Valkyrie's Lament

Chapter 47 Final Day (II)



Final Day (Part II)

Silver could not see what was shooting at them from a distance. The strange gooey substances shot downward like pellets towards them in rapid succession. They all ducked and covered, scampering around the ground to find a shelter from the barrage of goo. With quick feet, Silver dashed forward towards a half broken bus stop booth that could barely cover three people.

Jasper followed, stumbled behind her and stuck close to her like glue. With a hiss, they could see the goo above their heads eating quickly away at the plastic and glass.

“If we stay here any longer we’re going to have holes in our body.” Jasper stated worriedly as his eyes creased deepened.

“I see shelter over there.” Silver pointed a good distance away, where they needed to bolt. Everywhere around them were all open land with barely any cover. For once, she cursed in her head at the rat monster that destroyed the buildings, giving them less of a hiding place.

The others who were not even too far away saw where she pointed and knew where she was heading. They bolted towards the direction that she went, covering their heads with thin paper as if it would stop the pelting goo rain, they rushed towards shelter.

Jasper understood where Silver wanted them to go, and both of them bolted out from underneath their temporarily safe haven to the direction that they needed to go. Silver wasn’t pleased at the enemy fire that constantly barraged them at every corner. The good rain didn’t even seem to want to dissipate and instead picked up the numbers the further they went. She found it really strange how they were able to pelt so many at them from such a distance.

“What kind of monster can spit at us this far?” Silver was contemplating on shooting an ice lance at them if she got the chance. Her hands were already forming as she spoke.

“The kind that you don’t want to mess with. They’re some kind of weird hybrid frog, human, and a killer hornet. I don’t know who in their right mind made such abominations but it’s best left alone.” The words alone were stressed out, making Silver wonder what he had seen to say such words.

“Piscine.” Silver mumbled underneath her breath. She had heard about a special monster in this game that rarely likes to show its ugly head, especially near the end of the game.

“Excuse me?”

“Piscine. That’s what they’re called. I completely forgot all about them.”

“Piscine? I never heard of that before. Where did you learn that name?”

They made it safely into the building that was half torn down. The others were present with small holes in their clothes.

Silver bit her lips when she realized that she slipped in telling something that normally others wouldn’t know, especially since she was the one who seemed like she didn’t know what was going on. “I heard it from other players.” Waving her hands to cover her mistake.

“Really? That explains it.” Jasper bought Silver words and didn’t question her at all.

“Explain what?” Brook came over curious on what they were talking about.

“Piscines. They’re the monster that has been pelting us with that nasty acidic goo.”

“You serious? What are they anyway?”

“Some kind of frog, bee, and humanoid hybrid. If you ever see one, I suggest you run away.”

“That does sound dangerous, though how are we going to get out of here? It’s still raining with their spits. I’m not sure about you guys, but I don’t want to be hit by them at all.”

Silver suddenly saw on her radar the three green dots were moving and more suddenly cropped up from all around them. In total she had counted twenty of them coming towards them rapidly. Her voice went up an octave, she knew that if they didn’t move fast they would be trapped on all sides. “We got company!”

“Where?”

Everyone was peering out the side of the broken building, trying to find the location of the Piscine, but to no avail they didn’t see anything in the pitch black darkness.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, we got twenty of them moving on us on all sides!” Silver hissed and furrowed her brows. “We have to fight our way out.”

“I was hoping that wouldn’t happen,” said Jasper. He bit his lips in frustration as a drop of blood fell down his lips.

“We have no choice. We are moving now.” Silver slid her back towards the wall and glanced out the door that they just came through. All of a sudden, she felt danger and quickly stepped back.

With a thud, a black goo flew past her face, leaving behind a slight stinging feeling. Alarmed, Silver slammed back onto the wall not to get barraged by another slew of black goo that passed by them, leaving multiple holes in the wall.

“This is suicide!” Brook yelled, his fingers twitched at the thought of getting rained on by acid.

“No choice. We either run now and break through or we’re going to be stuck here and swallowed by hundreds!” Silver knew that time was running out. She didn’t know that they would be so much trouble just to get near the rabbit who stole her patch.

“This is not cool!”

“Nobody is saying this is going to be cool.” Rook hissed. “After we survive you owe us all dinner for helping you out!” He called out towards Silver.

“Fine!” Silver saw a glimpse of the Piscine out the corner of her eyes as she was peeking outwards. Solidifying the spear in her hands, she hopped to the side, raised her arm, and threw with all her might.

Not even a second later, a barrage of acid came flying towards her. Silver was lucky enough to dodge the majority of the goo, before it completely doused her in it. Though she did not get out unscathed by it. There were a couple of burn marks on her pearly white skin and holes in her clothes.

“Scree!” With a scream of pain, the Piscine fell over dead from being impaled in the head by Silver’s spear.

Silver’s ears perked when she heard the sound of the down Piscine, once again she willed up another spear to throw.

“What was that sound?” Rook nervously glanced around trying to figure out where that strange screech like sound came from.

“I got one. There’s three coming from the right!” Silver called out to her group. She then saw another ugly monster that screamed like a creature from a horror scene appearing hopping over towards them.

She had a more clear view of the monsters in front of them. Boils that size of fist were littered all around its body. Its eyes were round and beady that had the look of an insect. Translucent haggard wings sprouted out of the back, fluttering quickly behind it, but failed to lift itself up onto the air. The difference between its obese body and its small wings could barely even lift an inch off the ground. Yellow black stripes decorated on its body giving it a race car look. Even a crooked wide grin that reminded Silver of a frog was plastered on its face.

What made Silver frown was the large needle on its butt that was covered in slimy black goo. The substance of the black goo was spat out from its mouth, and she could tell that being stung by its barber wasn’t a good idea. She heard stories about the horrible boils and painful stings that could rock her whole body from its one attack.

With precision, Silver shot her ice spear with everything she got. Her aim was considered a pro level from the strength and speed, but her hands were still having trouble getting the correct grip and throw. At the last second, she lost her grip from the slippery spear that veered slightly to the right, causing her to miss the heart and instead drove into its shoulder. With a painful screech it stumbled backwards, but still got itself right back up.

A long tongue whipped out from the Piscine and wrapped its tongue on the ice spear. With a harsh yank, it pulled out the spear from its shoulder. Silver didn’t give the Piscine another chance to fight back and threw another ice spear at its body. With a sickening thud, it landed perfectly into its chest as it flopped over dead.

“Is it that easy to kill?” Brook asked flabbergasted as he saw Silver kill two with only three ice spears.

“Long distance attacks are our best shot, but if you think you can aim perfectly like Silver probably.” Jasper replied. He had wrapped himself in partial lightning armor and dashed out towards the three oncoming Piscine.

Sam was a step ahead of Jasper as his fist was filled with wind magic. A Piscine spat out a barrage of bullets towards him. A blast of wind shot out from his hands, pushing the acid away from him. “Is that the best that you got?” He snickered as he raised up his hands.

A blast of wind shot outwards in a fist like form. It punched through the first Piscine, leaving a big hole in its stomach. Black blood gushed out as it flopped over dead. The other two spat out more acid from boths sides, causing Sam to hop around like a grasshopper to not get hit.

Jasper took the initiative and shot out a blast of electric current from both hands, shocking the two at the same time. Their tongues stuck out from the side and their eyes became round from shock.

Sam ran forward and kicked the one on the right, but before he could pull out his legs, he could feel a slimy substance wrapping around Sam’s leg.

“What the hell!” Alarmed Sam was startled at the strange fluid that wrapped his feet. He couldn’t pull out, and instead he was firmly stuck in the shoulder of the Piscine.

“Are you an idiot?!” Jasper howled after Sam. “Close quarter combat is the sure fire way to kill yourself!” The electricity around his hands was intensifying around him. With a powerful blast, he shot a rapid succession of electric energy towards the Piscine on the left, completely toasting it in one go. He didn’t shoot a single electric current towards Sam’s for the fear of barbequing him along with the Piscine.

“I can handle myself, thank you very much.” Sam pulled out a dagger and with great force he slammed downwards in the Piscine’s face, causing a nasty scream from the Piscine’s mouth.

Jasper temporarily froze up from the horrible scream, but Sam did not stop as he cut through the surrounding areas of his encased leg off. He wanted his legs free and he was not stopping until he got what he wanted.

“There.” With a huff, Sam pulled back his legs that were completely shrouded in goo that he had to shake off. He could already feel the pain from the goo’s acidic attack that left a red mark on his leg. “I don’t need your help.”

Jasper rolled his eyes, he ran off back towards the building. “We got the three monsters. Anywhere else?”

Silver was throwing another ice spear as it pierced another. Brook pulled out a crossbow and placed it on his wrist. Quickly he knocked an arrow into the crossbow and aimed towards the direction of the Piscine. With a thunk, the arrow left the contraption and flew, piercing the air as it fell into the eye of the Piscine before them.

“Yes!” Brook pumped his arm in the air.

“Brook!” Rook pulled him back just in time before he could get swallowed by a large black goo the size of a large beach ball flew past him.

Hissing sound could be heard as the ground was being eaten by the acid that seemed to let out a sulfuric odor. Their eyes scrunched up and their nose twitched at the awful smell. Even Silver had to hold in a couple of seconds of her breath so she didn’t have to continually inhale the horrible smell.

“Five coming to the left. Three behind us. We won’t be able to break through. Our only chance is to kill them all here and now.”

Jasper and Sam once again splitted ways leaving them behind as they tackled the Piscine that she had spoken of. They didn’t say no or were afraid anymore, instead they dashed forward with the intent to kill their opponents as quickly as possible. The amount of barrages of goo was slowly decreasing over time as they killed them off one by one.

A crackle of magical energy could be heard around both her hands. She was making more spears that were a bit thicker than the rest. She noticed that the smaller the magical spears were the longer it took the Piscine to resist.

Their attacks were ruthless as more and more bullets showered down upon them. Rook and Briana didn’t have any large range attacks and sat behind the broken wall, watching everything that was transpiring around them.

A sudden shot of thick gooey bullets hit Silver on her shoulder. She felt a burning sensation on her skin as part of her clothes were being melted off and was going straight towards her skin. She quickly wiped off the goo and gently encased it with her ice magic to cool down her burn. With great pain, she once again raised up her ice spear to chuck it at the Piscine ahead.

She noticed that they were finally down to ten, giving them more breathing space to fight back. The worry that she had that they would become a big problem was quickly being squandered and instead she pushed forward.

Dashing out from her hiding spot, she moved from cover-to-cover, using the turn over cars as shields. Every time she had the chance, she threw her ice spear at the target. Most of them hit, while some crippled the Piscine or completely missed its marks. Still Silver didn’t back down, the darkness made it hard for her to find the target, but with the help of the radar, she was able to hit her marks.

If she didn’t have the special ability of a tagged player, she wondered if she could even get out of this problem alive. The thought made her shudder, but she brushed it aside. Too many ‘ifs’ in her head was not good for her and instead cluttered her mind, and she didn’t want to and instead slowed her precision and attack.

Sam and Jasper were quickly getting through the Piscine as if they were nothing to worry about. The so-called strong was quickly doused in flames and Jasper felt embarrassed that he was so worried about the monster in hand.

There were a couple of times when the Piscine tongue whipped out and tried to stick onto their bodies. Even Silver had to dodge those rapid movements of the sticky tongues so as not to get caught by it.

Brook and Rook watched with amazement at Silver’s movement. They had a hard time believing that someone as skinny and lanky as her could move around like an experienced hunter. Her feet were quick and light not leaving a single sound for anyone to hear. One would have thought that people like her would’ve been more clumsy, but they were completely wrong.

Silver was a class of her own, completely bypassing in skill and power from Sam and Jasper. They already thought that Brook and Jasper were amazing in their own way. Jasper was faster on his feet than Silver, his lightning attacks made him look like he was a blur, leaving behind afterimages. While Sam was a powerhouse that was eradicated with his fist or pure power. Even his magical energy was heavy, causing the enemy to be eradicated in seconds.

“It always amazes me how powerful those three are.” Briana whispered towards the two.

Brook and Rook shook their heads, understanding what Briana means. They couldn’t compare to the three, especially Silver who outshone the rest.

“How are they so strong?” Brook asked. He clasped another arrow into his crossbow. Steadily aiming it, he shot at the Piscine that was aiming for Silver on the side. The Piscine stumbled and fell, giving Silver time to turn around and impale it perfectly in the head with an ice spear.

“I’m not so sure about Silver. She’s a complete mystery honestly. I don’t know anything about Jasper, but I could tell that he seems to be experienced in martial arts.” Briana gazed towards Silver with delighted eyes. One could tell that Briana was looking up towards Silver as if she was her hero. “Though Sam has been street fighting his whole life.” She exaggeratedly spoke.

“Silver does have a strange air around her. Almost like nothing phase her. I mean look at her.” Rook shoots out his hands in front of him, waving it around towards Silver.

Silver jumped up onto the nearest rubble, barely being wrapped around the Piscine’s tongue. She sprang forward with her sword in hand where the blades were completely encased in ice. The spears that she was creating in her hands were momentarily on hold and instead, her sword swoosh around her like a whip.

With a hiss, the acid ate through her sword, but not even a second later the ice covered up the missing holes. While her sword cut through the thick flesh of the monsters without much trouble.

Silver long hair trailed behind her, covering parts of her face as she glowered. Sam and Jasper were done with their fight and had made their way back towards the building, hiding themselves away from the light rain of acid bullets.

Their eyes were glued to Silver’s fight as they glanced towards her in awe. Even Sam was mesmerized with Silver’s fluid movement that cut a Piscine in half with one stroke. The acid bullets that were flying towards her were easily dodged with barely any effort so it was hard to imagine that the Piscine before them were even strong to begin with.

What they didn’t know was that for a normal person, fighting a Piscine was considered a deadly adversary. The sticky goo bullets that were like acid could burn through a thick concrete wall in matter seconds, the whip-like tongue that could crush a truck in half, and its sticky coated body that could trap a human and dissolve them into mush. Even the claws of the Piscine were coated in poison that could kill a person in under ten seconds.

Sam, Jasper, and Silver were considered advanced humans that could withstand the power of the Piscine by three to four folds. Their speed, endurance, and even strength was stronger than normal humans, giving them an equal footing against the Piscine that was around them.

Silver flicked her sword that was encased with black goo. She didn’t like her sword covered in blood, even though she used it to kill. The thought of having it covered with it made her feel a bit OCD, pulling her forward to keep it clean.

The last green dot was present on her radar, telling her that the Piscine in front of her was the last enemy. She didn’t stop as her feet took her towards the Piscine. Her feet landed on top of a broken car door that she sprung off from.

Her sword glistened blue underneath the golden moonlight, giving the sword a lull of power that she did not expect. With a diagonal strike, she cut through the final monster with one cut as black blood splashed on her face. Underneath the moonlight her silver hair glowed enchantingly, giving her a special mystical feel that made her look like some kind of elven fairy. Even though she was wearing black rabbit ears and black vest it fitted her whole attire perfectly.

Everyone gasped at the majestic scene before them and felt a surge of pride that the person in front of them was their guild leader. They couldn’t help run out the building and surround her with glee and excitement.

“Nice~” Brook gave her a thumbs up.

“Please be my girlfriend.” Rook dashed over and grabbed her hands. He picked it up ready to kiss the back of her hands, but was suddenly stopped by Jasper’s hand that chopped downwards cutting them apart. “Hey!”

“What?” Jasper gave him a glare, telling Brook that he was not someone to trifle with. Even though he was considered small, he had an overbearing powerful aura that told the opponent that he was not normal.

“Nothing.” Rook backed off.

Briana skipped over and glomped on her with excitement. Silver was surprised at the sudden being encased by Briana’s arm that she didn’t know what to do. Instead, she stood still as Brana squeezed her in excitement. “That was so cool!” She finally detached herself and smiled at her. “You’re like a female war goddess!”

Silver slightly blushed. She wasn’t used to being complimented and it was on a very rare occasion that someone had said such words. “Thanks.” She barely whispered out those words.

“Yea, what she said.” The twins chortled at excitement and awe. They were still dazed at her amazing skills and power. She was like a huntress that didn’t let go of her prey and hunted them all down with a stone cold expression.

Sam walked over as if it was nothing and stopped in front of them without saying a single word. Instead, he stared at Silver as if he was ready to pick a fight with her.

Silver couldn’t help but blushingly smile and stare at her guild members with glee.


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