In between Kalama's strangulation spell and being hit by the charge of Death Metal Horse Victoria felt as bad as she looked.
Her breathing was irregular from a combination of the effect of Kalama's most recent spell and being struck by the speeding horse. Her legs were badly bruised from being hit by the hooves. Her left arm was still useless from the numerous bullet wounds to the shoulder. The silver lining was that Kalama had bisected the Grenade in mid-air with her fancy red sword and had been knocked back a bit when the grenade went off... that outcome was mildly amusing to Victoria, who wished that she had thrown a Sticky Grenade instead for a bigger and possibly more painful blast. Like the old saying went, hindsight was always 20/20.
The modicum of amusement Victoria had derived from watching the Grenade go off on Kalama quickly faded when she saw Blondie climb on board Death Metal Horse. That was not something the brunette wanted to see. Now Kalama would have a height and reach advantage thanks to her perch on board Death Metal Horse, not to mention a sizable speed boost because the black steed moved surprisingly fast for a horse of its size and stature. Almost immediately the brunette began trying to think of a way to counter the unholy team of angry blonde and angry black horse.
Victoria's best bet would be to shoot Death Metal Horse a few times to try and knock Kalama off of her steed, but the brunette would need a large-caliber weapon like an anti-materiel rifle or an elephant gun to even hurt the horse. Anything smaller would only make it angrier than it already was. However, Victoria's left arm was useless, so even if she had access to that kind of firepower she could not effectively use it.
She watched as Kalama spurred the horse into another furious charge intended to trample the Sabertooth mage into an unidentifiable pile of red mush on the ground. Victoria did not want to be hit by the horse again, so her mind continued to run through ideas to stop the horse before it could slam into her and finish what it had started earlier. She kept returning to the idea of attacking the horse instead of the rider, but the brunette was not sure how to go about it. Her .44 Magnum Revolver might do the trick, but the weapon's recoil was so intense that it might fly out of her right hand after a single shot. However, the sight of a horse bearing down on her with murder on its mind made Victoria consider options that she had previously ruled out as impractical.
The horse suddenly made an unearthly noise and Victoria felt herself in the grip of fear that clouded her judgment and caused her to hesitate for several valuable moments that allowed the horse to get closer. Victoria fought back the fear long enough to think a little clearly and come up with a plan.
The plan that came to mind was to throw down a Sticky Grenade on her present location and use it as an improvised land mine against the charging horse. Her logic was that the horse might be so blinded by bloodlust that it would not notice the Sticky Grenade on the ground until it went off, ideally beneath the beast. However, there were a couple of concerns keeping Victoria from immediately putting the plan into action.
First, there was the important issue of Victoria needing to get clear of the blast radius once the grenade was dropped. A second important issue was Kalama picking up on the ruse the moment the brunette threw down the grenade and steering the horse away from it. Both of those problems would need to be accounted for, but there was little time to plot out every single detail... she would need to act before she got trampled. Due to the pressing need to act before it was too late, Victoria decided to go for the grenade idea anyway.
She created the Sticky Grenade in her right hand and dropped it at her feet, then began alternating between sprinting and hobbling in a straight line away from it, hoping to lead Kalama and Death Metal Horse into its blast radius. However, Kalama might see the pulsing red light in the center of the grenade lying on the ground and steer her horse away from it before it went off or have the horse speed up and run past the grenade before it went off. Victoria could have also botched the timing of the grenade drop due to stress and the grenade would detonate before Kalama rode over it. Her plan might not work for a variety of reasons, but at this point Victoria was willing to try it at least once.
Victoria continued to alternate between running and hobbling to safety as her legs permitted, hoping that she could put some distance between herself and Kalama before the blonde and her horse could close the distance and try to trample the brunette into the ground or stab her from behind. If Kalama looked closely she could see Victoria's hands shaking from a combination of stress, fatigue, and the lingering effects of the horse's fear-inducing noise attack.
[Post Word Count: 886]
[Victoria's Word Count: 21,798]
[Total Word Count: 41,716]
- Spells Used:
Name: Sticky Grenade
Rank: B
MP Cost: 40 MP
Category: Offensive
Type: Area Of Effect
Damage: 40 HP
Range: 100 Meters
Speed: 50 Meters per Second
Duration: 1 Post
Downside: N/A
Description: Focusing magic into her open hand, Victoria creates a tan grenade that she then throws at the target. It has a range of 100 meters and travels at a speed of up to 50 Meters per second. It can either count down to five seconds or Victoria can set it to a short count of three. When it counts down the center pulses red. If opponents are caught in the blast, they take 40 HP in damage.