Feral Beast Master: A Gamelit Adventure, page 13
“Kaden.” Trella spoke softly, but nervously. “Love the whole ‘consent is sexy’ thing, but you should really do it and leave. Tell me you hear that. Tell me you smell that.”
He hadn’t, so focused on the TriTerror. But now a steady wind blew in from the right tunnel. It smelled like rotting fish and carried a low gasp like a wheezing beast. “She’s right.”
The TriTerror dipped its center head to brush the token.
Kaden almost collapsed. Maybe the Circle had protected him before, but this time, it was like having a sewing needle plunged through his heart. The Rare quality token held a much stronger binding, and every moment, it grew stronger. The silver soul-binding thread began boiling away, evaporating.
ERROR: ENTITY CONSTRAINT REQUIRES SOUL BINDING.
Constraint exceeded.
Transitive skill found.
Resolving….
Resolving….
Alternate Resolution Required…
It felt like his heart was exploding out of his chest. And his mana began to drop.
Mana: (35/36)
Mana: (32/32)
Mana: (25/25)
A fresh silver thread snaked out from his heart. It consumed the Obedience binding and used it to lash to the TriTerror, then thickened.
Mana: (15/15)
The System had burned his mana capacity to create a new Soul Binding. All his work with Mana Dart gone in a heartbeat.
“Kaden!” Sara shook him with both hands. “We have to go now.”
Kaden yanked, and pulled the Tri-Terror. But though his chest felt like it exploded, the TriTerror stayed put. It was too large for his reduced capacity, and not obedience bound.
As Kaden searched for options, he ran out of time. A long, thin snout attached to a thick head with glowing eyes emerged from the tunnel to the left. It looked to Kaden’s party, then the man hanging by his leg from the treble hook.
That’s when Kaden put it together. The Hydra had never been a prize.
It had been the bait.
15
FIFTEEN - BAD ATTENTION
With a chest full of burning coal from the Soul Binding, Kaden fled, willing the TriTerror to follow. Behind him, the man hanging from his own hook screamed, once, twice, and then it was cut short. While the humans could use any of the ladders, the TriTerror needed stairs. That meant a much longer path, and Kaden was sure whatever followed wasn’t going to take a longer path.
Somewhere, a chain snapped, and the metal walkway they ran along groaned. Then the groaning stopped.
Kaden listened to the silence, and felt with Beast Empathy. “It’s not gone. If we don’t hear it, it’s because it doesn’t want to be heard.”
Trella adjusted a broach on her cloak—and darkness flooded the sewer, drowning out the magic lights. “Stay put unless you have to run.”
Then she was gone, a Sister of Shadows in complete darkness.
Two minutes later, she appeared in the middle of the group. Her broach had turned completely clear instead of solid black. “Really bad doesn’t come close to this. That’s a Centurion class monster. It has burrowed through the walls in five different places. And it’s waiting, clinging to the pipes twenty yards down. I can probably lure it off with my Deception, but we’ll have to be quiet and quick.”
“That thing isn’t quiet,” Eve said.
The TriTerror’s snake head stuck its tongue out, while the middle one bared teeth at it.
“Can you lure it safely?” Kaden asked.
Trella rolled her eyes. And her shadow disappeared, slinking away. From down the sewer line, where the hook had hung, metal jangled. The stone shook as something massive passed by on the other side. “Go!” Trella said.
They ran, taking a right and then a left to move further in.
Stone crunched behind them and a hiss filled the air.
“Kaden, don’t you dare turn around and attack it!” Sara shouted.
He wasn’t going to attack so much as distract and delay. “I wasn’t even thinking of it.”
The stone ahead of them exploded, an eye the size of a dinner plate flashing open to look at them—and the Horror’s mouth struck it, rasping in. It withdrew with a rumble that shook the metal, and Sara jumped over the gap, followed by the others.
The TriTerror coiled up and sprang, covering the gap with ease, then followed them up the stairs into the light. Sara slammed the sewer gate. Then bent over, laughing. “We did it!”
Two blocks over, a building shook. And rumbled. And collapsed.
Followed by another.
And another.
Sara looked to each of them. “That…was not part of the plan. Get to the guild. Shower. Then prepare to be grilled, because everyone will want to know what happened.”
“Or, we were never here,” Trella said.
Eve crossed her arms and shook her head. “I will not run. I own what I do, good or bad. And what we did was good. We took a standard bounty. We did the bounty. We discovered a Centurion level threat right under the city. We’ll hold our heads high and damnit, we’ll get paid to do it.”
Then a shout rang out across the city, as a man in golden armor sprinted through the streets. Captain Aurora screamed as he looked at the rubble. “My house! What happened to my house? My art collection! My wine! My favorite whore and her bastard son!” Then he froze, and began to shake with unbridled rage. He fell to his knees, slamming his fists into the stone. “My dogs! My precious dogs!”
Trella’s plan was good. Disappearing was the best idea ever.
They headed straight for the guild.
“Would you look at her?” Trella asked, as they watched Eve pace back and forth, lecturing a set of City Administrators and Guild representatives. “How does she do it? Is it the white robes? Because normal white robes are hard to clean.”
“I thought you hated her. I thought she smelled like a noble and had no experience.” Kaden made sure to stay out of arm’s reach.
Not that it stopped Trella’s Deception from punching him in the side. “Really? You burned your cooldown on that?”
“Zero regrets,” Trella said, as her fingers laced with his.
Sara sat quietly in the same room as Eve, but the Party Leader had yet to get a word in. The TriTerror lay in a heap the size of a horse, having consumed three loads of meat brought from Beast Control. The center head lay on the front feet, the snake head rested on its back, and the club head sat upside down, a thick black tongue lolling out as it snored.
Even asleep, emotions rolled off the beast.
Exhaustion, fear, pain—and curiosity. The cute little Hydra was still inside somewhere, it was just buried in several hundred pounds of vicious beast. And with it sleeping, small wisps of memory leaked out. He’d come dangerously close to being seen as food, even though he’d helped it. Without the obedience binding, it wasn’t required to obey him, though the Soul link made his influence stronger.
When awake, each head had its own thoughts and opinions. It was only when the Beast slept that the combined mind came to consensus.
[TriTerror - Hydra Mutation]
This creature was once an adorable little three headed hydra with adorable acid and adorable razor sharp teeth, an adorable spear tail, and adorable claws it could use to turn you into absolutely adorable piles of flesh flavored food. Now it’s all grown up and ready to make you remember why mutating lifeforms is usually a bad idea.
Level: 1
HP: 180/350
Mana: 30/30
Skills: Acidic Drool, Razor Scales, Spear Tail, Bone Breaker
Talents: MultiTasker, Resilient Constitution
[Acidic Drool]
This creature’s spit will literally eat through your skin, before it literally eats your skin. The acid is mana reinforced, so washing it off isn’t going to help, and smearing it spreads the damage. Can be spat for short distances.
[Razor Scales]
Develops a sharp layer of scales that inflict damage when attacked. These scales act as Superior Armor against most attacks. Damage scales with speed and power of the attack. Can be deactivated to avoid hurting allies.
[Spear Tail]
Sharp tail goes stab, stab, stab. When not in use, the tail tip will gather shed segments which act as shrapnel on the next strike, inflicting additional damage. The maximum amount of damage will grow as the beast does.
[MultiTasker]
Can focus on different goals simultaneously without penalty, or target different enemies in the same action. This talent will not grow unless the number of heads does.
[Resilient Constitution.]
Survive grievous wounds. A fatal blow reduces you to a single hit point any time you have more than one HP. This effect can only trigger once per minute.
Kaden couldn’t wait to see which of the skills and talents [Beast Heart] would grant him, though Spear Tail seemed unlikely given that he had no tail. For now, it was enough to sit with his hand on the TriTerror and watch as Eve worked over the administration.
And the smile plastered on Trella’s face as Eve shouted “And one thing more” for the fifth time, that was pure gold.
Then the GuildMaster turned and pointed to Trinity. Kaden didn’t need to hear to know whatever was being said wasn’t good. The city administrators replies were muffled compared to Eve’s declarations, but not even the guards at the Adventurer’s Guild had wanted to tangle with Trinity. The Guild had a rule about keeping Beasts inside, and that rule did not apply when a Beast might remove your face.
By the time the Guild let them go, Kaden was hungry, the TriTerror was hungry, Trella was hungry (and that was more dangerous than any of them), and the City Administrators looked like they’d gone three rounds with a [Bearzerker].
Sara led the way out of the guild. “A party of Centurions is dealing with the Croccodemon. We got paid our bounty, and the Guild Administrator has tacitly approved of our actions, since none of us have the strength to knock down a building. By that I mean they deleted all records of our quest. Records say we cleared a barn of kobolds today. This is success. We survived, we reported, it will be dealt with.”
“They know their place, now,” Eve said. “Really, this is your duty. You’re the party leader. You get the experience bonus, and it is your privilege to demand what we are due. I expect better from you next time. Kaden, the moment Vip is available, I want to see her.” Eve left them in the Guild, heading up to the crafter’s floor.
“Which of you is in charge?” Trella asked, as Sara turned on them.
“That’s enough, Trella. Kaden, you have your own assignment, as a concession to the City Administration. We can’t join you. You’re to head to Beast Control.” Sara handed him an envelope. “This wasn’t my idea. It wasn’t my choice. I don’t know how many days—”
“Days?” Kaden shook his head. “We need to be out running dungeons. We need to be out picking up quests and stars. Mr. Willis needs fifty gold just to get the main house fixed at my Holding, and I’m not going to wait on that.”
Sara didn’t answer. She just waited for him to stop. “If you don’t comply, we’ll be prevented from taking quests. You’ve attracted attention. I’d say bad attention, but if you’ll just give it a chance—”
Kaden had heard enough. He roused the TriTerror and had it follow him as he headed across the city to Beast Control. Crowds parted for it, horses stopped for it, the town guard took one look and found better crimes to deal with. Kaden avoided the Customer Service entrance for a few reasons. First, Professor Treadle might be there, and the TriTerror’s memory was far too good. Secondly, the primary doors for Beast Control were build for Beasts.
Shouts and greetings rang out as Kaden strolled into the main intake doors. A [Land Kraken] thrashed against nets in one bay, while a [Storm Ape] bounded off the walls of a magic container, slamming its fists.
Mistress Scylla oversaw the whole affair. She smiled at him, while three of her tentacles wrote on different boards. “Kaden, if you don’t mind, drop Rocky off in holding pen thirty. Bryce left some broken traps there for him. Head out the exit to Pest Patrol.”
Rocky didn’t need a pen. All he needed was a bucket of rusty nails, a few egg shells, and some place warm. But Kaden summoned him, and gasped as relief flooded him His soul was stretched beyond capacity, but now that it was empty, he could breathe again. The TriTerror clambered over, peering at Rocky.
Then it hissed, and spat acid on Rocky’s shell. Speared the shell with its tail. Smashed the bone head on Rocky’s back, which left the TriTerror slightly dizzy. The snake head hissed again and turned away.
It wasn’t clear to Kaden if Rocky was aware he’d been attacked. Kaden dropped a Heatstone from a pile into the pen, and soon his Rock Gobbler was curled up around it. The TriTerror turned its attention back to Kaden. *Annoyed*
“Get over him. Rocky has zero forks to give about you. You don’t have to like him, you just need to get along.” With every breath, it came easier. Loosing all the soul capacity had cost him the ability to store his Beasts.
At the back door, which opened through the city wall to the wilds outside, Kaden found them propped open. And outside, a battle raged on the grass. An army of monsters attacked Bryce, who wore silver chain armor, and fought with—everything. The ground was littered with broken weapons. Bryce ducked a swipe from a bear fifteen feet tall and rammed it in the stomach, then grabbed a flaming wolf that leaped at him and swung it overhand, slamming it into the bear.
Both dissolved to dust as Bryce leaned over, breathing hard. And laughing. “Oh, it feels good to stretch.”
“Aye, it does.” Perched on top of the city wall sat Mr. Dervish. He wore a leather apron like he’d been blacksmithing, and Mika, his giant Milk Spider, clung to the wall beside him, spinning rungs on a silk ladder. “Some days I have to beat down a monster just to get the crick out of my back. The boy’s here, so fun’s done.”
Mr. Dervish kicked himself off the wall, falling three stories to land in the hard earth by the city walls. Above him, the Milk Spider made clicking and popping sounds [Beast Speech] chose to translate as *Really? I built you a ladder and you couldn’t even use it once?*
“Mr. Dervish.”
“Kaden. Beast.” His gaze swung to the TriTerror. “You ain’t given it a name yet?”
He knew the name. “Trinity.”
The TriTerror’s snake head responded immediately, rubbing itself along his shoulders. That was fairly close to agreement, though the other two heads hadn’t responded. “With all due respect, why am I here?”
“You’re at an awkward spot. Not enough levels to even pass the night outside, but too strong, too soon for people to ignore. And then you go and bind Trinity. A Hydra is an uncommon beast. A Ruby Hydra is a Rare. That mutated thing is damn near close to epic.” Mr. Dervish held out his hand to the bone head. He rubbed it over the smooth armored head, with its pair of eyes on either side “It ain’t classified as a war beast, but by every right it ought to be. You got a Soul Binding on a third beast and no Summoner class. No one’s that lucky.”
Kaden shared his system logs. “I lost most of my mana capacity. Not my mana, my actual capacity, then it consumed the Obedience binding to make the new soul one.”
“You ask me, you got a deal. Most of that you built up using Mana Dart, right?” It wasn’t a question. Mr. Dervish knew the answer.
“Yes.”
“So you can build it again. And you’re going to take Mana Spike at ten, then Mana Well when you get the chance. So far as I’m concerned, you drew a lucky card, giving up something you can get back, in exchange for three soul-bound beasts.” He summoned an axe from Inventory, a wide one with a black stone head and leather wrapped around the shaft. “I think you’re either headed for trouble or greatness. Sometimes the road to one goes through the other. You need training.”
“With all due respect, I’m learning,” Kaden said.
“You’re getting by. I want to see you so strong the Guild will say ‘Best not anger that one.’ And that means focusing. You’re not a Summoner, but you’re not not one, either. You’re going to learn to fight like one, and you’re going to learn to work with Trinity.”
Kaden looked at the TriTerror, as it cleaned its own scales with acid. “That may be hard without an obedience binding.”
“Those are shortcuts for people who can’t be bothered to treat their beasts with respect. The Rock Gobbler makes you tough, right?” Mr. Dervish’s question was not a question.
“Yes, but I need to have it in my Soul Space, so I can’t use it right now.”
“You’re too dependent on it. You need to learn to use your beasts as weapons and partners. Unless you like how it felt, watching that dog die because you couldn’t get the job done. Did that feel good?”
Kaden squinted, fighting to keep tears from his eyes. “No.”
“Then I’m going to give you a rule - I see you, and you don’t have a mana dart ready to hand me? You’ll regret it.” He put away the axe and pulled a wide mallet, its head as large as a log, from Inventory. “I want to see you making those every second of every day. I’ll be waiting for you where you don’t expect, so have one at all times. That skill is what makes you different than every other Beast Master I’ve found records on. You’re going to use it.”
It had been Kaden’s plan already. “What happens if I don’t?
Mr. Dervish moved faster than Kaden could see, swinging the mallet at him.
It struck him in the chest, and sent him sailing out over the grass.
16
SIXTEEN - FIGHT LIKE A GIRL
As Kaden sailed through the air, the system flashed warnings over and over. It was probably trying to be helpful, but the shock of being flung with a mallet made reading (and breathing) hard.
Your health is critically low.
You require healing.
Kaden’s gentle glide ended with a flop in the grass and another HP of damage. In a flash, he drew Remembrance and returned the favor, swinging for Mr. Dervish’s chest. Remembrance bounced off of Mr. Dervish, who stood stock still, letting Kaden swing until exhaustion brought him to his knees. Kaden pulled a potion from Inventory and swigged it. “That hurt.”
