Chapter 20: A battle of vengeance

There was no time to think...only react. She took a rope from her bag and tied it to the post, hanging down just enough to avoid the attack. The quickly and carefully tied the rope to an arrow and fired it at the ground. Remembering some of her training, she used her bow so she could slide safely to the ground. She ran towards the beast and laid an ankle snare trap, avoiding his attacks in the process.

She felt him gathering his energy, and in her haste to get out of range, she tripped on a stray toy lying around. Right before he cast, she felt the wind start to rise around her, becoming stronger and colder. She knew what it was, and she knew she didn't have enough time to get away.

"Double strafe!"

Her attack still did nothing to stop the already charged up Storm gust. Reacting quickly, she curled into a ball and wrapped her arms around her legs in hopes that she could keep herself from freezing.

"Cure! Heal!"

In the moment that the holy energy hit her, her energy was immediately renewed. Still crouching, she set another trap and ran away. After hearing the soft click of something being caught in her snare, she aimed her bow in its direction.

"Double strafe!"

Unlike her brother, Malene preferred to rely on her own prowess with a bow rather than adopting a falcon partner. Besides, she didn't even like the idea of having a Seeing Eye falcon.

Reloading her bow, she jumped away just as Stormy's sword came down at her. She kept jumping back and dodging, unable to aim properly. She couldn't even set a trap. Thinking quickly, she faked a jump to the left and rolled to the right. While still on one knee, she quickly took aim.

"Double strafe!"

She ran to the right and set an ankle snare trap. After moving away some distance, she continued her barrage of earthly projectiles. Jumping back again, she was just barely able to avoid Stormy's Lord of Vermillion attack.

The ground shook violently and the huntress was thrown off balance. Her fall was broken by an oversized building block. Holding her side in pain, she rolled away just as the icy sword came down at her again.

Getting back on her feet, she ran. When she was sure she was a safe distance away, she turned and kneeled down, reaching into her bag for another trap. A look of worry crossed her face as she dug deeper into her bag. By the time that she realized that she was out of traps, it was too late. She finally tasted Stormy's sword.

With a huge gash on her shoulder, she was thrown to the side, and her bow had slipped from her grasp. She listened carefully to the sounds around her. She knew very well that her partymates were too far away. They would never reach her in time. Now she was on her own. Reaching for the sheath on her belt, she quickly brandished her Gladius, a weapon that Jadeite insisted that she keep for emergencies. And now was one such emergency.

Hearing the whistle of the sword coming down again at breakneck speed, she tried her best to defend herself with the dagger. Though a bit weak without her bow, she was very agile and was thus able to dodge decently. She knew as well as the next person that a dagger wouldn't do much, not when the wielder was a huntress who couldn't even see. She had only one option, and that was to find her bow.

Parrying, dodging and avoiding, she kept on going backwards...back towards the point where she faltered. As she did her best to avoid getting turned into a human garnish, her foot hit something that was light but solid. Without thinking, she jumped back and reached down to grab whatever it was, hoping that maybe, just maybe, it was something that could help her. And by the slightest stroke of luck, it turned out to be her bow.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment. Her friends were just now arriving, but from what they could see, the battle was already over. For in the time that it took Malene to ready her bow, the monster had already made his final attack against the huntress.