Chapter 51: Venomous

Chapter 51: Venomous

The Banestinger charged at us, and Erani and I leapt to the side, dodging its massive stinger. If the sword-length injector didn’t kill me, the venom surely would.

“We need to run,” Erani grabbed my arm as the massive monster turned around, recovering from its missed charge.

“No, we can take it,” I argued. “And the amount of XP it’ll give us will definitely be enough to Level me up.”

“We can kill something else! You already used Time Loop today, we can’t take this risk.”

“This is faster. We’re on a time limit here.”

The Banestinger turned around and charged again, ready to strike.

“Don’t have time to argue,” I said. “Follow my lead!”

Erani grunted and backed up, readying an Explosive Firebolt while the Nymph grabbed its whip, standing next to me. I didn’t know how much I could rely on its help; the individual power of a Nymph varied a lot from one to the other. I knew that, when I first saw a Banestinger, I’d also seen a Nymph kill one single-handedly, but that one had obviously been incredibly high-Level, and I wasn’t sure how ours compared. Just as the Banestinger got to me, I cursed it with Crippling Chill, activated Gravity Well, and shot it with a Ray of Frost all at the same time.

You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.

56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 504.

You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 51 damage using Ray of Frost.

You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.

22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 481.

Under the combined effects of all three Spells, the beast’s two front legs gave out in the middle of its sprint toward me and it collapsed, sliding across the ground from its momentum. I jumped up and landed on its back, standing unsteadily on the giant monster while the Nymph dashed off to the side and lashed out with its whip. The Banestinger hissed in anger, now unable to reach either of us with its massive claws. I felt a blast of heat from above me and looked up to see one of Erani’s Firebolts smacking the Banestinger’s stinger-tipped tail away from stabbing me through the back.

The explosion rocked the unsteady platform I was standing on, forcing me down, lying prone on the scorpion’s hard shell. I activated Noxious Grasp the moment my skin touched its body, beginning the process of sapping away its massive Health pool. I also deactivated Gravity Well. The Spell was costly, and in a fight like this, I needed to prioritize spending my Mana on dealing damage to the monster, rather than protecting myself. Otherwise, I’d end up with no Mana left and a monster still standing, and be forced to flee. And I couldn’t have that.

The Banestinger, no longer hindered by the increased gravity, immediately got back to its feet and started violently shaking its body, trying to throw me off, while it thrust its stinger at the Nymph, which was forced to dash away to avoid being stabbed. I held on as tightly as I could, trying to fit my fingers into the chinks in its chitin. But, once the Banestinger aimed its stinger at me once again and struck down, Erani shot it with another Firebolt, saving me, but the explosion throwing me off in the process.

You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 104 damage and drained 104 Stamina over the course of 6.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

30 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 405.

The Banestinger snapped out with its claws as I fell, pinching them into my torso. I quickly struggled away, tearing my shirt and skin in the process.

You have been ripped open. 29 damage.

Your Health is 191.

The monster, seeming to be done dealing with me, instead turned to face Erani, who was trying to stay further away in the forest. It charged full-tilt at her, seeming to completely disregard the Explosive Firebolts she shot at it in an attempt to push it away. I chased after, shooting a couple Rays of Frost of my own at the quick-moving beast while the Nymph chased it alongside me.

You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 44 damage using Ray of Frost.

You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.

22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 383.

You have struck Level 44 Banestinger for 47 damage using Ray of Frost.

You have cursed Level 44 Banestinger with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.38.

22.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 360.

It slowed down just enough for Erani to dodge one of its strikes, but not the other. Its claw pinched around her arm, and I saw the wire frame of Angelic Shield light up around her, protecting her from the damage. She tried to tug her arm away, but it had a solid grip on her, and she couldn’t escape. It readied its pointed stinger to skewer it through her. But just before it could strike, I leapt forward, tackling the monster’s tail, right as the Nymph also swung its whip so that it wrapped around its tail at the same time. Together, we pulled back, keeping the Banestinger from stabbing Erani with its massive stinger.

I activated Noxious Grasp, refreshing the Fester that had been placed on the Banestinger from before and draining away more of the monster’s Health. It turned around to face me, and Erani got out of its tight grip as it did so, but now I had to deal with its head-on attack. I tried to stay gripped onto the scorpion’s tail, but I was thrown off, just barely managing to catch onto one of its legs as it stomped around.

It jabbed its stinger at me, but I dodged out of the way, flattening myself against the Banestinger’s side to do so. It stabbed downward again, and I barely managed to lean back once again, desperately trying to keep in contact with it while it attacked. It jabbed down at me one more time, and this time I had to reach up to physically parry and redirect the stinger away from me.

“Arlan!” Erani shouted, “Just let go, I can get it from a range!”

“I need the Contribution!” I yelled back.

Your Health is 80.

Then the pain receded, just a bit. I felt the venom drop back down into my thigh where the wound was. But it'd already started rising again, traveling its way up to my hip. It’d take another minute and a half to hit me for 1 again, I realized. 1 damage every ninety seconds, for... twenty-two days.

“Arlan!” Erani ran over to me. “You okay?!” She looked over my body, looking for what was causing me pain.

“Venom,” I gasped, breathing heavily. Sweat began forming all over my body and I fell fully into her arms, now unable to hold myself up. I looked at the notification I’d received. “44 damage an hour.” I took a breath. “Every hour.” Another breath. It was so hard to talk, I felt like my lungs were malfunctioning, spasming randomly as the venom rose further and further, closer to my heart once again. “For twenty-two days.” I finally got out. “Gonna kill me.”

“Shit, shit, shit...” Erani looked around. The Banestinger had collapsed to the ground, but had still not technically died. “Will the poison end if we kill it?”

“Don’t know,” I groaned. “Doesn’t say.”

“We have to try.” She gently set me down onto the ground and ran over, readying an Explosive Firebolt to end the monster.

The Nymph crouched down next to me, holding me with a worried expression on its face. It didn’t seem to be panicking, though. It just held me and massaged my leg. The massage eased the pain, somewhat.

Venom is coursing through your veins. 1 damage.

Your Health is 79.

The massage obviously didn’t reduce the damage though. Part of me wondered how the Nymph knew to do this in the first place. The massage was a specific combination of rolling and pressing that’d obviously been borne of practice, so where did it learn this? At first I was confused, but then I realized it’d probably seen tons of animals die in the exact same way I was, and this was what it did to comfort me as they lost their lives.

Yeah, what was going on didn’t comfort me.

An explosion rippled out from behind me and I heard the sound of bug guts splatting against the ground in a rain of goop.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 44 Banestinger.

You have earned 431 XP. Your XP is 756.

Threshold reached. 500 XP.

Your Level has increased to 10.

Due to achieving Level 10 in the Minute Mage Class, you have been granted the following benefits:

-You have gained 1 Endurance.

-You have gained 2 Conjuration.

-You have gained 1 Intelligence.

-You have gained 3 Stat Points.

-Recursive Growth has improved from reaching a tenth Level. You now gain 4 random Stats each time your Level increases.

-Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 2 Strength, 1 Dexterity, and 1 Conjuration.

-Soft Cap has increased to Rank 6.

-Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 10.

-Time Loop has received a Usage Increase.

-You may choose an Upgrade for Time Loop.

-You may choose a Talent to obtain.

I didn’t even look through my Level benefits, the things I did this whole fight for. Instead, I waited, eagerly anticipating any sort of notification that I was no longer poisoned.

None came.

We had no way to cure the poison.

I was going to die.