With a sudden crash, the leg buckled, and bone tore through the axe-wound from Eli’s previous strike. Gore spewed onto the ground, causing the beast to slip on a piece of its flesh. As the creature went down, it growled in defiance, before turning at the waist and smashing its paw into Don’s side. The powerful attack sent the monk flying. In an instant, Don’s health bar dropped by a third, causing it to flash in Eli’s display. In mid-air, Don tucked his legs before he hit the ground and rolled to his feet. With a look of confidence, mixed with pain, turtle-man grinned before shouting at Eli.
“We need to get out of here, man. Can you walk?”
Eli braced himself on his axe, causing its shaft to creak under the weight, as he rose to his feet, “Yeah, I think so.”
Suddenly, the wooden handle of the axe broke completely, causing Eli to stumble. The head of his axe lay on the ground still covered in gore from the bear, in his hands was nothing more than a jagged stick. He bent and grabbed the axe head, then noticed their foe attempting to regain its footing.
“Shit!” Eli shouted as the beast slowly maneuvered its ruined leg underneath it, trying to plant it firmly.
As it did, its hip shifted, causing its full weight to land on the now exposed femur. The force of the impact caused its hip to dislocate, and the creature to let out a frustrated howl. While the beast was occupied and struggling to get up, Eli realized their situation. He was injured, Don was possibly wounded, and this undead bear would not stop until either it or his party was dead.
Mustering every ounce of speed that his body would allow him, Eli charged the downed enemy and slammed the jagged axe haft into its eye. The splintered piece of wood parted the soft ocular tissue with ease, meeting resistance near the end of the hilt. Suddenly it stopped as if it were pressing against a barrier, and the bear rounded on Eli. The beast flailed in anger and swiped a limp haphazard swing of its claw at its attacker. A meaty thud hit Eli’s arm, causing his grip to shift slightly, then four gashes sprayed blood onto the beast's face. A notification appeared then closed.
The flashing red text, and his health bar flashing at only ten percent, served as a reminder of how little time he had to live. One more attack from his foe would end him. Through searing pain and an inability to take a full breath, Eli redoubled his efforts. He leaned into his attack, pressing his full weight onto the makeshift weapon, forcing it forward. The creature let loose another roar, its wet hot breath showering Eli with a foul stench, as it shifted its weight and readied for another attack.
Its remaining eye locked onto Eli’s face with a look of inner turmoil. For a brief moment, Eli thought he saw a hint of emotion. As if the undead bear were struggling with the urge to kill its enemy, or find relief from the torment of undeath. With a sudden and immediate release of resistance, Eli’s weapon sank deeper into the wound as if it had just burst through a bubble. The unexpected movement sent him to stumbling into the smoldering bear as his makeshift stake met something hard before stopping abruptly.
Eli’s hand was now inside the bear’s eye cavity, and his shoulder ached. Thick, warm, fluid seeped from the wound onto his forearms. Gray slime oozed onto his face and neck, causing him to reel back in disgust and fear. The beast’s body slumped shakily to the ground, sending small vibrations into Eli’s feet. The urge to flee overtook him as memories of his fight with Wayland, and how he kept fighting, crept into his mind.
Not wanting to get surprised, he snapped upright and jumped backward then slowly backed away from his enemy. Never letting his gaze off of the undead animal, he walked backwards towards his friend. After putting roughly fifteen feet between him and the corpse, Eli allowed himself to relax. As he did, a wave of exhaustion overtook him, and his muscles spasmed in fatigue.
“Holy, shit.” his voice slipped out between ragged breaths, “We need to get out of here.” he glanced back at the fallen beast before continuing, “These things have a tendency to get back up.”
The look on Don’s face was blank as he stood and moved closer to Eli, “Dude, what was that?” His voice shook with hesitation while he looked at the still smoldering bear, “Where did that thing come from?”
“Just add it to the - shit that shouldn’t be here - list,” Eli said, looking down at the ruined axe head. “I’ve seen one before. In the woods near my house,” he reached down and gathered what remained of his axe and continued, “We’re not too far from my old cabin. About half a day’s hike. It could have spread. Good thing we’re turning north.”
Don nodded in agreement, “Yeah, fuck these things. I can’t even tell if we killed it or not. I don’t see a notification.”
Clutching at his midsection, he slipped his axe head into his inventory and winced, “We’re not staying around to find out. The sun will be up in a few hours, but there may be more,” He glanced back at the fallen monstrosity and shook his head, “And I’m not really in the best shape to fight another one,” His legs shook as pain radiated throughout his body, “Let’s go.”
Without another word, both companions turned and fled, both taking short, painful strides into the woods. Behind them, the undead beast twitched, its muscles attempting to act on their own will. It took until near dawn for the flames to die down, having consumed the rest of the bear’s flesh. Gray ooze pooled around the shaft of Eli’s axe while its body eventually stopped twitching. With a final act, it let out a thundering cry before falling still.
Chapter 21
While their foe struggled with undeath, Eli and Don traveled through the night in silence, searching for a place to make camp. Their bodies ached and slowed from exhaustion. Don had healed their lingering debuffs, but the magic did nothing for their stamina. An hour went by, and no new notifications came, no signs they had finished their enemy off. Don knew that meant only one thing. The beast was still alive.
Eli pressed on with single-minded determination to get as far away from that beast as possible. He did not know if it had died or was simply injured. His knowledge of the undead was limited to the past few days. The two did not stop to rest until just before daybreak greeted them with the chime of notifications and an echo from a deep remorseful howl.
Congratulations! You have slain Ursa Minor - (Undead, Unique) - level 9.
You gain 1022 exp!
Both adventurers’ chests slackened, letting out deep breaths, and their shoulders slouched, as they realized that they would no longer be followed. Their pace slowed to a halt as grins crept over their faces, and welcomed notifications began to pop into view.
*Achievement earned, Surviving the Darkness.
Congratulations! You have survived your first full night outside of a safe zone.
200 Bonus EXP rewarded. +5% to resistance against all fear effects.
You can now show the badge for this achievement next to your name.
*Congratulations! You have leveled up!
Welcome to Level 4.
You have four new status points to allocate.
HP Increased to: 180 / 180
Exp to next level: 50
*Congratulations! You have leveled up!
Welcome to Level 5.
You have five new status points to allocate.
HP Increased to: 190 / 190
Exp to next level: 1500
His look of complete exhaustion turned into a wide smile that made it look as if his lips were trying to escape from his face. The wave of healing, warmth, and euphoria had, in fact, completely healed all of his wounds. Even his stamina was full. What he was focused on the most was that he now had nine more points to spend on increasing his physical attributes.
Eli opened up his character sheet, and that verified his changes.
Character Sheet
Name: Eli Miller
Level: 5 | Class: None
Hitpoints: 190 / 190 | Stamina: 150 / 150 | Mana: 110 / 110
Attributes:
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 10<
br />
Spirit: 11
Charisma: 10
Luck: 12
Available attribute points: 12
After looking over his character sheet, he immediately thought about putting more points into intelligence and Spirit. Who wanted to be average? His mana capacity, however useless it was at the moment, would increase, and he may be able to make more logical decisions. When he had increased his stats before, there was a slight change in the way he felt. However, he knew little about what the lasting effects of artificially boosting his attributes would do.
“Hey, let’s take a quick break. I have some more questions.” Eli said, slowing his pace.
Don simply nodded in agreement, then stopped as if he was held in place. He was suddenly surrounded by a brilliant golden light and was suspended a few inches in the air. A huge grin spread across his face, and he began to laugh. Eli watched as nearly imperceptible sparks of pure energy started flowing through and around his friend. Don’s bandolier had been stained with blood, and three deep gashes laid bare on his side. A wave of light rippled from his head to his toes, erasing all signs of struggle. The blood vanished into nothingness, and every wound healed in an instant. Don had been made new as if they had not been fleeing for their lives only moments ago. Eli, now witnessing the expense from the outside, could feel the comforting warmth and calming effects of the gentle glow emanating from his friend’s body. He stood in awe of the true power of the adventurers, finding the process beautiful.
Eli’s attention was taken away from the spectacle before him and forced to the bottom of his notification bar. As his friend landed slowly on the ground, more notifications blinked rapidly. The now-familiar lines of text started scrolling slowly as he looked them over one by one. The default settings were to show the most recent alerts first, and to filter out all notifications in combat other than damage taken, healing taken, and status effects.
The larger the risk, the larger your chance to die unless you’re lucky.
Luck Increased by 1!
You attack Ursa Minor - (Undead, Unique) - level 9 (Stake).
*Critical hit!* Vulnerable location (Brain) 69 damage.
Ursa Minor suffers Brain Damage.
Ursa Minor is bleeding.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Improvised Weapons!
Improvised Weapons now level 1. You gain 10 Exp.
This skill allows you to use non-weapon items, such as a broken handle or a table leg, in combat. Each level increases damage dealt by improvised weapons by 1%. Your chance to land a critical hit with an improvised weapon has increased by 0.25%.
You attack Ursa Minor - (Undead, Unique) - level 9 with Improvised Weapon (Stake).
*Critical hit!* Vulnerable location (Eye) 46 damage.
Ursa Minor suffers Partial Blindness.
*Congratulations, you have learned the Ability, Planted Feet!
This ability allows you to plant your feet and perform a powerful strike at the cost of attack speed.
Damage increased by 100% on your next attack, while lowering attack speed by 50% for one subsequent attack.
Cost: 25 Stamina
*Congratulations! Skill Axes has increased by 1!
Axes skill now level 22. You gain 90 Exp!
You attack Ursa Minor - (Undead, Unique) - level 9 with Double-Edged Logging Axe.
You do 39 damage.
*Congratulations! Skill Perception has increased by 1!
None of the notifications made much sense to Eli. The numbers, skills, and attributes were still slightly confusing and new to him. The strange system just looked like an explanation of his actions, like someone was watching and assigning values to regular tasks. Considering he still had no way of knowing how much damage a bear could take before dying, the numbers associated with his actions were of little consequence. His lips tilted into a slight smile while reading the words critical hit, along with seeing his new ability and skill gains.
The clear signs of progress and a direct response to his actions were thrilling. There were more notifications in his combat log, but most of them were from debuff timers and effects wearing off. What held his attention, and bewildered him the most, was the underlined damage notification from when he hit the Bear with his axe. He took a moment to focus on it, and the line under it expanded into a blueish gray box filled with a formula.
39 damage = 15 Weapon damage (Axe) + 6 (Axes) + 3 (Lumberjack) + 15 (STR)
Eli sat thinking about the night’s events before Don interrupted him, “Shit, we should have looted that thing. Let’s go back and grab anything we can carry. Who knows what kind of cool shit a unique monster drops?”
“We can’t backtrack for over an hour just to see if a dead bear had any valuables. If the corpse is still there. Didn’t you say they disappear after a while.” Eli shut him down without hesitation. “Besides, you have to help me learn more about this system, and we need to get moving.”
He was unsure about how all the skills fit together and how he gained a new ability.
While in contemplation, he heard a deep, wheezing sound, “Fine, go,” Don nodded.
The two set a slow pace down the game trail, with Don motioning for Eli to lead. After a short while, he noticed that Eli seemed to be lost in thought. “What’s with the confused look? I know you’re a noob, but you look like an infant staring at an electrical diagram.”
“I just want to say thank you. Thank you for sticking around, and thank you for saving my ass back there.” Eli responded, his tone dire.
Don walked silently and watched as Eli continued to walk in silence.
After a short while, Don spoke, “Look, man, I don’t know where you come from, or your history. All I do know is that I saw a party member, my friend, about to be eaten by a flaming, undead, bear.” He placed a four-fingered green hand gently on Eli’s shoulder. “There’s no need to thank me.” Dons said squeezing his hand, the sudden show of strength snapping Eli to attention. “I was laying there with a fear debuff whining like a little baby. You could have just bolted, but you didn’t. You and your dumb level three ass charged a fucking zombie bear with some busted up old axe so that I wouldn’t die.” Eli’s head rose as he tried to speak up, before being cut off, “Look, man, like I said, I don’t know where you’re from. But, where I come from, you never leave a man behind. And, you damn sure don’t let a man, who just saved your ass, die in your place.” He released his grip as both men slouched, the tension easing, “This may just be a game, but I’m stuck here for the next six months, at least. It’s starting to feel a lot more real to me. This shit isn’t as simple as it used to be. So again, we’re good. You’re my friend, and we need to have each others' back in this.”
Eli’s head swam in a sea of emotions, thoughts, and random pieces of memories that didn’t seem to be his own. As he walked, a vision of a young man, who looked shockingly similar to himself, flashed into his mind from some deep-seated memory that couldn’t be his own. The man was sitting at a desk looking at a picture of a middle-aged, golden-skinned man dressed in a soldier’s dress uniform.
The neatly pressed suit was covered in medals and military chevrons. As he stared into the picture, a reflection appeared in it, seeing his old self, human self, staring back at him. Tears were streaming down the face of this illusory copy of himself while clutching at what he somehow knew was a photograph. The man in the image was his father; one frome what seemed like another life, “I’m so sorry dad,” He lowered the picture to the lavish wooden desk, face down, and frantically began pushing buttons on a strange device, tears now streaming from his eyes, “You never leave a man behind.”
To Eli, the vision seemed more like a memory. He wanted to hold on to it to find out what it was, but as soon as he tried to take it in, the image faded as if stolen by an unseen hand. Moisture pooled under Eli’s eyes, with a few tears falling to his slightly hairy cheeks. Don shook him slightly while he stood, unmoving on the trail.
“Hey man, I didn’t mean to g
et you all fucked up like that.” He laughed, trying to brighten the mood. “I’m just trying to tell you that you’re my partner, and I’m in this with you to the end. Or, well, at least until you start being an asshole or get rid of me.”
“Sorry,” Eli spoke up, regaining his senses, “I’m just having a tough time getting used to all of this. Everything seems so out of place. Like I’m not really myself anymore.” Eli shook himself, snapping reality back into focus.
The image reminded Don of a wet dog, causing him to laugh before continuing, “Yea, I know, man. I’ve been here for almost a week, and I still can’t get the hang of everything. But, you said something about the system. If you’ve got more questions, I may have more answers.”
“Yeah, I do, but we should get going. You can fill me in on the way. It’s morning already, and we still have about a day of hiking in front of us.” Eli said, picking up his pace towards a split in the path. “And that’s if we don’t run into any more trouble.”
Ascension Page 28
