17 Ghoul V Ghoul

Among elves, it's the Wood Elves that face some of the most danger from other creatures.

When a Green goblin evolves, over 99% of the time, they become Orcs.

If a Goblin evolves in a forest from a connection with nature, intelligence, or magic; they sometimes merge with the plant life, or become Fairies, or Satyrs.

A Green Goblin in the forest needs to have a perfect balance to become a Wood Elf and becoming one is only half the battle. Our light green skinned kin have almost no offensive abilities from their inception and we estimate most are captured as slaves within their first week of evolution.

Before we established the World Tree and a force to rescue our nature-attuned brethren, I don't even think two had ever been able to meet in a safe and free condition.

-Exert from "What is an Elf?," by the Shandalor of the World Tree located in former Panama, 1406 FE.

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Odd sat on the branches of a tree with a clear view of the cave. He had already been waiting for hours, but at this point he was hoping things had happened like in badly written story and the ghoul with a legion of reinforcements showed up at the perfect time when he had been standing right over his boss's warm corpse.

Then it would have been a long battle he would barely survive, but break through skill levels rapidly at the last second, giving him the power to defeat his hated foe.

Anything, really.

Ambushes are so boooooring.

At least Odd felt comfortable in his new body. Really comfortable actually. Real skin has a tactile sensation to it and to actually feel blood pump in his veins and bones in his fingers was an enjoyable experience. He felt like living as a Proto-Gob denied him of lots of things.

The air smelt better, his eyes were better, and his ears could hear farther. He could only wait for some time with his dryad to test his new sense of taste.

Better than all that, in Odd's opinion, was his height and looks. He stood now at about four and a half feet tall, over double his previous height! Walking places was so hard before. The world practically shrunk!

When he saw his reflection in a puddle though, he was content. Angular features, sharp ears instead of jagged ones, his skin was smooth and perfect compared to the pudgy wrinkled look, his limbs body was corded with thick muscle that made him already more buff than an elf. His eyes a light grey that was almost like ice, not a dead look that grey should have against his pale skin.

His skin was a bit too light, in Odd's humble opinion, but he would make due. It wasn't albino anymore at least.

His hair was another problem, he kind of just expected to evolve with long hair, but at least he has some. He just has to wait for it to grow, because he can faintly see and feel it. Its a dark shade, but too short for him to tell exactly.

Speaking of his better senses, Odd was able to hear the sound of twigs snapping, leaves crinkling, and Proto-Gobs grunting.

As they came in sight, Odd saw about thirty albino Proto-Gobs that were being followed by a very angry looking Glette. She shot ice needles a couple times when some of the Proto-Gobs were getting off course. Odd could only imagine how many times she needed to do this on the day long trip over here.

[Eyes of Providence] Activated

Name: Glette

Titles: [Scout of the Cripclaw]

Race: Black Goblin Ghoul, T2 Elite .

[Stats]

Body: Low T2

Mind: High T2

Soul: High T2

Ice Affinity: Low T2

The hunched over, saggy-titted monster that made Odd's prideful face curl in disgust finally arrived underneath him.

[Lethal Points] activated

Odd prepared to jump, but nothing lit up as lethal and his foot skirted against the branch.

'It's an undead, of course organs wouldn't pop up!' he inwardly cursed at his idiocy before acting.

Odd reinforced his legs to jump, forgot stealth and coated his fingers in yin lightning, and shot out from the tree he was in, shattering the outer layer of the bark with the force of his leap.

[Speed Affinity] rose from 1.1 to 1.2

The chirping of birds would have been heard if he used the lighting of a lesser affinity, but Odd's hands crackled with power like a cacophony of the booms of steel plates smashing against each other over and over again.

In a blur, Odd followed through and looked back, Glette was missing a shoulder.

But the undead don't feel pain, and Odd is far from powerful enough to damage the soul. It only took a moment for the ghoul to form a mist in the area directly in front of it before sending the little minions to kill him for her.

It was no trouble at all though, within moments, Odd had bit the head off of one and was swallowing it as the bodies of three others were eviscerated as he strafed along the outside of the charging horde.

Behind the horde, however, he caught a sight that made his newly pumping blood run cold.

Glette was devouring her own allies. Her jaws were extended and Odd watched a second Proto-Gob in a row fall into the chasm of her gut, never be seen again.

This sight alone wouldn't have been an issue for the Living Ghoul, but he was well aware of what made ghouls special as well as how potent the magical DNA of Proto-Gobs were.

Odd felt a Proto-Gob jump on his shoulder, reminiscent of his favorite way of killing when he was a midget, before latching its teeth on the side of his neck.

He couldn't help but be distracted, the only threat to his life just thrust a new arm from her socket while shrieking with her voice that was naturally unnerving to all living creatures.

Ripping the Proto-Gob from his shoulders, Odd channeled his speed reinforcement again and lept straight up into the air, pulling himself up to a branch. He quickly shifted his face a little before devouring the morsel as the wound on his neck and scratches on his limbs healed in an instant.

He needed a new plan. The Proto-Gobs started to head towards the trees to swarm him and the ghoul was firing lances of ice at him.

Thinking of his strategies as a smaller creature, he decided to use his [Canopy Grace] to its full potential. He started using the albino Gobs as springboards, jumping back and forth, before he finally made it within arms reach of his true foe.

Glette abandoned the plan of chucking ice spears and spat out another cold mist into Odd's face before pulling a real sized dagger out of her belt and stabbing towards him.

In return, Odd activated his water affinity and the cold gas passed over him without harming him. The ghouls affinity was just too low to actually freeze him. Instead, Odd parried the dagger with the edge of his hand while coated in a cloak of yin lightning. He noticed that his hands were only nicked by the full force of the knife because of his magic, so he latched on to the dagger and stabbed Glettes gut with his other hand.

In return, the Undead Ghoul released the knife from her hands, fired a small lance into Odd's chest, stabbing piercing his lung while Odd was able to put a hole in the side of her heart.

Both ghouls retreated and started picking up Proto-Gobs and devouring them to heal from their respected injuries.

Back and forth, the game of cat and mouse went. After the second time the undead ghoul ate her comrades, the young Proto-Gobs dropped all pretense of following orders and the real fighters both had the tiny imps clawing at them from all sides.

Stab. Devour.

[Body] rose from 1.8 to 1.9

Stab. Devour.

[Speed Affinity] rose from 1.2 to 1.3

Odd held a slight upper hand in their fights with his dagger, but even with all the absorption from his magic and his race's power of devouring, he fell short and was out of mana. The yin lighting cloak was just far more mana intensive than spears of ice, despite his much larger mana pool.

Now, the two ghouls stared at each other, alone. The Proto-Gobs were all laying on the forest floor dead or eaten. Glette was missing a hand. And Odd was physically unharmed.

Dagger in reverse grip, behind his back, Odd was ready, but he hesitated. Why was he killing this Gob again. Couldn't he convince her to leave him alone instead of this. Was it just because she was hideously ugly that he ambushed her without warning.

The undead charged at him first.

'Duh,' Odd thought to himself as he met her clawed, remaining hand with the flat of his dagger, diverting her blow. 'Its an undead, they just follow orders, too bad.'

He extended his jaw and ate her throat.

Then, Odd threw up extra biomass from the Proto-Gobs he ate. That ghoul tasted so bad that he could feel his soul gag.