Three Bearwolves moved through the trees.
Perhaps the strangest part of the situation was the role reversal. I had SIGHT, SCENT, HEARING. I couldn’t be certain exactly how my new, relatively low-level senses compared with those of the fiends, but for now, at least, I was hunting them. For now, I was aware of them, and they were completely unaware of me.
The convoy was resting, watering horses in a secure location. It was my responsibility to make every minute count, and Jacob had marked this location on my map. The suit itself could read the parchment and record the location of the fiends. Once Jacob had shown me once, the information became part of my suit’s awareness forever.
The large, jabbering fiends gathered in a clearing, and I continued to stalk towards them. I expected one of their heads to turn toward me at any moment. I was pushing things from the get-go. A Bearwolf was large enough and terrible enough that each one stood as a considerable threat. One was still very manageable, even for a level 10 like me. But three was certainly ambitious. I needed to be ambitious. Enough people had made level 20 a target that I was fixed on reaching it. Tougher fights and nastier opponents meant faster leveling, and I was determined. Apart from the duty to the city to level as quickly as I could, I was personally excited to discover a new skill.
I continued to edge through the trees toward the small group of fiends. All three had their backs to me, and my heart started hammering faster with excitement. With POWER and the advantage of surprise, I might be able to fell one, or even two, before the fight really began. A strange cocktail of emotions swirled inside me: part of me was eager for the fight, to feel POWER, to test myself, to grow. Another part wanted nothing more than to have the experience over with. Death and violence still waited to greet me in the next moments, and it would take a long time to shake the dread that came with them.
I took a knee behind a small bush, only twenty yards from the fiends. I couldn’t tell why they had paused. I was well concealed, surrounded by low shrubbery that made for excellent cover.
I peered through the leaves at the fiends. It was strange how they had stopped. There was no water here, and none of them were passing waste.
Then, one of the long, cruel faces turned slowly, and a gleaming red eye appeared in sight. I felt the human reaction rise within me, the instinctive response to meeting the eyes of a creature from beyond the realm of the natural. They were all twisted versions of a nightmare. The creature that was staring at me continued to turn its head, and I saw that it had a third, crudely formed and likely non-functional eye in the center of its forehead.
My skin grew chilled. It was looking at me—not just in my direction but at me. It could see me. And yet it wasn’t reacting.
Then it all made sense. I was crouched in a thick patch of shrubbery that made perfect cover. And I wasn’t the only one making use of it.
The fourth Bearwolf reared up from the leaves only a few feet to my right. It struck me with its chest, its long, clawed arms wrapping around me, the smell of rot and wrongness swelling in my nostrils.
It heaved me, its dripping jaws reaching down toward me as it slammed me to the ground.
Fool! I could have sensed it if I hadn’t been so focused on the creatures before me. These hunts would teach me the lessons I was missing quickly—if I could only live long enough to learn them.
I knew I had only moments; the other three that had drawn me in would be scrambling for the feast now. Some said that fiends could be as smart as men—or at least some of them—and this little group had just outsmarted me.
I hit the ground violently, the weight of the fetid beast smashing down on top of me. I felt real fear. I had lost the advantage. Even if I survived, damage to my suit would mean more time in the pod, cutting into my time to gain experience for leveling.
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But the fear was met with a shocking rage from deeper inside me. Fine, I’d messed up again, but I wasn’t going to let it be for nothing. A lesson learned, and blood to spill.
POWER surged, and I saw the light of my blazing visor reflecting in the beast's eyes. The glow painted the matted, patchy fur on its face. It recoiled slightly.
My enhanced strength surprised it. With a hard flex and a shove, I threw the larger beast off me. With a violent snap of my hips, I was back on my feet just as the first of the other three reached me. The creature with the third eye hung back slightly—it was bigger than the others, and I wondered if it was the brains behind the attack.
A searing roundhouse CUT lopped the head off the first charging fiend. A pulse of BEAM crashed into the one behind it, grounding it in a smoking heap for a moment, though not killing it. Pain and sparks erupted from my shoulder as the beast I’d thrown off me raked its strange metallic stone claws across my armor. I staggered from the blow. Three-Eyes danced in, slashing at me without overcommitting, keeping its distance. Using the speed that POWER brought, I just managed to skip away from the attack. The pain in my shoulder was eye-watering, and I could feel my lips curling into a frustrated snarl at the damage.
The fiend that had slashed me charged again. I turned to it, and my helm amplified my angry roar. The volume and ferocity of the shout startled it, and my CUT traced a line from its left hip to its right shoulder, not quite cutting it in two but opening its innards, spilling coils of gut and steaming, stinking carnage. The creature collapsed.
The BEAMED fiend charged again, seeing what had happened to its comrades and approaching more cautiously. It tried to fend me off with its outrageously long arms, giving it terrific reach. But they weren’t longer than my sword. My blade clashed against the frantic claws, sparks flying and the ring of stone on steel echoing through the trees. I backed up, letting it lead the charge, letting it gain momentum, until it could resist no longer. It lunged harder, bringing itself fully into my range.
My CUT flashed twice, neat, tight upward strokes that were quick and easily reversed. The creature’s arms suddenly ended at the wrists, its clawed hands thumping to the forest floor.
It froze, staring at its ruined arms. It showed no pain, but the look of wonder and confusion on its face was disturbingly human. I snarled as CUT worked once more, and the beast’s head joined its other appendages on the ground, black, stinking blood pooling and soaking into the dead leaves and beds of needles below us.
My HUD rewarded me with the notification that my CUT and Level had both increased. I was now a level 11 Griidlord. Very nice.
As the body toppled over, I turned for three-eyes.
The demon was gone. It had been a smart one, letting the last fiend hold my attention long enough to escape.
I let go of POWER, feeling the odd deflation that accompanied releasing the attribute. I was ready to move in the direction I was sure the creature had fled, but the voice suddenly came to me.
“No. I have something much more interesting for you to see.”
I said, “That last one will be worth more experience.”
The voice chuckled lowly, “No, kiddo. I have a much tastier package of experience for you just a mile over here…”
A waypoint marker blinked onto my HUD.
I hesitated. A basic, hungry, primal instinct in me wanted to find and finish the fourth fiend. I wanted that clever one that had nearly undone me. I reached for the wound in my shoulder. It would cost some pod time, but not much, and it wouldn’t substantially hinder me.
The voice said, “Come on, trust me. If you’re really that eager to get to level 20, then wander over here with me, and we’ll get a real jump on the ball.”
I paused only a moment longer, then started jogging through the trees. The terrain made using Footfield impossible, but my armored body could easily run the mile in a few short minutes, even through the dense forest.
The slope led me down into an older part of the forest where the trees grew larger and sparser. It was darker here, and I felt that same thrill of excitement and fear that was becoming more and more familiar.
I said, “What kind of fiend will I find down here?”
The voice giggled, “Nope.”
I said, “Nope? Nope what? Nope, you won’t tell me?”
Then SIGHT showed me my target. As I rounded a massive ancient trunk, my prey came into view.
The voice said, “Nope, not a fiend,” positively giddy.
The figure that appeared as I rounded the trunk wasn’t a fiend, monster, or band of outlaws.
It was another Griidlord.