576: Grasping at Straws

576: Grasping at Straws

“NO!!” Beatrice screamed as she sprinted to Olivia and saw the sword burst through Olivia’s back.

“GWRAAAGH!!” Olivia let out a pained scream that barely sounded human. This scream coincided with a loud shockwave that blasted from Olivia in all directions and knocked everyone off their feet.

“Ugh…” Beatrice’s ears were ringing. She got completely disoriented for a moment, and it took her a couple of seconds to even realize she was on the floor and which side was up and down. But as she slowly regained her bearings, she saw two bodies lying one on top of the other with the handle of a sword sticking out of the back of the body on top.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Beatrice repeated over and over as she crawled, got up, stumbled, fell, and got up again to run to the motionless bodies. When Beatrice finally dropped next to the two bodies, she didn’t dare touch either of them to avoid moving the lodged sword and make the wound even worse. But when Beatrice looked at Olivia’s face that stuck out from under the pink-hared girl’s body light had already faded from her open eyes.

“No, no-no-no,” Beatrice did not want to accept this. She couldn’t. She brough her hand to Olivia’s nose. No breath. She pressed two fingers to the side of Olivia’s neck, just under the jaw. No pulse.

“You don’t get to do this!” Beatrice screamed at Olivia.

With no other options, Beatrice grabbed the handle of the sword and steadily pulled it out. She then got the other girl off Olivia and saw what she feared to see—a gaping wound that broke several ribs and went right through where Olivia’s heart was supposed to be.

I just need to heal the wound, Beatrice calmed herself and went through her System looking for some way to heal Olivia. The only thing she had at her disposal was her [Fast(er) Recovery (+1)] Skill.

This Skill cannot be used on a dead target.

“FUCK!!” Beatrice cursed and went on to dig through her System to find some other healing Skill to acquire.

There it is! Abysmally weak when compared to her [Fast(er) Recovery (+1)], but that didn’t matter. Beatrice needed something.

Skill Name: Magic Heal

Rank: E

Type: Combat Craft / Active

Cost: 50 Stamina

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Description: Heals 1 target for 10% of their maximum Health.

Requires line of sight. Maximum cast range 2 feet.

Minimum Requirements:

Character level: 10

Skill Points in Combat Craft: 10

She used one of her available Skill Points to purchase the Skill in the System and instantly used it on Olivia.

This Skill cannot be used on a dead target.

“FUCK!!” Beatrice went back to her System. She needed something stronger. But she found nothing that looked anything like a resurrection skill. Or an organ transplant skill. Or a soul retention skill. Or a corpse reanimation skill. Or a time rewind skill. Or a dimensional travel skill. Or a—

Dream Invasion!! Beatrice’s eyes dashed over sleeping, mind, and spirit, and she instantly acquired the Skill with the hopes of getting to Olivia’s mind.

Skill Name: Dream Invasion

Rank: B

Type: Eros Craft / Active

Cost: 100 Stamina

Cooldown: 4 hours

Description: Invade the dreams of a single sleeping target. The succubus has direct control over the target’s dreams. No bodily harm can be done but has the potential to break the target's mind and spirit.

Requires line of sight. Maximum cast range 30 feet.

Minimum Requirements:

Character level: 10

Skill Points in Eros Craft: 12n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

This Skill cannot be used on a dead target.

“FUCK YOU!!!” Beatrice screamed, embraced Olivia’s body and broke down in tears.

While Beatrice cried over Olivia’s body, captains Flavna and Gamesh slowly walked over to the bodies.

“Any trace of the demon?” Flavna asked her partner.

Gamesh shook his head.

Flavna then stepped closer to Emily’s body and kicked it over to take a better look at her face.

“Same armor,” Flavna examined Emily head to toe, “Same height and physique. According to the guards she was no more insufferable than usual… What about Lord Belmot?”

“Still the same fat face, if that’s what you’re asking,” Gamesh said, standing at the edge of the big blood puddle around Belmot’s body. “And also, very dead.”

Flavna then looked at Ember and said, “Stay right where you are and don’t try anything funny.”

“I would have but our former ninja pal ruined the mood for funny,” Ember replied and remained standing right where she was since she tried to drag Beatrice away.

“Alright, now,” Flavna raised her voice as she looked around at the countless other bodies of Purple Cape guards in varying state of undress, “Those of you who remain acting dead and are not on your feet within the next five seconds will no longer need to act.”

Nearly everyone flinched.