Chương 3: First Blood

He decided to follow the treadmarks on the-'You know, how do they even have treadmarks? They sound like tanks but they have wheels… is it just because parts of them scrape against the ground? I'll just say it's because parts of them scrape against the ground from how inexpertly they're made.'' -ground for now. If he could lose them and find the wreckage at the same time, he'd consider it a victory.

The buzzing didn't cease, but his attention was taken up more by the strange, tingly feeling he got from holding the bat person, as well as their wide-eyed disbelief as they studied him. They were just as flabbergasted by his appearance; maybe more so considering the primitive clothing made them seem less advanced than humans had been. Perhaps they truly hadn't ever even fathomed the idea of an extraterrestrial.

The moment he considered their point of view, the strange tingling intensified, and he found himself once more stumbling as his body lightened by several pounds. {Corruption: 0 -> Corruption: 1}'What the-?' He didn't fall, but the ease with which he could run gave him a second wind, and the bugs that were previously gaining on him seemed to stagnate in their advance, just barely matching pace. When he glanced behind him, he saw them flinging themselves from wall to wall, bouncing around.

Focusing forward again, he did his best to adjust to the strange new sensation that seemed to pull his entire body upwards. It felt like he was leaping from one step to the next, crossing seven feet with each step where he should've only crossed four.

'I'm falling slower than I should… much like the bat person when they fell!

'That's it! That's why different alien species can exist here, because each of us is still subject to our planet's terrain. I still breathe the proper oxygen levels and am subject to the proper gravity, but hers are different, and so is the Mushki's!

'Somehow, I've stepped from mine into hers, at least a little bit. It doesn't feel like I'm falling quite as slow as they were, but I'm a half-step there.' It was a lesser form of what he'd consider magic, but magic nonetheless. * Despite the boon of antigravity, he found himself wheezing, his muscles weakening as he gradually slowed down. He wasn't the only one either. The bugs started to jump less, focusing instead on going in a straight line than wall-to-wall.

This meant they couldn't all attack him at once, but the singular bug that was behind him didn't lose ground as the others did. So he kept running. While he was faring better with exhaustion, this thing was faster than him, and since it could rest a moment between hops, it would eventually start to gain, but it was a single one. The others, that'd been going from wall-to-wall to keep him in view, were slowly falling away. If he could just put a bit more space between them… just a bit…

he might be able to kill this thing in a single surprise strike from the Mushki feather. After all, if it could easily cut through rock, it would probably cut through the armor of the insect. He knew he was being optimistic, but that's all he had. Panting heavily, he felt resignation when the car came into view. It was one of the medium-sized ones, around the size of a pickup truck; he was honestly surprised to see it not only upright, but in one piece.

The "Lifted" nature of its tires meant that there was just enough space for either him or this bat person to squeeze into; yet, if they did that, they'd be cornered, and he felt like the bugs wouldn't just go away- they'd be sitting ducks. He could kill one now, and maybe intimidate the others if he played his cards right. He was maybe a dozen feet away when he heard the bug hop again, letting out the buzzing of its wings that'd slowly grown weaker over the course of his run.

He wanted to get the bat person closer to the truck so they could hide, but this would perhaps be his best chance. Dropping the alien suddenly and making them yelp, he turned on a dime, running towards the monster. It was far enough away that he didn't catch it before it landed but, exhausted and surprised, it couldn't bring its full weight to bear before he was upon it.

He was only slightly better, slick with sweat, red in the face, gasping for breath and doing everything he could to not stumble The proboscis shot out, glistening with acid, the adrenaline in his body flared once more, roaring through his veins. Grinding his teeth, he could feel his body, weak from years of neglect, resist the rapid movements he was trying to make, but it was either move or die.

It felt like pushing through a mountain, but he squeezed out enough power that they obeyed, and his foot slammed into the ground, nudging him to the left ever so slightly, just enough that the bug's acid-covered appendage hardly grazed his shoulder. It left a faint searing, but he ignored it. The diamond-coated feather in his hands swung forward with the force of his entire body, every muscle dedicated solely to cleaving through the beast's chitin. And it did.

Far sharper than even he'd expected and with an adult man's weight behind it, he barely slowed in his run as the blade cut the bug in half, perfectly, across its entire body. He stumbled to a stop, throwing a glance over his shoulder to see the massive monster teeter, then fall over- its clear organs spilling out across the ground as if it were cracked like an egg. Panting, the only reaction he could muster was to rapidly glance wide-eyed between the feather and the corpse.

He'd known it was sharp, but not that sharp, and the bug… just like the bat, he felt that it had been lighter than he'd expected. He looked back at the bat person, noting the plain shock upon their face, then towards the tunnel, where the exhausted bugs drew closer. {Not all animals are from nightmare worlds such as Ishtar. The Nosferian you rescued and the Locapedes you now face are from a world that only formed life relatively recently that humans call Vinyard, a tiny planet that's coated in dense, dense jungles.} {As the Mushki's muscles are denser than yours by virtue of stronger gravity, yours are denser than theirs.}"So I didnt… need… run…?" {No, you made the correct choice for reasons I will inform you of after the battle. Also, its acid is more than capable of mutilation on its own, so do not believe yourself invincible.} He didn't waste breath on a response, simply standing ready as the remaining bugs leapt menacingly towards him.

Just from how fast they were moving, he could tell they were just as tired as he was. Contrary to what he hoped for though, they did not even flinch seeing their comrade dead on the ground, coming at him with a single-minded dedication to kill him. The first got closer, and his vision narrowed. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. He charged.

This one didn't even use its proboscis, simply lowering its head to ram him with the spikes on its front- a horrible mistake when he swung his sword upwards, cleaving halfway through its body. He stepped back as another came to his side, but he couldn't make it far enough, and was caught off guard as the spikes dug into his left arm with enough force to break the skin, but not his bones. He stumbled, but it could not make him fall. They were barely fifty pounds, if that.

It lashed out with its acid, trying to take a bite of him, but he cut off the appendage easily. Dropping his sword, he grabbed it by the horns, roaring as he lifted it into the air and slammed it down on his other side, directly into the path of another. Digging his heels, the other was dazed when he didn't budge an inch.

Diving low from one landing overhead, he snatched his sword and gouged a chunk from the one that landed behind him, then let out two quick strikes against the bugs that he'd crushed together, hopefully killing them Another crawled over the corpse in front of him, and he dodged to the side as it spit acid, droplets landing on his face with a sizzling pain. Cutting through its side as he moved past, he unwittingly washed the acid away as clear blood washed over him.

He'd struck at an odd angle, causing his sword to be stuck in the chitin. Left with no other choice, he swung the entire thing down on the next challenger like a sledgehammer, smashing its back half and once more parting its body with ease, but not before taking multiple spikes on his ribs and chest- one even puncturing a shallow hole through and into his neck.

He coughed up blood as it began to spill down his trachea, but he did not stop moving, shoving the two corpses off him, he charged forward, further away from the bat person, not even noticing the bug that'd bypassed him completely, going for the alien but turning around as it saw him "Run away." The next two came forward, one on both sides. His right arm lashed out, cutting into it and making the Locapede flinch.

Seeing the opening, the one on his left leapt forward- so close, he could barely react as it lowered its head, knocking him back a few feet as it dug into his flesh. The one on his right was preparing to spit acid, and his fraying mental state knew that he couldn't occupy the sword. Instead, his arm raised overhead of the bug caught in his side. He could've sworn he'd seen fear as the elbow came down between its eyes, crushing its skull to dust, making it go limp even as he felt something in his arm break.

The proboscis of the one on his right made a whipping motion, green spittle going for Aaron's face, but he was prepared, and swung the flat of his blade, knocking almost all of it- Something rammed into his back and he let out a wheezing gasp as several spikes wedged themselves between his ribs, scraping against his lungs in a symphony of agony that he blinded him for a moment. His let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain as the horns behind him and some of the acid from the other monster coated his side.

He refused to freeze. He refused to die. He'd only just started to live. Gritting his teeth, his body twirled, sending the monster behind him rolling as he lunged forward cutting through both of the ones he could see in a single motion- crippling the one he'd forced onto its back by removing several legs, and killing the one that'd just spit acid on him by halfway decapitating it. He whipped around, seeing two more, but they were not charging as the others had. Standing back, they buzzed, but didn't move yet.

He coughed up another mouthful of blood, giving them a sardonic grin. The two bugs flickered their wings one last time, then started to run away. The alien behind him immediately started letting out panicked squeaking, and it didn't take an expert to know they were screaming for him to not let the bugs go, as they were likely going to call for backup. He was tired. He couldn't breathe properly with the hole in his neck, he was covered in acid, and his lungs were slowly filling with blood. But for some reason…

he knew he would not die. That this would not be enough to kill him. Not yet. Letting out a gurgling roar, he charged forward, running down the two fleeing bugs like a charging bull. Their weak hops made them slower than him, their exhaustion catching up to them faster than his did to him. The first one he caught up with, he barely managed to clip its wing and sent it careening off into the wall. Without bothering to finish it, he gutted the other mid-hop, causing a spray of clear blood to rain down.

It landed with a crash, its shell fully cracking as it twitched weakly. He walked towards the one whose wing he'd sliced through, finishing it off with ease as it wasn't even able to upright itself before he arrived, stabbing into it mercilessly. Twelve. Twelve of them slain. {Now that you are not in combat, I will inform you that had you not run, the Locapedes would have gone around you and slain the Nosferian before you could kill them all. By making it more difficult to reach the Nosferian, they decided to handle you as a threat, then go for the Nosferian afterwards.} Too exhausted to really respond, he simply grunted to confirm he'd heard. It was good to see that his efforts hadn't gone to waste, and he didn't tire himself out for no reason. He turned back to where he'd left the bat person- the Nosferian if VoN was to be believed- but found them already advancing toward him.

Standing at their full height, he realized that they towered over him, maybe two feet taller; he hadn't noticed when they'd curled up tightly, but their height came at the cost of almost all muscle mass, causing them to be an incredibly lanky individual, with the exception of their legs: they had some powerful looking leg muscles. He tensed slightly, but found that he was able to read their… body language?

He was able to recognize features of them slightly, which confused him when they were very foreign to his eyes before. Either way, he could tell that they were concerned for him, not aggressive, so he let them approach. Standing at an arms length, they let out a series of squeaks and whistles. He noticed that they kept their left wing, the one that'd been cut up, close to their body, and that it was still bleeding.

Ignoring his analysis, their uninjured wing reached out as they squeaked sadly, and he noticed that there were six finger-like appendages halfway down the wing, on what might be the "Elbow" bone of a bat. Confused, he let it happen as they simply pat his head then, emboldened, walked closer and wrapped him in their wing; he made sure to keep his sword pointed down so as not to hurt them, even if he found it halfway embedded into the floor.

They continued to chitter sadly, much to his confusion, and only when he let out a cough- one of blood- did he realize that they thought he was about to die, that he'd given his life to save them. Honestly, if he were any other human, they might've been correct, but he felt something… strange. An odd sensation that he'd never felt but was… nostalgic for, like seeing the face of someone familiar, but knowing factually they were a stranger- they simply resembled someone you once knew and couldn't remember anymore.

Deep within him, he felt the image of a dandelion flash, its roots extending through him. It'd done this with his every wound, and even now, the cuts across his skin bled no longer. The acid did not hurt anymore, and the hole in his trachea didn't leak into his throat. Onward Evermore, the "Primary" he'd been given, was keeping him alive, patching up the issues as they came. He wasn't invincible, but he'd been inflicted with a series of relatively shallow punctures.

It seemed that his ability didn't let him die from "Slow" afflictions like a series of papercuts or a simple hole or two in his lungs. Okay, not that simple, but he felt like they were tiny holes. He recalled its description again:"Able to survive past what others may consider lethal."

'Indeed, very helpful. Yep, it's official, I love it.' However, he was the only one with an ability that would keep him alive, and the Nosferian was actively bleeding out. He didn't know if that would kill them, but he couldn't just let them pity him into self harm. He was fine, and they needed medical assistance- perhaps from the first aid kit he'd left behind? He tried to pull away, but they insistently and aggressively hugged him.

Pressed into their chest, he froze as he made an alien discovery that many across the ages would be jealous of. Breasts were a convergent trait in evolution, and this Nosferian was a woman. Reddening immediately, he started to squirm much harder, still careful not to hurt her, and she was forced to let go considering his much more powerful body. She squawked a bit and gave him some room, just enough for him to say "I'm okay! I'm going to live!" and give her a thumbs up.

Now that he was looking for it, hidden under her tattered leathers he could see more feminine traits, but they were only vaguely analogous to human women, and slightly ruined by how her face was quite grotesque, and she was completely bald. He just knew some humans out there would be tripping over themselves to date her though… No matter what he thought of her attractiveness, he was still a bit flustered by the interaction, and his insistence on separating seemed to befuddle her a bit.

He took the lead and began walking towards the car. It appeared perfectly intact, and he wanted to both understand why, and see if he could turn it on. She caught up to him easily and continued fretting over him, which he responded to like an unruly cat, but never really put up a fight. Eventually, she got the memo that he wasn't going to stand around hugging, so she settled for putting her "Hand" on his head and continuously petting him He sighed and accepted that was the best he was going to get.