A Blessed One

There were yellow eyes in the darkness. My eyes lied; I couldn't trust them. Was this creature gas lighting reality itself? That was what illusions were in the end. This creature told my eyes they were lying. It may have many forms, but this creature was only one. I felt it. The yellow eyes all belonged to the same blessed ancestor of Gwen. She summoned this problem. All because, I had to prod her. There was a lot about Gwen I still didn't know.

Paws treaded softly making just enough sound to make my ears twitch. Every cell in my body burned with in anticipation. Through a verbal command another javelin lifted from my black aura. I had to stand and fight. We were too far from the safehouse to make a run for it.

Hunter Zombies lvl18

Hunter Zombies lvl20

Hunter zombies lvl25

Pack Strength: Plebe

Former: Wolven Undead

Individual Rank: Youngling

I missed my bow. Black static coverer the blade of my knife. Fighting these creatures in melee was impossible with a group to protect. I threw my javelin and twisted.

The wolven's head had become a mass of tentacles longer and thicker than the normal zombie. Its hair had fallen out and it was covered in holes. I punched out and felt my knuckles dig into the monsters. Tentacles emerged from the holes and the wolven's body exploded. The tentacles moved like snakes quickly slithering up my body looking for points of entry.

I spread black static around the surface of skin. Swirling limbs of darkness emerged from my flesh. The worms shrieked before falling away. While the zombies were focused on me Kor and Kem continued to get away.

Black Static mixed with my aura and spread out. I stabbed into the nearest wolven before sinking my fingers into the back of another. Covering my body with black static drained my aura like a candle burning on both ends. In seconds, I was running empty. I ran after the group. After crossing a point, the wolven stopped chasing me. I killed every zombie gobling I came across.

When we reached the safehouse a trapdoor opened, and Star emerged. She hissed and exposed her fangs. "Star it's Jacob, I ranked up." I yelled.

Her eyes flashed in recognition. "Use the lower door." Star said.

Ping!

Quest Completed: Regroup to Safehouse

Rewarded: +2 INT +2 PER

Intelligence 56

Perception 18

Quest Completed: Quick Regroup Reach Safehouse in 15minutes

Rewarded: +3 AGL

Agility 12

Ping!

Quest Completed: Thin Herd I Kill 10 Zombies 1 Special Zombie

Rewarded: +1INT

Intelligence 57

They carried Tol to the mattress while I gathered parts for a new bow. After making a hearty bow, I began searching for arrows. Every one fired needed to be charged with black static. If they weren't the arrows were useless.

Star looked at the gobling on the mattress then back to me. "He won't last long. I've heard of this before in the stories of my people. An Elder Spawn has been seeded in fertile soil. It has been left to grow unheeded for too long." Star said.

I loaded the last arrow into my quiver. Then I stringed the bow. The silken string supplied by Star felt right on my bow. I pulled it back feeling the increased power. If I was going to rain death upon the undead, I needed a proper ranged weapon. I needed to level grind quickly and take out the event boss. Then I'd make a beeline for Dol's tower.

I locked eyes with Star. "Do any of those stories talk about ways to kill them?" I asked.

She gave me a pensive look. "We need a Queen to kill a fully powered Elder Spawn." She brightened up a little at that. "My former colony could help. We have venom from a queen stored in the temple." Like a light being turned out the happiness vanished. "I don't think they will help you. An Elder Spawn promises bountiful food in the form of the Elder Spawns Drones. To them this is a gift from the great mother herself." Star said.

"They won't lift a finger to help a star spawn and they are contract bound to leave you as a slave." I said.

"It is our way to keep to deals once established. Treachery is what lead to our fall in the first place." She said.

Flying over to get help from the spiderlings wouldn't work. I'd have to stick with killing. Good pure killing at a mechanized rate would win the day. There were still a few questions I needed to ask. They'd have to wait. I didn't need to know the range of its control over the zombies, if the specials or blessed had autonomy, or if the creature had any transformations. What I needed was speed and killing.

I opened the door to the outside. The goblings wouldn't hold me back anymore. "Wait darkling, I have a favor to ask you." Kor said.

"There might be some blacksmiths still alive in Tensmith. When the monster attacked, we sent the masters of their craft down to shelters. If anyone is still alive, they'll be there. Go to forge street when you're in and search for an iron door. The key to open it is here." He pulled a hidden key out of the flail. "Be careful darkling." Kor said.

Ping!

Quest: Save Blacksmiths

Reward: Allied smiths, +10 LUK

I placed the key in my quiver and stepped out into the darkness. With a few beats of my wings, I shot up in the air. I kept my eyes off of the giant tentacle and began firing down wherever I saw yellow eyes. Black static and black parade gave my arrows the punch they needed to pick off the zombies. One after another fell to my bow.

Ping!

Jacob lvl3 Black Sol Imp

+30 HP and AP

+3 to all stats

HP 198

AP 738

I could feel it in my bones. This was taking too long. Every kill gave diminishing returns. It was why it took ages to regain power after ranking up. Leveling was more difficult now. If not for my extra stat points it would be even harder. Slaying the Elder Spawn was a fleeting fancy.

After expending my arrows, I recollected them. Most were easy to pull out of the rotten corpses I left behind. One came up missing.

I replayed video logs pinpointing the release of the arrow. The corpse was a rotten mess but no arrow. "Are you looking for something?" I heard a giggle and turned to a green skinned Mind flayer with a delightful smile on her face. "Does this expression put you at east? I've seen a thousand variations of a smile, but none seem to put my prey at ease. Until now, what makes you different?" She twirled my arrow between her fingers.

Blessed Zombie lvl20

Rank: Anointed

I pulled a javelin from my aura. "You remind me of someone I know. I think she's cuter. I'm not into the green skin. I also prefer black to yellow eyes. You know never mind. Her tentacles look better too." She bent my arrow in her grip before her tentacles rose snapping like striking snakes.

"Purple Saber," She called summoning a slender blade to her hand. The blessed one crossed the distance in an instant. "Black static," Waves of darkness and lightning blasted around my body. I threw my Javelin and lifted off the ground when the telekinesis ripped the ground open. She hovered in the air. The purple aura that surrounded her seemed to drain at an insane rate. "Psy Armor, Duel Spell, Purple Thoughts Laser Canon, Purple sabers." A spectral armor surrounded her, the blessed's hands glowed with eye searing light, and purple swords gathered around her.

I flapped my wings and flew higher. She fired a searing beam of purple light. I flew just out of the lasers path as she fired it from her hands. Swords appeared just above me before plummeting like meteors. I moved changing my aura output to turn, spin, and alter my speed.

She got lucky. One blade appeared that she didn't have before. It was another routine dodge when it appeared and pierced my wing. Then the laser fired where I was going to be. I threw the javelin into the beam. It flew through the beam negating the beam as it flew. She met it with a sword and my Javelin shattered. Another group of swords appeared in front of me and fired.

They pierced the scales covering my chest and stopped against something solid. I blinked while if fell. I'd been saved from dying from impalement by a few different bones.

When I fell, it was hard. Junk exploded around me and fell over me. The swords vanished after a certain distance. I felt a lot of things. I was starving, I hadn't eaten in a long time. A mouth-watering smell was in the air and I felt so empty.

"Find him and eat his brain. The one who does will become a blessed one like me." She cackled while they dug for me. Was it laziness? Either way I wanted to tell them to dig faster. They smelled better than any food I've ever eaten.

"The boss is calling me; I'll leave this to you guys. Have fun with him. Don't crack his skull open too quickly." She flew away while they dug for me.

I felt a hand grip me. My jaws opened and I pulled the creature in. Blood, flesh, and bone I was so hungry. I wanted it all.

There was so much flesh around me. Blood had flowed from my wounds and I might have been a little delirious. All I could think about was delicious they all smelled. I opened my mouth and took a bite.