Then the breeze picked up and changed direction, blowing the air around him towards the wolf.
It sniffed once before snapping its head in his direction, red glowing eyes locking onto his. The creature let out a strangled howl that shook the leaves and made his blood run cold.
An instant later, it lunged.
Rob moved by primal instinct. He swerved around a tree, barely avoiding the blender of fangs and claws that sailed past him, hands fumbling for the hilt of his sword.
Once, twice, then three times it took before his trembling fingers managed to grasp the blade and pull it free, and even then he almost dropped it when the beast let out another horrifying wail of pain and yearning.
Can't go back into the woods, he thought, mind racing a mile a minute.
Wolf is there. Terrain too uneven. Disadvantage. Best bet is base camp. Will never outrun it. Have to figh—
The creature bounded around the tree in huge leaps, its warped bones creaking audibly. It stared him down, creeping forward for only a moment before jumping at him, slobbering jaws opened wide and hungry.
Rob didn't think. He didn't even aim. His body moved the sword, and it went where it went.
The sword carved through the wolf's midsection with barely a hint of resistance. Skin, flesh, and even bone parted casually in the face of the weapon which was now Rob's second-best friend. It damn near bisected the beast.
None of this did anything to halt the wolf's forward momentum or prevent it from clamping down its jaws on Rob's arm and tearing out a massive chunk of flesh before collapsing to the ground.
Rob's screeches of pain drowned out the wolf's piteous whimpers. He stared in abject shock at his arm, which was now much less of an arm—missing flesh, muscle exposed, and bone visible.
Blood was pouring out like a faucet.
He grasped it with his other hand and put pressure on the wound, manic laughter spilling out of his mouth, but his efforts were as effective as if he'd tried to plug up that very same faucet with a thimble. Blood ran free, because his whole hand could only cover half the wound, because most of his forearm was fucking gone and—
An instinct poked at his brain.
He was barely able to comprehend it considering what had just happened, but enough of his mind remained cognizant enough to follow its advice and open up his Character Sheet.
HP: 65 / 110
Stamina: 68 / 90
MP: 50 / 50
Status Effects: Bleeding (Severe)
He didn't have time to be exasperated at the Status Effect telling him what he already knew. With every half-second that passed, his HP ticked down a little bit more, creeping closer and closer towards 0.
Tick. Minus 1 HP.
Tick. Minus 2 HP.
I'm bleeding out.
That simple statement of fact snapped him out of his shock.
Rob pulled his tunic off as quickly as he could and wrapped it around the gouge in his arm, ignoring the ludicrous amount of pain he was feeling as he pressed down hard and kept it there despite the burning agony it caused.
He chanced a peek at his HP with the same morbid fascination of someone eyeballing a crashed car on the side of the road. The rate at which it was ticking down had slowed, but by an amount that was barely noticeable.
40 HP. Tick. 39 HP. Tick.
Rob laid down on the ground and put his arm on his stomach to keep it elevated. Blood continued to flow out of the wound and onto his chest, having already soaked his tunic from top to bottom.
He belatedly realized that the wolf was next to him on the ground, twitching and moaning, but if it had enough energy and spite to take a snap at him after nearly being cut in half then it fucking deserved the kill.
20 HP. Tick.
"Fuck this," Rob spat through grit teeth. "I'm not dying here. You think you can just send me here and literally throw me to the wolves, whoever you are, you piece of shit? Think I'm gonna take it laying down? No. Not in a million years. I'll walk this off in no time, and I'll find you, and I'll kick your ass. You hear me? I'm not dying here."
6 HP. Tick.
"YOU HEAR ME? I'M NOT DYING HERE!"
The wolf let out one final, piteous whimper, and stopped twitching.
Enemy Defeated: Frenzied Wolf
Reached Level 2!
5 Stat Points Gained!
First-Time Level Bonus: 5 Additional Stat Points Gained!
RARE Active Skill Gained!
Name: Do Not Go Gently (RARE)
Prerequisites: Vitality 10, go through a near-death experience, and exhibit the unyielding will to survive.
Description: When HP falls below 25%, double Vitality and the effectiveness of all defense and Vitality-based skills.
Duration: 1 Minute
Cooldown: 15 Minutes
A sudden rush of euphoria surged through his veins. Rob gaped at the litany of messages, wasting a precious moment where another tick transpired, before his mind went into overdrive.
He embraced the instinct in the back of his head—the instinct which had gone from poking him to shaking him by the throat—and did what he needed to do.
Do Not Go Gently activated.
Put 10 stat points into Vitality.
Passive Skill Gained!
Name: Tough Skin
Prerequisite: Vitality 20, take grievous physical damage at least once.
Description: Reduces physical damage incurred by 10%.
Passive Skill Gained!
Name: Regeneration
Prerequisite: Vitality 20
Description: Heals 10% of Max HP every hour.
Cool.
Rob looked at his Character Sheet.
HP: 104 / 210 (Temp HP: 208 / 420)
Status Effects: Bleeding (High), Do Not Go Gently (Time Remaining: 58 Seconds)
1 Vitality equaled 10 HP. 10 Vitality meant 100 additional current and max health.
HP was still going down. But there was a lot more of it now. And every now and then, it ticked back up.
Yeah. That would have to do.
Really tired. Everything fading. Darkness encroaching… no, not darkness. Sleep.
Guess I'll see if it worked by waking up again.