CHPT 428: Shape-Shifting Decimation

"Fucking hate rats...AND GOBLINS!.... SMELLS LIKE SHIT!" Ursula growled unintelligibly, caught between Giant-Slayer and Berserker rage as she chopped and cleaved her way through the horde.

They were so cramped that she didn't even need to aim. Just swing, charge and freeze. The madness was right up her alley.

"HSHSSHSHSSSS!" A rat hissed wildly as it ripped through an overweight Goblin caught between wolfborn terror and the urge to kill. The Goblin's guts and viscera were caught on it's bark and dark green leather helmet.

"HUAGH!" Ursula threw her axes at the armored DireRat.

The weapons flipped through the madness and sunk into the massive oily furred creatures' shoulders. Its charge wasn't deterred as it hopped and shoved aside Goblins caught in their own bulk.

"Alright.... come on!" Ursula huffed as she punched a Goblin to her left in the throat. Before it could recover, Frosty snatched the green skinned monster out of her personal orbit. Leaving her with the massive DireRat. Perfect.

Ursula worked quickly, reaching down for the dismembered Goblin limbs and insides, slathering the blood up and down her partially shifted arms. Her dark auburn furred muscles looked darker in their wetted state. With nothing left to do, she froze the blood on her skin, giving her a sort of gory secondary skin armor. Where the blood dripped and froze on her fists it spiked like crimson bladed knuckles.

"AAAAAHHHSSSS!!!" The DireRat screeched, flinging spittle and Goblin blood.

Ursula roared and lunged at the DireRat, punching into it's open mouth all the way up to her shoulder. The creature panicked and bit down on her arm, cracking it's teeth on her iced and armored skin. Even so, it's sharpened teeth broke through and made her bleed.

Fuel to the fire.

[Berserker's Rage:..... 45....50%]

Ursula's eyes went full white. The Rat shook, Ursula squatted down to center herself as frosted air spewed from her gritted teeth. The DireRat continued to struggle as it's insides froze with an unforgiving intensity. All the while, Ursula kept her Aura up as nearby Goblins swung and stabbed at her, only for Frosty, Gil or the Phantom Wolves to take them down in their distracted state.

After a few seconds, the DireRat was no longer moving and frost accented it's greasy stiff fur. Ursula lifted the Rat and spun around, slamming it into the floor where it's frozen insides shattered in an explosion of snow and Goblin insides.

[+100 EXP]

The urge to descend on the frozen corpse and rip it to small pieces was almost too much. If not for the Goblin currently charging her she would've.

With a grunt, she blocked a swing of it's sword. It bit through her Aura and icy second skin. For a horde at their level, she was still not entirely strong enough.

With that knowledge in mind, she kicked the Goblin away before it could swing again. In the distance, she watched as Claude spun around and lunged at the creature's back.

SHLCK!

[+50 EXP]

His hand burst through its chest with its heart in his grip. He crushed it instantly before returning to his own section of war. That was the fourth time he'd moved as if he had eyes in the back of his head.... no, eyes all over his body.

In a horde, there was too much to accurately smell or hear most times....

"Remember, we can see and feel through each other." Claude's voice entered her mind as clear as day despite her encroaching madness.

A Goblin jumped on her back in her distraction. She flipped it off her and stomped out its face as arrows and a Banshee flew overhead.

"Focus." His voice came again, "Think of this as a training session-- but you know.... this is some serious shit. I think this ability we have is one of our greatest. You've used it before. And when you did, we were unstoppable, Ursula. Hold off your Rage and fight with us."

Ursula looked around the madness and saw something for the first time. Structure. Frosty, Gil and the Phantom Wolves were in a constant state of moving. With Claude's Nature making a pathway for them to run through. On the outside, they ripped away and caught whoever Claude cast aside as he fought in the center and drew their attention.

Ursula took a deep breath, imagining what Claude often described as their mental linking. A tether. A network of them, binding everyone. Then, she joined him.

***

And joined was an accurate statement. For the next twenty minutes, they mowed down the horde at faster speeds than before due to their pack synchronization and Claude and Ursula's Wild Magic. They had eyes on every angle. Senses laid out across the field that determined and guided every attack. As they grew more comfortable and found a rhythm, their actions borderlined on premonition at times.

SHLCK!

[+200 EXP]

Claude removed his spears from the two Goblins and ducked as an axe flew overhead, sinking into the face of a DireRat... followed by an arrow through the eye.

He recovered immediately, axes at the ready and breaths growing heavier.

Only there was no one.

Death laid out through the caved in rainforest for hundreds of feet. Small bunches of Goblins and DireRats fled into the thicket of the woodland. Ursula chased after them, the pull of her Prey Drive was too strong to ignore.

"Frosty, Ashe." Claude said.

The VanaWarg and Phantom Wolves took off after her to finish off the Goblins. Gil trotted over to him to survey the field.

"We did it." Claude huffed. Breathing heavily reminded him of the dozens of cuts in his back and arms. With a Healing Boost they were already beginning to heal.

"[Don't be too hasty.]" Arne added.

Claude shut his eyes and found himself looking through Ursula's eyes as she tore down Goblin after Goblin, the hunt guiding her movements like a shark on a blood trail.

When the last fell, so did silence.

"Now.... we did it."

[+1 Stat Point.]

DING!

[You have Leveled Up! You are now Level 44!]

[10 Stat Points Available]

"[Almost Gold. To think.... when we met, you were Level three. You've grown into quite the Lupine, Claude.]"

Before Claude could reply to Arne, something hit the ground behind him. He spun around with his spears raised.

Cassidy raised a hand in defense, "Easy. It's only me...."

"My bad..." Claude dropped his spears.

"You folks know how to throw down." Cassidy said as he kicked aside a Goblin head.

Ma phased through a tree as she joined them, "Yes..... it was quite the party--- as the Hunter would say."

Cassidy smiled from the shadows of his hood, "Damn straight. But I think it would've been a better party if you had some more Shape-Shifting backup."

Claude looked over at Cassidy, "...Yea. Maybe."

"What is the plan now, wolfman?" Ma asked, her bright pupil lacking eyes watched him intently as she floated around him.

Claude sheathed his spear and sat in silence. After a few minutes, Ma spoke.

"You hear it don't you?"

Claude looked up at her, the sound of Death's Ambience-- of the intense danger hovering around a deadly foe, strong in his ears.

"I do."

At the same time, he found himself looking at the viscera scattered grass ground. Beneath the corpses and pieces of torn out fur. He stood where he'd last found the Shaman fake. And on the floor to make their place, he found prints. Paw prints... feline instead of massive DireRat prints.

That didn't make sense. Felines were known to associate with Elves, not Goblins.

He'd found the outlier. The Boss of the Tangent was right in front of him-- before the battle even started.

"I can find the Boss." Claude announced.

"Let's roll." Cassidy loaded his Autobow.

Claude howled once, pulling Ursula and the others back to him before heading for the Boss.

***

They continued to follow the trail of feline paw prints. Over time, they were left with single pair of human foot prints. Goblin foot prints. And then nothing, as the Goblin blood softening the rainforest floor faded.

They covered a few miles when the song of death and danger suddenly reached it's apex. They were at the mouth of a cave. It's entrance hidden by a thousand strands of vine and bush. Nothing else of significant form was nearby other than more endless rainforest.

"Don't enter inescapable areas...." Cassidy repeated what Claude said before.

Claude nodded.

Ma stepped forward, "I will enter."

Claude stopped her, "No need. It's coming to us."

Immediately, Cassidy raised his weapon. Ursula and Frosty growled as they watched the mouth of the cave.

Claude unsheathed his spears. He didn't know much about their opponent. Not much at all. They were facing something much different..... and much stronger than a Shaman. It was something the world on the outside had seen before. Only different. Tangents had a tendency to do that. They mocked their location..... had similar weapons and abilities relating to the areas historical mythos. It was like Tangents were mocking the world... or portions of the world forcibly separated and twisted beyond originality. The Boss approaching them was a perfect example.

The Goblin stepped out of the cave to face them.

Unlike the others it was the size of man. Six feet even. Slim and lanky build..... just barely above emaciated. Its green skin was stretched over lean muscle and long bone. Tribal markings dotted its arms and chest like tattooing. But the most standout part of its appearance was the Jaguar hide it wore over the top of its head and down it's back. It didn't even watch them with its own eyes. It looked through the dead slitted irises of the hide. And Claude could feel it watching them.

DING!

[You have found the Tangent Boss. Join your allies and slay the Nahual Goblin!]

Nahual. In ancient Camaco history a Nahual was a term given to a man who knew how to shapeshift into an animal through magical and ritualistic means. They were often tricksters, both evil and good. In the wake of the Tangents and everything they brought, Nahual was only associated with three things.

Goblins. Evil Magic.

And SkinWalkers...