When Clouds Rain Red

Snap

Harper wasn't even one hundred steps into the forest when a runt appeared in front of him, gazing at him curiously. He wouldn't trust this little fucker for a moment, immediately dashing forward.

A demented squeal erupted from the small harescourge as it hopped into the trees. Intense anger showed in its eyes, betraying the feigned curiosity it displayed prior.

Darting around above, its four rear legs made small imprints in the trees as it bounded off them. Its speed was increasing, becoming more erratic as Harper quickly halted his charge to wait for the creature to come to him.

His hair rose on the back of his neck, and his body froze momentarily at the realization that something was coming. Jumping back only a couple of feet, a blast appeared where he was prior.

A small round impact replaced where he once was, a bead of sweat rolling down his neck. Those fucking Harescourge were terrifying.

Air magic had been the last thing Frag had warned Harper about. The Harescourge were some of the best at second-tier air magic, notably their use of the spell Air Shot.

The issue with air magic was that, while it was invisible, it was the easiest to feel. The pressure change in the air as an Air Shot blasted forward sent the target's body on alert, and only those aware of the aspect of air magic in the first place would realize this.

Last time, he was already running and far more on edge, too unfocused and unaware to understand. Now, he could feel it, sense it.

Harper's hair went up again, his body shivering as he rolled to the side. He glared at the harescourge, which had taken a moment to hiss at him on a tree as the blast of air slammed into his previous position. The harescourge continued to rocket in the tree tops, the colony hidden even higher as they observed him.

With a screech, the harescourge finally attacked, its maw open with small sharp teeth open, its tail hidden behind its body. Harper stepped forward, unsheathing his sword and performing an upward slice.

As his sword moved, so did the runt's tail, its body shifting slightly as the blade flew straight. The bladed tail flew by his sword, stabbing at Harper's pauldron. In return, Harper's sword cut the harescourge runt halfway down the middle, killing it on contact.

Blood poured from its body, drenching Harper with its guts spilling down the sword's blade. He swung his sword once and flung some of the blood off, deciding it was clean enough.

Harper didn't want to get the sheath all bloody later.

It would smell.

Looking at his pauldron, Harper smiled. The armor was a good option in the end; an impaled shoulder would have cost him. Between the time it would have taken to remove the spearhead, and the aspect of fighting injured would have been detrimental to his hunt.

Twelve more sets of feet began to move; it was difficult, but he could just barely hear it. His gaze rose, seeing three of the fuckers above squealing furiously.

As pissed off as they made him, a grin split his face.

The first seemed to fly down, its feet bounding towards Harper. Sidestepping, he brought his sword up in an upward slash, missing the harescourge entirely.

He would need to work on his accuracy.

When the harescourge landed, it was far larger than the previous runt, and its feet spun it around to rocket towards Harper. He cursed, jumping to the side, the harescourge's side hitting him and flipping him. Harper landed hard, coughing but thankful the armor took most of the vepis' impact. Standing back up, the harescourge was already back up in the trees, jumping around with the other one-

Harper spun, rushing towards the closest tree and putting his back against it. One of the three fuckers was missing. It was to his left, Harper's unarmed side. Jumping forward, transitioning into a roll, he heard the harescourge crash into the tree, cracking it.

Harper winced at the near-deafening sound, looking up to see the harescourge about to bounce off the current tree right into him. "Oh, you cunt!"

Rolling again to his left, he stepped up and slashed as the vepis pounced. His blade bit into the creature's side as its tail struck, stabbing into his chest plate. With a whine, the creature rammed into the nearest tree behind him, the tail following close behind, whipping Harper sideways as it dislodged violently from his armor.

Two down... And satan knows how many of these fuckers remain.

Harper's attention returned to the two still jumping around in the trees. They were moving too fast for him to watch effectively, but still, he would try.

His eyes scanned, waiting.

Two.

Two.

Two.

One!

Rushing to another tree, he scanned the area.

The crack of the tree he was clinging to made his blood run cold. Attempting to fall to his side, he failed as the tree exploded into massive shards and spears of wood. The wood didn't breach his armor, but his head and the way the armor unpierced armor caved in his chest ensured that little nugget of hope was smothered.

Harper gasped, heaving for air as he looked around, realizing he was only a few steps into the forest. Not even five minutes had passed yet, restarting all of his progress. A growl hummed in his throat, glaring forward as he went further into the forest again.

Once more, that fucking runt was staring at him, judging him. Trying to decipher if he was considered prey or otherwise. Harper would ensure this little fucker knew it was the latter.

Intentionally allowing his guard to fall, he slowly walked towards the harescourge runt, smiling at the creature. His acting failed in the face of the harescourge as it wailed at him, golden, beady little eyes bulging in outrage at Harper's insult towards its intelligence.

It was a disgusting display.

The runt sprang from its position, springing off three other trees until it was to Harper's rear. A shrill and demented shriek erupted from its maw as its speared tail struck. The killer, his hand already around the hilt of his sword, drew, side-stepped, and slashed.

A spray of blood was Harper's reward, the runt falling to the ground with a thump, a weak cry escaping it. Turning to look at the harescrouge, the vepis was now missing its left frontmost leg, received a deep gash along the side, and the deadly tail it utilized rendered useless, now bisected.

Leaving it there to die would make dealing with the two that now dropped from the treetops easier.

Turning towards his newest annoying adversaries hissing at him, Harper swung the blood off his sword.

They dashed.

One bounded towards him, attempting to ram him back as the second had moved to intercept.

These little shits are even more intelligent than I previously anticipated. To think they could set up chain attacks like this, it's exciting.

Ducking down, falling to the ground, the harescourge flew over him. One of its feet nicked him, shoving him slightly. Not enough to have done any damage.

Harper stood fast, grinning as the first strike toward the intended chain was interrupted. The first backed off momentarily as the second landed above on the nearest tree. Screeching, it darted down, torpedoing down upon Harper.

Backstepping, Harper swung his sword forward blindly, striking the harescourge weakly as it came down. Hissing, the vepis struck with its speared tail, ignoring the superficial injury.

Spear struck ferrumite, nicking it and bouncing off. The harescourge let out a weak, confused, and angry squeal. Taking advantage of the angered state, Harper performed a side slash, opening the creature's guts. With a dying wail, it jumped sideways as blood waterfalled out of its wound, rolling twice before stopping.

The first screeched again, watching its brethren die and Harper wiping the blood off his sword on the newest corpse. Hurdling towards Harper in a reckless rage, the creature ricocheted off trees till it met the killer of its kin.

Harper felt the air change as it charged, rolling to the side and once more as two blasts of air struck the ground. He felt sweat roll down his body, and his eyes flicked up to locate the harescourge. It had disappeared from sight, but he could still hear it coming from his left. Turning to face it, the vepis was far too fast to escape. Harper swung in the general direction it was coming from, and missing flew over him.

Hair raising, Harper's eyes widened as an Air Shot was fired at him, too close to dodge.

Once again, left at two kills, Harper's body exploded as the air blast made contact with his dome, unfettered as it crashed through him and struck earth. Bone, viscera, and blood coated the nearby trees and forest floor, the harescourge letting out a victorious wail.

Harper gasped, coughing as he fell to his knees. The phantom pain racked his body as bile came up through his throat.

Unlike all the other deaths so far, none of them had been as overwhelmingly gruesome and painful as that. Taking a moment to allow his beating heart to slow, blurring tears trekked down his face in his misery.

Falling back onto his ass, he looked up at the sky through the edge of the forest. He'd gone back further. This fight had been even shorter than the last.

Huffing, deciding to allow his beating heart to aid him with the adrenaline running rampant through his body, Harper made his way into the forest again.

And again.

And again.

Attempt twenty-four.

Snap

Harper was finally able to maintain a five-minute fight against these annoying fucks. Starting, he chucked his sword, the runt wholly unprepared as it flew through the air and struck its lower body. It sunk into flesh, and the show began.

Squealing, the harescourge tried to flee. The intruding blade locked its legs in place, the runt reeling in pain, letting out another squeal as bone scraped against cobaltine.

In the injured, incapacitated state, the vepis was, Harper moved. Eyes excited with unrighteous fury, he soccer-kicked the runt's head with a spine-chilling snap.

It fell over dead, and Harper gripped the hilt of his sword, ripping it out of the runt. A weak, airy hiss left its body, lungs deflating as any remnants of life left the creature. Looking up, the army of harescourge above glared at him, three dropping down to deal with their intruder.

Harper didn't wipe the blood off or swing the sword to clean it this time. It cost time, and he had already accumulated three deaths by attempting to do so.

The first to attack crashed into Harper, pushing the killer back a meter as he wheezed. Rolling his shoulder and sliding past the harescourge, Harper spun and slashed down on its spine. The creature whined, and then Harper ripped the sword out of the oversized vermin, leaving it paralyzed.

Side-kicking the ribs of the vepis, they caved in, killing the creature on contact as the bone punctured heart.

The sound of the following two was fast, leaving no opening as they appeared to Harper's sides, coming in at angles and speeds that would prevent him from escaping with his back against the dead harescourge. Their plans were foiled, though, as Harper hurdled the corpse, ducking behind.

Harper was launched but not injured as the two harescourge crashed into the corpse. Rolling but also losing his sword, Harper swore. Standing up and turning towards the furious vepis, he activated Killer's Wrath.

Dashing forward, Harper kicked the corpse again, knocking over the two harescourge, stunning them. Hurdling the dead vepis once more, Harper threw a punch down on the closest harescourge. His fist met hide, tearing through, elbow lengths in and reaching the internal organs. Opening his fist inside the beast and reaching for the closest solid object, he crushed it.

As the harescourge expired, Harper tore his blood-coated arm out, grinning savagely at the recovering harescourge to his side. It hissed, shifting quickly as its tail struck, only for it to bounce off the metal of Harper's pauldron. A single step put Harper in range, and then grieves met the skull of a confused and angered harescourge. Like the runt, its neck snapped, the vepis falling over dead.

Sounds of over five more harescourge registered, and Harper rushed to retrieve his sword. As he ran, his hair rose. Ducking and rolling to his right, the blast of air hit. His hair didn't fall, and he rolled back to his left.

The new blast threw Harper into a tree, a few of his ribs cracking at the massive impact. Coughing, he shakily stood against the tree, grinning maniacally at the seven new harescourge that wailed at him, their mouths opening to unnatural lengths in their attempt at intimidation.

Harper flipped them off in return.

Three of them dashed, stopping just outside of his range. The trio shot their tails at him; one cut his thigh, the second bounced off his chest plate, and the last narrowly missed his head and got stuck in the tree behind him. The first two retreated, the remaining three taking their places, following the same procedure.

Four tails flew, earning three clangs and a wince. A wound to Harper's upper arm. It was another cut, deeper than the previous superficial injury to his thigh. They were probably all spawn, too young to aim their speared tails effectively, so he was getting away with a lot right now. A cut to his arm was nothing. He could go on.

Retreating, the four switched out with the other two harescourge, the last still squirming to yank its tail from the tree behind him.

Harper decided he would help.

Gripping the base of the bladed tail, he tore the organic matter from the inorganic, arming himself.

Hunkering down as his hair rose, the tree behind him blew to pieces, once again throwing him from his position. To his misery, he was farther away from his sword now, though now just barely in range of the harescourge with a damaged tail that was freaking out.

Lunging and swiping with the stolen spear tip, the vepis squealed. It wasn't a large wound, but his slash was enough to stun it. His next lounge was transformed into a tackle, dodging two more tail spears.

How are they so fucking persistent? Never mind, I'm pretty persistent myself. And this isn't their twenty-fourth attempt at fighting me in their experience.

Still, they are growing even more difficult to deal with; seven is a fucking lot. The most I've had before this attempt was five, and even that felt like overkill.

Suppose it's natural for someone to learn the long, fun, and extraordinarily tedious method of dealing with them. The more I kill, the more they send to overwhelm me. It's a fucking endless horde mode in a video game.

Harper stabbed the injured harescourge he was pushed up against. He didn't bother counting the number of stabs; he just wanted to ensure it was deceased. He wouldn't get the chance to know if it was still dead of his own volition, though, as his hair rose on end again.

Jumping into a roll, the body popped. Harper was covered in blood, blinded as it caked his face. His tongue was overwhelmed by the taste of iron, and the crimson liquid assaulted his nose. Breathing became difficult, and all he could see was black and red, as blurry silhouettes of the harescourge that morphed in his tainted view.

Clang

Clang

They were striking at him again with their tails.

Swiping with his stolen blade, Harper desperately wiped at his face.

The third and forth struck home, biting into his leg and forearm. Harper fell forward, his neck falling onto the spear tip in his hand, the weapon slitting open his throat.

Blood poured down his fist, draining his body of blood as his already limited vision faded faster. He could barely feel it when a harescourge landed on his leg, shattering it and fusing his limb with the yellow grass and dirt.

As his vision went dark, the sensations still lingered.

Only for a moment, though, but it was enough to feel the ground shake. The massive form of whatever had landed sent shivers of fear down his spine.

Harper gasped, gulping down air. His eyes strained as he took in the seafoam green sky that shone through the spotty canopy above. That last one was terrifying, but there were advantages to death.

Dying so many times was slowly increasing his resistances.

From the first time he woke up in this accursed forest, he thought only his physical damage resistance would increase. To Harper's excited astonishment, he received four other resistances. Blunt damage resistance, thrust damage resistance, air magic resistance, and impact resistance.

Blunt damage resistance diminished the efficiency of all strikes that would leave bruising, the crushing or breaking of bones, unarmed strikes, or the damage dealt by unsharp weapons. The issue with resistances, or the advantage rather, was their tendency to be vague. Blunt damage resistance included damage from bladed weapons that have struck armor, regardless of whether they had broken through his protection or not. Of course, this also included the damage a fucking harescourge did when ramming into flesh or armor.

Thrust damage resistance diminished the efficiency of all straight single-point strikes, fine-pointed strikes, or any kind of thrust, including weapons and even punches. Harper had learned it also included rams, as it counted them as a wide, straight, single-point strike. This meant that if someone were to jab him with a blunt weapon, he could resist up to his current resistance.

Air magic resistance was the easiest to explain, as it diminished the overall effects and damage of air magic.

Impact resistance was Harper's favorite by far in dealing with harescourge. Impact Resistance diminished the effects and damage of attacks that caused internal damage, attacks that moved him, and torpor. Not only that, it made him sturdier. He could become a walking tank, capable of taking impacts and remaining standing.

The unholy screaming of a harescourge drew his attention. A trio fell from the trees, the runt dead at his feet, its neck craned backward with protrusions of its spine ripping through flesh, spinal fluid spurting and bubbling from the fatal wound.

Harper gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly he cracked his knuckles. A sadistic smirk split his face, eyes narrowing at the overgrown rodents.

Swiping his sword across the air in a mocking invitation for the vepis to attack.

They obliged fervently, wailing with hellish perseverance.

By the sixtieth return, Harper could take up to three full charges. His one-hundredth allowed him to withstand a single Air Shot. The one-hundred-fortieth allowed him to tank any full charge, and his two-hundred-tenth made him near unshakable to the invisible blasts from Air Shot.

Still, he managed to die time and time again.

Why had he allowed himself to die a final total of three-hundred-eighty times to these fucking miscreant harescourge?

Resistances.

Every fucking time he got hit, his resistances increased bit by bit. Not only that, but he also obtained a new resistance after hitting 70% physical damage resistance.

Pain resistance was an absolute hell-send. Unlocking pain resistance after his two-hundred-fifty-third attempt made the next one-hundred-twenty-seven tries far easier. He could barely feel the pain now. In his opinion, the harescourge had become overwhelmingly weak, their attacks doing no damage unless they barraged him with Air Shots.

Even then, his abilities increased, too; his strength and speed slowly grew as he fought. It seemed that having a level didn't plateau his ability to increase basic stats. Hard work seemed to do the same, and he guessed that leveling just made the abilities shoot up a number of points at each increase.

With such a broken, abusable curse as Walking Tomb, he wouldn't need levels to grow stronger.

Gasping, Harper revived. His eyes burned with excitement, glaring at the nine harescourge that shook fear and rage. Over sixty of their kin littered the floor as corpses, and the constantly gasping threat seemed unphased by their attacks.

Harper leaned forward, foot pressing against the tall yellow grass. His newest skill, an evolution of Killer's Wrath, which he acquired after his one-hundredth use: Genocide.

Receiving a three-hour, one-hundred-twelve percent strength boost and ninety-seven percent speed boost at the cost of a two-day cooldown, which reset at every other death, Harper was a monster. On top of activating this skill, the title Ruthless currently had him at a two-hundred-twenty-six-point-eight percent increase.

To Harper's surprise, titles could also grow as Ruthless had risen from a two-point-five strength percent increase per kill to three-point-six percent. He was a monster in the making, rising fast in strength in a seemingly short time. Of course, he didn't believe he was invincible, though he would absolutely get his shit kicked in by the adventurers at the guild house and that guard.

There was a limit to how strong he could become fighting these fucking harescourge, and he believed he was close to reaching it for now. He has seen and heard a massive one, only once each. Those hadn't reappeared yet, and he was certain he was glad.

No matter how much abuse he could take from these smaller harescourge, that massive one could, without a doubt, flatten him. The short-lived presence he felt from the creature was suffocating, and even now, he was, without a doubt, positive it would have the same effect.

Harper rushed the nine, his blade swiping at an almost acceptable, self-taught, experience-obtained level of swordsmanship. Two were cut down almost immediately, one split in half horizontally and the second having shifted enough to throw off his strike enough not to cleave it in two.

Still, the creature died, falling as it showered its surroundings in blood. The remaining seven dispersed, circling him in the trees. They wanted to hunt, and so did Harper.

"System."