Eight

Eight

I immediately responded, concentrating on my aether and shifting the course of the oncoming arrow so that it would miss me. I felt aether flow from me, and then I felt searing cold pain as the arrow impacted low in my chest, hammering into a rib.

Damn, not fast enough. It seemed my thoughts weren’t quick enough to outpace an arrow. The giant rodent let loose a dirty chuckle and began stringing another shaft. I had to act fast or else I'd be overwhelmed. Moving towards the archer rodent I concentrated aether down to my feet, trying to accelerate. The world seemed to blur and I felt a pain in my legs, matched only by the feeling of aether draining from me. I was then right in the face of the rodent, watching surprise form in its eyes as it tried to raise the bow it held.

“Too late...” I croaked, stabbing down with the kitchen knife in my hand, jamming it into its eye socket and wrenching it about until the rodent fell with a pained grunt. Ether escaped its corpse, quite an amount, more than a standard zombie was giving, and I quickly processed it into aether to stem my losses. The arrow tumbled free as aether expelled it, hitting the ground with a thump.

As I turned away, exhausted, my heart sank. Two more of the giant rodents were coming from the other direction, and one had picked up the iron fence railing I had left against the wall of my apartment block, and was swinging it with pleased vigour.

Damn, what a blunder. Glancing down at the bow that remained after the rodent had turned to ether, I briefly considered it before shaking my head. I wasn’t an archer, and my sister had told me how hard it was to accurately hit targets when she was just beginning, so I had no chance.

Clutching the now bloody knife, I considered my options. I only really needed to hang on until the Anchor was finished, and then hopefully the power of the Territory would be enough to repel them. Still, at the noticeable rate my aether was draining I might not be able to last long enough without defeating a few more for their ether.

“Take-take him down.” One of the large rodents chittered, thrashing his tail impatiently. “A new-new threat to our princess we cannot allow, our troubles are already too great.”

“Oh well, no choice then.” I muttered. At least if I wasn’t instantly killed then Exposition-san would step in. I’d have failed at the last hurdle, but at least I’d still have my life. I raced towards the unarmed rodent, spending a little aether to arrive there faster, leaping off the ground.

The rodent seemed surprised as I came flying down at him, but still managed to dodge the thrust of my knife. I kicked out but his tail slammed into my leg as a counter, numbing it. I barely managed to avoid his jaws as he tried to bite out my throat in return. Backing up I used the extra reach the knife gave me to slash at his arms, until his fur was matted with blood, silver and red steaming.

The efforts seemed futile, but as the second giant rodent came up behind me and swung down the iron bar I was already moving, ignoring the wrenching pain in my head and the sick feeling in my guts. Sidestepping the blow I watched as it slammed down onto the upraised arms of the other rodent, shattering his already bloodied limbs.

There was a pained, incoherent scream. “Why-why did you do that?” the rodent chittered in agony. Before his companion could answer I had already darted past and slashed out his throat, and he staggered, blood pouring from his slit neck. Grabbing the falling iron railing I swung it, and it connected with the other large rodent's skull with a satisfying crunch, bending a little. As the rodent fell I thrust down with the knife, piercing flesh. Both rodents flared into a surge of ether and I absorbed it, replenishing my aether supply, the warmth dampening down my nausea.

“Very clever. You widened your angle of vision so that you could observe the approach of the enemy from behind you and make your move with perfect timing.”

I guess they don’t know I have no idea how to shoot this thing... I dragged out the motion as long as I could and then loosed the arrow, watching in dismay as it went a few yards to the left before hitting the ground. Shit, my sister makes this look so easy.

At my lame attempt at an attack, the three rodents burst out laughing, the big black one snickering in a very annoying fashion. “Kill-kill him for the princess and our slain-slain brethren.” It said, raising one of his clawed hands and licking the talons suggestively. They then charged, coming towards me alarmingly quickly. I hastily loosed another arrow, and this one at least went in the right direction, but it lacked power and was swatted aside.

If I only have a minute or so left before completion then it doesn’t matter if I run dry of aether and am kicked back to the Material plane. If I stall them enough then I win! it would really gall me to lose now. There had been times I had almost given up, but at the last minute had pulled through, so surely I could do it one last time?

Concentrating, I released a chunk of the little aether I had left and the arrow that was swatted aside suddenly sprang off the ground and went for the eye of the black-furred rodent. At the last minute it ducked aside so I expended just a bit more and the arrow changed direction once again, plunging into the neck of another behind him. It staggered and fell, gore spilling from its shredded throat. As it died ether spilled out and I quickly absorbed it, straining to pull it in at a distance.

You have gained in strength. Your Level has increased from Two to Three.

A welcome notice scrolled into my vision, but it was not important right now. Taking the last of my aether I concentrated as hard as I could on the image of an explosion throwing back the approaching rodents. The heat within me died down to mere embers, but a roaring burst of pale red flames flared into existence and a wave of explosive force threw them back. It was all sound and fury, my aether too low to make it actually amount to any damage, but they were shaken by the noise and flames, halting for a moment. This gave me time to put another arrow to my bow, pointing it at them with what I hoped was a confident expression. For a long moment there was a stalemate, but then they began to move, splitting up to flank me. I loosed an arrow at the big black-furred one, causing him to duck back, wary of it changing direction once more.

Dropping the bow from my exhausted hands I channelled the last of my aether at the smaller one, striking his legs with a small explosion, knocking him down. As I did so, the black rodent covered the last of the distance and reached out for me, malice in its beady eyes.

It was at this moment when there was a blinding flash of prismatic light and a message began to run through my vision, which was already starting to fade. I could feel my consciousness leaving my Astral form, returning down to the Material. As my vision went dark I could faintly see the rodent scuttling backwards, annoyance on its face...

The Territory Anchor has finished solidifying your grasp on this Territory. Your Territory has reached Rank 1. Basic defence wards have now been established. Due to your ownership level...

The words faded from my vision. As the last of my vision failed, pitch darkness all I could see, I could hear several sets of words overlapping in my ears.

“Damn-damn. Another enemy has arrived. The princess will not be pleased, not at all.”

“Well done. This is farewell for now. You will have to forge your own destiny from here, without my assistance. Learn and grow strong, and if you do we shall meet again in the future. Many fall here at the first hurdle, and your hurdle will be towering indeed, but the second is just as high...”

I felt some warmth towards Exposition-san. They had helped me to reach this point, but it was up to me to see how far I could go in the future. With that my consciousness cut off, and I knew no more...