Pandora Unchained - B1C81: Skirmish Outside the Wall

The curly-horned demonic bull was the fastest of the three demons. The tiger-pawed musk deer, in all its vampiric glory, was just behind it. As for the shadow-pawed demonic badger, Sorin couldn't see it. Only a parting wave of demons confirmed that it was circling around their group and cut off the perpetrator —obviously Lawrence— from retreating.

"This is ridiculous!" said Lawrence, splitting off from their group and attracting the demonic bull's attention. "It was the rat! The rat!" Yet he did not throw away the looted reproductive organs, as the demons had already chosen their targets. Moreover, no other team member would be able to handle the wrath of all three demons simultaneously.

Sorin had yet to find time to craft more poisons for himself, but there were a few existing one-star poisons that could be found on the black market. Most were alchemical stimulants with adverse effects so severe they were outlawed. Sorin chugged one such vial of poison and braced himself as colors grew more intense, and pounding hooves and ripping claws rattled his ear drums.

It took only a few seconds for Sorin to adapt to his improved senses and increased strength and dexterity. He could feel the strain on his body as it overcame its natural limitations, but felt comfortable in recovering from whatever damage he would suffer due to its influence.

The poisonous effects of the stimulant were threefold. Firstly, the stimulant would exhaust Sorin's body due to overexertion. Secondly, it would leave dangerous toxins in his nervous system, which would accumulate with each use. Thirdly, the perception-enhancing stimulant would degrade upon expending itself and transform into a toxin that would cause irreparable brain damage. This was why even military application of these stimulants was restricted to one use per person per year and three-lifetime doses maximum. These last two properties were naturally no problem to Sorin. Thanks to Toxic Metabolism, he could both avoid these negative effects and even convert them to vitality stores.

By now, the curly-horned demonic bull had already charged at Lawrence and missed. But the shadow-pawed demonic badger was cunning and appeared behind Lawrence while he was still recovering while swiping vicious two-foot-long claws at the defenseless rogue.

Sorin used his enhanced reflexes and speed to close the gap with Adder Rush and pull Lawrence back before the claws hit him. Simultaneously, Stephan appeared to intercept the badger with a Lunisolar Paw and prevent it from retreating.

The impact of the clashing badger and bear sent Sorin and Lawrence tumbling. Sorin, being much more difficult to put down than Lawrence, used his body as a shield and suffered lacerations on his back that exposed bare bones.

Lawrence moved to help Sorin apply a healing potion but was forced to retreat when the tiger-pawed musk deer pounced over Stephan and dove straight for Lawrence. Lawrence dodged its first attack but was forced onto the ground. An arrow pierced down from the sky and chained the musk deer to the ground before he could trample the rogue to death.

That must be Gareth's newest skill—Shackle Shot, thought Sorin. The skill was an expensive one for archers that could chain down and stun either a single enemy or entire groups for up to three seconds. It joined Power Shot, Triple Shot, Quick Shot, Eagle Eye, and his wind-based movement technique to make the archer the most prolific member of their party when it came to skills.

Shackle Shot's stun effect normally had a one-to-three-second stun length, but its effect was short-lived due to rank suppression. But the half-second stun bought Lawrence more than enough to pick himself up off the ground and use the creature's shadow to maneuver around it and execute Triple Stab Execution.

Having gained the upper hand, Lawrence was able to control the momentum of their duel, freeing up the rest of their team to take care of the other demons. "Sorin, disable the badger's mana if you can!" shouted Gareth. He led off their counter-offensive by blasting the badger with a power shot to the side of the head, enabling Stephan to push it back onto its uncertain hind legs.

Sorin didn't think twice before using Adder Rush to close the gap. The badger saw him coming and tried to intercept him, but Sorin leaned in, taking a few more deep gashes to his chest to strike at the creature's left leg and inject a heavy dose of manabane poison, disabling its mana flow and disrupting its mana shielding.

The demon in question was 25 feet tall when standing on its hind legs. Sorin's attack naturally provoked a counterattack from the giant badger in the form of a sweeping kick, but Sorin used his trusty whip and Python Coil to yank himself forward toward the wounded leg. He then jumped off said leg to attack another acupoint, injecting a second dose of manabane poison. It joined with the first in disabling any movement techniques the shadow-pawed demonic badger might use for the foreseeable future.

There was a second benefit to the exchange – destabilizing the badger's footing enough for Stephan to push it backward. "Explode!" shouted Daphne from their safe center when the badger reached a cluster of fire sigils.

What amounted to three fully charged fireballs detonated just behind the badger, scorching its lower limbs beyond recognition and infuriating the creature. It activated a berserk ability and began mauling the engaged Stephan. But Stephan fought back with one charged Lunisolar Paw after another, enforcing a stalemate that was rapidly transforming into an advantaged position for the beastshift warrior.

The tiger-pawed musk deer is still chasing down Lawrence, and having a damn hard time of it too, thought Sorin. As for the curly-horned demonic bull, Orpheus and his team are taking care of it. For once, Sorin was glad they were on the same battlefield; the demonic was a powerful and difficult to stop with a single adventurer.

Meanwhile, Lawrence was doing a great job stalling the musk deer using his quick reflexes and enhanced sixth sense. Unfortunately, the musk deer soon grew tired of his antics and activated a vampiric ability. Vitality began to steadily drain from Lawrence to empower the musk deer. Daphne and Gareth were similarly affected.

Sensing the threat the creature posed, Gareth changed his target to the musk deer. His charged Power Shots didn't pack much of a punch unless they hit vitals, but they still forced the musk deer to react and gave Lawrence the openings he needed.

Unfortunately, Lawrence couldn't deal a lot of damage to the creature, and Daphne, under the direction of Gareth, had snuck out to lay down additional runes nearby. It, therefore, fell to Sorin to expedite its demise.

"Lorimer, help me out," Sorin called out. The rat, who'd been hiding amongst the lesser demons not far away, charged at the musk deer and instantly provoked an extreme response.

The tiger-pawed musk deer abandoned all defenses, giving Lawrence an opening to attack its neck vertebrae. Sorin simultaneously closed in on its flank; the deer responded to his charge by swiping at him with its left tiger paw but wasn't able to catch Sorin, who was now enhanced by both the stimulant poison and his blood drinker armor's enchantment.

Sorin's body was covered in his own blood. He swiped his cursed dagger on his bloody chest while avoiding the tiger paw, then proceeded to use Viper Strike to inject a combination of mana and blood into the musk deer's body.

The tiger-pawed musk deer shrieked as its internal mana circulator was disrupted. It managed to catch Sorin and throw him to the ground, where it proceeded to trample him. Sorin felt his bones crack and his organs shift.

Only two things saved him: one final Shackle Shot, courtesy of Gareth, and a vicious counter-attack, courtesy of Sorin's Lord and Savior, Lorimer. A well-timed Shackleshot pierced through the creature's mana-disrupted body and pinned it to the ground. Lorimer took advantage of the stunning effect to crawl through Sorin's daggere wound and crawl into the demon's innards.

The opening bought Sorin the time he needed to use his whip in conjunction with Python Coil and pull two of the creature's legs out from under it. Both he and Lawrence launched themselves onto the creature's exposed underbelly and stabbed at its vitals. The creature shivered as it reached its limits, and the rest of its life left it.

Sorin first confirmed the creature's death with Ophidian Eye, then placed his hand on the creature's underbelly to retrieve his poisons. Retrieving his poison back from the creature's body restored only half of his initial mana reserves. As for his wounds, they were better treated with a health potion. Sorin downed and entire vial and tossed it away before turning his attention to the rest of the battle.

"Incoming shenanigans," warned Gareth as Sorin took a much-needed breather. "Orpheus and the bunch."

"Aren't they taking this a bit too far?" said Sorin, noticing their maneuvering.

"What are you talking about?" said Gareth with a grin. "They're helping us. Daphne?"

"I'm on it," said Daphne, focusing on a cluster of five sparks she'd laid. "Activating the rune cluster in five, four, three, two, one…. Now!" An explosion blasted the curly-horned demon bull Orpheus was baiting towards them The creature was launched into the air, then tumbled towards Sorin and Lawrence, who exchanged a look before repeating the previous process and easily dispatching another two-star demon.

Lorimer emerged from the musk deer carcass just as Sorin finished retrieved his poisons. The rat tossed a demon core to Sorin's outstretched hand, then dug into the bull's eye socket to excavate another demon core.

They turned to Gareth for further instructions but discovered that the archer had already leaped into the air and launched another Power Shot. It's coated with my blood poison, thought Sorin as the arrow built up power and pierced into another two-star demon—an earth-shaping termite. It and two other two-star companions were drawn towards their battlefield, as was a wind-shaping hawk up above them.

"Finish off the badger, and I'll lure the termites to Orpheus' team," said Gareth, rushing past Sorin. He shot his bow as he traveled, further infuriating the creatures and adjusting their trajectory.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Sorin said to Lawrence. "Let's kill ourselves a badger." The two split apart and attacked the shadow-pawed badger from opposite sides.