Page 143 of Code Bound
Noted, Cipher murmurs in my mind.
I watch as Vesper dodges around Debbie and slashes at her with her blade, making the abominable yeti even angrier than she already is. Debbie rushes Vesper, her large fist raised.
“Hey, Debbie!” I shout, drawing her attention. “Fuck you!”
I throw my hammer as hard as I can. It slams into Debbie’s face and there’s a sickening crunch that echoes even above the howling winds. I have about two seconds to grin and feel like I did something. My idiot brain thinks that all it would take to defeat such a monster. When the hammer falls to the ground and Debbie looks at me with blood dripping down her snout into the snow, I know I fucked up. Her eyes meeting mine, Debbie reaches down and picks up my hammer. Without looking away, she grabs it between her two hands and snaps it in two.
Vesper’s eyes widen as she stumbles back away from the yeti. There’s no need though. Debbie is completely focused on me right now.
And I just lost my best and only weapon.
Okay. So, I’m really going to die here then. This is real.
Debbie starts to charge at me, scrambling through the snow with ease. My eyes flick over to Vesper and hold as she starts to run after Debbie. She screams something I can’t hear, her expression frantic as I just stand here. I have no weapon. There’s nothing in my hand as the yeti rushes me, but I don’t look away from Vesper. Looking at her is like looking at the blanket of stars here. Beautiful. Almost blinding. Peaceful.
“Thank you for giving me the time I had with her,” I tell Cipher, finally looking away from the woman who gave me a taste of goodness and back at the yeti closing in on me. “I know you didn’t want to.”
Cipher doesn’t answer.
Sighing, I tilt up my chin and face the charging yeti, my shoulders tense as she roars and slams through the snow. She raises her fists . . . I close my eyes . . .
A bright, blinding light appears right in front of me, so brilliant, I have to scrunch up my face even with my eyes already closed.
NEW TEMPORARY SKILL BUFF HAS BEEN GRANTED: Guardian Angel
You’re willingness to sacrifice yourself for someone you care about makes you an angel. Enjoy this actual guardian angel for the next 30 seconds.
“The fuck?” I shout as Debbie’s fists slam into Steve rather than my face. I scramble backward away from the fight, confused, as the two monsters meet. Every time Debbie tries to get me, Steve blocks her fist.
“Oh my god, girl!” Steve drawls. “You need tocalm down! Lockey Poo totally didn’t mean to upset you!”
This only seems to piss Debbie off more. She grows more enraged and frantic with each of her hits. Steve takes them all, no flinches or even moving under the onslaught. Debbie seems to crumple around him rather than doing any damage to Steve, but Debbie isn’t so lucky. Her hands are bleeding now, leaving red prints in the snow as she tries to find a way through. I check my buff. I have exactly fifteen seconds to figure out what to do before the buff expires.
“Locke!” Vesper shouts. She’s holding up the blunt dagger she no longer uses. “Catch!”
Debbie whips her head toward Vesper and changes tactics.
“No!” I shout, rushing after Debbie. “Steve! Help her instead!”
“No, can do, Lockey Poo! You still have ten seconds of my protection.”
“Fuck!”
Vesper spreads her legs apart, bracing herself. She lifts her Bloodsense Fang, her eyes narrowing behind her mask. I watch, horrified, as Debbie closes in. Vesper darts to the side, but the snow is too deep for her to move fast. She stabs down as Debbie’s hand swipes at her, sending her flying through the air.
“Time’s up!” Steve giggles, and disappears from in front of me. He reappears right in front of Vesper, stopping the yeti’s fists from pummeling her before she can get to her feet. “Man, Debbie. You’re just like trippin’-dicular, you know?”
Debbie immediately turns back to me, and I realize I have thirty seconds to survive before Steve comes zooming back over to me. I can survive thirty seconds. I’ve got this. When Debbie’s fist slams into my chest and knocks the breath out of me as I fly backward, I change my mind.
I don’t got this.
Her fist hits me again before I’ve even landed, and I feel something break.
PAIN IGNITION, passive skill
Each injury suffered boosts your strength by one for thirty seconds.
The notification pops across my screen as well as my stats.
