You hate some kinds of animals. Anyone has their furry or scaly counterpart they simply cannot stand. Some dislike spiders. Others are afraid of bugs, crocodiles or sharks.
I wasn't afraid of any of those creatures. But in Falan, I grew to hate any kind of wildlife. At least anything that could kill me. And the number of such beings was especially high outside of towns. It made traveling a hassle and used the teleportation fee rather gladly to not meet some of the creatures the Remian kingdom had to offer. At least, I have fought most of them already.
But knowing how I killed them in my past wouldn't help me that much after I lost my kiting strategies and had only close combat left. At least while I was as agile as a snail and as lithe on my feet as a whale on land.
The most dangerous enemies would be fast ones who offered small to no means of successful physical attacks. Like a snake. And just at this moment I was running from a snakelike monster, a vast strangler. Offering superb scaly natural carapace only leaving only three vulnerable parts. (There were more, if one was hardcore enough to enjoy some snake anatomy like its backside.) But for me, only both of its eyes and mouth remained. Their nostrils were a possibility, if one was talented enough to hit them in the right angle to pierce their brain as well. My opinion was: If one could reach the nostrils, why not aim straight for the eyes or mouth?
In my days as a mage, the most efficient way to kill snakes was to either poison some bait, weaken and kill them after they ate the bait or directly harm them with acid in their mouth. I even used the mouth and saliva of a snake to cast [Slippery floor] and then [Icicle field] to pierce the snake's brain from the inside.
Now, however, I had to run with all that I got. Monsters like the vast strangler were a bad matchup with untalented close combat fighters missing any healer, mage or assassin.
I had no suicide fantasies at the moment and thus was running for my life, hoping that Firion was slower and the snake only cared for a 'little' snack today.
But my hope was short lived, as Firion seemed to have a similar or slightly higher movement speed than me. Or maybe it was the armour I carried on me.
To avoid being hit by him, I at least wanted to protect my back a bit. And the rest of the heavy corpses in my inventory further slowed me down. The little bastard seemingly just started hunting and no prey in his inventory. Why does he have to kill me right at the beginning of it?
As he passed me, I was close to cursing out loud. But I knew that it would have been a close call with a target between me and the snake. It would be impossible to reach the teleportation circle. Trying to slow the snake, I threw all my spoils of war in a pile on the ground but either the snake didn't like rabbit and salamander or I smelled too sweetly. The monster carried on following instead of eating the corpses.
Anyway, my running speed was picking up after losing the loot and I was slowly getting closer to Firion again. Would it be unfair if I used his old glaive to swipe away his legs to make him stumble?
Or rather: Would it bother me if I caused his death? I must say, not in the least as he practically sacrificed me due to his carelessness.
As my stamina was reaching three quarters, and I knew that a good chunk of the way still was left, I decided to do the thing I wanted to forbid myself: Spellcasting.
But since my situation was already grave and any slight advantage would be appreciated, I just didn't care.
My running only got slightly slower while I turned to the snake and activated [Little trick lvl. 1]. My MP sank to 180. And then a notification popped up. In the first readthrough, I just couldn't believe my eyes, stopped running, rubbed my eyes and read again:
[Little trick lvl.1] was activated. One effect is triggered:
[Blissfully sated] The vast strangler enjoyed the thought of eating both of you so much that it already ate you imaginaryally a dozen times already. It feels mentally full and sluggish.
The movement speed is reduced temporarily.
-20% movement speed [0:59]
Remark: At least it doesn't barf. And maybe it gets fed up with you after taking a bite.]
Finally, my advantage grew and a vicious smile spread. I must say, this small skill of mine was more useful than I thought.
Maybe escape was possible! I thought and sprinted further, my eyes fixated on the map, then back to the way. As I saw Firion halting in front of me abruptly, I almost noticed too late what was going on: Two salamanders, we must have interrupted while copulating, stared at us. And it was no friendly gaze. Well. Remember me to never think positively again.
I summoned my sword, shield and glaive in three of my hands, didn't linger too long to think and just acted. Maybe the fighting or rather the close combat fighting spirit grew on me.
The glaive's sharp ending found its way through one of the salamander's eyes, even leaving crevices on the scales of the creature. Sadly, I missed the other one and my sword slid uselessly over the plating of scales.
I retreated a few steps, dismissed the sword and jumped right into the next attack, while the salamander began charging at me, fierce eyes showing the desire to chew me apart. Evading the force which could shatter both my shield and lower arm, I used a fluid motion to jump above the monster and bring the glaive down with all my weight and force I could muster. Using my weapon like a javelin, hoping the pressure could suffice my goal.
And, in fact, it did. Under the laughably high damage of the super-expensive long ranged weapon, the carapace cracked and the gravity pushed the weapon further in the wound, nailing the salamander to the ground as it passed through the layer of belly armour from the inside.
[You dealt 200 damage causing multiple organ fails and excessive blood loss. A [salamander lvl. 5] was slain by you. You earned 70XP. Congratulations.]
I let go of the weapon, summoning the slender longsword again and sliced it directly in the opened maw of the creature to silence its pained wails and grant it eternal rest. Another notification followed indicating that the other salamander granted me 60 further XP.
The whole battle lasted less than a minute or only a bit more than one minute, but I knew I lost all the distance I won earlier.
Should I gamble and use my skill again? My thoughts swirled while I dismissed my weapons still stuck in the corpse of the salamander. Although I wouldn't be able to see the snake through all the trees, I knew it would be close enough to still reach me before the teleportation circle. And at this time of the day, not many other players would be there.
What choice do I have left? Fight or flight.
It doesn't matter anymore. A teleportation needed 2-5 seconds to choose the destination and often a moment to connect to the other circle.
If the snake was too close it could kill me in this second. And I wasn't ready to go down without a fight.
I wouldn't be confident that I could kill it or even harm it, but with every further second, the possibility for a win surpassed the chances to escape unscathed.
Daunted, I knew that further running was useless and only a wastage of my stamina and satiency. With the calm of an experienced warrior I took a [Loaf of bread] out of my inventory and started eating. It was premium bread from the best bakery in Bronning.
Eating the bread enhanced the speed of someone by 10% for 3 minutes. For people above level 10, the percentage would turn to a certain number.
This was the advantage of being low level.
While waiting for the snake and thinking about how I could kill it, Firion tawed out of his shocked daze after he saw me kill the salamanders and walked towards me.
"How did you learn to move like that? And was that my glaive?"
"That was all in your fantasy. I killed the salamander with a sword." I tried to gaslight the youth. The glaive was mine now and I wouldn't give it back. Over my dead body!
"And have you ever heard of improving your movements by something called 'practice'?" He rolled his eyes and decided to switch the topic. "Why did you halt anyway? Are you planning on fighting the snake finally?"
"Yes." I said, while eying my status. Only 100 XP were left until level 5. What a bummer.
But I was clear in my predictions. Fighting was the only choice left.
"Do you want to fight it, too?" My anger and pride wouldn't let me ask something as cheesy as "Do you want to fight with me against the monster..." or something similar.
But Firion seemed to have his own interpretation of my words. He perked up like a puppy and I could clearly imagine a tail swaying happily while he almost jumped in giddiness. "Yeah!!!! Join my party!" he yelled and invited me. Do I want to? I asked myself. But after three seconds, I clicked the small button. An animation of two pandas holding hands popped up before it disappeared as fast as it showed.
But this act of partying like we were a real duo, as if we were real friends...it seemed too much, consequences far too severe for such a small movement of my thumb.
And in some way...it excited me.