Day 80
The Lizaks tail has been pretty decent as a knife.
I think. I haven't really gotten a chance to really push its durability.. My level had risen nicely to 17 during my wandering. But from what I had seen, I was still only at the level of beasts that are only a few years old. What fucking lunatics were the nomads for living here? Anyway, it seems like the pink feathered beast had finally left. I haven’t heard the whistle or windstorms in five days. I didn’t know if it was resting or not. But I also didn’t have the leisure of finding out.
For the past 3 days I’ve been trying to move as fast as I could. I was being followed. Each morning, no matter where I made my safe place of sleep, I would awake to see a strange beast in the distance. It stood only up to my knees, maybe half a meter tall, but I could always recognize it. It contrasted its surroundings sharply, as it was pitch black. A solid black silhouette of some sort of vulpine beast… if it was just that I wouldn't worry, for as soon as I tried to approach it it would dash off, leaving behind thick black footprints coated in some sort of tar.
However, everyday I saw more. The first day there was only one. Then two. Yesterday there were four, and today I woke up to see 8 in the distance. To make it worse, each morning, they are closer than before. I’ve been trying desperately to lose them, but even with my skills they always seem to be following me… waiting. I don’t know how they’re following me.
Day 81
Today, there's sixteen… just standing in the distance. They had gotten closer. I thought I would be able to see some details as they got closer, but it was like their entire body was pitch black. The only features of their body I could see was when they move…it's like a living shadow…
I needed to move faster. I was going to try crawling up the valley walls, so I could at least be uphill if I needed to fight them. Maybe I’d be able to climb something so steep they wouldn't be able to follow me. Here’s to hoping I don’t fall and break something… that would be a death sentence.
Day 82
Thirty-two. At least I thought it was thirty-two, I can't tell them apart anymore. The moment two were close to each other their bodies nearly seemed to blend together. it was just one massive black blob in the distance at this point, but I could feel it… watching me, waiting. I haven't been able to stay in one place long. I was worried if I did they'd attack. Would it double again tomorrow, would they avoid the feathers… too many questions, not enough answers. They were only 50 meters away today… How close would they be tomorrow…
How many would there be?
Day 83
Sixty four. That would be the logical step, the next step in the fucking pattern, so why had the size of the black mass not doubled… but quadrupled? The distance has shortened by 30 meters.
They were practically surrounding me when I woke up. All I could see was a wall of black. They’re going to attack, I could sense it, could feel the hunger in it. These things were endurance hunters like humans… I had no other choice but to draw my lizak tail, get ready, and hope.
Picking up a stone, I launched it into the ring of black. The stone had just about pierced the darkness before the void opened up, letting the rock fly through, and instantly it closed up. To my dismay it seemed that the rock finally kicked things into action, for hundreds of red eyes shone within the void now. Four shadowy blurs emerged from each cardinal direction. The ones in front and behind lunged first.
Now that they were closer I could see their form better. They were some strange combination of a fox and wolf. They had the head profile of a fox but the body profile of a wolf. I didn't have time to be concerned about their appearance, though.
I quickly dove out of the way and watched as the two monsters blended into each other as they collided, only to pass right through each other without stopping their pace. They ran right back into the ring of the pack.
I barely had time to process as the second pair lunged as well, teeth bared, towards me. With a quick sidestep I swung my Lizak tail at them as they collided. But oddly enough, it felt like I had merely swiped through sludge, and to add to that feeling, a strange black liquid had coated the tail. This would be troublesome. My usual methods wouldn’t work.
The attacks were relatively simple, but difficult to avoid. They would always attack in pairs at opposite angles every five seconds while slowly shrinking the circle. It would have been relatively easy to dodge, except for the fact as they ran across to the other side, their footprints left a sticky black liquid upon the ground. The more I dodged the more I was losing safe ground to dodge on.
Added to the fact it felt like none of my attacks landed I began to have my doubts if I could escape this encounter. The circle had shrunk to half its size by now, a mere fifteen meter radius, and over half of the floor had been coated by that damn black substance. It had been only a matter of time, but eventually I stepped in it, and it was like stepping into wet cement. In that brief moment my foot had been stuck to the floor, I couldn't dodge and two of the beasts lunged onto me.
Their teeth didn’t so much sink into me as they almost… squished against me. At first it didn’t seem like much, but before long, it began to burn. With a scream of pain I reached over my shoulder and jammed my arm into the creature. In a moment of desperation, I found substance to grab, and I immediately tightened my hand into a vice grip around it. I ripped it off my shoulder and slammed it down upon the one clamped to my leg, and without giving them any chance to escape, I stabbed the tail right into the area I had grabbed. Finally I felt the breaking of flesh, and with adrenaline rushing through my body I twisted the tail. Reveling in the squeal of pain the creature let out, I twisted the tail more as I dug it deeper. I heard the second creature squeal as well. If it could feel pain, it could die, and that was all I needed to know, and true to my hopes...
Stolen novel; please report.
[Tar hound Lv. 25 Killed]
[Tar hound Lv. 25 Killed]
Tar hound, that was the name of the prey. Two down….. Only one hundred and twenty six to go. Their attack pattern was simple, and now I knew how to kill them. There was a small squishy thing in each one, let's call it a core, just break that and it dies. As they lunged, I would try to grab the core and stab it. Of course, this led to me getting bit by the second of each pair, but the bites were not that strong. Just painful… And with all of their levels being twenty-five... It was only a matter of time until I felt the level up surge through my body, and my wounds healed.
But, just as my confidence grew, so too did the beasts' tactics. Without hesitation they immediately tripled their attacks. Six now launched out, and the time between attacks shortened from five to three seconds. Each time I grabbed one to kill, five more bit down upon my body. I was unable to rip them off fast enough before the next wave came, and before I knew it I was overwhelmed, and forced to the ground. They didn’t have much mass, but there were just so many.
That was when the horde descended, I could feel them biting onto me, covering me in searing tar.
Oh gods… they were melting me alive.
Those bastards were treating me as if I was already a carcass to scavenge! I had to think, how could I live, I needed to figure something out, how to kill those tar bastards. Then, it hit me, even through the roaring pain of raw muscle being dissolved.
Tar, of course! Of course! With what little sanity and willpower I had left, I used [Prestidigitation] and created a small flame in my hand. I hoped level ups would help with fire burns, because as soon as I created that flame, an endless cacophony of squeals of pain erupted around me as my vision was dyed red with flames. My body erupted in even worse agony as the heat sweltered and blistered my skin. Yet the continuous voice inside my head filled me with a joy that drowned out all the pain.
[Tar hound Lv. 25 Killed]
[Tar hound Lv. 25 Killed]
[Tar hound Lv. 25 Killed]
[Tar hound Lv. 25 Killed]
[Tar hound Lv. 25 Killed]
[Tar hound Lv. 25 Killed]
Hahahah! The voice didn't end, and with the constant deaths I could feel my strength returning as the next level up filled my body. As I pushed my way through the fluid mass, using the lizak tail to scrape any remaining tar off me, I watched with joy at the flaming pile. It seemed to have spread to the entire horde as I could see in the distance flaming beasts trying to flee, only to collapse with a new notification in my head.
[Level 20 reached, please choose a new class to continue leveling up.]
[Recommended classes: Survivor II, Dagger initiate, Hero, Huntress, Nomad, Apprentice Pyromancer]
Shit! I couldn’t let all this exp go to waste! I needed to choose a class now, I had no time to look at any of the other classes, I simply selected [Survivor II] as fast as I could. It worked well for me so far, and I couldn't check the details of the new ones in time. So I chose the safest bet.
[Class Chosen. Congratulations Survivor.]
[Distributing Skills]
[Survival crafting upgraded]
[Animal processing upgraded]
[Toxin resistance upgraded]
[Hunter vision upgraded]
[Physical boost upgraded]
[Conceal upgraded]
[Launch upgraded]
[Prestidigitation upgraded]
[Upgrades Distributed. Distributing New skills]
[Pain resistance unlocked]
[Pain resistance has integrated into Insanity skills]
[Sturdy body unlocked]
[Way of the Survivor unlocked]
[Passive Skills Distributed]
[Lunge unlocked]
[Stamina Well unlocked]
[Roar unlocked]
[Endure unlocked]
[Retreat Unlocked]
[Thank you for the wait Survivor.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level ups complete, distributing titles]
[Title earned: 1 vs 100]
[Title earned: Arsonist]
[Title earned: Tar Hound Slaughterer]
With a sigh I sat down and let out a primal scream, of joy, relief, too many emotions to count. Joy I won, relief it was over, sadness that their corpses probably couldn't be used as food, anger that they ruined my clothes, defiant rage, and incomprehensible fear that those monsters were only level 25…
Exploring was too dangerous, I needed a solid base, one I could actually survive in… For now, I wanted to crawl in a cave and sleep.