The movent was blazingly fast and perfectly controlled. Only Miles wrist and forearm moved, his shoulder motionless, as he pulled sothing black and carbon from his inventory and pointed it at .
Ti slowed down.
Muzzle flare flashed three tis.
It was likely only due to that the first few shots missed. Sothing too fast to perceive struck my shoulder armor and knocked off balance.
Simultaneously, there was a tal blur as, freed itself from the pit and shot towards .
I activated mid-fall. My hand-crossbow leapt into my grip and I aid for the at of Miles thigh. Then squeezed the trigger.
He scread and fell. We hit the ground monts apart, but the hand crossbows pain effect didnt stop him from leveling the shaking muzzle of a stockless submachine-gun directly at my head.
Blackness overtook . Smothered .
And for a mont, I thought it was over.
But the gunfire continued, and the blackness that covered emitted a harsh growl, radiating pain and anger. Rage overtook as my mind caught up with my body. Miles brought a fucking machine gun to a crossbow fight. Hed be penalized if he killed with it, sa as I almost was at the beginning. And now Talia was paying for my shortcomings, shielding with her own body.
No!
Stay. Talia rasped. Her body shuddered as she took another bullet.
An unbearable rage welled up from my core.
Im going to kill him
I felt the breath of her muzzle as she nipped my ear. Dont get distracted pup.
The aning of her words hit like a bucket of ice water, bringing everything back into focus.
Okay. Ill bring you back as soon as I can. I said, my voice hoarse.
Click. Click. Click.
Across the gap, Miles swore, and there was a loud clatter. From the grunts of pain, hed run out of ammo. Was trying to get the bolt out of his leg and failing. I forced myself up on an elbow and peeked over Talia.
Sprawled out on his ass, Miles leveled a Glock at my head and I ducked back behind the wolf just before he fired. Staggered, panicked footsteps trailed away from us. Talias body dissipated, leaving with a clear line on Miles, hauling ass deeper into the ripple. A series of notifications popped.
Rogue Bounty at The Gilded Tower, Floor 28 and 1/2
Threat Level: High
Ti Limit: Until a condition is t.
Conditions: Neutralize or Terminate.
Reward: EXP (L), S100,000 - 200 Rare User Cores
God fucking dammit, Miles.
Hed tried to kill with a blacklisted weapon. Put it all on the line. Instead, hed hard and killed Talia, which was apparently enough for the system to flag him. The bounty was no joke. Now, if I left him injured and running scared, I might as well be signing his death warrant.
If I said it didnt tempt , Id be lying.
But looking at everything from a purely rational perspective. Nothing had changed. The trap hed laid had failed, and he was in more trouble now than when he was pretending to be.
Dont get distracted.
I set after him, running at a slow jog. The injury would slow him down. Now it was just a question of how many bullets he had left.
/////
The answer was many.
Many bullets.
I followed from a distance, exposing as little of myself as possible. He tried another ambush, but the pain from the bolt had unsettled him. Mostly he just ran, limping painfully with every step.
Id picked up a few vampires in the interim, used one to keep watch, and the others to pull away the attention we were drawing. So far, it was just vampires on vampires.
I took cover behind a cluster of beams and called out. Getting tired yet?
A bullet answered. It went far wide glancing off the stony ground and ricocheting off, ters away.
Guess thats a no.
I staggered as a soul-rending screech, loud and unbearable chilled to my core. A massive shadow flitted overhead, and I instinctively ducked. Seconds later, an impact large enough to be a bomb shook the entire dungeon, sending bits of detritus skidding past where I lay prone, my entire body shaking.
Every vampire in my awareness blinked out.
Once rife with the noises of monsters and squalling, the ripple fell silent.
Fear coursed through , fear more raw and real than any Id felt before. Fear that made feel like I was a child who just discovered how terrifying the world really was.
I forced my eyes open.
Nearby, one of the overhanging bridges collapsed, crumbling into the abyss. Itd been shredded in half. Hole running clear through it.
And far off, in the direction Miles was running, there was an angled crater. Miles was a bloodied ss, facedown, motionless. And above him, a lone figure stood, completely still. Its skin was crimson, its body sleek and thin, with arms that ended in claws.
A voice that slithered and pervaded everything, coming from everywhere all at once, filled the ripple.
You want him? Co take him.
The Crimson Nosferatu matched Azures description perfectly. My body trembled. And sohow, with monuntal effort, I pushed myself up to my knees. It hadnt moved an inch, and didnt seem to be in any hurry.
I reached out to Miles with and felt significant pushback.
It was confirmation he was still alive, still conscious. Didnt solve the problem. The Nosferatu felt absurdly powerful, but that didnt an it was intelligent. Maybe I could influence it. I reached out with
The connection snapped, and my vision dimd to almost nothing. When it returned, I felt shell shocked, hollow.
Numbly, I tried to ntally review the resources I had, placing them on the ground in front of .
The common silver knife and the arrowheads.
My crossbows, bow, and potions.
My mana was dry.
GET OUT
No. I could co up with sothing. I just needed a plan. So way to distract it long enough to grab Miles and get out.
How. Its faster than you. Smarter than you. If youre lucky as hell, maybe itll even let you go.
The Crimson Nosferatus voice silenced my inner thoughts. How long do you intend to make wait?
Helplessness overtook . The sa helplessness Id felt in the tunnel. Maybe Kinsley was right. Maybe we were better off with Miles gone. Hed co within seconds of killing , and this thing had manhandled him like he was nothing.
Another voice radiated in my mind. One I hadnt heard in a very long ti.
You have to choose what you want to be. And you have to keep making that choice.
For, perhaps the first ti, I listened to my fathers words. This didnt feel like a fight I could win. Everything in my rational mind was screaming at to run. But if I ran, my actions spoke for themselves. I would have pulled Miles into a situation he couldnt handle and abandoned him when it got hard.
And maybe it was Hasturs revelation of what my life could have been, or maybe Id changed. I didnt know.
Regardless of why, I gathered my things and stood. Crossbow in one hand, dagger in the other.
The Nosferatu cackled, and its aura pressed down on . Finally. I hope your power exceeds your stature.
That was an odd taunt. Power aside, it was half a head taller, if that.
Soone cleared their throat.
I started and turned, blinking several tis, unable to believe what I was seeing.
Ellison was standing next to , his arms crossed. His stoic face held a hint of a smile. Sorry you had to find out this way, Matt. But its not always about you.
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