staring down at the disgusting faces of the two goblins from above made me want to vomit yet again. with my increased intelligence helping me make out the things I'm seeing below me, I can vaguely make out chunks of skin and flesh between their un-naturally sized teeth. and the blood caking their cheeks and torsos.
"disgusting creatures," I mutter under my breath. the gory scene already has me reeling slightly, but if there is one thing my novels have taught me. is that gore is something I'm likely going to come into contact with a lot more.
I try not to look away. although the scenes below me are scarring. I want to force my brain to take in the suffering of the people around me. my neighbors and friends getting outnumbered by these monsters and torn apart.
'thankfully I didn't know anyone here that well. or this sight would be a lot worse on me' I imagine.
but as I'm gazing around. my eyes catch something.
in the corner of my eyes, I spot my own health and mana bars, it seems they stay within my vision even when I've closed the status page. but they remind me of my [arcane shot] spell I recently gained. I take aim at the goblin still staring up at me, and yell "I CAST, ARCANE SHOT!"
I couldn't feel it before. but now that it's mobilized I feel a foreign force ripping through my veins, countering my blood flow. it makes me feel weak. as the force that I presume to be mana coalesces In front of my hands. into a small blue arrow forms. firing directly at the goblin. and scraping his ear as it passes.
but that was enough...
[-4]
[cast arcane shot. skill exp: +1]
a number appears above his head, and another within my vision. as I watch the goblin filth's ear explode, taking a chunk out of its large head. the gory scene makes me gag yet again.
"hah take that you stupid creature" I shout out at it, before un-focusing my vision on him and taking another glance around. "uhm, guys don't all stare at me like that," I ask hiding behind my curtain slightly as my movement and loudness alerted every monster within 20 meters of my window. they stopped what they were doing and all started walking towards my house, scratching at the walls and door.
I'm scared, terrified. our front door is only made out of wood. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I have no other options. I gently prop myself up on my windowsill. using an old hoodie to sit on so I don't get vomit on my clothes. opening the window as wide as I can while I wait for my cooldown to end.
then I do the only thing I can, focus on shooting as many goblins as I can, I avoid the doggos for now as they are cuter. and I don't think they can ever learn to open doors.
[-4]
[cast arcane shot. skill exp: +1]
[-4]
[cast arcane shot]
[-4]
[cast arcane...]
eventually, I kill my first goblin, they seem to only have less than 10HP as I watch his exploded skull shatter against the floor before 3 dogs pounce on his corpse.
[killed goblin wanderer. level 1 creature: gained +10 exp]
[your arcane bolt killed a creature skill exp: +5]
[arcane shot: skill level up]
[arcane shot level 2: fires a bolt of pure mana at the target dealing 100% intelligence damage to the enemy within a range of 5x(intelligence) cooldown 9 seconds - intelligence cost 2mp]
with renewed vigor I refocus. "only 4 seconds cooldown now, maybe I can get it to 0 seconds and spam it. That'll help me survive".
with my [minor MP regeneration] skill keeping my mana sort of in check, and my default mana regen of +1MP every 60 seconds, I'm able to stave off the more threatening goblins more easily now. or so I hope.
"arcane shot" I yell, the arrow forms at my fingertips. looking much more refined and arrow-like than before. it launches at the nearest goblin. embedding in his skull. before it explodes like a watermelon.
[-5]
[your arcane shot killed a creature skill exp: +5]
[+10 exp]
.. I grow exhausted eventually. "I've killed 9 of you guys now. will you leave my house alone now?" I ask out. surely even monsters know fear right?
I hear my front door creak.
"I guess not. sigh ARCANE SHOT!" I learned I can cast the spell with my mind, but it doesn't feel nearly as good as yelling it out.
some neighbors have come to their windows too. mostly kids, I think the adults were all busy outside at this time of day. so me and a few other teens have all grouped up and started fighting them off. there are 2 other mages with me. one in the opposite building and one a few doors down from me. and there's also a girl with a bow and arrow. I didn't know many people would still have those in today's age.
[-5]
[your arcane shot killed..]
[+10 exp]
[you have leveled up. level 2]
[status]
[name: Ali Juxi
age: 15
race: human
level: 2
exp: 0/250
HP: 10/10
MP: 42/50
stats:
strength: 2
constitution: 2
agility: 2
intelligence: 10
skills: arcane shot level 2 (exp: 55/250)
passive skills: minor MP regeneration]
the energizing energy from leveling up seeps throughout my body. making me feel lighter. faster and smarter. "that's going to get addicting". I say with a wry smile covering my face.
"With this level up, however, my cooldown should have hit 0 right?" I wonder aloud.
"arcane shot x10".
but only one arcane shot appears.
[-10]
[your arcane shot killed..]
[+10 exp]
[cooldowns cannot be lower than 1 second at this stage]
[your ability is on cooldown]
[your ability is on cooldown]
[your ability..]
x7
"f*ck." I gaze around. the monster's numbers here have started to thin out. although there are still thousands of them, and they are still pouring out of the portal.
faint gunshots start being heard in the distance as large chunks of the mob began a steady flow down the street.
"it seems we have more help," I shout out to the others.
the girl with the bow and arrow nearly collapses on her windowsill when she hears me. "thank god. I'm running out of arrows. and I'm not sure how much longer my brothers can hold them off downstairs. How much longer do you think we have to last till they arrive".
I gaze down at the living wave, as tightly packed together as H2O in the ocean. "looking at how many of them there are, unless they carpet bomb the area, 4 hours?" I shout back at her.
by this point, the other 2 mages have long stopped fighting back. only occasionally firing an arcane bolt out. it seems they ran out of mana. the boy a few doors down is even worse off. some of the goblins started scaling the pole next to his window. we all had to help shoot them down when they did.
I go all out in the end. with my expanded mana capacity from my level up I'm going to go for level 3 at least.
[-10]
[your arcane shot killed..]
[+10 exp]
[+10 exp]
[+10 exp]
[+10 exp]
at this point, I've been forced to target the dogs too. as they outnumber the dwindling goblins in this area 20/1 from my rampant slaughtering. I've grown completely numb to the fireworks of blood. and my increased damage lets me 2 shot them.
[killed wolf-mount level 2 creature: gained +20 exp]
"same ratio, dogs are just more annoying to hit" I mutter after 2 shotting the wolf.
It's at this point our front door breaks open. I gaze to my right and see the other boy go pale. shaking. I am too, dozens of those dogs are pouring into our apartment now. their fur and I presume their level makes them much harder to kill. and I'm not sure about him, but I will probably get one-shot by them. at this point im regretting not being a tank or something.