Chapter 14 The Forest

Kate kept her magic active, her state of mind dulled to everything but battle. And yet there was nothing to fight. The pain started to overwhelm her, sharp breaths leaving her mouth as she bit down on the flashlight, glad the thing was sturdy. A part of her knew that she had to keep her magic active, no matter what. The new blinking messages in the corner of her vision were easier to focus on than her thoughts. She knew they might help and started stumbling through the forest, listening for prey.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Ogre]’

‘ding’ ‘Berserker reaches lvl 6’

Stat points +2

Perseverance +1

‘ding’ ‘Berserker reaches lvl 7’

Stat points +2

Perseverance +1

The new points she immediately put into Vitality, her chest heating up with the allocation. Some feeling returned to her left arm, the bones in her shoulder cracking. She kept biting down on her flashlight, the pain in her body slightly less overwhelming. Her breathing remained ragged, her steps stumbling. She walked downwards, lost entirely in the dark forest. Her hammer dragged along and through the leaves, her vision swimming.

‘ding’ ‘Mindless Ferocity reaches lvl 6’

‘ding’ ‘Mindless Ferocity reaches lvl 7’

‘ding’ ‘Furious Dance reaches lvl 7’

‘ding’ ‘Furious Dance reaches lvl 8’

‘ding’ ‘Reckless Charge reaches lvl 3’

…

‘ding’ ‘Reckless Charge reaches lvl 5’

‘ding’ ‘Toll for the Living reaches lvl 6’

‘ding’ ‘Toll for the Living reaches lvl 7’

‘ding’ ‘Courage of the Unarmored reaches lvl 4’

‘ding’ ‘Courage of the Unarmored reaches lvl 5’

‘ding’ ‘Two Handed Weapon Fighting reaches lvl 5’

‘ding’ ‘You have unlocked the passive skill: Unrelenting Carnage – lvl 1

Passive: Unrelenting Carnage – lvl 1

You have chosen the path of the Berserker. No battle will end before you will it so. Damage you deal and resilience against physical attacks is increased by 5.5% for every minute you remain in or seek battle. To a maximum of 25%.

Kate assumed it would help but she didn’t much focus on the messages besides increasing her Vitality. Her skills were getting stronger too but she felt more than read that. After a few minutes of walking, she collapsed. Her magic deactivated, Kate entirely spent. She was glad now for the flashlight as clarity returned to her and with it the whole experience of what she had gone through.

Her head pounded, silent tears flowing at the pain of her injuries. Every breath felt like sandpaper moved through her lungs and jaws. Her vision remained blurry, shaking hands turning off the flashlight in an attempt not to announce herself to every stray being in this part of the woods. The trail of blood will do that anyway. She had to move. Had to get back, or at least away. But her body didn’t listen, even simple movements nearly making her black out.

She was too exhausted to blame herself. Of course it had been stupid. Everything about the night. Staying out had been selfish, facing the goblins alone had been a risk. And going after them really took the cake. But she was still here. Still alive. She had killed the monsters that had come for them. Even the giant. One more hit or a single strike of its axe and that would’ve been it. She gulped, then winced. It hurts.

It hurts.

But I should be dead. Should’ve died many times already. But here I am.

There was too much going on for her to reasonably handle. Kate had dealt with plenty of things before but nothing came even close to the flood of emotions, thoughts, and possibilities of everything that had happened in the past few days. And so she focused on the now. The flashlight helped, turned off but still gripped between her teeth. Either her gums were bleeding or she had coughed up blood before, the taste of iron obvious between the flares of pain.

I need to rest, and then I have to either get back or find more monsters to kill. Something less dangerous than that fucking ogre. Fuck. But if I kill a single thing, I’ll continue on again, looking for more and more.

Isn’t that good? I’m getting stronger. If I survive that is.

But when does it end?

She knew the answer. When we’re safe. When every survivor is safe.

And when the dead are avenged.

Kate thought of the monster horde again, the streets of Keilberg, the ogre she had just killed. How many more would be out there? How many would come for the humans left on Earth? The now. Focus.

The pounding had lessened a little, but not by much. She could focus between the pain but didn’t dare move yet. Melusine can help me.

Help yourself.

Kate stood up, or tried to. She groaned, pushing herself up before she fell again, the pain and exhaustion back.

I’m a mess, she thought a few minutes later. She tried again a few minutes later, this time managing to stand, albeit on wobbly legs. This time she didn’t turn on the flashlight, shuffling in a random direction with a pause every few steps. The pouring rain had stopped, reduced to a drizzle by now. Powerful gusts of wind flowed through, Kate shivering now with a part of her jacket torn, wet blood sticking to everything, most of it probably hers.

She leaned against a tree a few minutes later, hoping her trail wouldn’t be as easily found as before. Feels like I just killed a monster in a life or death battle. She sighed, shivering again. The movement made the pain flare up. A wonderful circle.

Steps resounded between the winds and her breathing. Small ones, fast, and multiple. Coming my way. She froze, waiting with her hammer gripped with both hands, the left one barely able to hold on. She heard guttural sounds but not as pronounced as with the goblins or orcs. Low growls were added to the mix as she heard the beings fan out around her, moving through the bushes. Something struck wood.

They’re here for me.

Kate didn’t have a choice. She activated her spells, not knowing if she would collapse immediately upon doing so. She felt the pounding in her head increase before the sounds around her sharpened. The rain was less pronounced, her own breathing and heartbeat gone. Instead she heard fast steps around her, two creatures climbing up the trees and one sneaking up behind her. It jumped.

She ducked away and turned on the flashlight, skittering movements visible where she had just been, a small humanoid creature with brown skin screeched, long clawed arms at its side and bloodshot eyes staring back at her before it ran into the underbrush. She turned at the sounds, two of them running at her. She swung her hammer in a low horizontal strike, wincing at the movement.

One of them managed to jump aside, the other one hit in its shoulder. It fell with a wail.

Kate tried to finish it off when something jumped at her, forcing her to dodge aside. She switched to the spike instead, holding out her hammer to keep the creatures at a distance. There were five in total, one crawling down on the tree she had stood at before. They regarded her with beastly eyes, claws spread as they fanned out again.

She didn’t give them time. Kate could feel her energy going out, rushing at them with the intent to kill. Being careful wouldn’t save her, not in this fight. The one she had hit before was slower to react, a wide whirl of her hammer keeping the others at bay before she struck the injured one in the chest. The beast was lifted off the ground before it was flung aside, Kate already on the next one.

One of its claws struck her leg, cutting through her pants and into her flesh. She let it, slamming her spiked hammer into its head in retaliation. Some energy returned to her, she could feel it. Her left hand managed to get a better grip on the steel handle. And yet she felt a burning sensation from her leg now, nothing like she had ever experienced. Another one jumped at her, Kate’s reaction not as fast as she wanted it to be, barely able to block the overhead claw attack of the creature.

They were locked together for a second before she could kick it away, another one jumping on her back in the meantime. She could feel something hacking into her jacket, whirling around before she managed to shake it off. The creature landed in a tumble, the others rushing her as she ran at the downed one. Kate stopped as abruptly as she could and brought her hammer around behind her. She felt the hot sensation on her back now too, smiling when her flashlight illuminated the impact of her hammer on the first and then the second monster. Both went down and she finished the second one first, hacking into its back from above before she turned to the other. She could feel herself recover but despite the change, her weapon felt heavy. She raised it up above the downed monster, bringing it down right when the last creature tackled her. Kate let go of her weapon, unable to hold on as she fell.

The monster was less than half her size, smaller even than a goblin, and yet she felt its weight impact her as if it had been an orc. Arms raised, she turned on the ground with the being trying to slash at her, one set of claws cutting past her cheek, the other one stopped by her hand. Kate felt the impacts of its legs kicking against her stomach. Clothing ripped but wasn’t cut through entirely, their legs much less dangerous than their arms. She moved her head back as a claw flashed past, unsheathing one of her daggers before she rammed it into the squirming monster’s chest. The small blade managed to nearly get through the whole width of the being.

Her cheek stung, Kate trying to get up when she fell to the side, all feeling in her left leg gone. Her back felt numb too. She fell face first into the dirt after trying to get up again. Her spells wore off, the pounding in her head worse than before. She groaned, crawling forward and under some bushes. Kate turned off the flashlight and rolled onto her back, the effect of the poison spreading. Please don’t stop my heart or brain.

A few minutes later she couldn’t move her leg at all, her shoulders and neck having lost feeling as well. Half her face was numb, her left eyelid halfway closed. Her whole body felt hot, and cold at the same time. She simply lay there, letting her immune system deal with the unknown and dangerous substance. The grip on her hammer felt weak but at least she still felt the cool metal. Much of her clothes had been cut through, Kate checking herself in the dark to see if there were any wounds she had missed. Killing the last of the critters had helped her heal the cuts they managed to cause, at least mostly. She was surprised to find her thick pants cut through as cleanly as she’d expect a razor to manage, and yet the wound on her leg didn’t come close. It couldn’t get through my cheek either. Not without a lot of force.

She sighed, unable to close her eyes as she waited. Kate hoped the poison didn’t last for days on end, or left permanent damage. Either wouldn’t be a surprise but she’d likely be dead if they were the case. The first one at least. Melusine has healing magic now. Just have to get back.

I hope they don’t go out to look for me. No. They wouldn’t be that stupid. Unlike me. She couldn’t help but smile a little. A half smile at least. Lying under a bush next to five monsters I killed. In Keilberg. With my Berserker Class and a bunch of magical stats. She stopped herself from giggling. Ridiculous things just kept on happening. This one she supposed was mostly her fault. She should’ve just stayed in the castle, preferably in the armory. But of course she had to act defiant. Can’t argue with results.

Kate blinked her eyes when she started seeing the leaves above her. Too early to be morning. Her body still felt weak and feverish but she did manage to turn her head ever so slightly, seeing through a spot in the bushes that had previously been entirely dark.

Green light illuminated the surrounding forest, flowing through like some kind of mist. She hadn’t seen the polar lights but it was the closest thing she could think of based on the images she had seen. The phenomenon was not known to occur in Keilberg. She held her breath as well as she could and waited, one eye focused on the downright magical light. Perhaps it was.

A few minutes passed, the light growing brighter before it started to wane again. She thought she saw something move through past the tree tops but couldn’t be sure. Darkness returned a few minutes later, the sounds of wind and light rain her only companions. At some point she checked the messages again, the last critters not enough to advance her Class level.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Young Bograth]’

…

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Young Bograth]’

‘ding’ ‘Mindless Ferocity reaches lvl 8’

‘ding’ ‘Furious Dance reaches lvl 9’

‘ding’ ‘Toll for the Living reaches lvl 8’

‘ding’ ‘Courage of the Unarmored reaches lvl 6’

‘ding’ ‘Two Handed Weapon Fighting reaches lvl 6’

Kate checked through the skills, most of them providing half a percent more benefits for each level it seemed.

Passive: Two Handed Weapon Fighting – lvl 6

You have chosen to forego both shields and subtlety. While wielding a weapon with both hands, you deal 8% more damage.

I wonder if that multiplies with other damage bonuses. Probably not.

The idea of eight percent more damage to a physical attack executed by her seemed like an impossible thing in the first place. Sure, you could gain experience wielding a specific weapon, getting better at it, but a consistent eight percent more? Overall perhaps one could gain eight percent more muscle mass but even that wouldn’t directly correlate to damage dealt with a melee weapon.

She tried not to think about it too hard. Survival was more important. Grey could do the math on all these things, as long as she had some abilities that helped her not die, she was more than content. And coffee.

Kate didn’t hear any other creatures for a few hours. The poison luckily started to wear off at around that time. She assumed the night had progressed somewhat far but without a clock on her, it was difficult to tell. Her intuition wasn’t bad but with all the fighting, her exhaustion, blood loss, and poisoning, she assumed her accuracy would be slightly off.

She felt sore and tired but she wasn’t about to sleep here. The first thing she wanted to do was get away from the corpses. At least now that the poison wasn’t noticeable anymore. Her clothes were drenched in sweat and blood. The left arm of her sweater and jacket had been reduced to a few flimsy strips of fabric and she didn’t want to know how her face looked right now.

Kate forced herself to get up in the darkness. The clouds had cleared a little, allowing her to see the silhouettes of the nearby trees. She had a hard time gauging the slope and wasn’t about to use her flashlight. The batteries wouldn’t hold up forever and she had to have it in case more monsters showed up. Hammer at hand, she started in a random direction. Anything but forest would give her an indication of where she was and waiting until morning was not an option, not with the possibility of more monsters attacking the castle, or creatures tracking down the corpses she had left behind.

She gulped, hoping the others were safe. One goblin did get away. But so far they only attacked at the start of the night. I should be able to get back before they try again. I hope.

Kate hastened her pace, walking through the darkness until she heard movement up ahead. Slowing down, she pressed herself against a tree and tried to see.

The now familiar guttural sounds of an ogre came to her ears, luckily still quite a distance away. Cries of pain and frequent attacks suggested he wasn’t doing particularly well against what he was fighting.

She rubbed her hands and moved on, changing the angle to avoid the fighting. A few minutes later the sounds had stopped.

Kate finally reached the edge of the forest. At least I know where I am, she thought, looking at the distant bonfires. The same ones she had seen driving back from Keilberg with Jon and Grey. Good thing we left the keys in the ignition.

She hadn’t planned to go back to the town so soon but the idea of waiting for dawn inside a building and then driving back was considerably more attractive than the alternatives. Let’s see if I can get to my apartment. I’m sick of using someone else’s underwear. Maybe we can get two runs in tomorrow. God they’re gonna be so pissed that I left in the night. I should leave a note next time. Killed some stuff, losing my mind. Have to kill more stuff. At least they know some things about my Class already, maybe they can connect the dots.

Kate moved along the woods and towards Keilberg, the sky clear now that the storm had passed, the stars and moon providing enough light for her to orient herself. These parts she knew and whatever waited in the town for her, she had her hammer.

Kate Lindgren

Unspent stat points: 0

Class: Berserker – lvl 7

- Active: Mindless Ferocity – lvl 8

- Active: Furious Dance – lvl 9

- Active: Reckless Charge – lvl 5

- Active:

- Active:

- Passive: Toll for the Living – lvl 8

- Passive: Courage of the Unarmored – lvl 6

- Passive: Two Handed Weapon Fighting – lvl 6

- Passive: Unrelenting Carnage – lvl 1

- Passive:

Support class: Locked

Status:

Vitality: 20

Endurance: 14

Perseverance: 7

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 8

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 10

Equipment:

Torso: -

Legs: -

Trinket: -

Food: -