Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior's Oath: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 4

by M. H. Johnson

  Ping Ping nodded. “Of course that’s assuming your former master taught you how rope yourself into the trees before daring to sleep in spirit beast country. You’ll find some nasty ones back here, thanks to the rift, so you keep your old mentor’s advice in mind once true dusk hits, no matter how peaceful your day’s foraging. Rope yourself up safe and sleep sound, that’s my advice!”

  “I’ll be sure to do just that,” Alex assured, more curious than ever, but he already knew he dare not ask what kind of missions Morning Dew Temple offered. He hadn’t even seen them mentioned on the job board before he had to make his hasty exit, but his curiosity was definitely piqued. “Thanks again for the tips,” he said, giving the pair a friendly wave before heading out the gates and along the hardpacked dirt path, leading straight to the woods just yards away, eager to see what adventures awaited him at the end of the trail.

  14

  The thick forest canopy immediately muted the afternoon light to a luminous dusk, and Alex almost tripped and fell on his face, thanks to the thick roots and upturned rocks on the trail he now walked on, having grown so used to perfectly straight and smooth ley lines disguised as trade roads that he had forgotten what walking along a proper forest trail felt like.

  Strangely enough, the path even had the tiniest flicker of presence itself, a lone strip of Earth Qi, feeling almost as if it were being crushed to nothing by the vast looming presence of Wood Qi to either side. Alex blinked in momentary wonder, never having felt the play of natural forces with his Qi Perception so clearly as he did at that moment, truly feeling it as a pressure of sorts.

  For all that the elements of Wood and Earth were supposedly in conflict, Alex immediately got the sense that the cycle was far more complex, and harmonious, than that. Though it was true that Wood was eager to claim Earth for itself, using it to grow more Wood, the moment a tree died, the roots would slowly be absorbed back into Earth as rich, loamy soil, and the rest of the tree as well, over time.

  Produce was a bit different. Soil would of course consume buried plants, but when the conditions were right, said buried plants, often roots or seeds of one sort or another, would sprout to fresh life, claiming more Earth than ever.

  Alex frowned, lost in thought, his feet now walking the trail without a single misstep, striving to commune with the forest all around him in his own way as he thought further on the complex riddle of the elements. Other examples of destructive interactions also seemed to involve conflict more than true destruction. Fire and Water were opposed, but just as Water would extinguish Fire, so too Fire could destroy Water, turning it into steam. Was Air somehow a key component of their interaction? Metal could poison Wood, or chop down trees, but sap and resin could also eat away at metal, and everyone knew chopping wood with a sword was a good way to destroy your blade. Yet many sword hilts had a wooden component. And Earth and Water. Crazy to even think of it as part of a destruction cycle, but Alex knew that was his own cultural prejudice slipping in. Still, Earth would absorb Water, in a sense claiming it and changing it, transforming it into mud. At the same time, the dirt was also transformed, and earthen bulwarks or houses made of clay not properly fire hardened could easily be worn away in a storm. And soil was constantly being lost to water erosion, if Wood, or a rooted mesh of vegetation, didn’t keep it all intact.

  And the cycle of Creation itself. Was it really creation so much as unhindered destruction? Wood completely absorbed Water with its roots, no real push-back. And Fire would just burn Wood completely. Water was excellent for quenching steel, but could also rust it to oblivion. Humans might find the quenching helpful, and the rusting abhorrent, but in either case, Water’s ability to transform Metal was supreme.

  Alex froze, shivering in the waning light, feeling on the cusp of a profound revelation, before twilight and the soft patter of rain was broken by high pitched screams and the distant flicker of flame.

  His faintly glowing fangtian ji was in his hand in a blink, kissing his ring as he sped ahead as fast as his frantic feet could take him when screams broke off in a choked gurgle.

  “An Li!” A man’s desperate cry.

  Alex’s stomach lurched as he darted around the bend, momentarily frozen by the tableau before him. Unable to believe that here, of all places, the pair that had been so ready to strike him down back in the city would be desperately fighting for their lives in the middle of a muddy clearing in the heart of the forest, of all places. An Li’s desperate gaze caught his own as frantic hands desperately hammered at the burning spirit wolf that was presently tearing out her throat.

  But of course, it made perfect horrid sense.

  They had all been thrown out simultaneously, and for all that they had gone their separate ways, there had been only three major exits that would have led to foraging or hunting opportunities. And no doubt he wasn’t the only one savvy enough to know the Defender’s Association was paying far from optimal rates for beast cores, if nothing else.

  Perhaps he wasn’t the only one who thought it best to see what the cultivation temple was offering for kills. And really, what sane person would be going out an hour before dusk who hadn’t just effectively been kicked out of the city, even if just for a few days?

  An all too predictable chain of events that could well spell their deaths, Alex thought as he embraced his Qi and charged forward.

  For all that he knew of the perilous risks of traveling outside the cities, save for monsters in human form, spirit beasts had only ever attacked when they set up camp, ate, rested, or foraged just off the road. But never on the ley lines themselves. And all three of them were now on a man-made path in a natural clearing where the forest and its denizens held absolute sway.

  Bullrush!

  A defiant roar in his mind as he darted forward, channeling his fury and hate in a single thrusting wrench as his deadly ji blasted through the skull of the massive wolf of shadow and malice that had clamped so fiercely on a dying girl’s throat, larynx crushed, blood trickling between desperately grasping fingers, panicked eyes only able to gaze in horrified confusion into his own because of the chain mail shirt and leather choker she wore.

  He didn’t think, only acted as he sensed howling death approaching, hand flashing into his ring as his mind flashed to a certain hard-featured face handing him a brilliant ruby restoration potion he didn’t need, having kept it offhand in the thought it might one day bring him coin or desperate need.

  Never did he think he would be thrusting the contents down the throat of a dying girl who had been so terrified of him she had almost set a guildhall ablaze.

  “Quit fighting me! Hold this against your throat!” he roared, his 20 Strength effortlessly jerking aside her desperately clawing hands as he tore free the shredded choker and slammed his hyper-infused poultice upon her still-gushing wound, twisting her clawed hands atop of it as he spun around to meet how howling giant wolves of shadow and hate, eager to tear out his throat.

  Finesse check made! Strength check made! You have managed to keep your feet!

  You have critically struck a second Spirit Wolf!

  You have been knocked off your feet! You have suffered 1 Light Wound!

  Flashing a fierce grin when his ji, braced for the charge, tore open the throat of a second howling monster.

  Before he was clipped from behind by a pair of wolves eager to hamstring and disembowel him.

  Bullrush! He jumped straight up, turning around in time with the crashing thunder overhead, the misty drizzle turning to pouring rain, a dozen pairs of flashing eyes glaring into his own.

  “An Li!” Yohan’s desperate cry, racing to her side before tripping, the half dozen wolves that had been hindering him finally overcoming his powerful wind wall, now focusing all their attention on bringing down their prey.

  Which suited Alex just fine.

  Bullrush! Adderstrike! Adderstrike!

  Alex dove into the cluster of wolves like a blazing phoenix from above, his glowing ji tearing through the first preda
tor like a brilliant comet, its howling companions flinching back as they were showered in blood and gore.

  Only to howl in surprise and fear as Alex’s polearm slammed aside powerful lupine bodies eager to tear into fallen prey before cleaving vicious slavering skulls free of their owner’s bodies in showers of blood.

  And in less time than it took for Yohan to struggle back to his feet and dive over An Li’s wheezing body, her whistling breaths all that was keeping her among the living, six more wolves had joined the fallen.

  Qi Perception check made!

  Shadows roiled in the darkness.

  Alex flashed a killer’s smile into the growing storm, taking a single heartbeat to breathe deep of the swirling maelstrom of Light Qi all around him. He could feel his body surging with the power and fury of the storm. His limbs trembled with a berserker’s dark madness, despite the fierce cultivator’s discipline that normally gave him such focus.

  But he didn’t fight it.

  He embraced it.

  No one could truly order the madness of battle, any more than they could the howling shriek of the wind or the whirling tides of flooding seas washing everything to flotsam.

  His eyes locked on the four remaining wolves snarling their defiance as they slowly stepped away.

  Step by step, Alex closed, even as he felt the weight of Shadow looming behind him, knowing that death was just a heartbeat away.

  And suddenly, peering up in the midst just behind the four surviving wolves was a massive alpha glowing like the moon.

  “The dance ends here, mortal. And so too does your tale. Your souls will make a fine fare for the pack when we tell of our hunt in years to come.”

  The giant wolf howled, then raced forward as if to bowl Alex over while the four lesser spirit wolves continued to retreat.

  Then Alex made his move.

  Bullrush! Adderstrike! Adderstrike!

  You have successfully cleaved the hind quarters of one fleeing spirit wolf!

  Teleporting straight through the illusion of shadow and moonlight, as visceral and real looking as any illusion could hope to be, but showing up as no more than a projection of Spiritual energy to his Qi Perception.

  He tore right through two spirit wolves with quick successive strikes that blasted through skulls and spines before twirling his fangtian ji around in a cleaving strike resonating with the echo of every deadly spinning blow he and Hao Chan had perfected while mastering their deadly forbidden art, razor sharp fangtian ji tearing effortlessly through thick bone, fur, and hide, his polearm all but carried through the blow by the storm of swirling Qi all around him.

  Only one lesser wolf had survived his furious onslaught, but Alex forced himself to turn around and face the true threat before him.

  Soul Sight skill check made! For what good are shadows against a disciple of the Fox?

  No foe was visible to the pair of panicked Ruidians, for all that even they could sense the deadly peril all around them. Yet they were unable to do anything but cry out against the weight of Alex’s own killing fury as he entered the heart of the clearing once more, smiling at the great tree at the far end of the clearing as a massive, shadowy voice seemed to fill up the entire glade.

  “You dare to kill my pack, mortal? You will be made to pay dearly for that! I shall tear the flesh from your bones and trap your soul in chains of shadow as I feed upon your screams and feast upon your marrow!”

  And out of the darkness, swirling into existence like a swarm of maggots and snakes of shadow coalescing, was the most massive wolf made of darkness and malice that Alex could fathom, terrible eyes of brooding flame glaring like lamp lights from pits of darkness.

  Alex braced himself, breathing deep as the massive hellhound readied to pounce, knowing his life, and the lives of the idiots he had rescued, would soon be in deadly peril.

  “An Li! Are you still alive?”

  He smirked, sensing only a sudden surge of confusion and terror.

  “Good! When I give the word, blast fire in all directions. Can you do that? Yohan, make sure she does that! The moment she goes supernova, whirlwind it for all you’re worth! Can you do that?”

  No response, of course, not that he had expected any.

  It was madness to even suggest they’d be able to coordinate all that after nearly getting their throats torn out, before being rescued by a man they were both clearly terrified of. And now they were both a half second away from getting killed.

  “Yes, Drott! We are ready!”

  Yohan wishes to form a party with you. Your designation will be: Battleleader. Do you accept?

  Alex’s eyes widened. Just as he felt the flow of Shadow condense into deadliest intention.

  Yes!

  In a brilliant flash, Alex felt his internal matrix ping with two new crystallized sentiences, all but feeling them as extensions of himself.

  Congratulations! You have made contact with a Rank 4 Air Relic!

  Congratulations! You have made contact with a Rank 3 Fire Relic!

  Do you wish to claim relic potencies?

  He sensed the sudden deadly panic of two young Ruidians terrified for their lives.

  “No!” Alex shouted aloud.

  You have foregone claiming potency at this time.

  Relics have been designated as Lesser Slave Nodes.

  Alex could here An Li audibly shrieking from something other than pain.

  “No! Designate nodes as teammates only!”

  Understood. Relic node autonomy preserved.

  At that instant darkest shadow struck.

  Alex could only hope his horrified teammates would strike in time.

  “Now!” he cried, as the massive wolf of shadow pounced for him, Alex ignoring it entirely to spin around on his back foot and launch himself over his still prone Ruidian teammates he now sensed in perfect relation to himself. Bullrush! Adderstrike!

  Feeling a sudden jolt as his magical fangtian ji tore through endless night in a spray of blood, the darkness itself roaring when the gloom was broken by a sudden swirling whirlwind of flame that instantly obliterated the shadow wolf below, even as it set sudden definition to the roaring monster of darkness that had pounced from above before crashing to the ground, off balance and shaking the earth with its fall, spurting blood from Alex’s cleaving blow.

  The deadly beast roared his fury, massive maw opening so wide Alex knew it could swallow him whole, An Li’s fire allowing him to see his nemesis in brilliant contrast with exquisite precision, giving solidity to what had been little more than gloom and mist before.

  “And now you die, Ruidian!”

  Massive jaws of perfect blackness opened wide to devour the Ruidians. Yohan gave a single desperate cry, An Li’s scream echoing a second later, but she did not abate her flames. They only grew brighter, as if hoping to ward off her foe for one final second.

  Which suited Alex just fine even as his back was scorched, armor growing deadly hot.

  Finesse check made! You have timed your jump perfectly!

  Bullrush successful! You have launched yourself into your enemy’s mouth!

  Your enemy snaps his jaws faster than you can blink! You have suffered a Critical Wound!

  You have successfully jumped into your ring!

  Alex screamed as pain tore through him.

  He thought he had planned everything so perfectly, but the spurting puncture wounds up and down his torso let him know just how close he had come to crashing back into the River of Souls, for the final time.

  And he dared not hesitate more than that single eyeblink of time he had already wasted, or everything was lost.

  He swallowed his terror, girding himself for the choking blackness of shadow, only to find himself trapped in a cocoon of hot steaming meat and blood.

  Before flipping back into his ring again, and yet again. Each blink cocooning him in hot sizzling flesh and horror.

  Groaning after his fourth flip, hands covered in gore, feeling out the tough, rubbery membrane b
etween flesh and hide, a single desperate slice with his gladius finally allowing him to tear open a major rent and squeeze himself through, taking deep gasps of sweet, sweet life-giving air as he fell to the ground heaving and gasping, sensing the weighty stares of what he now guessed were his teammates.

  Who could actually form a party with him, whose miniature status sheets he was halfway certain he could pull up.

  Imagine that.

  He gasped, coughing up a single gob of blood, already knowing the role he had to play as much as he’d dearly love to flip back inside his ring immediately.

  Master Node transcends party limitations. Solo kill transcends other party claims. Do you wish to claim possession of Greater Spirit Beast Core for yourself?

  You have chosen Yes!

  For long moments the three of them stared at each other, two of them covered in wounds and blood being washed away by the pouring rain.

  Alex took a deep breath, doing his best to ignore the excruciating pain. “Alright. We have twelve dead spirit beasts at our feet. I’m claiming the greater beast core. That’s not up for negotiation. But the flame burst did help my Soul Sight pin the bastard. And hell, we are a party. So, if you want to split the lesser beast cores between us, five for me and six for you two… I’m open to that.”

  He forced a smile, feeling the weight of their disbelieving stares on him as he sunk to the ground before one of the lesser spirit wolves.

  You have claimed a lesser beast core (4th Tier). You have begun power healing!

  Even though a part of him hated wasting what could be a valuable resource for trade, the only way he could safely heal without using it was to flip back inside his ring. And that was one trick he didn’t want to give away if he could possibly help it. And so great was his healing skill at this point that, even without tapping into a single beast core, he could regenerate almost half a pound of flesh in a single hour of cultivation.

  But they didn’t necessarily have a half hour to waste, sitting around a major kill site, when fresh trouble might have been drawn by the screams and blood, and could be arriving any second. Besides, he had lost more than a half pound of bio matter when the Shadow Wolf’s impossibly sharp maw had torn open his chest and sheared off his foot.