CHPT 366: Rewards, Reinforcements, Resurgence...

SNAP!

The corpse hit the floor, landing flat on it's hide covered butt with every ounce of live leaving it's body. Escaping through the contorted angle of it's neck that was only broken moments before.

Even with it's dark green leathery soot-covered skin, the puffed bruising of a massive hand-print stood out like warpaint.

"Raaaaahh!"

The wayward high-pitched scream of another Goblin echoed through the years abandoned collection of wooden huts from behind Ursula.

She spun around in response, turning to face the small hut behind her just in time to see a Goblin emerging from the busted window while it looked like a tornado of blood and discarded limbs swirled in the dark shadows of the hut it escaped from.

At first it was running. She could smell it's fear, driving her mad and spiking her Berserker's Rage like a critical punch to her primal mind. And then, its sickly yellow eyes zeroed in on her. She could see as it's greed took over and pulled it to her, baring it's claws and rotten teeth madly.

"Raaa--"

ShlCK!

Before it could reach her, the tip of Claude's spear burst through it's head, it's glowing wide blade edge glowed under the radiant moonlight dripping with crimson blood.

Silence remained for a fraction of a second before the door to the hut behind the Goblin burst open and another attempted to scurry away from the scene, maybe to another village to spread it's torment and insatiable greed.

It didn't get far before Ursula's (Prey Drive) took over, forcing her to bolt across the sanded grounds, stomping small clouds of dust into the air as she closed in like a charging bull.

"RAGH!" She snarled loudly with effort in response to reaching back and throwing both her axes. The heavy metal weapons flipped through the air loudly before smashing into the back of the Goblin.

Before it could hit the ground, she lunged at the creature, reaching out with her clawed hand to tear through it's back with ease.

SHRIP!

Her hand tore through flesh and bone before she pulled it out, covered in red while she held the Goblins warm heart that steamed faintly under the cold spread of night.

[+ 80 EXP]

DING!

[You have Leveled Up!]

[You are now Level 16!]

DING!

[New Skill Unlocked: (Rage Guard LV1)]

She hadn't even noticed the System notification that concluded their third Infested Area of the night. Instead, her eyes stayed on her hand that clasped around the Goblins heart. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears-- feel it pulsing down to her fingers as if even her blood longed to consume the corpse. The hunger was...blinding.

[Berserker's Rage:.....40...42....43.....45%]

Smooth dark auburn fur continued to sheath her fingers, spreading down her wrist and up her arms as her skin tanned and her muscles grew.

"Stop..." She thought, trying her best to hold off the two seemingly uncontrollable forces of being a Lupine and a Berserker.

It continued, bringing to light her fears of inescapably becoming a wild monster. She'd only thought of it a few times before, but as the Moon fulled, it felt even more unavoidable than ever.

What if she never got control like Claude?

What if the impact of her Berserker's Rage and the Full Moon shift broke her brain and left her permanently in a state of inhuman mindless rage?

What if Claude couldn't stop her when he needed to?

The sound and feeling of her heartbeat became as loud as life itself, like an ominous creeping countdown. Every pulse brought more change, a higher percentage.

"Hey!"

Claude's words snapped her out of the trance and left her standing, cloaked in her own sweat as she held the Goblins heart in a completely human hand.

"You alright?" He asked, seemingly more occupied with studying the Goblin corpse.

Ursula tossed the Goblin heart, hearing the Phantom Wolves scurry across the dirt to tear into it as she wiped off her hand warily, "Just tired...."

She almost jumped when something licked her hand, turning to find Ashe looking up at her with a look of concern on her shadowy snouted face.

"Let me lie to myself in piece, damn." She whispered before heading over to where Claude stood.

***

Blood, sweat, piss, fear, greed and dirt. All common scents when dealing with Goblins in a desert.

Also scents that eased his mind after what he'd found them doing inside the huts that sat out plainly in the desert in two rows running for a few dozen feet behind them.

Each and every one. Long abandoned by humans, covered in a thin film of dust and soaked in old blood and bile from the horrid practices the Goblins were engaged in. Two animal carcasses sat in each hut. All canine of varying types. Coyotes, Foxes, Wolves, Jackals, Hounds.

He couldn't smell them behind the veil of rot and blood. But when he found them, he let each Goblin know just how much he disliked it. He'd already had a bad week, so there wasn't a chance of anything being lost in translation.

Not on their end at least. But for him, there were dozens of indecipherable instances in each house. Drawn in the charred smokey remains of wood.

Claude reached down and grabbed the Goblins hand. It was hard-- nearly frozen from Ursula's cold biting axes digging into it's back only moments ago. With a series of meaty cracks, he straightened out it's black nailed pointer finger, inspecting the skin of it's finger.

Nothing. He leaned in and took a sniff of each frozen hand. Nothing again.

"How much experience did you gain from this one?" Claude asked while he continued to inspect the creature, removing it's canine hides and leather armoring.

"Eighty." Ursula replied before asking, "That one like the other two?"

Claude shook his head, "No. And it was less experience than the others.....that means they were getting stronger-- learning from what they were doing...possibly."

"How could you learn things surrounding sacrificing dead animals without a guide...?" Ursula asked, warily looking around at the huts that had seemingly gone darker.

Claude sunk his spear into the ground and leaned against it in thought, "That is true...there were no books...and no Shamans....they were regular Goblins. I don't get it."

"[Think about your surroundings, Claude.]" Arne guided.

"We're in a desert.....?"

"[What do the deserts mean here? it's not just sand and sunshine, is it?]"

The lighbulb went off in Claude's mind, "They're copying Demons...."

Ursula's eyes flashed to him, hearing his thoughts. "That's a wild claim.....that makes solid sense. What are you thinking?"

Claude stood up, ripping his spear out of the earth to aim it out at the desert beyond.

"I can't say for sure. But somewhere out there, The Demons Rollan talks about are lying in wait-- transforming things, corrupting others. The Goblins must've seen something that caught their interest....they fled knowing they were too weak to do much else, and came here to try and repeat what they'd seen. It's the most reasonable guess since they didn't have a book. They were largely going off memory.....they were making progress though."

"Fuck that's unsettling.." Ursula whispered.

"What's even more unsettling is how or why they weren't turned into HellBreeder children....."

"Yea fuck all that. Let's burn this down and get back to the City." Ursula replied before walking over to Gil and knocking on one of his horns as if it were a door.

Claude listened to the two bicker despite their language barrier as he dragged the goblin corpse into one of the huts before the green glow of Gil's flames eating away at the huts began to glow in the night, casting them in it's distant vibrance as they fled the burning remains.

***

The walk back to FeliAlu City was quiet, they both had things to worry about. A lot of the same things at that. The Full Moon, The Demons letting intelligent Monsters engage in their corrosive arts, Detectives roaming the City, Frosty....

Eventually, Ursula picked up conversation among them again, telling him of her newest Skill, (Rage Guard). A powerful ability that bolstered the defensive potential of her Aura as her Berserker's Rage percentage grew, making her that much more of a juggernaut since most things seemed to raise it to some degree.

The talk also reminded him that he hadn't spent his own Stat points or even opened his System screen to review his new Skills in what felt like ages. Prompting him to do so immediately. Power was important after all.

Along the way, he'd learned something that.....didn't surprise him at all actually. Fenrir's motives had been as clear as moonlight for as long as he could remember...

***

Name: Claude Grey

Class: Beast Tamer, (Lunar) Druidic Warrior's Apprentice

Title: Walker of the Wolf, (The HellSlayer), (The Second Progenitor of Romulus), (Druidic Warrior's Apprentice)

Race: Lupine of Romulus

Level: 26 (1600/2700)

Stat Points: 0

HP: 715

MP: 610

Stamina: 46

Strength: 40

Will Power: 20

Intelligence: 12

Accuracy: 14

Agility/Speed: 42

[Skills: (Beast Trait LV2), (Beast Assistance LV2), (Canine Affinity LV26), (Unbound LVW), (Aura), (Nature/Forest Element), (Combat Meditation LV1), (Sensory Focus LV1), (Beast Companion), (Eyes of the Wild LV1), (Shadow Cast), (Wild Boost), (Druidic Arts Combat Style), (Death's Ambiance), (Companion Combo-Skill Link), (Natural Vision), (Strength of the Jotunn)]

[HellSlayer Powerset: (The HellSlayer), (Hell Sense LV2), (Animus Nature LV2), (Malevolence Tether LV2), (HellSlayer's Hound EVO1)]

[Lupine Alpha Powerset: (Commander's Howl), (Shift Inspiration), (Pack Bond), (Pack Boost)]

[Racial Abilities: (Enhanced Physical Capabilities), (Enhanced Recovery), (Prey Drive), (Body Language Comprehension), (Territory Marking), (Compass Sense), (Beastial Integration), (Bite), (Lunar Madness/Empowerment), (Multi-Magic Synthesis), (Partial Embrace)]

***

(Strength of the Jotunn) : With this Skill your physical and magical might is empowered with the strength of monstrosity. Depending on the Monstrous god that has granted you this skill, you can develop it's strength boosting capabilities by performing a specific monstrous act in honor of the Jotunn. Boosting capabilities stack.

(Type: Wolf Jotunn)

(Boost Requirement): Run down and consume your kill. Raw. All of it. Every last piece.

***

"Very clever..." Claude thought when he'd first read the Skill requirement.

More power, at the sacrifice of what he held as one of his final vestiges of humanity and regularity.

He'd talked it all over with Arne for the rest of the walk back to FeliAlu city. Trying not to imagine what the next Skill would bring in the future. By the time they'd approached the gates and entered the city, it was all stuffed back down into the back crevices of his mind with the rest of his unfortunate endeavors and future occurrences. Definitely a healthy way to deal with things...most definitely.

The city was the same as always. Glaringly different from SkyHaven in function, purpose and architectural design. Certain cities were like corpses. Corpses of Old World cities that once lived a full and vibrant life.....but, the emergence of Tangents killed each and every one of them. But not all Old World cities disappeared.

Some were like FeliAlu City. Like a decaying corpse. Not gone, but changed. Deteriorated. Massive glass buildings no longer held a spotless electrically charged allure. They now stood with gaping holes filled by the violent rise and infection of nature or boarded up primitively by wooden beams, brick surfaces tarnished by unwashable grime and stain. Mechanical railways that once gave way for trains were now intertwined with a network of vines and hanging lanterns. Their surfaces topped by people-- abundantly aware of the absence of trains that now functioned as homes for Monsters deep in their shadowy DarkWays below-ground.

The casinos of old had largely become Guild-Halls with their glass walls illuminated by colored lanterns that splashed the streets they sat on each side of in shades of vary colors to add to the chaos of a Hero focused city.

Claude could find a way to feel claustrophobic simply from the sensory overload of the lights. All the nightly walkers and Heroes surrounding him seemed to feel otherwise. Easily acclimated to such environments through years spent on the same torn roads and flashy broken buildings.

He couldn't imagine spending years living in such a place.

"We going to the Library again?" Ursula asked, pulling him from his thoughts and viewing of the City.

"No. We've looked all over that Library for information and found nothing of importance. No reason to spend anymore time here with Detectives.....and Bounty Hunters moving around the area. Let's get paid and go back to Rollan." Claude replied as he looked around at the diverse amount of people, collecting around Bars, Armories and the News stand.

He continued walking, passing the first bar and hearing the sounds of slurred words, belligerent men and women and bottles clanking. Passing the Armory on the opposite side of the street from him was a much better experience. Expelling scents of fire, leathers and metals from the large stone and glass building.

When he passed the News stand, it was always varying degree's of similar sounding stories. Heroes of the city completing some large scale Tangent or making some new discovery with their Bioligists. Nothing he couldn't find on his own.

Only this time. It was new info. Not exactly. Even so, it froze him in his tracks to listen to the people gossip.

"....know! What kind of dumbasses would come here with all the Heroes and and Enforcers?"

"Ah fuck em! They'll last a few weeks at most. They should've stuck to terrorizing piss poor cities like SkyHaven."

"Claude?" Ursula called out to him in confusion. "Claude...your ey--"

Before she could notify him of the glow of his eyes, he grabbed her arm and pulled her through the crowd with him to approach the news stand. They didn't have to get close due to their heights placing them above the heads of most people in the crowd.

Despite the darkness, they could read out the headlines on the feature newspapers perfectly.

"Team of NightRunners found DEAD and ROBBED of all valuables! Possible Connections to string of Similar Cases Further East!"

Claude's insides felt hot. His skin felt tight and itchy, eager to be scratched through the violence of a transformation. Memories flashed across his mind. Unwanted and gory. It seemed to be a day of unwanted things rising to the surface. And this was icing on the cake. He almost forgot about them. It seems their travels were coming to a close.

"What? What they got robbed? What's the significance?" Ursula asked.

Claude was about to reply when the scent of dog hit his nose followed by the sound of claws scratching the earth behind him.

"Hmph. Raiders can be nasty business. You folks stay safe out there on them night runs."

Claude turned to his right and found himself standing beside the Bounty Hunter from before. He wore the same dark brown leather hooded jacket that cast his face in shadows, only revealing his lightly bearded cheeks and hard jawline as he held his automatic crossbow loosely beside him.

His triplet of battle Hounds sat obediently at his right, leaning forward to look over at Claude and Ursula with interest.

He almost forgot to respond to the man causing Ursula to speak instead before they left.

"Well said. You too, sir. Very pretty dogs by the way!"

They walked in silence for another few minutes before Arne spoke.

"[So....the backup Rikah spoke of. It could be them.]"

"Without a doubt."