Chapter Twenty-Five - Sweep

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“Pretty brave of you to just show up here, girlie,” the muscles [Hex Pugilist] said. “Hey, Liam, we sure she isn’t just staff that got lost.”

Next to him, the taller Liam shook his head very slightly. “Use [Inspect],” he said. “She’s Titled. And I recognize that name. We’re in for a tough one, Saul.”

The pugilist turned and squinted at her, then he let out a low hum. “The Faithful Maid, huh? That’s quite the Title. I’m not sure if you’ll truly live up to the hype though. There’s two of us, and more besides. Come on, I don’t like punching women, just surrender and--”

Rosario took a dainty step to the side.

A whip cracked the air where she had been standing. If she hadn’t moved it would have snapped right at her neck.

Liam ‘tsked’ and coiled his sword back. The weapon was made of dozens of interlocking, linked blades, each one connected into the back of the next, with some sort of metallic cord in the centre that attached them all. It looked to Rosario like a terribly impractical weapon, but then magic came into place. She was quite certain that it shouldn’t have been able to reach as far as it did just then.

“High low,” Liam said.

“Hm,” was Saul’s reply, then the man took three quick steps forward, his arm moving back. Magic swirled through the air, gathering around him.

Then he punched.

The moment his fist was fully extended, the magic he had gathered let loose and Rosario found herself squinting against a powerful gust of wind that immediately ignited.

The space between them filled with a rising wall of fire that sucked in the air before Rosario and made her hair whip out around her, but that attack was far, far too short, it barely reached halfway through the roo--

Rosario jumped. A small upwards hop with a bend of her knees even as she pulled up her skirts.

Liam’s whip blade scythed out of the fire, cutting across the space she had been in.

Then the fire shifted, and out from above came Saul, arm cocked back for another punch, only this time he was more than close enough to deliver it. She was caught in mid-air, unable to easily maneuver and--

Rosario brought her arms up and grunted as the [Hex Pugilist]’s fist struck her on the forearm with the force of a runaway freight train.

And just like that, she was a mess of fluttering black skirts as she was thrown across the room.

She still managed to spin herself around to land on her feet, though when she stood, she did do while rubbing her arm.

That had hurt. 

She shook her arm a little until the tingles left her, then she glanced up and eyed both men. The guards, the [Aerie Royal Guardsmen], were spreading out. There were six of them, three to a side, in well-maintained armour with swords and smaller kite shields. 

Rosario had a moment. 

She had fought plenty of battles. PVP was one of her pastimes, and it was one of the best ways to level. She had won as much as she had lost, but that was more impressive when one took into account that she usually went up against groups of players, rather than mere one-on-ones. 

These two were tricky. Liam’s first attack was quick and lethal. His second, that sweep out of the fire, used Saul’s attack to cover his own and might have been lethal as well if she hadn’t jumped over it. But jumping brought her into Saul’s range.

They were, essentially, working together.

Liam hadn’t yet moved, but Saul was walking towards her quite casually. “First hex,” he said. “Stone.”

She felt magic coiling around her arm, concentrated around the space she had been struck. Her limb suddenly felt like it was encased in half a foot of concrete.

She wasn’t familiar with the [Hex Pugilist] job, but she had fought some [Hexers] and [Warlocks] before. She understood the concept. He’d fight with stacking debuffs, giving her more and more of them until she was an easy kill. 

Liam was a trickier sort. For someone with a melee-focused job, he sure was fighting from afar and using underhanded moves.

Rosario smiled. 

This was fun.

She reached to her side, hand plunging into her inventory. That had the entire room pause, the tension mounting, until she slowly removed her weapon of choice. 

She spun her broom around once, then held it in both hands, bristles down. 

This didn’t call for The Good Silver. A simple unenchanted broom would do.

“Gentlemen,” she said. “I am a good maid. I sweep the floors, I do the dishes, I answer when my master calls.” She stood straighter. “And I take out the trash.”

One of the [Aerie Royal Guardsmen] took offense to that. A man with ruddy cheeks, helmet missing, and the faint stink of alcohol on him. He roared and rushed at her with surprising speed. She had to remember that these weren’t just city guardsmen, they had a special job. They would be, in most areas, the higher-levelled protectors. Expert mooks.

He swung high and she stepped out of the path of his sword. When he tried to bash her with his shield she spun around it and took two steps out of his path. 

She stared at the floor, then tsked. “Look at this. When was the last time you dusted?” She casually started to sweep the floor. It truly was well-past due. 

The [Aerie Royal Guardsmen] screamed, then swung down, aiming at her neck.

Rosario slipped into his guard, smacked his arm upwards with the back of her hand which sent his sword arcing high into the air, then she spun, one foot cracking down onto the guard’s while she threw his shield out of place. She ended with spin by ramming her elbow into the man’s chestplate with a resounding dong that echoed through the room.

He would have gone flying if she wasn’t stepping on his foot. As it was, his back crashed into the floor and he bounced up. At the apex of the bounce she grabbed him by the gorget, stepped off of his foot, and flung him to the side where he crashed into a weapon rack and scattered swords and halberds across the ground.

She plucked the guard’s sword from the air as it came falling back down, and with a quick spin, she flicked it point-first across the room. It became a silver blur that Liam slapped out of the air with the pommel of his whipsword.

Her broom was still standing where she had left it, though it was slowly beginning to fall, so she caught it with a slap.

“Spread,” Liam barked. “Don’t solo her. Shields up. Simple movements and aim for even minor cuts. Let Saul and I take care of her.”

“Generous,” Rosario replied. “You could still choose to stand aside. I am, after all, being a rather poor guest in your rather dusty home.”

“High left, low right. On my mark,” Liam said. He shifted into more of a sprinter’s stance. “Mark.”

Saul threw three punches in quick succession. The first blasted outwards as a quick-moving ball of water, the next followed it with a blast of wind, then the third came behind, a small fireball that was rapidly feeding off of the air of his wind blast.

Rosario moved to the side, then swept her broom out in a massive wave. It caught the water ball, breaking it apart and turning the complex attack into a disk of wind and water around her. When the fireball approached, she rammed it with the end of her broom, dispersing it. Then she aimed her free hand at Saul. “[Firebolt].”

She put a bit of ompf into the spell, creating a lance of fire that instantly increased the temperature in the room.

Saul punched downwards and with his blow to the floor a flat wall of stone rose and blocked her spell.

Then Liam came leaping out from above. There were three rings around him, the coiling form of his whipsword spinning like a ballerina’s ribbon, only far more deadly. He came crashing down towards her and the spiralling whip unfurled, extending out towards her.

She couldn’t block the attack. Not with her broom. It was plain wood and straw, not something designed to take on what was no-doubt an enchanted weapon.

So instead of blocking she redirected. A [Sweep] upwards went the blades away from her, then Liam was there, a spinning kick aimed at her chest while his coiling sword spun around him. 

She smacked his leg away and tried to punch back, but the man’s whip caught on something and he pulled himself out of the way.

The wall of stone Saul had used to protect himself exploded, rocky bricks as large as her head flung out towards her.

She used another [Sweep], battering the detritus aside only to reveal that Saul was rushing at her through the mess.

Liam was still behind her somewhere, and the remaining guards were fanning out, shields raised and swords held low. 

For now, she chose to focus on the man before her. Saul punched, his fist covered in a layer of shifting water that extended out into a spike, giving him more range. She ducked the blow, then smacked his next jab with the end of her broom, moving it aside. Then he was properly in her face. 

Saul punched, then followed that with a jab, followed by a knee strike, then a short hook. His other arm came up and blasted her with a quick [Wind Cut] that she only recognized at the last moment and only barely dodged. 

She was doing a pretty good job of avoiding his attacks, but one of them clipped her side slightly. Not even enough to hurt, but it did touch.

“Second Hex; Water!” Saul shouted.

She felt the hex take hold. Her movements slowed, and she had the impression that she was pushing through knee-deep water with every motion. 

Frustrated, she spun her broom around and was about to deliver a hard blow from above when her instincts kicked in and she folded herself back.

Liam’s whip sliced at the air where she would have been, and it almost clipped Saul.

“Careful!” the pugilist snapped.

She planted the end of her broom down and vaulted over a second whipstrike. Saul grunted, then punched towards her, creating a massive blast of fire that roared outwards.

Rosario used her broom in mid-air, [Sweeping] at nothing at all, but creating enough wind to send herself flying out of the way. She landed next to one of the guards who immediately tried to stab her through.

She deflected the sword, used another [Sweep] to push his shield aside, then she delivered a quick roundhouse kick that sent the guard crashing into one of the pillars hard enough to break stone.

Only four guards left. Good. 

She leapt aside as Liam returned, the end of his whip sword snapping out towards her neck, then again, and again. It moved so fast that even to her vision it was a blur. Not so fast that she couldn’t avoid it, but fast enough that avoiding it was driving her in a specific direction.

She was still considering her options when Saul punched the ground and used the recoil to launch himself at her. She deflected his first attack with a hard rap of her broom, but his second tagged her on the hand.

“Third hex: wind root.”

Rosario tried to move, but the very air around her pushed down, and she realized that her speed was crippled in full now. 

Liam could just snipe at her from afar, and eventually she would miss a dodge and be injured.

Clever. 

She raised foot, then brought it slamming down with every bit of force she had. At the same time, she cast a spell. [Seismic Strike].

It broke the maid roleplay a little, but needs must.

When her foot hit the ground it sent a shockwave through the floor, then the walls and ceiling, a wave of force that made the hard stone look like gelatine for just a fraction of a second. Then everything exploded. A crater formed beneath her, ten paces wide and half a pace deep. The explosion sent guards reeling and cracked one of the supporting pillars which came down hard across the floor in the corner. 

She cast a second quick spell. [Dispell]. All at once, she felt the hold of the three hexes fade away.

It was a powerful trick, but for PvE, against monsters that didn’t have a response to player-based debuffs. Most players had some sort of counter-debuff, a priest, or at least some items or potions on them.

She inspected her broom, making a show of it while the guards and Titled picked themselves up. “Tsk tsk. Look at this? You chipped the wood and ruined the bristles.” She tossed it aside casually, then reached into her inventory and pulled out a second, identical broom. “No matter.”

Liam’s whip flicked out towards her. Just as fast as before. Again, he aimed for her neck.

She caught the end of the whip in her free hand, flicked her arm to the side to make the rest of it coil away, then she rushed towards the man. Liam grinned. “[Surcharge]”

The whip crackled as it was filled with magical energy. Sparks flew across it, lightning snapping at the air. She didn’t let go, and she didn’t slow down.

Saul jumped in to interpose himself, but holding onto her broom in one hand and with it tucked under her arm, she spun and smacked him out of the way, then she pulled and Liam was dragged towards her. 

Saul was thrown away by the blow, and Liam grit his teeth as he rushed in himself, only for his eyes to go wide as she moved even faster than before.

One moment she was running at him. 

The next she was hovering in the air next to him, knees folded up to her chest. She delivered her flying kick right into his ribs.

He rammed into the ground, bounced off, and flew into one of the far walls. She used the recoil from the kick to flip around and land gracefully on her feet.

“Just go down!” Saul yelled. 

He was back, arm cocked to punch her.

She spun, the haft of her broom smashing him in the side of the face.

He rammed into one of the pillars.

Rosario spun in the opposite direction, grabbed her broom like a polearm, and then used two skills at once. [Cut] and [Sweep].

Saul threw himself down, narrowly avoiding her attack which struck one of the pillars at the middle and scoured the stone off. Each bristle was an edge, and each edge cut a metre-deep gash in the stone.

“Saul!” Liam shouted. “High low!”

Rosario spun around, raised her broom, then flung it across the room like a javelin.

The air exploded apart as the rather unaerodynamic cleaning implement shot across the space and stabbed Liam in the chest hard enough to empty his lungs with a cough. A pair of guards were sent flying by its mere passing. 

She pulled another broom from her inventory.

“Urgh,” Saul said. He slowly climbed to his feet, glaring at her the whole while. “How many brooms do you have, woman?” he asked.

She turned to stare at him. “Do you think you deserve better? I can take this more seriously, if you want.”

He continued to glare, but she didn’t miss the way he swallowed thickly.

“Together?” Liam asked.

“Yeah. Not like your other plans are working out,” Saul said. “Wasted all that time.”

“It wasn’t wasted,” Liam said.

They both came at her at once. Liam spinning and dancing, his whip snapping out at the air. Saul rushed in with the same four element combinations. 

She focused on Saul first. He swung, and then looked on in surprise as she caught his forearm, raised it, then spun around in a textbook judo throw that had the man smashing into the floor behind her.

She had to weave away as Liam’s whip came out to punish her, but she narrowly avoided it, then she spun her broom and deflected two more strikes before getting in close. 

The man retracted his blade and switched stances, fighting like a proper swordsman.

That was a bit of a mistake. She was a [Swordsaint], she could handle a fight in close quarters like this. Her perception slowed and she allowed Liam to slice through the bristle end of her broom. It left her with a stick about the length of a longsword to work with.

She parried his first strike, then ducked under another. “[Wind Cuts Rain]!” Liam shouted.

She knew that one! It was a copyright free rip off of the Waterfowl Dance. She was reluctantly impressed that the man knew the move.

Unfortunately, she knew the move. 

Rosario ducked, weaved, hopped over a low sweep, then casually stepped to the side to avoid a high-low swing.

“You’re an adequate swordsman,” she said. 

Liam swallowed.

“[Dust Beneath the Rug]” That was not the name of the skill she used. But she could hardly go around calling it by its real name. 

Liam grunted as his knees bent the wrong way. He still managed to recuperate.

“[Polish the Silver].”

The man was sweating openly as he desperately tried to fend away a hundred tiny, quick strikes, each one aimed at a vital.

“[Open the Curtains].”

“Shit!” Liam shouted as his sword flew across the room, the mechanism holding it in its sword form coming apart and letting it turn into a long coiled mess of sharp rope.

“[Fold the Linen].”

Rosario spun so rapidly that the motions of her skirts flaring out blasted away dust. She roundhouse kicked Liam in the sternum so hard that the steel plate he wore exploded apart before he even added a crater to the far wall with his back.

He did not stand back up.

She twirled the remains of her broom and turned towards Saul. “One remains.”

Saul grunted, then punched the air. A stone leapt up and flew at her, then a water bullet, then a slice of wind, finally, a firebolt.

She ducked past the spells, then raised a hand towards him. “Only those four elements?” she asked. 

“Shut up, hag!”

“H-hag?” she asked. “I’m only... I... [Radiant Lance]! [Umbral Maw]! [Lightning Bolt]! [Nature’s Rupture]!” 

Four spells rammed across the space between them, all four of an element that Saul hadn’t touched.

She worried that she may have gone too far when the entire direction exploded. [Radiant Lance] was so bright that even when she covered her eyes with a hand, she could see the bones within clearly, and that only made the million mouths of [Umbral Maw] more terrifying as they swallowed that light. 

Then effects faded, though everything metallic on that side of the room sparked and buzzed as static electricity worked off of it.

Rosario cleared her throat, then checked on Saul. He was still alive. 

In rather dire need of medical assistance, but still alive.

The guards... were also alive. She hoped they had healthcare. 

But that wasn’t her problem. Her problem was on the other side of the massive gate at the far end of the room. She stood, then winced as said gate slowly slid out of the wall and came crashing down with a clatter.

She may have caused some issues with the structural integrity of the castle. And she may have slipped out of her roleplay a little at the end there.

Still... the fight was fun. She’d do better next time.

For now, her Master beckoned.

[Scullery Maid] has leveled up!

[Scullery Maid] level 6

Charisma +1

Oh, wasn’t that auspicious!

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