Chapter 031

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‘ ‘ for thoughts.

“ “ for speech.

* * for actions.

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Jack was practicing his new teleport spell for a few hours and he could consistently execute it in a little under a second. Soon, his companion stopped and motioned him to do the same. He noticed that the purple black energy layer coating his companion became more intense. He had observed this while hunting gnolls with Bob. This usually indicated that hostiles ahead.

Jack: “What is the matter now?”

Bob: *with a dangerous glint in his eyes* “There are around fifteen travelers with hateful intentions just at the edge of my perception.”

Jack: ‘I have my personal hate radar! Ha ha ha ambushers!’

Jack: “Where? I can’t see anyone.”

Bob: “They are ‘hiding’ near the trees ahead. I hope we fight them! I am itching for a good fight.”

Jack: ‘Probably PKer’s that means good exp and fame! But since I have some warning might as well prepare for it. Fifteen is a bit large, but I have Bob and Charlie.’

Jack: “Well yes, but let us be smart about it. You go off the path and try to flank them, preferably close to casters. Meanwhile, I will get ‘ambushed’. Start attacking after I teleport once. And listen; if you are in the danger of losing your life immediately retreat! I and Charlie won’t die permanently but that is not the case for you.”

Bob: “When I go to slaughter, I am fully prepared to get slaughtered. No retreating for me.”

Jack: ‘Stop being so hard to manage you damn flunky!’

Jack: *irritated* “Well in that case, you must live to fight another day! You heard Irfit, your awakening foreshadows a calamity and I bet the Blight is involved. Will you give up on Gaia so soon, seeking an early release?”

Bob: *expression hardens* “Fine, I will live to fight another day. The blight is the highest priority.”

Jack: “Glad you understand. If I die, wait for me near the friendly Kobolds. Now get into position.”

Jack observed his companion disappear in the surrounding greenery. He then leisurely walked ahead along the path appearing oblivious of his encounter. As he proceeded, his spirit senses picked up the details of people hiding nearby. He could make out at least a dozen of them. He then shaped a ball of soulfire thinking of Charlie. He paused and taunted out.

Jack: “Come out you bitches. I know you are in there.”

At his taunt, four of the figures revealed themselves. While their equipment was somewhat different, Jack recognized them! It was the Pker group that had ambushed him before he had met with the kobolds for the first time! He also noticed with his spirit senses, that two players were utilizing some sort of stealth and trying to flank him.

Jack: “There are more of you hiding like cowards. Are all of you retarded fucks afraid of just me?”

At his persistent taunts everyone revealed themselves, other than the two rogues. There were a total of 6 casters near the rear. He guessed that three of them where mages while three of them where priests, judging by their equipment.

Aside from the axe and club wielding ‘bros’ he had already met, there were three more warriors. One of them wielded a two handed sword, the other two were equipped with 1 handed swords and shields. There were also a couple of archers. One of them had a hawk on her shoulders and the other had what looked like a bear cub near him. Jack recognized the hawk as the one that was trailing him, which he had eaten.

Axe warrior: “This time we got you asshole.”

Mace warrior: “Yeah! You said it bro.”

Jack: “I doubt you two idiots are behind this ambush. Ambush Leader, any chance we can walk away from each other.”

Hawk Archer girl: “Never! You ate my Chester you bastard! I will make you pay for it!”

Jack noticed that the two rogues were almost in position. He wanted to distance them from the main group before commencing the attack.

Jack: “Haha. ‘Chester’ tasted nice. I look forward to eating him again!”

Jack: *charges at the PKers, throwing the prepared soulfire ball at them* ‘Child Charlie, I choose you! Open with a soulfire breath attack and keep the warriors occupied.’

The rogues ambushing him cursed and dashed after him. As soon as Jack was in melee range of the warriors, he paused briefly and coated himself with soulfire. Just before the rogues were about to stab him, he executed Soulfire shift to teleport near the casters in the rear! He backed up a bit and prepared soulfire breath.

His companion teleported near one priest and executed on of his skills. There were ripples of distorting energy radiating from his companion, which seemed to weaken and slow the caster PKers. Bob’s 2 handed axe turned translucent with the purple black energy and sheared through three closely spaced casters!

His weapon left a trail of soulfire, wherever it passed. Two priests and a mage lost almost 30% of their health. Jack then executed his prepared soulfire breath, catching all but one of the casters in it. His soulfire breath damaged their HP by almost 50%!

Meanwhile Charlie had executed a soulfire breath, shaving off around 25% HP of three warriors. His body was glowing with translucent orange flames, indicating that he had activated blazing swiftness. With slashes of his fiery claws and his tail whips, he was keeping the five warriors occupied. But he had already lost around 20% HP engaging them head on.

Jack then prepared another soulfire breath, while his companion was butchering the casters in melee, preventing them from completing their incantations. After executing the second soulfire breath, half of the casters had perished.

Only two mage and priest was left. One of the mages was near death, and the other had around half her HP left. The priest had around 30% HP left. Jack quickly activated mana claws and entropic leech engaging the priest in melee.

The priest had low physical stats, and was further slowed by Entropic leech. It was easy for Jack to stab both of his eyes, dealing enough damage to finish of the squishy caster. He did take a weak blow from the priest’s staff, losing 5% of his HP.

His companion in the meanwhile had barely lost any HP and had finished off the near death mage. Bob then raised his 2 handed axe and delivered a powerful overhead blow to the last remaining caster. The mage had barely any HP left and Jack finished her off with a quick soulfire bolt.

In around 15 seconds, all the casters were dealt with! However, Charlie was having a hard time occupying the attention of 5 warriors, and his HP had reduced to almost 40%! Jack noticed that the bear cub was also engaging Charlie in melee, while the hawk was just circling overhead.

Jack: ‘So bear pet is melee and the hawk pet is just for scouting? Well need to heal Charlie ASAP.’

The hawk girl archer noticed that the casters had died and shrieked at the melee warriors.

Hawk Archer Girl: “Leave the lizard you idiots, all priests are dead. Attack him.”

The warriors turned and focused on him and his companion. He prepared a fire breath and charged. As soon as Charlie was in range, he unleashed the prepared fire breath. Charlie recovered around 25% of his HP, while the sword and shield wielding warriors lost around 30% HP, leaving them with around 60%.

While he was concerned with healing Charlie, a rogue had managed to flank him! Before Jack could react, she executed one of her skills “Dazing Strike”. This damaged him for around 10% HP and dazed him making him sluggish and unresponsive for a few seconds, despite his indomitable spirit stat. The archers, as if on cue executed their skill “Triple Shot”, almost simultaneously.

Before he could recover from the status effect, he was hit with all six of the arrows! Each arrow did around 6% HP damage. The combined attack, along with the previous accumulated damage from the rogue and priest left him with a little under 50% HP.

After recovering he turned to the rogue flanking him. His entropic Leech was still active, and the rogue, despite having high agility, couldn’t dodge Jack’s next move! He lunged ahead, kicking her abdomen with both his knees.

He had his full weight behind the strike. While it did a measly 5% damage, it caused her to fall on her back. He then caught each of her dagger wielding hands and twisted her hands to stab her breasts with her own daggers! This caused her to lose almost 40% HP as she shrieked. Having disabled her weapons, he stabbed both her eyes with mana claw enhanced fingers up to his knuckles, finishing her off.

His companion had intercepted the other warriors. His hate fueled skills and Charlie’s use of soulfire breath had finished off the 2 handed warrior, while the others had around 60% HP. His companion’s HP had reduced to around 70%, while Charlie had around 40% left. He turned to deal with the remaining rogue.

Not being caught unaware and having Entropic leech on, he traded blows with the rogue without much difficulty, each of his mana claws damaged the rouge for around 15% HP. When his opponent’s HP was reduced to around 60%, the rogue attempted to use a skill.

Since his opponent was utilizing system assist, there were enough cues for him to interrupt the skill. He kicked him and backed away, rapidly firing soulfire bolts at the rogue. It barely took 3 bolts before the rogue was finished.

The two archers were shooting at him, but most of them were glancing blows, as he wasn’t affected by any status ailments. This was because, as the projectiles entered the AoE of Entropic Leech, they slowed down! This reduced the damage of the shots, while simultaneously giving more time to dodge!

However, the sheer number of shots he received while dealing with the rogues reduced his HP to around 40%! Turning his attention to his companion and pet, he noticed that Bob had around 50% HP left while Charlie was near death with barely 10% HP.

He prepared a fire breath to heal Charlie while simultaneously damaging the warriors. He didn’t have enough time to position himself correctly, as his pet was fast losing HP and he decided to incur some friendly fire.

Trusting the magic defense of his companion , he unleashed the fire breath catching Charlie, Bob and three of the warriors in its AoE. His companion lost around 25% HP while Charlie was healed to a third of his HP. The three warriors caught in the AoE lost almost 40% HP, killing off one of the sword and shield warrior!

All the warriors were suffering from burns, due to the breath attacks of him and his pet. His companion’s HP was dangerously low at 15%! Jack cursed his decision to incur friendly fire. He immediately shouted at Bob, while firing soulfire bolts at the warriors.

He was about to shout at Bob to heal himself when his companion grunted and suddenly his body was covered in orange translucent flames while the nearby burning warriors became brighter. His companion’s HP instantly recovered to 100%! Immediately after he was healed, he started taking DoT of around 2% per second!

The warriors on the other hand, became more erratic, unable to focus on the battle and started taking DoT of almost 4% damage per second! This was very high as per DoTs go. He deduced that Irfit’s healing spell instantly healed Bob, while sharing the damage healed among Bob and all nearby burning foes! Of course Bob had higher levels and better stats than the PK warriors, so he took less % of HP as DoT. Furthermore, his fire affinity actually reduced the damage he received from this ‘healing spell’ by a small percent.

The crisis being averted, Jack focused on taking down the male archer. Instead of approaching in melee range, and taking more glancing arrow blows along the way, he chose to cast soulfire bolts rapidly. It only took four bolts to kill the male archer. As soon as the archer died, his bear cub companion also died!

He fired two soulfire bolts at the female hawk archer reducing her health to around 40% and causing a burning DoT. He had an evil grin on his face, as he quickly downed a few healing potions, recovering to around 60% HP.

In the meantime Bob and Charlie focused their attacks on the remaining sword and shield warrior, reducing his HP to around 35%. A couple of soulfire bolts finished him off. Now, only the mace and axe warrior bros remained along with the hawk archer girl. The warriors had around 40% HP left and it took only two soulfire bolts each to finish them.

Jack then fired a soulfire bolt at the hawk archer girl reducing her HP below 10%. He then instructed Bob and Charlie not to harm her further. He gestured his companion to stand behind her, cutting off her retreat. He then addressed her.

Jack: “So you are the ringleader of this gang of PKers.”

Hawk Archer Girl: “This isn’t over yet, monster!”

Jack: “Oh but it is! We will slaughter you again and again if you attack me.”

Hawk Archer Girl: “I will make you pay for eating Chester, no matter how long it takes!”

Jack: ‘This psychotic bitch will be annoying in the future… but her avatar sure is hot.’

Jack: “Well you guys attacked me first. I really don’t care if you guys PK every other player out there. But stop targeting me, because it gets annoying fast.”

Hawk Archer Girl: “And why would I do that?”

Jack: “Simple. Log off now, and admit defeat. I will leave Chester’s corpse alone and in the future your gang don’t mess with me.”

Hawk Archer Girl: “Log of now? That will give me the regular penalty of dying! Why would I do that?”

Jack: “Otherwise, I will kill you myself and make sure to eat Chester now, even if I have to vomit. And be assured that I will do that at every future opportunity.”

Hawk Archer Girl: “Let me and Chester go now, and we have a deal.”

Jack: “Not possible. You attacked me unprovoked both times. I can’t just let you go free, without any penalties. And I am guessing, if I let you go, you won’t honor your word. You need to admit defeat now by logging off.”

Hawk Archer Girl: “Never.”

Jack *sighs* “I figured you would react like that. Bob, knock her down and restrain her.”

Bob: “I don’t care what you do, but I won’t help you rape someone.”

Jack: *frustrated* “I will just use my abomination on her. So just do what I say!”

His companion reluctantly knocked her down with his superior strength and held down all four of her limbs. Jack then removed a set of novice clothes from his inventory and used it to blindfold the Hawk Archer Girl. He then placed his hand near her heart and willed his abomination to devour her soul.

Unlike his previous attempt at devouring the to-be lich soul, his abomination manifested partially. Cylindrical monochromatic tendrils emerged from his palm and drilled into her body. Soon he felt a mild rush associated with spirit eating.

The magnitude of rush was far lesser than his other acts of spirit eating. It was comparable to the rush he felt when he devoured the Planar Pharos. However, he faced almost no resistance from the Hawk Archer Girl. The PKer’s corpse disintegrated leaving behind some leather body armor was left, in addition to the usual drop from players.

Jack then collected the loot from the PKer’s. He collected around 30 pieces of gold, half a dozen potions and one two-handed warhammer, in addition to the leather armor from the Hawk Archer Girl. He then browsed his notifications. He had gained around 22% experience from killing the PKers. He had also gained a measly 5 points in dexterity for devouring the PKer leader’s soul. He had gained some fame and infamy for the battle.

Jack: ‘The loot was good. Thirty gold, six potions and a couple of pieces of equipment for one battle? No wonder PKing is popular. According to my estimates these PKers should be around lv60. Considering that I had to share xp with Bob, 22% for killing 15 players around 6 levels lower than me is quite good!’

Jack: ‘The gain in fame is good, but why the fuck did I gain infamy? Is it because some of the PKers I killed had lower infamy than me? Must be those town campers the idiot warrior bros had told me about in our last encounter.’

Jack: ‘This is the first time I gained a physical stat by spirit eating! Although it is only five points, there is some significance in that. Maybe because it was a player, I gained the points she had spent on her level up? Dexterity is the primary stat of an archer, so it looks like that.’

Jack: “So Bob, how would you like to eat some bird and bear meat?”

Bob: *avoiding eye contact with Jack* “I am not really hungry but I will try it.”

Jack: “OK so what is your issue with me Bob? Be clear and direct.”

Bob: *sigh* “What you did was very close to rape. Maybe not her body, but you surely violated her soul.”

Jack: ‘I never get a break. It was that bitch who attacked me first and my flunky gets judgmental for using a skill on her?’

Jack: “I get what you mean to say. But you must realize that while in Terra, travellers are different. We cannot be permanently killed, nor can we be raped or violated. Even though I fed on her soul, she didn’t disappear for good. She will be back. And my gains from eating her soul comparing to my other acts of spirit eating, is like a drop of water to a jug of water.”

Bob: “Still, it made me uncomfortable to aid you to violate her so…”

Jack: “I will use my abomination on both travelers and residents of Terra in the future. Some of them will deserve it, some of them won’t. But it is the price you have to be willing to bear, if you wish to fight the Blight with me.”

There was an uncomfortable silence and look of defiance in Bob’s eyes. The purple-black energy coating him was fluctuating wildly. Jack was readying himself for a rebellion and confrontation, when surprisingly his aura stabilized and he let out a forlorn sigh.

Bob: “You exploit my weakness ruthlessly Spirit Eater. Though I do not agree with the use of your abomination on untainted souls, I will endure and aid it as long as we fight The Blight.”

Jack: “I was clear from the beginning Bailefour. I also recall that you said something along the lines of ‘I care not for unsavory deeds you commit Spirit Eater, as long as you fight the blight’. Has that changed?”

Bob: “Forgive me for losing sight of my goal, Jack. It is just that whenever you use the abomination, it unhinges me irrationally.”

Jack: “Might I ask why, Bob?”

Bob: “I do not wish to answer you at the moment. Rest assured, I will uphold my initial pledge to you.”

Jack: “Good. Let us eat some bear meat then! You can have the full bird if you want.”

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A/N: Did you enjoy this chapter? I hope you did! If not, do comment why it was shit in your opinion. If you did enjoy it, please do comment with a thanks!

There won’t be another one this month, cause I am going on vacation next week. I will be in the middle of nowhere without any internet access, outside my mobile. And no way am I typing 3k+ words on my mobile. Rest assured I will continue this fiction after I return from vacation!

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