Skirmish

In the midst of the horde monsters tore into the flesh of their brethren indiscriminately. Small creatures slapping into a defensive line of heavily armored shield bearers like waves against a sand bank.

"Second line!" A commanding voice called out from atop the walls of the village. "Rotate with auxiliary! Recover for the final push!"

A chorus of assenting voices cried out as the armored figures hurried backwards. Before shortly being replaced with a much more lightly armored group. Similarly to Zack's own equipment that he'd woken up with. They surged outward, pushing back creature after creature. Slaughtering those that gave no ground.

Zack, for his part. Stood flabbergasted. Which turned out to be to his detriment.

"GrrRrrr..."

Zack whipped around, coming face to face with a tiny canine with a black coat. With a gnash of its teeth it leaped into the air directly at Zack!

"Shit!" He cried out as he flinched away, barely avoiding the sharp fangs of the monster. As soon as it touched on the ground it came at Zack again. Snapping at his legs with ferocious malice!

"SNAP-SNAP-SNAP"

Zack's perception seemed to speed up as adrenaline flooded into his system. The teeth of the monster closing ever more slowly with every bite. His movements became tighter with every step back, and when the wolf missed again...

WHAM

Zack's boot smashed into the monsters side! Sending it careening to the side with a pitiful yelp. It flailed for a little bit, but quickly righted itself. Though not without issue, it was clearly still wobbling on it's side. Reeling from the sharp blow.

"Holy crap! You know there's a whole group of people over there who'd be happy to fight you I'm pretty sure! Oh why am I even talking to it, it's a monster!"

The wolf shook itself fervently before straightening up and growling at Zack. Zack put up his best fighting stance in response. Bringing his arms up to defend his face from any leaping attacks and spreading his legs out. The wolf responded in kind and began to circle around him, slowly prowling around Zack as he kept his eyes dead focused on the thing.

"Hah... Ready when you are then small ugly."

With another leap the wolf came flying at him! But Zack was ready this time, and dipped under the lunge. Time slowed down a bit further, opportunity presenting itself in a way that would only be topped by it socking you in the face. and Zack's hand flashed outwards.

SLAM

Having grabbed the wolf's tail midair he quickly yanked it backwards. Before slamming it down onto the ground with enough force to make a hammer impact blush. The wolf cried out, but Zack wasn't done yet.

CRCK

Zack raised his boot and stomped down on the wolf's exposed stomach with immense speed. crushing ribs and caving in its stomach with extreme force. The wolfs mouth opened in a soundless cry, it's lungs crushed by the destructive blow.

Level up! +2 strength, +2 dexterity, +2 constitution, +2 wisdom, +1 capacity, +1 intelligence, +1 charisma, +1 manipulation.

Zack hesitantly lifted his boot with a disgusting squelching sound.

"What did... Did I just... Oh god I'm gonna be sick."

Zack struggled to keep the bile down at the sight of the wolf's exploded chest. He quickly looked away and shook the guts off of his boot. He didn't feel bad, it attacked him. And he didn't even really know he had that in him. But... Oh god that's gross.

Shortly after the sense of impending doom passed, and the adrenaline filtered out of him, he felt something else. A warm feeling spreading through his body. Improving him, making his being stronger. Must be the level up...

"Christ... Getting an actual weapon has gotta be top priority."

Zack glanced back towards the larger battle field, the horde was certainly thinned but... Something felt wrong. Very VERY wrong.

"That's enough! Auxiliary return! First and second line return to the field! Final push!"

Something in his mind was screaming at him. Danger was rapidly approaching, and he could hear it. It was quiet at first, but... tptptptptptptpthmpthmpthmpthumpthumpTHUMPTHUMP

Zack bolted up a tree as fast as he could. Climbing up the nearest tree with a blistering speed in order to hold onto sweet sweet life. Not even ten seconds later a torrent of monsters came charging through where he'd been mere moments ago.

Various animals he'd expect to see in the Forests of his own world, but twisted in some way. A smaller deer with razor sharp antlers, a massive wolf with elongated claws, small and massive beasts alike surged forwards in an attempt to siege the village.

"Hoooolllly shit..."