CHPT 104: No more.
Branches, leaves and the cool midnight wind hit his face as he urgently ran through the forest towards the slow and steady beat of hard surfaces colliding.
He didn't hear any cries or chaos unfolding ahead, yet various gruesome and unfortunate scenarios played on repeat in the darkest parts of his mind. He'd seen too much, too much death for someone his age. He'd be damned if he let himself see any more when he could prevent it.
The images continued to flash in his mind, motivating him in a twisted way to move faster, run harder and transform further.
By the time the sound was becoming increasingly louder in volume, his hands took on their new dark and leathery texture with shiny black hair that crawled down from his elbows and all the way up to his fingers that were tipped with long black claws. He could feel the claws on his feet pushing against the front of his shoes, if he took them off they'd probably look just like his hands and forearms.
Claude and the pack ran through the forest a while longer before they saw them.
In the distance, two incredibly large thick boned Skeletons loped through the forest. They had to be around 12 ft tall. Their skulls brushed past branches and their shoulders shook the trees— letting out a loud boney sound of impact, as they bumped into them with every clumsy and uneven step they took.
He only stopped for a moment in shock at their size— and smell, before turning slightly and taking off again. They seemed to be dead set on reaching the cabins, so he had to get between them and the exit out of the forest.
They all ran to get in front of the giant Skeletons amidst the painful booming sound of bones clashing with wood and their own heavy breaths. With every foot closer he got to them, he felt his heart crawl further up his throat and his legs turn from muscle and bone to jelly.
He was now directly beside them— about 50 feet away, when his foot broke a branch. The two Skeleton giant's heads swiveled in his direction. His blood froze solid as they made eye contact.
The two Undead were so new that pieces of their scalps hung from their heads like loosely fit caps with random tufts of dirty red hair sticking from them. Almost full bulging muscle groups clung to their bones with patches of skin that seemed to be sliding off by the second everywhere except their shoulders and arms since they kept smashing them into trees. The closest one had a face almost completely free of skin and muscle except for its eye and part of its forehead that connected to its scalp, the side of its face that was all skull looked at him horrifyingly through its one dull brown eye.
By the time Claude and the pack skidded to a halt in front of them, he felt like he was looking at something out of a nightmare.
"Ok.....breathe. I can't die here, I've got too much to do." He reminded himself.
He took a deep breath through his nose and noticed he couldn't smell any fear at all. He looked at the pack around him, they all faced the giant Skeletons snarling quietly and waiting eagerly to attack.
They weren't scared at all. The realization comforted and centered him. Bringing his leg muscles back with an energizing jolt.
"Alright! Stay alive, save Dante and the other families.....and get to the University on time. Let's get to work!" He said before the two forces charged eachother.
Claude and the pack were in perfect understanding of what to do. They ran after the giant on the right, looking like a catastrophic wave fur, teeth and claws. While Claude went after the one on the left with the missing eye.
With every inch he went closer and every step one of the giants took, it rung his ears like the shocking pound of a drum. One stomp from them and he was sure he'd be dead.
He once again dropped to the floor, sliding in between the giant Skeletons thick leg bones. Once he was behind it, he stuck his clawed hand into the dirt floor to stop himself and rose up, swinging at the back of its legs.
Swip!
Shwip!
BOOM!
He delivered two slashes to the back of its left knee before it clumsily spun around and slammed its foot into the dirt where he previously stood.
Now that he was a couple dozen feet away from his opponent, he could see how the pack was holding up.
The fastest Coyotes ran around the giant Skeleton, just slow enough to keep it focused on trying to hit them. While the Wolves and Dogs waited for openings to bite its ankles and try to pull it to the ground. The Foxes had crawled up the Skeleton and found their way inside its hollow rib cage where they tore through skin and muscle to reach its bones.
Claude wasn't allowed any more time to observe since his opponent went on the offensive.
The giant Skeleton came stomping at him, slamming its thick boned fist into the earth in an attempt to smash Claude.
Woo!
Claude easily dodged the strike by dashing backward, he could feel the vibrations from the impact like a small earthquake emanating from where its fist connected with the ground. He used his Element and quickly sent up thick vines and roots to wrap around the Skeletons hand and hold it to the ground.
He didn't waste any time and charged back in, swiping at its head with Bane of the Undead.
Shwip!
Unfortunately as soon as his blade hit the Skeletons skull, it was ripping its rooted hand from the ground. The sword slashed the remaining bit of skin on its face and he watched in disgust as it sizzled and dissolved into smoke. Leaving only a pale pinkish white skull with one brown eye.
Claude snarled angrily and attacked again.
The two continued to fight for another twenty minutes. Claude quickly evading and attacking the Skeletons weak points until he sizzled away all the rotten flesh that clung to its bones.
After fighting so intensely for so long, he was beginning to develop a rough understanding of his surroundings and started using nearby trees to block the giants wide and powerful attacks before rooting it in place, using the branches like thick wooden ropes.
BOOM!
Claude dodged another earth shaking stomp from the giant and immediately reached for the Skeletons throat. In response, green energy enveloped his hand and the branches of the two trees next to it reached down and coiled around its neck like snakes.
Now that it was stuck, he ran around behind it where he was working away at its lower leg:
Chop!
Chop!
As he chopped away at the thick bone, he was able to take into account how much easier it was beginning to feel to use his Element, like a kid slowly learning to ride his bike. He was learning to turn the forests into his own personal weapon.
Shrip!
The giant easily ripped away the binds, signaling Claude's time to dash away again.
He stumbled a bit before skidding to a stop after retreating from the Skeleton. He turned around and noticed he was right next to the path, right next to the forest exit.
"Dammit! It's been inching its way out this whole fight!" Claude realized.
"[They seem to be targeting the cabins for some reason. So, you need to end this here before they get any closer.]" Arne said.
"Agreed." He replied before using his Aura to strengthen his blade.
Snap!...Snap!
The Skeleton snapped at him and raised its uneven arms in a boxers stance.
Claude and the Skeleton engaged. Dirt and dust rose from the ground with ever booming stomp the giant made while Claude silently closed the distance.
WOOM!
The Skeleton swung much faster and harder than usual— seeming to fight seriously for the first time, Claude leaped over its low handing high speed swing and felt the wind it generated hit him like an invisible wall.
He landed and rolled before quickly turning and swiping at the Skeletons leg with his Aura shrouded blade. The green energy weakly flowed and swayed in the wind as it headed towards the Skeletons leg.
Swip!
To his surprise, the Skeleton swung its leg back— helping him in removing its leg, he was so stunned by it that he froze for the briefest of moments.
Before the bottom half of the leg bone could hit the floor, the Skeleton spun around on its one remaining leg to face him. Large boney fingers formed into a fist came barreling in his direction at high speeds.
He had just enough time to raise his arms to guard the incoming blow.
CRACK!
The blow sent him off his feet and through the air. The trees added extra painful hits as different parts of his body collided with them, spinning him in all directions. He was stopped finally when he wrapped sideways around a thick tree deeper in the forest. He hit the ground in an unconscious pile of cuts and slowly forming bruises.
[45% HP remaining.]
He opened his eyes after a while to the sound of vicious snarls and lifeless snaps. He turned to face the sound ahead of him and saw a brief outline of Frosty next to him before he was rewarded with pains and ripping sensations all over his body.
"AHH!!"
He scratched the ground and realized he couldn't feel one of his fingers. Upon looking down, he realized his pointer finger was violently broken and facing the total opposite direction of his other fingers.
Frosty whined and patrolled around him with worry.
"[Claude! You've been out for a bit too long. The Skeletons walking the path if it isn't already out. You have to get up!]" Arne said.
Claude growled before slowly sitting up.
"ACK!"
He immediately coughed up blood that stuck to the inside of his mask. After his vision steadied, he resided his hand to inspect his broken finger. "Fuck, this is going to hurt." He said before viciously snapping it back into place.
CRCK!
"AAAAGHH!!"
"Come on! Get the hell up!" He told himself now that his finger was back in place.
By the time he was on his feet, he was shaking in pain and growling madly. He scanned the area for his weapon and saw the glowing white blade way off in the distance.
Even closer, he noticed the pack had removed the Skeleton giants legs and now snapped at its arms violently.
"Ok. I don't have to worry about that one right now." He thought.
He started to head for the sword in the distance when he realized, he could barely hear the Skeleton giants footsteps.
"It's out of the forest." He realized as panic rose up from the depths of his battered and bruised stomach.
"FUCK! Frosty, I'm fine. Go help the pack!" He yelled before running off towards the Skeleton without his blade.
Frosty huffed and stood still for a moment deep in thought before heading off towards the pack.
Every step Claude made was met with a violent cocktail of different pains and burning sensations that made running feel impossible. It felt like his skin was being shredded as his muscles grew and shiny black hairs sprouted from all over his body.
"Run....run....RUN!" He repeated until he felt his body begin to loosen up and be overridden by the more persistent pain of the Lupine transformation.
He was now on the path running as fast as he could— kicking up dirt in his wake. He slowly began to hear the boom of its footsteps again when he approached the exit. After stepping out of the forest, he could see the giant Skeleton almost jogging on one leg for the cabins in the distance.
Claude sped up and used, (Combat Meditation) before using his Element to try and slow it down. Much to his dismay, the Skeleton barely slowed as it plowed through the vines and roots that climbed its leg.
"Fight me you bastard!" He roared as he reached it and jumped up to grab onto its ribs. He used them like a ladder and climbed up to its head. Once on top, he placed his feet on its shoulders and began wailing away at its skull.
BANG!....BANG!.....BANG!
He felt each punch bruise his knuckles and dig his claws further into his palm. Eventually, tiny cracks in the side of its skull webbed out from the area of his punches.
"[Claude! Look!]" Arne said.
Claude looked up from the Skeletons skull and saw how close they were to the cabins, they were only about 80ft away.
He urgently started smashing away at the Skeleton giants skull as it inched closer. Images of the small neighborhood in ruins flooded his mind with every noisy step the giant made.
"No. No. NO!" He chanted as his blood splattered on the giants skull with every strike.
Right when he was beginning to lose hope, he heard a noise behind him. He turned around for a moment and noticed Frosty leading the pack out of the forest and in his direction. The PitWolf held Bane of the Undead in its jaws firmly.
Without thinking, Claude wrapped his legs around the giants neck and let himself fall backwards until his back was against the Skeletons spine.
He outstretched his bloodied hand, waiting for Frosty to deliver the blade.
Frosty sped up and powerfully leaped into the air, handing he white stone blade off to his partner.
As soon as Claude felt his transformed hand grip the handle of the blade, he sat back up and leaped forward into the air and off the giants shoulders.
At the same time, Frosty slammed his head into the back of the giants one remaining knee. The giant fell to its knee with a loud thud.
Claude spun around in the air to face the kneeling Skeleton. As he fell, he activated his Aura. He poured all the mana he could into it until the verdant flames outshined the white blade itself.
"Let's see you walk through this!" He yelled as he fell and let his blade slash the Skeleton in two.
SWOOSH!
The impact and speed of his swing sent a rampant gust of wind blowing over the grass that blew the dusted remains of the Skeleton off into the air, like it never even existed. The only evidence of the battle was shown in the deep gash remaining in the floor where the giant stood.
[+ 350 EXP]
[MP is at 20%]
Claude ignored both messages and walked back into the forest to finish he last Skeleton giant.
***
The legless Skeleton giant crawled its way through the forest, willing itself to reach the cabins outside as if every fiber of its being depended on it. Repeatedly, it's boney fingers dug into the ground and pulled it along the forest floor like an undead snail.
After a few minutes, it could hear footsteps— silent, but brimming with power. A large mass of lighter footsteps were close behind. The Skeleton giant raised its head once the sounds neared.
Right in front of it, not even 20ft away, a man was heading in its direction backed by dozens of snaring four legged canines.
He wore all black that blended into the night, the stealthy aspect was ruined immediately by the wild green orbs that flowed out from the mans face. He held another shiny object in his hands, a blade. It looked like it was completely engulfed in green fire. The animals that backed him had a similar glow to their predatory yellow eyes as they flashed their white teeth menacingly.
Once the man was a bit closer, the giant was able to notice the long black claws that ripped through his shoes and gloves— stabbing into the grass with ease. The man growled deeply and mumbled something out loud to himself repeatedly.
"No more death...no...more...death...no more...death!"
SWOOSH!
[+350 EXP]
[DING!]
[You have Leveled Up!]
[You are now Level 9!]