by Jakob Tanner
I stepped out from the campsite, heading northeast. I ran and quickly made mana puddles jumping up to the branches. From there, I hopped across the woods.
I crouched down and waited for the next wave to spawn. I used my dagger to carve the cannibal teeth into sharp points. Then with string I tied them tightly to the tip of my arrows. My HUD chimed.
Congratulations! You have discovered a new survival blueprint.
Congratulations! You have created Cannibal Arrows!
Your survival skills have increased by 0.6!
Nice. I kept crafting cannibal arrows while I listened to the silence of the woods. It was all quiet except for the distant crackle of the roasting fire. Then out of nowhere, there was the rustling of the branches, the rush of footsteps on the ground.
I marked the tree I was standing on with my dagger, leaving an ‘X’, so I’d be able to find the spot again later.
The rushing feet got louder faster than the previous wave. Proof I was closer to their spawn point this time.
Their figures flickered through the darkness of the forest. It was a pack of eight. They didn’t run quite in a squad but ran near each other. I let them pass below me. I maneuvered around the tree top I was perched on and nocked an arrow when facing the back of them. I pulled back the arrow and shot the cannibal at the back of the group. It was a headshot. It collapsed to the ground.
+270 EXP!
The other cannibals paid no heed to their fallen comrade, and rushed forward to my campsite. I followed behind them, picking off the one furthest from the pack again. By the time we got back to the campsite there were only three remaining and they got caught in my traps. I headshotted the one in the net trap and let the other two crawl to their death, dragging the steel traps with them.
I quickly looted them for their teeth. Fed the fire more bodies and wood. Then turned around. I didn’t have much time. I cast shocking speed on my feet and rushed across the forest. When the speed buff fell away, I electric blinked across the woods until I was back at the tree with my ‘X’ mark.
I jumped to the ground and scanned the forest floor for footprints. I eventually found a pair and then found another. I followed the tracks through the woods until the marks disappeared. This was it. The spawn zone.
I set a steel trap right where the footsteps ended. I then found another trail of footsteps and again set a steel trap. I did this for all eight of the first footsteps of the cannibals. I then set a ring of net traps all around the area.
I power jumped to a high branch and waited for my cunning plan to unfold. I had carved another dozen cannibal arrows when a group of shadowy figures appeared in the forest. There were sixteen this time. In seconds the traps all set off. First the steel traps, dismembering the eight cannibals who had spawned in the same positions as the previous eight. Then the eight net traps went off capturing the next group. I unleashed a fire barrage of cannibal arrows, raining down a whole storm of AoE arrows to finish off the trapped cannibals. The experience point alerts stacked in my HUD.
I grinned, looking at the fallen bodies. Class trial completion, here I come. I gathered up the teeth of the fallen cannibals, set the traps and waited for the next wave. About an hour and a half had passed into the trial. So I had another six and a half hours to go. The waves were coming every forty-five minutes or so. I set up the traps like I did last time and added more for the other eight who had appeared. I made a ring of net traps and more steel traps. I went crazy overboard with the traps but the waves were doubling with each spawn, so there were potentially going to be thirty-two cannibals in the next round. Yeesh. Once I was finished with my traps, I jumped up to the top of a tree to wait and craft more cannibal arrows. As I crafted a new message appeared in my HUD.
Your survival skills (passive) have increased by 0.4!
Congratulations! Your survival skills (passive) have leveled up! (Level 3)
I checked the timer, waiting for the forty-five minute mark for the cannibals to appear. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I waited for the war cries, the screams of the steel traps tearing through flesh, but nothing happened. My traps laid there.
The spawn point had changed.
The smoke from my fire still billowed out into the sky. I hurried back there, power jumping across the treetops. Crap, crap, crap. I hadn’t expected the spawn point to completely change. The monsters would head to the fire pit and while the quest’s emphasis was on my survival, losing control of the campsite would be hugely disadvantageous.
I listened closely as I rushed back to the campsite. I didn’t hear anything. No signs of movement. I arrived at the campsite and found it desolate. No attackers had gained control or blown out my fire.
If not cannibals, who or what was going to attack me next?
The answer came from a screech above. Swirling far over the trees were a group of three gargoyles. Their sharp eyes glowed bright blue in the pitch black night sky. The gargoyles fluttered through the air like bats. They made their descent. They came in every direction. I dashed away from the campsite. Once under the shadowy cover of the trees, I entered hunter’s stance. I went invisible within the woods. I had fifteen seconds to formulate a plan against these airborne freaks. The group of them floated down to my camp, hovering above ground level so none of my traps were set off.
I stood still, watching the gargoyles. They sniffed and peered around the site. They were smarter than the cannibals. Their skin had a light green pallor. Horns jutted out of either side of their foreheads. Their upper bodies were humanoid, while their legs had the haunches of a bird with the talons of a horse. Their wings flapped behind them, keeping them afloat. One gargoyle was significantly bigger than the rest. He held his broad shoulders straight in a prideful manner. Shoulders, I called him. He must be the leader. The other three had mischievous henchmen vibes. One only had a single eye. Another had long vicious claws, much larger than the others. The other one was smaller than the rest and was clearly the runt of the gang.
Shoulders pointed in the woods right in my direction. Uh oh. I still had five seconds on the clock for my hunter’s stance’s stealth mode. They shouldn’t be able to see me. The gargoyles flew through the woods in my direction. They couldn’t see me, could they?
Shoulders answered my question with an elbow blow to my chest. I flew backwards and not in the cool gargoyle flying way, but in the against-my-will kind of way. My back crashed into a thick tree. Bark and splintered wood stabbed my shoulders.
I wanted to summon Chip and Gryph to help me against this group, but the damn magic forest had its stupid rules.
I stood up and dematerialized my bow back into my inventory. I wiggled my fingers, getting them warmed up for spellcasting. I ran deeper into the forest away from the gargoyles. Lightning crackled in my palm and I sent a blast of shocking speed to my feet. I sprinted through the woods with a renewed vigor, every step taking me further, pushing me forward faster than usual. Wind blew my hair back. I power jumped into the trees. Branches snapped and broke behind me. The gargoyles were smashing through whatever was in their way. I let myself fall back onto the ground and continued running. I weaved in and out of the forest, first on the ground, then in the air and then repeated. After I did this three more times, I’d created enough distance between the gargoyles and me.
I swerved around and quickly cast my hands out. The gargoyles would be facing me in a matter of seconds. The ground at my feet erupted with a wall of flames. The gargoyles weren’t stupid enough to charge through it and halted their descent when they got close to the heat. Too bad I had a way of increasing my flame wall’s range. With both my arms stretched out, hands opened wide, I let out air blast. The wall of flames blew forth like a massive flamethrower. The gargoyles swerved to dodge the incoming blast, but they were covered in flames. Their red health bars above their nameplates decreased by a couple of percentage points. The burning debuff flickered beneath their status bars. It didn’t matter though. The attack wasn’t effective. They flew ar
ound the wall of flames and came for me.
I flame dodged, sliding across the mud-strewn ground, leaving a trail of fire beneath my boots. I then cast earthquake: the surrounding ground trembled and cracked until stones and shards were stabbing forth from the ground. The gargoyles descended towards me, smirking at me like I was an idiot. They weren’t going to step foot on the ground, especially not now after I’d made it so deadly for them. Sure, keep thinking you’re smarter than me. The gargoyles came at me four on one. I snapped my fingers and electric blinked so I was behind them. My arms were already stretched out and I unleashed another dose of air blast. The wind only made the gargoyles—still flying towards the rumbling ground where they thought I had been—even more aerodynamic. They crashed into my earthquake.
I conjured a fireball in each hand and whipped it down at the AoE earth spell, comboing the two spells together to make a molten earthquake. I electric blinked back to the bottom, with my palm out, lightning crackling. I placed my palm right against Runt’s head.
“Skull shock to the brain, asshole,” I said.
Runt vibrated in the air as I delivered my electric-shock-therapy to his head. While the monster appeared to be in pain, his health bar had barely fallen and Runt was the weakest of the ghoulish foursome.
Claws swung his powerful fingernails at me and I electric blinked into thin air. Reappearing meters away, I took in all of their HP bars. Hardly a scratch. Why weren’t they taking any damage? Was their magic defense particularly extra high? Should I switch back to ranger moves? I’d hit them with all of my elemental spells. Unless…
The gargoyles were zooming towards me like psychopathic linebackers ready to crack my neck and spine, no concern about rendering me a paraplegic for the rest of my life. I stretched out my arms and triggered solar blast. The ability had a delay. A bright white orb formed in front of my palms. Then after five seconds, the orb shot out in a massive blast. The gargoyles squinted and fell back. Their HP dropped by a quarter.
I triggered rejuvenation to start gaining my MP back. Next, I power jumped into the air.
The gargoyles chased after me, but they had smartened up. They came at me from four different directions. My solar blast would only be able to hit at most two of them, but they weren’t that smart. They rushed me and I electric blinked into thin air. I reappeared and shot out solar blast one last time. They were all clustered together and weren’t able to spread out. The bright light of the solar energy ripped and shriveled their skin. Their HP drained quickly now.
I kept pouring mana in my feet to keep me from falling rapidly through the air. I whipped out my arm towards Runt. Lightning slithered out my palm and flew across the sky like a serpent. The lightning wrapped itself around him, paralyzing him in the sky. The other gargoyles paid no heed, rushing towards me, in a multi-pronged attack.
I electric blinked out of their away and kept my solar blast hand on Runt’s skull. The creature squirmed, unable to break free of the lightning cage’s hold. Runt’s head exploded at the proximity of the solar blast.
+350 EXP!
The gargoyles turned around. Rage filled their face as Runt’s body fell to the ground. The corpse crashed into the ground, the thump echoing across the woods.
They charged towards me with new found anger and resentment bubbling across their faces. Good. It would be easier to trick them now.
I electric blinked down to the ground. I dashed through the woods. The gargoyles continued to chase after me. I was running out of breath, tiring out from the endless kiting this battle had turned into, but I knew how to finish it. I cast shocking speed and created more distance between the gargoyles and me. I crouched down and set a net trap on the ground. I moved further ahead and set another trap. I then turned around. The three remaining gargoyles charged towards me in the air. I waited until the last second to shoot out lightning cage. They expected it and dodged it by dipping to the ground.
Snap!
The net trap caught Claws.
I flamed dodged backwards. They came after me. I did the same trick again. It was lose-lose for them. Get hit with lightning cage or dodge into the trap. Soon I had all three of them swinging in the net trap, all lined in a row.
I stretched out both my hands and unleashed solar blast. The gargoyles disintegrated.
+350 EXP!
+350 EXP!
+350 EXP!
I panted and collapsed onto the forest floor. I checked the timer and I still had five more hours to go.
I stumbled towards the fallen gargoyles and inspected them for loot. I gathered gargoyle bones and fresh red gargoyle meat. My stomach rumbled. Time to eat. Back at the camp, I held a slab of gargoyle meat on a stick and let it roast beneath the blaze of the fire. When it was finished cooking, I ate it, holding it between my gloved hands. It was messy, but I was starving and I didn’t care.
I blinked and rubbed my eyes when I was finished. Another few more hours to go and I’d be done with this damn class trial. The next wave was already starting. The ground tremored. Water splashed. Emerging from the lake was a whole swarm of swamplings. I did not like these mobs. I’d faced them back in Solmini. Blue-skinned, pointed ears, finned ribs, and black bulbous eyes. They were a hybrid of merman and vampire.
They swam towards the shore. I ran to the edge and I didn’t waste any time. A bright light formed in my palm and then shot out into the water. The attack sent the swamplings swirling back, taking a chunk of their HP with it, but they kept coming forward. I shot out another solar blast, but it didn’t matter. There was always more swamplings to replace the one’s who had been wounded.
I played it out in my head. If I stood here all night, triggering solar blast, I’d eventually run out of MP potions, and the swamplings would eventually climb ashore further out and surround me.
I dashed away from the shore and ran into the woods. Swamplings were stronger near water so I’d be gaining an advantage by fighting them further inland.
I ran and ran. My heart beating like crazy. My throat drying up.
A screech echoed through the woods.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
Jumping through the shadows was another wave of cannibals.
I lifted up my hands and triggered moon blast: a watery bright blue orb formed in my hand before shooting out a silver blast. The spell rippled through the cannibals, destroying the front line of their horde.
I had an idea.
I turned around and ran. I came face to face with the swampling horde. I electric blinked into the trees and watched as the two enemy groups swarmed into each other. I waited for carnage but the group of mobs fell to a standstill.
The cannibals scratched at the trees and started climbing them. They were creating a human ladder as they came towards me.
There were enemies in every direction. They were going to kill me by sheer numbers. There was no way out.
There was only one last thing to try.
I triggered feral mode.
I was on the ground, shooting off air blast spells and earthquake and grabbing cannibal heads and smashing them into other cannibal heads. I had lost control of my body. I blinked and I’d be somewhere else. Casting a new spell, decapitating a new creature. It was like I was only seeing every fifth second I was living through. It was as if I was on autopilot, and the autopilot program was a psychopath. I was pure carnage.
The time dilation of my consciousness widened. Soon I was only seeing every tenth second, then eventually nothing at all.
The last thing I saw were corpses. Piles of them.
5
Ash and smoke filled my nostrils. A vicious cough took over my body: my throat scratched, my stomach tightened, my body curled up in pain. My eyes cracked open to the light of a gray sky morning. I rolled over. My muscles ached. I tilted my head and found I was covered in scars and bruises from my arms to my legs. My robes were ripped all over.
I rubbed my forehead. I pushed my arms up and took in my surroundings. The campsite was surro
unded with the fallen bodies of yesterday’s fight.
A group of messages popped up in my HUD.
Congratulations! You have unlocked Druid class.
Congratulations! Your primary class (Druid) has leveled up (Level 21). You have gained (1) class skill point for your primary class.
Congratulations! Your primary class (Druid) has leveled up (Level 22). You have gained (1) class skill point for your primary class.
Congratulations! Your primary class (Druid) has leveled up (Level 23). You have gained (1) class skill point for your primary class.
I fell to the ground and sighed. I’d survived the night. I’d done it. I took a quick moment of respite. I materialized a hot mug of coffee in my hands and took a sip. One of the perks of A.K.O.’s inventory system was how it operated more like an old-school JRPG [Japanese Role-Playing Game] despite all the other efforts the game went to for hyper realism. The developers must have assumed it was more fun this way. I took my last sip and then gathered my things.
I checked over my stats before leaving:
Clay Hopewell
Level 23
Race: Aeri (Eldra)
Class: Druid (Also available: Summoner, Level 33)
HP: 228
MP: 627
ATKP: 3
MTKP: 89
TGH: 5
