Chapter 658 - It's all the same (Patreon)

Kadhan could have become larger and be under the effect of some weird potions, but he still seemed to be able to use his array of skills and spells. He moved around almost like he was doing a mixture of dance and fight, doing cartwheels, spins, and rhythmic movements. In a way, it reminded Hera of Brazilian Capoeira. That was a fighting style she looked into when she started learning how to fight, but it felt like it revolved too much around spinning, which made her dizzy. The biggest problem, however, was that more of the moss bodies would appear each time his hands or feet touched the ground. Some were amorphous blobs of green moss, which would just lash out as she got close, and others were more refined, being a similar version of the Witch Doctor when he wasn't under the effects of those kinds of spells.

Hera had to focus on both attacking the plant-based creations and Kadhan himself, and she only had Frost to work with. Sure, since he was a glaive, a medium-range weapon, she had enough of a reach to protect herself and to deliver wide blows that would destroy more than one of the moss constructs at a time. The problem was Kadhan himself. The man could parry her attacks without much of a problem, and since he kept vanishing behind the trees, it was hard for the Empress to keep track of the biggest threat present in this fight. Even with Armory and Scythe helping her out, they couldn't track all the creatures and the witch doctor at the same time. The good part was that Kadhan himself was the only one able to hurt her. She got hit with a couple of kicks and punches that really hurt. The armor took the brunt of the attack, but the impact still sent her back. On the other hand, any attacks that came from the moss bodies had so little strength behind them that she couldn't even imagine being hurt by them. Only when there was a spell attached to the blow that she become worried. Kadhan knew a lot about potions in general, and he could make some simple concoctions with his mana. Nothing that could heal or create a large effect by themselves, but the man was a chemist at heart, and he was more than capable of creating liquids that, when combined, became dangerous mixtures. Hera had to dodge acids, glue, drugs that made her arms numb, and even gas that could burn her lungs.

Kadhan's leg appeared from her right, and the Empress managed to dodge, ducking under the attack and gliding towards the man. With a spin, she slashed upward, hitting the inside of his legs close to his waist. Frost managed to send some ice shards toward him as he moved, courtesy of his Elemental Strength spell. At the same time, Hera felt the drop in her mana lessen, meaning that at least one of her other court members reached the range of the magnets. A couple of the moss constructs jumped on her, forcing the Empress to deal with them before continuing her attack. She used the Fire Elemental armor in hopes of burning the moss away, and just as she managed to get free, the now-hidden Kadhan started to laugh from the jungle.

"Don't bother. The prince already did that. I'm neutered. Like the dog, he calls me!" his last words came in a growl as he appeared barreling through the area, trying to catch Hera with a shoulder charge.

Thankfully, this move was too telegraphed, and she jumped back, pushing the moss away and falling to the ground as the man passed and started to stop. The problem with getting larger was that it would also increase the momentum that followed his attacks, making it harder to stop and change trajectories quickly.

'Empress!' Ooze finally reached the fight, signaling that now the rest of the court should appear soon. They were only taking so long to reach her because of the number of trees covering the area. There were so many that they forced the blades to dodge around, and that made them unable to go at full speed toward Hera. In response, she quickly covered the chakram with an Elemental Strength spell so he could start helping more.

'Howl!' Hera called the name of the skill just as she spun around, holding Frost by the base as she destroyed a large number of the moss bodies with an arc swing.

Ooze understood what he was meant to do and triggered the skill using 2 thousand points of mana, 10 times more than the base version of the skill. The result was an extremely loud scream that made even the nearby trees shake and leaves start to fall over the darkened area. All of the moss constructs that didn't have an actual shape froze in place, and the ones that looked like disfigured versions of Kadhan ran away in fear, but all the others, the ones who looked like realistic versions of the witch doctor didn't seem to be affected by the sound. This area of the jungle was very dark, with the trees stopping most of the outside light from reaching her location, but it wasn't pitch black either. That helped the witch doctor a lot. It was hard to identify his massive body in the dark and easy to confuse a tree in the back as Kadhan himself. It was a shame that his tattoos stopped glowing when the transformation was over, but now his benefit was gone, or at least reduced. Thanks to the falling leaves, small beams of sunlight managed to hit the ground and illuminate the entire area, more than enough to help Hera, Armory, and Scythe to find the witch doctor.

During all that time, Daskka was attacking the moss bodies like there was no tomorrow. She focused on the ones that looked like Kadhan, the ones that would give Hera more trouble. She would wrap around them and squeeze until their limbs popped, use her tail as a whip to toss the constructs to the trees and bite their heads off. Unlike the Empress, the herald had no issues with killing others. Not that she was bloodthirsty by any measure, but if someone were attacking them, she wouldn't pull her punches.

Kadhan noticed that he couldn't use the shadows so well anymore, so he decided to go a different route. He created a few moss bodies that were very different from the rest. They had swollen limbs that seemed to be ready to pop. That ended up being exactly what he wanted to happen. As one of the bodies went closer to Hera while she was mid-swing, the moss's body with an inflated left arm lunged forward, arm first, letting the Empress pierce it and making all the liquid that was inside of it splash over her.

It was an amber-colored liquid that was hot to the touch, but it didn't hurt. However, it was incredibly sticky, making it hard for her even to let go of Frost. Not that she intended to let him go anytime soon. Ooze flew by her, cutting a couple of heads as another bulbous creature appeared. This time, the flying court member decided to take it upon himself to solve that problem, but just as the chakram popped the swollen head, a green liquid came out of it. Ooze screamed, not because of the skill but because of the pain he felt. It took a lot to hurt the constructs, but acid was still something that could damage them. Worried that her court member could be destroyed, even if it was something temporary, Hera called him back.

'Be careful with the ones that look like balloons. They have weird stuff inside them,' Hera told her entire court, even if they were not here yet. Armory added a few images of what she meant, but the Empress was only aware of that communication; she didn't see them herself.

Kadhan appeared from her left and made a throwing motion with both arms. Hera was half expecting a pair of rocks, but instead, it was a set of two different liquids, one brown and one red. She didn't have to think much about them to know that getting hit by either of those liquids would be bad. Jumping back, Hera went towards one of the trees and heard the splash behind her. Right after it, she smelled something foul, and then her nose started to burn. Not as if she ate something spicy, but as if she was inhaling smoke.

Hera moved back into the shaded area of the jungle. Whatever that smoke was, it felt like bad news, and Daskka agreed. Kadhan's large body approached as the Empress stepped away. He opened his mouth, but only a grunt came out; the witch doctor still could use spells, but talking wasn't a possibility. The Empress saw the army of moss bodies approaching behind the giant man and continued to step back slowly. She was trying to stall for time, and it seemed like Kadhan had a bit of flair for the dramatic. Pretending to be scared, she started shaking, hoping she wasn't overselling thing's too much. Her senses had picked a few things incoming. Three things specifically that would completely change the tide of the battle.

Kadhan smiled, seeing her like that, and leaned in the scare factor, roaring loudly, making even some leaves fall because of the tremor caused by his voice. Yet, Hera didn't budge. Instead, she just smiled.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" a pair of voices echoed as a giant humanoid golden beetle and a humanoid griffon covered in frozen ash crashed onto the witch doctor. Forcing him to tumble to the side. The follow-up came from behind as a golden sword with a flat edge cut Kadhan's arm before spinning and delivering a chain lightning at point blank range.

"Round 2, let's go!" Hera called, and she jumped into action. Now that she had most of her court with her, she knew that she could push Kadhan back. However, he also was aware of that.

The witch doctor jumped back, sending the moss bodies to intercept. He pulled up two potions, the same one he drank before growing, and was about to drink them when Hera yelled, "Stop him!"

Dao and Nimbus tried to intercept, but Kadhan was too fast when creating his moss. Instead of a body, he just made a net that slowed them down enough to let him drink the potions. A large quantity of steam came out of him, but it was cold, almost as if someone was using dry ice. The tattoos around his body glowed again in the same sickly yellow light, but this time, they broke as the witch doctor became large, deformed with muscles that ripped through his skin, becoming exposed to the elements. Kadhan's skull helmet broke, revealing that the skin on his face was ripping, showing his own bones from underneath. The man roared with a voice that sounded a lot like a monster and turned to Hera, his eyes completely covered in blood. It was a surprise that he could even see like that. Any semblance of intelligence was gone from the man.

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Crazed Witch Doctor - Level 31
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The Empress could feel mana in her surroundings, and the mana of a person and a monster was very different. Right now, this was no longer Kadhan but a mindless creature fueled by rage. The system also agreed with her, removing his name from his identification.

He lunged forward, forcing the Empress to dodge, but he was much faster than she expected. To make matters worse, he broke most of the trunk of a tree with the impact, showing that his strength now was considerably higher than Hera's. Dao and Nimbus jumped to attack, but their blows weren't able to cut through his skin. Even Lurize, in his golden beetle form, wasn't able to deal some damage. The Empress used every single buff she had, with the exception of her [All In] skill, but not even that was enough. Kadhan swung his arm in a wide ark, forcing Nimbus to create a mana shield around Hera while she also activated the wings of her armor. Both were destroyed instantly, but it was enough to save her from taking too much damage.

Daskka grew in size and tried to wrap herself around the witch doctor, but he simply grabbed her mist form and tossed her to the side. Hera could still feel the herald, but she was seriously injured. Rage started to boil inside her. She knew it wasn't only her own feelings but the rest of her court too. They had lost Core, and now Daskka was in danger. Hera pulled the berserker potion that Kadhan himself gave to her. She knew that this was probably another way to get her killed. In hindsight, the berserker potion she saw in the cave would only increase the pain someone would feel, not the actual damage. Still, the buff would work. Kadhan could lie; the system could not.

She downed the potion as Lurize and Nimbus kept the witch doctor busy. Her body glowed in a similar yellow light that made Kadhan grow, and she felt her attributes increase. A searing pain shot through her entire body as a plan formed in her mind.

'Nimbus, you are going to deal the killing blow. Lurize, we are going to get punched.'

Hera could feel the confusion in their minds, but she quickly shared her idea, and they jumped into action while activating her All-in, Focusing on her endurance. Lurize and Hera focused on getting Kadhan's attention. Each time he would attack, Hera and her court would block instead of dodge. Each hit hurt like hell, but Nimbus was currently holding Edge and Daskka, despite being wounded and about to disappear back to the necklace, was healing him. Hera didn't activate the wings of her armor, instead taking all the damage, and so did Lurize. His golden beetle form now gone. Nimbus was receiving 40% of the damage that came with each strike and gathering a lot of mana for a single strike. He didn't have any attack skills, but thanks to the mana control that Hera shared with her court, he could cover his tonfas in mana to increase their power.

Hera, Frost, and Lurize blocked 10 blows each, Dao and Ooze also blocked one each, but that was enough to almost break them, and Hera had to recall the two. After the last strike, the Empress slammed her back against the tree. Lurize was to the side, struggling to get up, and Kadhan raised both his arms for a final blow. That's when Nimbus moved; he was using the Share the Pain skill to absorb all that damage and focus it all in a single strike. The Sentinel jumped and aimed at the exposed neck of the witch doctor. The blades didn't just pierce the skin but cut deep until they reached the middle of his neck. Kadhan was too large to be decapitated by the tonfas, but now his head was being held only by half of his neck, and his spine was severed. Blood started to leak from the wound as the body fell back with a loud thud that echoed through the jungle.

The Empress recalled Daskka, who couldn't move anymore, and Frost, who was showing some cracks after all the attacks he blocked, leaving only Lurize and Nimbus out.

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Crazed Witch Doctor - Deceased
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The three of them stared at the corpse for a moment before Hera turned to the side and called, "Sammy!"

"I'm here. I was watching, but I didn't want to get in the way."

"It's fine. Where is everyone else?" Hera asked, trying to focus on the fact that her friends were somewhere.

"Most of them are just hurt; Bonnie could use some help."

"Show me the way," she said.

Sammy nodded and started moving with Hera, Nimbus, and Lurize following right behind. After a few moments of silence, the turtle spoke up, "I'm sorry for what you had to do. But for what is worth, he was supposed to die anyway. If not because of this, because of the curse," Sammy knew that this was supposed to happen, and the witch doctor never returned to the village after today, but he couldn't say it. The fact was that he could only tell if the memory was following its path or not after it went in a different direction.

"That doesn't matter. In the end, it's all the same. Be it in dungeons, in the past, or even in the present. When you kill someone, they become nothing more than memories, and it's my job to carry them with me," Hera replied, thinking about the elf she killed during the centaur attack and all the people she killed inside a dungeon. There was no difference between them.

"I'm sorry," Sammy said, knowing that things would get worse before they would get better.