Chapter 15 - Wounded

Riin's POV

Asperd Isle - Fall, bottom of the Asperd Mountain Range.

Our night, is becoming more and more tiring to say the least, over the course of a few hours, the spiders have gathered around us, to the point where they no longer are staying in hiding. Father is staring out at them with a deep frown on his face, he seems… resigned in some way, which is concerning me a bit, if he is having problems, I want to know, there is no way that I'm going to be stranded out in the mountains with a bunch of drooling giant spiders and a man who has given up on life.

“Father, is something the matter?”

Silence… this is really going to be a long night, seems like I will get more use out of him as bait, the only problem I have with that is, what the hell, am I going to tell mother. ‘Oh hello there mother, where's father, you ask? hmm, how to tell you this, I decided that since he seemed to have resigned himself to death, he was better up as spider food, so I could get out safely, you see.’ … yea right, as if I am ever telling her that. Come on old man, smile or something… Fucking hell, am I concerned, for him? No, that can't be it, it's a natural thing, to make sure that the partner, that is fighting with you is mentally okay, right? Yeah, that's it.

“Father?”

No answer, nothing. Really, old man? A few spiders and you give up on life? Okay, no more, being the nice guy. Grabbing a log that have yet to be put in the fire, I walk behind him. Sorry, old man, but sometimes life's a bitch. ‘Thump’, the sound of the log hitting the back of his head, he drops to the ground, unconscious, but alive. Now, to the hard part, I start dragging his body over the the beds, - the place straight up against the rock formation, and the place fattest away from the hungry looking spiders.

“Rest here, old man, I will deal with the bugs.”

Why, am I even talking to him… Great I'm losing it, darn spiders, I will take my anger out on you.

[Bloodlust Aura] activated. Area of effect: 5 Feet. Levels affected: 0. Cost per minute: 1 Mana.

Oh, so my anger can activate spells too, that's good to know. ‘Deactivate [Bloodlust Aura]’ Seems like I will need some more self control about showing off my killing intent, so this doesn't happen again.

[Bloodlust Aura] deactivated.

Now, now little spidey's time for some fun, together. I know father has an extra knife with him, I will borrow that for a while, but first the antidote and then I'm good to go, pulling the bandage off to the side and dripping the liquid down into the wound, it stings a bit but it will do its job, knives in hand, and I'm ready. Now, time to hunt.

Jumping over the fire… again, I land and the fighting begins, attackers from all sides closes in on me.

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [6]!

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [7]!

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [8]!

So many massage, it's getting fucking annoying! It's there a deactivate option or something, while fighting!?

Do you wish to hide messages during combat? [Yes/No]

Yes!!

Massage hidden during combat, activated. To show message received during combat, select, [Show Combat Massages].

I make a quick roll to the left and thrust my knife into the spider jumping at me, throwing its drool all around the place, one more dead, dodging to the left I avoid a bite to my arm, I spin and make a swing the knife and slice the legs of the incoming attacker. They don't seem like they are intending to give up any moment soon, but that's fine by me, even with my current body, I can go on for at least a few more hours, all I have to do is make sure that I don't end up as their food. Ending the half dead spiders life with a stab in the head, I jump straight up to avoid an attack on my legs, landing on the head of my attacker, I drive the knife into its head, however I get no time to gloat over my amazing skills at avoiding ending up on the dinner menu, as two more of them leap into take the kill, I quickly make a jump backwards to avoid them, as I do so, I nearly end up in the mouth of a new challenger, as the new one charges in too joins the fight as well, I dodge its attack by doing a rolling fall to the left, but I'm not fast enough, one of it's front legs penetrates my thigh as I fall back, going straight through, shit! Spinning around, I cleave of its leg - the one still stuck in my thigh, I'm not going to get stuck here with attackers from all sides gunning for me, as soon as its leg separates from its body I drive straight for its head, letting the knife pierce into one of its many eyes, it drops to the ground.

Now, I will need to make a tactical retreat, turning around to make a run or half run, in my case, for our camp, I end up face to face with one of them leaping into bite me, it's not like I enjoy the site of their open mouth and drool going all around the place, I mean who would enjoy the sight of a wide open mouth covered in poisonous drool and jaws just waiting to crush your skull, none, that's how many would enjoy that. I meets its attack head on as I dive forwards it, slicing its jaw and lower head area down the middle, and this time, I'm not under it, as the knife does its work and cuts open its abdomen area, I make a rough landing, behind it, - man it hurts just like a gunshot wound, lucky for me it's a through and through - I do my best to get up as fast as I can, still, have a hole in your leg don't really help on being fast, at getting up and it's not like rolling around and running is painless either, just so you know. Another one attacks from the right side, fuck, it hurts! As I throw myself back to avoid its fangs, it ends up hitting the cut of spider leg, still sticking out of my own leg, black dots from behind of my eyes, I slam my knife into its head, I have to end this, and fast! I'm losing too much valuable blood, the long I stay in combat with them, the easy prey I become. I jump once more to avoid an attack to the hand holding the knife which is still stuck within the spider's head, not that I forget to pull the knife back out, as I jump away, letting go of your weapon in a fight is a rookie mistake, one that will almost always get you killed. I swing my left hand and my free knife into the head of the attacker, it drops dead, yep… headshots always does the job done. They are getting more and more aggressive, as our battle goes on, their screeching and ‘clicking’ with their fangs grows in volume, with each one of them that I take down. Focus, I'm almost back to the camp, in the midst of combat, I did not realise how far from our camp I had made it, a rookie mistake, one that can cost me, my life. I'm rusty, I need to sharpen up asap, or I will end up dead. I sidestep an incoming leaping attacker, leavening the attacking spider to come smashing into a nearby tree, I can't waste my time on killing it, as things are going now, warm blood is running down my leg, I need to close the wound up and fast at that or I will pass out sooner rather than later.

In front of our homemade wall of fire, I make a last ditch effort to do a real jump over the flames. Fuck! It hurts like a bitch, as I land on my damaged leg, I quickly go to my back and take out the first aid kit I packed. Pulling off my boot, I slowly tear the cloth around the wound, making a hole big enough around it, that when I rip off the leg of my pants, I will not push or interact with the sliced of spider leg in anyway, tearing the cloth of my pants the rest of the way off. I finally get a clean look at what I'm dealing with and… it's not looking as bad as I would have thought it would, but not as good as I would have liked it too either, well, nothing that I could have done in that situation anyway, so no need to cry over what's done. I grab one of the knives and stick it into the campfire, the blood from the spiders, makes a sizzling sound as it gets cooked off the knife, I grab my waterskin and pour it slowly around the wound, cleaning of as much dirt as I can, without pulling the spider's leg out - I need the knife heated up, before getting to work on that. Now, all I can do is wait for the knife to be ready, might as well use the time to check any message I gotten during my little combat training.

You have reach level 2! Congratulations!

By continuing to be quick thinking and moving about with ease, you have gained + 2 [Dexterity]!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained a level! You now affect creatures of level 1!

Okay, so it's going the right way. And it seems that I have a chance of gaining stats as I fight. So as I deactivated the Windows just as I reached level two, that's good since that would have been some spam fest, with all the killing that came after that.

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [9]!

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [10]!

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [11]!

You have been stabbed! You have lost 10 Health. You are bleeding, you will continue to lose, 1 Hp per minute until the wound is treated.

… Stabbed? It, that or whatever calls having a spider's leg run straight through one's thigh, a fucking stab wound! … Now, I really don't want know see a cut...

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [12]!

You are bleeding, you have lost 1hp.

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [13]!

You are bleeding, you have lost 1hp.

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [14]!

You are bleeding, you have lost 1hp.

You have slain a [Young Giant Forest Spider] by doing so you have gained 200 experience!

[Bloodlust Aura] has gained [15]!

You are bleeding, you have lost 1hp.

Yep, spam fest. Oh the knife is glowing orange, it's ready… not that I hate this part, I mean it's the fastest way to close a wound up when you are in the middle of nowhere, and it's not like I think they have a hospital around the corner, but it still hurts like a truck hit you, or so goes the saying, I mean who willing goes and burns themselves, that's just fucking stupid, if you ask me, but I guess each person has his kicks. Grabbing the knife out of the fire, I take a deep breath, man I hate you, damn spiders. Ripping the spider's leg out of my own, I pour water over the hole in my leg, then put the glowing knife down on my thigh.

You have burned yourself, you lost 2Hp. You are now under half health, be careful.

You are bleeding, you have lost 1hp.

… Really, turning around so that I'm on my stomach, I'm now getting to the part that's going to hurt a bit more than the rest, but that's just one guy's opinion. I put the knife back into the fire to reheat, I quickly run my hands through the flames to burn of anything that might do more damage to the wound, one hand holding the waterskin and the other one… I dig into the back side of my thigh, fuck! I'm seeing black dots again, I really need to get my old pain level back, then this would not have been such a big problem. I pull in some much needed air, putting the waterskin down into the open wound and… pressing, spraying water down into it, cleaning it for pus and any other kind of bacteria that might be in it and with only one place for it to come out… the water starts to runs down my thigh, mixed with blood, I also see pieces of the leg, just as I feared, if I had not cleaned it out, it would properly have given me some lovely little infection to deal with.

You have cleaned up the wound, making sure that nothing inside can infect it, doing so you have gained +1 [Wisdom]

You are now under half health, be careful.

You are bleeding, you have lost 1hp.

Black dots form in front of my eyes, I need to act fast now. Pouring the last of the water over the wound, I grab the knife once more. Deep breath, deep breath, as I breathe out, I press the knife into the wound.

You have burned yourself, you lost 2Hp. You are now under half health, be careful.

You have stopped the bleeding!

That was a close one, I grab some fresh bandages from the first aid kid, a quick look and I can see that, I'm starting to run low on bandages, all I can do is hope for no more mistakes, on my part or fathers. I cast a look at the old man, he is still out for the count, I might as well rest up a bit too, regain some of my energy. After some looking around, I find some of our smoked meat and after some more looking, in fathers backpack, I finally dig out some of the leftover bread, time to get some much needed dinner.

After I have enjoyed my meal, and I have had a change of cloth, I decide that father has been laying still for too long, I'm sad to say this, but it worries me, that he has yet to wake up. Mother, once told me that when I was born, she checked my status by ‘connecting’ with me. I'm sad to say, it scared the living daylights out of me, I mean who want one's mother to ‘connect’ with one, - I get sister and brother or sister and sister or even brother and brother, but mother and son, no way that's way out of my league. But after some explaining, on her part, I found out that she simply, had placed her hand on my forehead, I was very relieved by that fact, I tell you. So, here goes nothing, I sit down in front of fathers unconscious body, placing my hand on his forehead, better go with the safe route.

“Show Status”

A few moments tick by and then a window pops up.

Name: Raval TrovrarAge: 30 [Adult]Race: HumanSex: MaleLevel: --- [Hidden]Health:59/60 [Unconscious]Stamina: --- [Hidden]Mana: --- [Hidden]

Target is knocked out, time to regaining consciousness, approximately 10 hours.

Ten hours… hell, all I did was hit him on the head with a log… come on, old man, you can do better than that right? Not that I'm going to be getting an answer anytime soon. Well, I might as well take a quick nap too, seeing as I will need some time to heal up.

Raval's POV

I need to get him to safety. I need our boy safe and sound. In my condition, I can only defend him so much, there are too many of them! I have to save him, or I will never forgive myself! Think, you darn old fool, think!

I need to find a way to get our son back home safely, there is too many spiders here, have they made a nest close by, perhaps? No matter, I will carve a part out with the first daylight, their sight weakens in the light, after all they are hunters of the night. Even if they have a lair close by, there is no way their queen will leave to hunt for prey herself, so we will be safe, from the real threat, these young males are still not used to hunting humans so we have that going for us at least. But I'm afraid, the amount of them here definitely suggest a lair close by, the aggressiveness of their flocking around our camp, tells me the sorry truth, which I don't really want to look at, a lair, this close to our home, we will need help getting rid of them, luckily their silk and eggs are in high value, so finding the help might not be that hard. If I can't find a way to get the both of us to safely, then I will lure them away, if I continue towards their lair, they will leave the boy alone, protecting the lair comes before hunting prey, that's the way their minds work, like bees or ants, they are soldiers before hunters, procters before soldiers. Yes, I can go ahead, Elisa will forgive me, I'm sure of it. The next thing I know, is darkness.