Kal ran through the blasted terrain as quickly as he could, his improved endurance allowing him to keep a good pace without losing much stamina. The screams had continued, and Kal’s mind raced as he scanned the area for anywhere remotely safe. But it was starting to become clear that there was nowhere safe in what this place was. The kuroxet were gaining on him, and soon he would be forced to try and break through those that had gathered in front of him. If there weren’t so many he would try and kill a few more and use his regeneration. The first one had been easy enough, though Kal’s dirty strike didn’t really give the creature a chance to show its capabilities. The sky overhead had grown even more violent over the last few minutes as Kal ran, and a potent smell of rotten eggs filled the whole damn place making breathing quite overwhelming.
Kal cleared a small rise in the terrain and was forced to leap across a sudden crack in the stone, he tumbled as he landed and almost rolled down into another crack but just barely managed to grab onto the side, halting his momentum. He got to his feet to find he had just leaped to the top of a plateau covered in fissures. The plateau stretched for as far as he could see the amount of fissures making it look more like thousands of pillars but Kal could see strange patterns amongst it all forming curving walls of stone separating sections of the base of the strange formations. Kal thought about turning back but another series of screams pushed him on. He had made it probably a half mile into the formation before the first kuroxet appeared. It’s mockery of a humanoid form sprinted towards him on all fours, its stretched arms and claws leaving deep gashes in the stone beneath it. When Kal realized he had fucked up, the kuroxet had no issues sprinting across the hazardous terrain. He couldn’t outrun this one so he would have to try and deal with it quickly. He Identified it as it closed in.
[Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 8]
Kal ducked as the creature leaped towards him, its claws outstretched, he made it easily enough but he heard the creature hiss and suddenly his back and neck exploded with sizzling pain. Kal raised a hand to feel what it was but the pain simply spread to his hand as well.
“Fuck!” he yelled, as he saw the skin of his hand rapidly turn dark red and then begin to blister. The fucking thing had spat on him. Kal spun and charged at the kuroxet, his anger suddenly flaring. But this one was much more wary than the first he had killed. It nimbly dodged backwards and lashed out with one of its oversized claws, cutting a long thin gash down Kal’s arm.
Health:
32/370
Stamina:
43/470
Wrath:
0
Dammit, I don’t have the resources for this at all, Kal thought as he tried to make some space between himself and Kuroxet. The cries of dozens more of the bloody things seemed even more daunting than ever. Kal could feel his anger climbing again as it did at the tournament, but now wasn’t the time to be stupid. He couldn't just avoid the thing since it could simply just burn him to death. It spat again but this time he turned and it fell short landing on his pants. It still burned but much less so, maybe it needed to directly hit his skin to do real damage. An idea struck him as the bloody thing went to spit again. Kal made some distance and as he moved he tore off his shirt, thinking he was about to flee the kuroxet leaped towards him again but this time Kal was ready. He turned to face the creature suddenly, raising his shirt, and as the creature got in range he wrapped it around its face. It clawed at him but Kal caught one arm and held the creature by the throat with the other. The kuroxet tried to spit, a few drops made it through the shirt and it was sizzling concerningly but it held.
The creature's free hand was trying to claw his face but it couldn’t get a good angle. Kal used his new strength and squeezed the thing's frail throat, but it kept fighting so he did what he had to do and slammed it hard into the ground more of the caustic spit dribbled from his shirt. The creature seemed stunned as its arms faltered in their struggle to wound him, and Kal took that opportunity to slam the thing into the ground again, and again. With each crunch, Kal’s chest began to burn hotter. The unbidden anger grew from an ember into a flame in just moments. Kal could feel the resonance from his Birthright now, it concerned him how intermittent it was. Why was it starting to happen now? Kal was lost in thought for a moment, his body continuing to pummel the creature well after it was dead. His vision blurred slightly as his concentration on his surroundings and fight faded. He dropped the corpse of the creature and the notification appeared.
You have slain [Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 8 - Bonus experience award for defeating a higher leveled entity.
Level up!
But that wasn’t what caught his eye. As the experience flooded into him, something else came along with it. A dark mix of red, black, and purple mana flowed out of the kuroxet and poured into his chest and it was at that moment he saw his Wrath increase.
Health:
27/370
Stamina:
43/470
Wrath:
80
Without thinking too much about it he activated his Wrathful Regeneration and watched his Health tick back up.
Health:
47/370
Stamina:
25/470
Wrath:
0
What the fuck? I get Wrath from killing? He supposed it made sense, of course, it would be something like that. He stole mana from some evil realm of monsters, of course, what he got out of it would be creepy. But besides how obviously creepy the whole thing is it raised another question in Kal’s mind. Would he even be able to recover if he found a safe place to hide out? His main source of healing was his Wrathful Regeneration and he could only use it if he was actively killing things apparently. Maybe his Birthright was right, he needed to kill and kill fast. The faster and more efficiently he killed these things the faster he would be back at full strength. The screams were getting closer, he hoped he could fight them one at a time but with his luck he doubted it. He quickly waved up his status menu and distributed his points, splitting them between Strength, Endurance, and Vitality.
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Statistic Comparison
Health
50
Stamina
90
Wrath
0
Strength
8
Agility
0
Endurance
9
Vitality
5
Intellect
0
Perception
0
Will
3
Wisdom
0
Total
25
With his titles increasing his attributes as they were his growth was more than he would have ever believed possible before today. He didn’t have time to ogle over his new attributes so he got to work on his next plan, a weapon. He could keep using his hands, it was a major disadvantage. The strange plateau was barren of even rocks larger than his thumb, so knelt down and inspected the kuroxet he had slain. He looked at its large claws and thought he could try using them but the thought of getting that close to these things again wasn’t appealing. He looked the creature over and grimaced at the idea that he got, but he couldn’t think of a better option so grabbed the creature's right leg and rested his foot on its torso. With one hard yank, the kuroxet’s leg tore right off, leaving dark black blood behind.
Kal poked the blood with his finger to make sure it wasn’t caustic as well, happy that it wouldn’t burn his fingers off he frowned and held his breath as he shoved his hand into the flesh of the severed leg pulling the creature’s femur free. It wasn’t clean in the slightest but he was able to grip it well enough. With the kuroxet’s strange proportions, the femur made for a decent club. Kal turned to the closest scream waiting for it to come into sight, checking his status one last time.
Health:
47/420
Stamina:
40/560
Wrath:
23
What? Why did I gain Wrath now? He opened up his notifications and shook his head frowning.
Mutilation Bonus added to the total.
“Am I evil now?” he shook his head and activated his Wrathful Regeneration again. It only gave him five points but every little bit helped. The moment Kal closed his status the next kuroxet arrived.
[Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 6]
This one was weaker than the last he had killed but as he readied himself, his still corroding shirt in one hand and leg bone in the other another leaped over the rise and onto the plateau just behind it. His hackles raised at the additional risk but he knew his options were limited for now. They came down fast and Kal simply threw his shirt at the first managing to block the first dose of corrosive spit but his shirt wasn’t long for this world as the spit quickly dissolved what remained of the shirt and the creature continued its assault, but while it was busy the second one leaped towards Kal’s face like the others had but this time it met hard bone instead of air and was thrown aside, its face weeping more corrosive spit and dark blood. The exchange just barely gave Kal enough time to bring the bone back around to fend off the first kuroxet as it finished dissolving his shirt. It was ready for the club and avoided any injury and seemed to be content in keeping Kal busy harassing him while the second recovered and got back to its feet letting out another ear-piercing scream. With the help of the club, Kal was able to avoid many of the creature's attacks, they were fast but predictable.
The little bastards loved going for the face. Kal was forced to block several attacks with his forearm losing a lot more health than felt comfortable with. Eventually, he got lucky and caught the second one in the face again, stunning it and giving him time to bring his club down on the first kuroxet’s arm as it was going for his face yet again. The arm snapped and Kal snatched the other arm and swung the damned thing into the ground, his Birthright flaring up at the sudden turn in the battle. The memory of the mutilation bonus came to him and his Birthright ignited his will like a spark in dry grass. He slammed his foot down on the kuroxet’s neck and tore the thing's arm off then pivoted and stomped down on its head. The wet crunch disgusted Kal, but he needed the Wrath. He leaped away from the corpse, towards the recovering kuroxet. It managed to raise its arms to block the first attack but Kal’s increased strength easily broke its weak guard allowing his club to slam down hard on its head. Like the last all that was left of its skull was the shattered black fragments and pulverized flesh coating his club and much of Kal’s arm and chest.
You have slain [Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 6 - Bonus experience award for defeating a higher leveled entity.
Mutilation Bonus added to total.
You have slain [Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 6 - Bonus experience award for defeating a higher leveled entity.
No level up this time but he checked his status hoping for a significant jump of Wrath.
Health:
23/420
Stamina:
20/560
Wrath:
150
He smiled but grimaced when he tasted some of the kuroxet’s blood from his lip. Looks like he got ten times the slain creature's level in Wrath. He had gotten the mutilation bonus for the first but not the second. He had expected that it seemed to require the decision to mutilate rather than simply the normal battle damage. Kal activated his regeneration ability again, the burning still sucked but he was getting ever closer to actually recovering.
Health:
60/420
Stamina:
26/560
Wrath:
0
He had only gained an additional thirteen health from that fight. He needed to be more efficient or really commit to messing up his kills. Kal would prefer not to be soaked in the freaky monster's blood but if it meant a faster recovery, he knew what he would choose. The kuroxet screams continued, definitely getting closer. Even more were coming now, the cries of the two he just fought probably announced his location again. He jumped across the plateau again to reach the rise he had crossed to get there. He scanned the terrain again, trying to spot the closest cries. He saw them and suddenly his first plan sounded great. He turned and ran back towards the plateau.
“Waay, too fucking many!”