Jay wasn’t sure what creatures were in the forest at night, but based on the howling, he assumed he was dealing with wolves. Probably glade wolves.
“Fuck…”
He didn’t know what level they were, but he was sure there were a lot of them because it sounded like they were coming from all around.
There were two other problems too: one problem was that he had no clue how they had surrounded him so quickly - it was like he somehow entered right into the middle of their territory.
The second problem was that it wouldn’t only slow his speed to a halt, but if there was a fight, then there would be traces of it left over for mage hunters in the future.
Jay jumped off the throne and added the chair to his inventory again. For a moment he considered pulling out his luminous orb - but wouldn’t that be like a beacon for these nocturnal creatures?
“Dammit…” He pursed his lips as he thought about what to do.
Jay remembered his skeletons could see perfectly in the dark, and now, he could use that skill too.
He sat down on the ground and used his [Host] skill. It used quite a lot of mana but that was the least of his concerns right now.
He wasn’t looking for enemies, but for a spot to hide - preferably high up in the trees.
*Awoooo!~*
The howls seemed to be getting closer as he looked around.
Jay had to hurry.
The trees near the mountain were skinny with not many branches, there was not enough time to climb up one. Due to the proximity to the mountain there were many rocks around though.
“That will have to do.” he frowned as he saw a boulder with a flat top across the forest.
It was about up to his shoulder, and a wolf would be able to jump onto it, but it was better than nothing.
Jay ended his host skill and stood up as he held out his hand. He had commanded a skeleton to lead him to the rock.
The howls continued to sound out, and Jay prepared his skeletons, equipping them with their weapons which he re-crafted while on the throne.
Everything was ready except for Heavy’s shield.
Reaching the rock, Jay felt around the edges and pulled himself up before he pulled bones out of his ring.
In no time, hundreds of helvetian skeletons soon formed a rough barricade around the top of the rock, almost making it appear like a giant bird nest.
If anything, Jay probably went overboard.
This would at least block any wolves trying to jump up though, at least for a moment.
Blue, Sweeper and Dark guarded three sides of the bone-nest, while Heavy and Handy, being level one, guarded the fourth side together.
Jay had Red jump into the bone-nest with him; Red had the guard role after all and if a wolf got in, Jay would be helpless without any vision.
Jay and his skeletons were ready, and they steeled themselves, quiet as they readied for battle.
“...something is different” he thought.
It was too quiet.
The howling noises all stopped.
Suddenly a wave of air blew past Jay’s ears.
*SHring!~*
“SCRIII!”
*Shring!~*
[30 Exp]
A sword swept right near Jay’s ears as it ringed past; his cheek was splashed by something.
A screech, and another sword swing, and he got an exp notification.
“What the fuck?” he wiped his cheek, smelling iron.
Blood was splashed on his face.
“Scriii!” Another shrill yell sounded - yet it came from somewhere above.
Jay panicked for a moment and ducked, holding deathwalkers sentry in the air.
*Crrr~*
*Shring!~*
His shield was scraped, but Red slashed back.
Another pool of blood splashed onto the rock while something crashed into the bone nest.
“Scr!” - *Stab*
Its life was snuffed out mid-screech.
[30 Exp]
“What the fuck is happening?”
Under the shield, Jay got a moment to think.
Whatever was attacking was dying in two hits, and it was only giving thirty exp.
The assault continued and only grew more fierce, but it was for nothing as more of them died.
[30 Exp] x 8
More of the creatures helplessly died and fell onto the nest. Red was killing them all alone.
“Perhaps I overreacted a little.” Jay smiled to himself; the enemies were weaker than he expected - much weaker.
“It seems the dungeons have really changed me...”
Jay had Sweeper and Blue jump up into the bone nest with him - Blue was there for extra protection.
As for Sweeper, well, Jay needed a skeleton to [Host] to see what was going on - but more importantly, what the enemies looked like.
He was still hiding under his shield and protected by two skeletons, so he was safe.
He used the [Host] skill, and as Jay peered through the skeletons' eyes, the world was visible again; everything was black and white, but almost like it was daytime again. The world was laid bare before his gaze.
Finally he could see the howling screeching beasts which were attacking him.
“So I was partly right about them being wolves…” he thought as he looked over a corpse.
It was the size of a wolf, had a long furry body but no front legs.
Two large black wings on each side of its body; one of them cut off from Red’s attack.
It was a giant bat with a wolf head, though unlike a bat, it also had a furry tail.
Jay stopped wasting his mana and entered back into his own body.
“That explains why I was attacked first without the other skeletons fighting anything. Getting high up on this rock probably only made it easier for these flying bastards.”
Jay ended the host skill and returned to his body. While Jay could have taken out the luminous orb, he reasoned that it might attract something worse, something stronger that he wouldn’t be able to kill, so he opted to just wait it out and let the skeletons slay them.
In the meantime he had all the skeletons clamber up the rock and hop into the nest with him.
With nothing to do, he started to analyse in the direction of the screeches, hoping that his skill would work, and would at least give him the beast information even though he couldn’t see them.
After multiple tries, the beasts were dying before they could even reach him, but with nothing else to do he persevered and he finally got a notification.
<[Perreton Wolf - Level 2]>
[Type - Beast, Pack, Flying]
[HP 15/15]
[Damage]
- 2 (Claws, Slashing)
- 4 (Jaws, Crushing)
<[Skills]>
[Expiration Scent]
- Smells targets breaths from long distances
[Honing Call]
- Coordinates with the pack to find prey
[Fire Weakness]
- Takes +25% damage from fire/heat based attacks
<[Description]>
[Digs itself into burrows underground, which it sleeps in during the day. At night it takes flight and hunts anything which may have wandered into its territory. Relies mainly on the scent of exhaled breaths to find its prey. “See that shallow soil? We can’t camp here tonight…”]
“Hmph, as I thought,” Jay smiled, “a weak swarm beast.”
Listening closely, Jay heard the multiple sounds of heavy flapping between the screeching sounds; there were many enemies left in the sky.
They were slow to attack and he even felt like they were wasting his time.
“Hmm, it’s a shame the skeletons can’t attack them in the sky. I need Anya here…”
“Or skeletons who can use bows…?” he thought, “... or mana crafting skeletons perhaps?” he thought, still hiding under his shield.
Slowly though he began to smile, thinking of his skeletons using magic.
After all, they had mana and could naturally craft their own weapons, so it wouldn’t be a stretch for Jay to teach them a spell or two.
Still he would need to learn a spell first.
“Hmm… where is my helminth anyway…” he wondered for a moment,
“... fuck. I left it outside of the association.” he shook his head with a smile, thinking he was quite silly.
“I guess I was distracted by fleeing Losla though.” he shrugged.
Jay mentally commanded it to come back to him; he didn’t want to resummon it as it used silt-wolf spines which were rare drops from the silt wolves, and he definitely wasn’t going to find many of those out here, outside of the dungeon.
Having the helminth dig its way to him was the only option.
“At least the helminth is fast,” he shrugged.
Jay was not useful in this fight, and was feeling exhausted - he could probably sleep standing up at this point, so he decided he may as well try to get some sleep.
The screeching noises were mostly blocked out as he made some earplugs from crushed bondtussle root covered in more fabric from his torn-up cloak.
Jay commanded Red to hold his shield over him and to not let anything disturb his sleep as he quickly dozed off, lying on top of his swag, in a bone-nest, amongst the perreton wolf corpses.
