Almost two hundred Nurgles crushed the incomplete three squads of motley guards, probably not even noticing. And considering that the archers, positioned on the carts, had rushed to escape the oncoming wave from the right by running into the forest in the opposite direction…where, incidentally, there was also a small ambush squad of these creatures, but enough to devour the cowardly archers among the trees.
Surprisingly, my roaring effort was able to change the direction of the creatures' attack, and the pressure on the front of the caravan initially eased. This allowed the merchant Liet, before his heroic death, to use a couple of his skills. After all, he was a level 16, and guild caravan masters are allowed to learn a few combat skills. Of course, they are very far from the standardization of the Lord's personal army, but you can't completely write them off either.
Faint flashes illuminated the surroundings, and a couple of dozen small Nurgles fell dead. But this only prolonged the agony of the resistance for half a minute. New creatures swept over the positions of the merchant and his remaining guards. I noted this from the corner of my mind. The whole time, I was trying to avoid being surrounded by the swarms of forest creatures.
[Notice] You have received 11 SP. (193/190)
And in principle, I was succeeding. And when their number had decreased by about half, he appeared. He was huge, about five cubits tall. His muscles bulged, and blood flowed in streams from his maw. He weighed no less than 300 measures. And I clearly couldn't withstand a head-on collision with such a brute. And his hide had a strange sheen in the light of the remaining torches.
There was no fear in me. As a last resort, I could use the alchemical mixture Embrace of the Stars. But that's a bit too expensive for a creature like this, if you ask me. And no one knows what might be waiting for us up ahead. He rushed toward me, clearly enraged by the number of his subordinates I had torn apart.
By this point, all the guards, including the drivers and the aurochs, had been mauled to death. My soldiers had to be resisting at the back of the column, and the carts should have completely blocked their view of this part of the battlefield.
In the more than 24 hours since the last battle, I felt that one needle had already formed and a second was beginning to grow. It felt like a tooth growing in my mouth; you can't see it, but you know for sure it has grown. And this fact gave me some hope for a favorable outcome of this battle. I charged at the approaching monster.
Nurgle Leader, Rank E+, Level 7
Even its head no longer seemed huge against the backdrop of its bulging muscles. I tensed my right arm and held my palm forward, aiming at the monster running on all four limbs. This creature, sensing the threat, first lunged to one side, then sharply to the other, throwing off my aim. I probably could have risked a shot to its head. But smaller kin were catching up to me from behind, my arm was already throbbing with pain from muscle strain, and the Nurgle leader seemed too dangerous to me. The shot, the needle pierced its stomach. But it only went in barely halfway. Ten breaths of running at a speed beyond my limit from the enraged leader, and it stumbled, falling head over heels to the ground. I didn't wait for a second chance. With my last ounce of strength, I ran toward it. On the way to the fallen creature, I cut down a level 4 Nurgle rushing to help.
I briefly distracted myself and looked at the System notifications. The number of creatures I'd managed to kill in this battle was simply unthinkable.
[Notice] You have reached level 20 (3/200)
You have 2 additional free attribute points available.
[Notice] You have received 8 SP. (11/200)
...
[Notice] You have received 5 SP. (140/200)
During this frantic dash, I was able to raise another level. And on top of that, I collected a whopping 140 SP. And that's not even counting the wounded. I could collect another level there. The next blow, and I split the skull of its failed rescuer.
[Notice] You have received 14 SP. (154/200)
But the Nurgle leader took advantage of my delay. Right in front of me, it got its legs under it and roared furiously. I saw its lunge and attack perfectly and even blocked it with my shield. What's more, I was able to use the momentum of its attack to pivot and cut the monster's right knee with my cleaver with simply monstrous force. But that didn't change the fact that a couple of bones in my right arm seemed to have cracked.
The forest leader couldn't stay on its feet either. After all, I shouldn't have relied on the venom so confidently. The last fight with a Nurgle leader didn't allow me to figure out for sure why it was paralyzed so quickly. But now, everything was very clear.
The Nurgle leader broke into a charge again, only slightly getting its feet under it. There was a certain sluggishness in its movements, and this allowed me to dodge its lunge and deliver a powerful blow to the back of its neck. I didn't even realize how successful the blow was at first. The cleaver hit the thinnest part of the neck vertebrae and damaged something there. It no longer tried to get up. It didn't die immediately, but the creature let out such a pitiful howl that my ears rang. The other Nurgles, however, understood this signal in their own way and bolted—all of them. Even though the closest ones were no more than 50 paces from my position.
I didn't have the strength to take even a single step. After that desperate scream, it was finally clear that I had managed to win this battle, and judging by the absence of my soldiers' screams, they had managed to hold the protective barrier.
I wanted to sit on the ground and just catch my breath. This race with a huge crowd of Nurgles that were constantly trying to swarm me had completely exhausted me. My hands were even shaking from the strain, and the weight of the armor now seemed simply unbearable. But I couldn't allow myself to relax. While my squad was timidly huddled inside the magical protection—and that wouldn't last forever—I had a lot more to do.
The creature was still scratching with its paws, but it looked more like convulsions. Three consecutive blows to the neck of the Nurgle leader.
[Notice] You have received 67 SP. (221/200)
[Notice] You have reached level 21 (21/210)
You have 3 additional free attribute points available.
The energy that passed through my body from absorbing SP didn't even bring a fleeting burst of vigor. And once upon a time, such a quantity could have caused a loss of consciousness. From my Bag of Holding, I took out four torches and lit them. With difficulty, I turned the leader's body over and built a small fire on its stomach. After all, I had to find a way to explain my victory over such a monster. The story about using an alchemical mixture that burned through the creature's insides would hopefully be enough for my soldiers and the mage informers.
While a thin wisp of smoke rose into the dark sky, I went to check Liet's Bag of Holding. And at the same time, I pierced the hearts and heads of all the nearby creatures with my spear. I didn't miss a single Nurgle or goblin, and even the aurochs were able to cheer me up with some SP. The draft animals were very resilient, and even mortally wounded, they were still clinging to life. I probably could have healed them with magic, but I don't think my mages had much mana left. And one or two spells wouldn't change anything here. Before I speared the first tur, I had already found a dozen unfinished Nurgles, quietly stirring in the blood beneath them.
Plus 53 SP (74/210).
I really wanted to upgrade one of my skills. But now was definitely not the right time.
Aurochs Rank E+, Level 3
Even after piercing the animal's heart, it still resisted. I had to split its skull with the cleaver, and only then did I receive SP.
[Notice] You have received 28 SP. (102/210)
When I reached the goblin's resistance line, I found that almost all the caravan guards had been literally torn to shreds. Even the sturdy armor on their bodies didn't help save their owners. The chain mail had been chewed apart link by link. Fortunately, Liet's body was found right away. His medium armor was very expensive, at least relative to his guards, and it kept his body from being scattered into pieces.
As I approached the merchant's body and looked around, my breathing finally calmed down a bit. And the leaden heaviness in my hands slowly began to fade. Only the blood under my feet squelched unpleasantly, creating the full impression of a slaughterhouse. Piercing the merchant with my spear, I hoped to get SP from his level 16, but the creatures had cleanly ripped out his throat, and I was out of luck this time. I took Liet's Bag of Holding and slung it over my shoulder.
Now all that was left was to finish off the Nurgles and maybe even goblins in this pile of torn bodies before they cooled down. SP remains in the body of even a completely dead creature for a while. It's very individual in each case, but as Centurion Otsev used to say, the soul doesn't leave the body immediately after the heart is pierced.
And then I would head into the forest to the right of our column. My soldiers definitely wouldn't go there. But it would give me time to deal with the trophies I had acquired. After all, I had just tossed the skill cards that dropped from the corpses into my bag without looking. And there had to be something interesting in the merchant's Bag of Holding, since he had probably been transporting his most expensive goods in it.
In this mess of bodies at the head of the caravan, I only found four Nurgles that still showed signs of life and collected 41 SP from them (143/210). There were probably others, but there was no time for that now. At that moment, I deeply regretted the absence of such a useful skill as life detection.
I moved three hundred paces deep into the forest, until our caravan began to be lost among the tree trunks. I leaned my back against a rather large tree. I sat right on the ground and began to inspect my trophies. Surprisingly, there were no special valuables in merchant Liet's Rank F Bag of Holding. Gold coins were present, of course, and in a considerable amount. But besides them, there was a regular sleeping bag, a supply of dried food, and a bunch of small items.
I couldn't take the gold; a few coins stashed in my armor wouldn't do much good. And I would have to turn in the Bag of Holding anyway. And in principle, gold coins weren't of much value to me. The absence of skill cards or an SP accumulator was disappointing. But I was probably thinking too highly of the now-dead caravan master. He was an ordinary worker, just like me. Most likely, his arrogant behavior had misled me. I had created an image of a wealthy merchant with close ties to some goblin aristocratic family. But it turned out he was just a fool.
I had heard many times that merchants preferred to put attribute points into Vitality, sometimes even bringing it up to 10 units. But if he had put all his attribute points into, say, Strength, he would have had a chance to survive in sturdy armor. To be honest, I wouldn't have allowed it anyway. But purely theoretically, the Strength attribute is much more important than Vitality. And the opponent today wasn't that strong. That's why the Nurgle population isn't completely destroyed; for senior officers, they pose no threat at all, especially for those who can fly.
Now it was time to check the dropped skill cards. With some anticipation, I opened my Bag of Holding. I looked through them once, then a second time. But I still couldn't find a new Rank E skill card. Although I remembered for sure that I had picked up a card that appeared from the Nurgle leader's body. And I had hoped for the Steel Bone skill. I even spat in frustration.
I rubbed my face with my hands; for some reason, my head had stopped thinking after the battle. Empty Rank F cards don't always drop from a defeated opponent, let alone one with a skill. And a Rank E has an even lower chance of dropping. But no matter what I told myself, my mood was soured. I began to check the Rank F cards. Again, more than a dozen duds, two more with the Nurgle's Appetite skill. And something new. Nurgle's Fangs. And that was the main weapon of these small creatures. Small, relative to me now, but they were about the same height as an ordinary goblin.
Skill Card - Nurgle Fangs (1/3)
Rank F
Description: The jaw changes. The size and quality of your teeth increase slightly. May negatively affect speech.
Satiation: 7/10 SP
Basically, a junk skill. Strong teeth in exchange for the ability to speak clearly. But it attracted my attention simply because of its rarity. Such a skill didn't drop very often from Nurgle corpses. Even in the catalog of Ulesur, our fortress's quartermaster, you don't see it often. It might be valued more for its rarity, but I found that hard to believe.
But when a skill card for Strong Bones appeared in my hand, my feelings were mixed. Of course, I was very happy about such a stroke of luck. But at the same time, I couldn't believe my eyes. After so many years of hunting Nurgle leaders, everyone believed they had the very rare Steel Bone skill. But this turned out to be a completely different skill, and it was obtained from other monsters. And what was even stranger, the Strong Bones skill wasn't for sale either. Not even for sale—I had never seen it in the catalog. It just didn't compute. Why create such schemes and secrets with the sale of skills?
Skill Card - Strong Bones (1/5)
Rank F
Description: The bones of the skeleton become slightly stronger.
Satiation9/10 SP
And what could be so hidden in it that it didn't even make it into the general catalog?
[Notice] Learn skill Strong Bones (10 SP)
Yes/No
(142/210)
The card dissolved in my hand, and a tingling pain began to spread through my body, literally screwing into my skull. For a moment, I couldn't hold back and growled. The pain weakened in waves but then rolled in with new force. In my estimation, it lasted about five minutes. And most importantly, as I had assumed, the pain in my right arm stopped. Apparently, the broken bones had healed under the influence of the new skill.
There was no need to rush anywhere now. My soldiers had survived, and the Nurgles had been put to flight. Another question: when they cut the mana crystals from the corpses, they should count the number of creatures that attacked us. I have a feeling there were more than two hundred of them. And I also wanted to upgrade this skill one more time; there was a certain mystery to it.
[Notice]Do you want to upgrade the skill Strong Bones (1/5)? (20 SP)
Yes/No
Rank increased. Skill power slightly increased.
Choose the direction of development:
1. Slightly increases the flexibility of the skeleton's bones.
2. Increases the strength of the skeleton's bones.
3. The volume of the skeleton's bones increases slightly.
4. The volume of the skeleton's bones decreases, the number of bones increases.
(122/210)
Well, this was unexpected. In the fourth option, the bones would probably be duplicated. A very interesting option. But with my Chitinous Hide, the only relevant choice was increasing strength. After all, my arm broke from the transferred energy of the blow, not direct impact. The armor held up, but my insides didn't. This happens with high impact energies. It's also called behind-armor blunt trauma.
I chose the second option. The pain twisted me again, but it was somehow routine, without enthusiasm. It twitched and pulled for a bit, then passed after ten minutes.
[Notice] Do you want to upgrade the skill Strong Bones (2/5)? (40 SP)
Yes/No
Rank increased. Skill power slightly increased.
Choose the direction of development:
1. Slightly increases the flexibility of the skeleton's bones.
2. Increases the strength of the skeleton's bones.
3. The volume of the skeleton's bones increases slightly.
4. The volume of the skeleton's bones decreases, the number of bones increases.
(82/210)
I chose the second option again. And now, things definitely didn't go according to plan. I was twisted up so badly that I started to lose consciousness. I would come to from the pain, and then I would pass out again. It was a good thing the visor of my helmet was up. I was nauseous with such force that it felt like my insides were trying to turn themselves inside out. Then my body tried to bend backward in the wrong direction. Only the System knows how long it lasted. Consciousness blinked on again, and the pain stopped. I took out my flask and washed my face, deciding that I had definitely had enough adventure for today. I had never had such vivid impressions before. Not even that one time when my fingers were bitten off my right hand.
Slightly swaying, I made my way back to my fighters. But before that, I checked the body of the Nurgle leader. The body was well-burned. I removed the remaining coals, and now everything really looked like the result of an alchemical mixture. I also returned Liet's Bag of Holding to its place. And I came out to my squad from the tail end of the column, as if I had had to circle through the forest for a long time, escaping from the pursuing Nurgle. The dome was still activated, which was strange. There shouldn't have been enough mana for such a long time.
"Lower the barrier," I commanded wearily. "Moresh, report."
A moment later, the shroud of protection dissipated, and the frightened eyes of a dozen goblins stared at me.
"Mister Decurion, the mages are unharmed, and there are no losses among the personnel," the goblin reported in a rush.
"Excellent, excellent, just as I thought," I hissed quietly. "Mages, Light Orbs! Four guards for the mages and food preparation! The rest of you, check the corpses for SP and collect trophies!"
Leur and Tatalem So created two magical spheres and raised them as high as possible, illuminating the terrifying scene surrounding us. Corpses literally covered the ground around our positions. The smell of fresh blood unpleasantly agitated my sense of smell. One of the new recruits' stomachs gave out, but I was simply too lazy to turn around and see which of the new soldiers was so impressionable.
I chose a relatively clean area near the carts, and my soldiers tidied it up. They dragged the corpses away and set up my officer's tent. An hour later, we were able to eat a hot meal. And the tension from the recent battle had subsided a bit. The young goblins were whispering, describing the corpses of the caravan guards with horror. Moresh reported. According to approximate calculations, a little over 250 Nurgles had fallen here. There were no questions about the leader. This meant the total number exceeded three hundred, and that was a lot for these parts, no matter how you looked at it.
"Uler, at dawn tomorrow, take the two sharpest new recruits and dash to Northern Ishal fortress with a report. We'll camp here for exactly three days. After that, we'll abandon the caravan and the whole squad will follow you," I gave the order, looking him in the eyes.
"Mister Decurion, it will be done," he replied with an unusually pleased voice.
"You sound awfully happy," I hissed.
"I'm sorry, Mister Decurion, I just leveled up, and I survived," he replied with a smile. "How can you not be happy about that? All of us are happy. When we saw the caravan guards, we just couldn't contain our joy."
At this, Moresh joined the conversation.
"That's all they were talking about near their corpses—that it was a mistake for Liet to insult you. If he had been smarter, he would have had so much SP he wouldn't know what to do with it," he said, sounding a little sad.
After thinking for a moment, I said, "Yes, stupidity has destroyed more lives than Nurgle fangs."
Everyone smiled and looked at me with more respect than fear.
"Listen carefully. Tonight, in strict order, upgrade your attributes. If you have any doubts, ask the more experienced ones," I said loudly, so everyone could hear, then added much more quietly, "You might need it soon."
And there was indeed a lot to allocate. All the new recruits had raised at least two levels. The braver and more capable warriors had even reached level five.
After a hearty dinner, I went to my tent. My body and mind needed rest. But when I lay down on the sleeping bag, I felt that it was uncomfortable to be in the exosuit. I moved around a little, but I couldn't figure out what was causing the discomfort. I put a mana crystal into the armor's receiver and took it off. I inspected my body and realized that I had become a little bigger. Thicker, you could say. The changes were especially noticeable at my elbow and knee joints. And my right arm looked even stranger. There was a lumpiness just below the elbow.
The Strong Bones skill had probably influenced the Venomous Stinger somehow. After all, the needles are made of bone; they must have become stronger, too. But I had no desire to check any of that right now. Three mana crystals went into the receiver, and I donned the exosuit again. The standard procedure—needles penetrate the chitin. The outer part adjusted to my body's changes. The hope for at least some kind of response with a larger number of crystals had not yet left me. I still had plenty of magical stones, so I could experiment. And now, sleep came instantly.
No one woke me up. I had ordered it myself. So, I woke up long after dawn. My body was alert and rested. But when I came out of the tent, I continued to pretend to be injured and walked with a clumsy limp. Just like yesterday after the battle. Uler had long since gone to Northern Ishal fortress, and I think that by tomorrow, the owner of these supply carts will be here.
The day passed peacefully. The sentries took turns, carefully watching the surroundings. Four times, they cast healing spells on me at my command. My well-being didn't improve, but I don't think my body was made worse by it. I even started to enjoy feigning injury.
The glances of the new recruits and my two mages became dismissive and arrogant again. Just like they had been before. Everyone was subconsciously happy that the old Decurion was slowly falling apart and that even healing spells weren't helping him. Only a day had passed, and they had stopped associating me with the angry Decurion from yesterday who cut Nurgles in half. It was probably due to their low Intelligence stats.
Only Moresh's attitude hadn't changed. He was extremely respectful. And the fear in his eyes when he looked at me didn't disappear, even when his lips were smiling. This was a goblin the System had definitely given enough brains to. And thinking back on his service in my squad, he had never stood out. In training, he consistently showed average results. He didn't speak his mind unnecessarily. A decent goblin. He just had bad luck and couldn't become a Player. Otherwise, he would have been a Decurion, and I don't think he would have been a bad one at all.
That night, I decided to distribute my attribute points. There was a great temptation to increase Stamina. I got winded too quickly in such heavy armor. But battles are usually short-lived, and speed and reaction are paramount. I really liked how clearly I saw the movements of the Nurgle leader, who was much stronger than me. My movement speed was almost enough to completely control its attacks. If I had been a little faster, I wouldn't have even had to take such heavy blows on my shield; I could have easily counterattacked its every lunge.
So, I added one point to the Perception attribute and brought it to 8 units. The discomfort passed quickly, and the next point I put into Intelligence. Now it was 9 units. My head tingled a little, but it was even somewhat pleasant. I clamped the handle of my knife between my teeth and put a attribute point into Agility, bringing it to 8 units. The pain twisted my body. But I even spat the knife out of my mouth. The pain was bearable. And even a duration of twenty minutes didn't make it unbearable. After the horror with the Strong Bones skill, my pain threshold seems to have become much higher.
As a result, my attributes looked very impressive, even for a hobgoblin, which I hope I'm only not for now. After all, any owner of a Magical Affinity has to put a lot of free points into the Wisdom attribute, thereby increasing the volume of their internal energy reserve. In fact, they save on attributes necessary for combat. And one should not forget how much aristocrats love to upgrade the Vitality attribute, increasing their lifespan. Therefore, even despite the quite high levels of senior officers or mages, their true attributes do not always reach the second limit of 10 units. The exception, of course, is their Vitality attribute.
True Name: Irchin
Status: Player
Epithet: the Malicious
Age: 46 years
Race: Goblin (90%)
Gender: Male
Level: 21 (82/210 SP)
Attributes:
Strength 8/10
Agility 8/10
Intelligence 9/10
Vitality 4/5
Stamina 5/10
Perception 8/10
Luck 4/5
Rank F Skills:
Sword Mastery (2/5)
Shield Mastery (1/5)
Spear Mastery (1/5)
Bow Mastery (2/5)
Chitinous Hide (3/5)
Venomous Stinger (4/5)
Minor Regeneration (4/5)
Strong Bones (3/5)
Arachnid Language and Script (1/1)
Rank E Skills:
Minor Deceit (1/3)
Eye of Darkness (1/3)
— — — — — — — — — —
Chapter 14.1
The Somber Gorges Forest
We moved through the dense bushes, never stopping the work of our swords, cutting something that vaguely resembled a path. It was already nearing sunset and getting dark. My entire squad was completely exhausted. Not even two minutes would pass before one of the new recruits would get their foot caught on thick roots and fall into the wet ground. It's also worth mentioning that it had not stopped raining.
On the faces of the new recruits, doom was mixed with the fear of death. And they really had something to fear. For the second day now, we've been pursued by a huge swarm of Nurgles. We can't determine their exact number, but it's clearly more than a couple of hundred. They move at a great distance. And as soon as we stop to rest, these creatures close the distance but continue to hide behind the trees.
We can only sleep in fits and starts. They've tried to storm our barrier four times. But after losing a few of their forest brothers on our spears, they always hastily retreat. The faces of Leur and Tatalem So have become as pale as those of frost monkeys. They can't even walk on their own from exhaustion. They have been constantly supported today, helped to move forward. Even their high attributes don't save them; they simply can't handle walking for two days through rugged terrain. The excessive pampering of mages, which is fully encouraged by senior officers, has resulted in their complete unpreparedness to endure difficult combat situations.
This night promised to be the last one. The Nurgles were driving us farther and farther away from Northern Ishal fortress. And most importantly, we couldn't choose the time of our last battle ourselves. Of course, at first, we tried to provoke them into an attack, but we only managed to get even more surrounded. After that, we managed to break out with a fight, and in the direction they allowed us to break through.
The mages raised their Light Orbs and a protective barrier. The night was lit up with a bright glow. But the densely packed trees didn't allow it to penetrate more than 20 paces. The new recruits with difficulty got up from the wet grass. There was no point in using bows. Everyone armed themselves with spears, but there was no hope of survival.
For these two days, I personally had been reassuring myself that nothing would happen to me. Who but an old, experienced Decurion could get out of such a predicament alive? But when the first wave of Nurgles fell at our barrier, and the next one surged after it, and after 30 breaths the first protective dome burst and only the one created by Leur remained... and the creatures, knowing no fear, continued to furiously rush into battle despite their losses, I began to have vague doubts about my personal survival.
The rookies lacked the experience to kill with a single blow. They used two, three, and more spear lunges just on a small Nurgle. And the monsters kept coming and coming. Sensing a threat from Leur, I understood that he was on his last legs; the barrier would burst now, and he would strike with a fireball, incinerating everyone around and himself at the same time. Not allowing himself to be eaten alive.
A dash, and the creatures running in my direction were knocked off their feet. I cut with my cleaver without mercy. Behind me, an explosion sounded. The Nurgle who were far from the epicenter of the firestorm shrieked and rolled on the wet ground, putting out the flames on their hides. I had time to think that my soldiers didn't even have time to scream, so quickly did the magical flame consume them. But in the very next moment, the long-forgotten fear of death began to creep into my old heart.
Nurgle Leader, Rank E+, Level 27
An enormous monster, like a looming rock, stood over two of its younger kin, also leaders, but of much lower levels, six and nine. In its eyes, I sensed an understanding of the entire situation, along with pleasure and an incredible thrill from an interesting hunt. It was more than twice my height, maybe even three times, and its weight was no less than 1,000 measures. It was smiling, and even its huge fangs didn't get in the way.
In a desperate attempt, I changed direction, trying to break away into the dense thickets. The smaller creatures, squealing joyfully, continued to pursue me, and they didn't even notice their fallen kin on my path. They were like blood-crazed monsters who had scented their prey.
The giant's charge sent a vibration through the ground under my feet. Each of its steps was accompanied by a thud, and my heart seemed to stop for a moment. Its speed was many times greater than mine, solely due to the immense length of its legs. Now, less than 20 paces separated us. The lagging Nurgle hooted merrily. I turned around and, with all my might, embedded three needles one after another. It managed to put its hands up to block the strike. Two ricocheted off the bony plates on the Nurgle leader's forearms. One, however, hit its thigh, but the needle still couldn't pierce the incredibly thick hide.
The giant stopped and watched my despair with relish. There was simply nothing I could use to pierce its body, and I wouldn't be able to escape it either. It knew for a fact that my mage had the ability to kill it. And it waited, not in a hurry.
Level 27. This was a monster on par with a Rank D. What was it doing in this forest? And how many SP did it need for that? With these thoughts, misplaced as they were, I tried to suppress the growing fear in the depths of my soul. On the one hand, everything that was happening now was very sad; after all, with the appearance of the Minor Deceit skill, I had regained my taste for life. On the other hand, luck couldn't last forever, and I had to accept this with dignity.
The Nurgle leader, realizing that its target wouldn't panic, lost its own patience and lunged at me. I charged toward it, ducked under the right paw of the hideous brute, and jumped with all my possible strength toward its head. I couldn't even make out the strike of its left paw, it was so fast. It seemed my spear had a good chance of hitting the creature's eye, since it enraged it so much.
This thought flew through my head in an instant, just before my exosuit-clad body broke the trunk of a large tree growing in my flight path. My Strong Bones played a cruel trick on me. My flesh and organs were already minced, but the outer shells were intact, and only the blood flowing from all the cracks spoiled the impression.
The giant picked me up and, with interest, brought me closer to its eyes, not understanding why its prey was still intact. I twisted with a last-ditch effort on the verge of losing consciousness and struck the huge Nurgle leader's eye with my Venomous Stinger. The blow was simply masterful; the bony tip went in to its full depth. The leader roared, grabbed my body with its other paw, and simply crushed it with wild fury. A flash of unbearable pain, and the world before my eyes went dark.