Black_Paladyn
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ROA: Ch 3 Ambush
🕑 Added 2021-07-01 17:41:32 +0000 UTCAnnabelle jumped to Thane's side as he scanned the tree line for something, "How do you know someone's there?"
Thane shrugged, "Sneak around in the shadows long enough, and you gain a sense for these kinds of things." Annabelle didn't ask any more questions, more focused on keeping her heart in her chest.
When she just thought Thane was pulling her leg, he fired his gun. The gunshot made Annabelle scream and cover her ears. But after the gunshot, she heard something much scarier.
A low hiss came from a few feet away, and Annabelle looked up in time to see a large snake slither out from the bushes. Incredibly the snake was missing an eye from a fresh wound caused by a bullet.
Annabelle looked at Thane in wonder before he pushed her away, "Get back. I can't keep my eye on the both of you." Falling back on her hands and knees, Annabelle watched as Thane moved in front of her drawing the snake's attention.
"Come on, you ugly bastard, I'm the one who took your eye." Seeming to understand Thane, the snake hissed before springing at Thane, soaring through the air faster than a bullet.
Unflinching, Thane fired his gun three times before rolling away. Two more bullet holes appeared in the snake as it landed on the ground whipping around to face Thane again.
Thane switched his gun to his left hand with a smile on his face before reaching behind his back and pulling out one of his knives. In return, the Snake hissed, opening its mouth and flashing two large fangs.
Thane could see the venom dripping from the natural needles. Sighing, Thane squared his stance and fired off two more times. Both shots landed, and the snake flinched before falling to the ground dead.
Walking over to Thane, Annabelle gave the corpse a wide birth, "Are you okay? I pushed you hard there." Shaking her head, she couldn't believe how calm Thane was acting, "I was about to ask the same of you. How can you be worried about me!"
Thane smiled, "Because I was protecting someone, it feels good." Annabelle exhaled in relief, "I guess as long as your okay."
"I'm more than okay. We actually can eat something other than dried rations tonight." Thane moved past Annabelle while holstering his gun.
Kneeling by the snake, Thane ran his hand up and down its belly, "Where should I start with you? I don't want to piece the organs so." Thane debated while moving his knife to different spots.
Deciding to start at the head, Thane was about to make the first cut when the snake suddenly sprung to life and bit Thane on the wrist.
Annabelle heard Thane's roar of pain before a gunshot split the air, turning around, she saw Thane clutching his arm, and the remnants of the snake's head splattered across the ground.
Running over, Annabelle gasped when she saw the pair of bite marks right on Thane's wrist, "Not to self always double-tap." Groaning, Thane was about to get to his feet when a notification popped up in front of him.
[Combat Log: Start]
You have earned: 15 XP from Bush Viper Lvl. 1
You have learned the skill: Handguns Level 1(+1% to accuracy, +1% to reload time)
Warning! you have been poisoned, you take 10 Poison Damage every 5 minutes for the next 2 hours.
[Combat Log: End]
Suddenly Thane started to feel hot, and his hands began to shake, "Damn, the poisons already started to take effect."
Annabelle cursed, "What do I do? Should I suck the poison out? That's what they do in movies?" Thane groaned in pain, "We need to get back to the cave. I have some meds that should help, blood thinners. We need to hurry, though. The notification said I only have around an hour to live. Fuck that cold-blooded bastard."
Muttering a curse under her breath, Annabelle put her arm under Thane, "Okay, up we go!" After a bit of wobbling, Thane was able to stand though unsteadily, "You're going to be okay. We're going to get you that medicine."
Annabelle didn't know if she was saying it for her or Thane's benefit. Turning back the way they came, she carried Thane and watched as his condition steadily worsened.
She didn't know how long it had been when they arrived at the cave. Pushing aside the moss, Annabelle stumbled into the cave with Thane on top of her.
Rolling him off her, Annabelle looked at Thane, and his lips were a pale blue. Cursing, she ran towards the stockpile and started to rummage around looking for the medicine.
After a few seconds, she pulled out a clear bag filled with different pill bottles. Scrambling back over to Thane, Annabelle propped his head on her lap, "Come on. I have the medicine right here. Just hold on a bit longer."
Scanning through the bottles, Annabelle spotted the one marked blood thinner and quickly unscrewed the top. Opening Thane's mouth Annabelle poured in about half of the bottle before massaging Thane's throat, making him swallow.
With nothing else to do, Annabelle resigned to holding Thane and hoping that she made it in time.
Annabelle didn't move from her spot as she watched over Thane. But after a while, her nerves got the better of her, and she opened her stat page to distract her.
---
[Stat Page]
Name: Annabelle Aline
Race: Human
Level: 0 (0/100 XP)
Titles: None
[Atributes]
Health:100/100
Stamina:110/110
Mana:0/0
Strength:10(Base 10 + 0)
Agility:11(Base 11 + 0)
Dexterity:14(Base 14 + 0)
Constitution:10(Base 10 + 0)
[Skills & Techniques]
None
---
Never in a million years would Annabelle imagine she would be in a different world fighting monsters, 'Who am I kidding? I didn't fight anything. Maybe if I could do something, Thane wouldn't be at death's door.'
Looking back down at her protector, Annabelle smiled when she saw that his lips were no longer blue, 'Thank god, I made it in time.' Suddenly a wave of exhaustion washed over Annabelle. Lowering Thane's head to the floor, she curled up next to Thane and closed her eyes.
Groaning, Thane opened his eyes and realized with a start he was still alive. Looking to his right, Thane's bodied stiffened when he saw Annabelle's face a few inches away from his.
Carefully Thane extracted himself from the dangerous situation and stood up, 'I'm going to have to get her flowers for this, though with the way things are going, those might kill her as well.'
Sighing, Thane went to check his bite wound when he noticed that his mark was flashing with white light. When he tapped on it, a screen popped up with a fanfare fair that echoed around in Thane's head.
[Notice: Start]
Congratulations! You have stepped onto the path of Body Cultivation, a practice that involves breaking down one's body to reforge it anew. Though the process may be long and painful, know that sacrifice is rewarded.
Technique Gained: Body Cultivation(Mortal Grade)- Refining one's body through pain and sacrifice is a noble practice. +2 to Strength, +1 to Constitution.
Title Gained: Poison Body I- By tempering your body with poison, you have gained an innate resistance to all venoms. +5% resistance against poison damage. Increase the perks from this title by ingesting more toxins.
[Notice: End]
For a long minute, Thane stared at the notice, wondering if what he was seeing was true, 'Rebuilding my body, that has to be fake, right?' He looked down at his arm and didn't notice any changes.
'Well, there's only one way to find out.' Walking outside, Thane found a tree and raised his fists. 'This is probably going to hurt me, but here we go.' Thane punched the tree half-heartedly, expecting to bruise his knuckles, but instead, the tree exploded as he left behind a fist-sized indent.
Shaking out his hand, Thane looked at the imprint he left behind, 'That's can't be right, is that what two points of strength does. If there are people native to this land, what the hell are they like!?'
Trying again, Thane punched correctly, extending his fist all the way and driving most of the power from his waist and lower body. There was an explosion, and the tree split in half, falling to the ground with a thump.
Knowing he wasn't imagining things, Thane smiled, "Okay then, let's see what this body can do."
---
Annabelle groaned as she came around with her cheek pressed against the cold cave floor. Sitting up, Annabelle realized that Thane was no longer in the cave. Her mind was already racing when she heard a crash like two boulders colliding together outside.
The cave shook, and Annabelle scrambled outside, not wanting to be buried over several tons of rock and dirt. Once outside, Annabelle followed the shaking back to a small clearing.
Peering through the trees, Annabelle was shocked to see Thane standing in front of a large rock with a chunk taken out of it. She was wondered what could have caused it when she saw Thane pull back his fist and punch the rock with his bare hands.
The same sound echo through the air, and the rock crumbled to pebbles and dust, "What the fuck!!" Annabelle exclaimed, causing Thane to turn around, "Oh sorry, did I wake you. I thought I was far enough away."
Moving past Thane, Annabelle knelt on the ground and picked up pieces of the rubble. 'There's no doubt its real rock.'Turning around, Annabelle looked at Thane in wonder and a little bit of fear.
"What happened? Last time I saw you, you were on death's door?" Thane smiled and offered his hand, "It might take a while to explain so, you may as well take a seat."
A few minutes later, Annabelle was left with more questions, "So somehow, when you survive the poison, your body was able to repair the damage and become stronger?" Thane nodded, "There's a lot of guesswork and interpreting, but that what I got from it."
Annabelle shook her head, "No, this can't be right. What about your stats. From what you told me, you started with twelve. That doesn't make any sense. How can you only gain two points and become a superhuman?"
"Is it, though?" Annabelle's head whipped around to look at Thane, "What do you mean?" Thane looked down at his arm, "Just think about it we're newcomers to all of this. What if this level of strength is nothing? The note did say we could become gods."
Annabelle fell quiet as she realized what Thane was implying, "We can't be left in the dark like this. We need to find someone who can tell us anything about our situation."
Thane nodded in agreement, "I say we set out, take only what we can carry on our backs and nothing else. Maybe we can come back for it if we find a city or village."
With a plan, Thane and Annabelle started to prepare. They spent the day debating what supplies to pack as they only had one knapsack. After an hour, they settled on half of the food, four bottles of water, all the medicine, the camping tool, water tablets, the ammunition, and the grenades.
Thane gave Annabelle three of the grenades after using the first two to demonstrate how to use them. "Only use them as a last option. I don't think even a dragon could survive having one of these shoved down its throat."
Annabelle nodded as Thane turned to cover up the cave again, "Okay, you ready to go?" Instead of responding, Annabelle turned to look at the forest ahead of them, and how Thane almost died. She thought about what else could be in that jungle ready to eat them.
But then she recalled just a few hours ago, as Thane destroyed a rock with his barehand. Smiling Annabelle nodded, "Yeah, let's go find so answers."
