Chapter 16: Grimlock's Greeting

Much like Wayla's description, the creature resembled a Stag with long, majestic horns however an ominous blue surge of electric energy was coursing through them.

"Katrin, get ready to fight." Agni ordered as she raised her right hand before her and shouted "Weapon Call!" Her currently equipped weapon, the Halberd appeared in her right hand. She twirled it a few times as the creature sped up running towards them. In the moment, seeing the creature's horns begin to glow with pale blue light Agni could only think she may have messed up.

Her intuition was correct. A few meters from their location the Grimlock Stag slowed down and dipped it's neck before raising it upwards once again. A surge of lightning issued forth from each point of its horns creating a spidering flash of electric bolts which snapped and jolted forth. The result was that everything within a six meter radius was subject to the power of lightning damage. Agni lifted her weapon with hopes of using it as a lightning ward, simultaneously activating her own lightning magic to dampen the power of the blow.

[-8]

[-7]

[-11]

[-9]

Although Agni managed to nullify some of the damage her arm immediately went numb from the shock, in addition her body was also struck in several places, her chest, both thighs and her foot.

The feeling in all contact points was gone, completely numb -- what's more the scent of singed hair and possibly burned flesh filled the air. Agni grimaced with disdain as she watched her HP meter plummet. Nearly half of her current HP gone in a single attack!

[HP : 38/74]

[Mana : 20 / 30 ]

Not only had Agni lost half of her health in a single strike but she used up a third of her mana as well fending off the attack with little success.

"Katrin, are you okay?" Agni shouted as she eyed the creature.

[Combat Analysis subsystem Unlocked]

[Fulger Stag Level 7

A grimlock that can channel lightning in its horns.]

The Systema mark flashed with energy for a moment as a description of the creature appeared over its head.

"Level 7? That's a lot stronger than me isn't it?" Agni thought to herself as she prepared for her own counter attack. The creature stood before her, readying to rush, its hooves pawing the grass aggressively.

"Katrin? Katrin!?" Agni shouted, she never looked away from the creature -- her intuition told her that to do so might be a fatal mistake but Katrin had not responded. Agni quickly glanced at Katrin's party HUD and much to her dismay she realized Katrin was only conscious by a hair's breadth. She had one or two HP at the most.

Agni chanced a glance in her direction, approximately thirty five centimetres to her left, only to find Katrin on the ground clutching her hand. The skin of her right hand was badly burned and in the other hand she held a scroll of some sort.

"Shit." Agni grunted as she took a step forward, testing the waters.

"Should I rush it?" She thought to herself as she closely studied the creature. It most likely could run faster than her, so she had little choice but to wait for it to take action -- or so she thought. That was when Agni noticed the energy building in the creature's horns once more. It was preparing for another attack.

"There's no way I'll be able to defend against that a second time!" Agni could feel a lump in the pit of her stomach as a sense of dread slowly overcame her.

"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" Agni shouted as she dashed forward. She didn't expect for her attack to do anything, she didn't even expect it to land -- she simply didn't want to be defeated without doing *something*. *Anything*. Luckily, the creature did not possess its normal mobility or speed while preparing to use its vicious area of effect attack. This worked in Agni's favor as she leapt forth, bridging half the distance in a single step and then she planted her feet and swung the Halberd downward with all of her might. The first blow sent the creature's head hard into the ground, disorienting it.

Completely surprised by the success of her attack, Agni began to swing her weapon wildly. She chose the halberd because she liked the feel of it, it was heavy and powerful. This weight came in handy as she began to repeatedly smash the axe blade into the creature's skull. Though most of the damage was absorbed by the antlers, the fierce blows broke away the hard mineral deposits and eventually found its way into the creature's skull. It fell to its knees quickly, allowing Agni to pierce it through the chest several times to finish it off.

She stood there heaving wildly as she watched the light leave the creature's eyes. She pierced it through the skull once more for good measure, using all of her strength towards a downward strike before she remembered that Katrin was severely wounded.

Agni dropped her halberd, causing it to recall into her storage until later use, as she ran over to Katrin who was still on the ground.

"You really showed it, who's boss." She said through the pain. Katrin's wounds were extensive. Unlike Agni who only suffered mild damage, Katrin's body had severe electrical burns in several places -- including her face.

Based on the blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth, Agni surmised that she probably was suffering from internal damage as well.

"Shit. This is bad." Agni said as she knelt before Katrin.

"Potion." Katrin grunted.

As if a light bulb went off in her mind, Agni remembered the starter potions. She quickly opened her inventory and clicked on the potion :

[Yue Leaf Restoration Pot x 3

Restore a small amount of health. (250 HP). ]

She clicked the item urgently and was next confronted with a new alert.

[Use on Self or Party Member Katrin?]

"Katrin dammit!" Agni nearly shouted as her growing concerns got the better of her.

The quantity decreased by one and a translucent, green aura surrounded Katrin's body in the next instant. Agni watched with bated breath as her HP bar rose, filling completely and the electric burns on her hands, chest and face slowly faded away.

"This is amazing. And this was only a weak potion?" Agni thought to herself as she helped Katrin to her feet.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yea. Thanks. I thought I was a goner." Katrin said with a smile. Though her body was healed her clothing was burned in various places.

"Oh! Agni! You're in bad shape too!" Katrin said, placing her hands on Agni's cheeks as she began to access the damage.

"It's fine." Agni said, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed now that Katrin was so close. Agni was rarely used to people showing concern for her. The feeling was nice, so nice in fact that it made her forget about the occasional twinges of pain she was now experiencing.

"Stupid Grimlock." Agni thought to herself as Katrin continued to make a fuss over Agni's injuries.