Maids VS Apocalypse

The thrall sensed the coming attack and roared. With a slam of its tail, it created a new barrage of projectiles and launched it at the maid. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Lara didn’t move even with the rubble raining at her. A bluish-white glow enveloped her body as she blocked everything with her Force Field, and at the same time, the white light on her spear grew in intensity.

She was about to launch her own attack when the thrall suddenly turned around and swung its tail. It might have been a mindless Fallen but it was still able to recognize the Force Field blocking its projectiles, which prompted it to coat its thick tail in one in an attempt to overcome that of the maid.

Lara wasn’t about to take a strike of that kind so she jumped to evade the tail then landed right on top of it. The instant her feet touched the scaly surface she lunged forward, the skirt of her black dress fluttering as she closed the distance between her and the thrall in a flash.

Three elegant steps took her from the tip of the lizard’s tail to its base then another three led her to the back of its neck. Kicking off the Fallen’s head, the maid flipped in the air, spun the gray spear in her hand then swung it with little force.

The spear’s head traced a white arc in the air that shot downward, passing right through the lizard’s scale-covered neck.

For a moment it didn’t appear like anything had happened. The Fallen spun around in an attempt to bite the maid before she could land, but as soon as it did, a bloody line appeared and its head slid off falling to the ground with a loud thud.

The lizard’s eyes followed the maid as she landed a couple of meters away. Its crooked Halo flickered out of existence in just a couple of seconds and with it went the Madness tormenting its mind.

A couple of seconds later, what remained of its massive, scale-covered reptilian body buckled under its own weight and toppled to the ground.

Lara gave the lizard one last look before she turned to her next opponent. Her Master was alive and she could roughly sense his location.

He seemed to have been buried under the rubble from one of the collapsed buildings, but since their contract wasn’t urging her to find him she guessed that his life wasn’t in danger.

It was unclear if that would last for long so saving him was still her priority. To do that, however, she would have to deal with the woman in red first.

Tightening her grip on the enchanted spear, Lara prepared to resume her offense. With the thrall out of the way, it wouldn’t be long before her opponent noticed.

She expected her to try and keep some distance between them while using the magenta beams to attack from afar. It was a strategy favored by tamers and puppet masters and usually pointed to them lacking close-range capabilities.

Getting close became Lara’s first objective, but even if that didn’t work she still had long-range attacks she could use, although those consumed more Mind Power.

Taking one more second to study their surroundings, she slowly breathed in and calmed her nerves. Just when she made the decision to move, however, a stream of Aether suddenly entered her soul.

In an instant, she felt herself reaching the next bottleneck, leading to the searing pain of a breakthrough coursing through every spec of her body.

It wasn’t anything she couldn’t bear, or so Lara thought until she realized the stream of Aether wasn’t stopping. More and more entered her Soul and each time it reached a certain threshold, the maid’s entire Existence expanded and underwent a qualitative change.

The pain born from such an experience clawed at one’s sanity, making death appear all the more appealing. Lara had no choice but to bear with it, but didn’t curse her master for putting her through it, however. In fact, she was grateful for his gift more than anything.

She felt a tinge of guilt as well, knowing that the young man’s generosity came from his ignorance and lack of experience.

Having bestowed her with a great amount of Aether, Lara understood that her Master was relying on her to defeat their assailant. That was something she had planned on doing from the start, but now that she got another massive power boost, Lara felt a lot more confident about facing the mysterious woman in red.

~[ ]~

From the very beginning, Mark was aware of Lara being his only chance at survival. That’s why he decided to gamble everything on her.

Still buried under the rubble, he carefully decreased the output of his Force Field, leaving it at a point where he wouldn’t get crushed while also slowing down the consumption of his MP. He then converted more of it to Gold, leaving only 20/100.

Next, Mark returned to the Shop and bought some materials; enhanced fabric, enchanted threads, and magic ink. Those were the necessary items needed to create or repair the uniforms worn by the maids in Maids vs Apocalypse.

Despite looking like nothing more than a simple black dress with a white apron on top, those uniforms were in fact magic items that, when equipped, increased the stats of the maids significantly.

Mark had been meaning to repair Lara’s uniform ever since it got damaged while fighting the hoard of monsters. What prevented him from doing so was the lack of Gold and materials, but that was no longer a problem.

Though he wanted to see what those materials look like when brought to the real world, he had to give up for the time being. He returned to the Player Menu and entered the Workshop from there.

The new window displayed two squares, one small and the other large. Focusing on the larger one opened a window to the Inventory. Mark selected the damaged dress, the ink, and the enchanted threads. In the smaller box, the icon of an undamaged dress appeared.

Once the necessary items were selected, a circle with the word "REPAIR" appeared between the two boxes. Under it, the cost of the process was displayed, which was 200G.

Mark selected the circle then pressed A on his imaginary controller. A ring of light gradually formed around it, and in just five seconds it was done, signaling the completion of the repairs.