Chapter 6 - An eventful night
A rustling noise jerked Cantorn out of sleep. Still confused how he had even fallen asleep he tried to take in what was going on. Just minutes ago, or at least he hoped that it had only been a few minutes, he sat under a small tree, resting but surely not dozing off. Somehow the exhaustion of the day must've overwhelmed him, making him fall asleep without even wanting to.
The rustling could be heard again. Cantorn started to seriously worry. Had anything sneaked up on him while he was asleep? Now fully awake and with heightened senses, he scanned his surroundings. Quite a few bushes were surrounding him so he couldn't be sure that there was nothing near him. In addition to that, the increasing darkness surrounding him didn't help with ruling out potential threats either. Sadly he had no way of changing this as he hadn't learned the basic concepts of fire magic nor had he any flint and steel on him.
Drawing his dagger he began checking the nearest bush. He slowly walked toward it, closing the gap while making as little noise as possible. As soon as he was in range he slashed at the bush with his dagger, it being barely longer than his forearm if one included the handle. His goal was to draw out any potential beasts in there with his sudden movements, forcing them to expose themselves. This bush however seemed to be clear. With a slightly eased mind, Cantorn moved on to routinely check the next few bushes using the same tactic as before.
A few minutes later he had checked four bushes using this method. He became increasingly relaxed, hoping that it all had just been a product of his imagination. Maybe this place wasn't as hostile as he had expected. After he took a slight breather he decided to still check the other bushes, just to be sure. Although he was still trying to not alarm any nearby beasts he was far from sneaking as carefully as before.
Just as he was walking towards another little shrub a slight rustle caught his attention. It seemed to come from the direction of a little yellowy-greenish plant, round in form and densely packed with pointy, toxic-looking leaves. Now fully concentrated he began approaching it.
A small thing rushed at him, coming from the growth he had originally wanted to inspect. In the blink of a moment, he held up his injured left arm, trying to protect himself. Incredible pain flashed through his body as the small but oddly familiar figure of a small horned rodent sunk his teeth into his arm.
'These little fuckers were actually eyeing me.', Cantorn realized with a look of pain and exhaustion on his face.
He immediately lashed out at the little beast, hitting it with his dagger. A cut formed on its hind leg and immediately began bleeding. That didn't stop it from clawing to his arm though. On the contrary, it only made it madder, now slashing at him with its claws as well. Just as Cantorn wanted to hit it again another one of the little shits jumped at him, this time coming at him from the shrub he had heard the rustle from.
He dodged its assault with a not so graceful sidestep, still impaired by the first creature. The other one landed a good two and a half meters behind him, instantly getting into a cowering position and flexing his large hind legs. Cantorn realized that it would jump at him again. Getting into a sloppy fighting stance himself he lifted his knife. He'd seriously have to get rid of the thing on his arm, otherwise, he'd bleed out before he could even begin to properly retaliate. While he was preparing for its assault a plan formed itself in his head.
Soon the little thing, he still didn't know how they were called, leapt at him again. Although he managed to avoid getting latched on as it had happened with the other one on his arm, he still got scratched pretty badly on his torso. This however came not without a price for the small rodent as a fresh and gaping wound had appeared on its side. Now decorated with even more wounds, Cantorn made his way back to the tree he had slept under. Seriously pissed and without any regard for his own health he slammed his left arm into the tree, the creature on it letting out a little yelp. Pain flared through his body stronger than ever before. Yet he slammed his arm into the tree again and again and again, the creature being repeatedly crushed in between his arm and the hard bark of the tree. He almost began to enjoy the squeals of the dying mix of fur and horns, now entirely covered in blood, until- A cracking sound could be heard and the body hanging from his arm turned limp.
Disregarding the notification that had appeared after the kill he focused his attention back on his other opponent. This one almost glinted with fear in his eyes after he saw what had happened to his mate but it still didn't seem to be willing to give up yet. It probably felt that Cantorn was almost at the end of his strength as well, now severely weakened by the accumulated blood loss.
Both opponents prepared for their last clash. Cantorn held up his dagger again, his other arm hanging limp from his shoulders. It was probably broken in quite a few places and he didn't know how long it would take to heal at his current level. If it would even heal.
The small fucker, bleeding heavily from its side, began flexing its legs as well. Just as before it cowered, focusing entirely on its opponent. Small amounts of ambient mana gathered around its feet as it got ready. Cantorn assumed that it was charging up some kind of skill, probably boosting its speed. It was probably only going all out only now after it had realized that the young half dark elf wasn't as easy prey as they had thought him to be.
With a muffled bang the horned creature accelerated far faster than Cantorn could have ever imagined. In the blink of a moment, he lifted moved his dagger, trying to intercept its leap.
Then it became silent.
It took Cantorn a few moments and a blue text appearing in front of his eyes to realize what had happened. With full force, the little being had launched itself towards, right into the edge of his knife. Bewildered and overwhelmed by his euphoria he just stood there. This had been a fight for survival and he had come out on top. He turned from prey to predator. And in all honesty, it felt fucking amazing.
Only the sound of blood dripping to the ground brought him back to life. He was still bleeding like a pig, close to passing out. Passing out however wasn't an option. He had just won his first battle so there was no way that he would go down like this. Not in a place like this and especially not after such an achievement.
With a trembling hand, he stuck his dagger and pulled out the makeshift bandages. There sadly wasn't any Healroot left as he had stupidly eaten all of it before but if he hadn't, he probably wouldn't even be alive right now. Bandaging a wound on his torso with just one arm proved to be quite the difficult feat and the result came out to be quite sloppy but it was better than nothing. His mangled left arm on the other hand was a league of its own. Cantorn just gave up on trying to bandage this one properly and simply wrapped the whole arm with a cloth as tightly as possible to at least stop the bleeding partially.
Truly on the cusp of breaking down, Cantorn went on to check the notifications he had received. As soon as he opened them though, a wave of warm energy washed over him, visibly bettering his physical condition. There were still quite a few bleeding wounds on his body but at least he was out of his life-threatening state.
With a wondrous look on his face, he began reading.
[You have killed a 'Horned Avankh' (Level 2). Additional experience is being awarded for killing an enemy above your level.]
[You have killed a 'Horned Avankh' (Level 4). Additional experience is being awarded for killing an enemy above your level.]
[You have reached level 2. 6 status points are available for allocation.]
[You have reached level 3. 6 status points are available for allocation.]
The look on his face shifted from wondrous to baffled in mere seconds. He had just gained two levels and was now already on the level that had taken him 19 whole years to achieve without killing anything. In one damn night. This growth was far from anything he had expected, even when taking into account that he had just risked his life.
Now even happier and ecstatic than before he opened his status window.
