It seems that combat really is the best of instructors, I thought grimly as I continued the attack. Grievously wounded as it was, the creature was not yet done, as one of its front claws swiped at me in a vicious counterattack, which I barely raised my shield in time to meet.
The Sandgorger struck again, drawing shallow rents in my shield with its claws. With its Stamina dropping precipitously, this time the attack was a lethargic thing, with none of the power and viciousness of its last few attacks. I had the creature now.
You have slain two Sandgorgers 30 experience gained.
I finished the creature off with a simple stab through its right eye, and almost simultaneously I was informed that the others in my group had felled another of the creatures.
Cursing, I knew it had to be Jasper who had finished off his target, as the flow of stolen energy to me was abruptly cut off. That man was starting to get on my nerves. Bloody kill-stealer.
With this thought in my mind, I rushed to the aid of Likam and Tomorbat.
*****
What followed was a systematic dismantling of a monster. Taking down the remaining Sandgorger was a trivial thing. The beast was outnumbered, and now lacked the element of surprise, making it easy for us to attack the giant toad from all sides at once. For this, I earned a trifling amount of experience.
“I really could have done with a little more help back there with the horned one. Why did you go off chasing the one that was basically half-dead?” I asked our leader Jasper as he was helping to dress the bodies, his arm growing bloody with the work. Taking a moment for myself, I sat down on a rock to catch my breath while I waited for his answer. Sand, as expected of a desert, was getting into everything and souring my mood.
“If we had allowed that one to escape, it would have brought down even more of them upon us. I knew the others were with you,” he said, almost grunting as he removed the guts and entrails from the large horned specimen.
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Cutting out the horn, Likam tossed me the beastly trophy, which I caught easily with both hands. “A bull Sandgorger's horn holds value. I believe you've earned it," he remarked, a faint trace of reluctant admiration in his voice. "And this is why we call them Sandgorgers," he clicked his tongue as sand and small rocks fell out from the gullet of the beast.
The rest of the gang laughed at this before they continued with their work, their knives sawing into the remains of the Sandgorgers.
“What was that stone you dropped before, the purple one?” I inquired, refilling my flask from the river and taking a sip. I was unsure if the river water was actually safe to drink, though with my monstrous Constitution and magic, I could probably drink sewage water with little ill effect.
"Caution Stone," he said, his voice tinged with concern. "Informs those behind that we now tread upon Sandgorger territory. I've not seen them this near to the Rump before; they typically dwell further within the Whispering Wastes. This development... it troubles me." He furrowed his brow in worry. "We should take these carcasses, return before they spoil. Acquire fresh mounts and hunt more of the beasts farther out. Thin their numbers," he concluded, going back to his bloody work.
After completing our task, we distributed the weight of the dressed kills among the four horses, and guided them back on foot. Exhausted, and slightly battered from the skirmish, we rejoined the head of the caravan an hour or two later.
We all made sure to avail ourselves to one torch each before we set off to find more of the monsters. Why hadn’t Jasper used one of the torches and just charged straight in? Could it be that he wanted to steal the experience from my kill? I wondered to myself as we set off.
Scanning my Status, I noted that I was at full Health and just a few points shy of full Mana. I also was pleased with my gain in the Strength attribute, as well the improvement in several of my skills. With a happy grin, I saw that my new skill Rush Strike, at twenty points, used less Stamina than a Dash and Power Strike combination, which was a welcome development.
Undoubtedly, had I not been clad in my protective armor and armed with a lethal new weapon, the recent encounter would have played out quite differently. My gear made a big difference to my survivability and, coupled with my new offensive technique, I could only grow more in power. But my current equipment was made for normal men, and by design, constrained by the limits of human Stamina and Strength, limits I was slowly exceeding. Perhaps in the future, I could commission some armor and weapons more suitable for my new power.
Truly I had grown strong, grown powerful. I chafed, eager for more experience and a chance to advance my skills.
However, to my disappointment, our second foray brought us face-to-face with only a solitary Sandgorger, a smaller female, which we were able to quickly dispatch. I even managed to employ my crossbow, grasping the beast’s tongue with one hand and loosing a bolt through the roof of its mouth with the other. A most gratifying experience.