The people standing in a rough circle around, expecting Sam to execute the prisoner, gasped and reacted not only as the weapons started flying, but as they all impacted their leader.
[ Critical hit, double damage. ]
[ Critical hit, double damage. ]
[ Shadow Strike triggered, target is blind for 1 second. ]
Sam was ecstatic, the two weapons that critically hit were the Moonblade and Shadow Fang, his two most damaging weapons. On top of this, he had a whole second of blindness for a second attack.
As the weapons landed they seemingly did tremendous damage, an absurd amount of blood was drawn from the wounds across his body and he looked incredibly damaged. Falling to his knees for a moment as he clutched his eyes with one hand and towards his back with his other. Having no idea if the electricity surrounding Viper’s body was doing anything or not Sam pulled his weapons around for a second go.
Before he could land his attack, Viper pulsed a powerful energy from his body. In a split second, faster than Sam’s second attack, a pulse of electricity expanded from the man’s body. Sam didn’t get a chance to react until it washed over him with extreme force. Not only did this lift him off his feet, but it felt like having several electric cables poked into his body at the same time.
[ Armour, Defence 40 has lowered the damage. ]
[ HP: 15 / 35 ███░░░░ ]
[ Failed saving against status: Electrified. ]
[ Electrified.
A target suffering from this status will find fine and dexterous movement (like attacking, casting spells or hitting moving targets) problematic. ]
The damage was substantial, at least to Sam. He couldn’t take more hits of that. If this was his power level then just one more spell could be it. Suddenly remembering that he had a level banked up, it had been in his field of view so long that he had forgotten it, in panic he put the point into Vitality, he needed more HP.
[ HP: 40 / 40 ████████ ]
He was glad to see his health bar back full, but also to see it a bit higher, even only by that little. Although he was feeling much better, the status effect didn’t go away with the level-up, only the internal damage. In Viper’s defence, this was a good status effect to put on people, making it hard to retaliate or move properly was just what he expected from a lightning mage. However Sam had a boon in this case, he didn’t need to move to use his abilities.
Getting to his feet, Viper looked around almost like he managed to rub away whatever was in his eyes. The group around him was panicking, several men lay on the ground dead, many others had problems moving and were struggling to even stand upright, and the ones who were out of range seemed to wonder what the fuck they would do.
Dia looked to be severely hurt, spasming on the ground next to Sam. Her body was much more agile and physically tuned than Sam’s, perhaps that made it hit her harder? She also didn’t have any armour.
Sam worried even more once he saw her HP having dropped to 10 / 140. As she looked at him with pleading eyes and a pained “Sa!” it just made it worse.
“You cheeky fucker, I was worried about you from the start but you found the perfect opportunity.” Viper gave him some nice credit as he drank a potion without losing a beat. Some of his wounds closed instantly, but most of them remained. This looked like one of the low-ranking potions. “Well, at least you can’t throw your shit at me now.” He gestured to all of Sam’s weapons, strewn across the ground.
He had lost control over them as the electricity hit him, his Psyhands didn’t need much concentration but being electrocuted took the little needed out of him.
Forcing himself to get back on his feet properly, which took considerable effort due to the status effect, he felt the aftereffects of being shocked like that more than he expected after triggering a level-up healing. However, the next step was clear, if he thought Sam had thrown all his weapons and was not unable to fight back, that just worked out well for him.
As Viper stepped closer to Sam, electrical energy building up in the cleaver, Sam placed two Psyhands over his eyes and Force Pulsed them both. As the man shouted out in pain and clutched his eyes, dropping the glowing cleaver, Sam grabbed it and all his other weapons with newly spawned Psyhands and did as he usually did!
[ Critical hit, double damage. ]
[ Critical hit, double damage. ]
[ Moonlight Slash triggered, +5 [ Light ] damage. ]
Not having considered that the trees created enough shade for Moonlight Slash to trigger, he was happy that it happened now. It was amusing that the cleaver landed a critical hit, but so did the Moonblade again!
As the Moonblade landed its hit, a bright pulse of energy like looking at the sun for a split second flashed out of his wound, one of the daggers missed but everything else landed properly. In a grunt of pain, as it all landed, Viper fell together, his body limp on the ground.
Sam felt a rush of victory, though he didn’t exclaim it, right now he looked at the others with suspicious eyes. Odds felt high that someone would capitalise on this event, becoming the new boss or something. Pulling all his weapons to hover around himself, he was ready to strike at anything or anyone, forcing people to take a few steps away.
Dia was struggling to get to her feet, but looked relatively fine, considering her low health. Sam took a moment to abuse the situation, from what he could see, Viper had some Player gear on him. Pointing at some poor soul closer than the others.
“You, get his gear off him!” Sam’s commanding tone and floating weapons seemed to do the trick
The man carefully dropped his weapons and stepped in, starting to undress the gear of the now-dead Viper. Every time anyone else took a step closer he turned a blade towards them, having them take a step back in immediately. Dia was back on her feet and snarled at anyone seeming like they wanted to try anything, which helped Sam’s threats considerably.
[ Quest: The Island
Dominant forces: 2 ]
He saw the quest window update, a little flash drew his attention to it in the corner of his view.
[ Quest: The Island
Dominant forces: 3 ]
As soon as it lowered, it also raised one notch. This had him believe that the first update was Viper losing his slot, going back to three was probably Sam taking his spot on the list. If that was true then the Bloodfangs had probably gotten a new strongest individual. He would have to pay them a visit in a few days.
It didn’t take long before the man was done undressing his leader, all the rings and bracelets took a short moment but it was all on the ground in front of Sam. Using some spare Psyhands he rummaged through them, in case some were boobytrapped or still electrified somehow. In the end, he found that the only Player gear that Viper had, was the Robe and an Amulet. Deciding to look into them later he took them for now.
“Now, feel free to do the fuck you want, but know that if you get a new leader or get back on the list of Dominant forces, I’ll be back.” This was a threat that Sam didn’t fake, he intended to win this fucking thing and he would be back if they became another dominant force.
He left the camp, being allowed to do so, as soon as he had taken a few steps Dia followed suit and they found themselves back in the jungle.
Exhaling with the deepest sigh he had ever had, he felt a metaphorical mountain lift off his shoulders having left that deathtrap. He started jogging, he wanted back into his cave, it was the safest place on the island he knew. Dia let out some happy sounds and followed on all fours as she had regained most of her dexterous movements.
Managing to not trip on the way, Sam did his best to run whereas Dia seemed to have little, if any problems. Sam supposed that was one of the perks of being native in this environment. Though he was surprised to notice that Dia didn’t notice the singular Goblin ahead of them, they found it as they ran straight into its spear range. It looked ready, had probably heard Sam’s stomping from far away.
Sam internally cursed having lowered his guard yet again, cursing himself at doing shit like this as soon as things starts going well, he noticed that Dia ran in on two legs rather than four. As she got within striking distance of the goblin, who was thrusting his spear towards her, she expertly swatted it to the side with her wrist and delivered four consecutive, powerful punches. There were no claws involved, but clenched fists. Each punch was delivered with the stance and movements of a martial artist Sam had seen in videos and movies. The Goblin tried to do something against each punch, but as each punch landed with a sickening cracking squelch in his chest, he had no chance to overcome their effects before falling over.
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[ Experience gained: +300. ]
“Wait... That’s what Martial Arts meant? You know actual Martial Arts?” Sam broke out. He had seen Martial Arts as a skill in her info earlier when they formed the contract, but he thought it was just an easy way to list ‘Beastfolk hand-to-hand combat’ or something, he didn’t expect actual Martial Arts.
Dia looked at him with a tilted, curious head and expression. “Var 'yap' serak.”
Sam understood the two first words if the ‘yap’ sound could be considered a word, Var was a reference to the self, and the Yap was a no, he didn’t know what the last word was but in context, it felt like she said something like that she didn’t understand what he said.
If that was so, he couldn’t fault her.
Shaking his head and Psyhand patting down the Goblin for any good stuff, they left without anything new. He was glad to see that even if he didn’t do anything, the XP obtained from something was shared between them, and since she was capped due to the level difference it all went to him. Which was practical, to say the least.
They continued back to the cave, and taking things a bit slower they avoided meeting anything dangerous on the way. He was a bit paranoid returning like this, having food in there could attract something to come and take a gander, but feeling around with his Psyhands as he got closer he felt safer before he popped his head in. Before Dia entered he decided that she needed to be cleaned, again. She wasn’t as caked with gore as last time, but the bite on the man’s wrist still had some around her mouth and in the fur around her throat, so it was good getting that away.
He extended some Psyhands inside to get a fire going, luckily that was easy enough even from afar, and he spent some time cleaning Dia. Though he knew she was capable of that herself, she looked... bad. Physically she looked fine but the way she moved and acted, it was probably the first time she was electrocuted like this, and with a powerful effect as well. The status effect itself had faded a while ago as they ran back, but her HP was low and since she still moved a bit odd, Sam assumed a mix of her finer motor skills could be harsher affected.
Dia seemed to be very happy to be cleaned by Sam. Her eyes were half closed as she let off a strange purring when Sam moved his wet hands through the fur around her mouth and throat, as it ended up running down her chest he found out it was probably better to just clean most of her to get it away. It turned almost weird for him, though this was for the sake of keeping her clean, the fact that she was naked was getting to him, he did his best not to touch anywhere weird, she would have to handle that herself.
“Var jaan, Sa sorr.” She said this through her purring and enjoyment of being cleaned. Sam had no idea what it meant, he understood his name and ‘var’, but the other two words didn’t make sense even in context. He noticed that as he avoided the intimate areas she... almost looked bummed out once the cleaning was done. He felt she was clean enough, all things considered. Helping her out of the water he returned to the cave with her following.
The fire was burning, not well as he did it without looking but he was happy with how far it got when he reached in and did it all via feel. Though his Psyhands couldn’t be burned or damaged, he could still feel the heat when things were working, so he could get a sense of things. He also kept it somewhat small so it didn’t spread accidentally. It felt surprisingly amazing being able to do things like that when focusing on something else elsewhere.
He sat Dia down near the fire to dry off and warm up, though the island was not cold by any means, she was weak and still having some after-effects of the electricity. Based on experience being shocked by a live wire in a house or something, you could feel it for a short while, but it’d probably be gone by tomorrow. Her low health was still a worry, it had gone up to 11 / 140 since they left, meaning that if she healed at the same speed as he did, it would be one per hour, so full health in about 130 hours. Which would be just under 6 days. He wasn’t sure if he had that kind of time. Not showing himself or keeping the threat of his existence up, the others might calm down and some brave people might start taking over.
He needed to keep the pressure on.
But for now, he needed Dia in better health, at the very least a day or so, perhaps he could persuade her to remain around the cave as he takes the next one.
As he was pondering what to do and how to approach the next attack, he needed to pay the Bloodfangs a visit, as well as find and check out the Iron Reavers. His train of thought was interrupted by Dia scooting around the fire to sit closer to Sam, ending up sitting gently against his side with her tails wrapped around his waist like a weird hug.
She had been somewhat close with him since they formed the contract, he wasn’t super experienced in the field of intimacy and love, but he knew this was no longer just an animal thing. He needed to find a way to confront her about this, in his mind he thought it could be some feelings towards him as he had saved her, as he thought earlier he knew of stories where people had ‘fallen in love’ with firemen saving them, he still thought this was something similar.
Though earlier in the evening, the sun was already setting. They had been sitting in the cave and trying to talk, Dia’s health had risen a few points and she was looking better from the shock she got earlier. They were eating and drinking, trying to converse and learn more words or meanings. Dia was still very fascinated by Sam’s Psyhands, now being more used to them she exclaimed ‘Sa shirin’ when she wanted them to appear, either reaching into the air, looking somewhere random or trying to give something to the air.
Manifesting a hand and responding to her actions, he found this very amusing. In his mind this was just like a very, very long and invisible hand, he could feel and sense anything with it as he could with his normal hands, so when she grabbed one of the Psyhands and placed it on her own head, rubbing it back and forth as if she gave herself a headpat, he was surprised to say the least.
He took this as a request for head patting, which he was happy to oblige with. Petting her head with the Psyhand had her smile happily as she purred, looking quite content.
This kind of back and forth continued until it felt like a good time to go to bed, like the day before, Dia was adamant that he get in the bed and she snuggled up against him. She was the hurt one but she didn’t seem to want to hear it, it was apparently very important that he got in the bed.
Waking up the next morning Sam found Dia to be gone. Given how adamant she was at bonding with him he had no doubt she was around somewhere, but it was just slightly out of character for her. Her health had increased to 20 so if nothing else she was doing well and alive. Getting out of bed he started his morning routine, which out here in the Jungle was surprisingly simple; toilet, wash up and some food. Not too different from the modern world for those who can afford it.
By the time he was done doing his business by some trees further away from the cave, taking great care in what leaves he used, he came back to finding Dia looking slightly distressed, but as soon as she saw him this faded to a happy smile as she shouted “Sa!”.
Running over to him on two legs she was carrying something wrapped up in a large leaf.
She tilted her head down, looking at the ground in an almost submissive way as she almost hesitantly handed him the package. “Sa. Zennor zar var.”
This was just his name and random words to him, he found it weird that she acted the way she did, it seemed important, her voice carried a certain pressure behind it but also had a strong hint of uncertainty and hesitation. Her body language remained careful and submissive, almost metaphorically kneeling without actually doing so.
Sam received the package placed in his hands, opening the wrapped leaves he was almost surprised to find food in it. The best he could guess it was, was some crushed or mashed fruit, with a yellow hue and sweet smell, could this be some mango thing? There were also some pieces of meat in there that he couldn’t recognize, it was cooked at least, the irregular shape made it seem like she had torn into it, perhaps cut it with claws, at least not with a sharp blade. All in all, it looked like cooked meat with mashed fruit and a few berries to top it with, it looked appetising. If he had to comment on it, the only thing that was a bit out of place was a weak musky smell from it, it was faint and he wasn’t sure if he smelled it from the food or Dia who was standing very close to him. But he had no need to deny this, it looked like she put considerable effort into it, given that they were in the jungle.
“For me?” He asked, just confirming, he didn’t know if the idea was for them to share.
She didn’t lift her head but added some information. “Sa. Vek rukna, var fruk. Zar kaar.”
He... had no idea what any of that meant, fearing that it might mean something weird in her culture he wanted to not accept it but... At the same time, this felt important enough that if he rejected it... it might make things worse.