"Oh fuuuuuuuuuuu–"
TJ breathed out the curse more than he actually swore. He tried his best, but found he couldn't send even a stiff breeze out as he fled for his life. He'd exhausted his MP, and though there was still plenty of time left on his Divine Transformation, his roaring headache pulsed painfully at the back of his head and behind his eyes. Though he knew there might not be any chance to twist the narrative, TJ hoped he'd be able to just… not explain himself to Stanton. As for how he'd gotten here, TJ felt his mind wistfully wandering as he drew a little further away from his pursuers.
The rest of the day passed much the same as the morning had–going on quick blitz missions to exterminate as many monsters as possible, then return to town to Meditate, recover, and work on the barricade. In the work in town, the walls were coming along nicely, and Peter thrived on the work he was offered. He quickly became less of a constructor than a foreman, giving instruction and advice on how best to construct and organize materials in order for the walls to stand up to the rigors of battle. The Meditations, careful as TJ was, didn't result in any Divine Tribulations or massive tornadoes, so he counted it as successful. Somewhat surprisingly, there was another who entered a period of Enlightenment and Tribulation.
Lailani, the nervous little Neophyte, was found surrounded by a bubble of swirling water and wind. Different from TJ, though, she wasn't protected by something that seemed inherently violent. Instead, the water was gentle and carefully pushed people away when they got close. There were still the threats of severe negative consequences, but Kailani's Divine Authority, if that was what she was getting, seemed much kinder than TJ's. While he was thinking about it, though, the Skill itself told him that Storm was a volatile, powerful Divine Authority. Maybe there were intrinsic different ranks within different Authorities? Like, Storm was higher than Air? Or would Air be higher than Storm, since it was a wider concept?
Though he mused over it, the System didn't give him any answers, so TJ remained questioning what exactly Lailani's Enlightenment was about. Other than his somewhat "normal" routine of slaughter, construction, and meditating, nothing noteworthy happened until TJ's third hunt of the day. The second hunt, he'd tested the effects of Divine Manifestation on Wind Manipulation while transformed as a coatl. Though it wasn't quite as impressive as when he'd been able to siphon off the massive storm in his Tribulation, every minute movement he made with his blades, spears, and whips of wind had dismantled his foes. It was an exceedingly brief usage of his Skills, though, as he was forced to stop after only a minute of use, since the two MP intensive Skills served to drain him below 100 very quickly.
On the positive side, after slaughtering two dozen more pukwudgies, all at least level 12, TJ could feel he'd nearly reached another level for Neophyte. He was sure that the third hunt would tick him over on that. The third hunt did not. Nor was it much of a hunt.
When TJ ranged out to find some new prey, some group of monsters to eradicate, he found wherever he went, the forest was quiet. As soon as he realized as much, he went on his guard and checked his Status while asking the System specifically if he was suffering from any afflictions. Though his Status and the System both insisted that he wasn't, TJ made the decision not to stick around any longer, but to find his prey somewhere closer to town. That was when he'd stumbled across another pack of pukwudgies, dozens all together and unsuspecting. In his haste, TJ had empowered Wind Manipulation to tear through their numbers with reckless abandon, and by the time the last of them were dead, TJ's MP was just over 40/760. The fight was explosively loud as TJ wasted his MP on flashy tornadoes and cracks of thunder to accompany his every move.
Since his prey were only pukwudgies, TJ figured there wasn't much of a reason to collect any of their materials or bodies. They hadn't found any real use for them, and though TJ wondered if they'd be edible, the fact that they were capable of speech made TJ decide they were off the table. Plus, too human like. Before he could get out of the clearing, though, another group of pukwudgies appeared. These were the highest level he'd ever seen, all over 15. For a moment, TJ considered just rushing them, tearing them apart and getting that level that he could feel was right there.
But no. If they were planning like this, a single level wouldn't be worth fully falling into their trap. The more levels the pukwudgies gained, the more intelligently they moved. TJ could circumvent much of their craftiness by sheer strength, but he'd heard stories and seen bodies that came from underestimating the creatures. He wouldn't add his own to that pile. As he moved to bowl through the assembled monsters, the faintest hint of a chill blew over him.
Before, TJ would have disregarded it, after all, it was January. But now, he knew that this chill wasn't the weather. It threatened to go down his spine, and TJ looked for the wendigo hunting him. He was disappointed, instead seeing nothing but the pukwudgies… and a huge raven.
The hulking bird was at least four feet long, beak to tail, and its eyes hung from its sockets like weeks-old balloons. The feathers fell steadily from the monstrosity, but it didn't seem to be going bald. In fact, the feathers that fell disappeared by the time they hit the ground. Regardless of what the sickly Elite monster's feathers were like, TJ knew he couldn't let it get close. He rushed even faster through the encirclement, taking a dozen wounds as he did so. These pukwudgies, having passed the level 15 watershed, hit hard, harder than anything he'd encountered before. For the first time, TJ lamented the nearly 400 HP he'd spent on Divine Manifestation as he watched his HP plummet. Notifications of a Bleeding affliction appeared and quickly scaled from Minor to Severe.
TJ broke through the ring of pukwudgies and they pressed the attack. Some of the spears skittered off his scales and past him, but many more struck true and made him shout out in agony. His blood covered his body and some ran into his eyes, but TJ continued fleeing. The monsters all followed, the raven above them calling hauntingly. TJ cursed, not to himself, but at himself as he continued his escape. Though he slithered as quickly as he could manage, he was reminded again and again of his hubris and how, just like any hero of any story ever in the history of man, he'd die because of it. He'd been made powerful with these new Skills, and now he was thinking he could confront the world and not come out of it dead.
"Kukulkan, System, someone. Please bless me to get out of this alive." TJ muttered to himself as he dodged another strike from one of the pukwudgies. It went wide, scraping off one of his feathers. The vibrant part of his body flew off into the distance, and for a brief moment, TJ was angry. They'd take a part of him off! Then, the rest of him was afraid. He had no MP, and nothing he could do beyond continuing to run and hope to escape.
Fortunately, he hadn't ranged too far, but before he could feel even remotely happy about that, the raven swooped over him. He ducked below its talons and Appraised it as it flew past.
Raven Mocker, 13
"Oh fuuuuuuuuuuuuu–"
Though he managed to avoid being physically hit by the monster, TJ recognized that, with its level, it was as dangerous as the wendigo that escaped just a couple days before. That it wasn't focused on physical combat was more frightening than reassuring, and TJ wasn't ready to avoid the flurry of feathers that it sent shooting towards him like so many darts. As soon as the feathers hit him, a series of warnings from the System flashed across his vision.
Warning: you are suffering from a Minor Poisoned affliction (Dirt). You will continue to lose 5 HP a minute until the Poison condition is cured. Current HP: 107/140
Warning: you are suffering from a Minor Exhaustion affliction. You will regain HP, MP, and Stamina at 50% of your usual rate until your Stamina rises above 75%.
Warning: you are suffering from a Minor Blighted affliction. Your wounds will require twice the time and twice the resources to recover until this affliction is purged.
Warning: you are suffering from a Minor Septic affliction. The severity of all other afflictions will be worsened by one tier until your wounds are properly dressed and treated.
TJ nearly wept as he continued trying to escape. He could feel he wasn't far off, but that was, of course, the moment when the wendigo decided it was time to appear. It burst out of the cover of a nearby bush and threw a wall of ice into his path. The timing, so perfect, made it impossible for TJ to avoid it. His head smashed into the ice, and though it splintered and cracked at his collision, the wall held. The wendigo sent a wave of frost over TJ, and he felt himself stiffen as a Severe Frostbite affliction settled into his bones.
With a grunt of effort, TJ launched himself up over the wall, too slow to evade another round of spears, feathers, and strikes by the wendigo. His HP fell to 250 total, and TJ felt himself dying. His pride, arrogance would lead him to die. Not something unavoidable, but his own stupidity.
A war cry greeted him as Sarah and Charlie charged into battle. Both held axes, though Sarah's smaller hatchet seemed much less threatening than Charlie's felling ax. Sarah's ethereal shield burst into existence in the middle of the fight, stopping another round of spears from permanently stopping TJ's escape. The Skill fell into motes of light after that first round of attacks, but Sarah held steady as she and Charlie held off the monsters.
"Get the hell back in the safe zone!" Charlie commanded as he lopped a pukwudgie head from its torso. His movements were quick and powerful, and when a mostly dead pukwudgie tried to tie down his feet, that foot morphed into a horse's hoof and reduced its head to a pulpy pancake.
Sarah didn't say anything else, though she flashed from one location to the next, her shield battering anything that threatened TJ or Charlie while her weapon glowed with more motes of light. A spectral axe extended from her own and chopped through three more pukwudgies in quick succession. When the raven tried to fly overhead to sow more afflictions, the familiar sound of a gun fired four times in quick succession. The raven exploded in feathers, but instead of dying or going down, the feathers all fell and it reappeared in another location about thirty feet back from where the fight was taking place.
"He is mine!" Shrieked the wendigo as TJ continued his retreat. Charlie was fending it off, his axe moving with surprising grace, as if he were a trained axe fighter. He fended off the monstrosity's attacks, trading one blow in for every five he parried and sustained, but it was a losing game. When Sarah flashed in and smashed her shield into the wendigo's back, they could finally engage with it on equal ground. The Zealot focused more on keeping the wendigo from building up momentum than on dealing damage, but that was more than enough. Charlie bellowed and struck out with his axe again and again, carving thin slices of wendigo flesh free with each attack, though never striking true.
"Still gotta pull back!" Stanton shouted from behind as he squeezed off four or five shots and a pukwudgie fell, dead, after each one. TJ gloried in the System notifications that appeared after.
Class: Neophyte has advanced to level 16.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +1, Endurance +3, Vitality +3, Toughness +2, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +2, Fixation +2, Free Points +1.
Race: Human has advanced to level 17.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +1, Agility +1, Endurance +1, Vitality +2, Toughness +1, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +1, Fixation +2. Additional Free Point currently available.\
TJ prepared himself to leap into battle with the notifications, but then he noticed something that made his blood run cold:
He was only at half of his HP, MP, and Endurance, and his HP was still dropping fast. The levels had done their best to heal him, but it wasn't enough. The afflictions still fought to sap away his life, and the wendigo, raven, and pukwudgies knew it, as they redoubled their efforts to ensure he couldn't walk away from this alive.