One Versus All
With the wraith blade held in train for a blow in my right hand and a bolt of charged telekinetic energy focused in my left hand, I stood on top of the fractured, waterlogged pillar, discomposedly anticipating the next move on the part of my stalkers. The five Rahabim already stopped circling about me like sharks and now just floated on their places around my base nearly motionless, almost as if taking the time to study their wondrous intruder. Through the darkness of the watery waste I could see that three of them had a representative unholy red glow in their eyes, which gave off them being the adult species of their clan. The pack of Rahabim I confronted before consisted of only two members, one of which was just a fledgling, but even with an entire squadron of vampire hunters to join forces with me in that battle, it turned out to be a far from easy collision. This time the odds were stacked against me even heavier, and as ill-luck would have had it, the location of the battlefield couldn't have been less convenient. The all-enveloping water limited the room for any maneuvers on my part to minimum, at the same time providing plenty thereof to my adversaries which unlike me thrived in this deadly element. Never before had I found myself in such an uncomfortable environment to do combat, and for the first time in a long while, I had no faintest idea how I could even my chances at least one single bit.
Disconcerted, I continued to stand and watch out for the potentially upcoming attack from my 'welcomers', as the amphibian ghouls continued to just float around me, not making any threatening moves yet. For some time I believed it to be some misleading tactic on their part, but very soon, as this strange idleness continued to drag on, I began to suspect something strange to be going on here. These Rahabim outmatched me both numerically and positionally, and now they had me in a perfect place to gang upon me all at once. Therefore, their unlikely indetermination to hunt me down didn't make much sense in this situation. What also seemed odd was that none of these aquatic fiends even attempted to come out of the depth of the water and reach me. While water might have been the Rahabim's natural habitat, my experience in fighting them proved that they clearly had no problem coming to surface if needed and even bringing off quite a battle there. With all this assumed, what could be the reason for these beasts' hesitation to assault me right now?
The longer I kept waiting for the five hydrous vampires to break the ice, the clearer it was becoming that no attempts to do so were ever going to be made by them. At some point, I finally decided to drop my guard and took the initiative instead. With that, I forcefully slashed with the Reaver right at one of the Rahabim beneath me, looking to graze it with the phantom sword under water. The beast sharply squiggled with its lithe body, slithering out of the ghostly blade's way, and then swam back to its former place. Through the water I saw how the monster opened its sharp-toothed jaws wide as if trying to roar, but making only bubbles come out. The creature was clearly enraged, but for some reason, it still didn't even try to throw a retaliatory punch at me. It was almost as if the ghoul really was dying to tear me apart, but something or perhaps someone was preventing it from doing so. But who or what could it be?
After failing to wound the Rahabim with the Reaver, I quickly tried the same with the rest of its pack-mates encircling me, but the result never changed. Each carnivore always managed to expertly avoid the touch of the fiery weapon and would then slink back to the very spot where it used to float before I had stirred it with my attack. When under water, these amphibious vampires were even more fast and agile than ashore, so catching them with a sword blow was close to impossible. My telekinetic blasts were also unhelpful here as I had already learned first-hand that they could not penetrate through the watery glade and would just crush against the its surface if I tried to fire them at the demersal fiends. The Rahabim appeared to be completely beyond my reach, but so, for some reason, was I beyond their reach too. This was leading this confrontation to an impasse, which suggested only one reasonable way out: if a close-in engagement was not feasible, then I had to move to a different location from here.
Contended with this new option, I stopped keeping an eye on the pack of the Rahabim and looked ahead. The next pillar rising out of the water was not too far away, so I could easily jump on it from where I stood now. My only concern about this idea was the unexpectedness of the Rahabim's reaction to such move of mine. What if this whole inertness on their part was nothing but an attempt to lure me into jumping off the platform so they could assault me while I had no steady ground under my feet and couldn't defend myself? This might have been a possibility, but then again, was this plan so fundamental to them they were ready to wait practically eternally for the right moment to implement it? Something here surely didn't add up, but that still didn't make the venture I had just devised any less risky. But like in the absolute majority of predicaments I often found myself in, I didn't have any other choices unless I just wanted to stand here and leave myself to the game of luck. Amid this comprehension, I quitted oscillating and bent my knees for a high jump.
In the following instant, I was already taking a spring toward the nearest stump of a ruined column, never ceasing to look down at the Rahabim underneath in expectation of their response move. The vampires sat on oars only momentarily until they also orderly swam toward the neighboring pillar right after me. By the time I landed on it, the five aquatic beasts were already fencing around its base just as they had been fencing around the previous column. But again, no further actions were undertaken by them as if simply following me in my footsteps was the ultimate limit of their ambitions. What was those wretches' deal that they only pursued me and never even tried to come to clash with me? Perhaps, it was Rahab who ordered them just to spy on me without getting into any collisions? But even if that was the case, then his children were obviously doing a poor job of it in terms of maintaining their secrecy. There was evidently more to the Rahabim's unexplainable demeanor than just commitment to some game plan, but right now, there was still no telling for sure about that. All that was left for me to do was to play into their hand and hope it would eventually bring me to some understanding of whatever scheme they were nurturing here.
So I continued to leap from pillar to pillar, slowly passing round the submerged chapel house I was looking to infiltrate. The pack of Rahabim was always punctually coming upon my heels, gathering around each column I jumped on, but never caring to do more than that. Though I was doing my best to keep sight of my chasers' movements, at some point I had to disregard them and focus solely on my traversing through the waterlogged zone as it required a great deal of concentration. The columns I used for crossing the flooded area didn't exactly offer the most comfortable ground to land on: their surfaces were rather narrow and uneven, so it took a lot of precision to jump on them safely. To make this work, I had to forget about my chasers for short while, even though it was easier said than done with them following literally in my every step.
After hopping through about seven pillars like that, I was finally able to view the layout of the local area from some new angles. Unfortunately, what came under my field of vision was not very mirthful. The bell tower through which I was intending to reach the abbot's house was still far beyond my reach, as were any other construction elements that I could possibly use to ascend the tall building. The former abbey's courtyard area covered a very vast terrain, and, by mischance, the pillars that were now providing me with a path across the water inundating this terrain were accurately erected right around the chapel, thus standing too far away from the courtyard's periphery. This was leaving me no chance to scale my way up to the bell tower or any other neighboring edifices connected therewith. I had to come up with some other means into the building that was suspended at such a great height.
Having discarded the plan with ascending the tower by climbing it, I swept my eyes over the rest of the area, looking for anything that could offer me a new direction to move. And it wasn't long before my gaze was fastened on the western wing of the abbey which had been previously obstructed from my view by the massive frame of the abbot's house. Only now I saw that this part of the monastery actually contained probably its most important building which was the abbey's church. The structure was half-drowned just like almost every constructional element of this former religious refuge, and any spiritual symbols that could possibly bespeak it to be the place where some worshipping activities used to be held were either absent or already removed from its façade by its new residents. Still, the building's architectural features like the semi-domed apse-like sections its whole fundament was divided into gave away enough to deduce its original purpose. But what was an even more vital discovery was that this structure stood close enough to the chapel house I was sticking around now, thus falling within the range I could attain from this position. Furthermore, just like the bell-tower I was after, the church was built adjacent to the walls fencing the abbey's territory, so from there, I could also finally find my way onto that arduous location. With this perspective in mind, I resolutely turned toward the impressive edifice and prepared to make my next move.
Although the church's foundation was sunken in water almost by half, probably including all the entrances thereto, as I looked at its external side more carefully, I found out that it still retained some means of gaining entry. The part of the building that still elevated above the watery glade consisted of about three tiers, each of which contained several loggias spread across its whole length. If I was able to get on one of those loggias, they would allow me to walk right into the building without having to clamber anything. The only thing separating me from this was the last two waterlogged, dilapidated pillars left between me and the nearest balcony. The outermost of them was still spaced from the church quite widely, and, to make matters worse, it also stood tilted to one side. Jumping on it would certainly be harder than on the previous columns, but compared to the prospect of having to climb this entire construction, it was still a better alternative. Therefore, I stopped standing still and made the last two hops toward my goal object.
Once standing on the outermost pillar, I measured the distance between me and the closest loggia to get on. This time the distance was longer than that between the columns I had been leaping over, so just one high gambol would not be enough to carry me there. To reach the loggia, I would have to use my wings, which in its turned required me to divest myself of the Soul Reaver projection.
The idea instantly made me gaze downwards where the five Rahabim continued to covetously swarm around me, though still abstaining from any acts of aggression. But while their strange conduct might have seemingly provided a loophole for such bold moves, to dispose of the wraith blade when walking straight into the heart of the enemy's domain was still a calculated risk. So far the Rahabim had proven to be probably the most formidable vampire clan I had fought against, and coming to their lair unarmed would most likely lead me to getting vanquished by them at some point. Yet again, what choice did I have now? There was only one destination for me to go for, and this church appeared to be the only intermediate point on my way to it. Moreover, as long as I remained on this watery terrain, even with the wraith blade to back me up, my chances of surviving any combat here were close to naught. Apparently, the sacrifice of the Reaver's power was inevitable now, so I resignedly clawed at my flesh with my left hand talons, hoping that the opportunity to restore the blade's manifestation would present itself soon enough.
As soon as the cone-shaped form of the phantom sword wisped from my right hand, bestowing me with the rush of matter decay in return, I grabbed the tattered ends of my wings and took a high leap into the air. The wind gusts at once caught my ruined husk and carried it forth, giving me the impetus I needed to reach the loggia. Beneath me, the Rahabim already rushed to the balcony's area, as always hurrying to come to my landing spot before me. But after making my way across the entire courtyard area without even once getting attacked by them, this no longer bothered me, so I just glided the rest of the distance to the loggia, hurrying to press forward.
Once on the loggia, I walked into the premise it was leading to, my sight quickly getting engulfed by all the new interiors for me to take in. However, I didn't get even a fraction of a second to do that, as behind me, some wet, squishing flaps were suddenly heard, interspersed with equally wet bestial growls. I turned around and clapped my eyes upon the very pack of Rahabim to have been pasturing me on the way here, now swarming all over the loggia after me. Two of them were already standing on the balcony, their slimy streamlined carcasses dripping heavily onto the floor, while the rest still crawled their way over the balustrade. But as soon as their cloven feet would touch the loggia's floor, they would instantly fix their hungry, devilish eyes on me, the distinct murderous intent visible in them. The five aquatic fiends had clearly dropped their previous tactic of non-aggression, and whatever circumstances had made them stick to it in the first place must have already fallen off. Had this been a trap all along, I wondered? Had they been purposely abstaining from assailing me just to make me let my guard down and dispose of the Reaver? This could seem coherent now, but I still found it hard to believe that a bunch of devolved, irrational ghouls could be that smart. After all, how did they even know that the wraith blade posed such great danger to them? And even if they really were somehow aware of it, why did they have to delay their assault on me only until I reached the church instead of doing it when I was still surrounded by water – the environment that greatly aided them and at the same time handicapped me? No, this didn't seem like strategy what these beasts were practicing here. There must have been some external factor that had been keeping them at bay this entire time. But what was it?
As my mind continued revolving around all those issues, my foes in front of me obviously began to grow impatient. It was until the one standing closest to me finally gave me to understand that I would not be granted the luxury of taking the time on any calculations before entering this combat as the beast's scaled throat started rapidly distending like a bladder. This unpleasant, yet familiar sight finally managed to arouse me from my absorption in thoughts, and in the following instant, I yarely jumped aside from where I stood. Before my feet could even hinge upon the solid ground after that spring, I heard a loud sound of a forceful impact made by what only could have been the Rahabim's compressed water spittle fired after me. I quickly turned my head and saw that the projectile was received right on a heraldic shield that hung decoratively on the wall together with two large crossed battle axes placed behind it. The collision indented the shield so hard its edges even bent outward like petals of an unfurled flower. It was a bloodcurdling spectacle, indeed, but it also drew my attention to those two axes hanging behind the shield. Without the wraith blade at my disposal now, I would need to improvise, and casual weapons like these could be of a great help.
In the meantime, the Rahabim continued to break into the church's premise in pursuit of me. Realizing that time was precious now, I took another bolting leap toward the wall-hanging weaponry, avoiding several more water blasts jetted at me in the process. Behind me was heard how the wall and the floor crackled in several places from the blasts' gouging force. I rolled a couple more feet by inertia and then briskly grabbed one of the axes, looking to quickly yank it out. However, it turned out that the weapons must have been hanging unused like this for quite a while already, thus having got tightly stuck into whatever was holding them attached to the wall. Even with my increased power, it took me quite an effort to make a tug strong enough to finally pull the rusted weapon out. But once the axe was held clasped in my hands, I gruffly twisted on my feet, eager and ready to continue the fight.
The sight of me armed with a weapon didn't intimidate the Rahabim, and two of the five hydrous monsters eagerly advanced on me to get into close-in encounter. I brandished with the axe at the one coming from the right, but the beast easily bounced away from the glazed head of the weapon. The other one at once attempted to creep upon me from the left, so I didn't quit grip of the axe and immediately swung it to the other side. Again, the other ghoul also had no problem eluding the contact with the broad bulky blade, making good use of its body's innate flexibility. A two-handed battle axe was a pretty heavy weapon, and even despite my enhanced strength, I could not wield it as swiftly as lighter armaments like swords or spears. This was proving to be a serious implication in a combat with adversaries as agile and nimble as the Rahabim, so I realized I had to modify my strategy if I didn't want to get thrown back to the ghostly dimension.
As the two aquatic vampires backed off from me, another fledgling came from the center and began to dilate its throat in anticipation of another concentrated water spray. Already accustomed to this type of attack, I reacted knowingly, and once the beast vomited its spurt at me, I promptly strafed aside. Concurrently, I swung my axe wide and then forcefully tossed it right at the juvenile vampire blade first, almost as if tossing a throwing implement. A weapon of such dimensions didn't really fit for such unorthodox usage, but it still managed to do the trick and nail the fiend to the opposite wall with all its imposing mass. The Rahabim bellowed in anguish as the axe's head crushed its ribcage in a sickening sound of broken bones and collapsed internals. The vampire's death came quickly then, and its disemboweled carcass gave away its soul which at once began to crinkle disorderly through the air. Nevertheless, even with one fiend neutralized, there were still four left to confront me, so I couldn't allow myself to be distracted by feeding on this soul even for the sake of restoring my expended strengths. Therefore, I abandoned the liberated spiritual essence to the imprisonment in the world of the dead and instead fixated on taking down the rest of those wretches.
The remaining Rahabim didn't seem to have paid much attention to their pack-mate's demise and proceeded with their collective onslaught almost without missing a beat, the one to the left of me resuming the offensive by lashing at me with its talons unclenched. Intent upon not only avoiding the hit, but countering it as well, I sidestepped the amphibious monster for a few short paces and then kicked it right into the gut, purposely turning my foot in such a way it would pierce the creature's flesh with its talons. The Rahabim staggered, clutching at its punctured belly and roaring gaspingly as the blow must have taken the whole air out of its lungs. This seemed like a perfect moment to capitalize on and finish off the ghoul, but I knew better than to get carried away by focusing on only one single foe when having three more dying to well out of my aversion.
So once I warded off the predator in front of me, I sharply turned around, already foreboding an upcoming attack from behind. My warrior instinct did not deceive me as my eyes were instantly greeted by the sight of another Rahabim lunging at me with its chaps wide open. However, even despite having detected the feral being's onset in advance, I still failed to promptly conform to the blistering speed of its pounce, and the beast managed to edgily clutch its sharp-toothed jaws around my right arm. The long, knife-like fangs and canines dug into the matter collected around my spirit frame hard and deep, rendering me dizzy from severe soul energy drain. It took an effort not to yield to this inflow of faintness, but I endured and then hastened to turn the tables on my enemy. With abandon, I grabbed the aquatic fiend with my free hand by its cobra-like hood and then jerked it sharply, ripping the weird skin formation apart like a wet rag. The Rahabim shortly reared its head up, screaming in pain that forced it to finally release its steel trap of a mouth off my arm. But this time I didn't delay to press on with my assault and hurriedly hit the already wounded fiend with a stinging uppercut to the throat. The coarsen, spiked talons I developed from consuming Zephon's soul trippingly tore through the ghoul's greasy neck all the way to the lower jaw, making it spill blood in a dissipated fountain-like spray. To a vampire, such injury was still not fatal, but at least it could keep it down for a while, allowing me to temporarily negate its pack's numerical advantage over me.
When the Rahabim dropped to the ground, bearing the pain from the wounds I had inflicted on it, I turned my attention back to the one I had kicked into the abdomen before. The trauma I had caused it was relatively serious and should have kept the hydrous beast restrained long enough for me to deal with its partner before the former could come to its senses. However, the instant I laid my eyes upon the belly-stricken creature, much to my surprise and consternation, I found it to be standing almost exuberant, its neck already bloating like a huge bubble. Before I was even able to process the seen, a condensed jet of water already rammed straight into my chest, shoving me for many yards into the depth of the corridor and burning at my energy reserves with its acidic touch. My flying husk was stopped by one of the corridor's walls as I barged into it with great acceleration, hitting the back of my head in the process. This immediately led to my vision going all foggy, the figures of the Rahabim in the distance turning into some blurry flecks of various colors.
Contused, I started squeezing my eyes shut tightly, trying to shake this obfuscation off me. When the smear finally dissipated from my sight, I saw the same Rahabim to have blasted me with a water spray now slowly approach from afore, two of its congeners following after. Once there were about ten feet left between us, the devolved vampire took another deep breath, its throat swelling again in presage of another spout of water to be fired at me. Still shackled with wobbliness after the previous blast I had taken, I couldn't avoid the projectile by jumping out of its way, so I opted for the only thing that could possibly help me now. Calling on my dormant telekinetic abilities, I focused my mind and re-established the unique sensation of space control I had grown quite accustomed to recently. Then, once the Rahabim's snake-like mouth spurted the accrued liquid at me, I curtly waved both my hands forth, driving the surrounding air motions into an organized bolt of telekinetic energy and directing it right at the coming jet. Just like during my previous battle with the Rahabim, the two collided blasts created some sort of a shockwave that seemed to have stirred the very fabric of the space with its explosion. The Rahabim who were clearly new to this kind of phenomenon appeared to have been baffled by what they had witnessed, which gave me those very few seconds I needed to catch my breath. So I used them to stand up and, before the ghouls were able to sheer off their abashment, briskly discharged another ball of energy right at the one with the wounded belly. The glob of force struck the Rahabim right into where its abdomen had just been pierced by my foot-kick, causing the aquatic being to cough up an impressive gush of blood and knock off one of its partners standing behind it.
The last fledgling Rahabim to remain standing before me on its own two legs must have believed that the cause of its pack-mates' failure was their committal to conducting a long-range combat and thus decided to go for a melee skirmish, promptly coming close to me with violent spirit. Without waiting for the fiend to throw the first punch, I spread my talons wide and slashed at the Rahabim with my right hand. The amphibious ghoul deftly writhed with its crinkly body right under my arm and then tried to creep behind my back and bite me by the spine. This maneuver felt very akin to what I'd dealt with when fighting the Rahabim the first time, only this once I already had a hang of such stunts. Therefore, at the dying second before the two sets of serrated teeth could plunge into me and steal more of my vitality, I managed to bend my whole body to the side and dance out of the harm's way.
As the foaming sharp-toothed chaps missed me, I quickly attempted another attack and launched my left hand after the beast. The juvenile Rahabim was also no stranger to performing defensive moves and skillfully dodged my blow, at the same time flinging its webbed forepaw right at my face. I barely managed to jerk my head away, though still feeling the sharp bony outgrowths slightly shave at the shoulder-cape I wore.
After evading that shot, I expected the next one to be my turn, but then, quite unexpectedly, my opponent assiduously took that privilege from me and swung at me with another of its paws. The abruptness of that attack left me neither time, nor room for dodging it, so I only managed to prevent the sharp claws from tucking into me by blocking the blow with my forearm. This was a less secure method of defending oneself than just avoiding the hits, but it had its benefits too. Eluding attacks always resulted in increase of distance between yourself and your rival, which in its turn required every next assault to be launched from scratch. But this time my foe still remained within the range of my blows, so I hurried to make use of this happenstance and dartingly administered a shot right to the creature's lizard-like muzzle. This once it was the Rahabim that was deprived of any chance to dodge the blow, but unlike me, it failed to block it either and had the roughened Zephonim-like claws of mine slice through its snout all the way across the eyes. The beast yawped hoarsely, recoiling back from me and plucking at its shredded, bleeding orbs. But even despite its mournful cries of pain, I didn't have mercy on the hydrous brute and descended on it with more jugular slashes, each gashing deep into its slimy body and tearing massive chunks of flesh from it.
After receiving about four blows like this, the fledgling Rahabim limply dropped to its knees and began to wobble with unconsciousness, blood streaming down its whole carcass out of multiple abrasions I had left on it. Seeing that the vampire was left in the toils of mine, I finally made the finishing move and ruthlessly forced my talons into its throat. The beast gagged as my hand reached for its windpipe and then plucked it out in one halting, brutal move. The amphibian ghoul began to ruefully choke on blood spluttering left and right from its neck and mouth and then helplessly collapsed to the ground, almost drowning in a pool of its own gore. Then the unraveled vampire spirit began to rise from the stilled mutilated cadaver, heralding the death of another member of the pack I was battling. With the rest of the Rahabim still lying battered at my hands a couple of yards away, I lastly had the right moment to consume the soul and replenish my stamina, so I removed the face-wrap from my missing lower jaw and sucked in the illuminating flash of otherwordly light.
As long-awaited and palatable as the devourment of that soul was, a spiritual essence of a young vampire could not carry enough energy to revitalize what a grueling combat like this had already taken from me. Therefore, my symbiotic weapon still continued to cower somewhere within my frame, waiting for my soul energy to be fully restored to re-emerge. Nonetheless, a feeding was a feeding, and it still improved both my vitality and my strength which I would definitely need for eliminating the remaining Rahabim.
This perception made me glance at the last three fiends huddled up in the opposite part of the corridor. They were already starting to slowly recover after my incursion on them, the wounds on their flesh closing over in plain view, thanks to the innate vampiric healing ability. So far I had succeeded in destroying only the two juvenile species of their pack, while the three bigger and stronger adult members still remained alive, which still made my odds pretty short. Regardless, with every next Rahabim vampire I destroyed, my confidence in my ability to deal with those monsters only continued to grow, so I determinately headed to the three regenerating beings, looking to finally finish what I had started.
Just when I was about to charge at the Rahabim standing closest to me, some noises suddenly came from the side of the entrance to the loggia that had brought me here. Alerted by this, I stopped in mid-stride and looked there. At first there was nothing to be seen there, but in a matter of a few moments, two more Rahabim came from around the corner, their bodies all wet as if they had just resurfaced out of water. The beasts quickly joined their three counterparts and then set their sinister sights on me, leaving me no room for the doubt as to what the purpose of their arrival here was. Evidently, these two were some of sort of reinforcements to replace the ones slain in battle, only unlike the previous combatants they weren't the greenhorn, inexperienced fledglings, but instead were big, imposing adult species with distinctive red radiation in their blank eyes and also with those typical golden bands worn around elbows, knees and legs. I wasn't sure who or what could have summoned them to this place so quickly, but regardless of this, their presence here now was putting me into a very unpleasant predicament. Fighting five adult Rahabim at the same time without even being at full strength offered me very unlikely chances of surviving, which made me contemplate the possibility of a tactical retreat. Even though a defeat on the material plane did not mean my doom, I was still concerned about the prospect of slipping away into the spectral realm inside an unfamiliar edifice like this where my path could become deadlocked by the possible lack of planar portals in this area. Therefore, I started giving more thought to the idea of avoiding further carnage.
As I continued to calculate my options, the Rahabim started to elaborate some strategy of their own. Three of them channeled off to different parts of the corridor, forming a triangle around me and the rest of their pack, while the remaining two began to slowly approach me. It didn't take me long to figure out that those three fiends that had distanced away were planning to start blitzing me with their water projectiles while I would be busy battling a duo of their fellows. My speculation quickly proved to be at least partially correct when the three monsters on the periphery began to inhale loudly, pumping more air into their lungs to fire more scathing water spurts at me. Time for making a decision was running out, so I stopped hesitating and flashed forward right at the two impending aquatic ghouls, once again relying on pure viscera instinct.
The two Rahabim advancing on me clearly didn't expect me to act so aggressively, and wisely leapt aside, giving way to my abrupt dash. This was exactly what I was counting on them to do, so I hastily converted my surge into a tumbleset, concurrently evading several bites and hits the vampires tried to deliver to me as I whished past them. Then, right upon making the last roll, I sharply pivoted on my feet and brought forth both my arms, at last introducing a completely new feint I had never tried before, but for some reason knew for sure would work now. In one saccadic effort of mind, I simultaneously blasted two telekinetic bolts from both hands right at the Rahabim I had just swept past. Both beasts received the globs of force right into their vile colubrine snouts, the impact sending them tumbling like two boulders.
The sight of this filled my heart with joy at both the enemy's failure and the success of my venture. I had never tried shooting dual telekinetic projectiles before, mostly because the opportunity rarely presented itself. But now that I finally took this chance, the result turned out to be more than gratifying. All this time I had been directing my mental impulses only to either my right or my left arm, never realizing that more than one physical vessel could be used at the same time for accruing the energy manipulated by my mind. Now it also occurred to me that this stunt could make a decent alternative to the use of the Soul Reaver in case the wraith blade's power was not available to me for one reason or another. Thence, I made a mental note to continue practicing it more often in the future whenever a chance turned up.
The discovery of this new tactical ruse certainly felt refreshing, but I couldn't rest on my laurels when there were three more Rahabim keeping a bead on me. The very instant I remembered that, I violently jumped off the spot I was crouching on, already apprehending the discharge of another barrage of condensed water sprays to follow. This sequence of events wasn't hard to predict, and a moment later, I heard three disgorged projectiles crush against the cold stone surface of the floor right behind me.
Once again I managed to escape the disruptive force of the Rahabim projectiles, and when I did, I instantly hurried to use it as an opening. Availing myself of both the distance separating me from the beasts and the time they had to take to form new water globs, I quickly applied for my newly learned trick yet another time and sent another pair of synchronic telekinetic bolts at the two Rahabim within my field of vision. The one to the right of me was knocked off its feet, but the other barely had the ball of energy brush against its arm. Since this time the two monsters stood quite far away from each other, I had to fire my projectiles in completely different directions, which must have affected my aim. Despite the unquestionable efficiency of this new maneuver I had devised, my skill in using it was raw yet and clearly required some polishing. But that was an issue I would deal with during more peaceful times than now.
The Rahabim I had just shot down with one of my paired energy bolts didn't take long to recover and quickly scrambled back to its feet, as did the other two hydrous fiends I had shelled before, both of them already back upright and coming at me with renewed malice. Again, even though my telekinetic projectiles were helpful in beating the stuffing out of my enemies, they didn't inflict much damage on them and thus could make little but no turning point in terms of gaining advantage. And since I had already decided that a direct confrontation should have better been avoided, I realized there was only one thing left me for me to do now, and that was to run away from this pack of vampires.
No longer trying to carry off through this uneven combat, I twisted around and sprinted into the depth of the corridor, opposite of where the Rahabim were assembled. Unlike the other end of this passageway which was just a couple dozen feet away from where I had stood a moment ago, this part thereof was going somewhere deep, thereby offering plenty of space for running. So I scampered my way there, never ceasing to squint back at the Rahabim I had left behind me every now and then.
The five amphibious ghouls didn't take kindly to my attempt to escape from the battlefield and immediately surged forward in pursuit of me. However, it quickly became evident that they weren't as fast on land as they were under water as they at once started losing this race to me. Apparently, those fin-like skin extensions that grew out of the Rahabim's legs perfectly fit for swimming, but at the same time hampered their moves when they walked on the ground. As a result, I easily broke away from their chase, each step of mine leaving them farther and farther behind. This greatly angered the aquatic vampires, some of which began to desperately try to reach me from distance with their water projectiles. But much to their further misfortune, hitting a target that moved away fast was not as easy as hitting a target that was enmeshed in a brawl, so this once it was their aim that would repetitively miss its mark.
Soon, the Rahabim were almost completely lost to my view, no longer able to reach me even with their water spits. Still, I continued to run through the corridor at breakneck speed, striving to distance myself from them as far as possible. The inner layout of this building was a complete mystery to me, so if I was looking to start orienting here and find my way to that bell-tower in the courtyard, I had to make sure I wouldn't be constantly hounded while looking for it.
My fixation on running, however, didn't prevent me from paying attention to the surroundings. Whereas this was just an ordinary corridor I was traversing through, which didn't have much more to its architectural design other than the dark grey stone forming the fundament of the walls, the ceiling and the floor, and some plain obelisk-like columns connecting these three interior surfaces, I couldn't help taking note of the seemingly infinite number of banners with the Rahabim clan insignia on them hanging all around. The blue flags with a bold black symbol that looked like a 'T' letter with a curved shaft stroke were encountered by me almost every ten feet of the passageway's length. My third younger brother's tribe was obviously very meticulous in displaying the signs of their occupation of this abbey which formerly belonged to humans and then, presumably, to the Turelim. So far, though, I hadn't come across any signs of the Turelim's former presence here other than those statues I'd seen earlier on the chapel house, so perchance, my theory about this religious refuge having been their residence before might have been a bit rushed.
The passageway turned out to be pretty long, but at some point it found its end at last, meeting my gander with its corner turning to the left. I instantly prepared to walk round it, but then, all out of the blue, the stillness of the air was disturbed by another round of burbling animalistic growls coming from somewhere afore. Before I could even make myself stop at this sound, two more Rahabim came from out of the corridor's turn, both adults. The fiends had been clearly lying in wait for me as they both already had their throats inflated with a lot of liquid to be disgorged at me in shooting sprays. The distance between us was short enough for them to blitz me with pinpoint accuracy, but, nevertheless, I continued to run right toward the duo of aquatic monsters almost despite myself, at the same time hurriedly forcing my mind into concocting a tactical ploy that would help me quickly dispose of this unexpected hindrance.
Just when the two beasts were about to stake me with their compressed water sprays, out of the corner of the eye I suddenly noticed another set of weaponry hanging on the wall right behind them. This time it was a combination of two crossed one-handed swords that were also placed behind a heraldic shield. The shield, however, had one difference in comparison with the one I came across before – it was provided with a long, thick spike jutting out of its center. As soon as I picked on that peculiarity, an idea instantly visited me, and in the following moment I already knew what to do. So once the two air-splitting water sprays were spewed at me, I cunningly slid underneath them on the run and retaliated with a telekinetic blast directed at one of the Rahabim in front of me. The glob of kinetic energy flung the degraded being straight into the shield hanging behind it. There was a loud wet crunching noise and the Rahabim got nailed to the wall, the shield's spike emerging right out of its solar plexus in a sprinkling spurt of blood. The ghoul shrieked and then hung limp, its impaled body immediately giving away its soul.
Upon seeing the yellow spark of spiritual essence break forth into the air, I immediately hurried to consume it, but the second Rahabim that now stood within only a couple of feet away from me after my slide prevented me from doing it by swinging at me with its claws. In a fraction of a second, I rolled away from the slash of talons across my face and then backed a few paces away from my adversary, looking to devour the soul before the fiend could resume its attack. The Rahabim, however, would not give up so easy and marched at me anew, almost driving me into the corner. Realizing that things were about to get ugly for me, I jumped at the wall behind me, planting with my feet against its surface and then propelling myself into a back somersault right over the ghoul's head. Concurrently, I redirected my body in mid-air and hacked at the vampire's snake-like snout with my talons. The monster staggered from the blow, getting stunned with pain for a moment, while I landed behind its back and hastily turned down my cowl. The unfettered vampire spirit I was after had not been able to escape into the spectral realm yet and eagerly dove into the cavernous hole in my chest, satiating me with its energies. Then my right arm flashed brightly with the return of the Soul Reaver's manifestation, signalizing that this feeding had finally restored my energy reserves completely.
Meanwhile, the Rahabim in the rear already recuperated after the blow I had delivered to it and started heading toward me again. But now that I was armed with the wraith blade, I no longer needed to build all my attacks on the defensive counterstrokes and willingly lunged toward the beast as well, the phantom sword in my right hand swung wide. At the sight of the Reaver blade directed at it, the feral vampire protectively brought its forepaws in front of itself, naively believing that the golden arm bracelets it wore could block my symbiotic weapon. But then, to the surprise and horror of the beast, the Reaver just scorched all the way through its precious garment, severing the forepaws altogether and piercing straight into the creature's muzzle. The fiend emitted a reverberating scream of anguish and shrank back to the wall as I aimed the fiery sword for the finishing blow and then drew it right into my foe's chest. For an instant, the Rahabim's demonic gaze froze in vitrescence of utter dismay, and then its streamlined husk just detonated, volleying me with an entire shower of blood and multiple pieces of burned flesh and bones. The liberated spiritual essence that was left of the imploded physical vessel meekly let itself be absorbed by the wraith blade which happily shrilled in receipt of a meal it hadn't had in quite a while already.
Another skirmish was over, but before I could have even an ounce of a second to relish in my victory, more gurgling, revolting noises and roars came from the distant side of the corridor I had just left. As my eyes winked there, I saw that looming there were the figures of the very Rahabim I had just run away from. The aquatic beasts might have been slow, but that didn't mean they weren't tenacious, and even though I managed to break away from them far enough to get lost in the shuffle, they still persistently continued to chase my trail. The combat I'd just had with the other two Rahabim showed that these beings were not really so difficult to fight when there was the Soul Reaver for me to use against them. Still, even with the wraith blade at hand, battling two of those creatures were not the same as battling five of them at the same time. This brought me to the conclusion that instead of trying to obliterate those gollywogs, I should have still stuck to my initial retrograde tactic. Therefore, I resumed my race into wherever the passageway was leading to.
In a matter of moments, I already managed to once again stretch my lead in this rush, leaving my pursuers trail far behind. Nonetheless, I knew better than to let my guard down only because I had been able to break away, for the encounter with those two Rahabim earlier proved that there were more of those wretches lurking somewhere in this sunken church. However, there was even more to the inference that this observation suggested. The fact that those fiends had fallen my way already inside this building implied that there were more means to enter this edifice and, subsequently, more means of reaching the courtyard area and the bell-tower I was after. I just hoped that finding those means would not lead me to stumbling upon more of the Rahabim clan.
At some time, the corridor came to a fork, passing into a pair of twinned passageways one of which sharply turned to the right. I slowed my pace and approached the latter, looking to study its direction. What I saw was a set of descending stairs leading to a deep water-filled tunnel. This tunnel must have admitted to the lower tiers of the church which were now drowned. Apparently, that was where those two Rahabim had come from to confront me. Alas, such areas were not accessible to me in this realm, and since I was intent upon continuing my journey through this refuge on the material plane, I chose to walk the other path.
But before I was even able to pick up some speed to continue running, from the darkness of the space far ahead came the same sounds I had been running away from this entire time. This once they were successful in making me stop in my tracks, and when I did, I saw how out of the cover of gloom in the distance started crawling the painfully familiar shapes of monstrous beings with cobra-like hoods. At first only a few showed up, but then more and more continued to come, their numbers rapidly growing right before my eyes to the point when I lost count of how many of them I was seeing. The way this horde of hydrous ghouls was marching toward me at once reminded me of those swarms of Zephonim I clashed with when roaming through the Silenced Cathedral. But even despite having experience in fighting such multifold forces and even prevailing over them, the sight of such thick gathering of ghouls in one place left me in some shock-fed stupefaction for an instant.
It was until some deep inner call of the heart finally made me break from bonds of this torpor and look behind me. But what I beheld then hardly made me feel better. Clustering in the opposite end of the corridor were the very Rahabim to have been following me all along, already getting close to drawing right upon my heels. But this time there were not just those five beasts I had come to grips before. Their small pack had been joined by more representatives of their kind that together with them formed another swarm of ravenous, ferocious monsters, like the one that was now impending on me from the other side. And just like their counterparts on the other side, they were slowly, but steadily advancing on me, gradually squeezing me from two sides in the very center of this corridor. At last it became egregiously clear that my brother Rahab knew about my intrusion into his domain and was now deliberately sending his descendants to stop me. Now I was stuck here in the very heart of his residence, one against an entire brood of his.