Chapter 36: Stripeks

Chapter 36: Stripeks

As we ventured deeper into the Stripek territory, the signs of their presence grew stronger and stronger. More random cuts in logs and trees, and more deep holes in the ground from their quick sprints. We kept our eyes sharp, peeking in all directions to ensure we wouldn’t get ambushed.

A flash of movement to my left. I whipped around and immediately shot a Ray of Frost at the target dashing toward me.

You have struck Level 4 Stripek for 38 damage using Ray of Frost.

You have cursed Level 4 Stripek with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.

22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 358.

The Stripek stumbled as it ran and I leapt back, barely dodging the charging monster. As it tried to turn around, I shot it with another Ray of Frost, dealing an additional 44 damage. Then, Erani shot a Firebolt of her own, which collided with the monster and exploded, blasting it into a tree.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 4 Stripek.

You have earned 13 XP. Your XP is 120.

The entire fight took place over the course of a couple seconds. Stripeks had very little Health, luckily, but they were fast, and packed a punch with their attacks. It helped that this one was lower-Leveled – Stripeks appeared between the Levels of 1 and 10 – but even the higher-Leveled ones probably wouldn’t survive much longer than this one did.

Then again, the higher-Leveled ones would probably also be faster and deadlier. Plus, the fact that we were attacked by a lone Stripek was more an exception than the rule. Normally, Stripeks stuck to their packs, rather than going off alone.

The Stripek itself was a monster defined by its toned, sinew-y frame. Their semi-transparent skin made the inner parts of their bodies completely visible. I could see the still-twitching muscles of the monster that lay before me. It was a bit bigger than a Wood Wraith, and from its two front legs protruded long, sword-like claws. They were flat blades that shined like metal.

We continued venturing further in, eager to get away from the Stripek’s corpse. Eventually, we would find the main pack that owned this territory, and then it would be a real fight. The monsters were pack animals, after all, so if the others saw that we’d killed one of their own, we’d get attacked immediately. Well, not that they’d leave us alone either way – we were intruding on their home.

Eventually, we arrived at a cave that seemed to be near the center of the territory. It was an unnatural hole in the ground – probably something formed from a powerful Classer during a fight long ago – that seemed to lead into a small cavern. There were shuffling and scratching sounds coming from within. However, I couldn’t see inside, the hole going deep enough that it was too dark to actually identify what was causing the sounds.

“What do you think?” Erani asked me.

“...I think there are Stripeks in there?”

“No,” she rolled her eyes. “What should we do? We obviously wouldn’t be able to see if we went in, so we won’t be able to just waltz up and kill them.”

“Think we could lure them out? Or maybe we could just shoot projectiles wildly inside.”

“I don’t think we could kill them just by shooting from out here. If the cave curves at all they’d just hide around a corner while we ran out of Mana. If we could lure them out, though...”

Eventually, we had a plan formed. We’d gone back for the corpse of the Stripek we had killed earlier, dragging it over to the cave entrance. Erani took her place behind me as I placed my foot on the dead monster.

“You ready?” I asked her. She nodded.

I took a breath, then kicked the corpse of the Stripek straight into the cave. I listened to it tumble through the rocky passage, leaving my sight and sliding down into the darkness. The scraping sounds from inside the cave stopped as the Stripeks listened to the object falling into their home. Eventually, with a fleshy thud, the corpse came to a stop at the bottom of the cave.

There was a pause.

And then, a chorus of screeching roared out as the angered Stripeks charged out of the cave, eager to avenge their fallen brethren. The moment they came into view, I began firing, and so did Erani. Rays of Frost beamed through the air as my Mana shot downward. I tried my best to ensure every last Stripek that exited the cave was covered in frostbite, lowering their Stamina to a manageable level. System damage notifications flew through my mind, but I ignored them, focusing on my task of casting.

Every time a Stripek got too close to us, Erani shot it back with an Explosive Firebolt. I could feel the waves of heat from where I stood. Soon enough, the weaker of the monsters began dying off in waves.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 2 Stripek.

You have earned 7 XP. Your XP is 127.

You have offered minor contribution toward the slaying of Level 5 Stripek.

You have earned 8 XP. Your XP is 135.Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.

You have offered minor contribution toward the slaying of Level 3 Stripek.

You have earned 5 XP. Your XP is 140.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 5 Stripek.

You have earned 18 XP. Your XP is 158.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 4 Stripek.

You have earned 14 XP. Your XP is 172.

I got at least a dozen notifications like those, informing me of our killing of the lower-Leveled Stripeks that were pouring out of the cave. By the end of them, my XP was up to 257/350. While these monsters were certainly powerful and fast, they didn’t seem to be smart enough to coordinate their attacks more than just all charging at once. However, my Mana was running low, having fallen to 72 after so many casts of Ray of Frost.

“Erani,” I called back, “I’m running empty. We might need to–”

I was cut off as a Stripek rushed past our defenses and tackled me into the ground. I managed to deflect its claws at the last second, pushing them off to the side, but allowing myself to get pinned in the process.

I immediately activated Noxious Grasp, draining away the life of the attacking monster. It didn’t relent, however, taking another stab at me with its fist of long claws. In my compromised state, I couldn’t fully dodge.

You have been stabbed by claws. 44 damage.

Your Health is 72.

The claws sunk deep into my unprotected stomach, and an explosion of pain spread out into my gut. My ribs croaked angrily at the additional injury. I held out my hand at point-blank range and shot the monster with a Ray of Frost, the beam going straight into its skull.

You have struck Level 8 Stripek for 48 damage using Ray of Frost.

You have cursed Level 8 Stripek with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.

22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 44.

The monster fell backwards at the sudden impact, and I took the opportunity to get on top of it, wincing from the pain in my stomach, and pinning its two front limbs against its chest, keeping Noxious Grasp active. It fought against my grip, but with my entire body weight on the Stripek, it couldn’t get out of the pin. I watched through its translucent skin as the monster’s flesh deteriorated in real time from the effects of my Spell.

After a few seconds, I got a notification.

You have struck Level 8 Stripek for 97.7 damage and drained 48.9 Stamina over the course of 6.3 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

23.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 20.

Seeing that made me even more eager to reach Level 10. Not only would I be getting an additional Talent, but Time Loop – by far the most unique and powerful thing about my Class – would be made even more useful. It‘d already saved my life multiple times, and I’d also found multiple ways to gain a huge amount of additional XP using it. After these two additions to its abilities, what would it be able to do?

After I did that, I assigned my Stat Points.

You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.

Your Conjuration value is now 40.

Name:

Arlan Nota

Age:

20

Strength:

11

Class:

Minute Mage

Level:

7

Endurance:

19

Class Type:

Magic

XP:

19/400

Dexterity:

11

Health:

72/190

Health/Minute:

0.0702

Conjuration:

40

Stamina:

34/90

Stamina/Minute:

0.588

Intelligence:

8

Mana:

79/440

Mana/Minute:

8.4

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

Ray of Frost 4 - XP 3/30

Recursive Growth

Trailblazer

Crippling Chill 4 - XP 0/30

Time Loop 7

Noxious Grasp 9 - XP 142/355

And with that, I finished my meditation. “Alright,” I said to Erani, “let’s rest up, and then kill some Drakelings.”