Sorrowful Victory

4 POV

My entire body felt as though it was burning and time seemed to lose its meaning. 

As my barely conscious mind willed my eyes to open I saw the blurry sight of the ground. The next few moments felt like they took an eternity and at the same time not any time at all, my mind was completely unable to comprehend the flow of time.

'Where am I?'

The ground felt warm and welcoming, and I briefly considered if I had wet myself in my sleep but as quickly as I considered it I realised I hadn't. My entire body felt like it was waking up one function at a time, like the warming up of a computer each sense and role in my body was coming to life. My listening now came in vague echoes, it was completely incomprehensible. The ringing in my ear only served to disorient myself further. 

It took all of my effort to force myself up to my feet, the sensation was weird. It took all my focus but at the same time was incredibly easy. As my nerves woke up I noticed how numb the side of my face was from laying on the concrete floor. I felt weirdly refreshed and my mind was clear. 

I leaned against a pillar after realising I was falling over, the sensation which allowed me to balance myself hadn't returned yet.

My ears then suddenly cleared up and I could hear perfectly, like as if I had been underwater and then suddenly surfaced.

Massive thumps and screeches resounded throughout the heavy direction on the corridor.

'No that doesn't make sense, I'm on earth. Then what is that weight?'

Before I even realised what I was doing or why I was doing it I found myself walking to and then through the door into the corridor.

I walked over to the ballista and I pushed it around with all my might. The sensation was weird, I was forcing my muscles to fully strain and yet I felt none of the usual pain or discomfort so I decided to push harder and then harder.

The ballista wasn't meant to be able to move, let alone be moved by a single person but my seemingly new inhuman strength from my numb muscles seemed to be more then adequate.

Aiming the ballista at what I now realised to be the rock monster we had been fighting I tried to position the already loaded bolt however I could barely see. Each light source seemed like massive spills on the painting which my vision was made of. Each shape could only be separated colour by colour in my mind, the actual shape or direction anything seemed to be in was some nebulous concept.

'How do I know where the rock monster is then? How can I aim the ballista?'

I seemed to just instinctually know what to do. No that wasn't quite right, it wasn't instinctual it was just sub-conscious. My brain had the knowledge and urgency but my mind wasn't able to keep up, creating this disconnect.

Regardless of the implications of this revelation I aimed the ballista. This time not focusing on my eyes and just simply relying on a combination of my hearing and the place I felt its horrible pressure.

As I yanked the rope which served as the ballista's trigger I thought in the back of my mind how truly remarkable the others were to be able to create a ballista like this in such short notice.

Time seemed as useless of a concept as it had ever since I had woken up as the kickback from the ballista firing launched me back. The flying air around me while I flew through the air terribly slow somehow felt just relaxing.

I watched detached as the flashlight attached on me illuminated the ground, then the wall, then the roof, then down the light end of the corridor. 

'No again not light end, just the other end.'

It took a few moments in the air for the feeling of fear for the fact I was flying through the air to begin to appear. As if the chemical reaction in my brain which caused fear were finally catching up to my situation.

'That's all I can do for now, lets just hope the others win.'

7 POV

My muscles felt like they were burning, every single one of them and constantly. It felt like I was being put through the worst torture possible but despite that I continued.

At first I had decided to die here, so that the others could get away but as 33 and I fought and then after 36 joined I begun to hope more and more that it was possible to actually beat this thing.

We all made up for each others shortcomings and each hit 36 did allowed us to do more damage, even if only a little. However it was far from becoming easier over time, our already exhausted bodies were being pushed to new heights the likes of which I couldn't have ever imagined me doing.

Even with that it wasn't nearly enough, each moment was more dangerous then the last and all it took was a single half decent hit to erase my existence from the face of the earth.

My will was beginning to falter but right as I begun to think this was going to be impossible a bolt of mystical ice flew past me and hit in the perfect spot, dead centre in the cragnine's exposed flesh.

'Oh my god, 4! He was actually able to do something like that while half dead. Damn I thought I was being cool.'

The cragnine spasmed violently but I knew it wouldn't die, not before we would from its attacks that is. 

The cragnine however turned around towards where 4 was. He was left unconscious after firing the ballista. It only made sense, after all the ballista wasn't made to be fired by one person. It relied on the weight of multiple people to keep it in place and with 4 in such bad condition it made sense why he was knocked out.

The ground begun to shake as the cragnine sprinted towards the collapsed form of 4.

 Quickly grabbing some rope left at the entrance I quickly ran behind the cragnine with all my strength. 

After wrapping one side of the rope around my arm and then tucking it under my armpit I threw the rope around the cragnine's head like a cowboy and right as the rope became taut I activated my blessing with all the strength I could.

My blessing allowed me to stop my own movement, more specifically my bones would be locked in place and much harder to break while active. My hand was barely able to survive a glancing blow from the cragnine because of this. However in this situation I was using it to hold back the cragnine from getting to 4.

I saw 33 and 36 run past me, likely to get the remaining rope left inside the cragnine's 'boss room' or at least that's what I hoped.

My blessing allowed me to hold the cragnine back like this but unlike my bones my actual flesh was just as vulnerable as before. The rope was digging into my skin, giving me a new type of torture to experience today. 

The other two begun running back while at the same time my arm and other hand were bleeding. The force of the cragnine trying to move with all its might going against the force of my blessing completely resisting that movement but in the middle of those two were my very squishy and easily destroyed flesh. I didn't slip for even a second however.

My roh was being drained at a truly horrific rate, I would barely be able to hold this up for a dozen seconds at most. I was both fearful of that and glad at the same time. I was scared of it because it meant 4 would most likely die but at the same time I was glad because it would mean I could finally let go and be free of this excruciating torture.

Seconds passed until right as my roh begun to falter 33 instead of wrapping her rope around the cragnine she grabbed my rope after realising how little more I could endure.

She wrapped both sides of the rope around her shoulder like she was wearing a back pack and then begun to pull. She secured to rope with her hand and pulled with her whole body, her strength which seemed extraordinary before begun to climb to hights far beyond even that. 

The cragnine was being pulled back now but I looked in dawning horror of what she intended to do.

All I could let out was an exhausted. "No." before the cragnine was falling backwards, right onto the back end of the ice bolt still stuck in its back... And right onto 33.

The monster hit the ground splattering the ground with blood. After the dust had settled I looked to see 33's plan succeeded perfectly. The cragnine was left with a bolt which pierced its body completely. 

I looked at it for what seemed like hours in pure shock. 

[You have slain a cragnine, cursed to wander and suffer in the wrong world.]

[Touch its body to gain three point four mana and thirteen points.]