He shifted to his coatl form and the winds sang. The abrupt upgrade to his Wind Manipution pressed in against him, and TJ could taste that this ambush was different from all those before. The coyote pelt still g on his backpack was not the only e around. Three pukwudgies mounted on massive, five foot-tall coyotes carried not spears but nces, at least seve long. While they weren’t so imposing as a human-sized one would be, they were tipped with stone heads that dripped a bck liquid.

  “Poisoned!” TJ warned, and Stanton gave two pops of his gun as his only aJ couldn’t lose any more of his attention t the older man. Right now, his foeeded to be keeping the wolf-sized beasts away from his panion. He hissed and tried to hurl three spears of wind, o each rider. Instead of the pressed bsts, though, TJ sent stiff breezes that fpped the pukwudgies ears and fur back without threatening to dislodge them. With a screech of frustration, TJ instead focused oent tempest that smashed into the tral rider’s mouth. Its sharklike teeth went flying as it screeched in fused pain and was thrown from its steed.

  The other two pukwudgies and the three coyotes still rushed towards him. A fsh of inspiration struck, and TJ again dehe wind in his mind. Just before the coyotes could reach him in unison, TJ whipped his head frht to left, sending the pressed bde of wind shooting from his mouth with a hiss. The wind screamed out and cut deep into all six front legs. Every coyote stumbled, and one of the remaining riders was thrown from a saddleless back. That left the st ohe one on TJ’s left, ready to strike. Its nce pierced easily through TJ’s scales and he screamed in agony.

  Before he could react, that rider’s coyote lunged forward with gaping jaws. They sunk true into TJ’s flesh, his scales crag as it tried to rip through his ans. Though it had found purchase, the coyote’s attack was a mere flesh wound. The nce, however, nearly piJ to the ground, the tip scraping the dirt under his belly. The other two coyotes, though med, still stumbled forward to finish off their prey. TJ couldn’t focus on them yet, but on the current greatest threat.

  With a snap of his jaws, TJ nearly decapitated the coyote biting him, but it released him and lunged away before his bite caught deep. As it moved, its rider pulled the nce free, TJ’s blood spilling freely onto the ground.

  Warning: You are…

  TJ only looked at the notification long enough to see that he’d resisted the poison and the bleed was only -15 HP per minute. Not as bad as he’d feared. He prepared and shot out another arrow of wind that struto the retreating coyote’s ribs with a g of bone and it whimpered as it tried to draw some distance. With the quick creature slowed, TJ leapt to his prey. The pukwudgie screamed as it tried to raise its o stave off the coatl’s strike, but his jaws found its head before it could raise any true defence. With a ch, its head ripped free, and TJ resumed his hunt.

  The three coyotes danced around him, disregarding Stanton as the massive snake showed just how threatening it could be. Their leader, the limping ohat had carried the pukwudgie that had successfully struck TJ, circled around behind him while the other two menaced his front. Trusting Stanton, TJ only whipped out his tail to grab one of the two coyotes in front of him. His trusting Stanton to tihe work of death among these creatures was repaid. Another cough of a bullet being shot was immediately echoed by a coyote’s wail of pain, and the one behind TJ pulled back, away from attag and towards the forest. TJ’s tail and then midse quickly enveloped the other unfortunate creature he’d caught, and the wet g of its ribs then spine breaking cut through the other din of bat. It wheezed its st before the inhuman strength of a coatl’s stri severed its spinal cord.

  The remaining coyote, the oruck most severely by TJ’s bde of wind, saw its panion die and limped off to follow the other survivor into the forest, yipping in fear and pain. A sudden stabbing pain in his tail made TJ whirl bad see the two other pukwudgie riders had recovered enough to tiheir attack. One had plus o his tail, but TJ shed his tail back towards his face t his attacker into his jaws. The pukwudgie abas on and tried to escape, but TJ pulled it further towards him with a quihale. With the wind yanking it closer, he struck. His teeth sunk deep into its belly, blood and viscera exploding out and painting his fa a macabre, siihe other pukwudgie saw TJ’s retaliation and turail to flee.

  TJ wao pursue, but instead returned his gaze to Stantoood with both hands on the pistol, his eyes peeled and focused on the forest that surrouhem. A spear was lodged shallowly in his gut, but he stood fidently heless. As TJ watched, Stanton sidestepped a spear to only take a grazing wound along his hip aurned fire. A hawklike screed the tumbling of a body from high in a tree answered his shot.

  Unfortunately, those throwing spears were a distra, and a half dozen of the rger blurs rushed from all around Stanton and began their assault. Though he’d tried to be prepared, Stanton obviously wasn’t expeg so many so soon. TJ slithered as fast as he could, gathering two pressed bolts of air aing them fly, but he missed one of the shots, the other clipping another’s shoulder and spinning it to fall. The st thing he mao do was to barely catother pukwudgie’s foot in his striking jaws. The bolt of air that struck true slowed one of the attackers while TJ’s needle-sharp teeth held another from attag. Fe pukwudgies lunged with sharp spears from uhe guise of their camoufge, and TJ kanton was about to die.

  That was when Stanto six feet straight up and, while still in the air, shot two pukwudgies iop of their disbelieving skulls. All four strikes missed miserably, some nearly stabbing their peers. TJ, amazed but not stunned, lifted the caught pukwudgie high into the air before smashing its full body down oher he’d hit with a spear of wind. Both tried to scree pain, but with the wind knocked out of them they merely wheezed. Though they fought to survive, TJ smashed the one in his jaws down once more, the crack of its skull against the ground a siing thunk. A death notification prompted TJ to drop it as he slithered over the other prone pukwudgie. It screeched in protest, but it went silent under his siderable weight as he slithered over it and rolled it to its crushih.

  With a quiap of his jaws, TJ snatched up another of the goblin things and, without thinking too hard about it, ed a coil around its neck, ss spine, and swallowed it whole. Stanton’s Suzie shot once more, and the final pukwudgie down there died. TJ looked up, seeing at least ten weird blurs in the air, eadig another pukwudgie. With his Perception and instincts, he knew what was about to e. Before a volley of spears could ctter to the ground around them, TJ summoned up the winds to batter aside the attack. The spears flew wide, but a killer headache struck as he did so and he quickly dropped any attempt at Wind Manipution. Though another dozen or so of the pukwudgies lurked around, they each fled with unintelligible screeches to each other. The forest went silent as TJ and Stanton looked at each other and then the branches above.

  After no sign or sound of pukwudgie for several miJ allowed himself to rex and look at his notifications.

  1 Haashch?éé Oo?t?ohí-blessed Coyote, Level 7, Sin.

  2 Pukwudgie Raiders, Level 6, Sin.

  4 Pukwudgie Spearmen, Levels 5-6, Sin.

  TJ forced himself back to his human form, hoping most of his wounds would magically disappear as he did so. He had no such luck. With a groan, TJ pulled the nce from his left hamstring a ctter to the ground. The wound still leaked blood, though not so steadily as he’d feared it would. Putti on his left leg was agonizing, while his bad stomach both sported rapidly closing wounds. Pulling up his shirt, TJ could see that where the nce had pierced him through as a coatl was mostly scabbed over just to the side of his belly button. When he gingerly tapped along his back, though, he could feel that the entry wound was the more severe of the two. It still wept blood, while his jeans soaked in tinuous dripping of his blood from the test of his wounds.

  “I think I’ll be fine. How are you doing, Stanton?” TJ asked, his voice ed.

  “Not great.” Stanton admitted. “But with Natural Harmony, I at least stop my bleeding and make sure I don’t go septic. We o make sure none of yuts’re punctured. You die real easy from that.”

  “I don’t think that’s a problem.” TJ shrugged, then winced as he moved. “I broke my nose when all this started, and its only tender now. Nothing worth w about. I think that the way I’m healing now should mean that I’ll be fine.”

  “Keep a. I’ll take care of you after.” Stanton disagreed before looking bad forth aling unfortably against one of the thickest trees nearby. As the older man sat awkwardly leaning against the tree, TJ watched carefully for any pukwudgies as the sweet st of ponderosa pihied and grew to a nearly cloying level. Initially, he thought it was the vender st of the pukwudgies, but he quickly realized it must have had something to do with Stanton’s Natural Harmony Skill.

  With none of the little bastards apparently nearby, TJ shifted bato his coatl form, hoping the boost to his Wind Manipution and Perception would ensure he could give at least some warning about approag creatures. When he did, though, the thick smell of blood clogged his nose and coated his tohere was no esg the sughter here. Though TJ had resolved himself not to be disturbed, the smell and taste bio turn his stomad threateo make him vomit. He shifted back to his human form, trying to not breathe through his nose. He kept his eyes high and irees, watg for anything to distract him.

  The first distra that came to mind was a question for the System, one he immediately voiced without thinking. “What’s this… Haa’sh… whatever?”

  Haashch?éé Oo?t?ohi was the Navajo god of the hunt. During his existence, he rose to the Ruthenium (VII) tier of Divinity. Though he never asded beyond that lowest level of true Divinity, Haashch?éé Oo?t?ohi was a loyal friend and supporter of the other Native Ameri gods and goddesses.

  “I swear, there’s a Native Ameri god named Coyote. Right? How’d these ones end up blessed by a jackal god and a Navajo hunt god before the literal coyote?”

  Coyote, Maii, the great trickster, asded to the Osmium (IX) tier of Divinity, and his memory decided not to bless any creatures in this Tutorial. Those blessed and influenced and desded from Coyote exist and will surely appear in your path if you tinue progressing towards the Divihrone.

  sidering the iions he’d had with coyotes thus far, TJ couldn’t help but hope that he didn’t run into any blessed or desded from Coyote. Maybe he was totally incorre his thoughts, but with how he’d had to fight to keep himself alive… well, maybe it was for the better.

  “Get over here.” Stanton grunted, pulling TJ from his reverie.

  “You see something?” TJ asked, his eyes roving wildly through the forest.

  “No.” Stanton grunted. “No, let’s see what I do to you with this new Skill of mine.”

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