Feral Beast Master: A Gamelit Adventure, page 22
Trella shook her head. “Sisters don’t die in their sleep. I’m glad we’re together, if it has to be this way.”
“We’re not dead yet. I’ll take first watch. You take my Needful Cloak and get some sleep.” At his requirement, the cloak became puffy and thick, and he rolled it into a long pillow. “You, too, Eve.”
“I want some of that scorpion meat,” she said. “I’ve never cooked with it and now’s the time to experiment, not in the morning, when we’re hungry.”
She put away her pots and used the HeatStone that came with the kit, sizzling the steak on both sides. Every moment, she referred to her recipe book. “This calls for beef, but I’ve substituted scorpion. And wild garlic, and wild mustard. I’ll be fortunate if it doesn’t catch fire.”
The smell, however, tickled Kaden’s nose and brought Vip to beg. Trinity’s emotions told Kaden she preferred her meat raw and alive.
Party Member (Eve) has crafted a basic quality meal: Scorpion Steak with Garlic Mustard Sauce x6.
For crafting a new recipe, the quality of this meal has been upgraded from basic to uncommon.
“I gained a level in cooking! And a recipe!” Eve said. “Can you store the steaks while they’re hot?”
Kaden put them away. “I never got to say thank you for dealing with the taxes. Or trying to. It’s not your fault Aurora is so focused on killing Vip he’d come after me.”
“Money. I like it for food. And shelter. And soft beds, and quality clothes, and entertainment, and medicine, and traveling, and education, but other than that, it doesn’t do much. I was serious about not relying on my family, so I have to make smart trades.” She closed up the cooking kit and stashed it.
Jungle Hell wasn’t silent. Across the night came the growls of Leopards and hissing, roaring and humming of other monsters.
“Tell me Sara has a plan to get us through this,” Eve said.
Kaden wasn’t one to lie. “I don’t think she does. But I just might. We’re fighting the way a party should, but against these enemies, we have to be smarter, even if it takes longer.”
A sharp pang of emotion from Trinity sent Kaden running. He summoned a mana dart and crept down the vine archway to the scorpion room. A pair of Golden Leopards prowled out of the north exit, headed to the center of the room, then pivoted and headed down into the caves. A Patrol.
Sara had said most patrols wouldn’t take a dead-end route, they required an entrance and exit, and looped on it through the day. Kaden watched until he was confident they weren’t coming back, then crept back to the camp.
Eve was sound asleep as well, clutching Vip to her chest. Sara’s armor was bloodstained but not wet and red anymore, and Kaden’s leg, while scarred, had closed.
“Do you need to sleep?” He asked Trinity.
One head looked back to him, while the other kept its eyes closed. Right, it would take turns sleeping on its own. With that, Kaden laid down and passed out. By morning, he knew the timing of patrols, essentially every hour, on the hour, and that there was more than one set of Golden Leopards patrolling.
And he had a plan.
27
TWENTY SEVEN - CRAWL
Over breakfast, which was rations from Sara’s rations box, Kaden explained what he’d been thinking. They were under level for the dungeon, but that meant their strategy would need to adapt. “We need to pick our battles, and the first battles should probably be against the patrol leopards, or one set of them.”
Sara didn’t hide the surprise on her face as she listened to him. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want us dealing with a set of mobs and getting surprised from behind. Secondly, the Leopards are lower level, 18s, and a better match for our skills. Trinity can almost take one by herself. The rest of us should take on the other one. The goals are to level Eve’s Moon Strike and Life Harvest and pray for a good evolution.” He looked to Sara. “How far are you from leveling?”
“Too far. But the Horror is growing stronger with every battle,” Sara said. “Today I want to lead by example, and the example I want to set is ‘don’t take unnecessary risks.’ I made a mistake yesterday and almost died.”
“I will only heal if you say you need it. Otherwise, I’m using [Moon Strike],” Eve said, collecting plates. “There’s only one other matter. Kaden, you need to know that we might be forced to let Trinity fight to her death. Sara says she’ll reform over the course of several days and we have the rations to wait it out.”
That made Kaden sick at his stomach. His soul bound beasts weren’t trash to be thrown away. But Trinity was listening to the conversation, and the feelings he got from her were complex. It wasn’t in her nature to run from a fight, not if she could still rip and tear and make something bleed. “We’ll see.”
Sara nodded. “I’m ready when you are. Eve, test the range on Moon Strike. If we do get a blinding, we make a fast decision to focus on one or the other.”
This time, they set up at the edge of the Scorpion room and waited. The first set of Leopards to patrol were level nineteen, so they let them go and waited. Kaden had seen two sets of eighteen and every level made a difference.
“We’ve got movement,” Trella called as she sprinted back to conserve mana. “This set are eighteens. Everyone ready?”
Kaden had pulled Trinity into his soul so he could drop her on whichever leopard made more sense. “Ready.”
Eve stood at the front, a single hand raised. “Not yet. Not yet. There!”
[Moon Strike] blazed out from her, and Sara and Kaden both delivered a [Mana Dart] to her. Both leopards broke into a sprint, faster than Kaden would have thought possible. Eve fired again, and one of the leopards stumbled, rolling as it went blind.
“Put Trinity on that one!” Sara called.
Kaden dropped her right beside, and the center head wasted no time, going for a gouging bite across the leopard’s spine. There wasn’t time for him to watch the rest, because the other [Leopard] was already on them.
He took two steps forward, building momentum for Remembrance, and met the big cat’s leap with a rising strike to the chest that sent it spinning to the side. Cats did not always land on their feet, particularly when smashed with a war hammer, but Kaden didn’t rush. He waited for Eve to blast it again with Moon Strike.
“[Backstab]” Trella shouted behind him, as she attacked the Leopard which had focused on Trinity. Along with the cry came the distinctive sound of her Deception being shredded, and Trinity’s challenge.
Another Moon Strike hit the Leopard, and as it lunged for Eve, Sara intercepted it, grabbing only one paw with the Horror and using her swords to slash as the Leopard twisted sideways and again reeled from Moon Strike.
It didn’t lunge, instead darting forward at Kaden, who used the end of Remembrance to boop its snoot until the snoot caved in. With every short blow, the leopard slashed at his arms. “Healing when you can,” Kaden called.
Eve ignored him, blasting another [Moon Strike] and another. “That’s it, level three!”
Sara’s Herald of Life title caused a pulse in his mana and health, and now Eve switched to healing.
“Kaden! It’s got Trinity!” Trella’s call caught Kaden’s attention, but Sara was already moving. “Stay with Eve.”
Eve pulsed Moon Strike again. “It’s blind!”
Without pause, he shifted his attack, using the axe side of Remembrance to cut into the leopard’s spine.
[Crippling Strikes] has delivered a permanently crippling blow.
“This one’s crippled. Eve, hit it from a distance.” He turned to help with the others—as Sara stabbed the one who had latched onto Trinity’s Neck until it stopped.
You have defeated a Patrolling Monster (Golden Leopard).
Eve focused on the one before her, and Kaden focused on delivering her mana. She blasted it over and over, until Sara walked up and stabbed it. “We can’t risk the next patrol. Kaden, grab the corpses, everyone retreat.”
Trinity limped along. The bone shielded head hung limp, a series of savage bites on the neck had nearly beheaded her. In legends, hydras regrew heads. Kaden had no interest in finding out if there was truth to it.
As he retreated, another pair of Leopards, the other 18s, trotted to the center of the scorpion room. They sniffed the ground and looked back his way—then turned and headed into the cave.
They’d survived.
Back at camp, Eve used [Life Harvest] over and over until Trinity’s neck no longer looked like a ragged stump. Sara passed out water from a AquaStone that tasted like heaven, and appraised their wounds. “We did well. We won’t always get a blinding, so next time we might need Trinity on the closest one.”
“Trinity needs help knowing when to fall back,” Trella said. “She was winning up until she rushed the Leopard.”
Trinity raised her snake head and let out a mist of venom, then dropped it back, as if to say “I didn’t see you doing better.”
Kaden would try to help her next time. “How did [Backstab] work against the leopards?”
“Really well. They know to fear Trinity, so they don’t focus on me, which is what I need to be able to [Backstab.]” Trella cleaned her daggers again.
Sara checked everyone’s health, and offered a choice: Camp and rest, or try another set. The vote was unanimous to take another set of 18s.
This time, Kaden made sure he was already in front. [Moon Strike] again blinded a leopard, this time the lead one.
“Kaden, take the follower. Everyone else, kill that leopard!”
Trinity didn’t need to be told twice, bashing and tearing the blinded leopard while Kaden played the role of ‘man hunted by leopard.’ He didn’t commit to large swings, instead working to use his position and feints to drive the cat back.
“[Backstab]!” Trella shouted as she appeared behind the Leopard. It didn’t look like a back stab, but the system didn’t have an [AssStab] skill. A moment later a [Moon Strike] hit the Leopard he fought, and [Life Harvest] flowed into him.
“Keep it in place if you can,” Trella called.
And a burning pain speared him in the side. A wooden arrow stuck out, having landed right in the gap of his armor. “Watch your aim!”
“I just got [Archery]!” Trella shouted. “What I mean is, I’m sorry!”
She didn’t sound sorry, she sounded delighted.
And worse yet, the Leopard took advantage of his distraction to leap at Trella—only to be smashed to the ground by Trinity’s Bone head, then poisoned by the serpentine head, then mauled by the blind head.
Kaden tried to call her back, forcing calm, yelling, shouting, but Trinity had gone feral. She ripped and tore, using teeth, tail and claws to destroy the leopard. When Kaden called her name, she pivoted, teeth bare, tail up to strike.
“Easy, girl. It’s me.” He didn’t advance. No, he pulled on the soul binding, grateful as she faded into a soul world that wasn’t here.
For the first time in forever, storing her didn’t burn. He stuffed the corpses into Inventory and the party fled back to base camp. Kaden picked up the arrow that had struck him in the side and headed for Trella. “Do you see this?”
Even as he spoke, [Life Harvest] healed a sliver of his wounds. “This could have killed me.”
“It’s a poor quality bow. I’ve never had critical hit luck, you know that. And I said I was sorry.” Trella took the arrow back. “I got archery level one from shooting you. Eve gets to heal some more. You get another handsome scar. Really, it’s loot all the way around.”
Sara’s disapproving stare said she disagreed.
At least, until [Field Harvest] yielded a second poor condition bow and six arrows. She took them from Kaden and imitated Trella’s stance. But no matter what, she didn’t gain the [Archery] skill.
Eve watched over and over, and finally stepped in front of Sara. “I think I know what’s wrong. You’re not shooting anything living. Kaden? I need a favor.”
“Archery, level one!” Sara shouted, as Kaden winced.
A dinner of Scorpion steak had everyone except Kaden’s spirits high. The System said his health was maxed. He couldn’t find any wounds. He just couldn’t shake the pain in his butt. “I’m going to go count patrols.”
Kaden positioned himself at the end of the vine arch that led to the scorpion room, and Vip joined him. He felt bad for Vip, who didn’t like the jungle, or leopards. Her thick fur was meant to keep her warm, but now she sweltered. And yet insisted on sitting in his lap as he counted another patrol going by.
Two more nineteens completed the patrols, now with two hours between each one. Nightfall had made it impossible to see anything but the patrol cat’s glowing eyes. Then he stopped, listening. The trees in the Dungeon rustled, and loud hooting rose higher and higher. Kaden pulled Vip into his soul and retreated as far down the Vine arbor as he could.
A swarm of figures emerged from the ceiling, howling, hooting and screaming. Then, as fast as they came, they left. Kaden snuck down the arbor, listening as the ruckus moved further into the Dungeon.
He summoned a Mana Dart and ran forward to confirm his suspicion. Two Patrol Leopards lay dead on the ground, their eyes torn out and their limbs broken. He [Field Harvest]ed them and sprinted all the way back to camp.
“Sounds like a group of [Harmpanzees] crossed into the Dungeon and now can’t get out,” Sara said. “The good news is, they aren’t under the Dungeon’s control. The bad news is, they’re probably more dangerous than anything that is.”
Kaden couldn’t remember anything about Harmpanzees, but there had been a few days where he was exhausted and Professor Treadle’s voice had taken on that perfect metronome quality to put him to sleep. “Tomorrow, we have to pull the remaining 19s. That should be all the patrols.”
“Yes, while you were gone, I briefed the others. The dungeon layout has changed, but the map is still useful. There’s only one cave segment. We can’t know which end we are at, but the mobs inside will tell us very quickly. The [Harmpanzies] fear enclosed spaces. I doubt they’ll enter.”
Trella had already spread out his Needful Cloak, but she sat up to speak. “We’ll be going both directions eventually. Making a hard run at the boss is a good way to die. We’re going to clear this place of everything we can, take every level and skill point it can give. Then we beat down the boss.”
“And head back to the Guild,” Eve added. “For revenge.”
Sara had drawn a rough map of Jungle Hell in the dirt, an outside ring of six rooms, an inner triangle and a boss room at the center. Almost every room besides the entrance was connected, meaning Adventurers would have had their choice of ways to attack the Dungeon.
Before he settled in to sleep, Kaden went to see Trinity. He’d realized the blind head very much enjoyed being scratched, it just didn’t know when to display it. “You need to be more careful. I don’t care what anyone says, you’re not some meat [Shield] for me to sacrifice. It’s ok to run from a battle you’re losing.”
The Bone shielded head bumped him, pushing him back. Each set of eyes was on the side of the head, and it looked at him with one and then the other, then thumped his chest gently. The emotions that came off weren’t speech. They were memories of it brawling as a little Hydra. Of getting bitten and torn and always rising up to bite back.
It wasn’t afraid of death.
It would not back down.
And that was the end of the discussion.
Kaden added ‘Keep Trinity alive’ to the list of things he’d be doing.
28
TWENTY EIGHT - WALK
Kaden and party waited patiently for the last set of Patrol leopards. This set would be getting an ugly surprised, because strategies had evolved. Eve waited at the end of the archway they’d walk through to reach the Scorpion room. To either side, Trella and Sara held their bows. Every point of damage would matter. The battle would happen in two places, if possible - one leopard contained in the archway, one out in the scorpion room.
“Any minute now,” Trella said.
Eve didn’t look away. “Don’t fire until after I do. Moon Strike has terrible range, even compared to your bows. I’ll call out if I blind one.”
At the far end of the vine arch, something moved. A pair of golden leopards came sprinting down the path, already at full speed.
“Now!” Eve shouted as [Moon Strike] Activated, striking the right leopard.
Two bows twanged, and wooden arrows arched through the air. One hit the left leopard in the chest, the other sailed harmlessly over the pair.
Kaden threw a mana dart overhand, striking the left leopard, and it bounded into the other as it changed course for him. But they’d chosen this way for a reason. As the leopards closed, a final [Moon Strike] shot out, hitting the right leopard for a second time, and this time, the right leopard took two more arrows to the side.
Wooden arrows with little more than sharpened wood tips didn’t give them pause as the monsters growled—and Trinity lunged forward from where she’d been hiding at the side of the door. With her bone shielded head, she struck the already injured leopard.
Ribs crunched, and the leopard’s scream of rage became a wheezing whimper of pain as it fell over.
Trella’s bow clattered as she dropped it and faded into the shadows. She’d need to loose all attention to use [Backstab]. Sara, on the other hand, moved left, keeping Kaden at the front. He mis-timed his swing and barely kept the monster from barreling him over. Instead, they both went crashing to the ground. In that moment, Sara struck, gripping the leopard’s tail in its maw.
The leopard twisted and swiped, scoring Sara’s face, but not her neck. No matter how it tried, the Horror kept its teeth locked on the tail—until with a snap, the pseudopod whipped back and swallowed. Only a stump remained on the monster.
And it looked at Sara with absolute hatred.
