Chapter 46: Fighting the Daugrs (2)
The blade passed through the rotten flesh without encountering resistance, then it came out the other side. Katelyn withdrew her weapon with a quick wrist rotation, and the Daugr collapsed onto its knees before falling face down on the ground.
Two others arrived together. The first aimed at her belly, the second at her throat. Katelyn took a step to the side, which allowed her to dodge the first attack with a simple tilt of her torso.
Then, she parried the second claw with the back of her metal guard, producing a dull metallic shock. She immediately followed up with a thrust in a lunge, the tip of her rapier penetrating the chest of the Daugr on the right. With a quick twist of the blade, she shattered the chi core lodged in the torso, then freed her weapon.
The third Daugr tried to take her by surprise by crawling along the wall. Katelyn had already spotted it thanks to Blade Perception. She took two quick steps back to lure it out of its hiding spot, then she drove her rapier into its nape. The blade came out through the mouth, carrying pieces of blackened tongue. She then struck the torso with the pommel to break the core without having to fully draw her weapon.
The remaining seven Daugrs threw themselves at her at the same time, letting out howls that echoed off the stone walls. Katelyn dodged a first claw by ducking, then she spun on herself to avoid a headbutt.
Her rapier struck relentlessly, quick and precise blows that always found the core or severed a limb. She pierced one torso, then another, then a third. Each time the blade came out it was immediately planted elsewhere.
She was never in difficulty. Her natural agility, combined with the clairvoyance of the first Sense, allowed her to anticipate every attack and place her counterattacks with deadly efficiency. The Daugrs collapsed one by one, their rotten bodies littering the floor of the corridor.
In less than three minutes, the ten creatures lay at her feet, reduced to piles of inert flesh. Only their empty eye sockets still glowed faintly in the gloom. Katelyn blew out a big breath to release the tension, then she wiped her blade on the sleeve of a corpse before sheathing it.
She continued advancing cautiously, but this time the corridor narrowed quickly, then it ended abruptly against a stone wall. She placed her hand on the wall looking for a secret mechanism, but she found nothing. It was definitely a dead end.
She sighed wearily. "Well... It seems I have to go back to the rallying point."
She turned around and retraced her steps. The return trip was faster, as she now knew the obstacles. She passed in front of the corpses of the Daugrs she had slain, then she soon emerged at the crossroads with the three paths.
She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, then she spotted a silhouette approaching through the middle corridor. It was Kristian, looking calm with his hands resting on the hilts of his two swords. He did not have a scratch.
"I see you also ran into some problems," said Katelyn greeting him with a nod.
Kristian shrugged. "Nothing too bad. Just a few Daugrs. And you?"
"Ten. But it was manageable." She looked around, then frowned. "Where is Daemon?"
Kristian turned toward the left corridor, the one their companion had taken. There was no sign of him.
"He has not come back yet," said Kristian in a neutral voice, but his eyes showed some concern.
Katelyn tightened her belt and checked that her rapier was clear. "Then we are going to look for him."
Kristian nodded, drawing his two swords. "Let’s go. Stay behind me."
Without another word, the two companions headed into the left corridor, where Daemon had disappeared. The torches became rarer as they advanced, and the smell of rot suddenly became much stronger.
***
While Katelyn and Kristian were making their way through their respective corridors, Daemon had gone deeper into the left direction.
He turned a corner, then a second, and suddenly emerged into a larger room, a sort of underground crossroads where several secondary paths converged. It was there that he saw more than thirty Daugrs standing motionless in the center of the room, as if they were waiting.
He began to sniff the surrounding air.
Their yellow eyes lit up when they sensed the chi of the living silhouette that had just entered their territory. Immediately, they rushed toward him.
Daemon did not hesitate for a second.
He quickly dodged the first wave of attacks without being the least bit in difficulty. Three Daugrs arrived together, their claws extended toward his face and torso. He ducked, passed under their arms, then pivoted to the left to break free from the encirclement. At the same moment, two other creatures threw themselves at him from behind, but he had already heard them coming. With a simple shift of his hips, he avoided their hands, and they collided into each other with the sound of broken bones.
With his bandaged right arm, Daemon grabbed the forearm of a Daugr that came within reach. With a brutal pull, he tore it off. The black flesh ripped with a wet sound, and the bone snapped cleanly at the shoulder. The Daugr did not even let out a cry, but it staggered off balance.
At the same time, Daemon used his katana with his left hand. He was not left-handed, but as the disciple of an assassin mastering the art of fighting with both arms was the basics.
He spun the blade in a quick circular movement, then he sliced off two heads with a single horizontal gesture. Daemon did not wait for them to fall. He raised his two feet one after the other, and with one blow, he shattered the chi cores lodged in their torsos.
Daemon’s strong arm was the right one, but by mastering the second Sense, he had learned to know the limits and capabilities of his own body better than anyone.
In a prolonged fight against multiple opponents, he should rather use his left arm for quick and precise attacks, while reserving his right arm for heavy devastating attacks. His strength was monstrously greater than average because of his enormous chi.
His right arm, in particular, was extremely resistant, able to withstand quite a few blows without even feeling pain.
Thus, he fought hand-to-hand with deadly efficiency. He avoided attacks with minimal shifts, just enough for the claws to pass a few millimeters from his skin. He parried the blows he could not dodge by using his right forearm as a shield. Then he slashed. Every movement of his katana was precise without the slightest waste of energy.