The animal leapt at Luke’s formation, and he barked out a command to his skeletons. “Attack!”
The horde of nine skeletons, claws pointed and jagged, rippling with the hue of mana holding them together, rushed forward. The kriskarn collided with the first two, blowing off arms with its landing, and swept out with its paws. Those two skeletons were obliterated, sent flying to either side of the huge beast, and clattered against the trees before beginning their decay to goop.
Note to self, Luke thought as he raised his right hand holding the sword, I need to recover those Death shards.
He activated Grim Harvest and at the same time moved forward, just behind the wall of bones that rushed the beast. Luke’s phantasmal, ghostly scythe cleaved an arc through the group of Undead, and bit into the monster. The effect of the blade on living flesh was stark in contrast to the Fog Creepers: and this was the first animal that he’d used it on.
The scything blade whipped through the animal, and then kept going past. But, where the blade first impacted, it cut a few inches into the scales and flesh below, and green blood spurted skyward. The wound then began to necrotize, the flesh turning a sickly black as decay set in. However, after the initial blade-cut, the rest of the spectral blade passed through it harmlessly.
Luke reasoned that the percent of max Health damage inflicted by the strike determined how far the blade cut, and then it passed through the rest of the way to continue on its arc.
The animal leapt up overhead, and the skeletons jumped up to try and scratch at it. One succeeded in grabbing onto the kriskarn, and the animal’s leap took it to the branches up above. The skeleton who had managed to hang on tried to bury its sharpened fingers into its hide. But, the scales rebuffed the skeleton’s efforts, and it was shaken loose by the animal, falling back to the ground and exploding into its various bits and pieces.
The animal was thirty feet up, and Luke kept his blade pointed skyward, the white-blue flames surging up as a beacon. The creature moved down the branch to the trunk of the tree, then began to descend it like a squirrel might. But, those eyes—dark black with a glimmering, silver iris—stared Luke down. It let out a menacing growl and flicked its tail.
Luke barely got his shield in the way of a hail of barbs that slammed down in a hail. They bounced off of his armor and shield, and the skeletons who were now charging the tree trunk to climb after their prey weren’t affected at all. The animal let out another growl and ascended into the leaves up above, vanishing from sight.
“Fall back,” Luke ordered, and his skeletons retreated to his side. He kept his eyes glued to the canopy, and gave another command. “Protect me.”
A tense, ten seconds passed before Luke heard a loud crack. He looked for the source, but couldn’t isolate where the sound came from.
Crack!
Luke was sent sprawling to the ground, pinned under a massive branch. Almost all of his Barrier absorbed the blow, leaving him with a sliver remaining. His skeletons, likewise, were crushed—all but two of them.
[Health: 125 / 125 {Barrier: 3}]
[Mana: 51 / 51 {126}]
[Stamina: 63 / 83 {123}]
[Command Limit: 10 / 46]
Luke’s sword had been pinned to the ground with his arm, along with his whole left side and both legs. Just his right arm, side of his torso, and head were clear of the fallen log. Then, the animal jumped down onto the log, and Luke would have exhaled if he had any breath left in his lungs.
Its mouth hovered over him, and Luke felt the hot breath on his face as its teeth drew close to him. Luke knew that his fist wouldn’t have a chance in harming it, and he couldn’t push it off of him with both it and the log’s weight on his body.
Thankfully, his two remaining skeletons that had not been targeted by the log fall sprang to action. They rushed from Luke’s right, and one tackled the kriskarn in the midsection, sending it off the log and out of Luke’s vision somewhere to his left. The other one moved to the log and began to lift. With Luke also contributing, he was able to get it up enough to slide his body out from under, and stand up.
Once he had, he ducked a tail swipe from the animal: the razor-sharp barb that looked more like a knife on a whipping rope shooting past him. His skeleton that had tackled the animal was torn to bits and already turning to goop.
Luke had a log in between him and the animal who sought to make him his prey. Neither were willing to cross, and the kriskarn just kept attacking with its tail, which Luke kept blocking with his shield. Then, an idea struck him like a bolt of lightning. It had to carry some type of Toxin—which he was immune to. He chose to let his guard open, and the animal slammed the venom-coated blade onto his torso.
And then Luke pinned the tail against his chest. The blade did cut through the rest of his Barrier, through armor, and made contact with the skin—but as Luke suspected, he felt nothing save the slight heat of a wound, the equivalent of a papercut, against his chest’s left side. With the tail pinned, Luke had something to chop at…but he wanted to raise this thing as an Undead.
Lots of animals use tails for balance, Luke thought, so if I remove this, I might ruin its maneuverability. I don’t even know if I can reattach the tail—I know skeleton arms that are removed are valid targets, but they were already Undead.
Luke chose to instead take several steps back, turning the deadly brawl into a temporary game of tug-of-war. The animal pulled against him, and Luke was barely able to keep it at a standstill. But, he felt the ligaments in his arm popping. “Help out!” he shouted.
His one remaining skeleton grabbed onto the tail and heaved. It must have carried some magical strength that belied its thin, boney form, as it yanked hard alongside Luke, and the duo were able to get the animal over the log and onto their side.
The creature did something Luke did not expect: it stopped resisting the pull, and instead threw itself into Luke and the skeleton helping him. Luke managed to get his sword into a position to cut, but only scored a glancing blow against scales as the animal’s bulk slammed into him. Once more, he was sent sprawling, and the skeleton was blown apart.
[Health: 98 / 125]
Luke still had his sword, despite the animal being on top of him. Its tail slipped from his grip and jabbed into his neck, and he just let out a hollow, breathless laugh as the blow did practically nothing but cause his Health to tick down another few digits. The venom did nothing to him, and there was no blood for him to choke on.
Dismissing his shield, he reached up and grabbed onto the frill along the jowls on the animal. With a firm handhold with his left hand, he brought his blade up to an angle where he could stab the thing in the underbelly. Then, pulling his feet back, he bucked up.
It took all of his strength, but the animal was jarred upward for a moment, and Luke flicked his blade fully tip-up.
Apex predators hunt in predictable ways, Luke thought. This one pins its prey, paralyzes it, and then kills it.
The animal threw its weight back down—just as Luke expected—and impaled itself on his sword with its weight. It let out a roar of pain and then chomped forward with its maw. Luke managed to pull his head to the right, avoiding the teeth, but the razor on the tail cut deeper with the jarring movement.
[Health: 68 / 125]
Luke still had plenty of Stamina and Mana left, and he simultaneously used Pale Flame Bolt on himself, and Grim Harvest on the animal. He aimed the scythe at the same place he had cut into it before, and watched with triumphant glee and a manic grin on his face as the blade sunk deeper than before—easily a third of the way through the neck. It was deep enough that he’d breached the windpipe, and letting his sword go, he reached his hand up to it.
Let’s see if this works!
Luke activated Infuse Weapon once more, and chose the Marrowsteel Power Type. His gauntlets were coated in the glistening white bone that dripped red ichor, and the glowing bones around his gauntlets effectively turned into a set of the sharp finger-claws his skeletons had. He punched up, digging his fingers into the neck meat, and tore with all his might.
Bright blood spurted out, and the animal collapsed onto him. It was partially propped up thanks to his sword, but the weight still caught him off-guard, and he had to heave to get the thing off of him. Sitting upright, he ripped his sword out of the animal, and stood up.
Garran came out from his hiding place, crossbow at the ready. “That was something else,” he said.
Luke nodded and took in a deep breath. “You set to work getting those Death Shards.” He crouched down and looked at the animal. “And for you…let’s see what you become.” He put his hand on the thing and activated Corpse Retainer.
I want you to be like me, he thought. Passable as something alive, but Undead. Something like a living-passing zombie.
He was hoping the intent would be enough to work, and to his dismay, he saw the threads of power linking his hand and the body—and the flesh rotting even farther.
Damn. Just regular zombie or skeleton, then. Well, I prefer skeleton.
The rest of the meat sloughed off, and the creature was nothing but bone and magical energy—deep, grey energy—coursing over its body. The magical power tethered the bones together where flesh would once hold it tight, and the kriskarn’s eye sockets glowed a deep blue like Luke’s own eyes. These were flaming orbs of blue light, not actual eyes, but still easily denoted the owner. The animal stood up, shook itself, and then nudged Luke with its head.
“It worked,” Luke said.
Garran came over and handed Luke five of the Death Shards. “Incredible. It’s big enough for both of us to ride.”
As he moved his hand over to it, the thing whipped around and growled menacingly.
“Easy,” Luke said. “Garran is a friend.” He looked at Garran. “I suppose that it is a bit animalistic still, in some ways. Still Mindless, though.”
Garran let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Oh, I wonder…how will the venom work with no flesh?”
Luke clicked his tongue and said, “Gimme your tail.” The now-Undead complied, and Luke inspected the barb. It no longer carried any type of ichor, but was a lot sharper—just like the teeth and claws. “Yeah, no venom.” He let go. “Now…I need a name for you…” Luke smiled as memories of his first pet flooded his mind. “I’m going to call you Pierce.”
The kriskarn, Pierce, moved its head under his hand and Luke gave it scratches that left marks behind on the bone. But, the animal didn’t seem to care much.
“Huh…can we ride it?” Garran asked.
Luke looked into Pierce’s eyes. “Mind taking two riders?” He then frowned.
It’s Undead. I don’t need to ask permission.
Aloud, he added, “Garran and I will be riding, and you’ll be responsible for protecting him if I need to dismount and fight.”
The kriskarn lowered itself to the ground, and Luke threw a leg over it so that he was seated between the front-most pair and middle pair of legs. Garran hopped on right behind him, between the middle and rear pair of legs, and then Pierce stood up.
Garran grumbled, “This is going to be hell on my cock.”
Luke glanced back. “Maybe pad something under you?”
Garran was already moving his cloak around and shuffling his bulk to give himself a bit of padding. “Way ahead of you.”
“Which way?”
Garran pointed to his left. “That direction.”
Luke leaned over and said, “Go that way,” and Pierce took off running—almost throwing Garran from his perch. The mount was magnificent, jumping across large sections of undergrowth, landing on lumps of roots and then taking off once more to clear more of the ground floor. Eventually, Pierce worked its way up to the tree branches that were hanging low, and moved more predictably: a predator among its home terrain.
[Experience Gained: 81. Current Experience: 239 / 1000.]
[Aspect Increase: Armor Familiarity 6 → 7 (gain +7% damage resistance when wearing armor).]
[Art Increase: Infuse Weapon 2 → 3 (3% of the inflicted damage is converted to the applied Power Type.).]
[Grim Harvest 4 → 5 (Restores/Damages 7% max Health).]
[Chill Field 2 → 3 (Apply a 3% slow to Living Creatures, and a 3% acceleration to Undead Creatures).]