An unknown amount of time had passed since Russell had stepped into the woods. The dark of night surrounding him from all sides. The only sound being his breath and footsteps. With a quick slash at a nearby tree marking his way back, he continues on. By now, his vision has at least adapted to being able to see a little bit of the surroundings. Giant trees at all sides, a hard forest floor. What am I even doing out here. He thought, before a rustle came from a nearby brush. Freezing up, he turns to face the noise. Dagger in hand, he waits. Time ticks by, and the rustling only gets louder. Taking a step back out of instinct, he steps on a few dead leaves with a crunch. Cold sweat on his forehead, vision shaky, he stares at the brush. Skidding out comes the culprit, a prickly looking grey rabbit with crimson eyes sitting on its hind legs, reaching up to about a meter in height.
[Spiky Rabbit lvl 2]
Panicing, Russell backs away slowly, dagger primed at the thing. The fuck you mean level two? It's the size of a damn golden retreiver! Gulping down his saliva, the staring contest continues. A minute goes by, followed by another. The rabbit starts to rock back and forth, then falls onto all fours. Russell takes one step back, and right as his foot is about to land for the second, the rabbit's hind legs lower, and in an instant launches straight towards Russell bearing its teeth. Turning around, Russell runs towards a nearby tree, rabbit in tow. Looking back, he sees the rabbit only a meter away from him. Gritting his teeth, he dives to the side behind the tree. Sliding passed, the rabbit trys to swipe at his back as it passes. Its claw catches his back leaving a gash, barely missing his spine. Taking a deep breath, he gets back to his feet. But the rabbit doesn't give him time to think as it leaps straight towards him. Quickly sidestepping, he dodges the swipe. Slamming his eyes shut, he slashes his dagger towards the rabbit. An unhindered slash through the air meaning he missed, he opens his eyes to see another swipe coming straight towards his face. Lifting his left arm to block the strike leaves him with three nasty gashes on his forearm, the rabbits barbed claws sinking into his skin. He focuses on the beast, and slashes towards its eyes. With a squeal, the rabbit rips its claws out from Russell's arms and backs off. A deep cut through its right eye shows Russell that he hit his target.
Blood dripping from his arm, Russell lowers his body. His face pale, he throws himself at the animal. Not to be out done, the rabbit once more charges to meet him, its left eye glaring at Russell. It swipes straight towards his eyes to get its payback. Cocking his shoulder back, Russell meets the claws with his Charging Slash. As the rabbit staggers from the contact, Russell shakes it off and takes his chance. With everything he has, he slashes straight across the throat of the beast with little resistance. Barely staying on his feet, he watches as the rabbit falls to the ground, choking on its own blood. Light headed, he leans to the side and emptys his stomach, then turns back to face the rabbit. His face drained of color, he rips off his left sleeve and wraps it around his arm as he continues to watch closely, dagger at the ready. Only after minutes pass does he feel a rush of energy enter his body and he recieves a notification.
[Spiky Rabbit lvl 2] has been slain!
16% experience gained!
16% bonus experience for level gap of [1]!
32% total experience gained!
Level 5 in P. Charging Slash!
86% towards acquiring the Personal Skill: ???
Letting his dagger fall out of his hand, he falls to the ground. Taking deep breaths, he retrieves a small bottle of water from his pocket that came with the rations. Taking a swig, he crawls towards a nearby tree.
*Howl*
"Shit!" Scrambling towards his dagger, he picks it up. Turning the opposite way of the sound, he limps away with every bit of power that remains in his body. Lacking the energy to get far enough, he looks around to find anywhere to hide. Seeing a bush that would allow him to crawl under, he makes his way over. Lowering himself down, he goes under. Still in view of the body of the rabbit, cursing, he watches with bated breath. Some thirty seconds later, out from the darkness comes a beast with razor sharp teeth, black fur, and long, slim limbs to support its enourmous three meter long frame. "Aaaooooooo!" screeches the beast. Out from the abyss the black beast came from, come three smaller, about two meters in length each, slightly lighter versions of the monster. Russell quietly focuses his attention on the bigger beast, followed by the other three.
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[Dark Dire Wolf lvl ???]
[Adolescent Dire Wolf lvl 8]
[Adolescent Dire Wolf lvl 9]
[Adolescent Dire Wolf lvl 8]
Putting his hand over his mouth to try and make as small amount of noise as possible as he's drenched in cold sweat, Russell watches as the dark dire wolf beckons the other three to the corpse. With a quick sniff each, they begin to feast. Looking away with disgust, he checks on the dark wolf. There he finds himself staring into the pure black eyes of the beast. It looks over to the other wolves, then begins to make its way over towards a patch of blood left behind by Russell. Taking a lick of the blood, the monster's ears perk up and peers directly in the direction of his escape. Making its way over, a black fog emerges around the beast. Nearby grass wilting in an instant, trees dying at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Body shaking, Russell finds himself crawling backwards further into the bush in the off chance he might not be discovered. You'll be fine. You'll be fine. He tells himself. The wolf stops. Its eyes taking in all of the surroundings, its vision stops on the bush. The beast's mouth curls up in what could be nothing other than the deadliest smile Russell had ever seen. Feeling a warmth come from his lower body, he uses everything he has to get himself out of the back of the bush. With a snarl, the beast clearly showing its disdain to the human, it approaches with a slow and steady pace. Every step it makes shaking Russell's very being. Russell quickly shoves himself out of the back of the bush, ignoring the scratches he recieves from the protruding brances. He only has one thing on his mind at this point. Run. Turning around, he does just that. His legs carrying him away as fast as they can carry him not even sparing another glance for the monster, he makes a run for it deeper into the woods.
Seeing the little human attempt to escape, the beast turns to the slightly larger wolf of the other three. With a low growl to communicate its intentions, it turns back to Russell. Its eyes turning to crescents in amusement, the beast makes a lazy swipe with its razor sharp claws in his direction. The fog that had been surrounding the monster converges in the direction of the swipe. Yawning, the wolf watches on as the fog makes its way over.
Russell, not hindered in the slightest by his exhaustion as adrenaline takes over, continues to run oblivious to all direction and sense. He just wants to escape with his life, nothing else matters to him at this point in time. Exitting into a larger clearing past the trees a few trees, he finds himself face to face with a rock face blocking his escape. Looking around in a panic for any lifeline he can find, he finds nothing that can save him. He smashes his fist directly into the rock blocking him. With the sound of breaking bones and tears rolling down his face, he turns around. The second he does, something crashes into his gut. His ribs shattered, his lungs punctured, he crashes into the rock face.
Critical Damage Taken
Skill: Survivor activates
Warning! Healing required. It is recommended that you find your way to the nearest safe zone as soon as possible!
With ringing ears and tears of blood streaming down his face, Russell looks forward and finds the silhouette of the dire wolf. With what sounds like the chuckle of a hyena, the beast comes into full vision. The darkness seemingly converging itself happily around the massive wolf creating more of the thick fog from earlier. Attempting to stand, Russell finds himself completely paralyzed and unable to move. The tears of blood stopping, he looks on at the monster with a smile on his face. With what looks like his resignation to death, the wolf sends the fog to swallow him completely.
As the fog flys towards him, Russell looks on and removes his smile. Opening his mouth with all his power, he says one very audible word. "Yes."
***
With a flash, a white light swallows Russell before the darkness does. The wolf noticing its dark fog being blocked out by the intrusive white light, it summons back its attack. Being slightly wary of the light that can block its fog, the dire wolf takes a few steps back, but prepares for another attack at the slightest deviation from the light.
After waiting for a little over a minute, the light abruptly disappears. Left behind by the light is a shimmering rift that distorts the very air around it. Narrowing its eyes, the wolf attempts to see past the rift. All it is able to make out is a slight crack in the rock wall about two meters in height and a meter in diamater. Noticing that its human prey is no where to be seen, the wolf shoots out the fog that surrounds itself directly towards the rift with a fiery fury. As its dark fog comes into contact with the rift, it abruptly dissipates into the nothingness. Not a speck of proof that there was even contact between the two. Enraged, the wolf charges towards the fog. Its dark fog encasing its claws, the beast slashes towards the shimmering rift. As the claws make contact, the wolf instantly rebounds straight back to where it came. The wolf landing with a crash, it shoots back to its feet. Staring at dead at the rift, the beast then lets loose a howl that demonstrates every bit of anger that now exists within itself. As the howl ends, silence descends upon the darkness. With a huff, the dire wolf lays down, glaring towards the rift.