Feral Beast Master: A Gamelit Adventure, page 25
Your skill with Traps has increased.
Kaden couldn’t wait, fashioning four more of them in spite of the cuts and the pain. “You handled Sara dying like it didn’t bother you.”
“If I told you how many times I’ve been resurrected, you wouldn’t believe me,” Eve answered. “Never, ever question what a Priestess of Varun will do if you challenge her authority. And the High Priestess—never challenge her at all.”
Without Trinity, Trella took first watch, then woke him around second morning bell, and he returned the favor before dawn. “Be careful.”
“Don’t come down there. I don’t care how many hours it takes, have faith in my skills and patience. And keep an eye on Sara. I’m hoping she sleeps most of the day, but if she doesn’t, you might need to restrain her.” Trella slipped away into the darkness.
She returned near noon, taking long drinks from the water stone before speaking. “The Troop is upset. Don’t know if Sara killed the leader or Trinity did, but they’re fighting among themselves as much as with anything else. And they’re moving faster since there’s few of them. I get about thirty seconds warning, so I want to lure them in with Dark Deception and leave the meat behind.”
“No.” Kaden said, shaking his head. “Just put the meat out.”
“They’re smarter than that. The Troop knows when there’s prey. I get that you’re upset. Death is ugly, but you can’t let us give up good tactics.” Trella looked to Eve.
“Tomorrow, then. Sara is talking in her sleep. Saying she saw ghosts.” Eve’s tone held worry. “I tried [Blood Burn] but there’s nothing physically wrong.”
Kaden wanted to talk about anything else. “Would you like to know what loot we got from the [Harmpanzees]? Shit. Literally, it’s called Harmpanzee Feces. A crafting ingredient.”
Eve gagged slightly. “Tell me you didn’t take…oh, now I really am going to be ill.”
The following morning, Sara woke up on her own, begging for food, which she ate in silence, then spoke only to ask for more. Kaden took it as a good sign. Trella was gone with the poisoned meat, and he’d promised he wouldn’t watch or interfere.
“I want you to get dressed,” Kaden said. “We’ve been working on a plan, Eve and Trella and I. A plan to kill the rest of the troop.”
Sara flinched and shook her head. “Avoid them.”
“No. If I hadn’t been so eager to avoid them before, we might have come up with this plan before. I won’t make the same mistake twice.” Kaden looked to Eve. “Can you help her get dressed? It’s important.”
“I can tell her to get dressed. I don’t know how that armor works. But yes.”
Sara shook her head. “Don’t touch me. I’ll get dressed myself.”
Over the course of an hour, she slowly strapped on her armor, sometimes stopping to stare at her fingers like they didn’t quite work or she didn’t recognize them.
Around mid day, Trella showed up in a burst of shadow. “Let’s go! Quickly!”
Kaden offered to help Sara—and she collapsed into a hug, wrapping her arms around him, so he picked her up. “It’s ok. You’re going to want to be here for this. It’ll help.”
Trella stopped them at the opening of the Vine Arch. “All but one of the bastards had a helping. They keep using [Troop Rally], or trying to. I think they’re out of mana.”
The remaining [Harmpanzees] sprawled across logs or attempted and failed to pull themselves up. One in the center used [Troop Rally] every few minutes and wailed out calls for help.
“Sara, Kaden’s going to take the healthy one. You and I are going to each of the injured ones.” Trella looked to Eve. “[Moon strike]?”
“[Moon strike],” Eve confirmed. “Kaden, don’t underestimate the healthy one.”
Kaden had already taken off, sprinting toward the healthy [Harmpanzee] with Remembrance drawn. No [Razor Scales], no [Fortress of Stone], just the constant memories of Mr. Dervish’s abuse—err—training. He dove past the [Harmpanzee]’s swinging strike and brought the hammer face of Remembrance down on an ankle.
*Rage* He pushed the emotion at the [Harmpanzee].
WARNING: Skill: [Beast Empathy] is non-combat. Continued usage will damage [Beast Empathy] and mutate it to [Mind Crush]. END WARNING
Maybe that had been too much, but while the [Harmpanzee] reeled, he delivered another crushing blow to its knee, then gasped in pain as a back-hand strike broke ribs and took half his health. Even wounded these were terrifying.
[Moon Strike] hit his target and it stumbled forward, flailing everywhere. When it fell forward, he delivered an axe strike to the outstretched fingers and then one, and another and another to the monster’s back.
“You can stop, it’s dead,” Trella called.
She walked beside Sara from one to the next, as Sara used her twin swords to end them. With each, she grew more fluid, more animated, less lifeless. Tears poured down her face as she attacked each, until the last [Harmpanzee] lay dead.
You have defeated a Harmpanzee.
You have gained experience.
He hadn’t hit any of the others, so those didn’t count for xp. That wasn’t even remotely important.
Without warning, Sara cleaned her swords on the nearest dead Beast. “Gather up, get ready. We’re going to clean this place out.”
31
THIRTY ONE - CLEAN
They started in the corner room past where the Boa Ambush was, a room Kaden called “Scorpion Central” for the five level nineteen scorpions, one in each corner and one in the center. Kaden handed out snare poles and explained how to use them to Trella and Sara.
[Moon Strike] brought the closest scorpion, which followed them into the vineway, only to find Kaden ready to challenge it. He jabbed the snare at the scorpion’s tail, missing each time. “You two, step up and work it left and right. You want the claws if you can.”
He circled around—and slipped the web snare over the scorpion’s tail. With a yank, the thread cinched tight, and the scorpion reflexively struck—without a stinger. Sara’s snare had caught at the joint of the claw and snapped half of it off. Trella, on the other hand, had looped over the entire claw. The snare wouldn’t close, but sawed at the Scorpion’s joint so the claw hung loose, clamping at the ground.
A trap you created has damaged a monster.
Your skill with Traps has increased.
You have gained experience.
“I’m gaining XP from the traps. One of you takes the kill.”
Sara nodded. “Trella goes first.”
“Kaden, do you see what I see?” Eve asked, as she pointed to the wounded scorpion.
He did. “Steaks.”
After it was dead, he processed the corpse, Kaden fixed his snares. The third scorpion broke two snares and he had to rebuild them, but the last one went down never knowing exactly what hit it. And Kaden shouted “Level!” as the experience rolled in.
More important than the stat point was the increase in his mana, which would make holding all three of his beasts possible. “Sara?”
She looked to him, then looked away. “Sorry. I’m not functioning well.”
“I need advice. I’ve been dropping points into strength because Mr. Dervish said I wouldn’t regret it. Remembrance isn’t hard to swing now, but I feel slow. And…how would I know if I’m too dumb and need to put a point into intelligence?”
Trella’s laughter reminded him of bells at the end of ever dark, a sound of hope. “You’re not dumb, but I had the same question. The Sisters used to say ‘If you feel like you might not be smart enough, you’re not smart enough.’”
“You won’t regret Agility. I’ve alternated intelligence and Agility to make my swords more effective, but your weapon is cumbersome, so Agility will change how you move, not it. Intelligence, every fourth level, or any time you feel like you’re missing the obvious.” Sara gave him a faint smile. “You’ve got us to rely on for intelligence.”
Kaden assigned the point to agility.
And marveled at how that simple change adjusted how he stood. How he felt. The flex of his joints, the stance. “I may have under-prioritized agility.”
“Trella, scout the inside room, please,” Sara asked, sounding more like herself.
“Your wish, my mostly willing to do thing.” Trella dropped into a shadow and disappeared down a vineway. A few moments later she came back. “I only saw one, but I’m willing to make some bets. All three of the inside rooms are probably swarm rooms. The one I saw was a snake pit, and there’s a puzzle that requires you to time your jumps between pendulums or you fall into the snakes. If you stand next to the wall, you can hear buzzing.”
“A hive,” Sara said. “Two Swarm rooms means probably three, which fits with the spiders and centipedes. This dungeon wasn’t strong before it was reconstituted. I want to sweep the outer rooms and get access to the other recovery room before we think about the boss approach.”
“Got it. Thoughts on camp?” Trella asked.
“We’ll stay here. We don’t retreat again without good reason, and since we saw the scorpions can be pulled out of their rooms, we use that, too. Come on, let’s stage in the vineway and see what Trella finds.” Sara led the way down the hall, stopping before the bend. She’d learned from her death.
While they waited, Kaden cycled Mana Darts. He was close to being back to full strength, and full strength would never be enough. If every new beast cost him twenty capacity, or more, he’d need to work it constantly.
“Puzzle room. Looks like an ambush, but I think it’s a puzzle,” Trella said. She led them to the room. Kaden would have sworn it was an ambush, the least well designed ambush on earth. In the center of the room, on a web spun between the trees that formed corners, a spider the size of a wagon hung. To the left, an oversized alligator lurked by a pool edge. On the right, a Golden Leopard waited to pounce, and straight ahead, a snake with glistening purple scales rose up, hissing. The hood that surrounded its face had long sharp claws on either side.
“Ambush room,” Sara said. “Who do we want to kill first?”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Trella said. “Look at the levels!”
Kaden did. “Twenty five? That’s suicide.”
“Except that we’re not supposed to fight them.” Trella stepped to the front. “It’s a puzzle. The Golden Leopard will overshoot and land on the alligator. But is the alligator supposed to lunge and attack the spider? Or is the spider supposed to kill the [Klawbra Kommander]?”
As the party began to argue, Trella spoke. “I know a way to find out.”
She sent her Deception forward, triggering the spider. It slammed down, but none of the other monsters moved. “Mana, please.”
Kaden began to provide her darts until she could send it out again. This time, the Alligator lunged, and the spider dropped on top of it, but after a few moments of tusseling, the spider surrendered and drew itself back up.
“Mana.” Trella tested again and again.
Finally, she nodded. “This is it.”
Her shadow skirted the spider, dodged the alligator, paused for the alligator to draw itself back into the pond, then stepped in front of the Kobra. When it struck, the shadow leaped right, triggering the Golden Leopard to pounce on the Kobra’s head. Her shadow grew thinner by the moment, but dodged to leap over the alligator, which snatched both in its jaws as the giant spider lowered itself down, capturing them all.
The almost transparent shadow danced back before them—and bowed before fading away.
“That’s it. The giant spider holds them all, we can pass.” Trella gasped. “You get XP for solving puzzles? I’ll take it!”
“Hold on.” Kaden kept looking at the spider. [Identify] didn’t work because it wasn’t a true beast, it was a construct for a puzzle. An idea kept tickling at his brain. “I want to try something.”
[Beast Empathy] was bothering him, not because of what it told him, but because of what it didn’t. He disregarded the way the Spider’s giant, hairy legs felt, and began to climb. Agility made it easier, and soon he leaped to the spider’s abdomen. Sure enough, the web it had slid down wasn’t sticky. He climbed up, hand over hand until he reached the web. Then ran along the outstretched web to leap into a tree branch. Just past the stone wall, shimmering amber magic made a solid surface, a fake ceiling. “It’s a short cut. Like Mr. Dervish’s office at Dervish Summoning Services, we can see the dungeon rooms from up here.”
He ran back and slid down the fake web, then helped Eve, Sara, and Trella up. “These aren’t actual beasts or monsters.”
“Your intelligence stat is just fine,” Eve said.
Even as she spoke, the giant spider drew upward. But it didn’t act as though it had awareness of their presence, instead, rotating and dangling its legs. The eyes didn’t react when Kaden waved in front of them. Finally, he leaped onto the webbing and stepped forward. Trella picked another web and together, they helped Eve and Sara over to the tree branch, and from there, up beyond the confines of the dungeon.
Sara smacked the invisible floor with every step, but it held them, as they walked over the interior walls. Sure enough, there was the snake pit room Trella had seen. And beyond it, hexagonal patterns meant there probably was a hive.
But in the center, a hexagonal room stood, with a core floating on it. The core was purple with flaring red light around it, but unlike the erratic core, it remained purple.
“Where is the boss?” Sara asked.
“I think the boss is dead,” Kaden answered. “Remember, the dungeon wasn’t allowed to repopulate rooms where we were. Captain Aurora would have been in the room with the boss. With the core.”
“Touch the core and decline to kill it,” Sara said. “It will open a portal. Normally that would happen on death of the boss. This core seems normal. It’s dropping loot. I’d rather not destroy it.”
“There’s a hole here,” Trella called. “The boss must have spawned more monsters, or had them ready. We’re not supposed to be in this part of the dungeon, but I see how it works, now.”
Trella dropped down into the boss room without waiting.
Approached the core and laid her palm on it.
And disappeared through the blue portal that formed.
Sara dropped down, and Kaden lowered Eve to her, but as Eve landed, her ankle popped and she cried out.
“It’s just a broken bone,” Sara called.
Nothing moved in boss room, probably because the boss was dead.
Kaden froze as a heavily armored hand wrapped around his throat, and a voice whispered. “Sneaking around above a dungeon? I thought I was the only one who knew that trick.”
Captain Aurora. His grip closed in tighter. “You’re going to do something for me, boy, or I’m going to take out my frustrations on your party. Say the words. Say, ‘I challenge you to a formal duel.’”
That would be like an ant challenging an elephant. “Why?”
“Do it now, or you’ll do it standing atop their corpses.”
“I challenge you to a formal duel,” Kaden whispered. “Run! Get—” Kaden slammed into the floor as Captain Aurora kicked him. Blood smeared across the translucent metal floor, but Eve had taken his advice. She touched the core and dragged Sara through.
“You didn’t get them,” Kaden said.
“I wasn’t after them.” Captain Aurora slammed his fist on the floor and shouted, “[Circuit Breaker]!”
All Mana in the room ceased, and Kaden plummeted to the boss room floor, hitting hard. He couldn’t have summoned Trinity if he was willing to. Aurora would murder his TriTerror without breaking a sweat. At the thought of her, he saw her, safe in his soul world. She had scars on her neck and broken scales on her back, but the feeling gushing from her was pure pride for a battle well fought.
Had she died? Yes.
Had she killed enemies in horrific ways? Also yes.
Aurora dusted himself off and summoned his axe. “You didn’t think I’d take a chance on you surviving your dungeon adventure and beating the stupid scorpion boss, did you? No. You died in this dungeon, you just don’t know it yet.”
Kaden attacked with an upward swing of Remembrance.
It struck Aurora’s armor and bounced off, not even ringing.
He looked to the side and brushed his armor. “A few thousand more times and you might leave a scratch. You’re not even level fifteen.”
Aurora struck him backhand, almost gently.
The blow took half his health and broke most of his ribs.
Kaden pulled salve from his Inventory and spread it, then switched to Remembrance. Trinity wouldn’t stand a chance. He didn’t stand a chance.
That didn’t mean he didn’t have one.
He wound up, twisting and spinning to swing Remembrance at Aurora’s neck.
The Champion hunter caught the axe with one hand, actually laughing as Kaden stumbled back. To brush the core.
Smash Core to obtain Combat Title.
Decline to exit the dungeon.
He declined, and leaped for the portal.
A hand slammed into his back a millimeter from the portal.
“You sneaky bastard!” Aurora threw him back into the wall. “If I have to kill you in the open world, I’ll do it, but this was my preference. Everything that was yours is mine, once I kill you.”
Trinity’s Armor was nowhere as good as [Fortress of Stone]. Blood seeped from Kaden’s mouth as he struggled for an answer. “What do you want with my Hold?”
“You think I want some ramshackle shed in the woods? Where I can force my will on the rabbits? Unbind the dog from your soul. Give me the binding. I’ll throw what’s left of you through the portal. Maybe your party can resurrect you.” Captain Aurora said.
“You’ll never get Vip. Oh, and the party that was under the city, the ones who disturbed that tunneler that collapsed your house? That was me.” Kaden knew death coming when he saw it. The first death was the hardest, the last the easiest, and this was easy.
Instead, Aurora kicked him, shattering a knee. “You know how hard it is to find the perfect whore?”
