Chapter 199: No Time Left

I had no time left. The demon was about to reach her! So I did what I always did when I had a problem—I shot it. The [Push] bullet hit him in the back and he got launched forward. His leg clipped Kasia’s shoulder and she got smacked into the floor with the back of her head. The sound of it made me feel sick.

That also meant the other one was able to slowly rise again. My eyes darted around hoping to find anything, anything at all that would stop this. I scrambled back up, my hands touching a piece of the carpet. Of course. The carpet!

It was a big chunk, and heavier than I’d expected. From the corner of my eye I saw the shape of the demon already back on its feet. I grabbed the carpet and blinked above the brazier. I draped it over it, covering it entirely and held it down as best as I could.

I looked back and I could swear the flames were gone, though I couldn’t be sure since my vision was still blurry. I saw the one close to Kasia raise a glowing fist that reminded me of Menandros, and I fired a [Push] bullet infused with [Clean Entry] right at its head. The entire demon exploded on impact.

[Generous Gift]

+230% Damage.

+23% control over projectiles.

+92 Attunement.

+23% of Damage is converted into barrier.

+23% Fire Resistance.

One down.

The other was up again, but another bullet blew him to pieces as well. I let go of the carpet, letting it sit on the brazier, and flew back to Kasia.

[Generous Gift]

+235% Damage.

+23.5% control over projectiles.

+94 Attunement.

+23.5% of Damage is converted into barrier.

+23.5% Fire Resistance.

[You have gained 1 level.]

[You have gained 6 stat points.]

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“Is it over?” she replied.

“I don’t know.” I fumbled for a health potion and thankfully found one. I drank it and slowly my vision got better. I glanced around, only to see the entire room was covered in gore. Thankfully, there were no flames. “Yeah. I think so. I think it’s over.”

I sat down next to her and exhaled. “Man. That was rough.” I still couldn’t see out of my left eye.

“Yeah,” Kasia said, rubbing the back of her head. “Ow.”

“Let me fix that for you.” I summoned my revolver and shot my foot. Thank the Goddess that I was able to control the increased damage percentage now. I shot it again until [Greater Healing Nova] triggered and the vision in my left eye was restored and the cold vanished. I probably should have triggered it this way earlier, instead of letting those demons hit me. Oh well, you live and you learn. Can’t blame me for using the first desperate option that came into my mind when my best friend’s life was at stake. Unfortunately, the sick feeling and the cramp from the mana burn did not disappear.

I let myself fall onto my back and stared at the ceiling. “You good?”

Kasia lay down next to me. “Yeah. I’m good.”

“Good.”

We stayed there for a moment until I heard Bogumir’s voice. “Enough lazing around. Time to go.”

I tilted my head and glanced in the direction of the sound. He and Vasil were standing next to the chest. Bogumir held the shrunken demon head in his hands.

“Really?” I said.

He clapped his hands. “Up, up.”

I groaned and got back to my feet, stretched and cracked my back. “Thanks for the help, guys. I appreciate it.”

“You didn’t look like you needed it,” Bogumir said.

“Keep telling yourself that. I hope it makes you feel better.”

Kasia laughed and Bogumir shook his head.

I walked over to the chest and peered inside. “Does this mean we get to keep the rest of the stuff as well?”

Bogumir shrugged. “I think we’ve earned it. I think we solved that puzzle nicely.”

“We?” I scoffed. “We?! I didn’t even see you! That was all Kasia and me! And what about you, Vasil? Why didn’t you help? You are indestructible!”

“Ribbit,” he said.

“By Erotokomos’ silken strands! You can’t pretend you’re a frog now! We’ve been talking for months!”

“Well…” He shifted on his little feet. “Like Bogumir said, you looked like you had everything under control. We figured it would be best to stay out of your way.”

Bogumir stared at me with his face scrunched.

“What?” I asked.

“You look like shit.”

“Thanks, asshole.”

I pulled the goblet out of the chest and tossed it to Vasil. He didn’t catch it and it simply bounced off his head and clattered onto the ground. “Store that for me, will you. I’ll identify it back at the cathedral. I don’t want to stay here any longer than we have to.”

“Will do,” he said, as he grew in size. His tongue shot out, grabbed the goblet and just as fast as it had come out, it was gone, along with the goblet.

We could probably utilize that tongue for more things. That would make him more useful. Throwing him at people hadn’t been very effective at anything, apart from providing a momentary distraction, which I supposed was kind of useful.

I grabbed the dagger and turned it around in my hand. This thing really was extremely black. It was as if it repelled the light. I thought about giving it to Kasia to hold, but since I had no idea what it did, I didn’t want to accidentally put her in danger in case it was cursed. I tossed it in front of Vasil. “That too.”

I glanced around the room. Besides all the gore and the messed up carpet it looked fine. I wondered if we could get something like this for the cathedral. I wondered if we could—hold up. Could I get something like this for me?

I did still have that Steel rune that supposedly made things indestructible. What if I found a weapon runeword that used it and crafted that? Since my revolvers were part of me would that make me indestructible as well? Would I want that? Did that mean I couldn’t die at all, or was it just my physical form that couldn’t be damaged? Did a runeword like that even exist?

I didn’t really want to think about that in this place and we still had to find our way back to the exit somehow.

I sighed. “Let’s go.”

“What are you sighing about?” Bogumir asked.

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“I just want to go home, and I don’t see a conveniently placed portal anywhere around. Do you?”

He glanced around. “No, I don’t.”

“So let’s stop wasting time and find our way back to the exit. Entrance. Whatever. I want to leave this place.”

“What if there’s more treasure?”

“Really?” I asked. “Now you want to look for more treasure?”

“Yeah!” he said. “It’s not like there are any more demons around.”

I gestured around the room. “Do you see any more treasure?”

“No.”

“So let’s go.”

“Well you don’t know if you don’t look!”

I sighed again. “I’m exhausted, but you know what? Fine. You can look around the hall we came from to see if there’s any treasure. Then we leave.”

“Exhausted from doing what?” He laughed.

I glared at him. “I think I’ve changed my mind about killing you. You’re making me regret ever taking you off my belt.”

“I took myself off,” he scoffed. “You didn’t do shit.”

“Bogumir.” Kasia wagged a finger at him.

He frowned. “Sorry.” He looked to the side. “And sorry for not helping, I guess. I figured there wasn’t much I could do anyway. And you did seem like you were in control. Uh. Until the end. Then it got a little shaky.” His shoulders sagged. “I just feel so small and useless.”

“You are small and useless,” I said. “Especially if you don’t do anything to help. That’s your problem. Figure it out. If not for my sake, do it for Kasia. There must be something you can do. You’re an intelligent guy. Sometimes. Use your brain.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Sorry, Kasia.”

“It’s alright,” Kasia said, smiling. She put her hand on my arm. “Hecate saved me. She always does.”

“Hmpf,” I said. “Didn’t feel like it. And we did it together. What did you do to that first guy?”

“I just cut the mana threads connecting him to the flame. I could see them, so I figured why not give it a shot?”

I nodded. “So you can do that now? Pretty cool.”

“It’s also how I kept the one from getting up.” She made a snipping motion with her fingers and winked. “Snip, snip.”

“Good one. You can have snip snip and I can have pow pow. That can be our thing, you know? Something cool to say before we do something badass.”

“Good one?” Bogumir asked.

“Bogumir,” Kasia said.

“Sorry.”

Vasil tapped my leg. “Can we move on now?”

I stared down at him. Like I hadn’t been trying to leave this whole time. “Yes.”