Rowan contorted his body at the last possible moment, and felt the rush of air as the firs passed by where his chest had been. Luckily, they were only holding one arm, so he still had the freedom of movement to slam the blade into the beast's side.
The vice-like grip crumbled off of his arm, and he turned to the one who had punched him, swinging his sword in a fluid motion from the first. Unfortunately, he only caught it in the arm, and while that crumbled, the rest of the body remained intact.
The beast pulled back its other arm, before slamming it forward with all its might. Rowan pivoted on his feet, and saw the icy blue fist flash past his vision. The next strike wasn't as hurried, and took down the monster cleanly.
Panting, Rowan stuck the tip of his sword on the ground, as he leaned on it. He was thoroughly exhausted, and while most of his superficial wounds had healed, his chest was still throbbing from where he had been struck. Barely a few of the ice creatures still remained, and each was far enough away that Rowan could take the time to catch his breath.
The fighting had staved off some of the cold, but he felt it in every inch of his body, an indescribable weight to his movements, a sluggishness to his thoughts that he couldn't stave off. As he felt the pressure in his chest start to ease, he raised his head to check on the remaining beasts.
There were three, and Rowan could see each of them undeterred in their resolve to approach and fight Rowan.
'The same as the wolves… Surely they must know they'll die? I haven't seen any signs of greater intelligence, but for them all to lack basic self-preservation feels wrong.'
Rowan hefted his blade as another drew closer, and exhaled weakly. He could only hope he would end up in a safe place after completing the Hell, as he would need time to recover from the freezing cold.
He forced the blade to cut into the beast, gritting his teeth through the pain that rattled through him once more. The last two fell just as quickly, and Rowan fell to his knees, muscles trembling from the exertion.
To his surprise, the grey screen of the system did not appear, and he found himself still remaining in the frozen field. And then it shifted, a sudden contrast of warmth against cold as he found himself kneeling in a moonlit field.
Sweat and melted snow leaked off him as his body continued to shake, likely experiencing hypothermia. A brief look around confirmed there was nothing nearby, and so Rowan collapsed, falling limp against the grass and soil.
It was at this moment that the system finally decided to reveal itself, the grey misty screen coalescing out of nowhere.
---
Name: Rowan Torrent
Tier: 1
Fears:
(Fears of the flesh – Fear of Injury)
(Fears of the unknown – ???)
(???)
Skills:
Warmth(tier 1)
---
'So, that's how you get skills…'
He didn't have a complete understanding, but it seemed clearing more Hells was an opportunity to get more skills. He realised he had no idea what they did, and focused on the skill as he let his body slowly recover.
---
Skill – Warmth(Tier 1) (progress 1/2)
A sense of warmth permeates you.
---
That explained why the surroundings had felt so warm. Though, the polarity between the field and the frozen Hell he had just escaped likely played a significant role as well. He had no idea what progress meant, but he didn't dwell on it. Only needing one more 'step' of progress, he was likely to achieve it by accident.
Rowan studied the night sky as he felt his injuries slowly recover, ensuring that he was listening out for the sound of any ravens or of any other types of beasts.
'I thought there were supposed to be beasts covering the land, but so far we've seen hardly anything. Though, it's 'I' now, not we.'
Nadia and Aoife had hopefully made it away from the ravens, and were now on their way to Cork. He tried to avoid thinking about what could have happened, had the ravens managed to track them down.
Considering it was likely still the same day, they wouldn't have made it back yet, and it would likely take them another day to do so.
'Meanwhile, I am… Somewhere. I'll investigate once the sun starts coming up, I need time to recover for now.'
The breeze was soft and soothing, an extremely welcome difference to the icy wind that had felt sharp against his skin. It took only about an hour for his aether to be fully recovered, though he still felt the persistent tiredness that couldn't be healed, and would instead need rest and food to resolve.
In the time he had waited, he had noted that his 'fear of injury's mastery had now reached 70%, a shocking jump from where it had been the previous day.
'Was it the birds? Or the ice beasts? What was it that caused the spike in growth? Damn, I wish I could have checked in between, to figure out what had caused it.'
If he could replicate the conditions again, he could fast-track himself to figuring out what happened when the mastery was filled, and gain a mastered regeneration ability.
With his aether full, he wondered if it would be better to move now or later. The longer he sat around in the open, the more likely it was for enemies to approach, and Rowan glanced around nervously at that thought.
Yes, he had beaten the ice beasts, and was now at near full strength despite his exhaustion, but he still hadn't killed even a tier 2 beast. Sighing, Rowan got up and prepared to make a move, retrieving his sword from where it had fallen when he had collapsed.
'can rest when I'm safe. Who knows how far away I've ended up…'