Juni summoned a cluster of stones that whirled around her head, acting as missiles primed and ready. “Lots of wolves. At least a dozen based on the howls. Tier one. No other monster types with them,” Juni relayed.
“Well then. This old warrior just got one last journey in him,” Jurik affirmed, just as multiple sets of ochre colored eyes drew close to their hiding spot. “Trigger a root hex once they're in range, Neska. Wait until they’re close and grouped up. The area attack should be big enough to funnel them. I have close-range, fire-based abilities. If you can crowd control them, Juni and I can clear them.”
Good plan. She flicked her tail toward Juni, then Jurik, and nodded. Their first foe was more visible to her thermal vision sense. It growled menacingly, its hackles raised, and sharp spines extended from its body, like a porcupine but worse. Two others flanked it, but the opening of the small retreat in the boulders meant they could only approach one at a time. Jurik called out their moves. “Juni, use your [Burrowing] ability and dig an exit tunnel.”
Neska channeled her ability, feeling the roots twisting and growing under the earth–but held in place by her will. It felt like hundreds of springs, waiting to be triggered.
[Rooting Hex Active - Manual Trigger Enabled]
Neska noticed something rather unusual this time around, something she’d only felt the faintest trace of before. A sensation that felt like damp earth across her scales. During the last encounter with the hounds, she thought she could sense something unusual–a taste of dirt on her tongue. But this…she felt tangles of fibers across her body.
Was this because her hex was a higher proficiency level? She’d have to test it out later. The lead wolf approached, saliva dripping from its mouth as though it could anticipate its next meal, then coiled its body for a lunge.
“Now, Neska.”
She triggered the hex and felt the vines sprout from the ground, whipping out and entangling the first wolf, which had been mid-leap, in a web of roots. Its momentum came to a halt, and it scrabbled at the unexpected ensnarement, biting at the roots.
Juni was behind her, tearing her claws through the solid rock at a rate Neska didn’t think was even possible. It was almost as if the stone molded out of the way for her, and she dug a passageway out the back. Juni had argued a stone barrier might help, but the stones wouldn't last long. Neska noted in the previous encounter that they tended to crumble after less than a minute into a fine powder. Jurik sliced the flaming sword across his palm, but instead of blood, liquid fire emerged, jetting out in a deadly spray of droplets that ignited the wolf, the vines, and the nearby trees.
The inhuman, shrill barking set Neska on edge, and she felt a sear on her scales as the vines burned. The monster writhed on the ground, trying to roll desperately to smother the flames. Eventually, it was nothing more than roasting meat, and the survivors growled, taking a few steps back.
Vivi. He just set his blood on fire? Did I see that right? What is that ability? She triggered a second root hex further back, keeping it ready as another trap for them to fall into.
His blood did, indeed, catch fire. However, I don’t have any information on this ability. Your root class is Witch; I don’t know about other classes.
Scribble notes for me when I learn them! Can you take notes?
A notes function is available–
She’d slap herself if she had hands. Can these notes be displayed to others?
No. It is limited to the user.
Add that to my list of things I want to fix with this strange magic interface. It’s already broken because it thinks I’m a human and a monster at once, which, amazingly, is to my benefit. She kept an eye on the wolves, watching for which one might try to trigger an ability.
“Juni, we can’t hold this entryway forever; that fire’ll last about a minute,” Jurik said calmly, a dribble of blood coming from his cut palm. He gritted his teeth as he took his still ablaze sword and pressed it against his wound, the sear of flesh audible. The wound sealed quickly, no longer bleeding. If he suffered from the shock of the move, he said nothing.
Neska noted that it wasn’t the only scar on the weathered man’s body, either. Scars marked his face, a large one at his neck, and part of his right arm looked like the molten wax of Risha’s candles she used to light her home with.
“Almost through!” Juni called out between the sound of displaced earth. The scrape of nails against stone was grating, even to Neska. But it was impressive that Juni managed to dig a tunnel just large enough for Jurik to crouch through so quickly. “There are still too many!”
“Down the road, there’s a lumber mill! We can take shelter–”
No! The wolves ran through there already! Neska felt a chill go down the length of her body; that location was not viable for defense. Juni luckily heard it and interrupted him.
“The wolves attacked the mill, at least a day ago and we found bodies there. We can’t go there!” Juni screamed. “We need another place to fight them!”
Meanwhile, the flames began to flicker with waning strength, and the prowling wolves leered at them, growling. One tried to leap through the fire over the corpse of the first wolf, but Neska was ready for it. She mentally activated her [Blinding Venom], rearing back her head and feeling that gland in her mouth valve open, and spat a stream at the creature.
It yelped and tumbled upon landing, a mere few feet from them. Jurik lashed out with his sword, driving it deep into the chest of the creature while it was disoriented. Neska threw out another [Rooting Hex] to seal the entryway, buying Juni more time.
“Keep them bottled up!” Jurik roared, kicking the corpse aside; his wounds reopened from the motion, yet he showed little reaction. “Neska, if you still have mana charge left, keep them delayed with your ranged venom or the root hexes!”
Working on it! The thrashing vines kept the wolves at bay, but now they were tearing at its edges, biting it with their yellowed, jagged teeth and clawing through it with their forward paws.
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The roots were not nearly strong enough to stop them. Her Vitality was too low for it to act as a durable deterrent. Wait. I can summon more. Way more! She focused on the sheer number of vines, creating an area denial. She didn't need to catch them; she just needed to slow them down!
She heard a cry of triumph from Juni, followed by the sound of rock cracking apart deep within her burrow. “I’ve got it! Quickly, before they figure out where we ended up!” she shouted, beckoning them forward.
“Neska! You go with Juni, I’ve got the rear!” Jurik threw down another blast of fire from his hand, wincing as the ability cost him another round of blood. This time, he created a wall of fire, obstructing the entryway; he then spun and crouched low to navigate the tunnel. “I’ve got our backup plan. Get to the cart, I’ve still got alchemical supplies that’ll blast those things apart, and if we live through this, a kit to get me patched up!”
Another wolf sailed past the torn-up roots and past the flame break, lunging for Jurik before he could get up a defense. The wolf knocked him down, the sword clattering to the side. Neska reacted on instinct, using her [Coiled Strike] and a dose of venom to clamp down hard on the wolf's neck, where the spines couldn’t protect it.
It still chomped down on Jurik’s shoulder, who let out a grunt of pain. He shoved the creature off of him in that moment of interruption, then grabbed his weapon back. Jurik thrust it into the creature's jaw and upward with one single fluid strike, right through its lower skull. It went limp as he yanked the weapon back out, the beast instantly collapsing. He held his shoulder with his free hand, and Neska heard him grunt as a scent of smoke and burnt flesh emanated from the injury site. “Neska, go!” he insisted.
She slithered through the scattered rocks and fresh-dug earth through the tunnel, where Juni waved frantically to them. “C’mon, that won’t fool them for long!” the mouse called out. The tunnel wasn’t lengthy; soon, they were outside, having dug an entrance into the short gully behind the rocky hill.
Neska heard more of the wolves howling at the entrance. Jurik crawled through, already having taken one round with these wolves, and as soon as he was through, Juni raised a furry paw, her eyes flaring green.
“Neska. Snare them,” Juni called out with a determined voice.
Gladly. She felt the ache of cutting ice across her scales, pushing herself to an uncomfortably low mana level, yet the roots sprang up and blocked the few brave wolves that had tried to follow, unhindered by the flames. They had nearly made it to the the entryway. With the close quarters, they couldn’t push past the thrashing roots, snapping futilely against the thrashing plants.
Ominously, Neska heard rock cracking and snapping. Juni thrust a forward paw up, then slammed it down on the ground in a fluid motion. A fissure formed in the rock, and within a second, the rocky formation collapsed, crushing the wolves inside.
That was…devious. I like this mouse! Neska saw several notification messages pop up in a row. She mentally shunted them aside, and a brighter-colored message indicating her Witch level had increased; those could wait, they needed to keep moving. Jurik led the way, moving as fast as he could through the gully, and pointed to a narrow area where they could climb up that wasn’t as steep.
“Damn wolves. Persistent, aren’t they?” he growled as he scooped up Juni, and she rode on his shoulder. “Neska, you hurt?”
She felt a stinging pain and saw one of the wolf's spines had broken off, jabbing into her body. She pointed her head to it, and he nodded. “Leave it in there for now, I can probably patch it in the cart. Didn’t see the horses earlier, probably dead or ran off.”
The sound of wolves had not ended, and it sounded like they were still looking for them. Neska noted there were fewer barks from the beasts. They had certainly thinned their numbers, both for their own survival…and for anyone else nearby. Jurik pressed forward up the incline while she undulated her body, pushing up the incline as best she could. Loose gravel slipped beneath her scales, yet she ascended.
She debated using her [Spring Scales] again, but she knew she was pushing her limits a little; that cold sensation remained dangerously uncomfortable.
Jurik glanced over his shoulder, panting from the exertion. “Neska, I can’t thank you enough. That would have been a really tough bind with just me and Juni. Stick with us, the cart's just up ahead.”
They climbed out of the gully to level ground, and the wolf's sounds had faded, growing more distant. Juni hopped off his shoulder and dashed toward the cart, having run into a ditch on the opposite side of the dirt road, but was still upright and relatively undamaged. She thrust open a small chest with her paws, nosing into the recess before coming out with a bottle of blue fluid that glowed with an inner light.
She waved the veteran warrior over. “Jurik, this’ll keep you alive, but you need to clean and patch those, or it could fester–”
He gave a wave of his hand. “Just need to be functional for now.” He pulled up to the cart, and with a few attempts, hoisted himself in and sank low to avoid being seen. Neska finally relented and used her [Spring Scales] to jump into the cart, with Juni startling and almost dropping the bottle.
“Gods, Neska, you scare me when you do that!” she scolded. Neska flicked out her tongue in response, before daring to look at the spine sticking in her midsection. It didn’t seem to go deep, but she heeded Jurik’s advice and left it alone.
Juni handed the bottle of mysterious fluid to the injured man. He flicked the top off as if it were a well-rehearsed move. The red contents reminded her of Risha's potions, probably a healing application. He took a sip, then gritted his teeth after a few seconds.
Within seconds, the edges of his wounds rippled and closed together, though a thin cut remained. He didn’t say a single word, but she saw pain etched in his eyes, nevertheless.
"Neska, might want to hold still. That spine isn't in too deep. Luckily." He adjusted it and drew it orthogonally away from her body, leaving a sharp spike of pain in its absence. "Juni, bandage." Before she handed it to him, he dribbled some of the mystery liquid on Neska's wound.
It itched and burned lightly. But, to her amazement, the wound slowly sealed up. nothing was left but a smear of blood. That works on us, too? Good to know!
“You alright, Jurik?” Juni asked softly.
“I’ll be better when we’re in the clear. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction for them; hopefully, it doesn’t change.” Jurik was back on his feet in a few seconds, grabbing a satchel and stuffing various items into it. “Seekers will need to hear about this. They have a garrison just north of here. It’s out of the way, but…”
No! Not the Seekers! Neska let out a low hiss at Jurik’s idea, and he flinched.
“Juni, why–”
“Seekers killed her witch. Risha Aksen.” Juni’s voice carried a deadly intent. “She managed to scratch out a few words here and there, but we’ve been on the move for most of the time. Until she can tell us more? We can’t trust them.”
The news took a moment to sink in on the man’s face. But the acceptance was real, based on the way he clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes. “How did you two communicate?”
“She was able to scratch out a few words using her tail. Someone named Risha looked after her. Yes and no questions make it hard to pin down things, and she can write with her tail, but it takes a while,” Juni said, then turned her attention over to the side of the cart. “I think we’re clear for now. My [Tremor Sense] isn’t going off anymore. Beside us.”
“Well done, you two,” Jurik said proudly, looking more confident. He grabbed a relatively clean shirt from a sack, taking off his bloodied one.
My goddess, Jurik...how are you alive? What was remarkable was Jurik's quiet stoicism after she saw what lay underneath. The weathered man’s body was a tapestry of old wounds. Bites, claw marks, and deep scars that left faint trenches across his abdomen, chest, and arms. The old wounds looked large. Some were large enough that she wondered how this man survived.
Her gaze didn’t go unnoticed, as Jurik threw on the long-sleeved shirt over his battered, but still lithe body. “I’ve done this a while, Neska. If you’re wondering. I’ve seen a lot of things. Done a lot, too.” He gently rubbed the waxy skin of his arm as he said that. “I don’t understand. The Seekers are sworn protectors of the kingdoms. They’ve kept the wave of monsters at bay between them and the Awakened. Juni, see if you can find something for her to write on.”
Wait. She could do something. She looked around the cart, with Jurik watching in curiosity.
She found what she was looking for: a half-used pad of paper and a nub of charcoal. She pointed her tail at them, and Jurik picked up on it. “Make this quick, we need to move before they circle back. I’d rather get off the road as fast as possible.”
Juni helped her and laid the paper on a flat stone on the ground, putting the charcoal in Neska’s tail. Even so, it would take far too long.
Unless...
Vivi, I need to spend an essence point. Right now.
Bam. Jurik and Juni know how to hold their own, too.
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