I loosed my arrow and it plunged into the side of creature’s neck, a spark sinking into an inky void. The Karinon howled.
I pulled another arrow free, but before I could get it to my string, the monster turned its gaze on me. I froze, the power of its glare shutting down every muscle in my body.
Status Effect: Terror of the Culling
Terror of the Culling: The fear of being chosen for death has settled into your limbs. All movement, skills, and access to mana are cut off by the power of the Karinon. Duration: 24 hours or until dismissed by the caster.
It growled, its hollow face somehow familiar, as if I’d seen it in the corners of my every nightmare. The Karinon’s eyes were so shriveled, I couldn’t see them, or perhaps they were simply gone. A patch of skin spread, wan and wrinkled, where its nose should have been, and its ears wrapped the side of its face, folded and segmented, almost like a bat’s but tattered and decaying. Its mouth was little more than a set of impossibly thin fangs.
You dare strike my holy body with the curse of the slut Citlali? it asked mentally. I’ll kill you and your wretched beast after.
Still locked in the spell the creature had cast on me, I stammered out a response with my mind. You won’t take the old man. I might die, but Quinn will remain.
The Karinon wheezed, its chest of striated muscle and bone seething in a perverted imitation of laughter. Your fear is delicious. I think I’ll release you so your beast will hear your cries before you die. Then she will know I am coming.
Distantly, I felt Pachi trying to speak with me, but it was as if I were underwater, cut off from everything by some impenetrable membrane. I fought the terror that held me, thrashing with my mind, but I couldn’t move an inch. I stared helplessly at the beast as it shoved against the sphere Quinn was holding, battering him against the wall and sending him to the floor in a heap.
The Karinon walked toward me, its head swiveling to one side and a black tongue lolling out to taste the air between us. My bow stood rigid in my left hand, an arrow in my right, locked in place a few inches from the string itself.
Then it released me, the freedom to move an act so shocking I nearly dropped my weapons. It registered the surprise in my eyes, and I quickly nocked the arrow and pulled back. The projectile flew at the beast, but it shifted, blurring its form and sliding around and toward me. Its fangs sunk into my neck, so deep that before the void of death took me, I felt my skull loll to the side in a slow act of decapitation.
My eyes shot open, a pool of heat and moisture becoming the first sensation I registered. And then the smell of blood, my own and others, came next. What was happening? I ran a hand up to my neck and found it ragged with wounds, but the bleeding was staunched.
Sitting up, I recalled the Second Chance skill I’d just acquired after upgrading my katana. I was alive then, and had twenty percent HP. It wasn’t much, but at least it seemed stable.
I looked around me, hoping to find the Karinon close by, but the inside of the shop was silent. Only the faded glow of Quinn’s protective spell still lit the inside of the building, though by the look of his small form, he was still unconscious.
A yelp and the flapping of great wings came from outside. Pachi!
I stood up, catching myself on the counter, still dizzy from my too-recent resurrection. I shook my head and triggered everything I had, hoping it would be enough. I stared at my abilities as they came into effect one at a time, hoping to ground myself. Pachi needed me.
Samurai’s Last Stand (Active): When activated, the user’s Health Regeneration increases by 400% and movement speed increases by 25%. Duration: 1 minute. Ability has a cooldown of 24 hours.
Blessing of the Bear (Active): Because you landed the killing blow on a Legendary creature, you have been given a special boon. When activated, this ability grows bone plates over existing armor. 80% of all incoming damage received is nullified. Ability absorbs up to 100% of total HP. Duration: 3 minutes. Cooldown: 2 hours.
Clarity of the Wild (Active): Calls upon the tranquility of living as one with the wilderness around you. Both player and companion gain +15% accuracy with attacks and +20% chance to land a critical blow. Duration: 2 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
As the final skill wrapped me in its embrace, I could feel Pachi, just forty or fifty feet away, also being affected. Her voice, frantic and desperate, called out to me. Hana! You are alive. Come quick! I cannot fight this monster alone!
I am coming, my friend. I am coming.
Leaving my bow where it lay, I drew both of my swords and charged from the weapons shop. I saw the Karinon trying to corner Pachi a dozen strides away and noted the long gashes that ran down the enfield’s ribs. She was seriously wounded, her HP almost halfway depleted already. A few brave soldiers stood and tried to take shots with their bows, and I saw a second arrow protruding from the Karinon’s back, just a few inches from my own, but the beast didn’t seem to care.
You are still close to death! Stay back until you are ready to strike! Pachi warned, then the edges of her wings
