Feral Beast Master: A Gamelit Adventure, page 17
Kaden took the lead, keeping Remembrance stored until he knew the situation. Sure enough, the game trail widened down the way, and in the clearing, a pair of wolves with shadowy afterimages snarled and snapped as they tore something apart.
The best time for to cripple an enemy was ten seconds ago, Mr. Dervish would say. The second best time was right now. He didn’t run, stepping out into the clearing so the wolves would face him.
One grabbed the helpless animal they’d been feasting on, the other turned and challenged him with raised hackles and a low growl.
[Gloom Wolf]
This wolf is raised in the presence of Nocto Mana, bathed in it, drowned in it. Darkness does not inhibit its attacks, and the stronger members of its species will attack you through the shadows that cover their hunting grounds. This one has found fresh meat.
*Hunger*
Level: 15
HP: 150/150
Mana: 10/10
Skills: Pack Tactics, Umbral Strike
Kaden held back, waiting for it to attack.
He didn’t have to wait long, as the wolf charged forward. With only a thought, he called Remembrance to his hands. Instead of an overhand swing, he held the axe close with both hands, and punched outward as it lunged for his legs.
Remembrance struck it in the face, and the wolf flinched, shying away in pain. Kaden followed up with a boot to the stomach, then an overhand chop with the axe head that left a gash in the Gloom Wolf’s side.
The other wolf dropped its snack and charged, but as it leaped, Kaden channeled [Razor Scales] and swung his arm like a sword. The wolf’s jaws closed on him, and it shrieked as the scales cut into him, but Kaden had been waiting for this moment. He ripped his arm free, tearing flesh from the wolf’s face, and spun to block an attack by the other wolf with Remembrance.
While the wolf bit down on the handle, Kaden raked his arm across its nose, then, as it fell back, unleashed Trinity. She charged out of the underbrush, spearing it with her tail, while the bone head smashed a leg. Then the blind head latched on, stabbing deep into the wolves ribs.
Kaden had no doubt she could handle one wolf. Instead, he turned on the wounded one, which had decided that there was no shame in running away. Except that it couldn’t out run Kaden. He chased it down, bringing Remembrance down on its spine and then burying the axe in its chest.
You have slain a Gloom Wolf x2. You have gained experience.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Kaden seized the dead wolf and activated [Field Harvest]. Five mana drained away, and he read the notification.
You have received: 1x Gloom Wolf pelt (Crafting Material).
You have received: 2x Gloom Wolf fang (Crafting Submaterial).
Interesting. The Terrapin segments hadn’t been labeled as crafting materials, perhaps because they were so valuable. Or maybe they could be used for defense as is. He repeated the process with the other wolf, getting only the fang, since Trinity had begun eating it.
Then Kaden looked up at his party. Sara stood, mouth open as she stared, with Eve doing the same. Trella’s wide grin switched to trepidation as Trinity crashed over to rest a bloody muzzle on his shoulder. “Good girl. All three of you did great. Don’t look like that, snake head. You did good, too.”
He pulled her back into his soul, wincing from the ache. “What? Did you guys not get experience?”
“You killed them both.” Trella said. “Stay here, I’m going to go find more. A bunch more, so we all get to share.”
In the silence, the weight of Sara’s stare grew heavier by the moment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think to fall back and let you get hits in.”
“That TriTerror is frightening. And she’s just a rare. Can you imagine what a Drake would be like?” Sara asked.
“Trinity is more flexible. She can stab, poison, bash, and tear. The only downside is that pulling her into my soul makes me physically tired in a way Rocky and Vip don’t.” Kaden relaxed as the burning eased.
Sara shook her head. “I think I know why there are so few Beast Masters. You’re like a Summoner, but you’re level 11 with three summons and combat skills.”
Before Kaden could answer, Trella rose up from the shadows. “I found more. There’s more of those first two in groups of two or three, but I found two that are level twenty. They’re not bosses, just high level monsters.”
Twenty was a hell of a target. Kaden looked to the group. “Let’s deal with the lower level ones and see how we feel about the twenties afterwards.”
“Agreed.” Sara said. “This time, give us a chance to enter the battle, too.”
“No promises.” Kaden said. He’d make an effort this time. The point of having a party was that he didn’t need to wear himself out.
The next set of wolves wasn’t feasting in a clearing, they were hiding off the trail, ready to attack. Trella pointed them out from as far away as possible. “I’ll use Dark Deception to lure them out, and get in a solid hit on at least one. Eve, you know what to do.”
“Whip them good,” she answered.
“I’ll take the other in close combat and use the Press Paws attack. Kaden, how about letting us have this set?” Sara asked.
“Be my guest.” He watched and waited as they set up for the attack.
Trella skipped down the pathway, singing under her breath—and flashed away as the wolves leaped out, two from one side and a third from the other—but Trella was behind the third, slicing deep into its legs.
“Hold off!” Sara shouted as she charged in, attacking one wolf with each pseudopod and sword.
Hold off was not what Eve did, lashing the lone wolf with her whip before turning on the other two. Kaden watched with fascination as they worked together. Sara’s party tactics and their time running dungeons had changed how the group fought.
Eve had learned to manage her whip strikes for maximum damage and disorienting the enemies. It wasn’t like she did critical damage, but the loss of attention meant more chances for Sara to slash, more time for her Horrors to rasp.
The Horrors had always destroyed whatever they attacked, but higher level opponents required more time for the same damage. Still, the girls wore both wolves down until at last, a pseudopod latched onto one of the wolves feet, and devoured the leg.
The end was merciful.
Sara was covered in blood, but gave a count to Eve. Counts of Life Harvest to heal back.
“We’re set.” Sara said. “Where’s the next group?”
Kaden rushed to [Field Harvest] the corpses, receiving pelts from all three but no fangs, then followed the party. But the next group of wolves wasn’t alone. In a small glen in the forest, the two level twenty Gloom Wolves had joined up with three others, perhaps drawn by the sounds of battle or the smell of blood.
“How do we want to play this?” Sara asked.
Not ‘Do we want to?’ but ‘how,’ Kaden noted. “I’ll take any wolf or two you want. The three fifteens, or both twenties.”
Trella held up a hand.
The brush at the end of the glen rustled, and another gloom wolf emerged. This one left a trail of shadows behind it wherever it went.
[Moon Shadow - Gloom Wolf Boss]
The moon’s shadow walks in FangWood, seeking prey and nurturing the children of the darkness. This Gloom Wolf is no longer bound by the limitations of its physical form. It seeks to feed its brethren. *Cautious*
Level:21
HP: 500/500
Mana: 25/25
Skills: Shimmering Reflection (2), Moonlight Bite (1)
Talents: Reflection, Sure Footed
Titles: Mad Wolf, Pack Mistress
[Mad Wolf]
This wolf may not be fooled by illusions, as it is the scion of insanity.
[Pack Mistress]
The pack knows who leads. Coordinated attacks have a higher success rate in the presence of the pack mistress.
The party shrank back. Level twenty one and a boss? Still, the lure of experience lay strong. Trella took Kaden’s hand. I think we can take them. You demolished two by yourself.
It would be close. Trinity was probably capable of handling the two lesser wolves by herself. But a ten level difference to the boss made it a different story entirely.
“We can do this. The King Crab was level seventeen,” Sara said. “Eve?”
She shook her head. “I don’t like the numbers, and I don’t like how they’re acting. Are we certain there’s not more hiding? Moment of Perception doesn’t make me psychic, but it does make me wary.”
Kaden missed whatever they said next. He’d been focusing on Moon Shadow. She played and dashed and growled at the other wolves, but the feelings never changed. And something about the information from [Identify] kept nagging at him. “Back away,” he said to the others. “Quietly, quickly. Trella, find us the fastest way out of FangWood.
The wolves had stopped playing with each other. Each now looked down the path.
And Moon Shadow’s information changed.
[Moon Shadow - Gloom Wolf Champion]
The moon’s shadow walks in FangWood, seeking prey and nurturing the children of the moon. This Gloom Wolf is no longer bound by the limitations of its physical form. It seeks to feed its brethren, and uses the shifting power of moonlight to lure in prey. This wolf is pleased, because you have fallen into its trap.
*Amused*
Level:25
HP: 700/700
Mana: 75/75
Skills: Shimmering Reflection (10), Moonlight Bite (10), Shadow Walk (10), Paralyzing Howl (4), Fell Wounds (10)
Talents: Reflection, Sure Footed
Titles: Mad Wolf, Pack Mistress, Feeder of the Pack, Moon Touched
[Moon Touched]
You have been gifted the power of the Moon to deceive your enemies. Beware what you see by moonlight. Your eyes may deceive you.
[Feeder of the Pack]
Through cunning and strength, you have lead over 100 adventurers to their doom. As a result, Gloom Wolves automatically acknowledge your authority.
[Fell Wounds]
Your enemies will not get away so easily. The damage you cause resists healing. The maximum an enemy may be healed by any action is 1. At higher levels, this skill will prevent all healing.
The Party ran.
“This way!” Trella shouted, dropping all pretense of stealth. Who knew if Moon Shadow had been able to detect her all along? Kaden let them lead, knowing the wolves would be on their heels. He triggered [Razor Scales], but kept Remembrance stored to let him run faster.
*Fast* He reached for Vip’s speed, and leaped over the roots.
Jaws snapped just behind Kaden, and he summoned Remembrance, swinging the War Hammer down hammer face first to bash a wolf in the nose. If he’d aimed it better, it might have been a crippling injury. Instead, it knocked the wolf down and slowed Kaden as well.
Another wolf came lunging, and Kaden summoned Trinity, who speared it in the belly with her tail, but missed the bite that would have let her middle head rip and tear. Back to back, Kaden stood with Trinity, as four wolves circled.
But they didn’t leap.
No, the shadows stuttered, rising up—and Kaden blocked with Remembrance. The blow threw him back off the path, into the brush, and in that moment, the pack converged on Trinity, heedless of her [Razor Scales].
She spat venom in the eyes of one and stabbed another with a tail, while bashing a third. The fourth wolf and Moon Shadow, however, outnumbered her. Her shrieks of pain and rage rose with every attack.
Kaden pulled, yanking Trinity into his soul, even though he nearly collapsed from the pressure, and ran, scrambling down the paths of the forest. He couldn’t summon Trinity again, he’d never subject Vip to this, and Rocky wasn’t here. It was Kaden and his skills alone.
He dodged a leap from a wolf and took a chance on a hammer blow.
Brutal Blows has inflicted a crippling injury.
Your skill with Brutal Blows has increased.
Good. One less wolf able to chase meant it was only four on one. That hadn’t been one of the twenties, and Kaden felt certain they were waiting, luring him into an ambush. Except the path out of Fangwood lead this way.
He knew it the way he knew how to walk, like the trails of the forest were mapped on his hand. And in the very center, the ruined town waited—Kaden threw himself left as another wolf leaped and missed.
His Needful cloak adapted into a thick leather duster at a thought.
The path out waited just ahead.
Kaden stopped running.
A dark shape emerged from the shadows ahead. Moon Shadow. Her form was now white on top with a bottom that was pitch black. And on her left and right, the level twenty wolves.
“This is my holding,” Kaden said, infusing his words with [Beast Speech.]
*Then hold it to your death,* Moon Shadow replied. *You are not who came before, though you are of their blood. You are not a friend. You are not an enemy. You are only food.*
“Then fight me. You and me, alone.” He didn’t hold out a lot of hope, but it was better than his odds now.
Moon shadow sat on her haunches and threw back her head in a howl. *That is not how the pack hunts, Food Who Speaks. Let us feast, children.*
21
TWENTY ONE - PACK FIGHT
Moon Shadow rose and padded toward Kaden, baring her teeth. He knew how she’d attack, because it was how regular wolves did, as a group. Razor Scales lined his arms, and Kaden readied himself, holding Remembrance loosely.
The slightest hitch in Moon Shadow’s walk betrayed her coming leap—and the wolf to her right shrieked in agony as Trella [Backstabbed] it, then let it maul her Deception for a second [Backstab]. The wolf on the right bounded for Trella, only to find Sara’s Horror reaching for it with open maws. Kaden didn’t need to be told. He sprinted for Moon Shadow, then slid to a stop just out of reach. She could [Shadow Walk].
The wolf Trella Backstabbed spun to face Eve as she whipped it, tearing off fur, while Sara held the other at bay with sword strikes and strikes from her Horror.
“Call them off,” Kaden said, using [Beast Speech.]
“Prove yourself,” Moon Shadow answered. She leaped at him, and he met her with a rising blow—only to flicker though a mirage. His momentum carried him forward, and heavy paws crashed on his back as Moon Shadow bit down on his shoulder.
Kaden had gotten used to [Fortress of Stone], and the pain hit him like a mallet to the chest, but [Razor Scales] weren’t just for arms. Moon Shadow’s blood mixed in. Then a surge of life hit as [Life Harvest] healed him for a single point of the damage.
It wasn’t Eve’s fault that Fell Wounds made it near impossible to heal.
Kaden flipped Remembrance’s axe head to face him and slammed it past his head, gouging Moon Shadow’s nose so she shrieked and leaped off. He rolled to his feet, desperately needing more healing, and the path of the battle seemed clear.
Sara, barely holding her own against a wolf.
Trella, purely defensive, as hers wouldn’t give her a chance to reset.
And him versus a Champion.
Now, she’d stalk. Now she’d recharge. Now she would strike him from an angle he didn’t see coming. Kaden shifted to the left, stepping back. And adapted. He charged forward, raising Remembrance for a deadly blow—and pivoted, driving the axe down into the leg of the wolf Sara fought.
[Crippling Strikes] has inflicted a temporary crippling injury.
Some things about the System made no sense. How could a near-severed leg only be a temporary wound, while smashing the bones was often permanent? Regardless, he’d take it. The wolf fell backwards, unbalanced, and Sara let go with one pseudopod to latch on to the injured foot.
Moon Shadow came bounding for Kaden, and he swung Remembrance in a circle, ignoring what he saw. The blow he struck was glancing, but it dispelled the illusion and let him press his attack for the first time, throwing a [Mana Dart] at Moon Shadow. It only took a point of mana, but the enrage effect left her focused on him.
Beside him, Trella disappeared in a trail of shadows and struck her wolf with [Backstab] again. With every strike, it moved slower.
Now, Moon Shadow kept close to Kaden. She wouldn’t let him attack one of her lesser wolves, and he couldn’t risk her doing the same to his party. Slowly he backed up. Until he bumped into Trella.
“I need room,” she said, out of breath. Blood leaked from her tunic on the side. “And Life Harvest isn’t healing me.”
Fell Wounds had done its foul work.
Kaden summoned a mana dart and crushed it on her. And another. Eve no longer attacked. She’d hidden somewhere nearby, and continue to pump Life Harvest into them for what little it did. But three on three wasn’t even remotely a fair fight, not against these three.
“Kaden?” Sara asked as she leaped back. “Tell me you have a plan. Another secret skill Mr. Dervish taught you.”
“Focus,” Trella said.
“I’m trying!” Kaden feinted at Moon Shadow, but couldn’t move too far forward, or he’d expose his flank.
“Focus!” Trella shouted.
And he finally grasped it. Focus their attacks on one wolf. Kaden swelled with guilt as he realized what he needed to do. From across the clearing, a low growl echoed, and a challenging bark, best interpreted as “You are threatening my family.”
Moon Shadow didn’t look at Vip, but one wolf turned her head—and that’s when Sara and Trella struck, as Kaden whipped Remembrance around to strike the other wolf. *Run* he thought at Vip. *Hide*.
Moon Shadow struck him in the shoulder, but Kaden had already banished Remembrance, and let the blow throw him. Jaws snapped shut an inch from his throat, as Kaden rolled and kicked, throwing Moon Shadow to the side.
A shriek, a howl, and Sara called out, “Down! We’ve got the other twenty.”
Kaden couldn’t help smiling as he advanced on Moon Shadow. [Life Harvest] hit over and over, repairing what Eve could. “You should have run.”
