Arthur moved like a phantom through the camp, his every step measured, his breathing steady. The two drained corpses lay hidden in the icy darkness, their frozen skin now dull and lifeless. Strength pulsed through Arthur's limbs, his body feeling lighter, faster. The blood he had consumed worked through him like a drug, sharpening his senses.
The camp was still mostly distracted by the fading glow of the Ice Light near the entrance, but he knew his time was limited. The Ice Elves were too disciplined to remain confused for long. He needed to kill more before they adapted.
Slipping between the shadows of the huts, he stalked another Worker. This one carried a bundle of furs, trudging toward one of the larger huts. It stopped briefly, sniffing the air before letting out a low, guttural clicking sound.
Arthur froze.
The sound was echoed by another Worker nearby.
They communicate… just not with words.
His fingers tightened into fists. He had assumed the Workers were weak, but they weren't entirely oblivious. He needed to strike before they could call for more of their kin.
Arthur darted forward, his footfalls silent against the ice. The Worker turned just as he reached it, its icy blue eyes widening. It let out a sharp chittering noise, but before it could react further, Arthur's sharp ice spike sank deep into its throat. He twisted the shard, cutting off any further sound as the creature twitched violently in his grasp.
[ You have killed a Common Feral, Frost Elf. ]
Arthur dragged the body into the nearest hut, hiding it among the piles of frozen meat. He pressed himself against the wall, listening. The other Worker had gone silent. Had it noticed something?
A low growl echoed from nearby.
Not a Worker. A Hunter.
Arthur's heart pounded as he peered through a small opening in the ice hut. The Warrior was standing near the fire pit, its spear gripped tightly in its elongated fingers. Its head moved slowly as it sniffed the air, then let out a deep, resonant hum.
Arthur clenched his jaw. It smells the blood.
He couldn't take on a Warrior head-on—not yet. He needed to be smarter. Movingswiftly, he slipped out of the hut's back entrance, keeping low as he maneuvered behind another structure. If he could draw the Warrior into an isolated spot…
A plan formed in his mind.
He reached down and scooped up a handful of snow, pressing it against the bloodstains on his hands and arms to suppress the scent. Then, grabbing a sharp shard of ice from the ground, he tossed it against a hut on the far side of the camp.
The sudden impact sent a crackling noise through the air. The Warrior snapped its head in the direction of the sound and let out a guttural growl, its glowing spear lowering as it prowled toward the noise.
Arthur smirked. Just as I thought. They rely on sound and scent more than sight.
Using the distraction, he slipped deeper into the camp, scanning for his next target. A pair of Workers stood near a pile of weapons, discarded spears and crude ice-daggers. He needed one of those weapons if he had any hope of taking on a Warrior directly.
Creeping closer, he picked up a small stone and hurled it toward the opposite end of the camp. The resulting clatter sent the two Workers into a frenzy, both letting out rapid clicking noises as they turned toward the sound.
Arthur moved.
In a single fluid motion, he lunged at the nearest Worker, driving his dagger into its back. It let out a shrill screech, its body convulsing violently. The second Worker spun around just in time for Arthur to slam his fist into its face, sending it staggering backward.
The creature recovered almost instantly and let out an ear-piercing wail.
Arthur's blood ran cold.
That was no ordinary alert—it was a call for help.
The camp stirred. A chorus of responding sounds echoed across the settlement, some sharp and urgent, others deep and resonant. Arthur's cover was blown.
Then, from the shadows, a Warrior emerged, spear in hand, its three glowing eyes locking onto him. Behind it, two more Workers skittered forward, their bodies tensed.
Arthur exhaled slowly, raising his spike.
His stealth had ended.
Now, the real fight would begin, and there was no escape for Arthur.
The big Problem was he only took out three Ice elves completely and injured one more...
Immediately, Arthur dived and grabbed one of the Ice daggers from the pile and threw his old ice spike from the ground up at the Warrior Frost Elf.
But it just raised its spear, and with one strong smash it shattered the Ice spike he threw in the air, Arthur was dazzled.
"How am I supposed to fight seven of these things?!"
A fraction of a Second later the spear pierces the ground, Arthur rolled a few centimeters away just now and with that escaped a deadly injury.
He rolled back and when he finally got up from the ground again he checked his surroundings first.
He was standing behind one of the smaller houses so the first few Workers and other Warriors will need a few seconds to get here, that was the only good thing right now, the Warrior Arthur was facing was of the stronger side.
He was stronger, faster and way more durable than Arthur, and therefore demolishing him.
As Arthur parried a pierce from the spear, he finally gave the Warrior a small cut on his wrist. But just as Arthur smiled a little, one of the two helping Workers, jumped at him from his blind spot... His back.
Arthur barely dodged, but still got a shallow cut on his left back side. The biggest problem was that he dodged into the direction of the other Worker, who punched at his face with sharp claws.
Arthur took the claws to his shoulders instead of the face, because there was no time to dodge completely. But because the claws were stuck in Arthur's shoulder, the Ice dagger could slash freely through the air and behead the Ice elf in an instant.
And a second later, Arthur bit into the shoulder of the dead Ice elf and rip out some flesh, with blood flowing out. He immediately drank the blood and felt how his shallow wounds closed in an instant.
"One down, you dumb Elves."
The second worker backed down, and stood beside the Warrior.
To Arthur's luck the Warrior couldn't move for a moment because it quickly healed its wrist wound which stopped him from freely using his spear.
Now it was Arthur against one of the top Warriors of the tribe, and one Worker. He could easily dispose of the Worker, but the Warrior was still a little bit above his level, he would have to get some blood to get on the Warrior's level.
The next problem was that he couldn't match the Warriors' weapon skill, it had a few months of experience, judging on how strong the Monsters are. A Monster gets stronger in 2 ways, eating humans which boosts its potential for more strength, and living longer fills its soul which makes it stronger.
So the longer a monster lives, the stronger it gets as long as it consumes humans.
Arthur took a second dagger out of the pile, and proceeded to face the two ice elves. With every muscle screaming, and every fiber of his skin breaking, he put all his strength into one arm and threw the second dagger he just picked up directly at the Worker.
It pierced the air faster than an arrow, Arthur was astounded at his own strength. Back in the real world, he couldn't have even imagined having such strength one day.
But sadly, not even that strength was enough, the worker reached out with his spear and tried to block the flying dagger. Even though it was so fast that it was hard to even react to the coming ice dagger, it was still blocked.
But Arthur's mouth curled in an upward devilish smile, because he didn't kill the Worker, but he reached something completely different.
As he looked at the outstretched spear, as soon as the collision with the dagger happened, the dagger made a big crack appear on the tip of the spear...