They were just about ready to call it quits with this darn, cinnamon forest. Although Damon was gonna miss the hell out of the smell, but they had wasted too much time here already.
The two of them had left the mill portion of Doc Forest behind, and were now back in the clearing where Damon had first left Berry to get started on her bark collecting. To make sure there was nothing else needed doing, he went up to check on the tiny Goblin, while she was busy fiddling among the branches. "Alright. We're all good as far as I'm concerned, did you get everything we'll need for the Rootmother?"
"Hah. The Rootmother? This stuff might help a bit, sure. No doubts. But like I told you, ya daft cunt; it's mainly for the bu-unions. 'Tis why the regular bark isn't gonna cut it. We're talking serious Bunions." Damon almost laughed, but she actually looked traumatized. "I've been picking out all the trees with hidden energy lodes, the crème de la crème. This bark's gonna serve as the base for Läker's balms and poultices for the rest of the year. Frick, the rest of the decade!" She bragged.
Damon looked around the clearing skeptically. "Really, where did you find a bunch of bark that good? I don't see any," She was certainly covered in little pockets and satchels, but not enough to be hiding any great amounts of bark, so Damon was still expecting to be handed a stacked sack she'd been keeping out of sight somewhere.
Instead she asked him to turn around, and to simply put his cloak up over his head.
Damon chewed over the request, and considered saying no for a second, if only to demand an explanation first. But the plan seemed rather obvious, she was clearly gonna put the bark on his back and get him to carry it home to the village. Why is my first instinct to mess with her, as soon as she shows a little pride? She's not out here risking her life for the fun of it.
It was easy to forget, but Blåberry was doing a penance for causing the reckless endangerment of her little brother, not just because she was a talented young girl who stood to gain some levels, with the goblin leadership somehow enjoying sending a 14-year old into such danger with a stranger for no good reason.
I might as well make things easier for her, where I can. "Alright fine, but we're leaving right now, yeah? Or is there actually something left for you to do in here?"
He felt Berry hopping onto his shoulder, her response distracted and intensely focused. "Both."
The cryptic answer nearly made Damon turn around, so Berry quickly steadied him with a calming hand and elaborated: “Hold it and give me one minute. Trust, I’m just gonna reel in a line, then we can go.”
Oh, that makes more sense. Damon had seen her zipping around the trees on what looked like hooked fishline all week, so it was no wonder if that was the same toolset she'd been using for collecting the bark. That’s a pretty flexible method actually.
Damon felt a slight bit of tugging on his cloak, but once a few minutes had gone by it stopped.
Then Berry urged him on. “Okay go. Fast.”
Damon wasted no time, and started jogging off immediately. But he didn’t make it more than three steps before there was an unexpected resistance.
What the hell? He pulled, and sensed some flexing behind him, his cloak clearly tugging on something, feeling stuck. Did she really just hook it on, and not even bring the sack down from the branches?
Sigh.
So, Damon added some push to his forehead, and started properly straining. Soon enough he felt the tree's branches start to give in, the bark beginning to tear free of the branches when faced with his prodigious Strength. Damon heard a rip and gave it a few proper pulls to get going, being swiftly rewarded with additional loud popping, and a familiar wooden tearing behind him. Once the final resistance gave in—causing him to lurch forward—the long, long foot race back to the goblin village was on.
Finally. They had about an eight hour journey ahead, but Damon figured they might as well have it done with sooner than later, so he put on a strong early pace. Only for a chittering, screeching cacophony to suddenly start up behind him.
“Wohooooooo!” Blåberry gave an excited holler.
Damon threw off his hood and looked behind them at the forest, expecting to see smoke or a blaze or something, only to be met with the sight of a thousand fishing lines all tugging on little pieces of glowing bark. That's how Damon found out he had just torn pieces free off of every tree in sight, the whole damn lot tugging along behind him while he sprinted ahead like a horse with blinders on.
No, no, no. I didn’t mean to.
But the little Goblin had meant to.
"I’m sorry!" Damon's first instinct was to stop and plead, yet they were a swarm of [Weaverbats], each one now part of a bloodthirsty whole, akin to Humans in a violent mob, and now Berry had already pissed them off. He could tell there was no reasoning with such beasts. The individual pieces of bark were all flailing wildly behind his back, the bats diving and trying to catch them out of the air, but he was going too fast. Fast enough that each line was stretching out widely behind him, somehow not entangling a single one.
The huge, dark cloud of danger closing in made it so Damon's legs naturally started drumming the ground faster and faster, while his head kept swiveling to make sense of what he was seeing. There was a complicated weave attached behind him, hooked onto his cloak at a spot where every fishing line converged; somehow it was making sure Blåberry's treasures kept floating along as intended.
And far behind them, the entire outer forest was rising, a dark smoke swarming from the trees in the early evening light.
Damon found it impossible to estimate how many there were, or how high level, but he didn’t need to. It was easy enough to figure out that there was more than plenty; with the only choice escape. No matter what animal made such murderous noise, when it reached these violent volumes, there was no interpretation other than your knell of death announcing it's coming. “What the fuck did you do!? I’ll never manage to outrun a swarm of fliers out here. What the hell were you thinking? Is this really your plan? It’s shit!”
He complained loudly, but Berry was working her fishing lines and acting too busy to hear him.
After a few minutes she shouted over the clamor, when Damon refused to cease his complaining. “Ungawa! The seniors are gonna throw a fit when we pull this off, outta sheer disbelieving ecstasy. Those ailing bastards dream of nothing so much as those days, when they weren’t having to constantly make the Doc Forest walk. But they still gotta. Without their bunion creams, it becomes a real pain going anywhere at all. Reckon I’ll be their new heroine forever, and ever. So, you just fix your eyes ahead, shut yer trap and keep breathing steady, afore we get ate because you were so busy whining like a donkey.”
Goddamnit. Damon didn’t want to admit it, but he was feeling a bit betrayed. He'd thought they’d been building some real rapport, now he suddenly wasn’t so sure. Is this what being used feels like?
There was nothing to it but to keep running as fast as he could, while hoping and praying she’d have more of a plan ready than what all this appeared like at first glance. If she’s expecting me to lose a swarm of bats in open fields while carrying a full load of baggage, then she’s out of her bloody mind.
Damon almost wanted to shout the words that came to mind, just on the off chance that someone might actually save him. Fuck it, it’ll be a memory.
“I’m being fatally overestimated! Help!"
Berry just laughed like a maniac.
----------------------------------------
They were three hours in, and somehow still going strong. Sorta. Not even halfway, yet they'd been pulling off a miracle making it this far.
Each time the swarm of bats went up high to go in for another dive, Blåberry dealt with it in one of three ways.
If there was anything like a tunnel or a copse of trees around, then she'd guide Damon to time it so she could drop the clearly enchanted weave low and pull her bark along the ground, forcing the bats to either dive in after them or go over and fly back up, forced to delay another attack. Occasionally the timing was off and a few of them caught onto a piece of bark, yet the line refused to break, the bats only managing to shave off tiny pieces at best. They’d barely made a dent in Berry's hoard. She still cursed them out each time though, so violently that Damon was starting to feel bad for ‘em.
That only lasted the first hour.
If no such opportunities were around, then she tried aiming Damon at an area with sand, wood chips or pebbles, and directed him to launch gravel at the swarm with his feet as he ran—whipping up violent gusts of debris—resulting in nothing more than a temporary reprieve.
That trick still got them through hour two.
What had really saved them though, were Berry's little dynamite sticks, which she did need to land accurately to cause real damage, but so far it had served them well as an improvised anti-air flak, whenever too large a portion of the swarm managed to close in. The explosives were the perfect foil for when the bats made their harassment so intense that it was impossible for the little Goblin to miss.
"I'm all out!"
Oh shit. Oh fuck.
They were cornered again. Damon was not yet panting, but somehow staying in a flow state, but it was getting harder and harder to maintain, his large body just wasn't cutting it. I'm not built for this! Why didn't I put my free points into Mana, despite knowing how key endurance is? I was so sure my Class bonus would be enough. Damn you, Berry, stop jockeying!
There was no way he could waste his remaining breath complaining. He watched as Berry chucked the last of her explosive habanero, and silently decided he needed to go all out in the next hour. They were out of options. Yet they needed to reach further, somehow.
… Yes. They were really habaneros. It looked seriously silly, but Damon had grabbed one to make sure, before Berry slapped him and demanded it back, since apparently it wasn't safe to handle. It was a hollow habanero of course, filled with a light yellow and red powdery mix, and wrapped with metal wire; but it was a red habanero.
She'd killed more bats than slimes by this point, it still wasn't enough. The bat swarm continued raging, and even appeared to have worked out a system where some of them rested, while others kept up the harassment. A fresh flock would come flying up in regular intervals, falling down on them like demented lemmings, never letting the pressure up for a second. Bunch of fruitmunching bloodsuckers. Damn it, these tactics are too high level for a frickin' bat swarm.
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When all three of those methods failed, that's when they were forced to stand and fight. Which had already happened on two separate occasions, and another one was clearly coming up shortly.
A fresh swarm arrived like clockwork, and without Berry’s explosives they had no choice but to make another stand. Damon was bleeding from tiny wounds all over, and his brow was hanging loose over his eye, stinging like hell and impairing his vision. The Goblin figured their best shot was one of the black dune-sided valleys dotted around the plains. Damon could find no reason to object, the strange sand pits were swiftly becoming his signature redoubt whenever death came looming.
This time there was no room for digging their way to safety though, instead they simply ran into the unfamiliar depression and put their backs against the wall as soon as Berry landed her lines of bark. Despite how badly angled the slope was, this was as good a protection as they were gonna find.
She needn’t have bothered, by this point the bark went entirely ignored.
Then came the wall of pain.
It was like swimming in a befanged sea of leather. Damon ripped and guarded with both daggers, feeling an uncanny level of force emitting from the blades, allowing him to cleave deeper through the swarm. They still bled him, yet he was refusing to let any single biter get a hold for too long, lest they drain him fully without his noticing.
The [Weaverbats] seemed to have a strange, dangerous magic-, or venomous effect via their fangs. After an initially intense pain, the entire area turned numb if a bite was allowed to go on; as Damon had found out early to his detriment. If it wasn't for [Unexpected Stab] being so effective at clearing his body from attacks at the most awkward angles, he would have lost track and gotten drained without realizing how he was passing out, ages ago. That much was ascertained fact by this point, and the knowledge was putting a tension in Damon which was impossible to shake. Even now it was difficult to keep track of every new injury, so he was wasting a lot of his Dao moves doing big clears; as his only method of making fully sure of every inch where he could never be fully sure otherwise.
Usually Blåberry would have been the one acting the spotter and warning him, but no place was safe. She’d tucked herself away somewhere dark, to avoid being gulped up and disappearing forever in the chaos of the melee.
Left on his own, the swirling sand was Damon's only comfort. The only remaining hint of hope. The violent fighting was tearing up a storm, and Damon knew that only once it reached a certain intensity would he be able to find an opening to dart towards their escape, counting on the debris to mess with the bat swarm’s echolocation.
They had tried it once before though—and successfully gotten away—yet somehow the bats still found them. Flying up high was simply too effective out in these plains. But back then the swarm had been fresh, and despite the large number of attackers, there surely wasn’t a single bat who hadn’t gotten at least one lick of Damon’s daggers or kicks, or Berry's explosives by now.
Damon fought on, too durable, relentless and mobile to be fully caught, still delivering a new death with every slash. He’d leveled again, and then again. It was still not enough. If only I had more Strength I could brush them off, more Mana and I could have outrun them like in the beginning. Hell, even more Grace and I could have kept limiting the injuries. If, gah, I just need levels.
He'd noticed how once the level gap went over ten, most of the swarm started failing to penetrate past skindeep. It was upon gaining that 2nd level up that Damon was granted the least bit of space for the first time.
That space was closing up again, fast.
Damon feinted one way, then ducked down and darted for an exit in the wall of sand—but rather than the semi-open space he had expected on the other side, he ran straight into a 2nd incoming cloud of bats, one filled with specimens far larger than the first.
[Weaverbat Devil - Level 34]
The elites had finally shown up, and the sense that their true doom was here was staggering. Even with the sandstorm getting whipped up, these bigger bats wouldn't fail to keep them contained.
As Damon blocked a pair of fangs lunging for his throat, his other blade sliced a humerus, separating the wing from its shoulder, only for yet another bat to use the opening to slip in behind him. Damon pivoted to keep his vitals clear, but the new swarm of Devils was feeling twice as heavy to push through.
For the third time in a month Damon was struck with the same thought. We're dead.
Berry made her move. Just as the sandy chaos reached a crescendo, a tiny voice from the bottom of his pants called out. “I’ve got a new Skill, we can use it but it’s a permanent thing, you’re gonna have to accept a prompt!”
“What, you’ve kept a Skill back this entire time, are you serious?”
“No, you daft cunt. I completed my quest, just now. I woulda wanted to use it on my brother, but if we’re about to die I can’t hold anything back.”
Damon could feel that sentiment all too well, but then this was a situation that she’d brought on the two of them. If they really had a way out, then waiting until now to even tell him about it was sheer lunacy, it may well be too late already. Damon hunkered down in the sand and protected his head while he tried to fully understand.
A permanent power, as in becoming bonded? He very much hesitated, then grunted in pain when he felt first one, then another bat attach their fangs deep into his back. “A Skill that does what? Just use it! Why do I have to accept!?”
She never got the chance to respond. A bat suddenly dove in between his legs, likely searching for the crown jewels, only to find a rare treat of Goblin instead.
Berry yelped, panicked. "Yiiiiip!"
But Damon only heard a snippet of her desperate cry before she was lost amid the violent storm.
Shit.
He dove after her, catching a glimpse of green, only to have his vision further impaired by a System scroll:
[Confirm choice: ******** ************ - ********'* ****** ***** ** ****** - Yes/No?]
There was no room for hesitation, or reading, he desperately picked *Yes* and swam after his tiny companion, picking out a bat in the throng that seemed to be struggling to swallow something down whole.
When Damon accepted the prompt, within a second all the chaos froze—a stillness descended—then the bats started moving at only a tenth of their previous speed, while Damon surged through the wall of flesh. Everything sped back up to normal when Damon reached the other side of the swarm, making him realize he'd been going way too fast—his brain had simply failed to keep up, despite his enhanced Perception.
Now that his vision was back though, he could tell he was moving like a runaway train who could pivot on a dime, bursting through the cloud of wings, his body refusing to slow from the force of such meager opponents.
At this point he was soaked down to the balls of his feet in blood, but free to look around out of the one, remaining eye which didn't have a flap of skin bleeding into it directly. He finally spotted Berry again—little legs dangling, arms struggling to keep the gaping mouth of a Devil from closing on her. Damon started burning his remaining Mana and dove, only to be faced with the fangs and claws of a dozen more elites, forcing him to shut his eyes and strike blindly. He forced out another Mana-draining [Unexpected Stab] and cleared a path toward where he’d seen her last, only to find Berry gone once again.
He kept losing her, over and over again.
That's when the speed boost ran out, making Damon suffer a moment of panic when everything not only suddenly sped back up to normal, but also with him getting thrust back into moving painfully slowly again, with the two of them not having made any significant progress getting away. She’s dead. If I don’t find her right now, she’s dead. But I’ve got no clue, what do I do?
He searched desperately for a hint, with no sign of greenery to be found anywhere in the bloodsoaked landscape. All around him the hovering bats were closing in quick, baying for his blood, frenetically chirping.
Then another Skill boost hit him, one that felt just like during the pylon Challenge—His body suddenly roared with furious power, his every muscle growing taut and closing over his injuries, only to unleash him like a wound spring when his eyes spotted the next flash of Goblin; body suddenly responding and moving to his every whim like it was a decree from its Lord.
[Herculean Impetus]
Damon’s counter strike wiped through the onslaught of bats all at once, tearing their fragile limbs in twain and forcing the swarm apart with such force that many of the smaller enemies left no trace behind but a stain on the ground.
But he saw no sign of the elite who had swallowed down Berry. He kept moving, kept searching for long minutes, all while the [Weaverbats] did everything within their power to slow him down, until the battered swarm took off into the air; having realized it was futile.
Damon kept going, kept searching while his momentum was still mounting. Then one of the downed elites suddenly burst; revealing a glorious sight, as Blåberry triumphantly cut herself free of the body she'd been hiding away in.
"Huzzah!"
What the shit, she looks just fine. Damon instantly grew suspicious, but there was no time for questioning. If he stopped for one second the Strength boost was over, so, left with no other choice, he ran over and scooped her up on the fly.
The bat swarm watched from above and took off after them once they picked a direction, but Damon's speed was impossible to keep up with for the moment.
"We're gonna have words over this." He panted in between his hopping like a hulk. She ignored him, while they made their way up a sand dune and then leapt off.
“Wohoooooo!”