The sun rose as it always did, bringing Nenn a small sense of relief. With the coming of the day the alleged night predators that stalked the night would be gone once more, replaced by their docile cousins, the daytime fauna. Not that all daytime creatures were docile, but they were much less likely to stalk your group for miles waiting for someone to take a leak in the bushes.
The group arose and shared some of the gathering they had managed to do while on the run. Nenn of course politely declined the offer. During his watch he had taken the time to thoroughly examine his new form, only to find that there were even fewer organs than in his base form. His entire digestive tract, other than a tongue, was missing for example.
Nenn hypothesized that a deathstalker, true to its name, ate death to maintain itself. That’s why he received a surge of mana after he had killed those zombie monsters. The surge was all of the unattached mana from the corpse entering his body. Nenn shuddered as he thought back to the feeling. It was intoxicating to say the least. He could see how wanting to chase that feeling could lead deathstalkers to go on a killing frenzy.
Nenn had devised a simple two step plan, which the group was slightly hesitant about following. The first step was to return to the Obelisk. The second step was to seize the Obelisk and put down anything that got in their way. Truly it was the simplest of plans, but it was more than they had last night.
The group made their way to the mountain Nenn had described last night. The climb was tough on the knees, but it was uneventful. Nenn was very thankful for his newfound stamina. If he had been an unintegrated human, the mountain would have taken days to traverse, but now, it was an uphill cakewalk.
At the summit, the group took a quick break while they argued about what landmarks they had passed while on the run.
“We need to head to that mountain over there,” Sarah said as she pointed out towards the distant horizon. There was a chain of mountains that Nenn could make out. “You see how one side of that mountain is sharper than the other side? The Obelisk should be between it and one of the smaller mountains on this side.”
“Are you sure?” Ivan asked. His face betrayed the fact that he himself was not sure.
“Yes, I’m sure. You would be too if you ever took the chance to look up,” Sarah said, crossing her arms.
“It does look familiar,” Analice said, then pointed at a spot in between the group and the Obelisk. “There’s that large river we had to swim across. And there’s that big clearing too.”
“Damn, you’re right. Good eyes, Analice,” Paul said. “It looks like we know where we are going.”
“Then there is no time to waste,” Nenn said. “The more time that passes, the more enemies we will have to fight.” Nenn rose from his seated position off of his comfy rock.
“Hmm, actually…” Nenn trailed off as the gears turned in his mind. “Yeah, let’s do this instead. I’ll run ahead and see if I can harass the enemy. As I am now, I am more suited to be an opportunistic attacker. I don’t know how well I’d perform in a prolonged siege. You can come in behind me and back me up when you arrive. I’ll have scouted the area and hopefully thinned their ranks.”
“Won’t the naga know they are under attack? Won’t they change tactics?” Paul said. The man was trying to work through the logistics in his mind.
“Oh, I’m sure they will know. But, I’m not human. I mean, I currently don’t look like a human. I’m sure that when they see me in the dead of night they will assume that I am a night predator. I have no idea if anyone has ever seen a deathstalker before, or if they could be night predators, but it's worth a shot,” Nenn said.
“I think it could work,” Sarah said. “I vote for the tindercat’s plan.” Nenn paused for a second bristling at the name. He could see a small smile cross Sarah’s face.
“Mother fucking tindercat, I love it,” Ivan said, the man doubled over laughing. He had to take a couple of breaths before he could get it together. “I vote for Tindercat. Tindercat for president.”
“Turnabout is fair play, Tindercat. I think we would be better off going together, but that would take days for us to return. I’m willing to bet that you can out run us by quite a bit. You look to be built for speed,” Analice said. For the first time since last night the woman had a smile on her face.
“I’m on the fence, but I think you have the right of it,” Paul said. “Just try not to stray into any errant campfires along the way. We’d hate for you to burn up.” Ivan cracked up again, and the group looked to once more be in good spirits.
“I’m going then,” Nenn said. “Try not to get lost along the way.” Nenn jumped down from his rock and then launched himself off of the summit, landing on an outcropping several meters down.
“And good hunting to you, Tindercat!” Sarah the named rogue called out as Nenn disappeared into the foliage below.
***
Nenn ran flat out for as long as he could. He pumped his stamina into his legs, and propelled himself through the forest. With the daylight Nenn could see everything in crystal clear detail. Nothing could get in his way as he bounded over obstacles and launched himself off of tree trunks when he needed the extra height. He found a good rhythm to maintain, burning his stamina at three times the rate of replacement until he hit 30% of his reserves. Then he would slow down and run at a recovery pacing until he was back to 100%.
After a couple of cycles of Stamina usage, Nenn felt hungry. But, this hunger was different than before. His body wasn’t crying out for carbs, or fats, but for the rich iron taste of blood. I guess this means I need to kill something to satiate myself, Nenn thought.
He slowed to a meandering pace and sniffed the air. It wasn’t something he had done consciously, but instead acted on instinct. There was a sweet smell on the wind again. It was different from the scent from the previous night. But it called to Nenn all the same. He sniffed around and figured out where the smell was coming from.
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Nenn changed course and followed the scent. A minute later he was crouched under some bushes near the edge of a small pond. Part of the pond was dimly lit by a small break in the canopy above it, allowing Nenn to see clear to the bottom through the crystal clear water. There were all sorts of underwater plants and even a couple of fish in the body of water, but that wasn’t what had Nenn’s attention.
At the water’s edge there was a bear-like creature. A big hulking mass of black fur and muscle. Its four paws were tipped with talons that looked to be oversized compared to its body. The fur around the bear’s paws and muzzle was matted with the telltale signs of dried blood. Nenn observed the bear for a minute. The bear’s attention had been captured by the fish in the pond. Water was dripping down from its hairy muzzle, indicating that it had already had its drink.
Nenn waited a minute more for his resources to recover. Satisfied, he pushed the required 10% of his reserves into the cancellation of [Ambush Predator] and felt a surge of power course through his body. Nenn shot out of the bush and landed jaws first around the right hindleg of the bear.
The bear roared in surprise as its leg was being lacerated by Nenn’s [Nature’s Weapons] enhanced teeth. The bear rolled over, squeezing Nenn between its mass and the hard packed ground. Nenn had been unable to unlatch his jaw fast enough to avoid the maneuver. Nenn felt a crack in his chest as the bear rolled back and forth on top of him.
[Entangling Roots]. Roots shot out of the ground, lashing themselves around the bear's neck, constricting its airway. The bear abandoned its attempt to smush Nenn into paste as it turned its razor sharp claws towards the thick roots around its throat. The bear’s claws glowed red for a second and it managed to cut straight through the roots like they were made of single ply toilet paper.
The roots had been enough of a distraction. Nenn had escaped the bear’s crushing mass, and bounced away, creating some space between him and his enraged foe.
The eyes of the bear now glowed a solid red color. If Nenn was a betting man, he would have bet anything that the bear was pissed off now. The bear righted itself and it charged at Nenn.
It was an awkward charge as the bear swerved towards one side as it pushed off of the ground. The bear had underestimated. It had been expecting both of its legs to function, but Nenn’s opening attack had removed enough of the right leg’s functionality.
Nenn dodged sideways, feeling the world slow down much the same as when he ran at speed. The time dilation effect was enough to allow Nenn to choose the correct direction to dodge. The bear swiped out with its glowing red claw but found nothing but air. The reckless charge backfired as the bear now found itself sprawled across the ground. Nenn seized the moment and ripped into the bear's midsection with his own claws before retreating.
The bear howled in pain as it staggered to its unsteady feet. The intensity of red light coming from its eyes deepened as the bear’s front paws left the ground as it stood on its two hind legs. Blood was running down into the fur of its belly at a good rate. The bear bellowed, shaking the very ground with its intensity. Nenn felt a surge of foreign mana push against his own. It felt aggressive, and oppressive. It’s definitely coming from the bear, but I don’t have a chance to stop and look at what’s happening.
The bear towered over Nenn. It was an intimidating sight, but to someone who had slain an ogre, it was just another day in the life of a giantslayer. Through whatever enraging ability the bear was using, it seemed to now be enough to allow it to ignore the injury to its leg.
Nenn looked at the knee of the bear’s good hind leg as he willed his [Rot] spell to cast. Nenn took a couple of steps back, and the bear followed in lockstep. He, the very obviously male bear, maintained the distance between them as it continued its ill-fated intimidation attack as it bellowed once more.
The bear took another step, then found that his good leg had given out entirely. With a sickening squelch, the still attached part of its left hind leg jammed into the ground. The rot continued to eat its way up the bear’s thigh muscles.
Nenn pounced forward and clawed at the bear’s eyes, ripping through them instantly. The bear spasmed on the ground, as it tried to contend with its ordeals. Nenn backed away. He had a moment to try something new.
Nenn focused and casted [Entangling Roots] once more. A pocket of roots pushed through the ground in front of the bear’s head, and shot forward into the bear's neck. Nenn had willed the roots to sharpen themselves, and they obeyed. The roots punctured the muscular neck of the bear, then fanned out and ensnared whatever they could find purchase on, then locked in place.
Choking sounds came from the bear’s throat as he tried to free himself by thrashing around. That had the opposite effect as some of the locked roots were now pulled through the bear's skin, leaving hunks of bear flesh attached.
The bear tried to stand once more but couldn’t muster the energy to do so. Defeated it flailed once more then became still, the red glow fading from its eyes. The result was immediate. Nenn felt a surge of mana enter his body from the bear. The feeling was enrapturing. Nenn was transfixed on the process occurring in front of him. A visible dark mass of mana was siphoning off of the bear’s corpse, starting from parts closest to Nenn. As the mana was taken, the flesh of the bear began to recede leaving only perfectly cleaned bones behind.
Are bones not made of mana? Nenn wondered.
YES THEY ARE, BUT THEY SERVE A DIFFERENT PURPOSE TO A DEATHSTALKER SO THEY ARE NOT CONSUMED.
Nenn would have jumped out of his skin if he had any. The booming gravelly bass-filled voice of the eldritch tree filled the clearing. Bird-like creatures who had managed to stayed through the bear's howling took flight. The trunk of the large tree in the middle of the pond split open to reveal the eldritch’s large vertically slitted eye staring back at Nenn.
“Jesus fucking Christ on a cracker, you need to warn me before you do that,” Nenn said as he felt his heart rate pounding away in his chest. The ancient tree bellowed in laughter as the ground shook and the surface of the pond water rippled.
THAT’S NO FUN FOR ME. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LITERALLY FOREVER I CAN SEE THE WORLD. OF COURSE I’M GOING TO JUMP SCARE MY FAVORITE DRUID ACOLYTE.
“You managed to get free,” Nenn asked.
I CAN SEE THE WORLD THROUGH YOU AND YOUR ACTIONS. MY PRISON IS STILL HOLDING STRONG. I CAN ONLY CHAT WHEN YOUR CONNECTION TO THE FLOW OF NATURAL DEATH MANA IS STRONGEST, SUCH AS RIGHT NOW.
Nenn looked at the disappearing flesh of the bear, and realized time was almost up.
“How do I turn back to being human?” Nenn asked.
KEEP LEVELING…
The silence of the forest returned to the clearing as the eldritch eye in the tree blinked back out of existence. The flesh of the bear had been totally consumed, leaving only a shining set of bones. Nenn looked at the bones heeding the eldritch tree’s words.
He entered into [Nature’s Regrowth] and tuned his mana sense into the bones. There was a lingering trace of death-mana on the surface. Beneath it there was a jumble of life mana, earth mana, and water mana. Nenn poked at the bone with [Nature’s Absorption] but found it only faintly responded. The mana bound to the bone was not budging despite Nenn’s best attempts.
I’ll have to experiment later. I still have a job to do, Nenn thought.