The family stood ready, not letting down their guard even as the wolves retreated. As the wolves ran from them, some came close to other hills. They watched as wolves from atop the hills pounced down upon their brethren, the white stalks of grass becoming stained in red blood. Clearly the hills did hold significance to the wolves, and they were very territorial about it.
Moments passed in silence as the family waited for another attack to come. In the corner of their visions, taking up only a small portion of space, they could see a counter.
Alabaster Wolves: 0/100
Despite killing quite a few wolves, they had not progressed on their quest at all. That meant the wolves they had killed so far were not Alabaster wolves, but possibly a lesser cousin. Just how many wolves did they have to kill before finding an Alabaster Wolf?
Enki took a moment to look at his status screen. He had killed a total of twelve wolves, and after the tenth wolf the energy in his body seemed to be absorbed, as if he had become saturated with enough of the kill energy to break a threshold. His status screen confirmed his suspicions as it now registered his class as level 2, as well as increased attributes.
Name: Enki Summers Race: Human F Class: Archer Level 2
Attributes:
Strength:12 Dexterity:20 Toughness:10 Endurance:15
Vitality:10 Will:10 Intelligence:10 Perception:20
Wisdom:15 Free Points: 5
Skills: Power Shot, Archer’s Eye
Wanting to increase his survivability, Enki put three of his free points in Vitality and two into Endurance. As soon as he put two points into Endurance Enki could feel some of his fatigue be alleviated. He wasn’t full back to his prefight strength, but he was in better shape than before he added the points.
“Did anyone else level up?” Enki asked his family.
“I did.” Said Trevor.
“Same here.” Said Fayde.
“I also leveled up.” Added Matia,
“I think I’m just about there.” Guidry mentioned shyly.
“How far off do you think you are?” Lith asked.
“Maybe one more.”
“Sounds like there’s one on top of the hill.” Matia mentioned.
“Let’s take a moment before heading up.” Fayde said. “Wolf packs generally leave the female pack leader and pups in the den. The ones that came from the top were probably the other den protectors.”
“Why would the den be at the top of the hill and not near the base?” Trevor asked.
“Most of the wolves that attacked us didn’t come from a hill. They were spaced around the hills. When they retreated, the ones that got too close to a hill were attacked by the wolves on top of the hill. They all naturally blend into the environment and so far, we haven’t seen any other predators. The safest place would be in the available high spots.” Fayde gestured to the horizon. “And so far from what I can see the hills are the only high spots.”
They took a few minutes to check their gear and weapons and distribute free points for those that had leveled up. Enki, Guidry, and Matia kept a constant vigil while Lith checked on Fayde and Trevor’s previous wounds. They hadn’t tested the efficacy of Lith’s spells until this point. He assessed Trevor’s ability to flex, rotate, and put pressure on her ankle, which all seemed to be fine. He did the same with Fayde’s shoulder, testing how much her left arm could resist his pushing Fayde’s arms up, down, forward, and back compared to her right arm. Satisfied that his family were in good condition, Lith ripped the sleeve off his robe and tore it into strips. The sleeves of the robe were baggy so that he had a lot of material to work with. Instead of just binding his wounds, Lith twisted and banded the long strips of cloth, that he had cut using one of Trevor’s short swords, into cloth rope. He then wrapped the cloth rope around his wrist, forearms, and hands in a traditional Muay-Thai style. Thankfully for his wounds, they were close enough to his wrists to be covered by the wrap, so the bleeding slowed from the applied pressure.
“Everyone ready?” Lith asked.
“You’re not going to heal your arm?” Trevor asked.
“It’s not affecting my ability to fight, and I’ve stemmed the bleeding. I’ve recovered enough mana to cast five spells. I’d rather keep them for when we find ourselves in a pinch.”
“Fair enough.” Fayde said as she stood. “Well, I’m ready.”
The rest of their family stood and made their formation on the hill. Matia took the lead with her shield, Fayde and Trevor on her flanks. Lith stood close behind her with Enki and Guidry at his sides. It was a standard formation. Melee fighters up with ranged fighters and the healer in the back. As a unit, they ascended the hill.
When they first crested over the hill, they saw nothing. The growling was a constant bother on their nerves, yet they couldn’t see what was making it. The only thing they could see not on top of the hill was a small cluster of alabaster rocks. It looked like a large pile of stones gathered by the wolves on the hill. That was until the pile of stones started to move. The growling stopped as the mass of rock rose to the height of a draft stallion. Before them stood a massive alabaster stone covered wolf. It turned its head to the sky and let out a bellowing howl, deeper and more gravel in its tone than the furred wolves below. Similar howls began echoing from every hill in the fields around them until the air and ground were shaking from the combined vibrations from them all. As the howls died out, the Alabaster Wolf looked down on them, taking a posture ready for battle before growling and letting out a snarling bark.
“Weird flex, but ok wolfy.” Taunted Lith.
“Tch,” Matia sounded with a smirk. “Leave the taunting to me, dad.”
“Show it what you go kiddo.” He said as he put a hand on her shoulder. “Flank it!”
Matia unleased a Taunting Roar. Fayde and Enki flanked right while Trevor and Guidry took the left. The wolf charged at Matia who was already holding her shield up to block. As the wolf passed the two flanking groups, Enki and Guidry released their ranged attacks. Mana Bolts impacted with the hard stone, sending out shards of sharp alabaster that pelted Trevor as she body blocked with her leather armor. Many of the small pebbles fell harmlessly to the ground while some of the larger shards lodged themselves in her armor. None of them managed to break her skin, but it showed that the wolf had general defenses for magical attacks. Enki’s first arrow glanced off the hard rock armor and his second shot fired no better even if it was boosted by Power Shot.
“It has armor!” Enki called out. “No shots from me until the rocks are gone.”
“Bolts can break it, but it’ll take a few shots.” Guidry relayed.
The wolf snapped at Matia but was met with a shield to the side of its massive snout. As it recoiled, she came down with a Mighty Swing empowered strike. Despite her recently increased strength, all she managed was to chip at a single rock on the wolf’s massive body.
“High physical defense.” Lith shouted to his family. “Matia will keep its attention. Guidry, focus your spells on a vital spot like its neck. Fayde, can you trip up its legs?”
She didn’t answer. She only moved in as Enki stepped back and continued around it. The wolf continued its attacks on Matia, completely enthralled by her taunting skill. Fayde’s blades struck down between the rocks, pulling them apart as she jostled her blades. They didn’t fall off, but they did loosen from each other a bit. If she focused on a few of the rocky protrusions she might be able to hit some tendons and reduce its maneuverability.
As the wolf continued to attack Matia, Guidry released Mana Bolts at the wolf’s neck. Trevor’s armor was becoming speckled in rocky white shards from her son’s efforts as she protected him. Just a few more hits and the armor around their side of the neck would be broken. Fayde had been dodging and parrying the half-minded scrapes in her direction from the paws of the wolf. The rock armor on its right foreleg was loose and about ready to split, giving her access to its all-important tendons.
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Lith had been maintaining watch over the battle. Guidry had just unleashed another Mana Bolt on the neck of the wolf. One more and Lith was sure the armor would break. He knew that Enki too was keeping careful watch of the area. He was already charging up a Power Shot. He put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. He could feel the strain in her arms and shoulder through the armor. Her stamina was almost tapped from taking on so much of the wolf’s focused attack.
“Got one more taunt in you, kiddo?”
“Probably.” She grunted as she bashed away the wolf’s jaws again. “I’ll be tapped out after. This dog’s bite is as bad as its bark.”
“Don’t worry. Your old man has a great idea.”
Guidry unleashed another Mana Bolt and more shards than ever before showered down from the neck of the Alabaster Wolf exposing shredded flesh from the repeated impacts as they shattered the stone armor. Enki unleashed his Power Shot infused arrow through the mangled neck flesh. The arrow passed straight through the throat and right into the beast’s mouth, lodging itself in the roof of its mouth. The wolf was about to turn its attention fully towards the group of three on its left before Fayde struck. She slipped the pointed end of her blades into the area of its leg that she had loosened, and with a scissoring motion, severed meat and tendon from skin to bone. At the same time, Matia let out another Taunting Roar, bringing the wolf’s attention fully onto her as she collapsed, completely drained of stamina.
The wolf, despite its wounds, was in a frenzy. It was shaking its rocky armor viciously. Shards began to shed and splinter off the Alabaster Wolf as it shed its rocky armor. Guidry summoned a Mana Shield around himself, his mother, and his uncle, sparing them from the attack. Although the more shards he blocked, the more mana he lost. Fayde jumped back, dodging, and parrying the shards as they rained down, a few of them still managed to scrape here where she had no armor. With Matia down from stamina depletion, Lith needed to act fast. He grabbed the shield from her hand. He angled the shield to intercept the brunt of the shards that came raining down, doing his best to cover them both from the hail of stones.
When the rocks had settled, the wolf stood before them. A bleeding mess of shorn flesh with rabid eyes. Those fiery eyes were still locked on the now defenseless Matia. Lith saw the wolf’s gaze pass right past him to his daughter. He switched the shield to his right hand as the wolf lunged. Using his left arm, he wrapped the muzzle of the wolf to his body. Planting his feet to the ground, he pushed with all his might while punching the open neck wound with the edge of the shield. The wolf’s right leg gave out from Fayde’s cutting on the tendons causing it to fall to the ground. Lith kept slamming the edge of the shield into the open wound on the side of its neck, using his weight to keep the wolf down and off balance.
Lith continued to bluntly strike the neck of the wolf, his vision turning red as blood splattered with each strike. The gaze the best gave his daughter stirred a primal anger in his chest. He wouldn’t let go. He wouldn’t stop. Not until the wolf was dead and his family was safe from that bestial furry. He would show the wolf that his wrath was far worse than what it could muster.
“Lith!” Fayde yelled as she caught his arm. Her strength was greater than his after her level up, and his constant strikes on the now corpse of the wolf was draining his stamina. “It’s dead. You can stop now.”
Lith let out a quivering breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding. The upper half of his body was soaked in the blood of the wolf from the splatter his blows had created. He stood up shakily as he moved his left hand from under the head of the wolf. Looking down, he realized that he nearly severed the head from the body of the wolf with his furious swings.
“Shit.” Lith said as he stood and rotated his right shoulder. “I think I went crazy for a minute there.”
“No shit.” Said Enki. “You damn near took the thing’s head off. Did you level up from that?”
Lith was so numb in his rage that he didn’t realize energy had surged through his body and broken a threshold. He pulled up his status screen to see if he had leveled up or not.
Name: Lith Howe-Rivers Race: Human F Class: Healer Level 2
Attributes:
Strength:10 Dexterity:15 Toughness:10 Endurance:12
Vitality:15 Will:20 Intelligence:20 Perception:10
Wisdom:10 Free Points: 5
Skills: Heal, Balm
Sure enough, killing the wolf had gotten him to level two. It didn’t make him feel any better after his rage filled outburst. He had mentally marked the bog wolf to be Guidry’s kill to get him over that level threshold to level two as well. He looked over to Guidry with a frown.
“Sorry for the kill steal buddy.”
“It’s fine. We all got some energy from the kill.” Guidry said smiling at his grandfather.
“Really?!” Lith asked happily. “Fuck yes for experience distribution. How much did everyone get?”
“I got just enough to bring me to level two.” Guidry said.
“The rest of us got a fair amount, but I don’t think we’re even halfway to our next level.” Fayde mentioned.
“I feel like I just made it to level two.” Lith said. “So, everyone that contributed got a portion of the energy, but the one who delt the final blow got the majority of the energy.”
“Seems so.” Said Fayde “But at least we are all level two now.”
“True enough.” Lith agreed as he put three of his free points into Strength and two into Endurance. He wasn’t planning on being regulated to only being a healer. His class would see to it that his general class related attributes would increase. He would have to use his free points to make a path for himself. “So, what’s next? That one had to count for the quest.”
“Take a look for yourself.” Fayde said with an unpleasant look on her face.
Lith pulled up their quest screen. The box in his peripheral was still visible but had some denoting marker on it making him want to investigate closer.
Quest:
Kill Alabaster Wolves: 1/100
He was relieved that the wolf was indeed an Alabaster Wolf and counted towards their quest goal. The next few lines, however, left him feeling both excited and annoyed.
New Quest:
Collect 99 Alabaster Cores: 0/99
New Quest:
Defend the Alabaster Core as it forms:
Time Remaining: 57 Minutes
“I’m already getting tired of the system and this tower.” Lith said as he began unwrapping his cloth bindings. “And of the fucking wolves. Fayde, can you give me a minute? I’ve got an idea of what I can do with some of this stone.”
“You, Matia, and Guidry take a break. Enki, Trevor, and I can take on the first few waves for a bit. Join in when you can.”
Lith smiled. “Thank you, my love.”
Lith unbound his wraps until only his forearms were covered. He took some of the longer shards of alabaster stone and weaved them over and under his wrappings. The stones were strong enough to resist Power Shots and Mighty Swings, so they could definitely take some bites from lesser wolves. He then took a few minutes to secure two of the larger stones to the back of his fist, testing out how he tied them down to make sure they didn’t slip from place as he struck the ground. This left his hands free to cast his Heal spell as needed, and ensured he had a weapon to effectively take down wolves with less effort. He was not a pacifist healer.
The first wave to assail them came five minutes after the timer had begun. The pack was comprised of six wolves, none of them being an Alabaster Wolf. They died quickly. The second wave came five minutes later, again a pack of six wolves.
“Think it’ll be the same in another five minutes?” Lith asked.
“You tell me in five minutes.” Fayde said as she sat down next to him. “Your turn honey.”
Lith stood and stretched before jabbing the air with his new weapons a few times.
“Matia. Guidry. We’re up.”
They both stood and took a triangular formation around the top of the hill. All of them had recovered enough stamina and mana over the last ten minutes to easily take out six wolves. Like this the hour came and went. One wave of six wolves every five minutes. They switched out teams every ten minutes, just so everyone could level together as quickly as possible. During the one hour the core took to form, they watched as all the grass on and around the hill absorbed the blood spilled onto the ground. Small roots seemed to rise from the ground and dig into the wolf carcasses, draining them completely as they were covered in red roots. The whole process was rather disturbing if they were being honest, but the roots left them alone. None of them had reached level three yet, but they were all feeling pretty close to one. A few more wolves and they would likely break another level threshold.
Quest Complete
Defend the Alabaster Core as it forms:
Time Remaining: 0 Minutes
At the center of the hill, red roots sprouted from the ground. They grew rapidly before sprouting a pure white flower bud, which bloomed as quickly as it formed. Laying there in the middle of the newly bloomed flower was a small round alabaster stone. Matia walked over and picked it up.
“This is an Alabaster Core?” Matia asked as she looked at it, holding it between her pointer and thumb. “It’s so ti…”
The core passed through her armor and into her skin, wracking her hand in pain.
“Gah fuck! Get it out! Get it out!” she screamed, holding her hand by the wrist.
“Matia?” Fayde and Lith asked together. “What’s going on.”
“The core! It’s…it’s in my hand. Gah”
Lith caught his daughter as she fell to the ground in pain. Fayde took her hand and practically ripped off her gauntlet. There was nothing there. No wound, no red mark, no blemish. She turned the hand over, examining it fully but found nothing.
“Where is it? I don’t see anything.” Fayde said.
The pain was excruciating, but it was lessening slightly. It felt like it was traveling through her finger and into her palm.
“It right here.” Matia said examining her hand, but she, too, saw nothing wrong with it, or any sign of the core. The pain was quickly subsiding as it traveled through to her wrist. Once it passed through her forearm the pain had completely subsided, leaving only a phantom soreness.
“Matia?” her mother called her name questioningly.
“I’m fine. The pain is gone.”
“Stop. Touching. Random. Things.” Each word was cut off, accentuating her words and driving them home. She should definitely stop picking up random things.
“Right. Sorry mom.”
“Jesus Christ kiddo. I nearly had a heart attack.” Lith said as he patted her shoulder. A warm sensation flowed through her body.
“What was that? Did you cast a spell?”
“It was Balm.” Lith admitted. “Should purge whatever toxins or poisons that thing might have given you.”
She shook her head. “Can you not be so overbearing?”
“Can you stop picking up random things?”
She blushed. “Fine. Whatever.” She said under her breath. Her father did another examination of her hand, testing finger strength, flexibility, ensuring it still had feeling. She got a clean bill of health from her dad. She already knew she was ready to continue on their quests. The quest log had even updated.
Collect 99 Alabaster Cores: 1/99
With the core collected, they took some time to look over their gear before heading to the next hill. The grass on the hill remained red and stretched out until it was halfway to any of the other hills around it. If the hills they conquered stayed red, it would serve as a good marker for where they would have to go next. As they passed over the dividing line of red and white, they were set upon by the roaming wolves again. Lith had the family move back into the red side and found that the wolves would not cross into the red grass. He didn’t know if it was because the wolves knew their natural camouflage wouldn’t work in the red grass or if the red grass would try to consume the wolves when they crossed and the wolves knew it, but for now, the red grass was a safe zone.