Chapter 40: Scramble

  Alex froze mid step as he looked back at the tiny army of beasts scavenging in front of him.

  Forty beady eyes stared back, round and glassy, as well as unnervingly intelligent . Twenty forest badgers gazed at him. Smaller ones mostly, but five of the larger badger warriors also ate the bodies of their larger siblings.

  They all chattered in unison, tails twitching. Their muzzles were slathered with blood and gore, turning almost the entirety of the fur on their heads dark red. Then, like a switch had flipped, they surged toward him.

  “Shit.” Alex moved.

  He dove sideways as a pair of badgers lunged for his ankles, claws slashing through the space he’d occupied a breath before. He hit the dirt, rolled, and came up hard with a straight jab that he threw at the snout of the nearest badger. Bone crunched beneath his fist. The creature yelped and went tumbling, but three more took its place.

  “That’s a rude way to treat your friend, fleshy-boy. More coming on your right though, watch out.” The rock’s voice echoed in his mind as he fought.

  “I’m a little busy.” Alex retorted, ducking under a snapping jaw.

  He twisted low, sweeping a leg out. Two badgers toppled in a flurry of fur and startled squeals. He planted a hand in the dirt, pushed backward into a crouch, and dashed sideways into the underbrush.

  All of the badgers seemed to give chase. Sharp claws tore through roots and fallen leaves as they pursued him like a pack of bloodthirsty land-piranhas.

  Alex didn’t run straight. Instead he started moving in a zigzag. He vaulted over a root, planted a boot on a boulder and launched himself off it. He made it much higher than he thought he would, his improved stats really making the difference for him.

  “Right behind you, now!”

  Alex didn’t waste time to think and just reacted. He spun mid-air, driving a foot down into a badger which had leapt after him. His boot landed on its spine as the beast lunged upward. He felt, and heard, the resulting crack of bone as his kick broke the beast’s spine.

  The system notification, confirming his kill and experience gain, flickered across his vision and he mentally swiped it away in reflex.

  The badger collapsed in a broken heap while Alex landed on his feet in a crouch. Two more badgers skidded to a halt in surprise just a couple feet away. Alex didn’t hesitate. He shot forward, fists flying... His movements were sharp, and brutally efficient.

  He didn’t have magic anymore. No spells, at least not with his core now shattered. That reduced his possible combat power. Alex was certain a well timed [Flare] spell would cook the majority of these damned badges in one fell swoop. But he did have a body forged through three refinements and one agonizingly permanent upgrade from his [Aether Attuned Body] ability. Alex wasn’t just strong and fast, he was cresting into areas beyond humans back on earth. And as he fought the badgers bare-fisted, it showed.

  Two more corpses sat on the grass within a few more seconds. Alex dashed back as he saw another threat approaching. It was a warrior-class badger, angrier than the others, and the size of a damn bear from earth. It emerged from the foliage with a snarl, its eyes locked onto Alex.

  “Okay fucker,” Alex raised his bloodied fists. “Let’s rock.”

  “Hey, that’s my line!”

  The badger roared and charged. Alex feinted left, then threw himself right just as the brute’s claws slashed through the space where his chest had been. A tree exploded behind him, bark torn off the tree in large chunks. He stumbled, caught himself, then surged forward to slam a fist into the warrior’s side.

  Thwoomp!

  It felt like punching a meat wall. His fist impacting a few inches deep and withdrawing with a squelch.

  The beast huffed loudly and cringed backward from Alex’s blow, but it didn’t loose the fight in its eyes. Alex could probably just slowly beat it to death if he kept punching, the internal damage would stack up, but he didn’t have the time for that.

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  “Okay,” Alex grunted, ducking under a swipe and delivering three rapid strikes to the joint of its front leg. The joint bent oddly and the warrior badger limped under the wound.

  “That seems to work much better. I’ll highlight some weak points for you.”

  Spots along the badgers body suddenly shone in a faint aura in Alex’s vision. Again, he wasn’t exactly happy the rock could just fuck with his senses like this, but right now, it was rather helpful. All the high-lighted areas stood out. The beast’s knees, shoulders, and neck all marked by the arcane stone.

  “Pressure points and joints. Got it.”

  He backed off, circling, breath now coming in hard. The smaller badgers regrouped behind the warrior. They weren’t dumb, they worked together now. Herding him back toward the den. Toward an ambush.

  “Correction” ‘ Rune’ said calmly. “You’re about to get flanked.”

  “Not if I do this!”

  Alex sprang forward, not at the warrior, but at the smaller badgers in the back. He landed into their midst, using his own momentum to drive both his heels into the small badgers’ skulls. They both went limp instantly, notifications flashed. The others scattered, but Alex was already back in action, grabbing up a stick from the forest floor. His quickly broke the thick branch in half, wielding a makeshift baton in each hand, and hurled one into the eye of the nearest chittering furry bastard.

  Brutal. Inelegant. Yet, slightly arousing.” The rock observed.

  “Focus, pebble!” Alex shouted back. His eyes darted among the other beasts. Two warriors and another half dozen basic forest badgers all slowly advancing on him.

  Another dash, and another burst of strikes. The already injured warrior went down next, and he kept up his assault onto the next. Though Alex didn't linger as he fought. Every hit was a retreat. He was faster, stronger, and more efficient than he was before, but there were too many of them.

  His lungs burned. His muscles began to ache. But he could feel it, his body was chaning and learning to use his new stats. He was surviving. No, he was winning. If only barely.

  Alex had to dodge and move constantly. With every strike he landed, he had to dodge three more. He back stepped, but he couldn’t stop himself from being surrounded a few times, even with the tips and head-up sent in his mind from the enchanted rock.

  He began to accumulate wounds as the fight dragged on. A trail of bodies and blood stretching across hundreds of feet in the forest. Finally, with sixteen dead badgers and another half-dozen wounded or limping, the rest of the pack faltered. The last standing warrior badger huffed once, then turned. All the smaller kin following suit.

  Alex didn’t chase them. The leaves rippled as they vanished back into the trees, melting into underbrush, surely regrouping back at their den.

  Alex waited, chest heaving, muscles coiled, before finally slumping against a tree.

  “Well,” he muttered. “That sucked.”

  “You didn’t die. That’s something.”

  Alex glared at the rock that he pulled out his pocket. “I’m bleeding from four different places.”

  “Only four. Again, not bad work.”

  “Keep it up pebble, we’ll see how long I keep you around.” Alex shoved the stone back into his pocket and looked around.

  He had moved quite a ways during his fight. Now he wasn’t exactly sure where he was, but he had the mental clarity throughout the fight to keep heading in the direction of their previous camp. He continued in that heading for another minute before he once again came across something that made him stop.

  Another corpse, this one belonged to the badger den mother.

  The corpse itself wasn’t what made Alex pause.

  He saw a faint glow coming from the center of it’s body.