Life Giver

As Zaya's figure rose up in between the brutal Black Viper and Casmir, she looked up to Casmir for hope but when she saw the desperate expression on Casmir's face as he recklessly raced towards her...

Her mind almost collapsed from fear.

But through that fear Zaya still clung to the hope that Casmir would reach her, she was strong enough to keep pushing herself until the very last moment.

She used her still working right leg to carry herself as she hopped up the hill. Occasionally she would even recklessly leap a short distance up or over an obstacle before tumbling onto the ground and proceeding to struggle back to her feet.

Even in her condition, overwhelmed with fear and wracked by pain, Zaya understood that every inch she pushed herself closer to Casmir would increase the chances of her survival.

From further up the hill, Casmir bloodshot eyes were completely focused on Zaya.

When she stood up moments ago allowing him to see her condition he grew frantic, pushing himself to move faster. Zaya's pleading scream for help repeatedly reverberated through Casmir's mind as worry and guilt pushed him to completely disregard his safety as long as he reached Zaya before the Black Viper.

Unfortunately, the Black Viper was much closer to Zaya than Casmir, thanks to its prior pursuit of her. The only thing that gave Casmir hope was the Black Viper's slow speed in climbing the hill and the fact that he was gathering his momentum as he rushed down the hill, exponentially increasing his speed.

But even then, it was unlikely that Casmir would reach Zaya first.

"KEEP MOVING ZAYA!" Casmir screamed desperately in a hoarse voice, unwilling to see what would come next.

However Zaya was growing weaker by the second, she was barely managing to crawl and in this rugged terrain her weakening body struggled to make any progress.

Thankfully... Casmir wasn't alone.

From behind him came the piercing whistle of a fast moving object that shot passed Casmir straight towards the Black Viper's head.

A finely crafted metal bolt suddenly pierced into the Black Viper's head, hitting slightly above the Black Viper's left eye creating a sharp cracking sound as it severely damaged the Black Vipers skull.

"HISS!" It cried as it reeled back in pain, halting for a few seconds.

From a top the hill, Cor'Dana cursed at himself while he re-armed his crossbow once again.

"Damn it!" he cried, before anxiously cursing at himself.

"...how did that f*cking miss.."

Although the bolt was far more powerful than anything Cor'Dana had used on the Black Viper before and it had succeeded in stalling it, even damaging the Black Viper Skull.

Cor'Dana had missed his mark.

If his shot was just a inch lower it could have pierced into the Black Viper's eye, blinding it or perhaps killing it if the bolt was lucky enough to break through into the Black Viper's brain through the eye socket.

Regretfully, the Black Viper was moving too erratically for Cor'Dana to accurately hit it from the distance he was at.

'Come on Casmir.. move it.. move it..' Cor'Dana thought to himself as he watched Casmir's figure swiftly charge down the hill.

The Black Viper had been stalled for a moment thanks to Cor'Dana but although it was injured, it had only paused for a few seconds before it quickly re-focused on Casmir and actually started moving faster than before albeit more erratically.

It had sustained a deep flesh wound above its left eye, forcing it to keep this eye closed and a fracture to its skull but its movements wasn't impaired.

The Black Viper didn't know what had struck it moments ago because of the speed of the attack but it felt threatened by it, even slightly fearful for its life.

This fear drove the Black Viper to focus its attention on Casmir, believing him to be the culprit behind the sudden attack. It realised that it needed to quickly kill this opponent before it was attacked again.

This revelation of the Black Viper's was perhaps quite fortunate for Casmir as the Black Viper had completely disregarded Zaya, with no intention of devouring her before Casmir was dealt with.

As the Black Viper erratically slithered up the hill, the ground cracking under its weight, it eyed Casmir menacingly.

Meanwhile, Casmir was preparing himself for a direct collision with the Black Viper. Cor'Dana's shot had given him some extra time but it wasn't enough to allow him to slow down, pick up Zaya and bring her to safety.

Casmir would need to fend off the Black Viper for at least a few seconds before he could take Zaya away, however Casmir didn't have the strength. It took his, Zaya's and Cor'Dana's assault to simply divert the Black Viper's heavy body away from them when they were first attacked by it.

'I can still take a hit with my injured arm.. but that's not enough..' Casmir thought to himself.

Casmir alone simply didn't have the strength to hold back the Black Viper with its heavy and powerful body.

Time was not on Casmir's side either, the distance between him and the Black Viper had already shrank to barely ten metres, he was out of time.

Casmir readied his shield and his spear, the sharp glint on his spears tip and the thick lightweight metal that his shield was made of would be familiar to observers. They were made from the same material and refining processes as Zaya's dagger, they were the results of Master Bluefire's craftsmanship and were of Grade 3 quality.

At the same time, the Black Viper slowed down as it coiled its head back, preparing to strike out at Casmir using its head like a battering ram once more, to crush Casmir with brute force.

Casmir gathered his momentum together and took one last step onto a boulder before unleashing his full bodily strength on the boulder below him. The boulder cracked and barely managed to sustain itself until Casmir leaped off of it, the boulder promptly shattered as Casmir flew towards the Black Viper, shield at the ready.

As he shot through the air, Casmir activated the Will Resonance state, his eyes glancing at Zaya below him now laying face down on the cold ground, almost lifeless. A chilling coldness passed over Casmir's body as he saw this, a intense d.e.s.i.r.e to rid this world of the Black Viper overcame him as he resolved himself to killing it.

From not far away the Black Viper's eyes locked onto Casmir as he leapt towards it. The Black Viper spared not time as it suddenly unleashed itself at Casmir, its coiled body erupting with a great force as its body pierced into the sky towards Casmir.

Casmir extended his injured right arm that held his shield towards the Black Viper, welcoming its brutish head to smash straight into him.

However the shield was held at an odd angle that blocked the Black Viper's vision of him.

When the Black Viper collided with Casmir's shield there was little resistance at all, Casmir in fact used his shield as leverage to twist his body around the Black Viper so that his body slipped underneath its head.

As Casmir swung his body underneath the Black Viper's head, he used his other arm to swing his spear around widely, acc.u.mulating all of his strength into a single strike using the Will Resonance state.

Powered by his physical strength and Qi energy, Casmir's spear pierced into the softer but still extraordinarily tough hide of the Black Viper's lower jaw. Half of the strength in Casmir's strike was dissipated by the hide but this sudden attack of Casmir's spear still managed to pierce into the bottom of the Black Viper mouth.

At the same time Casmir's shield bearing right arm was bent backwards at an unnatural angle, it produced a series of sharp snapping sounds as his arm was dislocated and broken at the same time.

It was a painful price to pay for Casmir spear strike but Casmir had resolved himself to pay it.

He ignored the pain, focusing on his spear that had pierced halfway into the Black Viper's mouth as he recklessly twisted it around the inside of the Black Viper's mouth, eviscerating the soft flesh inside of the Black Viper's mouth.

At this point both Casmir and the Black Viper were still sailing through the air, the Black Viper's momentum was barely affected when Casmir latched onto it using his spear so they simply flew over Zaya.

However as soon as Casmir's spear pierced into the soft fleshy mouth of the Black Viper, it felt an untold wave of pain that caused it to violently shriek and shake uncontrollably.

"AAECH!!!"

The Black Viper's shaking naturally dislodged Casmir's spear and subsequently threw him to the ground harshly, his back colliding heavily with a boulder before he rolled slightly down the hill.

Somehow his body ended up rolling nearby to the unconscious Zaya.

The Black Viper meanwhile continued soaring through the air before it crashed onto the rocky ground slightly up hill, it writhed about in pain causing its body to roll back down the hill in a direction away from Casmir and Zaya.

The Black Viper continuously hissed and screeched in a garbled tone as it was severely injured by Casmir's attack.

Not only was it bleeding profusely from its mouth and the deep visceral hole in its lower jaw, it had lost control of the muscles in its jaw. Its mouth was hanging wide open, flopping about like a shattered limb as huge amounts of blood and other bodily fluids flowed out of it.

Gradually the Black Viper's cries grew dimmer...

By Zaya's body, Casmir was groaning in pain as he used his only working arm to prop himself up.

His body was shaking and his heart was thumping furiously as it pumped adrenaline around his body. Casmir had sustained a head injury when he was flung to the ground like a broken doll, his mind was fuzzy and his vision was blurred as he observed his surroundings.

Casmir's eyes locked onto Zaya's body as soon as he noticed her, still shaken and confused Casmir subconsciously crawled over to her.

He tried to stand up but he only managed to stumble and crawl, thanks to his useless right arm and his fuzzy mind that inversed Casmir's sense of balance.

He didn't even realise that his spear was still tightly grasped in his left hand until he reached Zaya's body and tried to use his left arm to turn her body over. Casmir barely manages to forcefully unfurl his fingers from around the spear as his senses slowly came back to him, his fuzzy mind slowly clearing.

"Za-..Zaya.. Zaya!.. are yo-.. ok.. Zaya!" Casmir slowly said, slurring his words as he rolled Zaya's body over quite clumsily.

Her body was limp but in Casmir's confusion he accidentally rolled her onto the side of her body that had been burnt by the Black Viper's acid.

"AHHGH!" Zaya suddenly cried as her blister like wounds were scr.a.p.ed against the rough gritty ground, forcing her awake.

Zaya looked around in confusion until she locked onto Casmir's face, barely able to keep her eyes open as her dulled consciousness faded in and out.

"Casmir..." She said weakly.

Casmir whole body tingled as he heard her voice, like a reassurance that he had succeeded. He quickly used his good arm to prop her head up as he tilted his head back in relief, a painful yet blissful smile appearing on his face.

However as Casmir smiled, Zaya's body suddenly started to shake, her eyes slowly drifting from Casmir's face as her breathing sped up and her eyes open wide in horror.

She weakly whispered in a hoarse voice "Cas-... v..per... behind..! Run... run.. r.."

Hearing her warning Casmir quickly turned around and saw that just over ten metres away from them was the Black Viper. It had raised its head up high ready to strike as blood poured out of its broken mouth, its single working eye stared coldly at Casmir as if it was the Reaper's itself.

Casmir instantly tried to use the Will Resonance state in an attempt to forcefully control his body but as he did, a chilling coldness passed over his body. Casmir could only describe this harrowing feeling as if the cold hands of death itself had come to claim him.

It was only thanks to the most fundamental spark of warmth, that represented Casmir's Will to survive, that he didn't fall in an instant to this cold sensation.