Chapter 6

5232/5235

I glance at the number again.

I’ve been walking around the pond keeping an eye on the forest around me for a day now. I lost 3 babies when a small green snake was able to sneak past me. I only noticed it because of the tracker numbers going down, it was easy to spot once I looked for it, it’s bright green scales vibrant among the brown muddy water. I caught it gulping up babies and it’s head got ripped off somehow as a result. One of my swallowed babies actually survived and swam out of the dead snakes neck. Cute.

I look down at the snake bones sitting on the edge of the pond as I pass them, doing another lap. It turns out my babies need to eat, unlike me. I remember them all swarming the head and accompanying headless body as soon as I dropped them, it was bones in seconds. I want to go out and find some food for them, but I have to stay and make sure no more snakes come.

I guess I’ve walked enough to get smarter again since an idea pops into my head.

“I’m here you stupid animals and frogmen! Come and eat me! I’m probably delicious!” I shout as loud as I can... Nothing happens, so I continue walking around the pond in a huff.

Ding!

A nearby den of goblins has been alerted to your defense. Prepare yourself.

Flatbox chimes, breaking me out of my melancholic attitude. “Yes! Hear that babies? Mommy is getting food.” I tell my cute black tail blobs, they start leaping from the water and splashing in excitement.

A group of 7 goblins runs out of the underbrush headed straight for me. 2 level 5’s with the rest being lower, I won’t need Power Attack at all. As the lead goblins get within reach, leaping at me, I punch one straight through its now exploded head bits. I shift to the side and grab the other with my free hand, slamming him onto his back and stomping on the weak spot between his legs. He screams loudly and then silences when I stomp it again, dead.

The five lower level goblins have reached me, with 3 of them managing to grab onto me, one on each arm and one on my front, his ugly face rubbing into my breasts. Luckily I’m wearing my shirt again. They take almost no time to start that attack where they thrust the hard dangling bits between their legs into my skin, trying to stab me. Too bad for them I have the Firm skill so it does nothing. I feel the one on my chest raise my shirt a bit, his blunt weapon stabbing at my belly anti-button to no effect. I kill one of the goblins who isn’t hanging onto me with a fist, unencumbered by the green ugly thing attached to my arm.

Somehow the remaining unattached goblin has wiggled its way under my foot, its dangling bits thrusting into the bottom of my foot, he gazes up at me with excitement in his eyes. It nearly unbalances me, almost knocking me over, surely its intention. I catch myself though and simply use my heaviness to stomp down, crushing the dumb goblin’s blunt weapon. It screams just like the last one, this one dying with just the one stomp, it’s eyes rolling into the back of its head.

I yell “Eeeeeekk!” as the goblin on my chest has managed to pull my shirt up further and I feel its disgusting mouth sucking on one of my proud, pink nipples. I trip over the stomped goblins body and fall forward, unable to brace myself quickly enough in my confusion, I end up landing on the nipple sucking goblin… He splats underneath me. Gross.

I roll to the side and knock the ones clinging to my arms off, shivering in disgust. It only takes a minute to finish killing the last two but now I’m covered in goblin blood and meat splatter.

Ding!

Fighter (Level up)

Dismissing the flatbox I walk over to the pond to wash off. As I get in my little babies are nice enough to wiggle and nibble all over me, cleaning off all the goblin gunk. “Hehe” I giggle since their cleaning tickles a little bit. It only takes a little time and I’m all clean, so I get out of the water and start tossing in the dead goblin bodies. My babies churn the water as they devour my gifts, the pond water permeating a reddish brown color.

Ding!

Due to your fervor in battle and the screams of pain and ecstasy from your enemies, the following enemies have been alerted to your defense.

3 Dens of Goblins drawn in by their fellows climatic screams

5 Families of Frogmen drawn by the loud noises

2 Packs of Wolves drawn by the sounds of death

1 Pack of Hounds drawn by the smell of blood

23 Miscellaneous animals drawn for varying reasons

+1 Boss Monster summoned by the system to reward your enthusiasm

Good luck new mother in the defense of your children.

Track additional info? Y/N

Track Yes… A bunch of numbers indicating the new enemies shows up under the numbers representing my babies and I’m worried. Very worried.

6d 21h 35m

5232/5235

0/32 Goblins

0/75 Frogmen

0/12 Wolves

0/14 Hounds

0/23 Animals

0/1 Boss

I gulp. I hope they don’t all come right away. They wouldn’t… Right?

______________________

I lay on a broken battlefield, bodies scattered everywhere, the ground red with blood and meat chunks and the pond only half filled with red, murky water. I have several chucks bitten or ripped off of me and I’m missing a foot and several fingers. Good thing I don’t bleed otherwise I’d be dead. I discovered that on the second day of the melee when some of the heavily injured but not dead yet Hounds stopped breathing. Hounds turned out to be massive black dogs with long snouts that were hot to the touch. Their heads came up to my chest, so yes, massive is the word I’m using. They were actually the first group to arrive.

My chest feels heavy as I lay there, my stamina long gone and my health in the double digits. Trying to be loud to bring out food for my children had been a huge mistake, I’m not too beautiful to admit that.

I’m saddened by the losses, even if I could tell they were turning into frogmen by day 4 of the melee. By then they had grown little frog legs and arms but they still had their tail. Somewhere on day 5 they had grown to the size of a goblin’s head and turned white, just like me. Unfortunately that made them easier to spot for the monsters looking to sneak a snack in the fighting. Now with only a few hours left on the timer, they look almost as big as full grown frogmen. They are all the same extremely white color as my skin except their feet, hands, and a line going down their spines. Which are all black, just like my hair and lonely short hair patch down below. I can see it when I look down because my fancy cloths had been ripped to shreds by day 3 of the fighting. Their loss hit me almost as hard as when a wolf bit off one of my nipples last night, by now it’s already grown back, but I was in mourning for quite a few hours. My cloths won’t grow back though. Probably.

I turn my head to look at my remaining children as they swarm over and take bites out of the Boss monster I just finished off before deciding to lay down. Lucky for us there were still a ton of fighters left when it showed up yesterday, because a giant hungry snake is nobody's friend. Seeing the inside of its belly when it swallowed me at one point during the fight really drove that point home for me. I remember Flatbox telling me a few times during the fighting that even more enemies had been drawn by the noises. I can’t remember the numbers since it got in the way of my vision and I waved it away before tracking them. None of the different monster groups worked together, even the separate goblin dens and frogmen families fought each other. That’s why I called it a melee earlier, it was a complete mess of moving bodies and teeth. “Ahhh” I sigh wistfully, and I loved every minute of it. “Kids, is Mommy a violent person?” I yell to them. They all pause and look over at my prone and beaten form, staring for a good ten seconds, none so much as croaking. Then they all return to eating the snake boss, I guess they only inherited my beautiful colors and not my smarts, would have been nice to have someone else to talk to. Oh well.

This being the first lull in fighting since it all started I hear an expected chime.

Ding!

Titles earned

Fighter (Level up) x10

*Warning* You can only level up to 10 times in each Class from one battle. Extra experience gained will be converted into Credits.

+ 2134 Credits

Fighter level 20 skill unlocked

Fighter level 25 skill unlocked

What? So I could have gotten more levels but they were instead wasted on Credits, which I still don’t know how to use, and Flatbox won’t tell me. As soon as that box disappears another one shows up.

Ding!

You have reached or surpassed Fighter (Level 25) and have unlocked new options for it. You may choose from the following options listed, or choose to keep your current Class and continue leveling it. If you keep your current Class these options will remain available in your Class Menu.

-Tier Up Class-

Higher tier classes give better per level bonuses and skills. Tiering up a Class will give you three options for the advanced Class. Choosing one of these options will change your Class into it and reset its level to 1. You will keep all free stats earned and all allocated free stats will stay as such. You will keep all class skills from your previous tier.

-Reset Class-

Sometimes you just need to retry. You will choose a starting class again, lose all levels and skills earned, keeping only your free points from leveling.

Oh! This is how I get a higher tier class to make my Firm skill stronger. This seems like a pretty easy choice then doesn’t it? Resetting my class would only keep my free points, whereas tiering up will make me stronger and I get to keep my skills as well. I probably even have more of those after leveling up. I focus on the Tier Up Class option.

Ding!

Options for your Tier 2 Class.

Your choices are based on your achievements, play style and associations.

*Rare option available* Rare classes give more stats per level for their Tier due to the difficult requirements.

-Hammer- Str/End +4, Vit/Dex +2 Free Points +8

You have only ever used your own heavy body to deal the killing blow to your enemies. You get this option for your dedication to this style of play.

-Shield- Vit/End +4, Wis/Dex/Str/Int +1 Free Points +8

You have spent a large part of your play time protecting something important to you. For you perseverance you get this option.

-Bloody Mother-(Rare) Str/Vit/End +4, Wis/Dex +2 Free Points +10

You are battle and motherhood personified. You get this option for having blood on your bare body more than 3/4ths of your playtime, having more than 100 children, protecting those children, and reveling in a melee of more than 5 days where you are the only survivor.

I read through my class options carefully. First, Hammer does sound a lot like me, at this point I think I’ve smashed at least 5 enemies just by falling on them. It also gives even more stats to the ones I’m using already from Fighter. A pretty solid option since my body is pretty great. Second, I have mixed feelings about Shield. I want to protect my babies, but that’s not all I want to do. It’s stats are also good, giving me the option to finally see what Wisdom and Intelligence do. I don’t think I’d pick it over Hammer though. Lastly… I get a tingle of excitement up my spine as I read my only rare option, Bloody Mother. It’s perfect for me, well except the being covered in blood all the time part, even if it’s true. From talking about my cute children, to the fun I have from fighting, it’s almost like Hammer and Shield mixed into one class. The stats? It gives even more of them than the other two options. I count in my head… it takes a while. That’s 4 more stats per level and 2 more free points, which I feel like I forgot existed. I haven’t used any of them since… Since I tested to see if Vitality gave me more Health and Endurance gave me more Stamina. I do think it should have mentioned me being beautiful in at least one of the options though. Rude.

I focus on Bloody Mother and pick it.

Ding!

(Tier 1)Fighter Level 27 is now

(Tier 2)Bloody Mother Level 1

Fighter stats per level removed.

Bloody Mother level 1 skill unlocked

Max Class skills for Bloody Mother. Choose a Class skill to remove.

Power Attack:(20 Stamina)

Increase the power of your next attack.

Adrenaline:(30 Stamina)

Get a temporary boost to Dexterity and Strength.

Block:(10 Stamina)

The next physical attack you block with a weapon or shield deals reduced damage.

Taunt:(50 Stamina)

Enemies around you are compelled to attack you.

(New)Shout:(100 Stamina)

All allies who hear you regenerate (20) points of stamina.

(New)Fighter: (Passive)

While fighting gain resistance to fear, bleed, and confusion status effects.

(New)Crazed: (Passive)

Increase Stamina regeneration while in combat.

Oh right, I got 2 other new skills, probably from hitting level 20 and 25 in Fighter before I tiered up. I read over the new skills, both Fighter and Crazed seem good, except the bleed part. Since I don’t have blood. More stamina regeneration while in combat means I’ll get tired from fighting less and I’ll be able to use skills more often. I got tired a lot during those days of the bloody melee. I did realize I don’t actually have to sleep, but I’ll probably keep doing it though when I have the time. It just feels right. Shout seems useless right now, kind of like Block, since I don’t have a weapon, shield, or allies. Unless… do babies count as allies? Probably, maybe. Thinking about what Block does I think it’s more useless. My body is why I became a Fighter in the first place, so I don’t think I’ll ever use a weapon or shield. Determined, I focus on Block.

Ding!

Block Skill Removed

I feel weaker after tiering up, on top of feeling all this pain from my missing and damaged pieces. I suppose that’s from being level 1 again and losing all those per level stats. Oh well, I’ll be able to get stronger now with my much better tier 2 class. I look over at my babies again to make sure they are still ok, and they are really making some progress on that big dumb snake. Good for them, eat up and get fat my cute, not so little anymore babies. It’s sad there are so few left.

0d 5h 27m

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