Her ankle brushed up against a skull as she attempted to bring the fangs back to her previous hiding spot. The force rippled throughout the pile, causing bones of all shapes and sizes to rattle. Her target began to perk up. It had been alerted of her presence.
She messed up. Badly. There was no salvaging the idea she had suddenly come up with, coating her newfound weapons in a layer of acid, but she wasn't doomed just yet. The creature was only starting to awaken.
The halfbreed had only a split second to choose between fleeing and pressing the attack. The outcome of the former was effectively guaranteed. There was no way for the heavily damaged creature to outrun her, and there were plenty of opportunities for her to return. But something about that choice annoyed her. It annoyed her so much, in fact, that she instantly chose the alternative without even considering the ramifications.
One knife-like fang was driven straight into the hog's remaining eye, and the other its throat.
Leaving both weapons where they were, she landed in front of it and shot towards the creature's armless side to evade retaliation.
Another mistake.
Dodging away from an attack was only a feasible choice in the case that the evader was swift enough to outrun the incoming strike. And swift Claire was not. Nor was she even truly under attack just yet, but that was besides the point.
The blow she took was no real strike, but rather, a mere byproduct of the monster recoiling in pain. Its arm brushed up against her gut when it raised it, sending her tumbling through the air.
Claire wanted to scream in pain. The agony assaulting her system was almost too much to bear, but she desperately held it back as she crashed into the ground. Making noise was the one thing she didn't dare do. She couldn't afford to give her location away to the blinded beast. A quick glance at her status informed her that she had only three points of health remaining, even after regenerating fifteen over the course of the hour and a half she'd stalked it. It terrified her to know that the blow would have killed her had the two clashed any earlier, but she pressed on nonetheless.
Her teeth clenched and whole body trembling, she crawled back towards her acid-filled candle holder. She grabbed the first bone she found along the way in one hand and the broken dagger she'd set down in the other. There was no time to look for anything with a particular trait, not unless she was willing to forgo an opportunity to attack. The lack of offensive potential was compensated for by slathering both makeshift weapons in a layer of thick, purple goop.
Once re-armed, she forced herself to her feet and circled back around her target. She remained behind it while it flailed its arm around at random, breaking pieces off the stone walls and smashing both stalactites and stalagmites alike as it attempted to locate its assailant.
Only after feeling a burning pain in the back of its sole functional knee did it finally realize where she was. It swept at her rough location, but this time, it hit nothing.
She danced between its legs and launched another attack. The hellhog being twice her height prevented her from reaching any vitals, but she managed to deal significant damage regardless by driving her acid-laced dagger hilt straight into the creature's groin. The purple fluid destroyed its gonads, ensuring that it would never reproduce even if it managed to survive the encounter.
Again, the hellhog loosed a feral scream. But as terrifying as the roar seemed, it only encouraged her. She grabbed a fang off the ground, the one the creature had torn out of its eye socket, and jammed it into its thigh. Once it was as deep as she could get it, she grabbed the protruding ivory with both hands and pulled downwards with all her might.
Blood streamed down her arms, leaking from the wound as would a crimson cascade. When the pig beast finally fell to its knees, she forced the makeshift weapon into its armpit, tearing at the muscles it was using to flail its only functional limb. It was an action Claire equated to putting the creature in check. But even though she felt as if she had all the momentum in the world, victory continued to elude her.
The arm she thought she had disabled lashed out the moment she withdrew her fanged blade. The monster grabbed her, wrapping its thick muscular fingers around the maiden's shoulders, and holding her arms tight to her chest. Breaking free was impossible. Its grip was too powerful.
She was taken to its face, where its maw awaited with all three sets of sharpened teeth ready to consume her, the very same teeth that had so easily ended both the foes she had watched it defeat.
The tables turned. Now, she was the one that desperately flailed as her opponent took control of the situation. Fortunately, the creature's blindness led it to misunderstand the nature of her form. She was able to kick it in the nose, inflicting just enough pain to force it to reel back. Its grip loosened for the briefest moments. An opening she failed to miss.
Slipping out of its grasp, she jabbed the sharpened enamel into one side of its neck and her broken dagger's guard into the other. The bits of acid still covering its contours allowed her to eat through the creature's flesh. But not even that was enough. She realized, after seeing it fail to fall, that it was going to take much more than a few cuts and burns to drain the remainder of its health, so she ducked to evade another grab and momentarily retreated. To return with her acid-laden dish in hand. It was only half full now, but she wasn't worried.
She carefully maneuvered underneath its armless shoulder and pulled out the weapon she'd driven into its neck. Her candle holder soon replaced it. The thick purple goop nearly spilled from the metal container as she jammed it inside the creature's throat, it's viscosity the only thing keeping it in the dish. As soon as the package was delivered, she flipped it upside down, dumping its contents into the hog's flesh.
As the beast fell forward, she grabbed the closest thing she could, a chair, and bashed it against the back of the thing's head, over and over and over until the old, brittle wood buckled, driving splinters into the pig's exposed insides. Claire repeated the process, smashing the chair against her foe again and again until all four legs broke off, after which she crammed them down the hole in its neck, one after another.
The beast struggled. It desperately tried to get her away from it, but it lacked both the energy and strength it once had. Its arm was unable to do anything but pitifully push itself against her each time it tried to knock her away. It grew more limp with each passing moment, more powerless, more vulnerable. And eventually, it succumbed, lifelessly collapsing beneath her with its throat jammed shut and its innards fully dissolved.
Log Entry 476
You have slain a level 47 hellhog.
This feat has earned you the following bonus rewards:
- 2 points of agility
- 7 points of dexterity
- 5 points of strength
- 1 point of vitality
"I did it…" she muttered to herself quietly as she collapsed onto her rear. The additional reward was a welcome surprise. She knew that obtaining bonus points from combat was possible, but she had never experienced it for herself.
Log Entry 477
You have acquired the Tracking skill.
Log Entry 478
You have acquired the Makeshift Weapon Mastery skill.
I didn't even know that skill existed. Oh well, now I'll be even better at hurting things with chairs!
Log Entry 479
You have leveled up. Your health and mana have been restored and all harmful status effects have been cleansed.
Your racial class, Halfbreed, has reached level 10.
You have gained 6 ability points.
Log Entry 480
You have unlocked the Rogue class.
Looks like all that effort paid off after all.
Log Entry 481
You have unlocked the Barbarian class.
Barbarian? How rude! I'm a perfectly well mannered noble lady, thank you very much.
Log Entry 482
You have unlocked the Hunter class.
Three? I was only expecting one. I guess today isn't as bad of a day as I thought after all. Thanks, box.
Claire slumped over, her breathing still ragged and her heart still pounding with both fear and excitement. It wasn't her first kill—her father and his guards had set many up for her before for the purposes of bolstering the efficacy of her ritual magic—but it was the first that she had earned.