santi made a snap decision, spinning on heel and racing back into the stairwell.
“HIDE!”
He looked up and watched as the Night Hag Acolyte walked down the stairs unhurriedly. Its every step was delicate, peering down its long nose with a sense of superiority. Santi tossed the other knife and was pleased to watch it sink into the Night Hag’s quad. It paused for a moment to pluck the iron blade out before tossing it over its shoulder. A thin trickle of blood rolling down its thigh.
“Fuck,” Santi grunted again as the hag’s smile just widened as it began to follow him. He was happy that the hag was following him and not going into the third floor to chase after the wounded members of his party. It didn’t do anything to improve his odds of surviving the next few minutes.
For the next thirty seconds Santi had to dodge two more fireballs but escaped unscathed to the ground floor. The hag followed behind lazily, not seeming to care that his lead was increasing. A thought flashed through his mind, a memory of his own ascensions. How his body was uncomfortable, his strength and speed surprising him in moments. The hag wasn’t being slow on purpose, it was likely uncoordinated and learning its own new physical capabilities.
He still didn’t have any weapons that could harm it. So he just flew outside, his legs churning as he looked out at the assembled raid party. The bright light of the sun was blinding after the time in the hospital. Dozens of people were scattered about in lines looking bored. There were scores of dead low-level goblins laying about, killed over the last hour or so.
Justin looked over, his eyebrows raising in surprise as he saw Santi’s disheveled state and panic. His eyes widened when he saw the hag lumbering out behind him. Santi spun around to watch as the hag walked into the light of the dawn. The bright sun caused the hag to lift an arm to protect its sensitive eyes. There was a reason that the monsters were called Night Hags. The bright midday sun would weaken it, but the disparity in levels and evolution was much too high for the small advantage to give them an edge in the fight. It just made it a bit more fair.
“Spread out! It has explosive magic!” Santi screamed while waving his hands trying to get the clusters of fighters to spread out. This was going to be a massacre far worse in scale than the troll-kin.
Justin stood tall with his hammer as he ran toward the hag, rearing back to swing with all his might. Crimson fire pooled into the hags outstretched hand and it flicked its wrist with contempt at the big man. Justin was quick, rolling underneath the burning flames and rising to his feet to deliver a heavy blow. The fireball exploded in a wave of flames that consumed a half dozen people, dying to fast to even scream.
Justin’s sledgehammer hit the hag in its midriff, the sculpted muscles like titanium plating. There was hardly a ripple and the hag’s smile widened to stretch ear for ear as Justin paled. The hag reached over and palmed the top of his head and twisted and pulled. Justin didn’t have time to react as the hag ripped his head off his shoulder.
As the hag held Justin’s head in one hand when an arrow hammered into its chest. It staggered back a single step, its smile fading. Fire burst into being around its fist cremating Justin’s head. Chad fired another arrow and it planted itself right next to the first one. The arrow sank only a half inch or so, while blood flowed in a thin trickle down its chest.
Santi was looking for a weapon. Most of what everyone had was shoddy, taken and built from the miscellaneous supplies he had brought or people had scavenged. Nothing that would be able to do significant damage.
The hag stepped further from the hospital, leg muscles bunching up the only warning he had. Santi leapt to the side and rolled as fast as he could. The wind whipped as the hag flew past him, and Santi watched as it landed among a group of fighters. Blood painted the ground as the hag started to cut people apart with its razor sharp claws.
Chloe came limping out of the hospital like a godsend. She was in no shape to fight, but her heavy axe was made of good sharp steel. Santi opened his hands, wanting her to toss it to him. Chloe tossed it while collapsing to the ground, spent from the exertion of going down the stairs.
Santi used Air Current to let the handle settle into his hands. The girl's resilience and drive was a force to be reckoned with, he couldn’t help but admire her. Santi looked back at the hag and watched as it played with its food. Limbs were removed and blood caked the hags body as it bit and chewed through the flesh on them like the hungry predator it was.
“Ok, let’s try this out.” Santi shifted the axe in his palms and started forward to the monster. It turned to look at him with a bloody smile. It tossed the gnawed on leg it had been working on to the ground and started forward.