“Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck.” I cry as I slice my sword through the air. Trying to land a hit on one of the creatures flying past me. Nearly every strike missing as they managed to move in the air, dodging my blade before vanishing from sight. Slowly, the mass of creatures were pushing me back. Almost as if they were being coordinated to drive me into a trap or corner.
There was nothing behind me but the crater and it was coming up fast. The ground near me was already showing signs of the dirt my fireball had thrown into the air. Slowly, the dirt itself started to grow softer as it shifted. Sending wave after wave of rocks and dirt tumbling into the pit below. The noise of which was loud enough for even my dull ears to hear over the sounds of my attackers as they prepared for yet another attack.
As I saw it, I had four options here. I could stand my ground and hope for the best. Not that I thought I had much chance. They were utilizing hit-and-run tactics. Something that I was not trained for nor capable of countering.
Then there was the option to run. Just put my sword in my inventory and take off at a flat sprint for the safety of the wall. It wasn’t that far of a run but I didn’t see myself as capable of making it even down the hill, let alone to the wall. Not when these things were moving fast enough that I could barely see them.
Of course, I could charge them. Take the initiative back. In most games I had played, such a move would usually confuse an attacker long enough to get a few good hits in. Only, I was facing an unknown, but not small, number of bunnies. If I didn’t manage to kill or hurt a significant number of them, I was dead.
Lastly, I could turn and run toward the pit. Get down into it and to the center. As mentioned before, running was probably not a good idea, however, doing so here might give me the one or two things I needed if I was going to have a chance of winning. It would force the things out from their cover. After all, where would they be able to hide if there were no more plants to use? With the ability to see my attackers, I could get a count of how many I was up against as well as react to any attack before it came rather than react to the sound of grass as the creature started its charge.
After a flurry of charging creatures disappear into the grass, I see my opportunity. Turning tail, I sprint the last few feet to the edge of the crater and jump. Both horrified and surprised by just how far I managed to make it before crashing to the ground. Not having any time to react before I land face-first in the dirt.
Spluttering, I roll to the left. Lifting my blade up just as a fluffy brown missile goes flying past me. Judging by how my blade tugs at my hand and the splatter of liquid I hear, I managed to hit it somewhere. Hopefully a vital spot.
Almost as if the world is waiting to see what is going to happen next, everything around me goes deadly silent. Slowly standing, I look around and see just how screwed I truly was. Bunnies of every earthly color stand facing me. Each beady eye drilled into me as one. There had to be at least a hundred of the things.
The largest five bunnies in the group are spread out but, as one, they lift a single long foot. Smashing it down into the dirt to produce a single loud thump. The force of it sends a rock and dirt tumbling down toward me from where they stand. Within a second, the rest of the bunnies do the same.
The sound they make isn’t as well coordinated as the first five, but it is nearly as powerful. A cascade of dirt and stone hit my legs as the sound echoes back from the other side of the crater. The first five repeat their stomp and are quickly copied by the rest. Over and over, faster and faster, the bunnies repeat this call and answer until eventually, it sounds like rolling thunder.
As soon as I take a step back they stop. Not one or two but every single foot stops. Thoroughly creeped out, I contemplate throwing a fireball and killing everything here. And I do mean everything. I was under no illusion that such an explosion would kill me just as quickly and easily as the rest of these creatures. Maybe I should keep that as a backup plan. Albeit one that I hoped I would not have to use.
Now that I thought about it, maybe using my mana wasn’t a bad idea. Not for killing the bunnies, at least not directly, but to enhance my body. In fact, enhancing my entire body might be the only way I could make it through this. Question was, did I have enough mana to pull something like this off? Taking a quick glance at the two bars in the corner, I got some good and bad news.
Turns out, even if the bunnies have only been headbutting me, they have been doing some damage. My HP was already down to half. That was the bad news. The good news was that my mana was also approaching half. While I could use the spell, I would have to be careful how often I did so. I almost wished that there was a way to restrict how much mana flowed into such spells. Maybe when I got back to town I would ask Mindi or Barti if there was a way to do so.
As I thought that, I realized that I would go back. It hadn’t been her fault that she had to do that to me. It was something that had been drilled into her. Plus, I needed the training and they were knowledgeable and free so why not? However, I would have to see about getting them to promise to not do something like that again. But first.
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Mind snapping back to the army of bunnies that covered a good fourth of the craters’ circumference, I prepared my spell. Forming and looping a single thread through and around my body. Making sure to focus on the larger muscles as I went. But, even when I had finished looping and moving the spell, I didn’t finish it. I wouldn’t waste the mana I had until they attacked.
The smallest in the bunch looked antsy. Its nose and ears twitching. Yet it stayed where it was. Not daring to move or attack, even as the very earth below it started to give. Given that the dirt had been mostly stable until we got there, it was likely the combination of the extra weight as well as the stomping that destabilized the lip. Not that it mattered. The only thing that mattered was the end result. A result that started with the bunny falling and ended with all the others taking it as a sign to attack.
Finishing the spell, I flew forward. Meeting their charge with my own. Slashing at them as they dodged. Most of them tried to headbutt me again, but many switched tactics. Aiming to bite or scratch at any part of me they could get a hold of. Blood blossomed around me as my Chisa Katana found purchase again and again. Killing one or two at a time all while I dodged five or more attacks.
Not that I managed to attack all of them. The first major wound was delivered by one of the smaller and faster bunnies. Its bite tore a piece of muscle right out of my calf. Searing pain from the bite nearly causing me to lose focus. Given that part of my mind was focusing on holding a spell going while the rest kept me alive, that would be a very bad thing.
Trying to assess the damage, I chanced a glance at my health bar and nearly balked. It was flashing red as the levels inside slowly, but visibly, dropped. Not only that, my mana was already a fourth gone and this fight had barely even begun. I would not be able to keep this up. Not if I wanted to survive.
Gritting my teeth, I switched to an entirely defensive posture as I dropped the spell. I had to think fast. I had to come up with some way to stem the bleeding and keep going without using up all my mana. If only the Body Fortification spell wasn’t so inefficient at healing wounds with mana. Then again, it wasn’t like the spell was really designed to help with healing. Its purpose was to increase the strength and resilience of the muscles and bones in a limb or two by flooding said limbs with mana.
Wait, what if I didn’t flood a limb with mana but a small region of it? Like, say, where the wound is. It would speed up the healing without wasting much mana. A bunny got within my guard and I instinctively punched it. The body went flying as part of my mind got to work threading the new mana thread through my body.
Reaching the missing chunk of muscle, I wrapped the section in thread after thread of mana. Not stopping until it looked like there was a piece of cloth woven inside me. The moment it connected back to my pool and mana flooded it, I felt the skin and muscle squirm. I nearly threw up as I felt my cells go to work repairing the damage.
Wound taken care of as well as I could with what little knowledge I had, I changed tactics. Moving from a defensive footing to a modified one. One that felt right as I removed my left hand from the hilt and pulled out my knife. Had I ever trained in dual weapon combat? Nope, but I needed the extra weapon now more than ever, even if my skill was subpar.
I forced my mind to work faster and faster. To take in every piece of information the world was giving me and process it. To plan with it. All so that I could keep up with this fluffle of bunnies. Even then, I kept pushing it. Pushing my body and my brain as far as I could. Based on the growing headache and the iron-tasting liquid slowly trickling into my mouth, I was probably even pushing it beyond what I should.
My feet danced as my hands wove a tapestry of steel in the air. Hitting each bunny as if they were notes of a song in an older VR game that used lightsabers to slice blocks. Single notes quickly turned into combos.
I received wounds, cuts and deep bites, again and again. I simply focused my one healing spell on the worst of the wounds and kept going. My movements speeding up and slowing down as various wounds healed while others appeared. The blades of my weapons sending out arcs of blood with each strike. With each such hit, more blood soaked into the dirt and formed into puddles.
I ignored the sounds of bodies hitting the floor, the sticky feeling of blood on my skin, and the iron smell that filled the air. Focusing on one thing and one thing only; killing anything that attacked me as I danced through the puddles of blood.
Finally, just as I nearly reached my limit, the last of the bunnies fell. Its body sliced in half lengthwise as it sails past me. Everything hurts. Every muscle, including the one in my head. On top of that, I feel light-headed as hell. Likely from the amount of blood that I lost throughout the fight. Not that I was complaining. I was fairly sure that I would have been dead if not for my makeshift healing spell. Which apparently the system recognized as a real spell.
Spell
Cost
Effect
Damage
Emergency Healing (Makeshift)
1 per minute
Speed up healing in a single region.
NA
Not bad for something I came up with on the spot. Though I would still have to ask about a real healing spell because I was pretty sure I wasted a ton of mana and time healing wounds with this spell. I came too close to dying a few times as a wound took a little too long to stop bleeding.
Arms relaxed at my side and shoulders back, I take a minute to look up at the sky. A crimson shade mixed with orange and yellow covered the sky as the sun sank below the horizon. Seeing it, I mumbled the words I had read in a book once, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor’s take warning.”
While I had never been a superstitious type, I had found this saying to be mostly true. Though not always in the way one might think. Given how much fantasy was packed into this game, I was sure that it would be the same but only time would tell.
Dropping my head, I looked at the mess my fight had created. The mounds of bodies scattered here and there. Blood drops splashing into pools as everything settles. Seeing all of this, I heave a sigh before getting to work collecting everything.