Chapter 144: Eldritch Witch
"Heh," Evian let out, "Of course you came. Pervert like you, I knew you'd not be able to stay away."
Zayda chuckled while shaking her head slowly,
"I almost did. You were quite convincing in telling me not to intrude but then I thought, on what grounds should I give heed to your wants? I thought 'Since when have I tried not to be intrusive while I watched a couple of horny fuckers get it on."
"Haha, Well, see you being all vulgar, Commander," Evian said with amusement.
"What would you have done if I had actually stayed away? The power I can feel from her-- You could not have taken her on your own."
'I planned to engage her as much as I could, get as much information out of her as I possibly could before testing my strength against her. If she proved too difficult to handle, I'd simply use Wraithic Phasing to Escape.
She doesn't know I have that card and although risky I can't just run away. It's the first time I'd face another person who was capable of using Eldritch energy so it's certainly an opportunity.'
Evian said all this in his head but of course, said none of it out loud and rather chuckled,
"I'd have managed. But I'm glad you're here."
"Don't be. For all I know, I might have to fight the two of you," Zayda said with a frown.
Although it took her getting very close for Evian and Karenssa to sense her presence her senses, more powerful than either of the two and especially strained to eavesdrop on what she thought would be sounds of pleasure, picked up conversations that appeared to confirm what she already suspected.
Zayda was jolted out of her thoughts when Evian's hand landed on her shoulder and it managed to provide her with a strange emotional warmth even before his ensnaring voice left his delectable lips,
"You don't have to worry, Zayda, I am on your side."
"Keke, How sweet!" Karenssa said and after dropping her arms, she let loose a powerful wave of cold aura thick with Eldritch energy impurely mixed with Spiritual energy but of course, Zayda felt it as the opposite,
"'You abomination! To think you would dare mix sacred Spiritual energy with something so deathly and unnatural' is what those nuts at the Arcane Temple would say and I agree with them.
You can't be allowed to live."
Zayda took on an attacking stance but Karenssa just threw back her head to laugh,
"You can't stop me!"
Her talons (Too long and much too sinister and vulture-looking to be tagged as Claws) extended from the tip of her ten fingers.
*Whoosh*
*Splash*
*Splatter*
With powerful speed that tore right through the warm spring water and caused drops of it to splatter around, Karenssa was an inch away from Zayda in a second, one of her Taloned hands moving and hardly giving Zayda any room to move her sword in reaction but of course, the Squad commander managed.
*Clang!*
The sound of metal clashing against metal was hardly comforting but it only got worse when Zayda realized Karenssa's goal was not actually her!
With one hard preoccupied with Zayda's sword, the Baroness stretched the other to strike Evian. He reacted with his Double-ended Spear but the impact pushed him back until he slammed into the wall around the Spring.
"Get off him," Zayda said and with a groan, she exuded superior strength and pushed Karenssa back but of course the Baroness was quick to bounce back.
She tried the same tactic again, Zayda was sure she was ready to react even better now only to realize that not only was she not the target, but the sultry Baroness had completely let go of the idea of battling her head-on.
With her boobs swinging in motions that would sway the hearts of many men, Karenssa slipped around Zayda so silkily before wrapping a hand around Evian's neck.
"Remember, sweet Stygian, You are mine! Don't..."
*Swish*
*Sksh!*
Karenssa's words were stopped midway as a sword flashed toward her and she reacted quickly by moving her neck away to avoid it getting cut through.
"Tsk," was all the Assailant let out, and with a desire to not let the move end without a fruitful result, she changed the direction of her blade and cut right through the forearm Karenssa was using to grab Evian's neck, spilling her blood in an arch right and causing her to let loose an earsplitting painful yell.
"ARRRRRGGGGGGHHH!!!"
Zayda put herself between Evian and Karenssa again and as the Grey-eyed youth pulled the cut-off hand away from his neck, he heard his Commander speak in a menacing tone,
"I told you to get off him."
Karenssa continued to howl but even though her knees shook, she did not fall to the ground. Rather a portal appeared at her side and of course, out rushed a horde of monsters that charged at Zayda but she tore them with ease until finally, the leader of the pack stepped out.
"Kill her!" Karenssa said in a focused order.
The Beast grinned with the pleasure it would glean from that accomplishment. The memory of their last encounter was apparently still fresh in its mind,
"As you Wish, My Lady," it said with genuine respect to Karenssa's authority and then it struck.
It was as large as it had been the last time and radiated such menacing strength, Zayda could only cross her sword in front of her to defend against the massive blow that came but it still sent her many feet away from Evian, leaving him open to Karenssa whose pain seemed to have waned.
The Beast charged at Zayda again and she waited until the last second when the blow was coming at her and only then sidestepped to cut a gash into the Beast's arm, spill some of the Eldritch essence that fuelled it before aiming for other potentially fatal zones.
Meanwhile, Karenssa stepped toward Evian who cut down all the monsters that came at him and reaped the Quasi-Eldritch Essence that they had to offer and although he did not show it, he was actually happy.
He was not too worried about Zayda because he felt she had proved she was more than capable of taking care of her opponent and even as the roaming beasts/monsters went beyond the Hotsprings and into the Baron's Manor seeking further exploration into Kalkoa City at large, Evian found solace in the thought that his comrades should be fine. Beyond them, he hardly cared.
Finally, the reason for his ease and the sole reason he was 'happy'...
[52 Quasi-Eldritch Essence Absorbed]
... Was that, although little in the scheme of things, he was heading closer to his target goal and eventual breakthrough.
It was why he had not yet left even though he could have.
By using Karenssa's Monster creation to his advantage, he might have an unlimited amount of Quasi-Eldritch essence to absorb which in the long run could empower him enough to put up a fight against her and not rely on retreat or external support to survive. And even if the numbers he would have to crush for that to happen was daunting, Evian was feeling very optimistic.
"Well, now that we are alone," Karenssa said and suddenly she was behind Evian. So fast and so sneaky that he had not even sensed her.
The Beasts stayed away from them because they recognized her as their master and as the Eldritch Baroness pressed her perky and full breasts into Evian's back, she stretched out her tongue and licked him, her entire body shaking from the pleasure it gave her.
Evian felt annoyed by the unwelcome touch and the unsolicited lick but he remained calm, knowing full well that he had Karenssa letting down her guard around him because he was weaker and because she still desired him.
"Let's move somewhere else shall we?" Karenssa asked and before Evian could say anything whether in resistance to begrudging acceptance, he felt himself get dragged away and headed toward the Portal.
"No," Zayda called out when she saw this.
*Bang*
She avoided getting struck by her opponent and as the blow cracked the ground where she had stood only seconds before,
Zayda let out her Pressure and coated her leg with her Spiritual energy, letting loose a kick that forced the Beast aside with a good bit of broken bones,
"Step aside, you moronic meathead," she said with annoyed urgency but it was already too late...
... Evian and Karenssa had already passed through the portal.
"Damn it," Zayda said and her eyes widened in realization of a coming blow which she again, gracefully evaded.
"STOP RUNNING!" the Beast yelled, annoyed.
"And you stop yelling, you loggerhead," Zayda said in a taunt, "I've hit you much more than you've hit me.
And I'm about to hit you more. First I'll kill you and then I'll enter that portal and kill that bitch of a Master you have!"
"HAHAHAHA... FOOLISH HUMAN! You can't pass through that portal and even if you could, do you know what will await you?
An Alternate dimension of absolute Eldritch thrill... A Region devoid of Spiritual energy or the despicable hot rays or brilliant light of the sun.
In that world, you will have no Power and are at the complete mercy of its Master, My Lady, the Eldritch Witch, Karenssa Lockhorn!"