ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 95 Stage Six

Chapter 95

Stage Six

Sunday

Alexa appeared in a world that seemed to be cloaked in perpetual night. At least that was the feeling the world gave upon her arrival. There was a slightly cold chill to the air, along with a thick fog that always seems to cover such nights. The fact that the land was filled with vegetation was apparent, though the state of the vegetation was in question, as everything from the trees to the grass seemed to be cloaked in a perpetual shadow.

Even her Night Sight did little to allow her to actually pierce the veil of darkness that seemed to have a hold on this land. But her Night Sight did seem to grant her the ability to make out most images clearly. She could see the well worn track marks made on the ground. She could clearly see the way two different sets of footprints seemed to mark most of the grass of the open fields.

OwwAwwAWOOO!

The primal scream of a werewolf could be heard off in the distance. Hearing the sound Alexa instantly understood the call for what it was, a call to war. As that first call was repeated by dozens of other howls, all seeming to call out, echo wildly against the fog and unearthly sights that surrounded her then bounce off harmlessly into the wilds.

Hearing the sounds, Alexa knew this was likely a way to induce panic, the calls were from behind and to the left of her, with a slight shift in frequency implying the caller was on the move.

Normally when faced with such a cry of being called out by a pack of unknown hunters, most people would be frightened. Even some of the most stoic of people would tend to take flight, moving in in a northeasterly direction, away from the howls. But there were just two problems with that automatic fear response. First, there was an even larger number of silent predators who were in the woods to that exact direction. Upon realizing the second set of silent predators waiting in ambush Alexa was able to quickly deduce that the howls she heard, howls that didn’t seem to start until her arrival were not directed at her. Logically the denizens of the dungeon were not waiting for her arrival. They were not frozen in mid motion waiting for her or someone like her to appear, that was not how dungeons worked. Knowing this, it was clear that the two sides that had different sized footprints and impact marks on the ground were warring with each other and that her arrival at a time when combat was imminent was just a coincidence, even if a slightly manufactured incident.

This of course led to Alexa’s second reason for not running directly into a group of silent combatants that were at war with the howling humanoids who seemed to be herding her directly into the path of the silent hunters. Namely, this second reason was if anyone was to see Alexa’s face currently. They would not see the wide eyed fear that would be plastered onto those who had the innate fear to hide in place, to take up as little space as possible and to hide in plain sight. No, they would see a tall warrior with a smile plastered to her lips, one that spoke of madness and imminent violence, for Alexa was still riding the high from her last greater crystal. She still had pulses of energy flowing through her mind, energy that ignited every center of her emotional mind and let her feel the joy of battle. The thrill of the hunt, the want for war.

She had been so good for so long, all weekend she held back from violence. She stuck to the plan, the plan of letting goblins get poisoned and fed to mimic shaped beds. She had avoided any overt acts of violence as they would be counter to not just her goals, but the growth and development of her core people. The people that she was going to make the core of her rebellion, people that might be frightened of her current state, of the malicious smile that filled her lips, or the way she only felt truly alive while in combat.

Here surrounded by not one, but two opposing forces, she felt a swell and surge of joy fill her as she would finally be able to relieve some tension that had been building up within her. She would finally be able to act, rather than plan and react. Here in her element she was queen.

RAARRR!!

The first of the mighty beasts charged forward from the woods, on a direct course towards her. Alexa turned her body slightly, so that she was standing profile to the charging warrior.

From a glance the charging monster was much larger than a typical human, standing at over eight feet tall with large bulging fur covered muscles that made the beast weigh in at close to four hundred pounds. A big boy by anyone’s standards.

Alexa decided to be magnanimous, despite this monster stepping foot on her domain, she would let the creature pass without incident. For now she decided to be humble, she had after all just arrived, how would these servants of tyrants know that a new warrior had arrived to lay claim to this land.

“Something in the air.” Alexa mused about the whole setting. There was a certain gothic appeal to the land, one that sparked the deep seeded fears created by the works of Stoker and Ovid. Creatures that all innately knew to be afraid of, despite knowing the fear was irrational.

The beast who had been content to run past Alexa, completely unaware of her towering presence in the middle of the field, paused in recognition of her words. The beast suddenly paused its full forward charge and stopped to turn towards Alexa, golden eyes glowing off a moonlit backdrop that glowed in the night.

Seeing the beast turn to face her, Alexa didn’t turn her body even though now she was facing the beast head on.

Thump, rumble, thump.

The sound of dozens of pairs of feet all landing and barreling forward could also be heard in the woods. Their sound signifying that this lone warrior was not alone, that the cavalry had arrived. Still Alexa was not frightened, she relished the chance for combat. This would be her first time fighting since she had gained her greater unarmed combat crystal and she was curious to see the effects thereof. Also, her mind was alight with analytical probabilities. While she didn’t have an analytical combat class like Julie, she didn’t need one for this. This was her against her peers, or rather, her against level monsters that were level one summoned aspects of their real selves. The dungeons after all had to follow certain rules. Since she did not yet have a class, she could not be thrown against monsters that were at the same level as their real world counterparts. No these all were summoned aspects of the real creatures, meaning these creatures could be killed, with no true damage caused to the true entity.

One could, if they were so inclined, use these dungeon provided training opportunities to see what level of skill an invading force of werewolves would have. They could use this to temper themselves not just to adjusting to werewolf pack tactics, but prepare for what a battle against a group of highly talented and coordinated werewolves would be like. Since she was here now, she intended to use every minute of training possible.

Besides, she had a few tricks up her sleeve.

One thing she wanted to see was whether these werewolves, and the assumed rival vampyres that awaited her in the woods should she flee, were willing or unwilling servants to their Orc and Elven overlords, respectively.

The only way for her to determine their allegiance to their masters would of course be subdue the forces, apply a liberal dose of Hope to them, and see roughly which ones still fought on due to belief, and which ones would side with her.

The fact that she got to get a good workout through punching and incapacitating apex predators was just a bonus in her mind.

That was the real reason why she mentally pledged that she would not use her magic, not unless things got dire. This was her chance to let loose for the first time since her new Dungeon Runner (12) came into effect. Normally an 12% increase wouldn’t be so much, but with all her titles and the fact that her Rank now increased the effectiveness of her Titles that 12% bonus translated to over fifty points to her base attributes, making her base score at just over 650 points for every attribute. This might not seem like much, but effectively that 12% title bonus placed her well within the attribute ranking of an average level 60 super for her planet. The only problem of course was how did the supers from her planet compare to the supers of other planets? How much of a learning curve would she and the other citizens of her planet must overcome when the  Integration comes.

These were questions she had to find out for herself. Also, there was the question of how accurate were these summoned aspects of the real monster that was being portrayed? If she learned to bond with a summoned aspect, would some of that experience transfer over to the real entity? Would her severing the bonds of attachment here have any real world implications for these werewolves and vampyres in their real lives? These were all questions she had, and ones that would be answered. But Alexa of course would never admit to any of these questions being the real reason for why she stood out in the middle of an open field, one that clearly had been a battlefield between two opposing forces multiple times. No if she said any of those questions were her true reason for being here, she would be lying and Alexa made it a point to never lie, especially not to herself.

Right now, she was only here for one true purpose, to cure this dungeon, and by extension this rendition of this gothic world, of Lykanthropy. Everything after that would all be ways people could justify what was to happen next.

Grrowwl.

“Submit or die.” The lead werewolf states in Orcish, apparently, they are progressed enough and able to be able to shift their vocal cords back to human long enough to make sounds.

Werewolf Pack Leader: (Summoned Aspect): Level 32: Status Healthy: Disposition: Bloodlust

“Heel.” Alexa spoke back, in Orcish, using the same tone one might for a particularly pesky puppy.

Grrr!

At that provocation the lead werewolf charged forward and slung its mighty paw directly at Alexa.

Alexa of course had been prepared for such an event, her overly analytical mind telling her with near certainty the arc, trajectory, and velocity of the swing. She also saw the same light blue markings light up on the beast’s side and exposed patches of skin. Seeing the pain points for what they were, dungeon initiated striking points, she countered.

Pop.

Alexa struck just above the hyperextended elbow joint, Her fist reaching its maximum velocity and extension right at the same time the pack alpha was bringing their arm back for a counter.

To Alexa the monster moved like they were in molasses. While the Alpha’s Strength and Endurance were likely its dump stat, meaning that its class and werewolf induced bonuses all attributed to a much larger than normal pool of attributes to seemingly give the lumber brute a chance in this fight. The real area where Alexa stood out was her exceptionally high Dexterity score, especially when her stolen elven Attribute of Agile came into play, and helped to bolster the effectiveness of her Dexterity. With that Attribute alone, it was clear that the Alpha was in for a world of hurt.

Crunch.

“Arroo.”

The beast let out a pain filled cry for help. At that sound, the rest of the pack that had been watching their alpha attempt to dominate and add yet another member to the pack, quickly realized that their alpha was in trouble. The only problem was, each of the incoming wolves were far weaker than Alexa. Not only were they weaker, but their attack forms were sloppy, causing wasted movements and leaving their bodies open to devastating counter blows.

Even with a glance she could see the different beasts charging forward, her enhanced analytical mind telling her the best way to not only avoid an initial blow, but to have the other pack members hinder each other. As such she ducked and weaved through the normally coordinated pack. Striking key areas of specific attackers. Her goal not to kill, but to disable. Even as she struck, she could already see the Regenerative properties of the werewolves coming into play. Most easily able to overcome the pain caused by her direct strikes.

Instead, Alexa let the pack cause the most severe injuries, ducking under and redirecting a wild claw filled swing at a lunging pack mate. Deflecting an attacker into a would be ambusher trying to flank her from the side.

Over and over strikes came, and over and over, she moved out of the way and let others take her place. After a few strikes like this, the wolves began to hold back, as each had at least minor cuts and scrapes that were not healing. A sign of the supernatural properties held in these claws.

Their hesitation of course allowed Alexa to surge back with escalated violence. Striking at wolves that suddenly seemed hesitant to fully commit to battle. Those that hesitated were met with devastating blows that often caused broken bones, or deep internal damage, damage that even supernatural healing would take time to fix.

Wham! Blam! Slam!

Alexa punched, kicked, and hurled the larger and heavier opponents around like they were overlarge workout equipment. Which to Alexa they were, artificially intelligent workout equipment that made her feel alive with each strike, with each blow that her class used to siphon off a bit of the energy of Lykanthropy.

It wasn’t a fast conversion, but over time the wolves felt their power draining, as the curse that had been fueling them for decades or centuries in some cases suddenly failed them. Their bodies began to first tremble, and then collapse entirely from the constant exertion they felt. Exertion that was no longer able to be sustained by their virus.

“Ahh.”

One by one the weakest of the pack slowly collapsed to the ground and reverted back to humanoid form. Alexa looked on as many of the wolves of this pack were not actually orcs, rather they were humans, elves, and other humanoid races that the orcs had likely subjugated in times past. Seeing them in their collapsed states, Alexa couldn’t help but feel a bit of revulsion at the sight.

Finally, it was just her and the remaining alpha.

Panting.

Despite his large size and having been bred for war and prolonged battles the Alpha found himself panting heavily. His body having long since pushed beyond its mortal limits. Even now Alexa could see the way the unnatural body hair of the monster began to recede, a sign that its supernatural power was nearly drained completely. Looking at the monster before her, Alexa realized that this Alpha was likely standing due to sheer willpower alone, that the other members of their pack would have passed out and succumbed to injury long ago.

The Alpha paused, as it looked at Alexa, seeing that not only was she not tired, but she was smiling.

“I have but one request.” The Alpha said.

At that Alexa cocked her head to the side, not quite knowing where this conversation was about to go.

“Make it quick.”

Hearing that, Alexa nodded. Then began pooling her energy together before her. A bright light appeared before her. Seeing the pooling magical energy the last bit of defiance in the Alpha’s shoulder dropped as he realized the inevitable was coming.

“You were a mage?”

“No.” Alexa said, still pulling the glowing energy in front of her in a patter that was becoming increasingly easy to create, especially as it no longer required her full and complete mana pool to do so. That and the fact that she was nearly filled to bursting with stolen energy made this process easy to complete.

“Then what are you?”

“Salvation.”

“Salvation?” The Alpha asked, but before he could fully contemplate that word. Alexa spoke once more. Well she didn’t so much speak, as she sang, on crisp clear note that reminded the Alpha of angels singing, of the loving coo of his mother when he was but a child. They reminded him of his wife who had been taken from him, of his children who he tried to protect, but failed. The note was everything and nothing all at once. Then finally he understood the note for what it truly was.

“Hope.”