He focused his vision to keep everything in slow motion. The world narrowed to a hard, jittering tunnel. Every root, every stone, every dip in the ground passed smoothly by.
As the speed surge faded, he angled left, easing into a wide arc to the southwest. The ground sloped and dipped. Rocks rolled underfoot. The trees waved as he went past.
The party chat had been going the whole time, a low background pressure he had shoved aside. Until someone said his name.
- Jo: Harry! We are cutting back west. Danger Sense kicked in, I think there’s more in front of us.
- Harry: Alright, I’m heading that way already. Veer north too, so we can meet up quicker.
Harry burned another two points into speed and took off again. He glanced at his meters as the ground blurred under his feet.
V: 107 | TM: 3%
Behind him, his Blood Sense picked up a change. The venomstalkers were slowing and fanning out. Two drifted off in the wrong direction. The other three more or less stayed on his line. One of those threads dragged uneven, the injured one.
He pushed on. It didn’t take long before new threads flared ahead. Familiar ones. His companions.
Remind me to get Map to level 3. Tracking everyone would be a lot easier.
:: System: Duly noted.
Another cluster of threads bloomed behind the group.
Maybe five more. The range was just past what he could read clearly, shapes blurred at the edge of sense. Venomstalkers fit the pattern, fast and tight, closing hard.
They were coming fast.
System, remind me to upgrade Blood Sense too, I need more range.
:: System: Affirmative
- Harry: You’re being followed. Come straight north.
The others cut sharply toward him. Harry adjusted at once, angling to get out in front of them.
Something else tugged at his senses to the west.
Not a venomstalker. It was alone. The thread was heavier, thicker, more blood moving through it. Bigger. A larger heart.
He veered that way, moving fast but careful, trusting Shadow Manipulation to swallow any sound he made.
The trees thinned ahead of him and opened onto a long glade. About a hundred feet away a stream cut across it, bubbling and rushing as it spilled over rocks and broken stone. From where he stood, the water looked close to twenty feet across.
In the center of the glade, on his side of the stream, a bear stood with its nose in the water.
But not a bear like any he’d ever seen.
It had four legs, which was a relief. Its fur was mottled green and gray, the pattern breaking up its bulk. And it was big. About the size of an old Volkswagen van. Massive shoulders, a thick barrel of a body, muscle packed tight under coarse fur. As he watched, it dipped its head, came up with a large fish thrashing in its jaws, and turned to waddle back toward the bank.
Harry checked on the others.
They were close now. The presence behind them was unmistakable. Five more venomstalkers, their threads sharp and fast, gaining ground.
He turned away from the glade and slipped back into the trees, moving to intercept where the others were headed.
- Harry: Guys, when you get to me, keep going north for another five minutes and cut back west.
- Jo: I can’t keep up this pace much longer.
- Harry: I’m going to try something to buy us some time. But just in case, Cedric, after you turn west, look for a place we can hold.
- Cedric: Affirmative.
Great, now there’s two of you.
Harry chuckled.
System, can I turn off Shadow Manipulation if I want?
:: System: Affirmative. You want the venomstalkers to track you?
Yes. At least for a little ways.
:: System: Do you wish to suppress your thermal signature reduction?
No, maybe we can get another surprise hit on them.
He heard them before he saw them, brush snapping and branches whipping aside. A moment later they broke through and caught up to him.
They had bunched together. Cedric looked like he could run forever. Blond hair spilled loose from under his helmet, his face flushed red, a single line of sweat cutting down from his temple. His shield rode steady on one arm, spear in the other. He looked like a Greek hero from an old story, all motion and confidence.
Harry let out a short laugh.
Martha would have loved to tease me about being jealous.
Stan came in a step behind. He looked rougher, breathing hard, but not in trouble. His armor and gear were gone, stashed in inventory. Harry knew he could bring it all back in a heartbeat with wardrobe if things went bad.
Jo looked worse.
The moment she reached Harry she stopped short, bent forward with her hands on her knees, chest heaving as she pulled in air. She had kept her leather armor on and her bow stayed slung across her back.
Harry clasped forearms with Stan and Cedric, quick and firm, then moved to Jo’s side. He stayed there, close, giving her the space to get her breath back.
- Harry: Can you go a little farther?
- Jo: I can make it. I was fine until I tripped over a root and lost my wind.
- Stan: I told ya, get more endurance.
Jo grinned and looked around, her face red and slick with sweat.
- Jo: If you’d told me I was going to run through a never ending forest I may have.
Harry checked his Blood Sense. The five behind them were closing fast. A couple of minutes, at most.
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- Harry: Go, go. I’ll catch up.
Jo straightened, took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders, and broke into a quick jog. The others fell in on either side of her without a word.
Harry checked the straps on his shield and drew a sword. He turned and started back the way they had come, moving alone toward the oncoming venomstalkers.
When they were close enough that he could hear them crashing through the brush, he slipped behind the nearest tree, dropped into a crouch, and waited.
System, turn off Shadow Manipulation please.
:: System: It is done. You only need to will it off or on.
I know… But sometimes you need someone to be there with you.
:: System: Duly noted. And Harry, I’ll always be here.
I know. Let’s do this.
As the venomstalkers closed and began to pass, Harry put vitae into speed and strength. He stepped out and brought the sword down in an overhand arc onto one of the middle legs of the nearest stalker. The blade cut clean through, severing it below the upper segment. The creature answered with a sharp hiss and sprang straight up, slamming into the branches overhead.
The others carried a few steps farther before skidding to a halt and spinning back toward him. Harry was already moving. He drove toward the next one, shield up for balance and cover, sword held low and back with the point forward, ready to thrust or cut. His vision tightened, everything sliding into slow motion.
The strider surprised him by leaping into the air. Harry snapped his gaze upward and saw clear space above, no branches to block it.
He didn’t adjust to meet it on landing. He went under it and kept moving toward the next target, angling his run to be closer to the nearest tree.
It rushed to meet him, head lifted high and back, coiled and ready to dart in for a biting strike.
Just before they crashed together the head snapped in and Harry swiped with his shield, knocking it aside with a solid thud. The impact jolted up his arm into his shoulder. He ignored it and drove the point of his sword up, thrusting hard at the joint where the head met the neck.
The blade sank deep. He felt the body tense as its legs coiled to spring. Harry leaned his weight into the sword, forcing it down and to his left, and slammed his shoulder into the creature’s bulk. When it launched, it took them both shooting to the side.
They tumbled on the ground in a rolling tangle.
Harry let go of the sword, carried the roll through, and came up on his feet.
Another venomstalker was closing from behind.
He burned another point of vitae into speed and bolted in the direction of the clearing.
The stalker behind him struck. He heard it more than he saw it, the rush of movement and the snap of jaws as the strider lunged at his back. It missed. Harry cut tight around the next tree, putting the trunk between them, and kept running.
He checked his Blood Sense as he pulled ahead. Four venomstalkers in pursuit. The one he had run through with the sword stayed behind, its thread fading away. Another lagged, uneven and slow, likely the one missing a leg.
He opened the distance by about twenty feet and eased his pace, careful not to lose them. He wanted them following.
Harry flicked a thought to his inventory as he ran.
He’d left the village with a dozen spears, six longswords, and twenty daggers. He still had the chopping axe, two shortswords, and the wand.
Dammit, I forgot about that wand… I bet Stan can use it. Worry about that later.
So far he’d lost one spear and now one sword. He pulled a dagger and began thumping it against his shield as he ran, hard and loud, making as much noise as he could.
The venomstalkers came on fast, crashing through brush, skidding around trunks, tearing straight through low growth without slowing.
Harry burst out of the treeline and into the clearing. The bear was a hundred feet out. It reared up on its hind legs, broad and towering, head turning toward the noise.
Harry kept going. Straight at it. He slowed just enough to let the distance close behind him.
When the venomstalkers broke from the trees, he picked up his speed and charged forward at the bear.
The bear dropped to all fours and returned the favor by charging him back.
I hope this works.
Harry was counting on it trying to bowl him over.
Fifty feet to the bear.
Tracking the striders behind him turned erratic. He risked a glance back. They were advancing in long, bounding leaps now, trying to come down on him from above, always landing just short.
Forty feet.
Thirty. He put another two vitae into speed.
The bear dropped its head and committed to the charge, a low, rumbling growl rolling out of its massive chest.
Fifteen feet.
Harry juked left, planted hard, and launched himself right, the same move he’d watched Jim Brown use back when the Browns knew what they were doing.
He slipped past the bear’s shoulder. It swiped at him, too slow. Its momentum carried it straight into one of the pursuing venomstalkers. The impact landed heavy and wet.
Harry straightened his line and sprinted for the stream.
Behind him, the remaining striders were closing in around the bear.
Ha…
- Harry: Stan you were right. These things attack anything.
- Stan: I’m renowned for my expertise on all things beastly.
- Harry: Of course.
- Cedric: We found a position. A rise of rocks with a steep bank on one side going down to a stream and a drop on another side. The best I can find.
- Harry: Alright, wait up there. I’ll be there soon.
With his Blood Sense he picked up their position not far on the other side of the stream. At the edge of his range to the north and east he caught more threads, spread out, moving slow, drifting generally this way.
As the stream rushed up to meet him he sprinted flat out, hit the water’s edge, and jumped.
Harry had never been much of an athlete and hadn’t tried a long jump since high school. His form was good though. Good enough that his coach would have been proud. At least of the first half.
Near the peak of the jump, just short of halfway across, a wave of nausea rolled through him. His balance slipped away.
He hit the water hard with a splash, landing awkwardly four or five feet short of the far bank, and sank under. Cold closed over him. For a moment he felt hollow and weak, like something had been scooped out of his chest.
As he sank, a wave of panic hit. He hadn't been in water outside of his bathtub since his brother's drowning accident when they were young. And to be honest, he much preferred showers. He thrashed for a moment before his feet found the bottom and he stood. The water came up just past his waist.
Harry waded the rest of the way to shore and dropped to his knees. He’d lost the dagger somewhere back in the water.
Dammit.
With his boots back on solid ground the nausea washed over him again. This time it passed quickly, leaving him feeling whole again.
So that’s my weakness to running water?
:: System: Affirmative.
Weird that’s working but not the sunlight.
:: System: Across the bridge is dungeon level four. It is the new addition. As we near, we are likely to encounter more changes made by the Dungeon Aspect when it made its modifications.
Wonderful. Be sure and tell it I appreciate the attention to detail.
:: System: Affirmative.
Harry looked back. Three of the venomstalkers were still circling the bear. He didn’t spot the fourth at first, but a moment later he picked out an unmoving lump of black fur off to one side.
He checked his Blood Sense. The others were close now, but at the edge of his range, distant blood sources were drawing nearer.
- Harry: I’m almost there. The ones that were following you are going to be busy but there’s more coming in from the east and north.
- Cedric: How far?
- Harry: Over a hundred meters. They aren’t coming straight in though. We have some time.
He checked his meters
V: 102 | TM: 7%
Harry willed his Shadow Manipulation back into place and picked up his pace, jogging to regroup with the others.
***
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