Page 95 of Elven Shadow

Not close enough for any real satisfaction, though…

What the hell was shedoing? Any thoughts of Maxwell now were an even bigger waste of her time than ever. She had to stop. Focus on the present.

On not almost dying again.

As the seconds ticked by and the explosions burst again and again throughout the building, she felt fairly confident now that the one homunculus popping up out of the collapsed ceiling pile had been the only one.

Perhaps it was a fluke. Perhaps the creature had been summoned for the sole purpose of aiding in this attack, serving as an effective diversion while its master did ancestors only knew what elsewhere.

The second she and the infirmary magicals rounded the corner out of the second-to-last hallway, the next explosion sounded like it was right on top of them.

Because it was.

The ground trembled. The walls on either side of them buckled. Then an enormous hole opened in the wall on Rebecca’s left as great hunks of plaster and drywall exploded outward.

The operatives behind her shouted in surprise. Rebecca almost beckoned them to hurry past her toward the next hallway, but then an all-black hand emerged from the still-crumbling hole in the wall and shot straight toward her.

She reeled backward, leaping aside just in time to avoid one more clawing grasp of yet another homunculus coming out of nowhere.

“Seriously?” she growled. “They’re in the fuckingwallsnow?”

She knew it wasn’t the same one; it couldn’t have been. Whatever magic and darker nefarious substance had animated the first homunculus was inside Rebecca now, wreaking who knew what kind of damage on her insides and her magic.

There were more than one.

“Don’t touch it!” she shouted, gesturing for the others to move around her and continue ahead. “Whatever you do, just don’t—”

“Yeah, yeah, or we’ll end up choking on our own tongues or some shit,” the troll grumbled as he hurried past her first, leading the others. “We got it.”

Then came Archie, his un-gelled orange mohawk fluttering behind him down the center of his back as he lumbered along with the still unconscious Hank in his arms. Zida’s final two patients came next.

The old healer took up the rear, slowing as she approached Rebecca and the seemingly disembodied black arm breaking through the wall to claw at anything that moved on the other side.

“I do hope you’re not about to try something even more idiotic than whatever you did the last time,” Zida grumbled.

Rebecca shot her a deadpan glare and coughed. “You’re welcome for getting it out of the way for you. Get down to the garage.”

“And you?” Zida called over her shoulder as she shuffled down the hallway after the others.

Rebecca held back a groan. “I’m gonna make sure it can’t follow us.”

The old woman tossed a clawed hand in the air, as if to say, “Suit yourself, but I’m not helping you a second time.” Then she disappeared down the hallway.

No, Rebecca most certainly would not be duplicating her mistakes with the first homunculus. But she couldn’t let this next one just roam free through the compound, bashing through walls and sneaking up on any other Shade member unfortunate enough to not have heard about getting to the garage.

It would slow her down, sure, but she had to wait until she was sure no one was there to see her.

Because the second Zida was out of sight, Rebecca summoned her Bloodshadow spear with another quick flick of her wrist and spun it in her hands until the spear tip faced her new lifeless opponent.

Before she could lunge with her weapon, the homunculus tore through the rest of the wall with a tremendous, clawing effort, its former prison crumbling away.

It advanced on her like a nightmare brought to life, the ground trembling beneath its weight with every step.

Rebecca’s throat and chest burned with uncommon fatigue and uncertainty. There was no time to think, only to react.

But her body hesitated. Her magic faltered as the monster lunged at her.

A cold dread coiled in her chest. She’d already faced one of these things, and she’d barely survived. This time, something felt different. Darker. More powerful. More…ravenous.

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