Free Web NovelChapter 8: Chapter 8: a dog fight
Night could feel the strange energy slowly recovering inside as he sat cross-legged on the damp forest floor and fell into a deep meditation.
[Energy Value (EV): 0.6]
It took him an entire minute of profound concentration just to recover a measly 0.1 EV.
After ten full minutes of sitting in the dark woods he opened his eyes briefly and mentally checked his glowing blue screen again.
[Energy Value (EV): 1.5]
Night realized with a slight frown that the energy he generated was also actively being consumed just to anchor his newly awakened existence and keep his connection to the Nightmare Domain stable.
The passive drain meant he would never truly fill his reserves in a short while if he just sat there doing basic meditating.
He closed his eyes again and intensified his meditation by sinking into a much deeper state of absolute stillness that he had mastered in his past life.
He pushed away the sounds of the forest and the cold dampness of the earth until there was nothing left but the quiet void of his own mind. He soon noticed his internal domain reacting violently to this profound shift in his consciousness.
He was slightly confused by the sudden internal turbulence but he allowed the dark fog to do its thing as he started to feel his physical body become incredibly light.
He sensed his own awareness expanding outward like an invisible net sweeping through the dark trees and the heavy underbrush. The moment his senses expanded to match the vastness of the forest his energy recovery rate suddenly spiked with explosive momentum.
His EV started to soar rapidly from 2.5 to 3.5 and then 4.5 until it reached a solid 6.5 in barely a single minute of deep focus.
[Energy Value (EV): 6.5]
Wow in just one minute I recovered five whole points of EV he thought as his tiny heart fluttered with genuine excitement over discovering such a powerful cheat code for his survival.
But that innocent excitement vanished instantly when he suddenly felt a sharp aggressive disturbance in the ambient mana flowing through the woods and he abruptly stopped his meditation.
Because his senses had just expanded so far into the wilderness he could distinctly feel several highly hostile presences rapidly approaching his exact location through the dark foliage.
Opening his eyes he saw that Death was standing entirely too close to him and looking down at him in a very weird and intense way.
His own height was only around 120 centimeters but the terrifying skeleton was almost double that size at an intimidating seven feet tall so the boy had to strain his neck quite a bit just to look up into her empty eye sockets.
"I sense something coming here," Night said politely with a hint of genuine guilt. "I am sorry I think I attracted them." ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Death understood him immediately and regained her terrifying grace as she stepped away and got into a highly defensive position right in front of him.
Two swirling dark portals opened up out of thin air a second later and Eve and Lilith stepped out of the shadows without needing any explanation.
It was almost as if the two could literally see the outside world directly through his soul because they both immediately got into aggressive fighting stances the moment their metal boots hit the dirt.
Lilith and Eve were both about five feet tall which made them a full two feet taller than him. Standing behind them in the middle of the dark woods he looked exactly like a tiny big shot flanked by three terrifying supernatural bodyguards.
He looked up at the towering skeleton and asked "Did I cause some massive external disturbance while meditating towards the end?"
Death unwillingly nodded because she knew the chances of her getting to peacefully watch him meditate like that again were now very unlikely but his immediate safety obviously took priority over her silent observation.
Night thought sadly he really did cause a massive disturbance and essentially act like a glowing beacon.
He heard the loud crunching rustle of dead leaves and saw five massive four-legged creatures that looked vaguely like mutated dogs approaching them from the shadows.
The beasts were massive with crazed hungry eyes while saliva dripped constantly from their overgrown snapping jaws.
Death went ahead without a second of hesitation as the largest dog went entirely mad after sensing a delicious magical snack and jumped directly at the skeletal vanguard.
Death took the brutal bite head-on and a sickening sound echoed through the clearing as her bone visibly cracked under the crushing force of the mutant dog’s jaws it didn’t help that another dog was behind it.
Right behind that initial clash Eve and Lilith were violently jumped by two more beasts while the last one dogs cleverly tried to circle around the vanguard to close in on Night from behind.
Death instantly realized that her tiny fragile master was about to get attacked so she violently ripped her arm free and actually grabbed the massive dog currently chewing on her bones.
She hurled the heavy beast across the clearing and threw it directly at the dog currently battling Eve just to disrupt the enemy formation.
With her hands free Death smoothly slammed the other attacker into the dirt in a single quick flowing motion. Despite being entirely new to actual combat she moved as if she were born to fight on a battlefield.
She proceeded to mercilessly target the head of the pinned dog and slammed her bony fist into its skull twice with earth-shattering force until the beast went completely limp.
[You have slain lvl 1 Berserk Hyena, + 10 exp]
Without pausing for even a second she hurried across the clearing to help Lilith.
Before Lilith could fully engage her own target Death grabbed the limp corpse of the dog she had just killed and threw it violently at the beast closing in on the metal brawler.
Lilith took complete advantage of this brutal distraction to move much closer to Night to keep the final flanking dog completely at bay.
The two dogs that had been tangled up near Eve quickly got back to their feet and seeing one of their pack members die to the skeleton in such a terrifyingly short amount of time they became completely crazed and jumped at the blue-sparking robot in a synchronized frenzy.
Eve was now completely flanked and overwhelmed by three massive dogs snapping at her metal body.
She was getting desperate as the heavy jaws bit down on her armor but she refused to back down an inch because she could see Night trying to come closer to free her.
She knew exactly how incredibly weak and fragile his physical body was right now so she made a desperate tactical choice to protect him.
Eve forcefully pushed her internal reactor to the absolute limit and covered her entire metallic body with a violent explosion of crackling blue static electricity.
The three dogs were instantly thrown off her body as they felt their jaws go completely numb and their muscular bodies freeze up in agonizing electrical paralysis.
Night was feeling absolutely terrible because Eve and Death had both been bitten and visibly damaged just to protect him.
He had been amazed at how efficiently Death finished off the first dog and swiftly moved to help Lilith but his heart dropped when he saw Eve being violently ganged up on by three massive beasts.
He also saw the system notification but couldn’t care less. He instinctively ran forward to help her even if it meant getting severely injured because his mind was racing and he absolutely didn’t want his precious friends to be hurt so much on his behalf.
But just as he stepped forward he saw Eve throw the beasts off with her massive electrical burst and he suddenly felt the world spin violently around him.
The massive energy drain from her innate ability hit his core like a physical punch causing him to feel incredibly dizzy before he lost his balance entirely and fell backward into the dirt as he tripped over a tree root.
[Energy Value (EV): 1.5]
As one of the remaining dogs recovered its senses and lunged directly toward Lilith before they could properly engage Death came running in from the flank like a flaming freight train.
Lilith pounced on the charging dog from the front and held it firmly in place as she paced her movement perfectly to slam her heavy metal knee directly upward before the beast could bite her faceplate.
Death arrived from behind a fraction of a second later and delivered a devastating skeletal kick squarely into the dog’s stomach.
With Lilith’s unyielding grip holding the creature in place the combined impact instantly shattered the beast’s spine and finished it off for good.
[You have slain lvl 1 Berserk Hyena, + 10 exp]
Both of the terrifying summons turned to run toward the remaining paralyzed enemies but they suddenly saw Night fall backward into the dirt.
All three of his loyal companions instantly realized that Night was dangerously low on internal energy and without them anchoring the frontline his death was an absolute certainty in this apocalyptic forest.
So instead of rushing over to comfort him both Lilith and Death rushed forward alongside Eve to ruthlessly execute the three paralyzed dogs still twitching on the forest floor before the electrical stun could wear off.
The moment his EV hit a critical 0.5 they were finally done with the brutal fight and the clearing grew silent except for the heavy thuds of the dead beasts.
[You have slain lvl 1 Berserk Hyena (x2), + 20 exp]
[You have slain lvl 2 Berserk Hyena, + 20 exp]
Eve and Lilith didn’t wait for a command and immediately dispersed by themselves into a flurry of dark black sparks to save whatever energy their master had left leaving only Death standing tall in the woods to protect Night from any further threats.
[Energy Value (EV): 0.5]
"Back to where we started" Night mumbled with a tired little sigh as he looked up at the sky from the damp forest floor.
