Tower of Fate - Chapter 15: A Rodent Problem (Patreon)

Of the group that we started with, only Sebastian and Rebecca remained with me. The others had all run off to go help the archer Stephanie. They were still a part of the party and I noticed that Rebecca had a faraway look in her eye that suggested she was sending them party chat messages to come back. Another roar from over the hill snapped her out of it and she readied her wand.

The fearsome monster came over the hill, and I was momentarily stunned. It was a small furry creature that looked like a squirrel with tusks. It growled and displayed a row of sharp teeth that I’d prefer to avoid. But even as it tried to be fierce, its tiny size made it look absurd.

*Beast Identified* [Howler Squirrel (common)] Level 1 – These plentiful rodents use loud imitation tactics to scare away potential predators. Their bark is worse than their bite, but they can still become quite a nuisance if a group of them is alerted to your presence.

I laughed. The others stared at me like I’d gone mad, but I couldn’t help it. It was just too much.

“I’ll let you guys handle this dangerous foe,” I said, backing away.

Rebecca frowned while Sebastian shrugged and lopped its head off with his axe. No notifications popped up for me, which meant that even in a party, members had to actively participate in a fight in order to gain experience. It also reminded me to check my stats.

Stats

Name: Lucas Hudson

Race: Human (Class F)

Class: Blood Reaver Level 4

Strength: 10

Vitality: 10

Intelligence: 10

Constitution: 10

Dexterity: 19

Perception: 10

Willpower: 7

Free points remaining: 8

Nice. The level six boar had given me eight points, which I guess made sense. The higher the level of the enemy, the more points I’d accrue. At least one point was going into dexterity to make it twenty and a few more points were going into strength, but I wasn’t sure about vitality and constitution. Vitality was overall health, whereas constitution was stamina plus toughness. Constitution sounded like the better secondary to focus on.

As I was debating which stat to focus on, something fell on my shoulder. I only had a moment to register my surprise before the howler squirrel opened its mouth and bit down on my neck.

“Ow! little shit.”

I ripped the small monster off of me and stabbed it with my knife.

*DING!* You have slain [Howler Squirrel (common)] Level 1 – Experience Points and Currency Acquired.

*DING!* [Knife Work Skill] Increased to level 3

That was good to see. I’ve been neglecting the knife a bit lately, but it was far faster to draw than my sword and easier to use in tighter spaces. I shouldn’t focus solely on leveling up my sword skills when knives have their own unique benefits too.

*DING!* [You have unlocked a potential new ability. Select one]

[Skill: Basic Knife throwing (common)] – This ability will teach you how to throw a knife with greater accuracy and ensure that the pointy part hits the target.

[Skill: Basic Blade forging with knife specialty (common)] – This ability will teach you how to craft your own blades and ensure perfect quality is maintained. This skill stacks with intelligence and strength.

[Skill: Basic Knife dueling (uncommon)] – This ability allows you to gain basic proficiency in using a knife to fight enemies with a similar weapon to your own.

The blade forging sounded unhelpful unless I wanted to focus more on crafting. Even if I did pick that skill, it would probably require tools and other special equipment in order to forge a blade anyway. The knife dueling skill sounded interesting, and it had a better rarity to it by being an uncommon ability. But in the end, I selected the knife throwing ability even though it was only a common one. My range was severely limited, and I’d seen how powerful enemies with crossbows could be. If I ever get caught out in the open again, then I need to be able to hit from a distance in order to even the playing field.

*DING!* You have gained [Basic Knife Throwing Ability] – Mild proficiency with throwing knives has been learned. Due to your Class, utilizing this ability grants the player a 25% exp bonus that increases the Skill leveling.

That sounds like something I should test out as soon as I find another one of those creatures. If I can find one, that is. A small moving target sounds like the perfect way to start training the new ability.

Meanwhile, the bite on my neck was starting to hurt. I grabbed the small body of the beast I’d killed and rubbed some of its blood on my neck wound to heal it. Suddenly, I was feeling grateful to be behind the others so that they wouldn’t see me like this. I’m sure it looked as bad as imagined it would. After a few moments, I stopped rubbing.

Nothing was happening.

The healing wasn’t kicking in. Could it be because it's only a level 1? Is its blood now too weak to heal me?

I didn’t get the chance to query it further.

*DING!* Beasts Identified [Howler Squirrel Swarm (Rare)] Level 1 – It’s tough out there for the little guy, so a large group of Howler Squirrels have banded together in order to take down their prey. They hunt by sending out lone scouts who then they use their signatural roar to signal the swarm and bring them to their location. A single level 1 isn’t a big deal but you get enough of them together and they become a real threat. You should probably run.

Oh. I guess I shouldn’t have worried about finding more of them.

The swarm poured over the hill. Hundreds of the rodents running along the ground and leaping from tree branch to branch. Ironically, had they been of a higher level, my blood healing ability would’ve protected me, but being a lower level, collectively they posed a greater threat.

Streams of blue light started shooting out of Rebecca’s wand, killing each creature that was struck while Sebastian was swinging his axe in wide arcs and taking out more than three at a time.

It wouldn’t be enough. The swarm was massive and there seemed to be no end of them coming over the hill.

I grabbed Rebecca’s arm and started to pull her back, but she resisted.

“What are you doing? I’m gaining points!” she shouted, never taking her eyes off of them.

“And you’ll never get to spend them,” I said. “Look, there’s too many of them. Eventually, you’ll be overwhelmed unless you have unlimited magic?”

Rebecca glanced at me then with a feverish look. She wanted to argue, but knew that I was right. The moment passed, and she regained her senses before yelling out, “Sebastian, fall back!”

For once, he knew better than to argue.

The three of us ran, with my higher levels causing me to quickly pull ahead with only Hugo matching my speed from above.

“Where do we go?” asked Hugo.

“Don’t… know,” I puffed. “Find… the others.”

Perhaps we’d stand a chance with the entire group?

We moved in the direction that the rest of the group had gone, but there wasn’t time to check for tracks and the forest could get dense in places. Unless they were still close by, the odds of running into them were slim. We needed something big to get away from the swarm, like a lake. Provided the squirrels can’t swim.

“Hugo, scout ahead,” I said.

The crow flapped his wings harder until he was out of my sight. I looked back at Rebecca and Sebastian, who were covered in sweat and gasping for breath. They couldn’t take much more of this. Most of their stats were probably the same as before the System had invaded. No wonder they were struggling to keep up with me.

“Can either of you make fire?” I asked, hoping that we could scare them away.

They both shook their heads.

“I can make ice though,” said Rebecca.

“What good is that?” snapped Sebastian.

I didn’t think much of it either, but kept that to myself. We needed unity right now.

Hugo flew back towards me so hard he almost hit me. He landed on my shoulder and held on as I kept running. His little chest puffing as he tried to get his breath back.

“No, don’t go that way,” said Hugo. “We need to turn right. There’s a cliff edge up ahead that you can’t see until you’re falling off of it.”

What he said gave me an idea. I smiled. “Perfect. Let me know when we’re close,” I told him, before slowing down to stay next to the others.

As we ran, Rebecca’s foot tripped on something and she started to fall. I caught her and said, “when I give the word, I want you to make as much ice on the ground ahead of us as possible.”

She grimly nodded, with her wand clenched tightly in her fist.

“What should I do?” asked Sebastian.

“Move out of the way when I give the signal,” I said, which made him scowl.

“Okay, you’re almost there!” cried Hugo.

“Now,” I said.

Rebecca murmured something and pointed her wand out in front of her where a blue mist shot out and froze the ground ahead of us. When the spell was done, I grabbed her arm, and we dove into the bushes to the left just before reaching the ice. Sebastian did the same on the other side while the Howler Squirrels, either due to stupidity or bloodlust, blindly ran forward. They hit the ice at full speed and started to slide. Unable to stop, they slid right over the cliff edge. More and more kept falling as the members of the swarm pushed those ahead of it. All of them losing their grip on the ice and being forced by momentum over the side. The three of us didn’t dare move until there was complete silence.

Huh, I wonder how many points that was.