The morning after the briefing, I decided to go my own way, completely ignoring the Lurion's orders. At times, I'd stray from the planned route by nearly a full verst. I was mostly scouting for open areas, with the goal of using our bows for long-distance engagements. By evening, when a wave of creatures burst from the nearby forest, I was satisfied. They'd been stalking us for several hours at a decent distance, hesitant to attack. But they weren't going to find a better spot today.
"Leur, barrier!" I commanded loudly. "Squad, bows, fire at will."
The protective dome rippled instantly, surrounding us. My soldiers nimbly armed themselves with their bows. Everyone watched tensely as the first of the Nurgles broke from the cover of the dense forest and ran towards us.
[Notice] Do you want to improve the skill Bow Mastery (4/5) (80 SP)?
Yes/No
(2/210)
A surge of foreign consciousness began to literally flood me from within. In an instant, it crammed decades of painstaking mastery and knowledge into my head. The first arrows shot from the bowstrings. And now, my attributes were clearly lacking; I'd never heard of this before, not even during my long service in the Lord's army. But the feeling was very clear. Strength, Agility, and Perception must reach ten points, and only then can a master's full potential be unlocked. But even without that, the arrows flew so accurately that it sometimes felt as if they were changing direction mid-flight and making up for the missing distance. My shots easily found the eye of a charging Nurgle at fifty paces. The dense forest they were pouring out of was the only thing preventing a shot from more than 150 paces away. My instincts told me that this wasn't the limit of my pinpoint archery.
Instead of staying put under the barrier, I started moving in an arc, circling the incoming wave of Nurgles. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted how my warriors sent one volley after another with a sort of doomed determination. And I thought they were right. This many Nurgles for a single squad of goblins was a clear death sentence. And to be honest, it was. An average Nurgle needed about twenty-five heartbeats to cross an open space of 150 paces. During that time, I could easily loose around thirty arrows. Considering each one found its mark, it became clear why we weren't torn to shreds in the first minute. Of course, such a result was also largely due to the Nurgles themselves, who completely neglected any sort of sturdy armor.
Continuing to move, at one point, I was even attacking the creatures from behind. The speed at which my ammunition was running out was a bit concerning. Even my massive stock of five hundred arrows had been reduced by almost half. The cowardly rookies would have a lot of work ahead of them, carving them out of the forest creatures' bodies. The arrows flew with enormous speed and force. Every shot I made wounded, immobilized, or killed a cursed Nurgle. Their furious charge, which had begun with whooping and cheerful squeals, literally drowned in blood. The entire open space was littered with bodies, and the wails of pain were deafening. Some still tried to escape, realizing that a breakthrough was simply impossible.
At one point, a Nurgle leader and its small support group of thirty smaller heads burst from the forest. It rushed along the edge of the tree line to meet me, wary of the mass volleys from my goblins. It seemed it didn't fully understand whose arrows had stopped the majority of its horde. Instinct told it to attack the lonely and defenseless target with overwhelming numbers.
The Nurgle leader, literally filled with fury, closed the distance between us. It could cover two hundred paces over rough terrain in twenty heartbeats, much faster than its lesser kin. Arrows flew past it, driving the leader into an even greater battle frenzy. It didn't even think to look behind it, where half of the swiftest creatures that had followed it were already on the ground. At fifty paces, the Nurgle leader took its first arrow in the knee. It stumbled, but the very next arrow knocked it to the ground. It would need a few breaths to get back up.
I surveyed the battlefield and could hardly believe my eyes. My soldiers were struggling to finish off the couple of dozen Nurgles that had reached the barrier. But the rest of the scene was surreal. No one had ever even hinted that by mastering the Bow Mastery skill to its maximum, you could fire arrows with such speed and accuracy. A squad of ten such warriors could butcher enemies by the thousands. But then I remembered my actual level, and my enthusiasm vanished immediately.
I still had time to think that if each of the forest dwellers had a shield, the outcome probably wouldn't have been so impressive—it would likely have been disastrous for me—when the Nurgle leader (Rank E+, Level 4) had already scrambled up and was rushing at me. But the two arrows lodged in its right knee prevented it from doing so.
The roar of pain deafened the area, but there was almost no one left to flee. The most cowardly were already flickering far away in the forest thicket. And finally, the creatures' leader turned around. It even seemed to me that its face held a semblance of childish incomprehension and surprise. The Nurgle leader was alone. Besides it and my squad, no one was left standing.
I drew my bowstring. The creature covered its head with a hand and, limping, rushed toward me. Five arrows, and the arm hung like a whip. Two more to the neck. Drawing my cleaver, I finished the monster with two swift blows.
[Notice] You have received 38 SP. (40/210)
And at last, I lowered the blade. The noise in my head stopped; the skill was fully absorbed. There's no better practice than a real battle.
[Notice] Your Rank F skill Bow Mastery has been upgraded to Rank E skill Advanced Bow Mastery. The specialization selection procedure has been initiated…
[Notice] Connection to the Server has been established. Player attributes are being checked.
[Notice] No internal energy source detected. A suitable specialization is being selected…
[Notice] You have been chosen for the School of the "Endless Despair of the Thal Depths."
[Notice] You have learned the style of the "Endless Despair of the Thal Depths" School.
This time, the process of absorbing memory from the depths of the System was different. The creatures who created this style were arachnids, but with humanoid bodies. Who would've thought that the System would react this way to the changes in my body? And the difference in handling the bow was mostly related to ancient rituals, like offering sacrifices and thanks to the gods of their ancestors. And of course, the philosophy of long-range combat, which completely rejected close-quarters fighting. I can't say this won't be useful in my life. But the lack of rich body and muscle memories was somewhat disappointing. And the history of this school's origin, which also arrived, made it clear just how long ago its last representatives vanished from our rainbow of worlds. The only thing that reconciled me to the System's choice and caused some excitement was the free Rank E skill.
[Notice] You have acquired the skill "Thal's Weightless Quiver" (1/5)
Rank E
Description: An area of altered space with a volume of 1 cubic cubit appears behind you. The weight of items placed inside is reduced by 10 times and is distributed evenly across the body. The more filled the space, the more life energy it requires.
A very interesting skill, but the cost is a cause for concern. And most importantly, it pairs well with the school's name. The principle behind this altered space immediately came to mind. A planted astral entity feeds on my life force, providing a semblance of a Bag of Holding in return. It seems very likely that all the skills in this school are tied to pain and suffering in one way or another. And no one asked for my consent. "Why do I need this?" I wondered, as I moved toward my squad, hatefully finishing off the bleeding Nurgles.
[Notice] You have received 11 SP. (51/210)
It might seem that I should have leveled up a different skill, like sword mastery. But there's no point in being fooled. Thinking the System had something mind-blowingly powerful waiting for me there would be a mistake. Given the absence of an internal energy source in my arsenal, there's no hope for anything of that sort. All these thoughts took no more than a minute, and I suspect my goblins didn't even notice my delay near the Nurgle leader's corpse.
[Notice] You have received 16 SP. (67/210)
I didn't finish off every single one; it would look too suspicious to my mages, or rather, my informers. Of course, they couldn't know that all the fallen were just wounded. So, greedily collecting SP from every corpse could arouse their suspicions, since they were also pretty good at counting.
[Notice] You have received 19 SP. (86/210)
I moved in a slight zigzag, picking off the highest-level ones, and those that lay on my path to them. Greed was, after all, a dangerous character trait.
[Notice] You have received 5 SP. (91/210)
…
[Notice] You have received 14 SP. (185/210)
In the end, by the time I slowly made my way to my squad, I had finished off ten more.
"Lower the barrier," I hissed painfully. "Mages, one healing each on me. The rest, collect SP first, then cut out the mana crystals."
Without waiting for them to obey, I hobbled across the field of corpses that thinly carpeted the entire space up to the forest. Blood stained the green grass. A few dozen mortally wounded Nurgles filled the air with moans and whimpers. My nine points of Intelligence allowed me to estimate the number of attackers. There were about 250 bodies here, both living and dead. Of course, even those I had not mortally wounded mostly died from blood loss, so I wouldn't be able to get SP from them. But the amount of SP would still be very impressive. One of the reasons for this was the Nurgle leader's belated command to retreat. Perhaps it just couldn't imagine such a swift defeat. But there's no reason to be surprised; after all, a Nurgle leader is not a trained strategist and not the giant of an otherworldly level from my dream.
The cool sensation of a healing spell passed through my body twice. But I continued to feign a severe injury. Limping on one leg was starting to become a habit. My soldiers moved slowly and began to check each body. Fear prevented them from rushing headlong to finish off the Nurgles. They cautiously prodded the bodies lying on the ground with their spears. All this time, they nervously glanced into the forest, constantly expecting a new attack. The goblins hadn't fully recovered yet and didn't realize how large the wave of creatures had been. Even a hundred would have been very difficult to repel. And no fireball would have helped against a scattered crowd.
[Notice] You have received 11 SP. (196/210)
I moved precisely toward the bodies I had personally struck. Those usually had only one arrow sticking out. I walked with a slight limp, trying to keep my distance from my warriors.
[Notice] You have received 16 SP. (212/210)
[Notice] You have reached Level 22 (2/220)
You have 1 free attribute point available.
[Notice] The 'level' parameter limit for the Minor Deceit skill has been reached. Upon your next level increase, the displayed level will automatically change to a value of 13.
I stumbled, not expecting such a message. Despite my high Intelligence stat, a minor detail like the Minor Deceit skill's display range being limited to 10 levels had completely slipped my mind. When I first got this incredible skill, I didn't even in my wildest dreams expect to level up so quickly. It was probably for this reason that I hadn't considered this turn of events. After all, 200 SP could have been spent on improving the Minor Deceit skill itself. Who could have expected the Nurgle invasion to be a real thing and not just the ramblings of drunken farmers? I thought the next chance to steal some SP would only come on the next mission to a different world, which might not happen until next year. Usually, all these reconnaissance and search missions yield about 100 SP for the entire squad. And today, I might collect close to 1000 SP just for my squad. I think many of the rookies will level up.
But of course, I shouldn't forget that for all the apparent ease of our victory, it was thanks solely to the Nurgles' recklessness. They shouldn't have attacked in an open area. If this had happened in a dense forest, even I would not have survived in such a tight crowd of creatures.
[Notice] You have received 14 SP. (16/220)
One of the rookies shouted loudly, rejoicing over his new level. The nervous tension of the battle began to dissipate. Meanwhile, I pondered the fate of the free attribute point and decided to hold onto it, as they say, for a rainy day. Right now, it was truly unclear if I would be able to officially earn a new level at all. It could take more than a year. And it might be necessary to raise my Vitality stat after all, using this very attribute point.
[Notice] You have received 5 SP. (21/220)
Glancing at the mages, whom Moresh and Uler had been left to guard, I noticed them whispering intensely to each other. And Tatalem So occasionally pointed a finger in my direction. It would have been difficult to notice, but my Eye of Darkness had a significantly wider field of view, which allowed me to see this pantomime. It was a shame, but even with 8 points in the Perception attribute, it wasn't enough to overhear their conversation.
[Notice] You have received 8 SP. (29/220)
Unlike the regular soldiers in my squad, who were completely absorbed in archery during the battle, and at the end, were even wielding spears, the mages could watch the fight as if they were in a theater. They were not taught to make decisions on their own as a matter of principle. A mage must focus on maintaining the barrier, and at that moment, they can't move quickly. But this doesn't stop them from watching what's happening around them from their positions. But if you can't be mobile, you can't objectively survey the course of the battle either.
This is how the division into different specializations came about. Rich aristocrats immediately realized that being under magical protection was much safer for their mortal hides. Therefore, from ancient times, they predetermined the path of mages for their descendants. And they left face-to-face combat to the less valuable members of goblin society.
[Notice] You have received 14 SP. (43/220)
So there it was. My spellcasters had apparently watched my accurate shooting a little too closely. And they were going to report this flagrant violation of the law either to Lurion Takul right now or upon our return to our home fortress, Zarem's Claw. And looking at their smug little smiles, I seriously doubted it would be any other way. The fact that their old Decurion's excellent shooting had saved their lives as well apparently meant nothing to them personally.
[Notice] You have received 11 SP. (54/220)
Knowing both of them, I needed to be ready for an inspection. After all, the reward for a goblin caught stealing SP is quite high. And judging by the satisfied looks on my mages' faces, they were probably already anticipating where they would spend such large bonuses.
[Notice] You have received 5 SP. (59/220)
I had no need to fear the Lurion. He simply couldn't have an advanced Appraisal skill.
[Notice] You have received 16 SP. (75/220)
However, back at our fortress, Miliurion Tarak almost certainly had an analog of Appraisal, and it might even be Rank D. Of course, he wouldn't personally deal with such a minor matter. There are specially trained officers for that.
[Notice] You have received 2 SP. (77/220)
Oh, even a first-level one turned up. I chopped it with my cleaver automatically, without even looking closely. It turned out this tiny Nurgle was only pretending to be dead. It distracted me from my unpleasant thoughts, but not for long.
There are also officers in our Lord's army who never leave the protected walls of the fortresses. These are usually the children of very influential and noble goblins. One of these officers is the head of the guards. It sounds impressive. But in reality, they are more involved in guard duty. For many years, they have performed more of a decorative function.
[Notice] You have received 14 SP. (91/220)
The guards' armor was all gilded and very ostentatious. It was absolutely impossible to fight in it. But strangely enough, to some merchants or ministers far from real battles, these soldiers represented the powerful force of our Miliurion.
[Notice] You have received 11 SP. (102/220)
So. The rumor is that this particular officer handles such slippery cases among subordinates. But this is still just my speculation. Maybe they'll take me straight to the main temple of the Great Anteros, and a senior priest will easily expose me. But I didn't want to think about that. I saw no way out of this situation for now. Of course, there was always the option of killing the mages. But that would also negatively affect the rest of my life.
Limping slowly and dragging my right leg, I continued to chop the still-warm Nurgle bodies with my cleaver. The field was covered in these creatures, like an endless carpet, and only at the forest's edge did the bloody pools subside. At this point, we hadn't even covered half the area. With these bleak thoughts, I continued to chop off heads and limbs, one after another. Meanwhile, my soldiers, with much more caution, were checking the Nurgle bodies for SP.
[Notice] You have received 5 SP. (107/220)
…
[Notice] You have received 14 SP. (171/220)
Realizing that I was already moving deeper into the forest, I finally came to and snapped out of my daze. I looked at my hands, then lowered my gaze to my feet. The entire exosuit was covered in a mixture of blood and mud. I raised the visor of my helmet, took a deep breath of the cold evening air, and looked at the squirming goblins of my squad. And I realized a simple thing: we were supposed to die today. And not at the hands of the wild Nurgles, but at the hands of Lurion Takul. The location of my squad was no accident. And the route through the dense forest thickets had been chosen by the senior officer. What could he come up with next, once he learned we had survived? Against this backdrop, the predatory smiles of my mages seemed especially naive. While they were building a clever plan behind my back, someone had already written all of us off.
After once more inspecting the Nurgle bodies on this field of death, I found no unchecked spots and decided I could finally rest. I sat down, leaning my back against a tree. I needed to eat, but I couldn't swallow a thing. And my thoughts returned to the Nurgle's Appetite skill. Of course, I had thought about learning it more than once, but I always concluded it was a bad idea.
After catching my breath, I decided to check the skill cards I'd collected today in my Bag of Holding. Another bunch of duds, but I didn't expect anything different. Just to check, I placed one of them into the Weightless Quiver. The card disappeared, and I felt it behind my back. So, I could truly know what was in the altered space. That was convenient; I would never be mistaken and find myself without arrows at the wrong moment.
Lost in thought, I didn't notice that my fighters had finished collecting SP and had begun gutting the corpses in search of mana crystals. This again made me think of putting a few stones into the sub-dimensional pocket. Ten of them disappeared behind me. But there were no noticeable changes. So I continued to rest, leaning against the tree, watching my soldiers work.
"Decurion, sir, we're finished," Chikir reported, running over to me.
I slowly got up and began to limp toward my mages. They had been sitting for a long time and were practically exhausted from idleness. Unlike Moresh and Uler. They were definitely happy with my order to stay and protect the spellcasters. It was no secret to them that this was a special kind of reward from their Decurion. They didn't have to spend nearly half an hour gutting the bodies of dead Nurgles in search of small magic stones. And this wait, judging by their satisfied faces, was not a burden at all.
"Leur and Tatalem So," I commanded, and the mages jumped to their feet, "one healing spell on me, each."
They immediately followed the order, but their faces radiated schadenfreude. Of course, they knew that this weak magic couldn't heal a serious wound. And each time, they were happy that their efforts weren't helping me. The only thing was, I thought Moresh had figured out my acting. His eyes flashed strangely, but his face remained expressionless. Or maybe I just imagined it. But it didn't matter. The important thing was that if I could continue to have healing cast on me this way, perhaps in a couple of months, my Vitality attribute would reach 5 points on its own. But it's not good to count your chickens before they hatch, as they say.
Chapter 16.1
Temporary Camp
Deep in the Ancient Territories of the Nurgles
Tonight, my squad was the last to arrive at the temporary camp of our assembled platoon. There, we were told some rather sad news. It turned out that on the western front, a squad had been completely lost. There simply wasn't enough time to come to their aid. They had been swept away by a wave of Nurgles. When the Lurion gathered a strike force of three squads, there was no one left to save upon their arrival.
Not only the rank-and-file soldiers but also some of the junior officers were in a sour mood. From their nervous conversations, it became clear that according to the map, we had to go even deeper into Nurgle territory.
Lurion Takul's mood, however, when my squad and I were handing over SP and trophies, was not at all sad. I would say the Lurion was more thoughtful and unpleasantly surprised. The reason for his surprise was no great secret to me. There was nothing to say. The Lurion carefully inspected each of my fighters. But he lacked the courage to look me in the eye. When I was handing over the SP to the storage device, I deliberately raised the visor of my helmet. I enjoyed looking at this cowardly, young goblin. Having roughly calculated the necessary amount of SP, I concluded that I only needed to hand over 71 SP. In the end, I was left with (100/220).
"Decurion Irchin, congratulations on the victory," Takul said quietly. "Your warriors performed well."
"Thank you, sir Lurion. There weren't very many Nurgles at all, there's absolutely no reason to be proud of such an insignificant battle," I hissed irritably.
"Your soldiers are talking about three, four hundred," he said, now more loudly.
"From fear, rookies always think there are countless hordes of enemies," I laughed with a gurgling sound. "We'd be lucky if there were even a hundred of the forest creatures. If it were otherwise, would we even be talking right now?" I finished the conversation in a completely cold tone and turned, intending to leave.
"Yes, you're right, Decurion, that's what would have happened," he said discontentedly, already to my back.
With that, our unpleasant conversation ended. The emotional churning of the young goblins at night passed me by. The soldiers shared their anxieties and fears about our further advance, eating hot porridge by the fires. I was more concerned with the thought of how I could eliminate the Lurion and all his fighters, but in a way that would look natural and, most importantly, not arouse suspicion among my own soldiers. And nothing worthwhile came to mind. All that was left to do was wait.
The next morning, I felt no discomfort from the items that had been in the Weightless Quiver all night. No increased hunger or other ailments. But the Lurion at the briefing aroused a whole range of negative feelings and emotions. He tediously explained his vision for our further advance into Nurgle territory. But judging by the officers' faces, they were already informed in advance, and this monologue didn't concern them at all.
On the fifth day of the advance, our sole senior officer came up with another original strategy. He admitted that moving in small, scattered groups would be dangerous. Therefore, he would combine his four remaining squads into one large formation. And my squad, which had shown itself in the best light in yesterday's battle, would move at a distance of two versts and lure a large horde of Nurgles to the main fighting force.
It was impossible to see the Decurions' glances, or the Lurion's eyes. They didn't lift them from the floor as he spouted this outright nonsense. Everyone was diligently studying their documents. But their tense hands remained on their weapons. They were apparently expecting an attack right here, in the senior officer's tent. After waiting for the instructions to end, I said in a cold, impassive tone, "Sir Takul, it will be done."
The goblins flinched and tensed up, but realizing that I was leaving the tent, they exhaled with relief. And that sigh said a lot.
Oddly enough, we didn't encounter any large hordes of Nurgles throughout the daylight hours. Of course, individual specimens appeared in our field of vision, but that was all. Perhaps the small number of forest massifs contributed to this, or perhaps after yesterday's rout, they decided to regroup and gather even more forces. But a large pack of wolves was a very unusual phenomenon in these parts. Predators usually divide territories and don't enter others' without extreme necessity. But more than 50 wolves suggested that the Zarem's Claw reconnaissance was doing a very poor job. And right now, we didn't know for sure what was happening in these forests at the foot of the mountains.
The creatures flickered once, then again half an hour later. They had no great reason to attack. We weren't so outnumbered that even wild animals wouldn't understand the futility of such an attack. But the thought that had occurred to me at their first appearance had been bothering me for a full hour. Wolves' instincts are very developed, and they can sense danger perfectly. But such a large pack should risk attacking, even if it's a strong but lone warrior. In the evening, realizing that they definitely wouldn't attack my squad today, I led the squad to a position that was as defensible as possible.
"Moresh, you're in charge. Wait for me until tomorrow morning," I hissed the order, turning away.
Meanwhile, I limped toward the forest. I had to play the part of an old and wounded soldier for almost an hour before the pack of wolves decided to try their luck. They flickered among the dense bushes for a long time, trying to encircle me unnoticed. Unlike Nurgles, they had a slightly different attack strategy. After surrounding the victim, the pack leader, the strongest of them, would deliver the first strike.
Illustration. The most treacherous predator of the forest.
An enormous wolf wasn't hiding behind its weaker kin. At the shoulder, it was only a cubit shorter than me. Its gray fur was already streaked with silver in places. Its gaze wasn't burning with excitement or a lust for blood. No, it was filled with apprehension, but not fear. One could even say a healthy dose of pragmatism was visible there.
The wolves didn't launch a swift dash. Instead, they slowly tightened the circle around me. When there was a little more than fifty paces left between us, the level 23 leader literally roared, and the whole pack echoed it. Their acoustic strike was a masterpiece. I was rocked and had to drop to one knee, clutching my head with both hands.
But the old leader clearly guessed that I was faking it. It seemed I was a terrible actor. He gave a low growl, and the entire pack began to slowly back away without taking their eyes off me. My young mages could definitely be jealous of such insight. How the leader knew its acoustic attack hadn't harmed me would remain a mystery. Perhaps the experience from a long life of hunting allowed him to detect the falsehood in my movements from the smallest details. Of course, I knew about this feature of their hunting, but the exosuit's fully enclosed helmet significantly reduced the effect of such attacks.
As soon as the wolves retreated, three poisonous needles shot from my right arm. I didn't get greedy and only shot at the leader. It flinched, trying to dodge, but could only slightly change the points of impact. One to the side and two to the thigh. A loud roar, and the pack took off, trying to save themselves. And they did it very skillfully.
I only had time to fire five arrows from my bow, two of which flew at the head of the pack. Another moment and there was no point in shooting further; the silhouettes were already flickering among the tree trunks.
Unbelievable self-sacrifice. It ordered the others to abandon him so the pack could continue to exist. Against the backdrop of cowardly goblins, ready to kill, sell, and do anything to stay alive, the behavior of these wild animals may not seem entirely rational. Yet their bravery cannot be denied, or perhaps their fearlessness in the face of death. Or maybe it was just this old wolf who was like that. Perhaps another leader would have sent its entire pack to slaughter in an attempt to save itself. But the poisoned needles and two arrows in the spine gave the large wolf no chance to disappear among the trees.
[Notice] You have received 46 SP. (146/220)
But three of the wounded had not yet lost their will to live and continued to try to escape from me. One, dragging its disobedient hind legs, left a heavy blood trail. A dash in its direction and my cleaver ended its life.
[Notice] You have received 14 SP. (160/220)
I had to seriously chase the next one. It was especially difficult not to lose sight of both remaining ones. So I wouldn't have to follow a blood trail for an hour later. This wolf was hopping on three legs; blood was profusely flowing from the fourth, and it was literally losing strength before my eyes. But the desire to escape was stronger than common sense. It should have stopped and launched one last attack. But that wouldn't have changed anything anyway.
[Notice] You have received 8 SP. (168/220)
But the last wounded wolf seemed to be a lucky one. The wound on its body was not fatal, and not too much blood was oozing from it. I ran after it for ten minutes. And even a couple of times, I wanted to abandon this thankless task. After all, the wolf's level was only three. But I remembered that I couldn't even get that kind of salary in a whole year. And with renewed strength, I rushed after the wounded animal. I never managed to catch it and chop it with my cleaver. When the forest became a little less dense, I was able to fire a couple more arrows. And then, I walked calmly up to the dead wolf. In anger, I chopped its head, splitting the skull in two. But I couldn't collect SP. This lucky one had caught the last arrow right in the back of the head. I hadn't felt such disappointment in a long time. To run at the limit of my strength—even beyond it—and this creature decided to mess with me one last time.
Infuriated to the core, I made my way back to my squad. And I'm running and thinking, "6 SP, how much can I buy for my home with that? It's more than enough for a thoroughbred riding aurochs." And this happens. "Damn it all." I continued walking, limping a little, cursing the damned wolf in my thoughts.