Dungeons and Dalliances

Full body [Illusions], at least in combat, Natalie had found too unwieldy to be useful since they became more difficult to control based on the size, complexity, and strength of their deception. However, [Empower] as an ability raised the potency of a skill. In this case, that meant those same factors.

A second full-body version of herself shimmered into existence, coming to life just ahead of Natalie, charging for the chieftain just like she was. Carnal Energy sagged out of her alongside a significant portion of her mana, draining her in an indescribable way. But she couldn't afford not to spend everything she had. Against a monster like this, one that could slap away her hammer blows, a single proper attack could kill her, much less a more fragile teammate like Jordan. If Natalie didn't use everything in her kit, she wouldn't ever forgive herself if something went wrong.

Both she and her illusion yelled at the top of their voice as they charged forward, and in the racket they created, they grabbed the chieftain's attention, pulling the hulking beast away from a growing-harried Malice. She was limping by that point, even only having to weather the chieftain for a short time. Natalie hadn't seen how she'd been hurt. She had to fight down the spike of concern, seeing the injury. And almost more importantly, the thrill of anger that went through her. Passion could help in a fight, but it could as easily be a person's downfall.

[Empower], at its current rank, amplified an ability by a factor of two and a half. With that upgrade, her illusion was all but identical to herself, and not just that, supernaturally imbued to draw the chieftain's focus. Still, she saw the huge, muscled creature hesitate as its eyes flicked between the two Natalies, trying to decide which was real. Like the Raid Leader, this thing was intelligent: she could tell that at a glance. There was some level of sapience behind its eyes, though they certainly wouldn't be having a conversation—if they even shared a language.

One Natalie went left, the other right. The chieftain chose incorrectly, influenced by the deceptive nature of the skill. Natalie didn't want to reveal that it had chosen wrong, though, so she mentally influenced her illusion to dodge away, preventing the chieftain's grasping hands from passing straight through it. Unlike her lewd application of an empowered illusion, this clone had to be manually controlled. It wasn't as difficult as piloting a second body, though it did take a fair amount of mental overhead.

The huge goblin backpedaled, keeping both Natalies in its vision. She couldn't move fast enough to stop that. But after a series of exchanges, with Malice and Jordan finding careful openings, Natalie saw her own opportunity. With a two-handed sideways swing, she slammed a blow into the beast's thigh. It didn't even make the creature stagger: in fact, Natalie sent a spike of agony into her own injured shoulder more than she hurt it.

But that wasn't the point. One side of her hammer had scored an attack. Now she had to land a second to trigger [Valentine]'s stun. Then she could execute her plan.

Malice, natural combatant as she was, sensed Natalie's intention—or at least she saw that she was going for her stun. She paid for the second opening, going on an abrupt frenzied aggression. The hail of kicks and punches incited the goblin to overextend itself: but just as Natalie's second attack took advantage of that opening, the beast itself took advantage of Malice's aggression. Its fist seared toward Malice, and though the wolfgirl brought up crossed forearms to absorb the blow—with dodging not a viable option—the defense crumpled against a monster so strong. Bones snapped as her arms bent inward, and Malice was thrown backward, tumbling head-over-heels.

Natalie forced herself to stay focused, though it was hard. Malice had paid to create an opening for Natalie; she wouldn't waste it. Her hammer connected, claiming a second strike of alternative faces, and so [Valentine]'s effect triggered. Though none of their attacks had seemed to hurt the hulking monster so far, nor did this attack seem to, the chieftain staggered two heavy steps back, then, after swaying, fell forward, face-planting into the dirt—a magically imbued stun.

She didn't waste time, channeling an [Empowered] [Smite] even as she began staggering forward. It was extremely difficult to move while channeling the ability, but not, she found, impossible. Carnal Energy siphoned away, and the vibrating ball of pink lightning gathering at her hammer's tip was nothing like the first. Two and a half times more potent, she knew. Even a level four champion of Greed wouldn't be able to walk this off if she could land it.

"You don't have time," Jordan cried out.

That would be true under normal circumstances. Stunning effects were proportional to the target they were delivered onto. [Valentine]'s was powerful, but against a monster this durable? Only two seconds in, the monster was already stirring, the effect expiring.

Which was why Natalie planted a foot on its back, leveled her hammer a few inches from the monster's skull, and activated an [Empowered] [Hunker Down].

Her defensive ability was an active skill, after all, and thus a viable target for [Empower]. There just weren't many reasons to strengthen [Hunker Down] since it made her 'invulnerable to most attacks,' and generally, she only needed a brief duration of high resistance.

Since the skills 'potency' lay in its duration, that was what [Empower] would enhance. Two and a half seconds into [Smite]'s channel, [Valentine]'s stunning effect broke. The chieftain began to thrash wildly. But a firmly planted boot kept it pinned to the ground. Natalie was invulnerable and immovable to anything remotely inside her level bracket: and this thing was, ultimately, only a level four. It flailed impotently, flattened into the ground by Natalie's foot, crushed by a mountain as far as physics was concerned.

All while a crackling ball of energy gathered at her hammer tip, pointed for the chieftain's skull, increasing in strength by the second.

Natalie couldn't even move her eyes: her entire body was locked in place during [Hunker Down]'s effect. She watched with a mad sort of excitement as seconds ticked by, both impossibly fast and slow. [Smite] grew in power. The crackling bolts of pink lightning made her teeth ache, burned lines into her vision.

Six seconds. The full duration. Even against the Raid Leader, she'd only gotten five. And that one hadn't been [Empowered].

The channel concluded just as [Hunker Down] expired. A bomb of energy exploded straight into the chieftain's skull, engulfing it and blinding her.

And, no longer invulnerable—and [Hunker Down] only granting resistance to physical attacks, anyway—the explosion also consumed her.

She went flying backward, losing consciousness immediately.