Though he desperately wao just kill the wendigo and stave off the desperate fear in his boJ instead focused on the pukwudgie riders. He wasn’t sure what exactly the level 7 ones behind the wendigo were doing, but he assumed they were the same as the cultists he’d killed before fighting the first wendigo. They held spears and didn’t seem afraid to enter into bat with the hunters, but they held themselves baot oo look a gift horse in the mouth, TJ didn’t feel the o pay any more attention to the possibly hesitant enemies.
“or!” Zig shouted. “Get in the front with the others. Stanton, stay with Angelo and make sure he stays safe!”
or didn’t hesitate, rushing ahead with his shield aloft and club ready in his hand. The wendigo, which had been shredding through the other Zealots’ defenses without much difficulty, was slowed enough by the addition of a fifth Zealot that it didn’t seem like there would be any immediate casualties or serious injuries. TJ couldn’t pay them any more mind as he closed in with the coyotes.
Different from their terparts from under level 5 earlier that day, the pukwudgies and coyotes mao cut through his protective scales and pierce his flesh. Though none of the wounds were serious enough even to ihe Bleed affli, each attack he sustained chipped away at TJ’s total HP. One of the coyotes seized his tail in its jaulled him away before he could strie of the pairs of rider and steed. A flurry of attacks sought to cripple or even kill him, and TJ was forced to abort any attempted reprisal. He was forced to dodge his head bad forth, sustaining hits on his neck, body, and around his mane. Another set of coyote jaws bit deep into his flesh and he hissed. The faint thought he’d retaio retain his MP to deal with the wendigo was thrust from his mind.
TJ infused his mouth with a fair amount of his MP, ready to yank a pukwudgie from its saddle. As he was about to release the Skill and try to turides, Charlie leapt out from behind TJ’s target and buried a felling ax six inches deep in the pukwudgie’s head. Its cavernous, ulingly wide smile was nearly split by the bde, and the creature died immediately. TJ felt a hint of experiening towards him, but khat the experience he was receiving from the few kills that’d occurred was limited. There would almost certainly be no level up ing his way in this fight.
Charlie didn’t hesitate after killing the pukwudgie in a single blow, yanking the ax bad out of the twitg corpse. The unprepared coyote, the single ohat hadn’t yet sunk its teeth into TJ, lost one of its froo another massive swing from Charlie. It stumbled, and with the appearance of a hreat, the coyote holding TJ’s tail let go as it and its rider rushed towards Charlie. Three creatures, the heavily injured coyote and the unscathed rider pair, rushed him as he tried to recover from his overitted swing from before. He was too te.
The riding pukwudgie lunged forward with its spear, catg Charlie’s shoulder deep in the flesh. He shouted in pain as two coyotes’ jaws dug deep into his flesh, and they whipped their heads bad forth, ragdolling the man as he tried to fight them off. When the riding pukwudgie raised its spear back, it was obvious the strike would almost certainly be mortal. TJ released his densed Wind Manipution and ihe targeted cye whipping the creature from its mount. Though he sustained arike from the monster mounted on the coyote gnawing on him, TJ focused on his victim that flew directly into his mouth.
It thrashed and fought and struggled to escape, but TJ ground his fangs into the creature before whipping around and smashing it like a club into the sole remaining rider. The two smashed together, their birdlike screams a harsh cacophony. With so much extra weight in his mouth, TJ smashed the goblin into the coyote biting him owo, three times. The body became a corpse with a kill notification, and TJ threw it towards the coyotes that Charlie was struggling to get the upper hand on.
Needing to focus on the insane morying to gnaw through his spiJ jured another, short bde of wind oip of his tongue a fly into the creature’s spi the base of its skull. It went limp, and TJ whirled to help Charlie. He was too te, because Charlie roared before his fingers merged into the hoof of a horse. He whirled and attacked the mostly healthy ohe thick foot smashed through the coyote’s skull and it died just a mere moment before its crippled panion did too in the same way.
The bloodied man threw his head bad screamed in victory, TJ noting that his wounds healed as his hands reverted to their human shape. Seeing the other man was no longer in danger of death, he turo the remaining rider, who fled into the forest. TJ had learned his lesson not to leave his panions behind to pursue another kill, though he wao kill the bastard. As it fizzled into a cloudy, nearly invisible form, though, Stanton’s gun coughed ond the creature dropped, dead. That would leave just the wendigo and the cultists.
Three cultist bodies y basically where TJ had st seeanding, a bolt from Seth’s crossbow in one, a javelin from Farid in ahough he gnced around, the other two had faded bato invisibility somewhere TJ couldn’t see. Thankfully, the wendigo looked mostly dead, wounds filling its body while no fog or frost seeped from its aw. The cool blue fme of its eyes flickered weakly, and the Zealots tio press the advantage as its o longer froze everything it touched. Their superior position wasn’t gained without risk, as only two Zealots remained in melee with the monstrosity. Three y on the ground in the bae, their wounds recovered enough to survive, but they groaned in pain. Angelo, his face obviously pale even to TJ from a distan the darkening wood, crouched he three downed hunters and the four Acolytes. Farid ah both struggled to tio press the attack, their hands shaking with apparent cold and stark blue spots on their obviously stiff fingers. Zig and Stanton fared better, though they both waited to take any shots, ensuring they didn’t actally strike any of their panions. Even so, without them hitting the monster again, the wendigo was about to die.
When or’s club exploded into kindling on the wendigo, nearly knog it ft, it was obvious that the end was nigh. The two remainis burst into movement, stomping and striking out with whatever came into their reach. As their ons desded to deliver the killing bloukwudgie appeared, interg itself between their attacks and the creature. It was quickly sin, but its interruption was enough to allow the st remaining cultist to pull their master from the press of bodies.
Stanton’s gun fired, owice, but was uo kill the creatures. Zig moved to ensure she had a good shot, but it was too te. The pukwudgie lowered its head and, after dislog its jaw and revealing a cavernous bck hole where its mouth was, the wendigo decapitated the creature with oe. It swallowed, and its nearly skeletal body grew more fleshy, more whole. Once again, fog misted off the creature’s body, and now it stood alone against the hunting party. Before their eyes, its wounds closed and the faintly glowing fmes in its eyes bzed to life, casting shadows below its feet that guttered and fluttered unnaturally.
“You. Are. FOOD!” It grated before lunging bato the fight. It moved even faster than ever before, dodging a shot from both Stanton and Zig. As TJ moved towards the battle, he heir situation. Two Zealots, two Acolytes, and two Neophytes mostly whole and ready for battle. Three Zealots out of ission, two Acolytes suffering from what robably a more advanced frostbite affli, and a mostly exhausted Disciple.
“Shit.” TJ grumbled to himself as he went to eh the wendigo.
“Go for its legs. I’ll see what I do.” Charlie said as he spriowards the monster some 100 feet away.
Before they got there, though, it smashed or’s shield out of the way with one hand before plunging its other into his chest. The Zealot dropped, and the wendigo wasn’t nearly fihe other Zealot, wearing link armor that may as well have been cardboard, was eviscerated in a flurry of three swiping attacks. When the monstrous Elite lowered its head to begin to feast on their rades, Stanton and Zig both finally got a shot on the creature.
Its skull splintered as a bullet carved a thick line in the bohough small fragments of its head flew into the air, the skull mao retain its iy. The old cowboy squeezed three more shots off in quick succession, and though the creature dodged ohe other two peed deep into its torso and slowed it down. Again, it leaned down to begiing the felled Zealots, but Zig’s arrow lodged deep in its eye socket. Though it didn’t plead, it was obvious that had been enough to tear its attention away from the suffering people on the ground.
The wendigo dodged back three steps, taking a gng blow from Stanton’s gun, before, instead of esg or pressing the attack, it lifted or up aween it and the Acolytes. Zig only barely mao turn her shot before pincushioning the Zealot, and Stanton cursed as he ran to get around the creature’s improvised meat shield.
Finally, TJ reached the creature, notig or’s agonized breathing as ice spread along his body where the wendigo’s cws pierced him. While Wind Manipution could certainly kill the beast, TJ k could easily use his ally as a shield, and while the situation was dire, it was far from as serious as it would o be for him to sider endangering someone else’s life for ease of attag.
He ed his body around the creature’s legs. Chills immediately settled through his flesh and into his ans, and TJ shuddered as his body became much stiffer. With a roar, the wendigo responded, its free hand’s cws stabbiirely through his body and scratg the surface of the scales underh. He screamed in pain before biting and attag, his jaws g onto its upper thigh. Its cws fshed a for his eyes. TJ tried to dodge out of the way, but he would be too te.
Charlie, again, came to his rescue. The bde of the ax crashed into the base of the wendigo’s neck, cutting deep and knog the attack off course. For the first time, the wendigo seemed to panic. It tried to turn and address the test attacker, but with TJ severely limiting the mobility of its legs, the wendigled to move quiough to protect itself. Charlie tio move, to keep himself out of immediate dahough TJ felt his body pletely stiffen. Even his Wind Manipution didn’t listen to him as well as it had before, and he checked his test Affli.
Warning: You are suffering from a Severe Frostbite affli. You will suffer a 75% redu in Agility, a 75% redu in mobility, and a 50% redu in use of MP and Stamina until the Frostbite dition is cured or 10:00 have passed. Each additional application of Frostbite will refresh the tdown. Time remaining: 10:00.
That, bined with the Moderate Bleed afflieant that TJ couldn’t do anything. He could try to escape, but that would be impossible in his current state. Then, the most unlikely of heroes arrived.
or, disregarding the ice spreading along his chest and the cws that were their in, roared and smashed his shield into the wendigo’s face. The hard edge of the slightly iridest tool smashed into the furrow Stanton’s bullet had carved into it. There was, initially, ion, but with the activation of a Skill of some sort, the edge of the shield transformed to a thick bde, and he smashed it down again. With this sed blow, the wendigo’s skull shattered, half falling to the ground while the remaining side screamed in agony and fury. The heavily wounded Zealot fell to the ground, but with him out of the way, Charlie retreated and Stanton’s pistol coughed three more times in quick succession.
At that, the wendigo swayed, growled something unintelligible, and fell. Though still nearly uo move, TJ fought to keep himself from cheering as he read the monster’s death notification.
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