You’ve been inflicted with status effect: Burn

  Healing is heavily reduced.

  New passive acquired!

  Burn Resistance lvl 1

  My mind came around, but I could hardly move. I may have earned a new skill, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

  There was so much pain. Like I'd never experienced before. Every single fiber of my being screamed in agony. I tried to open my eyes and only saw vague flickering of flames.

  But focusing on my mind’s eye, I did see one thing clearly. A man running… slowing down… running out of breath. He clutched his stomach and looked over his shoulder.

  I'll kill you, I thought.

  I tried to force myself to roll on my side.

  Agony.

  Every smallest movement stirred my burned flesh.

  His eyes widened, and he grabbed his spear with both hands.

  I'll kill you.

  I low, rumbling growl vibrated in my chest, burning my throat with the effort, but it was little compared to the all-consuming pain of my body.

  He swung his spear, backed away, swung again.

  My lip curled and twitched.

  Lily. Kill him. Kill that damn human!

  He swung his spear again. It collided with something. He smiled.

  I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you!

  He was on the pursuit now, attacking his foe that was invisible to my eyes, but I knew it had to be Lily.

  I forced my paw under myself, tried to get up, but instantly fell again. Pain exploded all over me.

  You bastard! If you hurt my sister, I won't just come for you! I'll eat you alive! I'll make sure you feel every second of it as I rip out your guts!

  He jabbed his spear again and again.

  I tried another step but barely made it halfway up before hitting the ground again.

  I swear you’ll all pay for this! I'll find your homes and murder every single one of you!

  I wanted so much to keep trying, but my pathetic attempts at movement didn't even get me another foot towards my prey. I could only watch as he continued jabbing his spear at my sister. I had no idea if he was hitting her or not—

  No… There was blood on his spear. He did get her, but she was still fighting. She was probably growing tired, and I knew she was out of mana by now. She needed my help.

  If we came this far just to have the last bastard beat us…

  Then something was on me, pushing against my face.

  An enemy!

  I growled, but it burned my throat. I weakly batted my claw, but even if I did connect to the enemy, it would have been a pathetic slap, not even enough to dig my claws in.

  I'll kill you all! I swear it! If any god or demon can hear me, I'll give my soul, anything you want! Give me the power to fucking kill them!

  Whatever was on me forced my head down, and then it was grabbing at my jaw. Fingers laced between my fangs and forced my mouth open. I had no strength to resist.

  But then, something wet hit my tongue.

  Liquid was being poured into my mouth, and with it, warmth filled my body. The incredible pain slowly eased.

  Slowly…

  But then I had enough strength to strike.

  I growled and lunged, snapping my jaws. A cry reached my ears just before I did something unforgivable.

  “Don't eat Grick! Don't eat Grick!”

  My vision focused. Grick was curled on the ground between my paws, my teeth inches from his trembling arms that sheltered his head.

  I backed off a pace and gave a relieved huff as I glanced at the empty glass vial on the ground.

  It seemed something had answered my prayer after all, but it was no god or demon. It was a tiny green goblin named Grick.

  I licked the top of his head, and he ceased his cowering, looking up from under his thin arms. “Puppy better? Grick gives good human thing.”

  I was better, alright. I gave him the biggest, most grateful lick I'd ever imagined giving to such a creature, my tongue sliding over his face. Grick laughed and patted the side of my head as I licked him again. But it wasn't enough; nothing I could do would ever repay him. This wasn’t the first time he saved the day. Never would I have thought when first meeting this strange creature in the tunnels that we would only make it so far thanks to him.

  Then, something very unexpected happened. But really, I supposed it wasn't all that unexpected…

  Pack Bond leveled up! 4 > 5

  You can now mentally signal your intentions to your nearby packmates.

  Minor bonus to all stats!

  That would surely be useful, but there was no time to consider the possibilities or celebrate. Lily needed my help, and as I checked my mind's eye, I saw the human was back to running. Was the fight over? Did he beat Lily? I had no idea if she was hurt or not, but I had to get there.

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  I scooped my head under Grick's legs and popped him onto my back. He let out a surprised yelp, but I started running before he could even orient himself on my back. Most monsters may have been scared away from the scorched forest, but I still didn’t want to take the chance of leaving Grick behind where he might be in danger.

  I could see the red mask’s silhouette illuminating through the trees far ahead of me, and a moment later, Give Chase took effect, and I sped ahead at incredible speed.

  The potion was still working; my body still burned, and my fur and flesh beneath were singed. But with every step I bounded forward, I felt better and better. Though, due to the burn effect, the healing stopped when I was still far from 100%.

  Vitals - ???

  Health: 175 / 480

  Mana: 37 / 312

  Stamina: 55 / 224

  I knew as much from the feel of my body. I was healed enough to be mobile, but I could still feel how damaged I was. I didn’t take time to inspect my burns, but I imagined my lovely black fur was quite patchy, and I could feel the sting of the air on open wounds.

  But I focused on my prey.

  The red mask was uphill, and the trees were getting thinner. Above, the sky was going from black to purple as the sun prepared to rise.

  Then, I heard a whistle.

  No! No, no, no!

  My mind's eye watched him whistle again and again, calling the Direwings. I needed at least a couple more minutes to catch up to him. Could I make it in time? He slowed down to a jog and took a deep breath. Clearly, he was winded. Yet, he continued to whistle over and over again in a panicked call for his life flight.

  I mentally broadcasted a thought.

  “Lily! If you have any fight left in you, just slow him down! Your big sister is coming!”

  I had no idea if this was how Pack Bond’s new feature worked or not, but I was clinging to any chance we had. If he got away and flew back home, we would not only miss the benefits of completing the quest and me getting a Legendary evolution hint, but more red masks would be on us in a matter of days. They could fly and cover much more ground, and though I got a glimpse of the massive world beyond the vale, I couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t eventually be able to track us down.

  But killing him would mean it may be a week before they even realized anything was wrong. More days to send someone out here to see why their warriors were not home. Time to gather their fleet and go on the hunt. They might even think it was hopeless at that point and give up on finding us.

  In my mind’s eye, I saw the red mask turn and swing his spear.

  “Yes! Good job, Lily! I’m almost there!”

  Again, I had no idea if she could hear me, but I hoped she did.

  Either way, she was back in the fight, and he was no longer running, but standing his ground.

  I made it out of the trees, now heading uphill, coming closer and closer to the red silhouette.

  I arced around a pile of boulders, probably from a portion of the cliff face collapsing long ago—

  And there they were.

  Lily dove in, aiming for his ankles, but backed off without fully committing to the attack. I saw a deep wound in her side, but she was still fighting.

  I heard the squawk of a Direwing, saw a shadow detaching from the side of the mountain as it dove down towards its master.

  I leaned into the wind and ran with everything I had in me, just as the red mask countered one of Lily’s attacks, smacking her with the shaft of his spear, then turning again to run.

  I blew past Lily, who looked up in alarm just as the Direwing swooped almost to the ground.

  The red mask was in pouncing distance.

  I lunged, just as he jumped to meet his mount. He grabbed onto its side, but I got him just in time!

  Except it wasn’t enough. My fangs hooked into his clothing that hung loosely around his leg. I bit down, felt my teeth scrape his armor. He kicked at me as the Direwing brought him up, and I was brought with him for only a moment before his clothing ripped, and me and Grick fell to the ground.

  Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!

  I rolled painfully downhill a short way, Grick yelping in alarm as he tumbled beside me, the mask falling loose from his back and clattering beside him.

  When I finally managed to look up again, I saw my prey swooping up into the air and out of my reach.

  I let my head collapse against the ground. I felt so weak. The last of my fight had been expended in that final mad dash.

  Lily padded over and whined softly as she examined my wounds, ears folded back.

  “Give me a moment…” I thought at her. “We’ll need to rest for a while and then run… We lost…”

  Lily whined again, positioned herself to lie down beside me, and carefully sniffed my body.

  Then I heard a soft voice…

  “Sister…”

  My ears perked as I looked at her.

  “Sister… hurt…” came the voice again.

  I couldn’t help letting my lip curl in a puppy grin despite everything. It wasn’t proper speech, but it was a new communication we didn’t have before. Although, those simple words were not much more than the thoughts that I could know from her just by looking at her.

  She was scared, worried about my health, and understood that due to missing our chance at that last human, we were still in danger.

  I turned my gaze to Grick, who hadn’t even bothered to grab his mask as he dusted himself off and came over. His pointy green ears drooped as well. “Puppy still hurt…” he muttered under his breath.

  “Grick…” I thought at him. “Go find healing.”

  He turned his head, then put a hand under his chin as he seemed to contemplate. Then he muttered as if coming to the idea himself. “Puppy is hurt. Need human bottle thing, or shroomy for healing.” He snapped up and began running uphill. “Grick returns! Grick finds good things!” he assured as he went ahead of us.

  It would probably take a lot to heal me with the burns still affecting me, but every little bit would help. We couldn’t keep going like this. Even Lily was injured and needed to rest. Even…

  My ears perked as I focused on my mind’s eye.

  The human wasn’t just flying up and leaving the vale. He was… heading back to the cave?

  Of course, he never would imagine that all twenty of his tribesmen were now dead. He was heading back for reinforcements!

  “Grick! Grick, come back!” I mentally commanded him.

  “Good things! Healing things! Find! Find!!” came the goblin’s voice in my mind, completely disregarding my message.

  The skill said signal intentions. Even Grick’s words were a little more choppy than his normal speech.

  “Return! Here! Danger!” I tried instead, attempting to keep the signal clearer.

  Lily sat up in alarm, looking the way Grick had gone.

  It hadn’t been long, but the red mask was already descending again, under the cliffs, probably into the skylight cavern where he would soon find his dead comrades. Way above the jagged peaks, the sun was barely starting to rise.

  I watched the human through my mind’s eye. He was hollering, then pulling back on the reins of his Direwing to slow its descent. He hovered in a slow circle, eyes widening in horror.

  He knew.

  He pulled on the reins and ascended up again, his silhouette moving back above the cliffs.

  Lily gave a yelp, and I heard, “Friend!” as she started going after Grick.

  Damn it, I thought, and forced myself up to follow her.

  I wouldn’t be as worried, but as I watched him in my mind’s eye, I saw his teeth clenched in rage, his hand tightening on his spear. He wasn’t running home. He knew we were weak, and he may have surmised he was the only one left, and he clearly had no intention of just flying home at this point. I understood that rage in his eyes. He wanted revenge.

  “Hide!” I sent out, limping after them. “Enemy coming! Danger!”

  But it was too late to hide. Far above, the red mask skirted along the cliff face, searching… then he spotted us. His eyes widened, and his teeth clenched with anticipation. He commanded his Direwing downward.

  This guy would normally be no problem for the two of us… but in our current state…

  “Lily!” I yelled out mentally as I saw her a little further ahead. She looked around, startled, until she spotted him. She had nowhere to hide other than to jump off the cliff.

  I tried to run, but I only managed a pathetic limp. The red mask closed in, coming closer and closer to my sister, spear raised, ready to throw it.

  “Lily! Look out!”

  But then something else detached from the side of the mountain—

  Grick?

  No, it was way too big, but it looked humanoid. It tore free from what must have been an awkward perch, but shot gracefully through the air into the Direwing’s path.

  It grabbed onto the beast with one hand while the other hand flashed out a long, curved blade that glinted in the freshly rising sun.

  The Direwing pivoted awkwardly in the air just before it was stabbed, letting out a pained squawk, then the shadow-person tore the blade free with a spray of blood.

  The red mask tried to attack with his spear as they descended down, but the shadow grabbed the shaft, and then two large feet shot up and used the red mask as a springboard as it kicked him while jumping away.

  W-Wait… Is that—

  The shadow flipped through the air once before landing just in front of me, the red mask screaming as he fell off towards the trees with nothing to break his fall.

  I took one careful step forward, Lily approaching just as cautiously from the other side.

  The shadow returned its sword to its sheath, then turned just enough to look over its shoulder at me.

  My tail wagged as I recognized him—rounded chin, wide mouth that curved into an approving smile.

  “Go finish your hunt, young warriors. Ribbit.”