Chapter 6: Shadow Coyote
[You have slain an Adolescent Shadow Coyote]
'What the hell? Goddess? Hello?' Kai said, eyes searching around, as he suddenly heard a voice in his head. That was when the other four coyotes came rustling into the clearing, completely surrounding Kai.
Focusing on the fight ahead, Kai bent his legs, ready to react at a moment's notice. The coyote directly ahead of him leapt forward as the coyote behind him nipped at his heels. He dashed to the side, slicing towards the coyote's open mouth and scored a hit across it's maw.
The coyote whined as it crashed into the one that had been nipping at Kai from behind. The coyote he had inadvertently gotten close to from dodging the first one bit towards Kai from the side. As the battle began there was continued howling from the distance, but no reply came as the group Kai was fighting were the ones who had been howling back previously.
Kai couldn't spare any mental effort to worry about the howls that were coming more frequently and fervently as there was no reply from the group he was fighting. The closest coyote latched onto his arm and shook it's head violently.
With Kai's improved Fortitude the teeth didn't bite in deep, but the shaking from the coyote's head caused the shallow bite to rip his flesh as he pulled away.
Kai took the spot the first coyote had been in so he could face all four of them. The first two had recovered and were snarling at Kai viciously. The last coyote was trying to flank Kai, so he rushed towards the one who'd bit him and slashed ferociously, pumping mana into his arms to increase his strength.
The jagged blades ripped into the coyote's spine and severed it, almost removing the entire head. The coyote instantly fell limp as the first two jumped at Kai in a blind rage, jaws apart ready to tear into him.
[You have slain an Adolescent Shadow Coyote]
Kai turned to the two approaching coyotes and rolled on the ground under them. When he recovered his feet he instantly slashed toward the fourth coyote that was attempting to bite his right arm from his side.
The coyote leapt back to avoid the slash, but still received a cut across it's cheek. Kai instantly followed up, cycling mana to his legs for speed and his arms for strength, he dashed at the coyote and stabbed both daggers into it's neck, ripping the skin with the teeth like edge of the knife.
The coyote fell on the ground bleeding profusely as it's lifeblood flowed around it.
Kai was feeling more than exhausted as he hadn't slept long and he was still worn out from traversing the plain. Cycling his mana helped him slowly recover more energy and even his ripped arm stopped bleeding as much.
But the mana could only do so much with all the mounting exhaustion from the past few days running from the thugs and getting to this point. Kai rushed toward the two remaining coyotes.
His heart was pumping so hard he could hear his blood rushing in his ears. The two coyotes consumed his entire attention as they prepared for his charge; all else was tuned out, no longer even hearing the howls of the other coyote.
The first coyote was bleeding from it's maw and blood and spittle flew away from it's face as it leapt towards Kai. The coyote was in mid air now, it had committed wholly to it's attack. Kai's lips turned up seeing this as he knew the coyote couldn't retreat. He stabbed directly towards the coyote's open mouth and his blade buries itself into the coyote's mouth.
The brain of the coyote was instantly severed in half. Kai kicked the coyote off his blade and flicked the gore from it onto the cut grass.
[You have slain an Adolescent Shadow Coyote]
The last coyote stood where it was a few feet away from Kai. It continued to growl but sounded less confident as it glanced across the clearing.
[You have slain an Adolescent Shadow Coyote]
The other coyote that had it's neck torn into finally expired. Kai continued hearing the voice after each of his kills and it was oddly reassuring to know when his opponents were dead.
The last coyote turned it's head skywards and howled with all it's might. Kai finally heard the sound of the mystery coyote in the distance howling. The howling was shockingly close. The last coyote in the clearing dashed back into the grass and Kai instantly took off running in the opposite direction, angling himself towards the thing he'd seen on the horizon during the day.
Kai's legs were pumping furiously as his heart slammed his chest so hard it began to hurt. His adrenaline fueled stride at the distance as mana circulated through his legs to keep him stead. He also began circulating it into his heart because he was scared the thing was going to explode.
The mana seemed to sooth the pain as his heart-rate came under control. Seeing these results, Kai fed mana into his entire body, trying to match the flow with the cadence of his stride. The results amazed Kai as he ran faster and felt refreshed. His wound on his arm was slowly scabbing over with each passing minute.
Kai was amazed at the power of mana. The Tower of Life had bat shit crazy coyotes, but it was also amazing. Kai continued to run to the speck on the horizon and as he got closer he began to see the shape of what looked to be a wall with small specks of light around it.
Kai realized it was a wall with torches on it so the area was dimly lit. Kai was still a far ways away, but hope bloomed in his chest. If there were torches outside the wall, surely it was for guards to be able to see, right?
He hoped he could reach the wall and receive help dealing with these shadow coyotes. He hadn't heard any howling recently and believed it was because the coyotes had met up and were chasing after him together.
As he reached the end of the sea of grass, he came to a clear stretch of land leading up to the walls. He saw two guards standing before the entrance to whatever town or village this was. The guards seven feet tall, donning a light brown colored armor with a sword and shield.
Kai thought they looked quite imposing, much more so than the type of security on Earth. But, a gun was still probably stronger than a sword so he guessed they each had their pros. But again, technology failed to work here on the First Floor, so these guys were impressive looking. They had much better gear than the two thugs in the forest, that's for sure.
His mind snapped back to the present as he felt a chill come down his spine, it felt as if he would fall over dead at any moment. Kai dove to the side, just as a large coyote, twice as bit as the others, flew out of his shadow like it was a doorway.
Kai praised his instincts as he landed back on his feet. The guards were shouting something at him and gesticulating, but were still a distance away. He bolted straight towards the guards as they seemed to be waving their hands in a manner saying 'no, idiot, don't bring that big ass coyote over here, we'll all die' or something like that.
Cold sweat had drenched Kai's entire being and was dripping down his clothes. He looked like he just got out of a pool fully clothed. His hair was plastered to his face as he ran full speed to the obviously pissed off guards.
A shadow pounced from Kai's shadow and this time Kai was too slow to react to the speeding coyote. It's teeth scraped along his leg as he was moving, his leg just out of reach to be fully chomped into.
A searing pain boiled out from his leg and wisps of darkness rose from the wound.
'What the fuck is this!' Kai couldn't believe his luck. All he wanted to do was make it to a village and he'd been bullied by thugs, harassed by adolescent coyotes, and was now being eaten alive by a living shadow!
As Kai's mood fell, he tried bring his mind back to what was important, he couldn't afford any distractions right now. A chunk of his leg was almost ripped off, and it had a deep gash in it.
Kai kept running and dodged one more attack from the coyote, but the way he dove to the side ended up tearing the gash in his leg further, so he couldn't continue to run fast enough to evade any more attacks. Kai stood his ground looking all around to try and guess where the coyote would come from next.
He was able to parry the next strike, but he knew this wasn't sustainable. He was taking far too much damage and not able to touch the hair on the coyote's back. During this he continued to wrack his brain for an answer.
He looked back to the guards, but they were staying put. He searched around, trying to make sure there were no other threats or allies to be found while keeping his opponent in his peripherals. The coyote dove into it's own shadow, cast by the light of the torches that dimly lit the area.
Kai couldn't guess where the attack would come from, he could only react, he pumped mana through his body and even into his brain trying to find a solution. As he tried circulating the mana into his eyes, he could see faint traces of mana from where the beast had disappeared.
As he continued glancing around and slowly moving towards the wall, his shadow lit up with a trace of mana.
He instantly drove both daggers directly at the shadow and the coyote's face was ripped apart as it proceeded out of the shadow. Blood flowed from the wounds and the coyote howled with all it's might. It proceeded to jump into it's shadow and chase Kai around continuously.
He continued to spot where the beast was going to come from with his new eyesight. His leg had finally stopped bleeding, and he was able to speed up his pace.
The beast leapt from the shadow of a nearby tree, the only one on the entire plain it seemed. They had been approaching the tree slowly as they neared the guards and the gate. It's eyes gleamed with rage and hatred in the torchlight as it's snarling maw approached Kai's back. Kai didn't seem to notice the coyote approaching.
The beast was rapidly closing when Kai seemed to drop to the ground bonelessly. It was so instant that the guards even let out a surprised sound.
The coyote's face slammed into the ground, and there was no shadow for it to travel into. There was a crunching sound from the impact and Kai wasted no time slicing into the beast's neck savagely. The guards gasped again seeing the blood cascade from the wound, covering the cloaked figure completely.
[You have slain a Shadow Coyote Leader. You have gained a Shadow Essence. Will you absorb this now?]
A thick black fog seeped from the corpse and hung before Kai as the Goddess' voice chimed in a lilting voice in his mind.
'Yes' he thought.
The fog enveloped him like a warm hug and seeped into his body through his pores. He felt a warmth melding with his mana as it circulated through his body. He kept circulating as the Shadow Essence seemed to melt away slowly, as he felt a more tangible connection to Shadow aligned mana.
He checked his stats as he drug the coyote's body towards the guards at the gate, he was curious if the Shadow Essence had raised his Shadow Proficiency. When he first came out of the tests, he noticed he had Shadow Proficiency already on his stat sheet and assumed it must have been from his 1 mana point he had before earning the Goddess' Blessing.
Shadow Proficiency: Novice Tier 2 (0%)
He was happy to see the increase to his stat, and a bright smile was on his face. He'd increased an entire tier! Each step left a bloody foot print in the short grass next to the trail of blood from the corpse.
"Uh, W-Welcome, Adventurer to our village," one guard stammered as Kai approached, the corpse in tow, "Please feel free to stay in our village for as long as you need! That Shadow Coyote has been terrorizing these lands so much that we had to enforce a curfew, thank you!"
Both guards clasped their hands together and gave a slight bow, their worry and fear turning into excitement as Kai approached. Though his bloody visage was extremely off-putting, they were still gushing praise on him.
They had seen him absorb the Shadow Essence, and witnessed the intense battle, so they knew that had to of been the leader of the Shadow Coyotes that had been terrorizing the lands near the village. Many had died, and the Shadow Coyotes had contributed to many human deaths on the exploration of the Tower of Life.
"I was just trying to survive, no worries. Anywhere I can sell this body at this time of night?" Kai didn't have the patience to chat right now, he needed to get something for his wounds before they became infected and he had no money. He needed capital before he could get something for his wounds to clean and heal them.
'Geez, where's a Tower Goddess when you need some healing?' Kai cried in his mind.
The guards looked at each other then one ran into the village. He returned shortly with a stooped old man, who was still taller than Kai's 5 foot 6 inch frame. Kai wasn't tall by any means, but he was sad to see him being towered over by the 7 foot tall elder. The old man would have been at least 9 feet tall if he was standing straight up.
'Let's hope there's no trouble,' Kai thought, peering at the old giant.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone