Book 1: Chapter 73: Hit and Run

Book 1: Chapter 73: Hit and Run

Sunlight streamed through the forest canopy, casting the undergrowth in deep shadow. Elijah stepped lightly, his feet making no sound as he slowly approached the trio of invaders. The closest was a slight gnome with bushy, turquoise hair, while her two escorts were both dwarves with magnificent, black beards. The pair of dwarves both held wicked axes, and the gnome wore a robe and carried an elegant staff that was taller than she was.

“I don’t like this,” growled one of the dwarves, peering intently into the shadows. “I feel like I’m bein’ watched.”

“This place is cursed,” said the other.

“You always say that,” the gnome responded, rolling her large eyes.

Elijah took another slow step, carefully placing his paw on the loamy ground.

“I do not.”

“She’s right, Biko,” the other dwarf said. “It’s just like that cave we found last month. You said that was cursed, too, and how’d that turn out?”

“That was different. How was I s’posed to know there was ghouls around?”

“Ghouls are common on newly integrated worlds,” the gnome stated. “Did you even read the pamphlet I made before we came here?”

Another step.

“Biko can’t read.”

“Can so!”

Then another.

“Sure, buddy. We all believe that,” said the second dwarf, patting the other on the shoulder.

Finally, Elijah was in range. He used Predator Strike, then pounced. His claws met some resistance from the mage’s shield, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from ripping out her throat. Even as she fell, Elijah kept moving, disappearing into the shadows. The moment he was out of sight, he bounded up the trunk of a tree, then out onto a limb.

Meanwhile, the dwarves reacted, charging noisily into the brush, but finding nothing.

“Oh, gods...”

“What was that?!”

“Looked like a giant lizard.”

“Weren’t no lizard. That was a –”

Elijah leaped from the branch, using Venom Strike as he dropped onto the smarter dwarf’s shoulders. In less than an instant, his teeth sank into his neck, and then he was gone, bounding back under cover.

“It bit me! It bit me!”

He’d based the design on a medieval fortification called a trou de loup – or a wolf hole – which consisted of a dense pattern of conical pits, at the bottoms of which would be punji sticks. In some cases, rotting meat or feces would be smeared on the wooden stakes, but Elijah had neither the time nor the inclination to go to those lengths. In any case, he suspected that any long-running infection that came from such tactics would be easily cured by the healers among the invaders.

No - all he cared about was creating more chaos. With any luck, he could repeat his actions from before, using Calamity and Swarm to further whittle their numbers down. And if he was truly fortunate, he’d kill them all in one go.

After sharpening the stakes with his knife, Elijah jammed them into the bottoms of the pits, then went about gathering some firewood, which he arranged in another shallow pit at the center of the arrayed traps. By that point, it was already night, which gave him only a few short hours to finish the project.

The last piece that would bring everything together required him to weave a series of flimsy mats from grass he gathered from nearby. Once he’d done that, morning was only about an hour off, so he quickly covered them with a thin layer of dirt and loose grass that he hoped would disguise his traps.

Finally, with his traps built, Elijah lit the fire before piling a series of green limbs onto the pile. As the fire filled the air with a thick plume of dark smoke, the invaders set out from their camp en masse.

They were going in the wrong direction at first, but as Elijah continued to stoke the fire, adding more and green limbs, they clearly noticed the plume of smoke and changed directions. And just like that, Elijah’s plan was on.

He retreated into one of the trees, climbing until he had a good view of the clearing. Then, he waited.

It only took them an hour to reach the clearing. All twenty-two of them, advancing in a line. They did so cautiously, but none of them even looked at the ground. Elijah’s previous efforts to kill their scouts bore fruit when the first few – a couple of gnomes and a goblin – fell into one of the traps.

They screamed, and the group panicked. One of the gnomes – a fellow with a vivid red mohawk – started shouting something Elijah couldn’t hear, gesturing violently.

That was when Elijah leaped down from the tree, shifted into his human form, and, for the second time in the past three days, used Calamity.

The sky tore apart as thick storm clouds rolled in. The earth rumbled and the wind whipped into a frenzy. That was enough to send the remaining invaders into a panic. They scattered.

Unfortunately, the clearing was absolutely lousy with traps, and it only took a couple of seconds before the panicked invaders ran afoul of the previous night’s efforts. A full half of the group fell into traps as Calamity tore the area asunder, peppering it with lightning, blades of hurricane force winds, and a minor earthquake. As before, it only lasted for a few seconds before it dissipated, but by that point, the damage was done.

Elijah cast Swarm.

Thousands of biting flies manifested, then swept down on the trapped invaders. Some tossed fireballs and other spells out to try to mitigate the mass of insects, but their efforts were all for naught. A handful of gnomes and goblins had managed to avoid the traps, but all except one had fallen to Calamity.

Elijah crouched at the tree line, watching as Swarm did its work. Slowly, the kill energy flooded in, pushing him past level thirty.

And just like that, the invaders were finished. Only one remained. A few others were still alive, but he was the only one who remained upright and mostly healthy. The same gnome that seemed to be in charge, pulsing with red energy, stood amidst the carnage. He looked around, panicked and furious, screaming something unintelligible. Elijah kept an eye on him, and as he continued to regenerate his Ethera, inspected his new spell:

Shape of the Guardian

Take on the form of a stalwart guardian, vastly increasing your Strength and Constitution attributes. Spellcasting is suspended while Form of the Guardian is active.

Another shapeshift, but unlike Shape of the Predator, it didn’t cost nearly as much Ethera. As Elijah read the new spell's description, he watched the gnome's tirade continue. And after only a second more, the red-glowing gnome finally locked his eyes on Elijah's position, and with a growl, launched himself toward the man who’d torn his small army apart.

The gnome shouted in rage, the glow of his red aura increasing in intensity as he tore across the battlefield.

.