by E C Chii
Chapter 8 – Forest of Death
Waking up a few hours before sunrise. He finally had a chance to look at his character screen to see if there was anything that needed his attention. Nothing jumped out at him but he did notice he was only 300EXP away from level 3. A smile crept to his face as he decided his next action, as Wolf climbed down from the tree to kill a few more. Stalking back to the Conscript’s camp, he saw most were sleeping aside for a few inattentive sentries, an opportunity to kill a few while they slept. Creeping on the opposite side he found a few who were sleeping a distance away. Activating stealth, he eased up to one soldier who was more remote than others and slit his throat with a knife he picked up in the tent, the soft gurgling of the man was drowned out by the snores of others. For the next hour Wolf could kill another 3 more before the sun started to rise, making him to fall back.
You have killed a level 5 Imperial Conscript, 100EXP gained.
You have killed a level 5 Imperial Conscript, 100EXP gained.
You have killed a level 5 Imperial Conscript, 100EXP gained.
Congratulations! You have attained level 3. You have 4 stat points and 1 skill points to distribute
Wolf didn’t have time to distribute stat points, he moved on to the next victim. While the Soldiers began to stir, Wolf ate a quick breakfast sitting in a tree overlooking the camp. Soon enough they found the four dead troops, and the camp erupted in alarm. A sadistic smile crept on his face when they found the little present he left them. He had cut out their eyes and tongues, cut off their noses, ears and genitals. After shoving the genitals in their mouths, he carved ‘Death’, ‘Fear’, and ‘Suffering’ on their foreheads. When things started to calm down, Wolf thought, ‘time to stir the hornets’ nest again’ as he descended his perch. He had a series of ideas on how to wipe out the men, but the most surefire way was to lead them back to his cave. He added two pts to both DEX and CON, and leveling up the ‘Stealth’ skill to level 3.
Coming to a decision on plan of action, he decided to kick the race off again. Wolf fired two arrows at the Officer again since pissing him off would be the best way to do the job. Shouting again, “If you’re the best the Empire has to offer. No wonder why they can’t take a simple village in the woods or catch a single man in the woods.”
The Officer’s face reddened as the arrows impacted his back. The total damage was minimal, but it served the purpose he desired. The man shouted at the troops to begin pursuit before they could even finish breaking camp, the chase began again. If it wasn’t for Wolf’s knowledge gained while being in the TRF he would have had trouble keeping them enticed. He found a single scout when he backtracked to antagonize them and decided another ploy would be good. He covered himself in mud and leaves to help disguise himself and waited until the scout had passed him.
Activating stealth, he crept up behind him, with his steel dagger and left hand. He covered their mouth and proceeded to stab him multiple times in the kidney. Blood flowed out liberally as the stunned scout began to struggle, bringing the knife up he slowly pushed the knife through his neck. Reveling in the look of fear, horror, pain and despair painted on the scout’s face as both life and blood fled him. Taking a few moments Wolf wanted to strike more fear into their hearts. Using some sharpened stakes, he impaled the scout Vlad the Impaler style, using another sharpened stick to prop up his arm pointing to the cave area.
Wolf was having fun picking this group apart. Setting up various tripping traps to wound, infuriate, and irritate. Always just out of reach, the Imperials followed blindly. Around noon, he got to the familiar woods around his cave. Stopping for a brief lunch he drank deeply from the spring. These past few days were starting to wear on him. Over the past two days he had managed to kill an additional 9 Soldiers and mortally wounded 12 more. The pursuers were growing more and more disgruntled and arguments were beginning to occur more frequently among the troops about abandoning the chase. They were starting to break and that was bad for him, he needed to get them to take the bait and continue chasing him.
The most likely way to keep them interested was to come close to being caught, which wasn’t too hard since it had almost occurred a few times before. With the remaining number of 46 Imperial troops left in his back yard. Just a little further and they would be in the middle of all the traps he laid. Having long since killed all their scouts, the Imperials were sending out squads of five to hunt him. On the fourth day Wolf came close to death. While ambushing one group a second had stumbled on him. Surrounded he became heavily wounded. Luckily, he could escape by jumping into a small ravine, when he landed he sprained his ankle. Limping he ran from the Soldiers. He had managed to make it to his cave, when he looked at the debuff he had received.
You have been inflicted by the ‘Sprained Ankle’ debuff. -3 DEX and -30% Movement Speed. This debuff last 7 hours.
With nothing to do Wolf decided to wait and let his many traps do the work of killing the Soldiers. He ate a filling meal from his provisions and slept early. When Wolf woke he had a series of notifications waiting for his attention.
Congratulations! You have unlocked the crafting tree ‘Trap Construction’ at beginner level 1
By unlocking a crafting tree without a trainer you are awarded +1 INT.
Trap Construction Level 1 (Passive, Craft) – Traps you create deal 10% more damage and are more likely to inflict additional status debuffs when triggered. 10% success rate when disarming traps.
Your traps have killed 7 Imperial Conscripts, crippled 12 Imperial Conscripts, and wounded 15 Imperial Conscripts. You have received 100exp for each Imperial Conscript killed. 75exp for each Imperial Conscript crippled, and 50exp for each Imperial Conscript wounded. Total 2350exp
Through ingenuity, guile and preplanning you are awarded an additional +2 to all stats for breaking the will of an Imperial Unit.
Smiling, there were 22 left alive either crippled or wounded with 13 being unmolested, now his near-death experience wasn’t looking as bad as it was. Though it also brought a sobering thought that if they were hitting so many of his traps they were disturbingly close. Grabbing his gear, he left the cave to begin the day’s ‘fun’.
Moving at a moderate pace he searched for the troops that followed him. He found several trails of blood and gore originating from his traps. In a few pit traps were the corpses of its victims, Wolf was elated that, so many fell into his traps. He resolved to come and loot their bodies later, but he had more souls to send to the reaper. Following the blood trails, he came across their makeshift camp. Bodies of the wounded conscripts were strewn across the ground with the sound of painful moans and crying that could be heard.
Some limped, while others were laying on the ground wallowing in the misery of pain. Despite all this he did find it odd that those who were still able bodied had run off in the night to save themselves. None of the men remaining looked to have much of a fight left in them, they were completely broken. Off to the side he saw the officer of the troops sitting on a rock with his hands covering his face.
Even in the wounded and broken state they were, he doubted he had ability of being able to take them before they could recover. Some were already starting to get better. Inspiration took hold as Wolf headed off into the opposite direction of the Soldiers. Getting close to the site of his snare traps he found that the entire area was covered in dried blood of animals that couldn’t escape. Following the trail, the predator left an easy trail, confident in its domination of this forest, it indicated to him that this predator considered itself to be the apex creature in this area. Its footprints were as wide as his hands was long. The foot print resembled a canine’s paws, but each track had deeper claw grooves than what he recognized.
Wolf shuddered at the savagery this creature would wreak on his foes. As got closer to the beast’s lair, he saw bones and carrion strewn around with the scent of rot, and death permeating the air. The beast resided in a rocky warren several kilometers from his own cave. Activating stealth, he crept up to the entrance tryi
ng to stay down wind. Stringing his bow, he notched an arrow and stalked closer, inside the warren was a monstrosity of fur and muscle.
The beast slumbered, the sound of its snoring reverberated with the intensity of a diesel engine. Rocks and scree shook from the rumbling of its snore striking him with a primal fear like he never felt before, despite the many battles he had been in. Looking at his bow then looking at the beast, second thoughts coursed through his mind as he reconsidered this plan. Steeling himself, he pulled back the arrow sighting, a nervous sweat creased his brow as he released the arrow. A dull ‘thwack’ followed closely by a deafening roar. Pure terror coursed through his veins, and a spike of adrenaline flooded his system.
Congratulations! You have initiated the quest ‘King of the Forest”
Type: NormalDifficulty: Hard
Conditions: Kill the Direwolf
Rewards: +10 Reputation with Kokuri Village, 1000exp
The beast rose looking out with bloodshot eyes, 10 cm serrated black fangs protruded its mouth, the only thing more intimidating than the fangs were the 4 cm long claws that tipped its paws. Black stripes adorned its fur giving it a tiger like appearance. The look of pure hate filled its eyes at the audacity of this little being promising a long painful death, through all the hatred in its eyes a glimmer of intelligence could be seen.
Wolf’s fight or flight instinct took hold as he turned and ran for his life. Ducking, dodging, weaving, and vaulting over each obstacle he came across, but no matter what he did the hot breath of this monster was behind him at every turn. Unlike him, the beast simply crashed and bulldozed its way through everything in its path, despite mother nature’s strength. Behind the beast was nothing more than a sheer path of destruction. At barely 10 stamina left Wolf arrived at the Imperial camp closely followed by the monster. Shouts of surprise were punctuated by shouts of alarm, slipping on some blood that was pooled on the ground Wolf was bowled over by the monster impacting a tree.
Critical! You have taken 26 Damage from a Direwolf (2.4 damage mitigated)
You have taken 13 Damage from impacting a tree (2.4 damage mitigated)
You have been inflicted by the ‘Stunned’ debuff, you are unable to move, cast spells, or use skills for 5 seconds
The sound of metal clanging, shouts, and screams filled the area as people fought the Direwolf. The stunned debuff wore off letting him see that all the men who were able had spears and swords attacking the Direwolf. The men fought hard and valiantly, but their crippled and wounded status made defeating the Direwolf impossible. Bite after bite took the life of another soldier whittling them down one by one. The soldiers themselves didn’t let these deaths go unanswered as the beast sported several deep bleeding wounds, its left hind leg had multiple deep gashes blood flowing freely, and right hind leg was dragging on the ground.
The officer stood back shocked and useless, screaming at the soldiers to hurry up and kill the Direwolf gradually moving farther away. ‘The useless man hadn’t even drawn his blade to protect his own worthless life, and is throwing away his men’s lives to save his own.’ Wolf thought. Drawing his bow, he notched a steel arrow, sighting the officer his anger rising. Releasing the arrow, it flew but at 150 meters it strayed and missed him. Cursing he notched another arrow while rushing forward. One of the soldiers saw him and turned to intercept, the soldier ambled toward Wolf, but was too slow due to a leg injury. Wolf ducked to the left as a swipe from the Direwolf flew by his head with the claws cutting through his ear. The Soldier wasn’t quite as lucky since the Direwolf’s jaws crushed his head.
The officer was still staring at the Direwolf allowing him to get to within 50 meters before being noticed. A moment of silence fell between them as neither moved, then suddenly everything sped up. Acting on instinct, Wolf drew the bow aiming at the officer he fired. Shooting for a riskier target, he aimed at the back of the knee. Again, he missed his intended target, but did manage to hit him in the back of the thigh. The steel arrowhead easily pierced the tassets on his leg. When it impacted his femur, the bone fractured and causing the arrowhead to bend into a hook, snagging on the bone.
The officer fell, crawling forward then getting on his feet, his next mistake proved to be fatal as he roughly yanked out the arrow. When he removed the arrow a chunk of the bone came with it, trying to run again his leg snapped. Once immobile the man was at the mercy of Wolf, and he had none left. Still remembering the atrocities, he saw in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and many other countries, he truly had no compassion for slavers. The things he saw still haunted his dreams to this day. His only solace was knowing that he had killed countless Chinese that put local populations into slave labor camps. Once he was standing over the man he drew his six-inch dagger.
“You know; I once ran into an officer just like you. Never afraid to throw his men away to save his own hide. Do you know what I did to him?” Wolf asked again starting to growl anticipating the brutality to come.
“P-P-Please, let me live. I can give you anything. Money, position, fame, slave anything. M-My father is a General in the Imperial Army. I-If you kill me he will send an Army after you.” The man said crying, as a wet spot spread through is breeches.
“Well, there is good news and bad news.” Wolf said stifling a chuckle. Continuing he said, “The good news is that you don’t need to wonder where your god is. The bad news is, I’m right here, and fresh out of mercy.” Wolf winked as he stabbed the man in the liver through the openings of the front and back of his breast plate and back plate.
Critical! Imperial Lieutenant takes 12.8 Damage (15 Damage mitigated)
You have inflicted Imperial Lieutenant with ‘Mortal Wound’ debuff, unless healed within 24hrs Imperial Lieutenant he will die. Pain increases by 10% every hour.
Wolf additionally slashed through his hamstrings.
You have inflicted Imperial Lieutenant with ‘Hamstring’ debuff x2
Satisfied this man would die a slow and painful death he started to turn back to the where the Direwolf. As he was turning, an impact on his ribs flung him flying ass over tea kettle where he impacted another tree.
You have taken 18 Damage from a Direwolf (2.4 damage mitigated)
You have taken 11 Damage from impacting a tree (2.4 damage mitigated)
Your ribs have been broken, you will take 2 STA every 2 seconds for 1 minute.
Warning! You are critically low on HP. You need to heal yourself soon or face death
Pain shot through his body, his vision dimmed and took on a red hue, each breath struck new sensations of pain. Wolf struggled to breath, he had lost his sword somewhere, the best weapon he had was a steel dagger scavenged from an Imperial Scout. The Direwolf had slaughtered all the soldiers and was moving on him. Hate filled eyes stared back at him, blood streamed from the dozens of cuts. The left foreleg was cut to the bone in several areas, it’s right eye was missing, the right leg was all but useless, its labored breathing indicated it being on its last breath. Drawing his dagger Wolf stood shakily, his knees were weak, and light headed, and vision was swimming. Resolving to either take this beast down or die on his feet with a weapon in his hand.
The Direwolf charged as best it could, Wolf did the same. As the two met, Wolf slid to the Direwolf’s left to take advantage of its immobile left leg. Each move struck new waves of pain through his body, but he gritted his teeth and kept moving. The Direwolf was not idle as Wolf passed it turned its head to snap its iron like jaws to impale him, missing him by mere millimeters Wolf spun out of the way. As Wolf spun the pain cause him to stumble, this misstep allowed the Direwolf to latch on him with its jaws piercing his right shoulder, a scream erupted its way from Wolf’s lips as he was being shaken like a ragdoll. Wolf retaliated by stabbing at the Direwolf’s jaws. All in all, the attack was largely ineffective, but made the Direwolf roar in pain releasing him. Wolf was on his last leg, his health had restored to 15 as the two danced around each other, trying to land a decisive blow.
Seconds passed th
at seemed like an hour, Wolf’s stamina was getting low, and he was running out of time. Finally, Wolf’s luck ran out when his stamina was completely depleted.
Alert! You are out of Stamina! All movement/attacks are 50% slower
The Direwolf dominated on the weakness of, biting Wolf’s waist.
New waves of pain coursed through him as he felt his pelvis crack, fracturing in several places. Wolf screamed, his voice hoarse and cracking. Survival instincts kicked in, spurred on by indomitable rage he was so familiar with, the dagger in his right hand repeatedly plunged into the Direwolf’s neck. What seemed like an eternity, the life and death battle between these two transformed from a fight between creatures to something akin to demons struggling over a lost soul. It was inevitable that one would finally succumb, and that turned out to be Wolf. Mustering the last of his strength he plunged the dagger deep into the Direwolf’s neck, his vision faded plunging him into oblivion. The last thought he had was ‘At least I went down like a warrior”.
A notification appeared.
You have died.
Your death has resulted in the loss of 1 levels. Currently level 2. All progress in skills, spells, and experience in levels have been reset to 0%. Please be careful in the future.
Chapter 9 – Rebirth and Vengeance
