I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?

Outside the mind space where Shaman was trapped, Elysia was currently face to face with a Shaman that was being controlled by the mist.

Clara and Wolfy were positioned behind Shaman, trying to think what the best course of action was.

Elysia, who had just finished speaking to Rea, relayed the same information she received to Clara and Wolfy, making them reconsider their approach.

Clara pulled out her whip blades thinking of using it to trap Shaman but changed her mind once she remembered they were double edged blades and would hurt Shaman more than trap her.

Wolfy was a little lost on what to do as most of his skills were geared towards killing and was unsure what his role could be. Just then, it dawned on Wolfy that he could just manipulate the shadows to whatever shape he wanted, but since he was so used to making them into blades he had forgotten that his shadows were capable of much more than that.

"Clara, I will try to use my shadows to block attacks and if the opportunity arises, I will trap Shaman." Wolfy had also projected his thoughts to Elysia so she knew what was going on.

Elysia pulled out her spear, figuring that with her being the most familiar on how Shaman fights it would be safer for her to be the one keeping Shaman busy.

Elysia felt rather nervous as she was forced to use her spear and did not expect she would have to use it against Shaman.

'My bow is a no go, Shaman will be able to close the distance too easily, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with her attacks.' Elysia tried to mentally prepare herself since for her, even on a good day it was difficult to go against Shaman's wishes, and yet now she had to outright fight her. Although the fact that Shaman was being controlled made it easier for Elysia to face Shaman it still made her uneasy.

'I just need to focus on keeping her attention for as long as possible till Shaman breaks free of whatever is controlling her. I should be able to take her on alone without help.' Elysia was concerned that after Shaman was free, the skeleton knight would wake up and so she wanted Clara and Wolfy to stay back for now.

"Small change of plans, Clara! Wolfy! I want you to stand down while I keep Shaman busy, please save your energy for any other enemies that come!" Elysia shouted her plan. Clara was about to respond but got interrupted as Shaman dashed towards Elysia.

'Damn it, I want to help.' Clara gripped her whips tighter and was now conflicted on what to do as Elysia made a rather valid point.

Elysia and Shaman began to fight, leaving Clara and Wolfy to watch.

"Clara, let's listen to her, she knows Shaman better than anyone else and if it's looking bad we can always jump in." Wolfy knew that they would most likely get in the way and could feel Clara's frustration.

"I guess you're right." Clara let out a sigh. The two stood in silence for a few moments, before Wolfy's sensitive ears picked up on the sounds of a massive group approaching.

"Clara, I think we have guests." Wolfy assumed it was the neverending skeletons that came after them last time.

Clara turned to one of the entrances to the hall and could see a mob of skeletons rushing towards them.

"Looks like we are going to be busy." Clara and Wolfy slowly moved closer to the entrance and waited for the wave of skeletons to approach.

*

Shortly after Elysia called out her plan, Shaman suddenly dashed towards her, slashing down with kotetsu. Elysia was able to successfully block the attack with the middle of her spear but struggled as Shaman's strength was significantly higher than her own.

'If it wasn't for me balancing out my stats in the last 20 levels I don't know if I would be able to handle Shaman's attacks.' Elysia was slightly struggling but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

Elysia redirected Shaman's blade to the side causing it to hit the ground. Some shards of stone flew out from the impact of the blade.

With Shaman's side wide open, Elysia used the bottom of her spear to hit Shaman, thrusting it right into her ribs.

Unintentionally, Elysia had used too much force and made Shaman roll across the ground violently.

'Shit.' Elysia wanted to do as little damage to Shaman but was beginning to feel it would be unavoidable.

Shaman slowly got up from the ground and without wasting time instantly charged back at Elysia.

This time her attack was a little more frantic and did not contain as much force as before. A detail Elysia picked up on was the fact that whatever was controlling Shaman did not have access to her skills or her fighting style. Elysia felt like she was battling someone who was just randomly swinging their sword.

Elysia kept slowly moving back while blocking all of Shaman's attacks with ease. She even began thinking that she would be able to easily restrain Shaman due to how lackluster the fighting style was.

However suddenly the barbaric way of fighting shifted to Shaman's normal way of fighting which caught Elysia off guard.

Shaman had used her leg to sweep Elysia's feet from under her while also slashing towards her neck.

Elysia quickly slammed her spear on the ground to use it for support and kicked Shaman in the face causing the attack to stop.

Elysia quickly pushed herself away with her spear and regained her footing. Shaman however did not let up and continued to attack but this time it was like Shaman was actually fighting. Shaman's attacks were precise and fast, making it even harder for Elysia to block or dodge them.

Their exchanges were getting faster and faster which was testing Elysia's skill at using the spear.

'I need to find a way to weaken her.' Elysia knew she couldn't keep up with Shaman at this rate.

For starters, Elysia activated [Fire coat] which engulfed the spear in flames except where Elysia was holding it and the flames would move whenever she changed her grasp, as if avoiding her hands on purpose. This had surprisingly slowed down Shaman as she was now more cautious of Elysia's attacks and tried to keep her distance from the fire to avoid getting burnt.

Fortunately due to Elysia having used this skill quite often, she had developed a unique way to use the fire coat. Elysia waited for the opportunity to parry Shaman's attack, so she could execute her plan.

Elysia had pretended to let her guard down, baiting Shaman to go for an attack to Elysia's head with a thrust. Elysia parried the attack causing Shaman to lose her balance and left her open for a followup attack.

Elysia used her spear to go for a sweep and just as expected, due to Shaman being controlled like a puppet was able to block the attack. As if her body was being held up by strings, Shaman's arm was moved in a position to block the spear and was able to withstand the sweep despite it looking physically impossible.

However Elysia wanted this and controlled the flames on the spear to wrap around Shaman. Although the flame was not life threatening, they started to burn Shaman's skin.

The mist controlling Shaman jolted her back to detach itself from the spear. Due to the sudden jolt Shaman's shoulder had dislocated causing her arm to go limp.

The fire on Shaman's body began to fizzle out due to losing its connection with the skill. Light burns could be seen along Shaman's arm, but to Elysia's disappointment, Shaman was completely unaffected by it.

The mist controlling Shaman popped her shoulder back and Elysia could visibly see Shaman crying from the pain. Elysia had also noticed Shaman's burnt arm shake, having trouble keeping a grip on her sword.

Elysia, seeing this, hated herself for hurting Shaman. Even though she knew she must find a way to incapacitate Shaman, seeing her cry had set something off in Elysia.

Elysia had a look of determination as she was more than motivated to save Shaman and beat the shit out of whatever is controlling her.