BXBX NOVEL Chapter 523: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor
Chapter 523: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor
That relief Kat felt upon managing to stay standing quickly fled. As soon as Kat let her perception of time return to human levels the shock of it caused her to fall forward. Her feet tried to find purchase but all the blood on the ground didn\'t help things and she found herself face first into yet more blood.
"KAT!" shouted Sue from somewhere on the ceiling. Kat wasn\'t exactly willing to waste energy double checking the location at the moment.
"I\'m fine Sue!" Kat shouted back "Just gotta heal up a little bit. I wasn\'t prepared when I dropped back down to normal levels so that I can heal up faster from my perspective" Sue didn\'t respond to that, or if she did it wasn\'t at a volume Kat could hear… which would be surprising but Kat was somewhat out of it at the moment.
Kat also checked her reserves and found them sitting just barely below fifty percent. *Yes! I\'ll take that. Much more efficient with the last three then the first one. Sure I still have to heal up a bit but that\'s practically nothing at this point. I\'m happy enough with my performance. I wasn\'t expecting the suicide tactic and had it been anyone else it might have worked. Hmm… I\'ll have to watch Kamiko for the same thing.*
Kat forced her neck to move. It wasn\'t much of a physical effort but more of a mental one. When she turned to the side it was hard to make out what was happening. Kamiko and the three rats moved as a blur to her eyes even though she could keep up with them. Without slowing her perception down though she couldn\'t consciously process it all.
Three of the rats were hardly damaged, Kat didn\'t see any major cuts at all only a few small ones on their arms that barely even bled. The fourth rat was in much worse shape, cuts littered the rat\'s entire body and it was clear they were slower then the other combatants. Kamiko was the fastest but not by much, and it was clear that her skill was what kept her in the fight.
While Kat was watching, she didn\'t see Kamiko\'s shield get triggered even once, but there was a number of clashes between claw and staff. Kamiko seemed to favour catching their claws just below the blade for some reason, Kat wasn\'t sure why that was or what it meant, but it was a noticeable pattern even without speeding her thoughts up for a better look.
Kat could feel herself healing, and knew it probably wasn\'t the best to be lying on the ground still but it was comfy enough and the damage was on her sides not her front… well, her back wasn\'t quite healed but that was fine too. Nothing to worry about. Moving on from her injuries she moved her head again to try and see Stone.
She didn\'t succeed all that well. Kat could of course see the giant Crystal Rat that wasn\'t currently moving, and just a tiny bit of Stone\'s arm holding onto the thing, but most of her view was blocked by a dome made out of rocks that had to hold the Summoner. Kat could actually see it moving slightly, some of the rocks on top wiggling slightly, likely from Summoner fighting back somewhat.
*Hmm… should I do something about that? I could stand up if I really had to. Taking out the summoner is the entire point of this so just… getting it over with seems like a good idea… except that I\'m not sure I can kill her. If she made Crystal then she might be too strong for me to take on properly.
Well. It looks like Stone has this handled for now so I should heal up first. Then I\'ll help Kamiko out, then we can work out something between the two of us, or maybe three with Sue included as well.*
So, Kat relaxed somewhat for a short while as she did, she kept her eye on Kamiko, not really following along, but watching so that she could act if it was truly necessary. Kamiko needed no help, at least not yet, as during Kat\'s recover time she watched the injured rat take a heavy blow to the neck and collapse.
*Nice one Kami! Maybe you don\'t need my help after all.* Kat thought with a smile. Still, when she felt that most of her injuries were healed, Kat stood up and stretched a little. As she did though, she glanced over at Kamiko and her eyes widened when she saw the flash of white that signalled a hit getting through. The rat that hit her paid dearly for the strike though as Kamiko\'s naginata flashed through the air and took of… most… of the offending arm.
Clearly Kamiko had been working on it for a bit. A few cuts Kat mustn\'t have noticed because the naginata made it through the skin, the muscles and instead of cutting through the bone it seemed more like the arm had been popped out of its socket. If the muscles and skin on the other side weren\'t so strong it would have fallen off there, and it was very useless now.
Kat checked her sides and found them still not quite healed. She\'d taken a lot of damage, especially to the bottom of her lungs, and they\'d been fixed first. Still, it was mostly just a few muscles and a lot of skin at this point so Kat decided it was time to do something. Dashing forward Kat watched the fight continue as she approached.
The rat with a damaged arm, now designated Army, was taking a back seat to the action, keeping their good arm towards Kamiko but mostly just staying out of range of her weapon. The other two were trying to keep Kamiko busy on the left and right but she was using her naginata in its double bladed mode so she was using both ends to keep the remaining to rats at bay easily.
*Hmm, should I try and go for the healthy ones? Get them to focus on me for a bit and let Kamiko get in some good hits? Or should I take out the one that\'s down an arm. I can definitely manage that by myself, and I have to run past it to get to the other two. Hmm, yeah that\'s the deciding factor, I think.*
When Kat saw that the other two rats had locked their claws with both ends of Kamiko\'s naginata. She\'d gotten in some slices on the bottom of there arms when they did. The third rat thought this was an opening. It wasn\'t though, because Kat was willing to use the distraction instead.
When the rat took a step forward Kat slammed her foot into the rats kneecap, using the weakness she\'d previously found. Army folded like a chump on poker night. Not expecting it, and certainly not bracing at all the rat went flying away and had no chance of making a comeback.
The other two rats saw it in the corner of their eyes and managed to turn around to face Kat, hopefully to make sure she didn\'t get the drop on them as well. Sadly, they weren\'t smart enough to realise the real problem was still behind them as Kamiko swiftly dashed forward with her full power and sliced both rats\' heads off.
Kamiko and Kat both let out a simultaneous breath as time return to normal. "Thanks" said Kamiko as she took in deep calming breaths.
"No problem at all" said Kat
Kamiko raised an eyebrow at that, "Don\'t think I didn\'t see you collapse when you were done with your lot Kat. I saw that. I\'d like an explanation"
Kat tried to wave it off but Kamiko\'s stare just hardened. When Sue chimed in with a, "Yeah you better cough up the details. Don\'t swallow" Kat knew she\'d have to explain.
"Look, it was just the shock of returning to real time. I dropped the boost on my mind and body at the time and I was missing a lot of muscles on both sides of my body so the ones that were left weren\'t quite enough to keep me standing. It\'s fine, I healed up with no troubles" explained Kat
Kamiko growled a little at this, clearly not liking the idea Kat had even been damaged so much. "Dammit I only took two hits the entire fight. Maybe you should have been shielded as well"
Kat shook her head, "No, I can heal back from pretty much anything and I really am fine now. If you took more damage it would have been really bad for us and I\'m not sure if Sue can do two shields at once along with herself. Pretty sure Stone said she couldn\'t…"
"You still scared us!" shouted Sue
"RIGHT!" shouted Stone making the other three jump. "While I do appreciate that you\'re all ok, could you perhaps get over here? We need to figure out how to end this properly! REMEMBER the SUMMONER IS STILL UP"