Feral Beast Master: A Gamelit Adventure, page 7
“Then let’s whittle. Kaden, I’m not full on Mana.” Trella waited as he summoned four more mana darts. “All right. Pulling from just inside again.”
This time, they got only the three who had retreated, and in two passes, those were dead.
But the next time, Trella’s Deception returned with nothing following.
They rested and refilled her mana, then sent another scouting run. She closed her eyes, receiving it. “So, the bad news is, my Deception really can’t count. good news is, there’s not even thirty five of them left. There’s a similar guard group on the other side, we can swap buildings and kill them. The actual colony is sitting on eggs. They’re not going to move unless we threaten an egg, and then they’re going to descend on us like the wrath of all nine hells.”
“Maybe not.” Eve spoke up. “They’ll descend on us, yes. But what if there’s no trace of who did it? You break one of the eggs in the center, you do it stealthily, and let the Lashes take on each other. Where I grew up, there are beautiful birds with rainbow tails that nest in colonies. They’ll peck your eyes out if you come near the eggs. But a broken egg? That’s free meal, and an opportunity for another broken egg, and another.”
Sara swore under her breath. “Let’s clear out the other side while I think. I don’t like the idea of Trella starting a Lash war while she’s in the middle of them. But I don’t have a better idea, and I don’t want to deal with the whole colony at once.”
So they switched buildings, pulled groups, including ten that tried to chip through the stone walls instead of lining up to be murdered. But when the last Lash lay in a bloody pile, time had run out. Sara cut the tail-head off the last one and stored it. “All right, then. Let’s see if the Sisters of Shadow are as good as legends claim. Do you want us to seal one side and pen them in?”
Trella jogged in place, working off nervous jitters as she retied her boot bindings and pulled back her hair. “No. If things go saint-shaped, I want every exit I can. If we start a war, and if they all engage, that’ll be the point of no return. You need to bust in and cut them down in the chaos. I can’t be part of the battle and stealth at the same time.”
“Got it. We’ll go from the right, then, whenever you’re ready.” Sara looked to Eve. “Be ready. We’ll need you more than I wish, I suspect.”
Kaden caught Trella by a leather-wrapped wrist. “Be careful. Please. If you can’t get to the center, get out. We’ll come up with a different way to handle it.”
“Just make sure you bring back enough of me to resurrect,” Trella said.
Before he could answer, she faded into shadows.
8
EIGHT - MAKING AN OMLET
The moment Trella disappeared, Kaden headed for the entrance to the auditorium. Darkness reigned inside, but not pitch black. The full moon shone down from a black ceiling. Long, narrow halls led upward from just inside, to open at the top. Visitors would climb up and then down from the top to take a seat. Except that the seats were all broken, and everywhere inside the dome, Lashes had made nests and perched atop eggs the size of a man’s head.
Kaden would have tried to be stealthy, but the colony was far from silent. The lashes squawked and hissed and hooted at each other, swinging tails threateningly and jostling each other. In the center, on a pile of debris, Kaden saw the Boss
[Slashkivore - Enlightened Beast]
This humble pest has seen years come and go and in doing so, the spark of mana within it has become the light of intelligence. It holds fast to its brood, waiting for the spring and warm weather, when all of its brethren will take to the sky and hunt through the dark. *Pride*.
Kaden tried tapping a message to Sara, then swore. She hadn’t learned that language, and worse yet, her Horror imitated him, smashing the ground.
The colony fell silent.
For thirty seconds, no one breathed. Then a Lash on the far edge bumped another, and it screamed back, and the din of Beasts returned.
The false moonlight made the nest a maze of shadows—there, down the far staircase, a shadow moved that had no Lash behind it. Sara’s hand on his shoulder tensed. She saw it, too. And the longer he looked, the more certain he was that he did see Trella. His eyes wanted to slip away and find anything else to look at.
He’d played this game with ‘Aunt’ Triss. And as an adult, the times he’d look for his mom without finding her made more sense. Maybe she’d given him freedom to run on the farm and maybe she’d been close behind.
The Lash Colony was not without organization. The boss nested closest to the center, with there smaller Lashes tending it, while it perched over its egg, rocking back and forth as it growled a deep song.
Trella’s shadow had stopped moving.
She tried one row to move in, and another, and another, but each time, found a Lash too close. At last, Trella reached the bottom of the viewing area, and began to thread her way upward, closer and closer to the Boss. At last, she stopped, ducked down in a gap three rows from the boss.
Her shadow rose up, becoming darker, solid, and slunk forward.
And the egg the Boss sat on lurched sideways, tipping over the edge. It fell and a crack shot through the air. Every head in the colony swung toward the Boss.
Trella kept absolutely still.
The boss raged, crying out with their head high in the air, and her tail circled, whistling as it slung near any Lash who dipped closer. It hobbled off its nest to stand over the egg, but in doing so, stepped too close to a neighbor, who struck.
In one heartbeat, the tension exploded.
The boss Lash, off balance, kicked its own egg, widening a crack that drooled white liquid. The Boss attacked the one who hit it. A neighbor took the opportunity to smash an unguarded egg and gag down the half-formed monster within.
The world went wild as screaming Lashes converged.
“Go!” Sara shouted, barely audible over the din. She didn’t have to speak twice. Kaden lumbered straight down the middle, dropping Rocky right in the middle. He took one look at the broken egg shells and began to feast, while angry shrieks became panic as the Colony turned on the interloper, punishing him with their tails.
They might as well have been punishing a mountain. Sparks flew from Rocky’s Armor, and he closed both eyes, but continued to chew in slow, measured bites, avoiding the crushed Lashs within the shell to focus on the shell itself.
And in the moment of distraction, Sarah, Kaden, and Eve struck, smashing and cutting. Blood flew everywhere as Lash after Lash fell. It was a moment of chaotic beauty.
Until disaster struck.
Trella had been moving around the edge, breaking eggs and back-stabbing Lashes left alone. She never saw the one, sliced by its neighbor, who fled the battle. And crashed straight into her. Her shadow illusion failed, in that instant, half the colony pivoted on her. Too many no longer had eggs to defend, but carried a rage they would take out.
Kaden didn’t pause. He leaped down the center aisle, jumped off of Rocky’s back, and sailed over the Boss’s tail as it whipped back to slice him. His needful cloak fell to ribbons as the tail sawed through it, but he delivered a blow with Remembrance to the closest Lash’s skull.
[Brutal blows has delivered a permanent injury. You have paralyzed an enemy.
No time to celebrate, he rammed the closest one, throwing it back, while Trella blocked a tail slice from a third and kicked it back. “Can you hide again?”
“Can’t hide if they’re all watching!” Trella said.
“Run for the exits, meet up near the gate when you lose them!” Sara’s shout came from above.
Trella sprinted for the front. “There’s an emergency exit here.”
She bashed the door open.
The blinding light made Kaden blink but he didn’t waste time following her out, then throwing his weight against the door to shut it.
“We only have to keep it shut long enough for them to look for a different exit,” Trella said. “When we run, go right. Sara and Eve will come out on the left and I don’t want to lead more Lashes their way.”
Never split the party. He’d heard it more times than he could count. Did this count as a ‘never’ situation? The thuds against the door became weaker, and then stopped entirely. He didn’t wait. “Let’s go!”
They sprinted right, as a group of Lashes waddled out the Auditorium and took to the air. Never again would he mock the monsters for being ungainly and awkward. Aloft in the air, they flew with the grace and speed of falcons. In flight, their long tails trailed behind, snaking back and forth to tear shingles from rooftops. Every time Kaden looked back, they gained on him.
“Inside!” Trella shouted, leaping right.
The gift shop where they’d originally set up to pull Lashes.
Kaden spun on his heel as he passed the door and met the Lash folding its wings with Remembrance. When no others landed, he followed it up with another blow to a wing. Agony bloomed in his side as a tail struck his ribs, sinking deep.
“Die, bastard.” Trella shouted as she leaped on top to slash its throat.
You have gained a level.
You have (1) attribute point to distribute. Distribute now? [Y/N]
Kaden dropped the point into strength, even though HP would have lessened the pain, and pulled a potion from Inventory to swig, offering the other half to Trella.
Blood gushed from a cut on her forehead and she walked with a limp, but there wasn’t time to delay. Kaden stood and stepped over the dead Lash. “The others went back. We should head toward the gate.”
“No.” Trella pointed across the Zoo. Lashes circled like buzzards over a building near the Griffon exhibit. “There’s only one reason they’d be there.”
Kaden found the strength to run.
They headed sideways across the zoo and then downward to the corner near the city wall. A two story building overlooked the Griffin enclosure, just one street over from the Auditorium. Lashes circled, whipping the building with their tails, and atop the roof, the Boss perched, screaming over and over.
“Ok, will you trust me and stay here?” Trella asked. “Also, I could use some of those mana darts.”
Kaden began summoning them and feeding them to her. “What are you thinking?”
“There’s a broken window there. The Sisters had me practice using [Shadow Walk] to slip through gaps. I’m going to send my Deception to scout. If they’re both in there, I’ll use [Shadow Walk] and figure out a plan together. I’m not nearly high enough level to take someone else with me.” Trella crept closer and closer to the corner.
Her shadow burst away, slinking across the street and into the building. A second later, Trella opened her eyes. “Yeah, they’re in there. Sara’s bleeding, Eve’s bleeding. Neither is dead.”
But with the sheer number of Lashs circling the building, they weren’t going to get out. Herald of Life plus Eve’s Life Harvest would have to help them. The Boss Lash gave a strange croak, and all the lesser ones landed as one on the roof. They began to smash the roof with their tails, cutting out chunks.
“Going now,” Trella said.
She leaped forward, stuttered, leaving a trail of black afterimages, and disappeared.
What had Mr. Dervish said? Sometimes you had a good plan and sometimes, you had to adapt. Kaden started to run for the street, when Lash after Lash took flight from the auditorium, joining their colony-mates on the roof. The stone roof now sported gaps.
The air flickered, and Trella almost collapsed in his arms. “The cost on doing that twice is terrible. They headed out, it was bad luck. There must have been a few out hunting. Sara got hit in the side and arm, Eve can’t walk. And I’m out of mana.”
“I’m going to get help.” Kaden summoned a mana dart and another. Picked up Remembrance. He had no illusions about being able to defeat all the Lashes, or about being able to make it to the guild, or about what would happen when the Lashes broke through. No. He turned and sprinted for the Griffin enclosure.
Once, magic barriers had surrounded the Griffin Roost where King BrownBeak held court for admirers. Now Kaden leaped over the low stone walls and sprinted along, shouting. “Hey! King!”
With every word, he sent an emotion. Admiration.
The Griffin Roost was built from a giant tree, fifty feet across, and a gaping hole in the trunk led to darkness. But from within the darkness came a broken screech. Then horrible scraping of claws, and a gust of air that stank of bird shit, death and decay.
“I need your help. Those rats with wings are going to eat my friends. In your kingdom. The food you eat is going to kill some of your subjects.” Every word, he used [Beast Empathy] to send what he remembered as a child, standing in awe before a creature whose shoulder was as tall as any man’s head.
The clacking of claws ceased, and with a burst of fetid air King Brownbeak strode forth.
And if hadn’t been for his friends, Kaden would have wept.
The magnificent bird has lost most of the feathers on his head, and the wings were bare flesh with only a few flight feathers dangling loose. The lion’s fur on his body had patches of mange, and the right hind leg dragged as it walked. But even now, it stood a good four feet taller than Kaden.
And looked down on him with sightless, cloudy eyes.
[King Brownbeak - Enlightened Griffin]
Behold the majesty that was King Brownbeak. Part eagle, part lion, undisputed ruler of the zoo and the hearts of admirers. Without the constant care of life mages, the centuries it has seen have at last found their prey. She has only one focus now, and you are not it.
*Protect.* It wasn’t a feeling, it was a word. A command.
“Yes, I am trying to protect them.” Kaden said. He was rarely the shortest man in the room, but standing before the Griffin, even one in such terrible shape, he understood his place. “Look at the Lashes. They’re going to kill half my party.”
*Protect,* it felt again. And turned to stomp back inside.
Kaden had only a moment to think.
No time to plan.
Only to decide.
He swung remembrance in a high arc, smashing the naked tail that lashed across the ground, and then turned and sprinted away. And behind him, the King screamed in rage.
9
NINE - HEIRS & SPARES
In hindsight, attacking a sick and waning Griffin was a terrible idea. It was amazing how much clarity half a second of fleeing a Boss Monster could give. Correction, an enlightened Boss Monster, which was why with every roar, [Beast Speech] translated. *Smash* *Maim* *Mangle* *Eat*.
The last one came with more context. This wasn’t the starving kind of devouring, but the slow, careful kind, where one kept one’s eagle claws on the subject, and then used the beak to tear small strips of flesh from the victim, savoring both the flavor and the screams. Griffin speech was amazingly efficient.
Pure adrenaline kept Kaden one step ahead as he charged straight toward the building where Sara and Eve were hiding. He couldn’t rightly claim to have a plan. For that matter, he wouldn’t have called it an idea, either, just desperation to save Sara and Eve at any cost. And what happened next would require perfect timing.
He banished Remembrance to Inventory, slammed into the stone wall, and threw himself down, backwards, rolling as vicious talons scarred the stone an inch from his face. But the King was too large, too strong, too heavy, and moving much too fast to stop. It passed over Kaden and slammed into the corner of the building, crushing it. Kaden whipped out Remembrance and smashed the door open.
Sara and Eve stared back at him, both of them looking like they’d slaughtered a [Hydro Boar].
“Anyone call for a rescue?” Kaden asked.
“This is not how you perform a rescue!” Eve shouted as she limped forward. Her knee had a gash that severed a tendon, and Sara’s right arm hung limp.
Kaden picked up Eve, threw her over his shoulder, and headed for the gate. Just ahead, Trella waited, and with Sara at his back, they could run.
Except Kaden couldn’t.
He had to turn.
Had to watch the Lashes descend on the stunned Griffin.
*Protect*. It was dying, and its only thought wasn’t for itself. The King of the zoo could have killed Kaden when he stood before it, but hadn’t. Now it felt cruel, using a wounded and obviously sick beast as bait for monsters like the Lashes. The alternative, letting his party die, was equally cruel, but what was happening here was his fault.
“You’re two seconds from running to kill them, aren’t you?” Trella asked.
“One second.” Kaden set down Eve, handed her a potion, summoned Remembrance and sprinted back. He’d get one surprise blow. He’d make it count. With every ounce of strength, he swung Remembrance overhead, using the momentum of his run to bring it down on the Boss Lash’s back.
*Bong*
Remembrance rang like a bell, and the air itself shimmered.
[Brutal Blows] has delivered a temporarily crippling blow.
Kaden didn’t stop there, smashing the Lash next to it, then diving out of the way of one that plummeted to the concrete. Two more landed behind him, and one lost its tail to a dagger strike in an instant. The other pivoted, whipping around for a whip-saw strike.
Rocky. He hadn’t recalled Rocky. It took an instant, but that was more than he had, and [Fortress of Stone] wouldn’t work without Rocky. He could only watch as the tail swung around—and stopped, an inch from his face, entangled by Eve’s whip.
“I don’t know whose side we’re fighting on,” Eve said. “But I do know it takes entirely too long to heal what these do.”
A Horror Pseudopod latched onto the tail and tore chunks from it as Sara went to work with her one good arm. “We’re going to have to talk about what it means to ‘run’ and ‘get help.’”
“I got help,” Kaden said, delivering another blow to the nearest Lash. The concentric circles on Remembrance hadn’t stopped swimming.
