Dangerous Territory

Mennok had been tempted to find the Goblins village but Jenny's safety took top priority. For now he continued moving to the direction where the Hobgoblin was leading him. He had hoped that he at least lead him to the right direction. Either way he didn't know which way to go or where the mountain was so for now he would go with it.

After taking the Hobgoblins knife and his clothes he went off towards the river. He was going to be using the Hobgoblins clothes as additional rags, just in case some of them ripped. The Hobgoblins trousers were producing the most disgusting smell out of all of his clothes, god knows how many liquids had been on there. He placed it's clothes in the river and watched their colour slowly lighten and the muck from the clothes run off into the river.

After cleaning the clothes and packing them up he had realised that he had also been dirty and smelly, so he took off all his clothes and jumped into the river. The water rushing past him and making contact with his body felt soothing, removing all the dried blood and grime that had accumulated ever since Jenny had found him these clothes. He left the river and waited until he dried off before putting his now clean clothes back on.

He climbed the highest tree he could find to see if he could spot the mountain but to no avail. He would have to keep moving and hope that one of the few times he climbed a tree during the day that he would be able to see a mountain. The ground was getting steeper and steeper however, which made it very hard for Mennok to be able to ascend especially with Jenny on his back. He would eventually manage but it would take too long, so he had to find a way to make it easier for himself.

He decided that he was going to make something which could support him, carving to be precise. Any of the branches that he found which were long enough for him had been too thick so he wanted to carve them down a little. He began by removing the twigs off the broken branch which he just easily snapped off. He then stripped the bark off the branch by using his daggers, revealing the lighter brown wood beneath.

He removed the pointy little wood pieces which had sometimes pierced his hands which were very hard to get out, then he moved on to carving most of the wood off so that he could fully wrap his palm around it. After removing the extra wood he began smoothening up the edges from top to bottom so that it felt more comfortable to hold.

Now that the first stick had been done he'd moved onto the other. After a few minutes he completed the second one and stood up with them. They would definitely hold up. They didn't slip off the ground which is also good, as he didn't want to be sent tumbling down when walking up.

He climbed up the tree and tied Jenny to his back and climbed down. He grabbed both sticks and began walking with them. For now they weren't really helping him because he was at a place where the ground had levelled off a bit so he couldn't judge whether they were useful or not.

After a few minutes the ground had begun to get higher and steeper which was the perfect time and place to test out his sticks. As he walked he began to put some of his weight on the sticks which relieved weight off of his legs. It did make it easier to walk up. Instead of his weight being put on his legs they had now been distributed so both sticks and legs had weight on them. It wasn't like he had four legs now but still it was a massive improvement which would allow him to move faster through the forest.

After walking for quite a while Mennok had noticed that the trees had began to clump together. When he looked at the trees he began to see scratch marks at the top of the trees which he didn't like. They wouldn't be stopping here with those scratches present.

Suddenly he heard screeching nearby. He looked towards the sound to find a pair of red eyes staring at him. The creature was covered in feathers and had wings like the small creatures that stood on branches, except this one was much, much larger. It had sharp talons and long wings as well as a small tail behind it. It's face was the scariest thing about this creature. It had the face of a human except it has very sharp teeth and red eyes.

The creature screeched and another one landed right next to it, eyeing Mennok and Jenny who had been on his back. Then more came from behind and more to his right, then his left. He was surrounded by these creatures. They began laughing eerily which gave Mennok the shivers. He wouldn't back down from a fight however with Jenny it would be very hard to fight and protect her at the same time.

He wasn't going to risk fighting them so he began running as fast as he could with his bruised leg. He ran through the trees and bushes trying to lose their sight but they always seemed to know where he was. The close trees had made it easier for them to travel from tree to tree. Now he had known why there were scratch marks on the trees. He had just walked their territory which was dangerous territory.

One of the creatures swooped down to attack Mennok but he quickly took out his sword and swung towards the thing. In the air it had very good agility so it easily dodged it. Another one swooped down talons beared on what was on Mennok's back and he swung his sword again, being easily dodged by the flying creature.

This was bad. Mennok had thought that he could take them all on without Jenny and that she was the one holding him back but he was wrong. He decided that he was going to try and scare them by killing one of its own but that proved to be a very difficult task. Their agility far surpassed the speed at which he swung his sword so he couldn't get a hit on them, so he decided to do something risky.

A flying creature swooped down once more towards Jenny. He turned around to intercept the monster while holding his sword. It hit him head on, digging it's talons into his shoulders. Mennok grunted in pain and tried to ignore it.

[-53 Hp]

The creature was about to fly away when he grabbed it by its legs. The creature tried to fly away but Mennok was too heavy for it, so it couldn't escape. He pulled it closer towards him and then plunged his sword into its chest.

[You have Slain Adolescent Harpy level 8]

Mennok looked around to see if they had scattered but only a few slightly smaller Harpies had disappeared. The larger ones remained. His plan had only partially worked but it was still not enough. There were still lots of Harpies left. This time however they were more cautious with fighting something that could kill them in one hit.

The Harpies renewed their attacks, this time two swooping down. Mennok slashed his sword at one which was quickly dodged and then let the second one jump on him. This time he made sure to attack it as quickly as possible. It clawed at his arm taking away 37 Hp and was about to fly away but it's left leg was caught by Mennok. He brought his sword down on the Harpy's neck, decapitating it.

[You have Slain Adolescent Harpy level 6]

His arm was bleeding so he took out the rags that he had ripped from the Hobgoblins clothes and wrapped them around his arm to stop the bleeding. While running he found an empty tree trunk so he untied Jenny from his back and put her there. It was much safer here as the Harpies had to go on the ground to get to her and there was only one way which he was blocking.

He took out his sword and watched as the Harpies gathered in the nearby trees. They all looked at him menacingly for a long time but made no motion to attack. Did they not want to attack him? Were they waiting for him to lose focus? Were they waiting for something? His last question was answered as he heard the loudest screech so far and soon after the largest Harpy landed on a tree.

Other than being larger this Harpy's feathers were a darker brown contrary to the lighter brown of the others. It flapped it's large wings and revealed it's sharp teeth as a show of force. It jumped down to the ground which was a first for these flying creatures, meaning that this specific one was confident of its ability.

Mennok couldn't back out from this fight. Running away meant that he would be leaving Jenny to these feathered creatures and he wasn't going to let that happen. The dark Harpy took off from the ground and flew high up, so high that Mennok could no longer see it. He looked at the other Harpies and saw that they were grinning at him, as if they new what was about to happen.

He looked above and saw a large figure flying down at a rapid speed, heading towards him. He was halfway through dodging when the Harpy struck his side, taking off a lot of health and a chunk off of his side.

[-97 Hp]

He was already down almost half of his Hp. The pain didn't help either. He had already wrapped his side quickly but it hadn't stopped the bleeding properly. He looked at the Harpy which landed once again. It looked at him with malice in its eyes. It went up in the air once again disappearing out of his sight.

This time he knew it was going to dive at him so he readied himself for the coming attack. Surely enough he saw the Harpy again and dodged slightly earlier than usual. His right shoulder was ripped off and gushing out blood. His earlier dodge gave him the chance to slash the Harpy's wing with the sword, grounding it.

[-143 Hp]

The Harpy screeched in pain but still had the same menacing eyes. It seemed that taking its ability to fly properly had barely caused a chink in its confidence. It had to be planning something else, something that she could do on the ground.

The Harpy puffed out its chest and let out a large screech. Mennok covered his bleeding ears trying to block the sound but his hands barely did anything.

[Your mind is being attacked]

Mennok's mind began to throb in pain from the screech that still hadn't stopped.

[Resisting Mental attack]

[Your mind is being attacked]

[Resisting Mental attack]

[Your mind is being attacked]

WILL +1

[<Mental resistance I> is now <Mental resistance II>]

The pain had slightly subsided but his head had still been throbbing. Mennok struggled to stay standing, going down on one knee then the other, legs finally buckling. He was writhing on the ground as the intensity of the screech increased.

[Your mind is being attacked]

[Resisting Mental attack]

[Your mind is being attacked]

[Resisting Mental attack]

[Your mind is being attacked]

[Resisting Mental attack]

[<Mental resistance II> is now <Mental resistance III>]

Mennok stopped writhing and went limp.

After waiting for a while to check that the trespasser had stopped moving the Harpy approached it's prey. The other Harpies attempted to land down next to it but it screeched at them, marking the creature Infront of it as hers. She touched the creature and still no movement. It opened its mouth to bite down when it was suddenly stabbed in the thigh.

Mennok stabbed the sword deep into the Harpy, leaving it there and then took his daggers out. He stabbed them both into its chest which triggered a screech of pain from the Harpy. It opened its mouth to screech again but Mennok grabbed it's neck and threw it down on the ground. He stood above it and grabbed it's right wing with his hands and then pulled. He could hear the muscles tear and bones crackle and pop as he pulled which elicited more wails. He pulled so hard that he tore off it's wing. He grabbed the other wing and pulled, tearing it off as well. Blood poured out of the stumps and the Harpy's last screech turned into a gurgle of blood.

[You have Slain Adult Harpy level 18]

[Level up unavailable until after evolution]

The other Harpies looked in fear at what this creature had done to the Adult Harpy, now eyeing it with caution. This Harpy had only recently evolved so it wasn't as strong as the rest. Nevertheless it was still an adult Harpy, meaning that the trespasser was a threat to the flock. The trespasser started moving towards them, hands dripping with Harpy blood. The Harpies having witnessed their Adult getting killed quickly flew off in terror.

After the Harpies had finally flown out of sight Mennok dropped his menacing facade and collapsed to the ground. If they had stayed any longer then he wouldn't have been able to keep himself standing, potentially revealing his weak position to the other Harpies.

For now he had gotten rid of them, yet bleeding profusely. He was on the verge of passing out, teetering on the thin line of unconsciousness yet he strained his mind, knowing that if he gave in to the fatigue now he would endanger himself and Jenny.

He stood up slowly, wobbling on the spot due to his aching muscles and injuries. He dragged himself over to the bushes and grabbed their roots, pulling hard until they were eventually plucked from the strong soil. He placed the small bushes at the entrance of the hollow trunk, hoping that it was thick enough to hide her from sight and keep in her smell.

He had already accumulated enough injuries to the point that he was on his last legs. He had to heal them quick so that he could protect Jenny from any dangers. True he might have left her vulnerable but if he didn't heal himself then they would be dead anyways. He had to hope that nothing came near them. He quickly climbed the tree as to not succumb to fatigue and got to the lowest branch.

He barely had enough energy to climb this far, let alone carry Jenny. He laid down on the branch and tied himself to it to make sure that he didn't fall while he wasn't awake.

He was about to evolve again.