Chapter 4

After about an hour, I figured out the right level of flames to keep the bushes at bay; I had to kill a couple more along the way, but I eventually figured out that the occasional burst of flames – not straight at the bushes, but above them – was usually enough to persuade the Vampiric Hydra Bushes to stay out of my way. Who makes these names, anyway? Boarfiend? Hydra Bush? I shrugged, wrapped up in my thoughts as I tossed another careless wave of flames over the top of the bushes, causing nearby branches to retreat from my path once more. The burns wrapped around my body itched, and the coarse material of the robe only made it worse, making me constantly stop to adjust what was left of it. The robe, at least, was unburnt despite all the fire going on around me, which was good; considering how easily it tore, but the fact that it didn’t burn at all, I suspected it was in some way attuned to me or my magic.

Just as I began to become concerned that I’d never see a beast again, my incendiary show of force, this time blasted off to the side, briefly reflected in three pairs of eyes, lurking in the branches above. I jerked backward, stumbling off-balance in my instinctive attempt to retreat from them. Retreating, in this case, was a mistake.

Three long-bodied serpentine creatures lunged from the treetops, looking like a mixture of snakes and panthers, their sinuous bodies wrapped in a layer of short, jet black fur. Two front legs were tipped in long, clawed paws, while the rest of the body was like a snake. One lunged straight toward me, the body briefly coiling behind it to propel it forward, claws extended, and I hastily deflected it with a conjured wall of flames, the defensive spell as solid as a wall for the instant when the monster struck, but collapsing quickly after in a whoosh of heat. The other two had split to my sides, aiming to come for me at the same time, but the dissolving shield made one shy away, and the other only lunged in for a quick swipe at my legs, just barely catching me across the calf; the same calf the damn boar’s tusks had cut before.

I looked around, trying to keep all three in my sight at once, and one of them feigned a leap toward me, baiting me into igniting the shield again. It opened its’ mouth in a hiss, enormous fangs swinging downward from the roof of its’ mouth. It looked like a pitch-black saber-toothed tiger, each blade the length of my forearm, glinting in the fading light of my shield. “Oh fucking shit,” I snarled, backing away from it, almost forgetting about the one behind me. Almost.

I ignited a firebolt in my hand, and twisted away from the feinting beast, faster than it expected me to, and threw the ball of embers toward the onrushing beast. It was much closer than I expected, and I ended up slamming the fire into its’ chest even as it struck, the fangs missing by far less of a margin than I was comfortable with. It was clearly badly wounded by the firebolt, flames licking at its’ fur, rendering its’ inherent stealth useless as it drew back. I quickly looked around, but couldn’t spot the other two, craning my head one way and the other to try and catch sight of movement.

Fangs slammed into my left thigh, the cat-snake having crawled closer under cover of foliage. The hot, pulsing pain of venom burning into my veins ached, throbbing in time with my heartbeat. I slapped my hand down, briefly wreathing it in flame to deliver a powerful punch to the creature’s head, the skull splitting beneath my fingers with startling ease. The enraged yowl from my right came just in time for a shield of flame to block the other uninjured cat’s fangs, but its’ claws still tore into my side, shredding the robes further. Before I could strike, it retreated into the bushes once again, my firebolt burning a path through huddling foliage. I thought back to the Shepherdess and her tests, the way it felt as I created that nova of flames around myself. Even as I heard the heavy slap of a serpentine body launching itself off the ground, I dug into that fear and pain that had compelled me before, and pushed. The air rippled and split around me once more as flames emerged from nothing, a surge of heat and power that ignited the plants around me, burning them away in an instant, and knocking back the cat-snake onto its’ side. While the wound was obviously painful for it, it was far from lethal. At least for direct damage.

What was far more dangerous to the two remaining cats was their utter lack of cover. Burning branches cast dancing, bright light all around me, exposing the two wounded animals. I hurled a firebolt at the one reeling from the nova, striking it along its’ side, and burning deeply into it. The other, the one I had first injured, lunged toward me, desperate from being suddenly bereft of concealment. I didn’t even have time to will the flames into place; I simply turned and lashed out with a punch, feeling bones splinter under my attack as I shattered its’ ribcage, sending its’ lifeless body to the ground.

As the rush of battle faded, I stared around myself in shock and horror, falling to my knees as fatigue and venom sent my vision swimming. My leg throbbed where I had been bitten, and the two enormous fang-marks pumped sluggish black blood. I could feel my thundering heartbeat pushing the venom deeper into my body, and I swore I could sense it getting closer to my heart, setting everything else aflame on the way. I wracked my brain, trying to figure out how I could stop it, when desperation fueled one last, half-crazed idea.

I could feel the poison moving through me. I could also feel how the flaming nova had seared the venom from the wound itself, the intense heat breaking down the venomous proteins. It was reckless, mad, but I managed to convince myself it was the only way. I began to pull at my robes, tugging the sash aside to-

When I touched the sash, I became briefly aware of… the contents of it. I tugged at the side, and a small slit appeared; the mouth to a small pouch. I could sense more than see what was inside of it; a small collection of vials, each one holding maybe a single swallow of liquid. Three were red, and the System filled in for me what they were.

[Minor Health Potion]: Restores a small amount of health. Consumable.

I stared at it for nearly a full second before I turned my gaze to the others; two yellow, two blue, and two purple.

[Minor Stamina Potion] [Minor Mana Potion]

[Minor Antidote]: Capable of neutralizing poison; only effective against very weak toxins and venoms.

Without wasting time considering if it’d be strong enough, I chugged down the antidote, eyes popping wide as the overwhelming taste of sunlight touched my tongue; I had never considered sunlight to have a ‘taste’ before, but there was no better way I could describe it. The sensation of warmth, clarity, and an edge of harshness, there for an instant, then gone as I swallowed. A few moments later, I felt the venom slow… and then dissipate entirely. I stared at the empty glass vial in my hand, and tucked it, almost reverently, back into the small slit from which it had come.

When I felt at the sash itself, I didn’t feel anything inside of it; no glass tube pressed against my hand, despite the fact that I knew I had placed it inside just moments before. Instead, it seemed to be some kind of… spatial storage? As if the items weren’t actually kept inside of its’ physical space, protected from attacks and impacts. I sighed in relief, flopping back bonelessly on the ground, as I opened my notifications.

[Serpanther defeated. EXP gained.]

[Slay Beasts: 2/10]

[Serpanther defeated. EXP gained.]

[Slay Beasts: 3/10]

[Level up! You are now level 8. +5 Free points gained from Race.]

[Serpanther defeated. EXP gained.]

[Slay Beasts: 4/10]

            Serpanther? I mean, I guess it makes sense, but seriously, who keeps making up these names?

After a moment’s consideration, I put my five new points into Vitality, and, realizing I hadn’t spent my last level’s points, put those five into Strength. Sure, magic was my main focus, but… Being able to punch a giant cat-snake – Sorry, Serpanther – into next week had been a bit of a power trip on its’ own. I was now far stronger than any basic human had ever been. I flexed my muscles, not really seeing much difference, but definitely feeling the way my muscles tightened and corded as I moved them. I turned, stepping toward the nearest tree, and with a thunderous kick, moved to snap it in half, kicking the trunk to splinters.

Instead, I ended up screaming on the ground as I clutched my fractured shin, the sizable dent in the tree in no way softening the absolute, incendiary agony in my leg. I dug around for one of the little red bottles, and quickly drank it down, half-expecting it to taste like pure life or something; I was shocked instead to taste growth, earthy tones and the musk of good, rich dirt, with an almost floral bouquet of a seedling first breaking through the dirt.

It was almost enough to distract me from the way the potion hit my gut like a bolt of thunder, energy radiating into every wound I had taken, knitting it from the inside out – including pushing the fragments of my shin bone into order, fusing them together in a blistering burst of absolute agony. I realized, after a few seconds, that I had screamed. Only my throat, dry and a little scratchy, betrayed that fact. I blinked away the tears the pain had brought, belatedly realizing that I wasn’t hurt anymore. Anywhere. The little cuts and scratches had healed up entirely, and the remaining healing energy – more than all my wounds required, apparently – just sort of hung around inside of me for a moment, before dispersing.

At least my quest had progressed somewhat, up to four out of ten. I kind of hoped to run into more of the Boarfiends and less of the – I snickered – Serpanthers. The boars were definitely a much more straightforward enemy, as long as I didn’t get tagged by those super sharp tusks.

I pulled myself standing, after a moment, belatedly making the decision that I probably should’ve put those points into Perception, to help me spot creatures before they decided to ambush me. While it was too late to change that, it wasn’t too late to do something else instead.

So I continued on my way, sending the occasional weak firebolt spitting off through the forest. Smoldering branches and burning bushes made nice lights to mark my path, and for some reason, the bare handful of jet black Serpanthers I did see were all running away, their glossy coats quite visible in the light of the flames. Talk about an unexpected boon.