Then my practical side kicked into gear because I was about to get scalped.
It took the creature no time at all to come back to its senses and leap at me. Unlike its purely biological cousins, this one was twice as fast, moving with unnerving mechanical grace, and leapt as if propelled by pneumatics.
I swung and the sword whistled through the air. It hit the claws at an awkward angle. A jolt of grim satisfaction sang through my chest, and I recognized it as a successful parry. Well, relatively speaking since it sent the headcrab into a spin through the air, bladed legs splayed out, straight for Tusk’s head.
I activated [ADRENALINE SURGE] and burst forward, both hands on the sword’s hilt, swinging already. It was over in a heartbeat, blade cutting deep through the slowly rotating body, passing through with deadly force.
What hit the earth in slow motion were two unequal parts, each trailing its own train of entrails and half-cut organs, like some grotesque gore-filled balloon. I can’t say I savoured the image.
With my MP nearly half-drained, realisation caught up to me.
Where there had been one of the things yesterday, there had been an army. And an army dropped now from the tree tops, flat bodies with bladed limbs falling in graceful slow motion, soundless like snow.
“Fuck. Me.” I groaned.
The depth of my blunder sunk in. Tusk would’ve gotten scratched at worst, but not hurt badly. I was entirely too trigger-happy with [ADRENALINE SURGE].
If I survived, I could appreciate the lesson fully.
For now, I swung. The legs parted from the nearest body. Again. The blade parted one of the creatures in two. Again, before the second began unravelling. I missed another killing blow, just severing off one leg off a third beast. I kept my eyes glues to the MP bar. It fell beneath a quarter and began flashing red, with less than maybe three seconds left on my clock.
I wasted a second to orient myself. Crystal and Tusk were already turning to run, their movements as slow as the falling headcrabs. The gnark had been caught by surprise if she hadn’t activated whatever skill she had to match mine.
Fighting more than ten of the things seemed a painful, drawn-out death. So I did the next best thing and turned tail. A burst of speed caught me up to Crystal in less than two strides. I grabbed the back of her pack and hauled her forward, making full use of my last second, accelerating as hard as my legs could carry me.
The MP cut off. I staggered and stumbled, suddenly unbalanced by a wildly flailing Crystal and the sudden exhaustion following MP depletion. Noble plan, shit execution on my part.
“Tusk. Tusk,” the gnark wailed as she kicked and punched at me.
The molerat rocketed past us a moment later, running full tilt, soft earth churning under its big, fat paws.
I dropped Crystal and grabbed hold of a tree to arrest my forward tumble, draw a deep breath, then start running.
WHACK!
Unfortunately, I didn’t need to turn and see to know what had just smashed into the tree on my left. This whole bit was uncomfortably familiar, and I doubted these versions were as easily duped as the natural ones. So I ran after Crystal and Tusk, trying to keep pace with those two lunatics who were definitely old hands at this fucking experience.
“Cardio.”
I huffed, drawing in greedy gulps of air. My heart thundered in my ears and almost covered the other sounds of the forest. I’d always promised myself I’d start doing cardio. Someday. Maybe even from tomorrow.
Always fucking tomorrow…
WHACK!
“Cardio!” Feet and arms pumping, it was all I could do not to brain myself against low-hanging branches or run head first into trees. More bruises. More scratches. More things snagging on my shirt and jeans. The only thing I was still thankful for were my work boots, as reliable on Oresstria as they’d been for the past eight years on Earth.
In minutes I felt like I couldn’t run anymore. My lungs were on fire. My arms were scratched to Hell, again. And my ribs hurt from taking a branch to the side.
WHACK! Right by my head. I ducked and nearly fell, scrabbling almost on all fours to keep away from the horde chasing.
Why the fuck am I running?! I couldn’t even see Crystal and Tusk anymore, and the monsters were still very much following me with full enthusiasm.
I drew a painful breath, skidded to a halt, and fell on my ass as I slipped. And lucky that, as a shape flew over my head, razor feet scything the air.
I rolled onto my stomach and exploded to my feet in a shower of leaves and soft earth.
“Fuck this!”
I activated [IRON FLESH] on my left arm and swung as hard as I could at the first flat-shaped body that flew at me from the thick foliage.
This time I was ready for the motherfucker! I felt the impact as my arm slammed the headcrab in its stupid, drooling, wide-open mouth. Teeth shattered. I hoped it choked on them.
The headcrab flew off and hit a tree so hard that it came apart at the joints.
Then the whole forest was full of black shapes running on glistening legs, each headcrab about the size of my head, eyes black and shining like pearls atop their stupid, flat bodies.
The first that got near enough caught a steel toe to the eye cluster. They burst and smeared across my boot like jelly and the creature let out a piercing scream of pain. I cut it off with another kick.
My focus swivelled to another that was climbing a tree to reach my face. I swung my sword and cut the thing in two on a diagonal, blade sinking halfway into the bark. Before I could wrench it free, I movement in the corner of my vision drew my attention away. I let instinct guide my reaction as I turned and swung my iron-hard arm just in time to punch another leaping creature out of the air.
My MP was gone again but I had gripped my sword’s hilt and yanked the weapon from the tree.
Time to make a fucking stand!
Pain exploded in my right calf as one of the headcrabs got hold of my leg, stabbing deep with its too-sharp claw. I kicked out in a near-panic, smashing my leg into the nearest tree trunk. Luck raised another headcrab in my way at that very moment. The knocked together with a crunch and a sharp cry of pain. The pressure on my leg eased and I kicked out again.
Something hot flowed down my leg into my boot and it took no imagination to realise it was blood. I pushed down the mounting panic and kicked out again at the two creature, smashing them with my steel toe.
A heavy impact on my back sent me stumbling. Cutting legs stabbed into my sides, hindered by the thick backpack. I cried out and almost dropped my sword, stumbling with the sudden weight.
Then the weight was gone as the headcrab felt off. Or, rather, it was knocked off me. I spun, adrenaline flooding my veins, and stopped myself a fraction of a moment before taking Crystal’s head off.
“Thanks,” I huffed, breathing hard, doing my best not to faint.
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Shock and blood loss conspired to take me down, but there were still about four or five of the things circling us, climbing the trees, or coiling down to leap.
“Fight now. Grovel later.” Crystal swung her big stick at the nearest headcrab and missed the first blow. “Ugly monsters. Human draw them.” As the creature ducked and reared up to leap at her, she brought her staff down on its eyes with bone-crunching force.
Gotta love liberal applications of the principles of physics! Small as Crystal was, her stick was long enough to carry a wallop when swung.
My mind was wandering and my head grew light as blood pumped out through the wounds in my leg and back. I had something in my pack to help blood clot, something Ielup had suggested I save for an emergency. But I couldn’t get to it just then—
The bottle appeared in my hand the moment I thought of it, my inventory tab flashing.
It can do that?! Amazement went into the box titled “Feel later”, as my practical side was still thankfully in charge
“Keep them off a bit,” I cried out. I stepped away from another headcrab trying to maul my other leg.
I needn’t worry. Tusk exploded out of the bushes, big and foaming at the mouth. He slammed a great paw down on my assailant, so hard that it dug the body into the earth, shell cracking. He spun in place and snapped at the creature trying to get around Crystal. He caught it in his mouth, then chomped down so hard that the headcrab exploded. Blood and entrails burst from his muzzle as he kept chewing.
For my side, I fought with the bottle’s stopper. Darkness was creeping in at the edges of my vision, and it was getting so much harder to focus, seeing double. I shook my head and pulled on the stopper with my teeth. Crystal and Tusk, bless their little black hearts, really took the fight to the glitch artefacts and I had room to breathe. Finally, the thing came loose. I spat it away then took a deep swig of the liquid inside. It burned as it went down my throat, then its effect burned through me.
Wounds knit together almost instantly, sealing up with blood.
“Don’t drink more,” Eternity’s voice suddenly warned me as I was ready to swallow a second mouthful. “Stop now!” It sounded terrified. “Spit it out.”
I obeyed and found myself coughing. It was hard to breath. My throat was raw and felt sticky.
Oh fuck! It wasn’t sticky! It was closing up. Quickly.
“Drink water. Now. Now, Klaus.”
It’s hard to say if it was the fresh wave of fight adrenaline, the panic of suddenly being unable to breathe, or Eternity’s almost panicked tone that cleared my mind, but I obeyed instantly and precisely. I’d had work accidents that left me breathless before. I knew how not to panic when I couldn’t draw breath, at least enough that I could think.
I had to force the first swig of water down, but it did go after a couple tries. After that I drank greedily, emptying half my canteen in one go.
By now Tusk was done with the surviving headcrabs and sauntered from one corpse to another, slamming his heavy paw on any that still moved.
Heaving and coughing and spluttering, I drew a lungful of air. My throat was unstuck. I took another greedy swallow of air, then another, and tried very hard not to be sick.
“Respect the healer’s indications, Klaus.” Eternity landed atop my head. “She was very specific about the dosages that you can administer to yourself.”
Still coughing, I raised a hand above my head and flipped the dragon off. In the heat of the moment, the last thing I could’ve thought about was the dosage. Still, Eternity had probably just saved my life.
“Thank you,” I said. “Will keep that in mind.”
“Human alive then,” Crystal said as she waddled over to me. She was blood spattered but didn’t look any worse for wear than usual. “Dungeon spawns really like human. Tasty human. Dungeon spawns no go after Crystal and Tusk.”
Yeah, I had noticed that. Even when Crystal had joined the fight, most of the headcrabs had been trying to get at me, not at her. Added the thing as a quick scrawl in the Weird Shit.
[CONGRATULATIONS]
[YOU HAVE DEFEATED: HEADCRAB DEVIANT x5]
[YOU HAVE TRAINED: PARRY - INITIATE]
[YOU HAVE TRAINED: FIRST AID - INITIATE]
[YOU HAVE TRAINED: SURE FOOT - INITIATE]
[YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 4!]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: 1 ATTRIBUTE POINT]
[YOU HAVE GAINED: 1 SKILL POINT]
The level up notification was accompanied by stars bursting in my sight as my cuts, scrapes and bruises all suddenly healed up. As before, my stomach folded in on itself in hunger, roaring. The sight of blood and guts everywhere did not help the onrush of nausea that followed.
“Human got strong. Good good. Human not so useless.”
“Crystal?” I groaned.
“Yes, stinky human?”
“Fuck you.” I straightened and stretched, all my fresh scars itching and throbbing. My back popped and crackled. “From the bottom of my heart, fuck you. Also, thanks for coming back. Again.”
Crystal gave me a nod, then went to pick through the corpses. As before, these were also decomposing to sludge, only leaving behind the strange legs with their razor tips. The gnark began collecting them into her backpack.
“I take all these,” she declared. “No trade. Payment. For saving human.”
I was leaning against a tree, poking at the holes in my shirt and waiting for the nausea to subside. I tried not to breathe in too much of the sudden stench. As far as Crystal grabbing the loot, I merely waved at her to do whatever. I didn’t have the energy to deal with her, and definitely didn’t want any of those things clanging in my pack.
“I can summon items from my inventory?” I asked Eternity.
“Evidently,” the dragon replied.
I swallowed the next logical question. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ Would’ve been answered, very probably, with a ‘You did not ask’. I had thought we’d gotten past that stage of our relationship.
I let it slide. Eternity had just saved my life, and that was definitely not something it had done before.
“Can I send items back in the inventory then?”
“Yes. Reverse process. Be mindful of the container. If there is not room results might be explosive.”
Of course it couldn’t be usefully magic. I focused on the bottle in my hand—after having crawled on the ground to find its stopper—and in a moment it disappeared and re-added itself to my list of items. Well, that was definitely more useful than I originally thought.
With nothing else coming from the bushes at us, I took a moment to eat some dried fruit and think. I had a sneaky suspicion Crystal had been holding out on me about her goals.
“How bad is the… infection?” I threw the question at the gnark. “In the village?”
Crystal stopped what it was doing and instead looked at me. Actually, not at me, but at a spot just above my eyes. She was looking at Eternity, and, going by the dragon’s stirring, it was meeting the gaze.
“I swear to God I will go back to Carmill Hill and leave you here if you even think of not telling me the truth,” I snapped.
I could deal with Eternity being a cryptic little flying bastard. I’d made my peace with that. But other people around me knowing stuff about me that I didn’t was a leap too far for me to tolerate.
“You have interface avatar,” Crystal said, carefully. “Interface avatar mean you access dungeon. Human clear dungeon. Yes? That’s why human travel. Yes?”
My eyes narrowed as I met the gnark beady gaze. “How do you know that?”
“Crystal know many things. Crystal can—”
“Say trade and I will feed you the rest of this loot.” My patience frayed badly now, earlier gratitude forgotten, temper flaring. “Answer my damn question. What’s going on?”
“Dungeon corruption bad in village. Crystal friends taken. Can’t free alone. Need help.” She gave me a look that was hard to parse. Part plead. Part challenge. “Human help free Harriet’s Heap.”
When I didn’t answer immediately, she added, a touch sheepishly, “Human help, yes?”
I let out a long sigh and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “What’s it with all of you fuckers and not just asking straight for shit? Of course I’ll help. I was planning on going into the dungeon anyway.”
“Good, good.” Crystal perked up and went back to collecting the blades. “Infection in village deep. Took over everyone. All village overrun.”
“Wait. How do you mean? Can the infection take over people? It can control them?”
“Yes, yes,” Crystal nodded without looking at me. “Make people strong. Make them crazy. Crystal barely escape alive last time.”
I realised my jaw hung loose. An infection could get that bad? And I didn’t just have to deal with glitch artefacts, but also with the people of the village?
“Oh shit,” I grumbled.
“Human have secret weapon. Human no need worry.” She stopped from her foraging, dumping a whole arm load of blades in her pack. How they all fit, I couldn’t imagine. She reached under her grubby shirt and pulled out a long, worn string. There was a long metal cylinder slung to the end of it. “Crystal have key to dungeon. Crystal can get human to dungeon. Human then clear dungeon.”
Ah, now this had the makings of a proper quest. Can’t say I didn’t feel a slight jolt of pleasure at being given a clear purpose, especially since it aligned with my own.
“Eternity.” I leaned back against the tree and closed my eyes.
“Yes?”
“If an infection is bad, does that mean the guardian in the dungeon will be stronger?” Back when I came out of Carmill Hill’s dungeon, the then-light-bulb Eternity had mentioned that the infection generated a guardian when it progressed enough. So what happened when it got really bad?
A sound of sparks popping announced Eternity’s thinking. I was braced for a refusal to answer.
“Advanced infections can generate several guardians, yes. Or one very powerful one. It all depends on the size of the dungeon.”
‘Dungeon’, not ‘node’. It had adapted its language to mine. Interesting. More for the Weird Shit.
The news was just fucking lovely. Considering my luck, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the guardian this time was a fucking dinosaur.
“I’m gonna need a bigger sword,” I groaned.
“I recommend a shield,” Eternity countered. “You have been accumulating an unpleasant amount of scars. Your defensive skill should be used more as a last resort.” It clamped its mouth shut with a click, as if it had said too much. My file was getting fed good today.
The gnark’s ears pricked up and she turned to me, eyes gleaming. “Crystal know where to get shield. Does human fear skeletons?”
Of course it would all get weirder.
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