Caelus Online

71. The Gnoll Horde

Aurora was under no illusion that she would be swarmed in the next coming moments so she dropped any attempts of stealth as she lunged forward towards a gnoll crawling out of its tent, paying no attention to the notifications that let her know the second enemy she had just stabbed finally died. 

[Gnoll Lv 48 defeated. 46% xp gained. 71% skill point xp gained] 

[+1 skill point]

With her steps now easily audible and her sword soaked in blood, the gnoll she was charging at instantly noticed her as she closed the short distance between them, bearing its teeth at it lunged at her using all four limbs.

The lunge caught Aurora slightly off guard as she stepped to the side, swinging her sword upwards in the same motion. Her strike managed to leave a small gash in the gnoll's arm while receiving a cut of her own to her shoulder, the exchange leaving the gnoll in a worse state as it stumbled from the pain. 

Aurora capitalised on the opening, swivelling around to face the gnoll as she stepped in close, thrusting her sword straight through the side it exposed from its anger-infused lunge, the blade piercing straight into its gut and under its ribcage.

With her blade plunged deep, Aurora attempted to pull it out to some minor success until she was knocked away by the sudden blind strike of the gnoll thrusting its elbow back into her in its last defiance before meeting death.

The strike took Aurora by surprise and caused her to stumble back by a few steps, noting the current state of her health bar as the gnoll slumped to the floor, dead. 

[HP 721/1160]

[Gnoll Lv 47 defeated. 41% xp gained. 65% skill point xp gained] 

[+1 skill point]

Aurora could feel the impact of the strike on her chest, and was not surprised that she had taken over 400 health points in damage. Based on the pain she could feel, the strike had likely broken a few of her ribs while also leaving her momentarily winded. 

With laboured breaths, Aurora shook herself from her slight daze and hurriedly refilled her lungs with air, while successfully pulling her sword from the gnoll. However, her moment of recovery was instantly ended as a chorus of howls erupted behind her, causing her heart to start wildly beating again while the pain in her chest subsided a little as adrenaline coursed through her veins. 

With the realisation that the gnolls closest to her would be on her in seconds, Aurora tried to create a distraction to give herself even the slightest chance to get a few additional kills so summoned her staff and launched a [Fireball] with the additional [Blast] to her right, straight into the tents towards the edge of the campsite. 

The spell lit up a small section of the camp while the resulting explosion managed to make enough noise to draw at least some of the attention of gnolls in that direction. Pleased with her work, Aurora turned around while casting a [Lightning], sending it in the other direction. The bright streak of blue slamming down into the camp from the sky created a vastly more flashy distraction as the spell stood out in the nighttime.

As Aurora was about to cast her skill Add-on, [Residual Burst], she noticed one of the gnolls who had exited from the tents around her start to rush her. Her instincts kicked in as she redirected the spell to strike the new challenger, managing to cause the gnoll to stumble and change from using two limbs to four as it ran. 

From her previous encounter, she had made a mental note to be prepared for any sudden lunges, and that diligence was rewarded as she safely managed to duck to the right of the gnoll's sudden jump. The sudden movement caused a flash of pain to cross her chest as the stinging from her broken ribs flared, making Aurora stumble as she turned to slash at her attacker. 

Aurora’s wild strike went wide as the gnoll struck out with its right claw, making Aurora bring her staff up to defend. The impact of the strike pushed her back, but gave her enough time to readjust her sword to thrust at the gnoll's throat. The sword managed to pierce through the gnoll's skin, however, due to what she assumed was its high defence, the strike only went part of the way through its throat. 

Aurora’s sense of danger flared moments before the gnoll's clawed paw managed to grab her hand that held her sword as it lifted her to its eye level, growling into her face. Aurora’s experience caused her reflexes to go into overdrive as she began to cast [Chain Lightning] while swinging her staff at its head, returning the gnoll's intimidation attempt with an intense grin of her own. 

Her staff struck the gnoll's head and released the [Chain Lightning] through its skull, causing it to stumble back and release her hand while the arking energy struck two other gnolls. With her sword now freed, Aurora found her footing and let her sword strike out in a flash and thrust into the gnoll's throat, this time to much better effect. 

[Gnoll Lv 54 defeated. 62% xp gained. 79% skill point xp gained] 

[Lv 30 -> 31]

[All Attributes +3]

[+5 stat points]

With the brief seconds she had bought herself, Aurora cast [Mana Barrier] to allow her to take a little more damage, while navigating to her skill menu. Since she was already familiar with the skills available, she needed only to mentally command the system to purchase the skill she had unlocked earlier, the Intermediate level fire skill called [Fire Pillar].

In the brief moment she had her attention divided, a gnoll had emerged from around a tent behind her and started to jump at her using its powerful hind legs. Aurora had managed to spot the Gnoll out of the corner of her eye as it jumped, making the split second decision to face the gnoll, dropping her staff and bracing the hilt of her short sword with her left hand while pointing the tip at the gnoll. She let herself fall backwards so the impact of the gnoll would be lessened while she thrust her sword into the gnoll's chest as it landed, kicking it behind her with the momentum she had gained. As the sword left its chest its dead body landed head-first on the ground behind her, tripping over another gnoll who had almost been within reach.

[Gnoll Lv 34 defeated. 19% xp gained. 46% skill point xp gained] 

[+1 skill point]

Aurora picked up her staff and launched towards the gnoll who had been tripped up, thrusting her sword down towards its heart in an attempt to finish it off with a strike to the heart. As her blade reached for its intended target, the gnoll with its much higher speed dodged to the side, her sword only managing a brief slash onto its shoulder. 

Aurora swiftly glanced around as she readied a follow up strike, only to see another gnoll rush her from her left, so she ducked down, narrowly dodging its claws that were aimed at her neck and responded with a slash of her sword that created a shallow gash on its chest. 

The brief moment she spent to dodge the gnolls slash ended up becoming detrimental and put her into a dangerous position as one of the enemies behind her finally reached and slashed at her back. In a desperate position, Aurora used her [Teleport] to gain a short distance from the now swarming gnolls, only to end up narrowly avoiding one that was charging right next to where she appeared. 

The gnoll had thankfully been rushing too fast to stop in time to strike at her which gave Aurora the chance to turn around and cast her newly acquired [Fire Pillar], the one and a half second casting time feeling like a whole minute with how tense she was. 

Aurora’s stress changed to excitement as she looked on at the three gnolls she had just been fighting, the two that had been hit with her chain lightning, and an additional three who had apparently all been rushing at her as they all ended up either partially or fully engulfed in a collum of flame two and a half meters wide. 

Determined not to waste the chance to hit the now tightly grouped 8 gnolls who were all stunned by the sudden pillar of flames, Aurora followed up with another [Fireball] and [Blast], causing the area around her to become noticeably hotter.