Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Lurking in the night (II)

"Wolves," she muttered.

They were following her from afar, watching her, trying to surround her, trying to tire her. She wrapped herself in Darkness again and changed direction. Confused, they approached the place where they had last seen her. They could perceive her trace, and decided to follow it.

After having crossed the perimeter of those wolves and surpassed their circle, the vampire climbed a tree. She jumped from there, and Glided to get away from the place. Then, she kept moving forward, until she decided to stop hiding in the spell.

The wolves followed her to the tree, and stopped under it, waiting. Up to five of them stood there for a while, while looking into the branches, searching again for her trace, but she had disappeared. Finally, a level 10 arboreal wolf appeared. It was a mutation that possessed the ability to climb trees, and didn't take long for it to find out that their prey wasn't up there. So, they gave up, and started looking for a new target.

On her side, Gjaki wasn't sure if that tactic had worked. In the game, they had tried it once, more out of curiosity than usefulness, after having been discussing all sorts of absurd strategies. This was one of the few that had worked. Many others, such as using the Frozen and Burning Walls to create water vapor, so fog, had been a resounding failure.

Therefore, she did the only thing she could do, move forward and be vigilant.

Along the way, she came across a level 9 bear. It looked from side to side, as if it sensed something strange, but it wasn't able to spot the vampire passing a few meters from it.

A family of wild boars fled as soon as they sensed something moving in the night.

She passed near a level 10 woodlouse, which was nearly two meters long when it was fully stretched. It was now coiled in on itself, Armored in its hard exoskeleton.

She was tempted to push it, like a ball, and kept staring at it for a few seconds. As a child, Gjaki had always been fascinated by those insects. She played with them when she found them in the park where her aunt took her, by pushing them with her finger. Meanwhile, her aunt had left her to her own devices and was reading documents or working with her laptop.

In the end, reluctantly, she decided to continue on her way.

"Maybe next time," the vampire told herself, as she glanced back a few times.

She also cursed the mole, ant, or whatever bug was responsible for the hole in the ground that she had nearly fallen into. Thanks to her great sense of balance and agility, she had managed to propel herself with the foot that was still on the ground. With that help, she managed to reach the other end of the hole and grab the edge. Gjaki even had to briefly use Blood Overload and Scratch to hold on more strongly and propel herself above. Even Self-Regeneration was activated for a few moments.

It wasn't easy to spot the hole in the dead of night, even with Night Vision, unless she were very vigilant. Therefore, now there was something else to watch out for, something that had never been a problem in the game.

Despite her encounters, it was obvious that the density of dangerous predators was lower than in the game. By now, she would have had to deal with at least a dozen snakes. Back then, vampires had a hard time crossing this forest.

She had accomplished it on the first try, though she had arrived with barely any health, mana, energy, or blood left when she did. Back then, fighting one of them was almost a suicide, since many others appeared in the middle of the fight. Only a stroke of luck had allowed her to finish a dying one, and thus obtain some blood.

Even with that, she had barely made it to the beginner's village. Compared to then, despite the difficulties, now it was much easier. However, in the game, she could start over. Now, she didn't know what would happen if she died, and didn't want to find out.

Suddenly, the vampire heard a hum that wasn't unfamiliar to her, but much louder. She dropped to the ground to dodge a huge mosquito almost half a meter long, which was moving with great agility in the air.

"I'm supposed to be the one who sucks blood," she looked at it somewhat annoyed.

She drew the whip, and stroke at one of its wings as it approached again, though she failed to Grab it. The level 10 bug turned aside, hid in the dead of night, and attempted to attack again from another angle. However, it was again met by the swift whip attack before it could get close enough to its victim.

"Shit..." the vampire cursed.

A feline silhouette was approaching from her left, and there was something moving from behind. So, as soon as the mosquito failed again, she ran off, and left behind a trap with Tentacles.

She activated Blood Overload, thus increasing her speed and senses. Although the cost in blood was high, it wasn't too far away.

She ran forward, sometimes zigzagging to deftly dodge the mosquito, partly thanks to her improved senses and agility. The feline was delayed by the trap, but began to regain ground as soon as it escaped from it. The other silhouette was more mysterious.

Partly covered by the terrain, the Level 11 Flattened Boa used its Slide skill to move quickly through the leaves. Within them, it was barely visible to its enemies.

Its body took on an almost flat shape while using the skill, so it was very difficult to distinguish, although it regained its volume when attacking or devouring its victims. It lunged for its prey as soon as she was within inches. It tried to catch her with its fangs, and then bring the rest of its body to imprison her.

At the same time, the mosquito also tried to attack again, while the dark blue feline watched them as it approached at high speed.

Unexpectedly, both the mosquito and the snake crashed into the barrier that protected the place. It wasn't too severe for the snake, but it was for the most fragile insect.

Seizing the opportunity, the reptile caught it, coiled around it and broke its body. However, as it finished off its new prey, the feline arrived and leapt on the serpent's neck.

It wanted to scramble by releasing the dying mosquito, and trying to catch the feline. However, it moved very nimbly, and its jaws closed powerfully on the boa, seriously injuring it.

Under these circumstances, it was obvious that both snake and mosquito would end up being the feline's prey, but, one after another, arrows began to drive into it.

Most of them didn't pierce very deeply, but it was enough to distract and weaken it, thus giving the snake a chance. It was quick to counterattack.

A few meters away, and safe next to the barrier, Gjaki shot first the feline, and then whoever seemed to be winning, so letting them kill each other. Finally, she approached with Darkness to finish off the snake with a Backstab to both of its eyes.

She left her assistant to collect the remains and entered the barrier. Then, Gjaki gazed in bewilderment at the beginner's village. It was deserted.