TJ was the first to react to the wendigo’s declaration. He had plenty of confidence in killing the pukwudgies, and the possibility of them working together with the obviously much more powerful wendigo was terrifying. He condensed a scythe of wind, feeling the benefits of his slightly improved Intelligence and Fixation as he did so. When he was confident the blade would cut through flesh and bone, TJ sent his attack forward. With a hissing roar, the nearly ten foot-long blade appeared and flew forward. One pukwudgie on the end dodged out of the way, another fell prostrate, losing only hair from the initial attack. The last three seemed as if they’d die, and TJ felt his adrenaline spike. Victory would soon arrive!
That was when a wall of ice appeared in front of the last three. The wind, with more preparation and power sunk into it than the ice, sliced through, but on the far side, was only able to wound the pukwudgies shallowly. TJ’s stomach sank as he saw that he would be fighting alone against six enemies, and he made his decision without hesitation. He spun and began fleeing back towards town.
The scent of blood followed him, the bleeding pukwudgies pursuing without hesitation. There would be two more uninjured ones following as well, and TJ’s mind raced to decide what to do about them. More importantly, though, were the surprisingly quick and heavy steps of the wendigo as it too followed his trail. TJ consulted his MP: 222/300. He could do that same blade of wind nearly three more times, though it would empty his MP. Unfortunately, the pukwudgies no longer stood together and had spread to attempt to surround him. He was sure there would be weapons in each hand, though they’d all activated their camouflaging ability.
His flight led him ever further, and TJ considered calling his hunt a bust. Even with the impending danger, though, TJ couldn’t bring himself to. This was at least one more level laid out in front of him, and he wasn’t about to run away from it even before they’d landed a blow on him.
Decision made, TJ slowed himself just enough to allow the quiet sounds and subtle smell of pukwudgie to close in on him. The tromping steps of the wendigo remained at the forefront of his mind, but TJ sensed it was too far away to immediately reach him. There was an immensely risky idea that occurred to him, but if it worked, TJ was sure he could quickly dispatch the closest assailant. With that surety and his confidence in his own ability to survive, TJ deactivated Divine Transformation just as a pair of spears tried to pierce through him to pin his body to the ground. As a human, his body was no longer there, and the pukwudgies were far from prepared for his response.
Though TJ suspected that the level seven goblins had a higher Strength than him, he knew from experience that their weight was exactly what one would expect from a potbellied creature that was more legs and arms than body. He dove towards one of the two uninjured creatures. His right hand found its pukwudgie’s ankle, and his left its other. Then, just as its spear began to descend towards him, TJ whipped it around and headfirst into the nearest tree. Its skull cracked against the wood with a sickening thunk. There was no kill notification, so TJ spun a full 360 degrees before smashing its back into the same tree. Its spine snapped with a final crack, and TJ didn’t pay any attention to the kill notification.
The rest of the pukwudgies rushed towards him and TJ spun one last time and hurled the limp body at its companions. Two of the injured creatures were unable to avoid its spindly limbs and torso while the other one and the single remained healthy one flickered around and outside of the body’s range. Their spears glinted dangerously, but TJ’s goal as a human had been completed. He shifted back to his coatl form, his timer for Divine Transformation with over half an hour remaining. The two furious but weak thrusts skittered off his scales uselessly.
TJ lunged forward, catching one’s head while sending magic to the tip of his tail. Anything that followed him would quickly regret it. With the pukwudgie’s head stuck in his mouth, it wouldn’t survive for long and TJ shook it like a terrier shook a rat while he fled. The second death notification let him drop it without worrying, and TJ wondered if the rest would simply let him escape. The wendigo’s words disabused him of that thought.
“Catch. My. Dinner.”
Wordless birdlike screeches filled the air behind him. The wendigo, with the short delay that fight had offered him, had closed in enough for TJ to see the bushes it was stomping through. He resumed his flight, but the sole healthy pukwudgie had caught up. It stayed in front of him, stabbing at his eyes without engaging fully. It knew it only needed to slow him enough for the four remaining enemies to surround him, and that was all it seemed to intend to do. TJ cursed to himself, noting the relative position of the other two pukwudgies as he sprinted as quickly as he could manage. The wendigo was, once again, being left behind, and TJ evaluated the three pukwudgies that remained.
The healthy nuisance in his face could momentarily be ignored, and he focused on the two behind him. Though they both were wounded and bleeding heavily, TJ saw they were ready to stab him wherever and however they could. He sent the vast majority of his MP to his already prepared tail, banking on the proximity of his next Neophyte level. TJ slowed his head’s dodging slightly, allowing an errant strike to scrape just into the flesh under his scales along his mane. He flared the mane, the feathers tightening around the spear and keeping the pukwudgie from easily wrenching it free. Meanwhile, the two flanking goblins saw the opportunity he’d deliberately presented.
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Before their spears could wound him terribly, TJ flicked his tail and released the ripping winds into the pukwudgies’ gaping maws. There was a wet sound of tearing flesh and screaming pukwudgie as TJ’s blade of wind ripped the upper half of their heads free. Two more death notifications left him with one wholly uninjured pukwudgie and wendigo ready to rip him to pieces. The wendigo was again gaining on him, the time taken to slay the penultimate monsters providing it enough time to draw closer still, closer than it had ever been.
TJ rolled his whole body over, the pukwudgie’s spear lodged between his feathers wrenching free of its owner’s hands. He could hear the crackling of frost behind him as the wendigo approached. Checking his MP, he saw he had only 54/300 remaining. He couldn’t use it in fear of weakening himself with a killer migraine if this last pukwudgie didn’t give him sufficient experience to reach level 8 of Neophyte. His decision made, TJ leapt at the pukwudgie, disregarding the sound, smell, and chill that accompanied the wendigo as it reached him.
His coils wrapped around the pukwudgie, and its sharp teeth dug into him with a desperate ferocity. With a Toughness of 78 and his scales, it only broke its own teeth. TJ constricted as strongly as he could, bones cracking and its breath wheezing. Before he could kill it, though, the wendigo reached him and, with chilled claws easily piercing his scales and flesh, began pulling him from his prey. The fear that had so easily settled over him by its presence was washed away by fury. It would steal his prey from him? TJ bit down on the pukwudgie again and again, tearing its flesh free.
A sharp icicle of pain shot up TJ’s whole body in return. The pukwudgie was dying in his coils and he stopped his desperately snapping jaws to look at the source of agony.
The wendigo was doing to him what he’d done to the pukwudgie. Its mouth, though skeletal and shaped like a cow’s or ram’s, was filled with the sharp teeth belonging to a predator. It chomped easily through his body and tore a four inch section from his tail free. With its claws still holding his body, it swallowed the mouthful of his flesh with its coldly glowing eyes flaring in apparent pleasure.
“You. Tasty.” It’s tone rasped up his spine and made TJ’s mane flare up in an involuntary attempt at intimidation. The wendigo paid him no mind as it lowered its mouth to take another bite. TJ wriggled in a maddened attempt to escape, but its claws, buried inches into his flesh and literally freezing his muscles, held him tight. The frost crawled up his skin, nearly a full foot of his body frozen to a snake-shaped ice cube. His mind swam with the agony of the frigid magic stealing from him his ability to move. With a wide grin, the wendigo’s mouth descended once more and chomped nearly completely through his body where it had bitten before. The last foot of his tail went limp as much of his spine was severed.
Hiss screaming in fear and desperation, TJ bit towards the wendigo’s arms and face again and again but it didn’t seem to care. His fangs scraped off the wendigo’s skull and face, and though his fangs found purchase in its arms, the ropy flesh was strangely tough and refused to bleed or fall apart under his assault. To make matters worse, with each strike he made, the wendigo’s frost spread over his face and down his throat.
Then, as TJ lost all hope of escape, praying that he would be able to drop Divine Transformation and maybe escape, his wounds stopped bleeding. The agonizing cold that filled his head more sharply and painfully than any brainfreeze disappeared. The wendigo’s claws in his flesh were pushed free by his healing wounds, and though feeling didn’t return to the parts of his tail below where his spine had been bitten through, every other wound he’d suffered in this brief clash was healed.
With a sharp twist of his body, TJ wrenched himself out of the wendigo’s grasp and flopped to the ground. He didn’t hesitate to pull himself back and out of its immediate reach. He looked at his notifications, thanking the System and Kukulkan that the final pukwudgie had provided sufficient experience for him to level up.
5 Pukwudgie Cultists, 7 slain.
Class: Neophyte has advanced to level 8.
Attribute points allocated: Endurance +3, Vitality +3, Toughness +2, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +2, Fixation +2, Free Points +1.
Race: Human has advanced to level 7.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +1, Agility +1, Endurance +1, Vitality +2, Toughness +1, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +1, Fixation +2. Additional Free Point currently available.
TJ threw the Free Point into Intelligence, well aware that if he wanted to kill the wendigo, he couldn't be anywhere near this monster as he did so.
For its part, the wendigo didn’t seem to mind TJ’s escape and survival. Instead, a long black tongue licked its bloodstained snout as it wheezed out an off-putting cackle.
“You. Bring. More. Meat? Always. Make. More? Perfect. Snack.”
Its piece said, the wendigo resumed attacking, rushing forward with claws and jaws ready. TJ slithered away while sending a couple condensed spears of wind into its face, though its eye’s flames didn’t flicker or even seem to react to the attack. Its laughter grew louder and more piercing, and TJ’s rage surged and filled him. Disregarding the paralyzed tip of his tail, he was at the top of his game, and this undead cow-skulled bastard was going to attempt to mock a son of Kukulkan? TJ allowed his magic to surge through his body as he leapt to reengage the monster.