“What, you don’t like my babies?” Jörmungandr cooed, stroking the head of the constrictor around his chest while it bobbed its nose against him contentedly.
“Honestly, this is making it way easier for me to beat the tar outta you,” Marie admitted.
“Now that’s just rude. ENSNARE!” Jörmungandr snapped his arm forward, launching his constrictor at her like a grappling rope. Unable to dodge in time, Marie felt the reptile latch onto her arm, as the man yanked backwards, reeling her towards him.
“Calvaire!” she swore, slamming her hand off the ground and flipping herself forward into a kick, planting a foot squarely in the man’s face.
“Gah!” He choked, falling backwards, the snake going taut and pulling Marie onto his body, and the legion of hissing reptiles awaiting her.
“No no NO!” Marie screamed out, flinging herself bodily to the side and smashing the snake’s head into the floor as she rolled from its grasp.
“Damn that…” Jörmungandr got up, holding a hand to his face. “What the… Bjørn?! Oh my god, you hurt Bjørn!” He lifted the snake from the ground, quickly giving it a sip from a healing potion while Marie scampered back.
“Need a hand, Jörm?” Polygraph_Jazz offered from the doorway.
“If I wanted your help, I'd ask for it, bub.” Jörmungandr spat, as Isaac peeked around the broken door. “Why don’t you take care of that kid?”
“Marie!” Isaac exclaimed, patting Twitch as he passed by. “Are you… woah! Snakes?”
“Yup.” Marie grit her teeth. “Snakes.”
“Uh, you just keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll take the other guy.” Isaac rushed after Polygraph_Jazz, pistol drawn.
“Yeah, I can’t even blame you,” Marie muttered, turning back to face Jörmungandr.
“Oh, and don’t forget to use your skills!” Isaac nagged.
“Yeah, yeah, get off my back.”
As soon as he saw Isaac running towards him, Polygraph_Jazz immediately unlocked the door and rushed inside, slamming it behind him. Undeterred, Isaac gave chase, Twitch tottering along behind him.
“Well, looks like the side-characters are gone, so it’s back to just us.” Jörmungandr smirked,
“Speak for yourself, mid-boss.” Marie dropped low, sweeping a kick at the player’s legs. However, before she could make contact, the hem of his plus-fours rolled up, as a constrictor launched out from underneath, encircling Marie’s leg.
"Now who's a mid-boss?" Jörmungandr grinned, as the snake twisted violently, sending Marie tumbling to the ground.
Even as she hit the floor, Marie rolled hard, tugging the snake and Jörmungandr along with her, flipping them over her back.
But he never hit the ground.
Wrapping tight under his armpits and launching off towards the bunk beds on either side of them, Jörmungandr’s snakes latched tight to the bed frames, suspending him above the floor, before gently lowering him to his feet.
“See?” He grinned toothily. “I’ve got the kind of friends that catch me when I fall. What’ve you got?”
“Annoying friends that remind me when I’m being too stubborn.” Marie sighed deeply, as she intoned her skill. “GUILLOTINE!” She lashed out at the constrictor clinging to her leg, driving her elbow into it so hard it sliced through its thick skin, completely beheading it. “Yeah, that's still not as fun as just punching stuff,” she complained, flicking her arm.
“SVEN!” Jörmungandr cried out, as the dead snake slipped from his pant leg like a wet noodle. “Oh, you’ll pay for that one, skitstövel.”
Jumping back, Jörmungandr flexed his arms in front of him, as the snakes darted to and fro across his body. “Alright boys, we’re going with plan “Resist and Bite!” Skarde, you’re taking over for Sven!” As he spoke, the constrictor around his chest slipped down his pants, filling up the vacancy left by the decapitated snake. With no coils to cling to, the numerous smaller snakes that used to cover his torso dispersed throughout his limbs, poking in and out as they tasted the air with their tongues.
“Nice of you to leave me a target.” Marie gestured to his scrawny, now-bare chest.
“Well, come on then, hit me if you can!” he taunted.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
However instead of rushing forward, Marie leapt back, lashing out at a nearby weapon rack and smashing its side in. Ignoring the falling weapons, she picked up the splintered backing, ripping it off the rest of the rack, nails and all.
“Know what an Improv Brawler’s class skill is?” She hefted the backing in her hands, weighing it. “Anything I hold becomes a weapon.”
Dashing forward, she intoned another ability. “BULLRUSH!” she yelled, her feet becoming a blur as she shot towards the player, pushing the backing in front of her like a shield.
“Uff da!” Jörmungandr grunted as she plowed into him, lifting him off the ground and carrying him along with her towards the far wall. Retaliating, Jörmungandr gripped both edges of the backing tightly, as tiny, vivid green snakes began to slip down his hands and towards Marie.
“Not a chance!” Marie shoved down hard with the backing, knocking Jörmungandr onto his back as she flattened him beneath the board. Gasping, he released his grip, the snakes falling to the ground at his sides.
Yanking the board back, Marie retreated a pace, then dashed back towards the now-rising Jörmungandr, leaping into the air before she reached him. “GUILLOTINE!” she yelled out, dropping down on the man board-first like an executioner’s blade.
*Shunk*
As Jörmungandr tried to roll away, the wooden backing sliced off his left arm below the shoulder, splintering as it collided with the stone floor, leaving a red stripe of blood down the middle of it.
“Kraftedeme, that hurts!” the man swore, the constrictor from his right leg slipping up to replace the one that had been beheaded with his arm, tightening around his stub like a tourniquet, stopping the blood.
“Had enough?” Marie asked, splitting the backing in two over her knee, and wielding a piece in each hand.
“You can have the arm,” Jörmungandr spat, rising shakily to his feet. “But I’m taking your life. SNAKE PIT!”
Glancing around to see what had happened, Marie immediately noticed her predicament. All around her in a loose circle roughly ten feet in radius, over two-dozen snakes had boxed her in. Further, they were rapidly closing the circle, slipping through each other’s coils with a dry rustling, their dead eyes fixed on her.
“Câlice!” Marie swore, skipping back from the edge as the snakes reared and snapped at her ankles, hissing dangerously.
“You’re finished!” Jörmungandr whipped the constrictor attached to his stump at Marie, forcing her back towards the edge of the ring.
“A’ight, here goes nothing!” Grabbing the two boards by their ends, Marie dove to the side, slamming one down hard on the snake ring, crushing the reptiles beneath it as she lifted herself off her feet like an acrobat. Using both boards like stilts, she scuttled across the pit balanced on her hands, jumping off onto a nearby bunk bed.
“Real cute.” Jörmungandr grinned mirthlessly, clicking his heel twice against the floor, as the snakes abandoned their ring and began slithering towards Marie again.
“Oh.” Marie backed against the wall as the snakes began to climb the bedposts, their unblinking eyes still fixed dead on her.
“Can’t kick ‘em all,” Jörmungandr predicted.
“Then I’ll go for the king!” Marie launched herself off the bed, barreling into Jörmungandr head-first, and rolling with him as they slammed into the far wall.
The two of them thrashed wildly, trading punches and rolling across the floor as they fought. Eyes were blacked, noses were bloodied, skin was scratched, as the two scuffled. Marie had tried repeatedly to drive her knee into Jörmungandr's crotch, but his serpents defended him valiantly. Meanwhile, Jörmungandr had a handful of Marie's hair, and was doing his level best to tear it off at the roots. Twice, Jörmungandr tried to get one of his constrictors around her neck, twice Marie had dispatched it with her quick fists. However, in the corner of her eye, Marie could see the legion of snakes abandoning the bed and making their way towards her again. She was running out of time!
“Cut off the snake’s head, right?” Marie smirked grimly, slamming Jörmungandr’s head against the ground, as she pressed against his neck with her arm, choking him. Finally releasing her hair, he clawed at her face, but she refused to let up, biting savagely at his hand. Spasming beneath her, Marie saw the man’s last conscious constrictor slip from his pant leg and try to wrap around her. Putting extra pressure on Jörmungandr's neck, she slipped her belt off with her other arm, gripping it by the buckle and smashing it once, twice, thrice into the head of the approaching serpent, as it crumpled beneath her.
Meanwhile, Jörmungandr was starting to turn purple, as weak choking sounds emitted from him, his desperate pawing growing weaker. And then, as his mouth opened wide, Marie noticed something else.
A tiny snake crawled out of his throat.
Its fangs popping out as it hissed, it bunched its coils tightly, and prepared to spring.
“OH. HELL. NO.” Marie yelled out as the snake flew towards her!
In slow motion.
*Click*
Marie didn’t quite know how to process the situation. The snake was still moving towards her, but it was oozing through the air like molasses, instead of like an uncoiling spring. Moreover, her whole body felt sluggish, her heart beating at one-tenth speed, her blood trickling through her veins. What was going on?
But the sight of the snake edging towards her, fangs leading, galvanized her to action. She tried to bring her free hand up to intercept, but it was like moving through thick mud. She’d never reach it in time!
Then, a terrible idea came to her. A horrible, desperate idea. Leaning to the side with all her might, she felt her muscles contract slowly, slowly. She swiveled her head as she moved, her deadened eyes fixed in place as she saw the snake inching closer, closer…
Closer…
And then it was slipping past her cheek, her dodge successful. She could see it turning its head, slowly, slowly, aiming to correct its mistake, and sink its fangs into her shoulder, if it couldn’t get her head.
She couldn’t let that happen.
Opening her mouth wide, a centimeter at a time, she creaked forward, feeling the dry, scaly body pass over her lips and line up with her teeth.
Then she bit down hard.
Time snapped back to normal like a whip-crack, as her teeth crunched through the reptile’s bones. It spasmed violently for a split moment, then lay still.
"Aaaaaaaaah! Crisse de câlice de tabarnak d'esti de...!” Marie spat the offending reptile out, the taste still lingering. Looking down at the man under her arm, she saw Jörmungandr was finally lying still, his eyes glazed over. Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed the wave of snakes had halted, their gaze no longer locked on her. Then, with a sibilant rustle, they retreated back into the darkness of the entranceway, leaving their dead and unconscious brethren behind.
She had won.
Marie stumbled to her feet, surveying the carnage. The five constrictors still lay across the ground, two in pieces, three just stunned. Interspersed with them lay Jörmungandr’s body, and those of several smaller crushed snakes. Stepping gingerly around them, Marie made her way to the doorway Isaac and Polygraph_Jazz had entered.
“Right, I need to… go help… Charles… no, I mean Isaac…” Marie slurred, stumbling against a bunk bed. Everything looked like it was both far away and right in front of her at the same time, her head was pounding fiercely, and her body felt light and spasming beneath her. As her vision edged away, she saw an alert in the corner of her display: “Ability unlocked: FLUX.”
Oh… Nice, she thought to herself, before collapsing on her face.
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