A grand side Quest

I took a minute to catch my breath before moving. With the adrenaline and exertion gone, the cold was getting into my bones again, so I could not sit there for too long. Not that I wanted to stay here any longer than needed.

At least the rain had stopped and clouds started to lighten, making the visibility go from nothing to a sliver more than nothing. I put my hand to my cheek and found that the gouge was mostly gone. The inside of my mouth felt clean and the foul taste of blood was no longer there. This world might be nasty, but this ‘Accelerated regeneration’ was amazing. Heck, back home the wealthy would have killed for something like this.

Based on how my father only has a ‘minor healing’ spell, I had a feeling this was also overpowered compared to what people got here as well. I was quite sure I should not be able to have gotten it at my age and lack of level. I had a feeling the system was stacking the deck in my favour. Don’t get me wrong, I was not going to complain or even comment to the system about it. If he was going to tell me to save the world, he had better help out. I did not want him to have a reason to remove it and make my life harder and more painful.

I am quite sure I would have died tonight without it to that very first goblin scout. That gouge it had repaired would have left a permanent scar, months of healing and probably a skin graft. All gone like it was never there in less time than it took me to kill this goblin.

I got up, looked around cautiously, and then searched the body. I was not at all surprised to find another coin pouch filled with junk. I added it to my growing collection—who knows, maybe there would be a gold coin in there somewhere. I looked at the face and was not sure if it was male or female. I looked down and saw a necklace that I used ‘identify’ on, and it showed up as (Magic Charm: Sight Diamond). I could not use any charms, but it might be worth something, so I added it to my bag of junk. While picking up the necklace, the goblin did look to be more female-shaped up close, but I was not going to investigate further, and I got up to leave.

A mental pull caught my attention again. The nightstalker was close. I momentarily froze in fear, unsure of what to do next. I then decided the best option was to get to the hole and started moving slowly back to the wall. I was going to hide—there was no way I was taking on this thing. About halfway back, I heard crunching, or was it chewing, behind me. I looked back and saw nothing. I continued towards the wall and felt the nightstalker circling around me.

Something whooshed through the air, headed towards where the nightstalker was. I felt the nightstalker rapidly move away from me. I took this chance to run and dived for the hole. I felt it moving up. It must be climbing the wall, I realised. I would not be safe on the other side if it climbed over the wall. I backed out of the hole and then turned around, going feet first. My plan was simple—I was going to stay in this tunnel for the rest of the night, but I wanted to be facing away from the city in case any more goblins came around so I could be prepared.

It was not in there long before I felt the nightstalker move back down the wall and head off in the direction of the forest. It seems like it was not interested in me and was moving on to other things. I hoped the elves would be okay. I had a growing unease that that thing is the reason I did not see any other elves around.

I lay there in the mud as water flowed past me. Letting me know with freezing detail the point of this little hidey hole I was in. You don’t put a hole in a wall unless there is a good reason for it. It had been raining hard most of the night and a small stream of water had started to flow into it. Perhaps the goblins had found a way to block the water. No, that did not make sense. The water was flowing from behind me, coming from inside the city.

I had been sitting there for an hour and fifteen minutes. I know this thanks to the quest's helpful countdown timer. Maybe there was an easier way to keep track of the time. “System, does the interface have a clock?”

[You are not eligible for that at this time.]

I rolled my eyes. Fine then, I will keep exploiting the quest countdown for this. I was now cold to the point where if I did not move, I would probably get hypothermia if I did not already have it. Not to mention the water was starting to rise and I could just as easily drown. It was completely dark again and I could hear the rain picking up some more.

I started to crawl forward as I would need to turn around outside as I was not confident enough to crawl backwards out into the city side. No sooner did I get to the exit when I felt the strong mental pull of the nightstalker headed back towards me at a very rapid pace.

I inched backwards.

The warm breath bathed my face—filled with the stench of fresh meat. Something started batting the tunnel walls, scratching against it. It was Gorn the nightstalker. My hands were so numb from the cold I could hardly tell I was gripping the dagger.

I took a chance and struck out in the dark towards the paw. It connected as the dagger and my hand were smashed against the wall. The dagger pommel lit up bright as the sun. It burned my eyes through my closed eyelids. A yelping hiss noise came from Gorn that stung my ears as it vibrated in the tiny hole. The light reduced to that of a bright flashlight.

I opened my eyes but was still mostly blinded as my eyes had not yet fully adapted. I was unable to pull my hand back as it was pinned to the wall with his claw jabbing dangerously into my wrist, but the dagger had lodged deeply into his paw. It was not by my might that he was stabbed, but his own.

One wrong move and I would lose my hand or I could bleed to death.

My hand was still numb from the cold, but a sharp pain was breaking through. I wondered how I could make use of the dagger jabbed in its paw to free my hand. It continued to make painful whines as its forked tongue flickered about in the air through nasty fangs. Yet it kept its paw surprisingly still.

Its eyes were still closed from the light. I reached for the dagger with my other hand and gripped it with that one as well. “System, can I take essence from the dagger without draining it completely so it remains a light?”

[Yes you can, would you like to? Yes / No]

“Yes” I stated as I twisted the dagger. The light dimmed and then grew brighter and dimmed. The beast howled again and pulled his paw away, tearing a chunk out of my wrist with it causing it to begin to furiously bleed into the water. This was bad, very very bad.

I tried to crawl backwards, but the mud and water were now so bad I could not wiggle backwards. At least not while holding my wrist in an attempt to stop the bleeding. I had no choice, I would be dead in minutes if I stayed in here. It was into the lion's den for me.

I used water step to push myself forward. The dagger had come out of Gorn’s paw and was just in front of the busted-up grating. I put the dagger in my mouth and awkwardly crawled out of the hole, keeping my good hand over my bloody wrist as much as I could while doing so.

Gorn was backing away from me in a defensive posture with his eyes still closed, seemingly unaware of just how easy of prey I was. Its injured paw had turned grey and was curled up towards its chest. It looked like a cornered cat with its back raised, with menacing spikes sticking out of its back. It might be injured but it was more deadly than ever.

Energy was flaring through me from the dagger. “System, can I expand my skills?”

[Yes, ‘foot wetter’ and ‘Accelerated regeneration’ are now eligible for upgrading. Would you like to upgrade one or both of them?]

“Both of them.” I said while staring at the nightstalker who had not moved from its spot. It was like it was waiting for something.

I felt my skills expanding. Instinctively I felt greater control over them and had an idea. I cautiously knelt down and put my bleeding wrist to my foot and ever so gently with ‘foot wetter’ pulled the water out from the escaping blood causing it to clot. Then ‘Accelerated regeneration’ took over gently working towards holding the wound together so it could begin the slow process of healing it. Slow being a relative term.

Just as I was standing back up. The nightstalker pounced.

The next few moments were a blur. I tried to sidestep out of the way with ‘Water step’ but failed. The paw landed on my leg pinning it to the ground knocking me down. The only good thing was its jaws missed me and got a mouth full of mud.

The dagger fell from my mouth, but I was able to grab it with my off hand after it had landed on the ground.

Its claws started to tear into my leg and its tail spiked me right in the chest. Just missing my heart and puncturing a lung. At the same time, I plunged the dagger into its neck. I screamed barely able to make words roll out of my mouth. “Take all its essence.” Everything went dark. The pommel's light dimmed faster than it could recover. All the essence it pulled went to ‘Accelerated regeneration’ but even that failed to keep me from shortly passing out as a final thought rumbled through my mind. Why do they always go for my lungs?

I awoke in extreme pain. I don’t think I was out very long. Well maybe I was—the rain had stopped again. There was a big dead nightstalker beside me with a massive paw holding my leg down and oh did I forget to mention its spiked tail nailing me to the ground through my lung! I was shocked that I was not dead and monster food. The only thing I could see was the bright message from the system taking up my vision.

[Congratulations you have defeated Gorn a level 12 nightstalker. XP received. Your stats have improved. You have already absorbed all its essence. You should be dead now and will die soon if you don’t get that lung looked at. The chances of you beating that were practically 0 and yet you managed.]

[Quest Complete:

Kill the named nightstalker known as Gorn:

Reward: Rare Elven Racial Trait: Night vision.

Difficulty: Ultra Hard. You will die a slow and painful death.

Quest bonus: The ability to sense the general location Gorn is located for the duration of the quest.

Requirements: Solo Quest

Time remaining at quest completion: 1 hour and 57 min]

I blinked away the message and it became day. Was it morning already. No that was not the sun in the sky trying to poke through thick clouds, but a sliver of the moon. I could see everything as if it were a bright summer’s day. No, it was more like a bright overcast day without shadows.

I tilted my head only to find my hand was still clenched to the dagger stuck to the neck of the nightstalker in a death grip. I could not feel my fingers. All I could feel was the burning pain in my chest. Breathing was excruciating and talking was impossible so there was going to be no asking the system for anything. Not that I could think of what to ask it that would help.

My big mouth thinking this was funny got me into this mess and I don’t think it would get me out of it. I was not long for this world—what good was the ability to see in the dark if I was only going to die a horrible painful death. I never intended to actually go after the beast after all. I should have just stayed in bed and let the grownups deal with this.

I considered pulling the spike out of me, but that would just let my blood flow free and it was not like I could use my ‘Foot wetter’ to clot that wound. Not to mention I don’t think I can move my left arm. I tried to take my hand off the dagger and it did not move. Panic shuddered down my spine. Great I am about to be a dead cripple. A morbid laugh tried to slip out causing even more pain.

I looked past the nightstalker towards the city wall and saw a long blood streak rolling over the side of it. That told a story I did not want to know. I tilted my head the other direction and could make out the forest line. A pack of goblins riding massive wolves were standing just behind some bushes. This night just keeps getting better.

They were looking around, but none were looking directly at me. I could see them perfectly, could they not see me? I was in the middle of an open field with a dead monster on me. Oh… I probably looked dead and not worth approaching.