[Garghound Noble | Abyss Spawn 22]
This one was much larger than the normal variants. The garghound noble was covered in thick muscles and eyes shone like the magma streams throughout the dome. Surprisingly it didn’t attack him immediately. Instead, it was staring into his face, sniffing at the air. This one was clearly smarter than the others, and judging by the name the garghounds might have some kind of rank structure.
Not wanting a repeat of the kuroxet run, Kal charged the beast. Its eyes flared as he approached and suddenly Kal’s hand burned, making him drop his sword. Kal glanced down at his sword and saw that it was glowing white hot and smoking from the hilt. Kal could already feel the blisters emmerging all over his right hand, besides the charred center of course.
That’s not good, Kal thought as he left his sword behind and continued his charge towards the garghound noble. He had lost about ten percent of his health from the burn. Sure it was a lot for such a minor effort from the creature but it wasn’t enough to worry Kal just yet.
The noble crouched and leaped at Kal’s throat. As they clashed Kal caught the creature's jaws as they tried to clamp down on his neck but he didn’t expect it to be as heavy as it was. The garghound wasn’t slowed in the slightest by the collision and simply carried Kal along throwing him backward at least twenty feet into a large boulder. Kal gasped as his health dropped and his back screamed. Nothing was broken but he could tell it was a near thing.
The garghound didn’t let Kal recover before it pulled its head away with a snarl before spinning away. Kal ducked just in time to avoid a strike from its tail. But as it passed Kal was forced to close his eyes as a searing heat washed over his face. He felt his hair catch fire but threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding another bite from the noble before patting what was left of his burning hair. Its tail was glowing between its dense black scales, occasionally it flared up between the scales into an actual flame. Shit this one has a few tricks, Kal thought as they both eyed each other.
Health:
702/800
Stamina:
942/1140
Wrath:
363
He had been lucky enough to avoid severe damage but the burns were painful and distracting. Kal still had the Wrath to heal most of the damage he had taken but he might have found a fight where Wrath Incarnate was needed. This thing was strong and fast, but Kal was sure his rage skill would be enough to match it. But he would need to be cautious, one wrong move against this noble wouldn’t end well for him. Dealing with the tail would be difficult, even a miss was dangerous. Kal was just lucky he had closed his eyes in time to avoid being blinded.
They clashed again, and once more Kal was knocked backwards. But this time he managed to grapple the noble's fore-legs and bring it to the ground. Kal managed to land a strong blow to the garghound’s chest before he was forced to disengage as it brought its tail into play. Bringing it between its legs and igniting it. Kal’s pants lost even more material as he was forced to tear it away before a fire spread. The garghound’s fire was damned hot. Hotter than any normal flame, the way it immediately spread to his clothes and burned his flesh was strange. The fire looked relatively normal besides the fact it was coming from the thing's tail.
The fight moved over the terrain as the fight continued, neither of them landing decisive blows. Kal’s burns were growing worse, however, and his movements were getting more and more painful. He was barely wearing pants by this point, much of them burned away by stray flames from the noble’s tail. Kal was down to nearly fifty percent health but from the look of the noble, it was happy to continue forever. Kal cursed, Dammit its regeneration must be better as well, it was pretty clear that whatever damage Kal was doing, the garghound’s regeneration was fast enough to allow it to recover for the most part. He would have to use his Wrath Incarnate. Kal had already decided he would have to use earlier on in the fight but there just hadn’t been a good opportunity. It was stronger than him though not by much and its speed was at least as fast as the normal garghounds. Letting it bite him was a bad idea. Kal was sure he would lose an arm if he allowed that. If only he could disable its tail somehow, he would be able to do a lot more damage if he didn’t have to evade the bloody thing every time he got the upper hand.
The fight continued moving, the garghound noble forcing Kal to give ground as it continued its constant assault. Kal wasn’t fleeing but with every exchange, he wasn’t able to stand his ground as more often than not the garghound noble would tackle him and drag him a distance towards the edge of the dome. They actually moved so far that they eventually made their way all the way back to the last pack Kal had killed. When he saw the first corpse Kal got an idea. It probably wasn’t a very good plan but he was starting to run out of stamina. He didn’t have long before he would run out of steam.
Kal avoided the garghound’s next leap and grabbed the corpse of one of the weaker variants. This was one of the ones he had bisected, so he had plenty of room to shove his open hand inside of the upper half of the dead garghound.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
The garghound noble growled savagely at Kal’s casual mutilation of its fallen brethren and charged him once more.
“It’s now or never Kal,” Kal growled back, activating his Wrath Incarnate. The world turned red and heard himself growl again at the sudden increase in aggression and strength. The noble hesitated at the sight of Kal’s sudden mood change, slowing its charge. But Kal wouldn’t allow it any time to change its approach and charged forward, his boosted attributes allowing him to clear the distance much faster. The garghound noble attempted its bite-and-tackle approach again but this time Kal was able to get one step ahead and slammed his fist down onto its head, stunning it for a moment. It recovered quickly however and spun in an attempt to make Kal retreat but this time Kal was ready, and with the corpse of the lesser garghound on his arm he managed to catch the burning tail.
The scales and meat covering Kal’s left arm quickly warmed but their temperature stopped increasing well before Kal would fear any burns. He was right, garghound scales are very fire resistant. Kal couldn’t help but smile as the tables suddenly turned and with his increased strength he swung the garghound noble by the tail, over his shoulder and hard into the stone floor. Kal needed to make Wrath Incarnate count before he started taking serious damage, so before the noble could rise Kal stomped down hard at the base of its tail and pulled. The noble growled and snarled savagely but it yelped pitifully as its entire tail came free. A burst of dark blood burst from the wound as Kal was inundated with a mutilation bonus.
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Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Apparently, his Wrath liked him using his bare hands. Now that he had more time Kal threw the tail and corpse aside and stood atop the wounded garghound and sought about doing as much damage as possible. The bleeding from removing its tail had already slowed from the creature's quite ridiculous regeneration, but it seemed that the wound was taking away from its general healing meaning Kal’s blows were now overcoming its healing. Finally, the garghound managed to regain its feet, forcing Kal to grab hold of it again before it could dash away. It was truly scrambling now, all of its actions were to try and dislodge Kal and flee. But Kal wouldn’t allow that, even if he wanted to, his rage wouldn’t let him. Kal could feel his birthright burning in his chest, slowly picking up momentum as if his Wrath was reaching its limit. How? Kal wasn’t sure but he didn’t care, the garghound needed to die.
Health:
367/800
Stamina:
204/1140
Wrath:
0
A notification flashed over Kal’s vision but he ignored it as he glared at the back of the garghound’s head. A savage pain wracked through Kal’s body and he could taste blood that had begun pooling in his mouth, uncaring he wrapped his hands around the creature's large neck. It struggled but Kal’s growing fury and amplified stats were enough to overwhelm its pitiful attempt. The noble turned its head and its eye flashed but Kal was faster than he was earlier, he raised his hand in front of the eye as horrible heat radiated from the eye like a beam of light. Kal growled as he felt his skin charring, but the pain was quickly ignored as Kal jammed the thumb of his burned hand into the creature's eye. Kal could feel another influx of Wrath fill him as he was once again inundated with multiple mutilation bonuses.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
His Wrath continued to climb as he pulled the garghound’s head backward hard and took out its other eye with his right thumb.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Kal could feel himself beginning to lose control again, he must have been missing something. His wrath limit must not be his health maximum alone. He tried to remain focused but his body moved to the rhythm of his birthright. He willed his status open to see what had changed, even while he withdrew his thumb from the now blind garghound noble and began strangling the damned thing.
Health:
124/800
Stamina:
23/1140
Wrath:
147
Kal would have been shocked if his rage allowed it but right now his wrath told him to ignore the pain and kill. He continued to strangle the life out of the blind demon but at the same time fought to stay in control. Kal forced himself to activate his Wrathful Regeneration to try and recover what he could and also lower his Wrath. In his rage, the pain from the skill was barely noticeable.
Health:
132/800
Stamina:
21/1140
Wrath:
112
Health:
152/800
Stamina:
21/1140
Wrath:
32
Kal deactivated his Wrath Incarnate and tried to calm himself but nothing changed, his birthright had taken over from the skill with him barely noticing a difference. He roared as he slowly crushed the garghound’s throat, and felt the rush of experience and his Wrath grow.
You have slain [Garghound Noble | Abyss Spawn 22] - Bonus experience award for defeating a higher leveled entity.
Level up!
Level up!
Title acquired: Slayer of the Strong
Birthright: Waking…
Your Wrath Grows…
Kal’s mind blanked as his Wrath increased dramatically but it slowly came back. He was standing over the corpse of the garghound noble, his hands dripping with hot dark blood. Did these pathetic things think they would stop him? No, nothing would. He would kill them all, and find the next enemy. For was not this whole plane his enemy? He glanced at his status and from forming on his face.
Health:
202/850
Stamina:
174/1280
Wrath:
662
Infuriated by his state he immediately split his points between Endurance and Vitality. He would not waste time resting when he had enemies to slay. For their deaths would fuel him, it was their purpose.
Health:
342/970
Stamina:
314/1420
Wrath:
662
Still pathetic but passable for his task. Kal bent down and tore what remained of the noble to pieces and felt the influx of Wrath as his bloodlust called for action.
It was time to slay.