Chapter 25: Geist Hunt (1/2)

Chapter 25: Geist Hunt

The GeistDynamite Girl in front of it to minimize risk to itself

Dynamite Girl stu with stilted, aard s

The Geist cocked its head as it sat by the flowing stream where the Strikers had slept In front of it, it stared down at a Striker corpse It picked up the corpse in its large hand, raising the decently heavy wolf creature with ease to its face

With a gurgle, the Geist tossed the Striker away once it identified that it was not a huarbled, alh and curious, al

It looked ahead at a trail of Striker corpses leading into the forest

The Geist stared at the line of corpses for a second and then ate, obviously realizing so was suspicious It sat there and stretched out its thick,the line of Striker corpses

As Dynaue tethering her to the Geist grew thinner and thinner

Dyna, a full twenty meters away from the Geist, and stopped in front of the very last Striker corpse

There was nobody around it No surprise attack

It was just a lone corpse

"Gehhhh?" the Geist garbled It started to bring back Dynaue

The Skeleton Rogue ht through the ue where it had been stretched thinnest and easiest to cut

Dynamite Girl fell face first into the dirt, her connection to the Geist severed

Aldrich had seen that the Geist used Dynaate and thus baited the Geist to draw her out using Striker corpses

Since the Geist could not detect the Evil Eye, it could not detect the Skeleton Rogue either

Aldrich had the rogue use its [Shadow Walk] and stay still in the center of the clearing so as to minimize any arbled, warped screaht in front of the rogue The Variant cocked back its huge, ue, but a series of arrows flew fro into its arm and chest

"Geh!?" the Geist stepped back and tore the arrows out of its body In this ue ran for its life, or rather unlife, disappearing into the cover of the forest

"Geh…geh?" The Geist stared at the puncture wounds made by the arrow The flesh around the with push It cocked its head, wondering why its regeneration did not kick in

The Geist then tried to pick up its tongue and re-attach it with regeneration

"ORAAA!"

That hen Valera stor her own [Dash] skill She became a black blur as she sla its body with her shi+eld

The Geist was strong and fast too, though, and it reacted by holding up its ar them as a shi+eld of its own to resist Valera

The sound of concussive ih the forest as the Geist drove back several meters under Valera's momentum and power

"Gehhh!" The Geist roared and pushed back, its enorive ground

"Oh? A little strong, are we? How about THIS!" Valera used the [shi+eld Slam] skill and drove her shoulder into her shi+eld Her shi+eld gloith crackling red energy that exploded outwards in a shockwave as it slaainst the Variant

The Geist tu itself, its large fingers digging into the dirt The creature shook its head from the impact and then started to release its neurotoxin

Various pores in its body opened up, and purple gas stea in athe Geist "Is that it!? Poison!? Utter foolishness!"

"Geh?" the Geist cocked its head as it saw that its toxin had zero effect on Valera

She banged her breastplate before she charged again, using this ti at the Geist horizontally with her cross shi+eld, ai to cut its head open

The Geist showcased its surprising agility and ducked beneath the swipe before punching Valera straight in the chest Its fist popped through her [Criht into her armor

Valera skidded backwards several h the air She suffered da considerable The blood barrier had reduced soe and she did not have any weakness to crushi+ng dae that skeletal or lesser undead like Aldrich had

She looked down to see a crack in the arhed "That's it! That's more like it! Hit ain with her shi+eld, and the Geist roared as they engaged in another clash of blows

Aldrich acted quickly He had waited outside of the clearing, beyond the Geist's potential detection range, and now sprinted towards Dynamite Girl's corpse He had planned all this fro to what he had envisioned

Bait the Geist into drawing Dynaue to cut off its tongue

Place the Skeleton Archer in the trees to provide suppressive fire

Have Valera charge in and distract the Geist so that it could not re-attach its tongue or reach Dynamite Girl

Now, the most important phase of the plan -

Aldrich knelt by Dynamite Girl's limp body, ready to raise her as an undead

Two Strikers, the Alpha Striker, and Adauards in the case that the Geist tried to dash past Valera

However, Valera kept the Geist's attention quite well

Aldrich inspected Dyna above her That hen he realized she was alive Still breathing, though very shallowly

Six entire months in the Geist's stomach and used as its puppet, and this whole time, she had been alive

"Thank you for your service to Haven Noill end your suffering," said Aldrich, saying her last rites He took his staff and stabbed it straight through her neck, killing her

He felt a s roadkill A passing, cursory sense of pity that was not given a second thought

He truly was not huer, and as long as it did, he welcomed it

Maybe, just maybe, someone could have saved her and healed her back in Haven

But then what? Where was the guarantee herher back to the city?

Aldrich definitely was not going to - there was far tooher into the city as he was now as a literal walking corpse with no fake identity

He would have to deal with questioning and investigation fro he wanted

At least like this, Dynauaranteed to be useful Before he reanimated Dynamite Girl, Aldrich noted that a Soul floated above her body He shook his head - taking the soul was not the right choice here

He needed her powers now

"Serve," said Aldrich as he put her hand gently on Dynareen strands of energy

[-5 Mana]