Feeling desperation sinking in, Malcolm gave into the cooling sensation at the back of his mind. The Calmest Mind ability kicked into hyperdrive and he let the feeling overcome him fully. Time slowed as the tension in his expression faded and his face became blank. Without missing a beat, Malcolm jumped backwards as the beasts' tail stabbed at the ground just in front of him.

The rest of the scorpion crashed into the ground behind him, its massive claws closing in on him on both sides.

Malcolm nonchalantly glanced at the incoming attack and jumped. Coming down, he landed on the right claw and used it to pivot into the air, and then grabbed hold of the tail. The scorpion screamed in confused outrage, moving its tail to shake Malcolm off.

Losing his grip, Malcolm was launched high into the air.

The scorpion made a sound of glee as Malcolm came down towards its eagerly awaiting waiting claws. His face remained blank as he ignored the screams of terror coming from the carts, though he did hear Darion's shouts which made his lips twitch into a smile.

Darion's safe. Good. Then this won't be a complete waste of effort.

Impatiently, the scorpions snapped up to snatch him from the air. Twisting his body like an acrobat, he tried to angle himself to dodge the incoming attack. The claw crashed into his side, causing him to smack on top of the scorpion's head. Malcolm hollered in pain upon impact.

Teeth bit deep into his lip as he felt the ligaments in his ankle snap, he had landed awkwardly on his left foot. To add more grease to the fire, the scorpion had begun to panic as it felt Malcolm's weight on top of it. The creature bucked and jerked to removed him, but Malcolm kept his hold. Thankfully the natural grooves and pits in the beast's exoskeleton made perfect handholds.

Clenching his jaw to the constant ache in his ankle, Malcolm sat up and withdrew his sword. With a grunt of effort, he brought the weapon down point first.

The attack bounced harmlessly off the steel like exoskeleton, hardly scratching the surface.

"For fucks sake!" Malcolm bellowed. "Why won't this damn thing die!?"

But then a thought struck him as he noticed the creature’s huge bulbous eyes glaring at him. I’m a moron! He chuckled to himself. He had landed right on top of the beasts’ head, right between its cluster of eyes. He had seen enough anime and movies to know where its weak point was.

But he had to act fast. In its constant bucking to dislodge Malcolm, the giant scorpion had turned itself around and was now heading towards the carts.

Malcolm's head snapped up as he heard the screams. "Oh no you don’t!”

With a relaxed expression on his face, Malcolm gripped his sword and began scooting over to one of the large eyes.

“Hello there, have a nice view up here huh?” Then without any further preamble he stabbed down with his sword with all his might. The scorpion screamed as he felt his blade pop the eyes and scrap against its exoskeleton. The massive beast went into a rampage, bucking, and skittering all about. Though it did little to Malcolm, he now had his sword perfectly anchored in its eye socket.

A fountain of yellowish ichor sprayed up at Malcom as he stabbed the sword down, over and over until he felt the tip snapped. He had done significant damage, but he wasn’t able to drive the blade any deeper. The beast must have an inner tough membrane preventing him from stabbing into its brain.

He then launched a couple mana arrows, sadly the spell did little but dent the thick carapace. Swearing under his breath, he strained his mind to think of something. It didn't help that he had to crouch low to avoid the arrows that the people at the carts shot at the now overly enraged giant scorpion.

If only I were stronger. Malcolm swore at himself. If I don’t figure something out, people will die. A headache bloomed in his skull as he repressed emotions tried to push against the Calmest Mind ability. I should have just listened to Saria and set up an actual plan. Or better yet, we could have just waited. I'm just not strong enough... Wait a sec.

Opening his status menu, he saw he had six attribute points waiting to be assigned. That's right! I leveled up again earlier. A plan began to form into his mind as he quickly set the points. The restriction for the hammer was fifteen for strength and ten points in endurance, quickly he placed three points to strength, two points to endurance, and the last point he set into constitution.

He felt like he was going to need the extra health. Heart thumping in his chest, he dug into his bag and withdrew the one object that could possibly turn the tides of the entire situation.

You have equipped: Tedea's Hammer!

With a wide grin, he felt the magical energy build at the head to the hammer, a chill ran up his arm as the magic effect took over. He raised the warhammer high above his head, then with all his remaining strength brought the weapon down.

“Hammer hits the nail!” He shouted as he struck the handle of his sword and successfully nailed it deeper into the monsters’ skull. The giant scorpion halted its advance towards the carts and proceeded to spasm in pain. A gurgling clicking noise escaped its mouth as the blade and ice damage stabbed into it.

"Critical hit, mother sucker!" Malcolm whooped.

The sword was now frozen, and the eye socket was covered in frost. Malcolm awed at the chill that emanated from the hammer. There was even a light frost on his arm and his fingers were growing numb due to the cold. It wasn’t cold before… Did it activate because I now meet the requirements? Eagerly Malcolm raised the hammer again and brought it down on the same spot. Awed as pieces of carapace shattered and fell away, he lifted the hammer again but was thrown off balance as the scorpion squealed in pure anger.

The creature bucked, causing Malcolm to drop his hammer. Even in his calm state Malcom frowned at that. What could he do without a weapon? He looked to the sword that was lodged in the scorpions’ eye, but it was gone.

“No! Where…” Malcolm felt panic creep into him.

Then unexpectedly the scorpion shifted beneath him and Malcolm had to duck as the barbed tail flew by him. In a panic, Malcolm tried to move to the side as the tail struck at him again, but it was too difficult to move fast in such an awkward sitting position.

He felt the point stab into his back and keep going until it pierced his front. His breastplate did little to halt the attack. Dumbstruck, Malcolm looked down his chest to see the scorpion's stinger poking just above his stomach. A weird tickle danced up his spine as he blinked at the tip of the tail drenched in his blood. He slumped forward as the barbed tail slipped out of him and his health bar plummeted as he began to bleed out. Saria's spell faded and he was left with barely five percent of his health.

You are bleeding badly! -5 Health per second until healed.

You have been poisoned by Alpha Bull Scorpion! -5 Health per second until cured.

You have received critical damage! Death is imminent unless healed!

I’m not done yet…

Driven by the instinct of not giving up. He manifested a mana arrow, but instead of instantly firing it. He held it and pumped as much mana as he could into the glowing bolt. The mana arrow began to grow as it was feed more energy, growing from the size of a regular arrow to nearly the size of a ballista bolt. Ten mana, Twenty, Forty, Fifty! He was using all his remaining energy.

Scarcely holding onto consciousness, Malcolm forced the large arrow to spin at a rapid pace. Then with as much strength he could muster, he shot the arrow at the weak spot he had created. The scorpion instantly began screeching in pain as Malcolm's ear were filled with the sound of the arrow grinding through its thick skin and driving deep into its softer meat beneath.

With no more strength in his limbs, when the scorpion jerked in its death throes, Malcolm was easily tossed off its back and sent tumbling into the desert sands. The scorpions body lurched to a stop just a few feet away from him as it succumbed to death. Apparently, the massive arrow had dug itself deep enough to reach the scorpions brain, killing it instantly.

Gotcha bitch... Malcolm thought to himself as he lost consciousness.

Malcolm opened his eyes to find himself staring at the canopy roof of a large tent. He tried to call out, but his voice came out in a nearly inaudible rasp. His throat was dry, and his entire body ached from strain.

Before he could try to speak again, an onslaught of notifications filled his field of vision. With an annoyed grunt, he began to go through them. His eyes widened in astonishment as he read.

Congratulations you have created a new spell! Mana Drill Arrow level 1!

Info:

This is unique spell that can only be used by a Mana Manipulator. Cost: 12 - 50MP. Damage: 10-12 (depends on amount of mana used) +Armor Penetration.

Creating your own spell from scratch shows you have great creativity! +1 to Intelligence!

You have learned a new skill! Blunt Weapons Level 1!

Info: Sometimes it takes more than just a flimsy sword to finish off a foe, sometimes you just need to bash some heads! Increase this skill through effort to make wielding blunt weapons more effective. +5% Damage when using a blunt weapon.

Malcolm had always thought he'd want to be a master swordsman, but the joyous savagery that he felt swinging that hammer may have changed his mind. MC Hammer may have been right, maybe it is hammer time...

He chuckled as he continued to read the rest of the notifications.

You have survived an instant kill attack! +1 to Luck! +1 to Constitution!

You have suffered pass your normal pain threshold! +1 Endurance!

New skill learned! Masochist Level 1!

Info: This skill allows you to withhold behold your normal pain threshold and fight harder! Slight enjoyment from pain received may occur. Beware of kink shammers. +5% Pain Resistance.

What in the hell! Malcolm thought to himself. His face scrunched up in disgust. Was this thing trying to make fun of him? Who in the hell writes these things!

You have been granted extra attribute points by showing great skill, insight, and fortitude! This is a rare occurrence so don't expect it to happen every time you overcome a strong foe or issue. Your next reward may simply be a quick death.

Well, that's humbling. Malcolm sighed. There was also an assortment of other notifications of his blade skill, light armor skill, and dodge skill increasing.

"Oh, you're awake!" A small voice said beside him.

He turned his head to see a small wide-eyed elf girl standing by his cot, it was Darion's sister. "M-milly?" His voice came out harsh, but at least he was able to speak again.

"Yuh huh!" Milly's eyes brightened. She then reached to a small table and pulled out a jug and a small cup. "Thirsty?" She filled the cup hastily. "Saria said you'd be thirsty."

Malcolm quickly gulped down the cup, then another as Milly began to explain what happened after he lost consciousness.

"You looked really bad, like really bad." Milly shuddered. "I-I was crying, but then Miss Saria came and healed you right up! She wrapped you in so much cloth you looked like a mummy! And then everyone got worried when you didn't wake up, so we set up camp. That was about a day ago. You've been sleeping for a long time. And you snore. Like a bugbear, not sure if that's normal or not-"

The little girl talked like a machine gun, each word fired at Malcolm like a bullet. He was kind of startled by the girls' sudden shine of personality. He remembered that she barely spoke at all back at the orc camp, though that was understandable, the young girl had gone through quite a bit of trauma.

"Wait, I've been sleeping for a whole day?" Malcolm nearly spit out his water.

"Yuh huh!" Milly nodded fiercely. " Well, actually two days! You fell asleep yesterday and now it’s night! So that makes it two days, right? Miss Saria gave you some medicine for the poison, said it'll take a while to fix you, and that we couldn't move you till the medicine had run its course. Oh! I should let her know that you're awake!"

And then like a whirlwind, she zoomed out of the tent.

Malcolm digested what Milly had just told him as he waited. So, we lost a full day of travel because I got hurt. He grunted in effort as he forced himself into an upright position. Not that bad of a lost, especially since I'm sure a few others needed medical attention as well.

"Malcolm! You're wake?" Saria burst into the tent with an entourage of others following close behind her. "By the Gods above, you should still be resting!"

"Oh, hiya." Malcolm said as he sipped at his jug of water. "Did I miss anything?"

"Hiya? Did you miss anything?!" Saria was nearly foaming at the mouth. "Do you even comprehend how close you came to death! I had to dump nearly all of my mana in the effort of keeping you from Lorne's doorstep!"

"Whoa, calm down!" Malcolm waved his hands in surrender. "I know, I know. I fucked up and put you all at risk. I'm not used to being in a leader position, and I know that isn’t a valid excuse. But I can promise you that I've learned from this and will do whatever I can to no repeat this type of situation."

"Oh, well I-"

"And I'm seriously thankful that you saved me, Saria. Not to mention all the people who helped protect the carts." Malcolm lowered his head. "I'll do whatever I can to repay you all. Again, thank you."

Saria looked stunned and at a loss for words. "I-I will go refill this jug. The antidote I gave you has a nasty side effect of making you feel dehydrated." She then turned and headed towards the exit of the tent. "Don't think that strung out apology gets you off the hook! Darion get him ready. I'll let everyone know we are moving in the morning."

"I think you broke her." Darion snickered after Saria left.

"Aye," Berlung spoke up. He had followed Saria into the tent along with Darion. "She'd been fixing to ripping into you after pulling that stunt with the giant scorpion." The dwarf ran a hand through his thick beard.

Darion nodded with a grin. "Oh, and here's your blasted hammer. Damned thing is freezing!" He then thrusted a covered bundle in Malcolm's direction. "Had to cover it with cloth to keep it from giving me frostbite! How did you even wield this thing?"

Malcolm carefully swung his legs over the edge of the cot. "Don't be such a baby, it's not that cold." He unwrapped the hammer and grasped the worn handle.

He cooed as he felt the chilling sensation wash up his arms, the weapon grew colder for a moment be then leveled off and retained a comfortable coolness. "This beauty saved my life, I've decided I'm gonna keep it as my main weapon."

"As a cursed weapon, it can be pretty useful." Berlung commented.

"What?!" Both Malcolm and Darion turned to the dwarf. "Cursed?"

"Huh?" Berlung's eyes widened. "Wait, you really didn't know?" The he shook his head in despair as he looked at both Darion's and Malcolm's confused faces. "For Dhukdohr's sake! Yea, that's a cursed weapon! Probably why the orcs kept it in a chest instead of using it. I'm surprised the thing hasn't killed you yet."

"Jesus Christ!" Malcolm cried out and snatched his hand away from the hammers handle.

"Who?" Both Berlung and Darion asked.

Malcolm ignored their questioning glances. "Does everything in this damned world want to kill me!?"