Chapter 51

Though he desperately wanted to just kill the wendigo and stave off the desperate fear in his bones, TJ instead focused on the pukwudgie riders. He wasn't sure what exactly the level 7 ones behind the wendigo were doing, but he assumed they were the same as the cultists he'd killed before fighting the first wendigo. They held spears and didn't seem afraid to enter into combat with the hunters, but they held themselves back. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, TJ didn't feel the need to pay any more attention to the possibly hesitant enemies.

"Connor!" Zig shouted. "Get in the front with the others. Stanton, stay with Angelo and make sure he stays safe!"

Connor didn't hesitate, rushing ahead with his shield aloft and club ready in his hand. The wendigo, which had been shredding through the other Zealots' defenses without much difficulty, was slowed enough by the addition of a fifth Zealot that it didn't seem like there would be any immediate casualties or serious injuries. TJ couldn't pay them any more mind as he closed in with the coyotes.

Different from their counterparts from under level 5 earlier that day, the pukwudgies and coyotes managed to cut through his protective scales and pierce his flesh. Though none of the wounds were serious enough even to induce the Bleed affliction, each attack he sustained chipped away at TJ's total HP. One of the coyotes seized his tail in its jaws and pulled him away before he could constrict one of the pairs of rider and steed. A flurry of attacks sought to cripple or even kill him, and TJ was forced to abort any attempted reprisal. He was forced to dodge his head back and forth, sustaining hits on his neck, body, and around his mane. Another set of coyote jaws bit deep into his flesh and he hissed. The faint thought he'd retained to retain his MP to deal with the wendigo was thrust from his mind.

TJ infused his mouth with a fair amount of his MP, ready to yank a pukwudgie from its saddle. As he was about to release the Skill and try to turn the tides, Charlie leapt out from behind TJ's target and buried a felling ax six inches deep in the pukwudgie's head. Its cavernous, unsettlingly wide smile was nearly split by the blade, and the creature died immediately. TJ felt a hint of experience coming towards him, but knew that the experience he was receiving from the few kills that'd occurred was limited. There would almost certainly be no level up coming his way in this fight.

Charlie didn't hesitate after killing the pukwudgie in a single blow, yanking the ax back and out of the twitching corpse. The unprepared coyote, the single one that hadn't yet sunk its teeth into TJ, lost one of its front legs to another massive swing from Charlie. It stumbled, and with the appearance of a new threat, the coyote holding TJ's tail let go as it and its rider rushed towards Charlie. Three creatures, the heavily injured coyote and the unscathed rider pair, rushed him as he tried to recover from his overcommitted swing from before. He was too late.

The riding pukwudgie lunged forward with its spear, catching Charlie's shoulder deep in the flesh. He shouted in pain as two coyotes' jaws dug deep into his flesh, and they whipped their heads back and forth, ragdolling the man as he tried to fight them off. When the riding pukwudgie raised its spear back, it was obvious the strike would almost certainly be mortal. TJ released his condensed Wind Manipulation and inhaled, the targeted cyclone whipping the creature from its mount. Though he sustained another strike from the monster mounted on the coyote gnawing on him, TJ focused on his victim that flew directly into his mouth. 

It thrashed and fought and struggled to escape, but TJ ground his fangs into the creature before whipping around and smashing it like a club into the sole remaining rider. The two smashed together, their birdlike screams a harsh cacophony. With so much extra weight in his mouth, TJ smashed the goblin into the coyote biting him one, two, three times. The body became a corpse with a kill notification, and TJ threw it towards the coyotes that Charlie was struggling to get the upper hand on. 

Needing to focus on the insane monster trying to gnaw through his spine, TJ conjured another, short blade of wind on the tip of his tongue and let it fly into the creature's spine at the base of its skull. It went limp, and TJ whirled to help Charlie. He was too late, because Charlie roared before his fingers merged into the hoof of a horse. He whirled and attacked the mostly healthy one. The thick foot smashed through the coyote's skull and it died just a mere moment before its crippled companion did too in the same way.

The bloodied man threw his head back and screamed in victory, TJ noting that his wounds healed as his hands reverted to their human shape. Seeing the other man was no longer in danger of death, he turned to the remaining rider, who fled into the forest. TJ had learned his lesson not to leave his companions behind to pursue another kill, though he wanted to kill the bastard. As it fizzled into a cloudy, nearly invisible form, though, Stanton's gun coughed once and the creature dropped, dead. That would leave just the wendigo and the cultists. 

Three cultist bodies lay basically where TJ had last seen them standing, a bolt from Seth's crossbow in one, a javelin from Farid in another. Though he glanced around, the other two had faded back into invisibility somewhere TJ couldn't see. Thankfully, the wendigo looked mostly dead, wounds filling its body while no fog or frost seeped from its claws or maw. The cool blue flame of its eyes flickered weakly, and the Zealots continued to press the advantage as its claws no longer froze everything it touched. Their superior position wasn't gained without risk, as only two Zealots remained in melee with the monstrosity. Three lay on the ground in the backline, their wounds recovered enough to survive, but they groaned in pain. Angelo, his face obviously pale even to TJ from a distance in the darkening wood, crouched near the three downed hunters and the four Acolytes. Farid and Seth both struggled to continue to press the attack, their hands shaking with apparent cold and stark blue spots on their obviously stiff fingers. Zig and Stanton fared better, though they both waited to take any shots, ensuring they didn't accidentally strike any of their companions. Even so, without them hitting the monster again, the wendigo was about to die.

When Connor's club exploded into kindling on the wendigo, nearly knocking it flat, it was obvious that the end was nigh. The two remaining Zealots burst into movement, stomping and striking out with whatever came into their reach. As their weapons descended to deliver the killing blow, a pukwudgie appeared, interceding itself between their attacks and the creature. It was quickly slain, but its interruption was enough to allow the last remaining cultist to pull their master from the press of bodies. 

Stanton's gun fired, once, twice, but was unable to kill the creatures. Zig moved to ensure she had a good shot, but it was too late. The pukwudgie lowered its head and, after dislocating its jaw and revealing a cavernous black hole where its mouth was, the wendigo decapitated the creature with one bite. It swallowed, and its nearly skeletal body grew more fleshy, more whole. Once again, fog misted off the creature's body, and now it stood alone against the hunting party. Before their eyes, its wounds closed and the faintly glowing flames in its eyes blazed to life, casting shadows below its feet that guttered and fluttered unnaturally.

"You. Are. FOOD!" It grated before lunging back into the fight. It moved even faster than ever before, dodging a shot from both Stanton and Zig. As TJ moved towards the battle, he noted their situation. Two Zealots, two Acolytes, and two Neophytes mostly whole and ready for battle. Three Zealots out of commission, two Acolytes suffering from what was probably a more advanced frostbite affliction, and a mostly exhausted Disciple. 

"Shit." TJ grumbled to himself as he went to engage with the wendigo.

"Go for its legs. I'll see what I can do." Charlie said as he sprinted towards the monster some 100 feet away.

Before they got there, though, it smashed Connor's shield out of the way with one hand before plunging its other into his chest. The Zealot dropped, and the wendigo wasn't nearly finished. The other Zealot, wearing chain link armor that may as well have been cardboard, was eviscerated in a flurry of three swiping attacks. When the monstrous Elite lowered its head to begin to feast on their comrades, Stanton and Zig both finally got a clean shot on the creature. 

Its skull splintered as a bullet carved a thick line in the bone. Though small fragments of its head flew into the air, the skull managed to retain its integrity. The old cowboy squeezed three more shots off in quick succession, and though the creature dodged one, the other two penetrated deep into its torso and slowed it down. Again, it leaned down to begin eating the felled Zealots, but Zig's arrow lodged deep in its eye socket. Though it didn't plead, it was obvious that had been enough to tear its attention away from the suffering people on the ground. 

The wendigo dodged back three steps, taking a glancing blow from Stanton's gun, before, instead of escaping or pressing the attack, it lifted Connor up and between it and the Acolytes. Zig only barely managed to turn her shot before pincushioning the Zealot, and Stanton cursed as he ran to get around the creature's improvised meat shield.

Finally, TJ reached the creature, noticing Connor's agonized breathing as ice spread along his body where the wendigo's claws pierced him. While Wind Manipulation could certainly kill the beast, TJ knew it could easily use his ally as a shield, and while the situation was dire, it was far from as serious as it would need to be for him to consider endangering someone else's life for ease of attacking. 

He wrapped his body around the creature's legs. Chills immediately settled through his flesh and into his organs, and TJ shuddered as his body became much stiffer. With a roar, the wendigo responded, its free hand's claws stabbing entirely through his body and scratching the surface of the scales underneath. He screamed in pain before biting and attacking, his jaws clamping onto its upper thigh. Its claws flashed and went for his eyes. TJ tried to dodge out of the way, but he would be too late. 

Charlie, again, came to his rescue. The blade of the ax crashed into the base of the wendigo's neck, cutting deep and knocking the attack off course. For the first time, the wendigo seemed to panic. It tried to turn and address the latest attacker, but with TJ severely limiting the mobility of its legs, the wendigo struggled to move quick enough to protect itself. Charlie continued to move, to keep himself out of immediate danger, though TJ felt his body completely stiffen. Even his Wind Manipulation didn't listen to him as well as it had before, and he checked his latest Affliction.

Warning: You are suffering from a Severe Frostbite affliction. You will suffer a 75% reduction in Agility, a 75% reduction in mobility, and a 50% reduction in use of MP and Stamina until the Frostbite condition is cured or 10:00 have passed. Each additional application of Frostbite will refresh the countdown. Time remaining: 10:00.

That, combined with the Moderate Bleed affliction, meant that TJ couldn't do anything. He could try to escape, but that would be impossible in his current state. Then, the most unlikely of heroes arrived.

Connor, disregarding the ice spreading along his chest and the claws that were their origin, roared and smashed his shield into the wendigo's face. The hard edge of the slightly iridescent tool smashed into the furrow Stanton's bullet had carved into it. There was, initially, no reaction, but with the activation of a Skill of some sort, the edge of the shield transformed to a thick blade, and he smashed it down again. With this second blow, the wendigo's skull shattered, half falling to the ground while the remaining side screamed in agony and fury. The heavily wounded Zealot fell to the ground, but with him out of the way, Charlie retreated and Stanton's pistol coughed three more times in quick succession. 

At that, the wendigo swayed, growled something unintelligible, and fell. Though still nearly unable to move, TJ fought to keep himself from cheering as he read the monster's death notification.