Chapter 116 – Desperate Straits
"Cough, cough!"
Lu Ze clamped a hand over his mouth and doubled over, coughing uncontrollably. A few seconds later his forehead began to burn and his mind turned hazy.
It was the Disease!
If he didn't break away at once the sickness would race out of control.
After the battle at Enmat Port he already knew which abilities Madam M had Grazed. He'd looked up the classified files beforehand; the documents said the Disease came from the Demoness Pathway. Unless you put distance between yourself and the source, a mere cold could snowball into cerebral or cardiac infarction within minutes and kill you.
Swish-swish!
Relying on his superior physique, Lu Ze sprang backward and dashed straight for the window, ready to escape for the moment.
Boom!
But crimson flames roared up in front of the window, blocking his way. He dodged again and tried another direction, yet however fast he moved, Madam M kept flickering through the fire to cut him off.
For ten-odd seconds they were deadlocked while Lu Ze's illness surged. His coughing worsened, his forehead blazed, and his lungs felt packed with hot sand—every breath burned and itched.
He couldn't go on like this!
Cecilia still hadn't arrived; he had to change the situation himself.
Lu Ze thought for only a few seconds, clenched his teeth, and resolved to play a vicious card.
He still remembered what he'd told his combat tutor Gawain during the interview: if you really can't win, open the flat's gas valve and take the enemy with you. That was exactly what he would do now!
With his regenerative ability he probably wouldn't die anyway!
Lu Ze had already checked: the room had an old-style gas valve; hit the right spot with a bullet and the gas would gush out. Trouble was, only two rounds remained in his revolver—he had to make them count.
Feeling the sickness worsen inside him, he steeled himself.
No time to hesitate—go!
Bang!
Lu Ze pulled the trigger on Madam M in the center of the room. Perhaps because of the fever, the bullet missed her and struck the wall behind with a metallic clang.
Bull's-eye!
He rejoiced: the valve in the corner had been hit and flipped open. Colourless gas was already rushing out; with that wide pipe the room would be flooded in moments.
But before that he had to keep Madam M here!
Lu Ze reached into his coat and drew Azik's white bone flute.
The flute had been used three times already; without Azik's blood the summoned undead might help him,
or might be useless—or even turn on him.
Now he could only gamble!
Fighting the searing in his lungs, Lu Ze took a deep breath and blew.
No sound came from the flute; instead, a grating creak of huge gates followed.
Screeech—
A corroded bronze gate sketched itself out of thin air and swung open to reveal a swirling Chaos impossible to see through. It appeared between the two of them, separating Lu Ze from Madam M.
Splat!
A yellow, ulcer-covered arm slid out and slapped the floor. It crawled forward, and behind it
came a naked, rotting humanoid. Its head split in two, the crack running down to its belly and fringed with fangs like a huge vertical mouth.
The creature's eyes on both sides fixed on Lu Ze and Madam M at once, pale orbs glinting with hunger and greed. The next instant its body tore down the middle and each half lunged at one of them.
Damn!
Lu Ze cursed: the good news was the undead was ferocious; the bad news was it attacked him too!
Roar!
Standing upright the Monster topped two metres, and—worse—it moved faster than it looked. A reeking gust of rot hit Lu Ze as the thing closed in, white teeth right before his eyes.
Lu Ze twisted aside; the half-creature's fangs punched through the floor, leaving a ghastly wound.
It sprang up and chased him, bent on devouring him.
Cough, cough!
Wind-up Clown still had a minute left; normally Lu Ze could have dodged, but a sudden spasm in his lungs made him cough and falter.
Boom!
That tiny pause was fatal. The Monster's teeth skewered him, a whole row of vertical fangs running through his torso.
Aaaargh!
Agony flared as the teeth churned, gorging on living flesh.
Get off!
Lu Ze roared in ancient hermes, hurling filth at the creature.
Aooo!
The Monster convulsed under the profane words. Lu Ze jerked his silver dagger and drove it into its eye, again and again, until half its head was split.
Only when the thing lay still did he shove it away and drag himself off the grisly teeth—pain beyond words.
Once free he looked up. Madam M was fighting her half of the Monster; a torn paper figure on the floor showed she had burned another substitute.
Madam M—drop dead!
Lu Ze shouted, cursing her mind with obscene language. She froze, and the Monster pounced. This time she did not turn into paper but was caught between its jaws!
Perfect—was she out of substitutes?
Elated, Lu Ze felt surer of his plan.
Madam M's expression shifted; she pressed her hand on the Monster and it howled as its body melted into a pale yellow puddle within seconds.
Screeech—
The bronze gate slowly shut and vanished.
Bought me a few dozen seconds, Lu Ze judged, wrinkling his nose: the air already carried the sharp scent of gas—enough to fill the room.
Is that your final card?
Madam M's scarlet hair was now dishevelled, belying her calm tone. That thing you summoned is weaker than the last one.
Cough, cough!
Lu Ze's lungs were on fire. He stood, dragged his mangled body, and charged the window again—
another bid to escape!
By the earlier pattern, Madam M would next flicker through flame to block him.
But now the room was thick with gas; if she did, the whole place would explode.
Sure enough, as he reached the window crimson flames blossomed before him and Madam M's sneering face shimmered within—only to turn to shock when the fire spread beyond her control and ballooned outward!
In the silent night the explosion thundered across East Borough.