Uses remaining: 1/1.
The kids, five of them, came running up to Jason with the fearlessness of children.
“Are those things monsters?” one of them asked.
“Yes,” Jason told them. “You need to run back to the village.”
“Are you going to fight them?”
“Yes. You need to run back to the village.”
“Can we watch?”
Jason sighed, and dropped down to one knee.
“Look, everyone,” he told them. “I have an important mission for you. I need you to go back to the village and warn everyone about the monsters.”
He took five iron-rank spirit coins from his inventory, holding them in front of the children.
“This is a very important job,” he told them solemnly, “and I need some brave junior adventurers to help me. Do you think you can help?”
Jason smiled at the five eagerly nodding heads, handing them each a coin.
“Hurry up now,” he told them. “Warn everyone, fast as you can!”
As the kids sprinted away, Jason turned to look at the three shabs that were scurrying alongside the channel in his direction. They had emerged from the water much closer to the mountain than where Jason had landed, placing him comfortably between them and the village.
“Why didn’t you stay in the water?” he wondered. “Did getting belted down here by water give you a complex?”
Their sideways crabwalk was faster than they could manage moving forwards, but their injuries were slowing them down. Jason looked at the potion in his hand, which would slow him down as well. He wasn’t skilled enough that the extra agility would do him any good, so he drank it.
You have used a defence potion, hardening your skin and reducing your [Speed] attribute.
Until the remnant magic fully dissipates, consuming further defence potions will result in toxic side-effects.
He could feel his skin tightening, like he’d left it too long in the dryer. It felt like old leather as he flexed, restrictive but tough. He looked at the approaching creatures, wondering about the range of his spell. He could feel his abilities instinctively, realising that anything he could clearly see was a viable target. He fixed his gaze on each monster, chanting a spell for each.
“Your fate is to suffer.”
The inexorable doom spell would add more and more of any stacking effect on the victim. The shabs didn’t have any on them yet, but Jason would change that as soon as they caught up with him. He drew his dagger, he ran the blade across the back of his forearm, but it didn’t draw blood.
“Huh.”
He realised he should have done it before drinking the potion. He gripped the blade tightly in his fist and yanked it out, this time managing a shallow cut on his palm.
Weapon [Night Fang] has inflicted [Umbral Snake Venom] on [Outworlder].
You have resisted [Umbral Snake Venom].
[Umbral Snake Venom] does not take effect.
You have gained an instance of [Resistant].
Jason, swore, having forgotten that his dagger was poisonous. Luckily, it didn’t take effect. There was now an icon representing the resistant buff next to his mana and stamina bars.
“Not that I want to complain, but why didn’t the poison work?”
Combat Log
You have been afflicted with iron-rank poison [Umbral Snake Venom].
Ability [Sin Eater] gives you increased resistance to all afflictions.
You have resisted [Umbral Snake Venom].
Resisting an affliction has triggered ability [Sin Eater], granting you an instance of [Resistant].
Sin eater was one of the abilities Jason had awakened from a feast stone. Most of his planning and discussion involved his active abilities, while this passive power went largely overlooked. The sluggish pace of the injured shabs meant they were still some distance from him, so he had time to pull up the description.
Ability: [Sin Eater] (Sin)
Special ability (holy).
Cost: None.
Cooldown: None.
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%).
Effect (iron): Increased resistance to afflictions. Gain an instance of [Resistant] each time you resist an affliction or cleanse an affliction using essence abilities.
[Resistant] (boon, holy, stacking): Resistance to afflictions is increased. Additional instances have a cumulative effect. Consumed to negate instances of [Vulnerable] on a 11 basis.
“Not bad,” he said. “It’s a holy power, too. From the sin essence, no less.”
Jason glanced down at his hand, which had a line of blood but the wound had closed. The healing his familiar provided couldn’t swiftly regenerate the kind of impaling wounds he took from the shab, although thinking back, it may not have been pure adrenaline that kept him moving. A little cut on the hand, though, the familiar made short work of.
“Oh, come on.”
He put his dagger in hand and yanked it free again, reopening the wound.
Weapon [Night Fang] has inflicted [Umbral Snake Venom] on [Outworlder].
You have resisted [Umbral Snake Venom].
[Umbral Snake Venom] does not take effect.
You have gained an instance of [Resistant].
“I’m liking this ability,” he said as the number two appeared on the resistant icon.
He held his hand out, wounded palm pointed at the ground. Leeches started pouring out like water from the world’s most terrifying shower. By the time the pile was finished, the total volume of leeches was more than his entire body.
“How did you all fit in there?”
The pile had no way to respond. Jason intrinsically understood the nature of the familiar and knew there wasn’t anything like telepathic communication. He would have to command them verbally, although he wasn’t sure how that worked.
“Do leeches have ears?”
The pile said nothing.
“We’ll have to work out a system.”
29
That’s What Adventurers Do
The shabs were finally drawing close.
“Din-dins, Leechy,” Jason told the pile. It undulated slowly in the direction of the shabs. “I’ve got to come up with a better name.”
The approaching shabs hadn’t regrouped after their fall from the sky, so were coming at Jason individually. The first one gave up its side-shuffling when it spotted Jason, turning its shark head to face him. He had time to take a good look at the creature. A shark in a purple and red shell, with legs halfway between a spider and a crab. Above the mouth full of jagged teeth, it had tiny crayfish eyes, black orbs waving back and forth on short stalks.
“You certainly are creepy.”
As the first shab approached, it seemed to lock onto the leech pile in its path. It lunged with both pincers, which dug into the pile with little effect. Instead, the pile slithered over the pincers and up the arms. It started shaking its arms to get them off. Some were tossed away, others crawling over the shell in search of the gaps hiding vulnerable flesh. The remaining pile made for the creature’s legs, crawling up and all over it. Some leeches were squished between sections of shell, but more and more found something soft to sink their teeth into. The monster started shrieking.
[Sanguine Horror] has inflicted [Bleeding] on [Shab]
[Sanguine Horror] has inflicted [Leech Toxin] on [Shab]
[Sanguine Horror] has inflicted [Necrotoxin] on [Shab]
[Bleeding] already in effect, [Bleeding] is refreshed
[Sanguine Horror] has inflicted [Leech Toxin] on [Shab]
[Sanguine Horror] has inflicted [Necrotoxin] on [Shab]