It took him over thirty minutes to carve his way deeper in and finally close to the first pack.
Four, a little risky, but doable, he thought and willed his minions to engage. Since his evolution, his maximum range increased by another five meters—likely because of the temporary Increase Focus card—bringing him up to a whooping sixty, and here in the open fields, every extra meter mattered.
The fight started with a well-coordinated stab of the stiletto into the neck of the leading pack member, and a lightning bolt to the wet snout of the one to its left. This time though, he also moved the Storm wisp right above a thicker bush twenty meters to his right in an attempt to misdirect them, and the tactic seemed to be successful because the pack charged toward the empty bush with loud snarls and murder in their eyes. Unfortunately, they realized their mistake halfway there, slowed down, and started flaring their nostrils.
During this, John remained prone on the ground, watching their behavior, and the moment one of the packmates suddenly turned to face him, he stood up and ran back.
A moment later, the second bolt zapped through the air, making him glance back and see it hit right under the previously targeted Rothound's ear and make it seize up and stumble.
Ouch, he winced, watching as it stepped on its paralyzed forepaw at a wrong angle and its subsequent break as the middle of the leg folded to the side and changed the beast's forward motion into a nasty roll. One incapacitated and one maimed, leaving two unharmed for him to deal with.
Feeling the wind rush through his face as he pumped his legs for all they had made him smile. Just him, his prey, and only one will make it out alive.
Calling back his stiletto, he guided it to press the attack on one of the unharmed and got ready to strike.
Having the Wave of force as a safety measure, he took a risk, and just as the Rothound was about to pounce, he dived to the right and rolled over his shield to break the momentum.
The beast sailed through the air toward his old position, unable to correct the angle, and because of its significantly larger mass and speed was unable to stop for the next three seconds.
John quickly stood up after doing two cartwheels in a row and had a second to brace himself for the last member of the pack.
His stiletto was currently punching holes in its thick neck, making it wheeze with a wet gurgling sound every time it breathed, but it tried to ignore the mortal wounds and use the remainder of its life to make him pay.
Unwilling to meet it head-on, he angled his shield slightly to the left, while using his right hand to deliver a low sweeping blow that connected with a left foreleg and broke it with a loud crunch.
The beast's maw collided with the angled shield, impotently snapped its jaws, but only pushed John to the side.
His arm ached from the collision, but he survived and bought himself another few precious moments, which was all he needed.
The one he dodged previously was getting ready to charge, but the nine seconds were up and a new lightning bolt met its face.
So far so good, he thought as he was taking a glance behind him. Having enough time to engage, he took four quick steps, and delivered two heavy strikes on the hound with a freshly broken leg and stiletto deep in its neck. That was enough to knock it out, leaving only the last dangerous foe.
The hound, after shrugging off the blast of electricity, was mid-stride heading right at his side giving him but a moment to turn and brace for impact.
"Umpf," even though the Rothound wasn't able to get up to its full speed, the impact into his shield felt like a collision with a small car. John was tossed off his feet, avoided a bite to his side, and fell on the grassy ground with his back.
The hound ran over him, trying to stomp on his head as it passed by, but John hid under his shield and survived the trample with only a bruised arm. Using the short respite, he called for his stiletto, guiding it to attack while getting back on his feet.
The other hound with the twisted forepaw ended up fucking his other leg during the roll and was slowly dragging itself toward him, but the main threat was still from the one who ran over him. It was already turning around and preparing to pounce.
Not this time, John grinned and charged it himself. It was five meters away, but its attempt to pounce got disrupted by the flying stiletto, opening it up to a backhand shield bash, quickly followed by a strike over its ear, making it collapse and killed by the follow-up.
The rest of the pack was either maimed or bleeding out, and after a minute all four were dead.
His left shoulder still ached from the impact, but luckily other than that, he was in perfect condition and ready to meet another pack.
In the following hour, he cleared out three packs of three, but during the last fight, he overlooked another two coming from the other direction and was forced to handle all five together.
That time, he was much more careful, and also didn't hesitate to immediately use his third Ability, to cripple the first two hounds leading the pack in their charge toward him.
The rest of the fight was still challenging, but his coordination and Increased reflexes pulled him through with only a gash on his right biceps, and bite mark on his thigh.
[Wiping out the packs
Rothound: 28/30
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Rothound Alpha: 1/1
Killing blows: 27/6
Time remaining 00:37:43]
Almost there.
Looking around, a pack of two was patrolling on the other side of the hill he was currently standing on, and after another ten minutes, he got the bounty cleared.
[Wiping out the packs - completed!
Rothound killing blows: 29
Rothound Alpha killing blows: 1
Difficulty modifier: +250%
Total rewards: 116 blue ash]
Seeing the total sum brought a smile to John's face.
That is a lot of blues, and now it's time for the fun part. He pulled out the second bounty and willed it to begin.
[Crushing the brains
Zombie: 0/500
Killing blows: 0/200
Time remaining 00:59:56]
His previous plan was to squeeze every bit of damage he had and somehow pull through, but after the evolution, he could do it just by using his stiletto. Although, just because he could didn't mean he would.
The first layer of undead surrounding the city was filled entirely with zombies, and that was the perfect place for him to truly flex his new body.
There was no need for fancy maneuvers with his stiletto, and he only willed different targets once the previous fell apart. His wisp continued picking off close targets once every nine seconds, and he practiced blocking with the shield, swinging his club, and looking for the perfect strike to end the fights as fast as possible.
That strike slowly perfected itself over the following fifty zombies he took down on his own, and the sweet spot turned out to be roughly one centimeter under the earlobe, with a slight upward trajectory. If he hit too high, he would only crack its skull but not immediately kill it, and too low would break the neck, but that kind of injury barely affected them.
To be fair, watching a zombie with a broken neck was kind of morbidly hilarious, as its head flopped around, sometimes stuck all the way back as if it was trying to look behind itself by tilting its head all the way back.
When it hit just right though, the club would break the spine, but find purchase on the bottom part of the skull and tear the whole head off, immediately killing it. This strike was only possible for him after his evolution, because before he wouldn't have enough power to tear through all the diseased muscle, ligaments, and the rest of fleshy stuff in their neck.
Dozen after dozen, the zombies fell under his relentless pursuit, slowly but surely opening the crowded outskirts up until suddenly a notification announced the success of his second bounty.
[Crushing the brains - completed!
Zombie killing blows: 500
Difficulty modifier: +250%
Total rewards: 1750 white ash]
Hunting at night was a surprisingly pleasant experience. His evolved body in combination with the Nightstalker's awareness allowed him to see as if it was a day with the only drawback of the lack of colors. Currently, everything was a mix of all the shades of grey and the only time a color flashed by was when the place around him was illuminated by the bright light of the lightning bolt.
Another plus was the fact that ever since leaving the Valiant's stand, he didn't meet a single person, having this whole place solely for himself.
Wait, but where were all the other people?
Now not being under pressure of the bounty's time limit, he thought about the state the city was in. Busted doors, destroyed windows, skeletons, and zombies wandering inside the damaged buildings…
Was everyone else dead? No, of course not…
From the current look of things though, those who didn't group up or found a safe place for themselves were either forced to abandon their homes or died inside.
Being done with both bounties, it was time to return to the northern bridge, get rid of its zone guardian, and see the current state of that part of the city.
John followed the same path, and the journey there proved uneventful. Soon, he was standing on the foot of the bridge, staring at the massive bulk of the so-called fat giant.
Hmm, this should work out perfectly, he thought, observing the environment around the bridge. There was a small brick building in front of it—likely a keepsakes shop—which would work flawlessly as an obstacle to keep the monster from gaining any momentum.
[Zone guardian ★]
Yeah, let's give it a try.
The fight started with a bright flash of a lightning bolt and a golden line as his stiletto burrowed into its head.
His more than doubled range in comparison to the first kill allowed him a massive advantage, letting him stand at the foot of the bridge and carefully fall back as it began its charge.
A couple of seconds later it was moving as fast as a Rothound, each of its long strides making a thudding sound, and John came up with a crazy and probably very stupid idea.
What would happen if it ran head-on into the translucent panel of force?
Having less than two seconds to decide, he was about to abandon it, but then…
"For science!" He yelled and shot the Wave of force from the side over the railing and right into the giant's path.
For a split second, it seemed as if it would hold, and John was greeted with a disturbing picture of the massive gut pressing flat over the panel with its shoulder and neck leaning over the top, but then the whole panel fractured into hundreds of small shards digging deep into its belly, releasing its forward momentum.
Unfortunately for the monster, it was unable to put its leg in front and continued face first forward like a rocket, falling on the rough pavement and sliding another half dozen meters.
John meanwhile bolted away, because now the guardian was lying on its face directly between him and the small shop he planned on using.
The third lighting hit the monster's head, leaving behind charred flesh, but seemingly no paralytic effect.
It took another three seconds for the monster to get up, giving John enough time to run around it in a half circle and hide behind a red luxury car abandoned in the middle of the street leading south, luring it away from the building.
The monster charged into the car, crushing the flimsy roof under its considerable weight, but getting its left foot stuck in the space behind the wheel, and being forced to a stop.
This created the opportunity he needed, and he reached the back wall just as it started gaining momentum, ending the challenging part of this fight. The rest turned out to be simple kiting and waiting for it to crumble and fall apart, which happened in another couple of minutes, giving him ten blues, another shelter, and an actually useful blue card.
[Troll's blood
Can be linked with your body card to speed up self-healing of shallow wounds and elimination of adverse effects affecting your body]
Smiling, he slotted his new addition to the mix, and slowly crossed over the bridge into the gilded district.