20. The death kiss

[HP: 101/126

SP: 47/73.4

MP: 61/156.05]

Escaping the big hunk of meat tank was easier said than done. The last attack had done a lot of damage to her. She noticed that her HP was slowly ticking down. However, it was her stamina that worried her most.

As the day started to get brighter, the prompt had already notified her that [Light Healing (III)] had already been activated. Alas! It didn't recover her stamina.

Hilda was running with her life depending on it, casting spells on the high goblins. Her MP had decreased significantly, so she didn't dare to waste her mana more. 

The problem was that the one and two vines trying to latch onto the leg of the high goblins weren't enough to slow him down, much less stop him altogether. It broke through the vines like some kind of thin cotton string.

"You are more versatile in using mana than I thought. Why don't you become my ride?" He ran beside Hilda without breaking any sweat.

With a constitution over 40, Hilda was sure she would have been able to carry the chief of her tribe, but she wasn't sure about the high goblin.

"If you don't want to…" He didn't complete his sentence. Instead, he swung his axe at her head with the sharp side forward. Ten or so vines shot out from the tree behind him and wrapped around his hand. It didn't stop him, but it was enough to force him to miss Hilda's head.

"This won't do. This won't do." The tree behind her broke down like a toothpick from the attack while Hilda tried to think of something. 

There was still about a kilometer between her and the human soldiers, and Hilda wasn't sure she would survive his onslaught for so long.

[HP: 98/126

SP: 41/73.4

MP: 57/156.05]

Other than her decreasing status, Hilda was more worried about the clearing that she was about to step in.

"This won't do." 

The vines shot out from the trees again. Instead of attacking the goblin, it wrapped around Hilda. 

"What are you doing?" 

*Bam*

The axe missed her head again. Instead of trying to stop him, the vine wrapped around her legs. Hilda stumbled. It decreased his HP by 5, but she survived.

The high goblin blocked the path. "There are no places you can escape."

*Bang*

He shot at Hilda, creating spider web-like cracks where he stood. Hilda dodged. Or, so she thought.

The axe sliced through three or four layers of vine armor that were wrapped around her neck and left a gashing wound at the back of her neck. 

Even if the high goblin missed, he swung his axe sideways; the blunt side sent her flying.

Before Hilda landed on the ground, the vines on her body regrew and covered her gashing wound. 

It wasn't just the wound; the vines covered her entire body, leaving her eyes and ears outside. If one had seen her now, they would have thought she was a creature made of plants instead of a hyena.

However, it did little to stop her from becoming a good punching ball. The kick sent her flying into the clearing. 

[HP: 72/126

SP: 29/73.4

MP: 34/156.05]

Her vine armor did nothing but decrease her pain a little. Her HP and SP were still decreasing, but her MP was decreasing fast.

"Why are you running back?" The high goblin laughed out loud, asking, "Wasn't you going to the human to ask for help? Don't worry; I will take care of you as soon as I'm done with you."

[MP: 2/156.05]

Her MP tab flashed crimson, falling below 5% of its original value. 

Hundreds of vines slithered out of the forest before Hilda could return to the forest she had come from. All the vines twist and mingle together, becoming thicker than the human waist. 

Before the goblin could understand what was happening, the thick vine hand grabbed Hilda, who was wrapped in the vine as some kind of ball, and threw it in the direction of the human.

"Oh!" He hadn't expected it. 

Hilda did not expect the high goblin to throw its axe at her. Alas! She couldn't change direction in midair.

[MP: 0/156.05]

[Due to the depletion of mana, the [Vine Armour] spell has been undone.]

[The host should recover mana as soon as possible.]

The lack of vine armor put her at a disadvantage. However, with the sudden weight change, Hilda accelerated a little, pushing her out of the path of the axe.

The axe still scraped a part of her fur with a layer of skin and meat.

However, more was needed. The distance she had traversed with the throw was a maximum of a hundred meters. 

Hilda fell through the trees before she landed on the forest floor below. She groaned as she felt that every bone in her body had broken down. 

*Awwwooooo*

Just as the goblin is about to chase behind it, the wolves surround it. At the same time, the leading pair of wolves passed by Hilda without stopping.

Hilda had no problem understanding their intention. They were trying to bait the human. However, Hilda followed them, fearing that the goblin would follow them.

The goblin did turn a couple of wolves into meat paste before he lost interest. He was quick to follow Hilda's directions. Even if the rest of the wolves tried, they couldn't catch up.

It was a slight advantage, but that was enough for Hilda to meet the humans. It might be because they were trying to hunt a few deer that broke into small groups. Hilda soon found that a couple of archers were following the wolves.

Due to all the fighting and gashing wounds all over the bodies, Hilda looked hideous. Compared to the pair of wolves, Hilda looked more frightening. 

The pair of hunters paused as soon as they noticed her. One continued aiming the arrow at Hilda while the other blew the whistle.

Prrrr

Prrrrrrr

Prrrrrr

Like wolves howling, their whistles resonated through the forest. Only then did Hilda realize that the humans had spread throughout the forest.

*Sharp*

If Hilda hadn't moved at the last moment, it would have hit her. Hilda turned and fled. The pair of hunters wanted to attack her, but…

*Bang*

*Growl*

Prrrrrr

This time, the whistle came not too far away from Hilda. But the sound of the tree cracking and the whispers in her ears made her realize that the high goblin had also made contact with humans.

"Hope the humans can take care of the abomination." Hilda was sure that if that high goblin survived, there would be no way she would. "Take me to my goblins." 

*Awwwooooo*

The pair of wolves led the way, as other wolves also howled back. When they joined Hilda, she realized the wolves had been reduced to just five.

Hilda soon passed by Ken. The mangled body was enough for Hilda to confirm that Ken had died with just one punch from the great goblin. 

Sadness was never something Hilda felt after coming to this world. Hilda didn't stop but followed the wolves to find where the goblins and kobolds she had enslaved were hiding.

Before they could understand what was happening, Hilda jumped between them and bit the head of one of the goblins on its shoulder. 

The goblins and kobolds were already frightened by the periodic screams from the higher goblins engaging the humans. 

The last thing they had expected was that the one who had already taken control of their lives would attack them. 

Before they could understand what was happening, Hilda had already unalived a couple more goblins.

They wanted to run away, but surprisingly, the wolves blocked their path—another one fell victim to Hilda's jaw. Because of the mana circle on their core, the mana wouldn't activate if the mage tried to attack Hilda. 

Just when they thought it was the end of them, Hilda stopped. It wasn't just that Hilda stopped; the air around her started to vibrate, and the white aura began leaking out of her body.

It coiled around Hilda, and the trees around it started rustling. The dry grass beneath her feet again turned green and started growing.

First, the white aura from her body had a blueish and reddish tinge. Then, the color of her aura changed utterly.

[Hilda]

Age: 1/34

Race: Gnoll

Grade: Violet

Level: 20 (0.7/21)

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Virtue:

Sin: . .

Condition:

Strength: 23.9

Dexterity: 29.2

Constitution: 45.8

Intelligence: 100

Wisdom: 100

Charm: 17.1

Free point: 5

Element: Earth/Water/Arbor/*****

Skill: [Fortitude]. [*****]. [Bite]. [Claw]. [Night Vision]. [Dominance]. [Mana perception (Violet)]. [Ancient language knowledge (18.3%)]. [Breathe of Bodhi]. [Tangle]. [Vine Armor]. [Floral Limb(I)]. [Light Healing (III)].

Hilda didn't care about the extra point she had earned because she had leveled up her aura. The first thing she did was to put five free points into her dexterity. 

[HP: 49/142.25

SP: 31/83.4

MP: 3.5/158.55]

The changes to the three bars didn't interest her anymore. Hilda tore down the chests of the dead, pulled out the core embedded in their chests, and swallowed them.

Eating the core of the white aura user just to recover her mana felt like a luxury. Alas! Hilda didn't have the luxury to worry about it.

She knew the only one she could blame was herself. If she had listened to Ken and left the forest, she wouldn't have faced such a problem. However…

[Vine Armour]

The vine wrapped Hilda from snout to tail, reinforcing her broken ribs and wounded body. However, Hilda had a bigger problem to face. 

The voices in her head reported that humans surrounded the entire place. With the cave at the center, they had surrounded the area without letting anyone leave it.

"It's now or never." Hilda knew that if she waited longer, the human would shrink the blockade, and the chance of her getting caught would increase.

"Follow me." Making up her mind, Hilda leads the way. Hilda had chosen the first one between the path with more humans and the stronger one.

Hilda cautiously instructed the three adult goblins, two adult kobolds, and two mages of two different species to attack the humans and drive them away in order to break the human-made search net.

Hilda, the five wolves, and the kobold warrior hid a safe distance away, waiting for them to take action. The only reason she kept the kobold warrior was because he was the only one who could keep up with the wolves' speed.

Prrrrrrr

Prrrrrr

As soon as they noticed the first goblin, the whistles rang throughout the forest. More started to gather toward where the whistle was coming from. 

Two mages were more than enough to create chaos and gain their attention. With the direction of the whispers in her head, Hilda and the wolves broke through. 

However, there was one small problem. That was the direction they had come from. Ken had told her about another path. It was through the wooded hill and will take three more days. Hilda knew that if she took that path now, it would take almost a week to reach the desolate land. 

"It would be better to take extra time than die here." Hilda didn't even hesitate anymore. If anything, Hilda felt a little unhappy about wasting these slaves that she had captured. "Again, it is better than dying."

However, she had to stop soon as something unexpected stepped in their path.

"How the hell did you survive?" 

Understandably, the three deer who had stopped in their path didn't understand what Hilda was saying, but Hilda recognized the one in front.

It was the one she had mated with. Although Hilda didn't know it was possible, the doe was pregnant.

She didn't even want to know what the children would look like, but she wanted to know how they had found her when Hilda had inscribed none of them.

"Follow me if you want."

To her surprise, they did just that and followed her back to the desolate land.