Duskbound

Velik kept the monsters at bay for another few moments with [Phalanx] while he tried to figure out what to do. The first priority was removing the poison in his system, obviously, but getting through the store menus to buy the antivenom while in active combat was a risk. He thought he could hold out another minute or two while he finished the fight, then take care of it afterwards.

His next priority was the new addition. Unlike the other scorplings, this one was relatively small with a glossy black body and an oversized stinger. Something was different about it, and if he had to guess, he'd say it was specialized for stealth and the lethality of its venom. Maybe speed, too. Little bastard is hard to hit.

Unlike its bigger cousins, the new scorpling adeptly dodged Velik's strikes. Even with [Phalanx] working in conjunction with [Spear Warden] to hem it in, it still managed to keep ahead of him. He knew he could kill it in ideal circumstances, but with the poison burning through him and three other monsters all demanding his attention at the same time, the little scorpling was proving itself too fast to keep pinned down.

Velik shifted his strategy. Two phantasmal spears went to keeping the small scorpling away from him. The other two were split among the remaining three, and he focused his own weapon on getting a killing blow on them. It took about twenty seconds and dozens of exchanges, but he found an opportunity to use [Kinetic Charge] to slip his spear through the pincers of the middle one. It stabbed into the monster's mouth and past its teeth, twisting as he rotated his wrist to do maximum damage.

The system notification flashed through his mind, confirming the kill, and Velik jerked his spear back. With one of the monsters dead, he was quickly able to disable a second one. That left only two in fighting shape, which was apparently not good enough odds for the small one to keep up the fight. It broke off and tried to skitter down the tunnel, but there was no way he was letting it escape. The risk of it showing back up and stabbing him in the back again was too great.

At the same time, there was a strong temptation to let it run, finish off the last scorpling here, and then get his antidote from the system store. The pain had spread all the way across his chest and he could feel his heartbeat slowing down with each passing moment. It was harder and harder for his lungs to pull in air, so much so that he was getting concerned he'd pass out soon. If that happened, he didn't think he'd wake back up.

I'll hunt you down, he silently promised the retreating scorpling. All four of his phantasmal spears put themselves between him and the remaining scorpling, and he frantically called up his system menu to access the store. The antidote wasn't hard to find again, and a few moments later, he was dodging a pincer trying to clamp around his angle while it materialized in his waiting hand.

His spear was driven into the floor, the blade sunk deep into the fleshy coating, and he fumbled to remove the cork from the vial since he could no longer feel his other hand or anything else below the shoulder. Grimacing as he danced back, only his mind's control over [Phalanx] keeping the scorpling from rushing him, he tilted his head back and drank the liquid.

It would be nice if this had come with some directions. I'll feel real stupid after I'm dead if I was supposed to pour this into the wound.

[Apex Hunter] didn't have anything to say about him drinking it, though, so he was confident that was how he was supposed to use the antidote. It was too bad he didn't know exactly what kind of poison he'd been hit with, else he might have saved some decarmas narrowing down what he needed instead of grabbing the expensive all-purpose variety, but he wasn't about to scrimp on something he desperately needed to save his life.

Whether or not it was working was too soon to tell. The symptoms weren't subsiding, but they also didn't seem to be getting worse. It was a struggle, but Velik could keep fighting. He drove the scorpling back with a flurry of [Phalanx] strikes, then reclaimed his spear from where he'd planted it in the ground. With no other enemies left in front of him, he quickly killed it.

It took only a moment to finish off the scorpling he'd disabled earlier, then he spun in place and raced down the tunnel. Where did you go, you sneaky little shit?

* * *

Velik was fully aware that most monsters possessed animal-like intelligence at best, but that every now and then, something smarter came along. Those were the worst ones to fight. They were unpredictable and adaptable, the kind of monsters he preferred to kill in one clean blow rather than get dragged into a long, drawn-out battle with.

He suspected this scorpling was that kind of monster.

The [Night Vision] enchantment he'd been using to navigate did a decent job of things. It was certainly better than being blind. However, what he hadn't realized until he'd regained the ability to distinguish fine details was that scorplings were incredibly easy to track. They left little scratches in the floor with their legs, if only because the floor was covered in eight inches of skin. [Night Vision] didn't show those scratches, but he could see them by the light of [Phalanx].

The scorpling's trail was clear, and while Velik wasn't in good shape, physically, he was damn sure going to make sure he killed that monster. It wasn't just a burning desire for revenge, either. It had snuck up on him while he was fighting something else. He didn't want that happening again.

The prudent thing to do was probably to find a place to rest for half an hour while the antidote did its work. He'd drunk a healing potion as well, which had helped with the pain in his chest and sealed up the hole in his shoulder, but hadn't done anything to restore feeling in his arm. He could kind of move it now, but it was more like flopping it around than anything coordinated.

Retreat was the smart choice, but Velik didn't even consider it. There were too many advantages to killing the scorpling now while he could still track it, and too much risk to letting it live to ambush him again. Besides, it wasn't all that far ahead of him. He could finish this fight in the next two minutes and reevaluate after.

He came into a cross tunnel and paused to confirm the trail. In that second, while his eyes were scouring the ground, the scorplings made their move. Three of them, all clinging to the roof of the tunnel and hidden with [Stealth] or something similar, dropped down on him. Their tails flashed, stingers whistling through the stale air and ready to deliver their deadly payloads.

Velik disappeared from beneath them, and his spear took one of the scorplings through the middle, driving it into the wall. It was dead before the other two hit the ground.

[You have slain a burning blood assassin scorpling (level 31).]

Yep, that sounds about right. Damn thing tried to lead me into a trap.

He'd been wondering if there were more of them, and if so, when they'd attempt to ambush him. [Apex Hunter] helped a lot with figuring stuff like that out, and his pause had been deliberate to draw out the attack. Now that he'd finally got a hit on one of the assassin scorplings, he was pleased to see that not only were they smaller, but their armored bodies were much easier to punch through.

[Phalanx] flared to life, not as a light source, but as a cage to prevent the scorplings from scattering back into the dark. They tried to dart around the spears, but Velik cut them off, forcing them back toward him. Seeing no way out, one of the scorplings turned to scuttle toward him. Its tail reared up and forward, but it was no match for his speed.

Velik smacked the limb aside and drove his spear through the scorpling's body, right through where he assumed its brain was in relation to its mouth. Whether he'd hit it or not, the damage was severe enough to give him another kill notification. He pulled the weapon free and stepped past its corpse to slay the last of the three ambushers.

[Phalanx has advanced to rank 3.]

Huh. How about that? Looks like the best way to use this skill is similar to how [Shepherd's Cane] worked before it merged into [Spear Warden]. It's not really doing what I wanted from it, but at this point I'd be happy just to merge it and free up the slot so I can try again with something else.

With a bar of light from [Phalanx] guiding him, Velik walked away from the three dead assassin scorplings. The one who'd stuck him was still alive, and had no doubt gained a small lead in the time he'd been occupied killing its friends. That wouldn't last long, and he was wise to their tricks now. One way or another, it was going to die.