The Bare Hunt: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel (The Good Guys Book 7)

by Eric Ugland

  “Isn’t it internal?”

  “To an extent. But the manner in which you recharge, that comes from the world around you.”

  “But not for you?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her tiny head and smiling, “It is an internal thing, I am a being of magic.”

  “Can you be dispelled?”

  Her face scrunched up, as if she hadn’t really ever given it real consideration. “No. Probably not. I don’t think so, at least. But because this is not my native place, it is theoretically possible I could be banished back to my home.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “It is a danger I face. You would need to summon me back.”

  “And how might I do that?”

  “I, uh, I do not know.”

  “Might want to think on that. “

  “Yes, that would be good.”

  “Okay, so cast haste — that would help. I mean, if you can be invisible, stick at the back edges of battle, and give me boosts or buffs as necessary, that would be huge. And touch base with Tarryn. The two of you are both in the hirð and are both magic users. You should get some synergy going on.”

  “Synergy?”

  “Sure, that’s, like, when two people work together.”

  “You mean cooperation?”

  “Like that, but, you know, synergizing.”

  She looked at me through slitted eyes, definitely not buying the bullshit I was trying to spread. She did, however, nod once before heading over to talk to Tarryn.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  The bonfire grew behind us as we stood in front of the door. The little group of adventurers, me and the crew, stared up at the massive edifice of carved stone. It was a big rectangle somewhere in the neighborhood of forty feet tall and sixteen feet wide. The surrounding rock, the doorjamb I suppose, was equally as massive, extending out about twenty feet in every direction from the edge of the door and was decorated with just as many carvings.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s open it.”

  No one moved.

  “Wulf?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I have never opened the door. I just know where it is.”

  “But you know that it can be opened.”

  “Yes. I have heard of people who have gone in.”

  “Do you know these people?”

  “No.”

  “So it could be legend.”

  “I was told it as truth,” he countered.

  “Okay, well,” I said, walking to the door and putting my hands against it. “Maybe it just, you know, needs a good push.”

  I set my shoulder against the door and started pushing.

  Nothing.

  I got better leverage, and pushed as hard as I could.

  There was a vague sense of creaking in the door, but I noticed a wet feeling around my shoulder, so I stopped to check things out. I was pushing so hard I’d forced my skin apart. Which was gross. And rather painful, when the shock wore off.

  “Tarryn!” I called out.

  He trotted over.

  “Magic this shit open,” I said.

  “I—”

  “You don’t have spells for this?”

  “I might, I—”

  “Detect magic?”

  “Sure, right. Should have been my first guess.”

  He nodded at me, and I noticed how tired he seemed. His eyes were drooping, and it seemed like it took everything he had just to stay upright. Looking around, the entire team seemed about the same.

  Tarryn weaved his hands together and then pulled them apart, sending a spray of colorful runes over the door. I saw the light shimmer across the surface, dipping in and around the carvings. Some of the carvings glowed in a pulse, then others responded.

  “The door is indeed magic,” Tarryn said.

  “Can you open it?” I asked.

  “Give me a minute, for fuck’s sake,” he snapped back at me. “I need to think over what I just saw.”

  Bear strode up to him, made a pretty spectacular jump, and landed on his shoulder. She leaned into his ear and whispered something.

  “Duke,” Amber called out.

  I looked around and noticed that she had moved to the other side of the fire, and was looking into the darkness.

  “What’s up?” I asked, walking over to her.

  “There,” she said, pointing.

  I followed her outstretched arm with my eyes and caught a glint of a reflection in the blackness. With the clouds blocking the moons, it was a really dark night. Our fire was the lone pinprick of light in the world. at least, so far as I could tell.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Something big. Watching us.”

  “Is it moving?”

  “Yes. I can’t see it, at least not all of it. But I keep catching flashes of light when it looks this way. It’s moving closer.”

  “Or there’s a bunch of things out there, circling us.”

  “Could be.”

  “Fritz!” I called out.

  The giant goose monster came waddling over. One head looked at me while the other seven were focused into the dark.

  “How’s your night vision?” I asked.

  “Dark,” he replied.

  “Darkvision? Even better. Go see what’s out there — if you don’t mind.”

  The goose heads nodded. He leapt into the air, disappearing into the night.

  “Keep an eye on this,” I said.

  “Uh, yeah?” Amber asked. “You sure you don’t want an ambush?”

  I sighed as I walked around the fire we shouldn’t have made bigger, gave Skeld’s stew a sniff — smelled great — and then stood in front of the door once again.

  It was still closed.

  “Is there,” I started, “I mean, is there some clue to making it open?”

  “Likely it is something the Mountain Kings knew,” Tarryn said, keeping his attention on the door. “I has to do with them in some capacity.”

  “Did you try saying ‘friend’ in elven? Or was it dwarven?”

  Everyone involved looked at me like I was an idiot. And, truth be told, I felt a bit like an idiot.

  “Why would that do anything?” Tarryn asked.

  “Just a theory,” I said. “What about breaking the stone? A spell like Shatter or something?”

  “Tried it,” Bear the brownie said. “It is magically guarded.”

  I walked over to the wall and ran my fingers across the carvings. Then I put my hand on a piece of the carving that seemed just a little out of sorts with the rest of the carvings, and I used an ability: Detect Metals and Minerals. Sure enough, it was different than the rest of the rock around it. And there were other bits within the carvings around the door, and the door itself, that were not, well, what I was thought was granite. The other stuff was near granite in color and texture, but had just a little extra glint to it. The non-traditional rocks were within reach on both the door and the door jam. I gave the bit I was holding a pull, and it slid out of the carving.

  “What did you do?” Tarryn asked.

  I showed the rock to him.

  The other side of the rock was a purple gemstone, attached to the rock I held by some mysterious means.

  “Look at this,” I said, proffering the rock to Tarryn and crew. “And there are more.”

  It was quick work to pull all the various rocks out of their holders, and we set them in the snow.

  “Montana,” Amber called out. “We might have trouble.”

  “Looking at this,” I said to Tarryn, getting a sword and shield out of my bag, “y’all have the keys to the door. Now find the lock.”

  I gave them a nod, as if what I’d just said actually meant something. Then I looked over at Amber and the huge shadowy form behind her. Something was coming in from the snow to have a nice sit by the fire.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  It was not, in fact, a creature looking for a nice time by the fire.

  It never was.

  Instead, wh
at materialized looked like it was cobbled together from some horrific collection of black rotting bones, with more bones holding it together. And then a few more bones thrown in to give it some bulk. Which it barely had. It was spindly and emaciated, and had nothing like skin anywhere on it. Just bones connected with jet black tendons and ligaments.

  As the thing walked, its legs split apart into something like bone-based tentacles. It had three legs, with too many joints that held up something vaguely humanoid, from what could possibly be a pelvis up to what was a head. Or a skull. I counted eight bone-tentacle things wiggling under the head, around the spot where a jaw would normally be. Glossy black orbs filled the eye sockets. The creature’s one arm split midway where the forearm should have been, and then again where the hand would have been, then again at each finger point, leaving the creature with sixteen bone-tentacle things coming at me from the one side.

  As it got closer, it became clear that the tentacles were made up of bones. There was no obvious reason for the size of bones used in the tentacles. Or anywhere around the creature’s body, really. Short at the top, long at the bottom. And disgusting everywhere in between.

  It was totally silent. No moaning or yelling, just moving through the snow, barely a disturbance. Which, obviously, was the creepiest part of the whole thing.

  Amber backed up towards me. When she glanced over her shoulder and saw me there with sword and board, she turned and ran to the other side of the fire.

  “Bear!” I called out, “maybe need you over here.”

  A heat washed over me, and I saw a new buff marker in the corner of my vision.

  Haste had been cast on me.

  I didn’t feel faster, but the creature in front of me was noticeably slower. It moved a bit like it was in Jell-O.

  “Got an identification spell?” I shouted over my shoulder, wondering if my voice was coming out high and fast like I was Chip or Dale.

  “Don’t you?” Came Bear’s shout back.

  “No! I’m fucked on magic.”

  ”Gar!”

  The thing slammed its foot down, clearly telegraphing that its intent to swing its one arm around at me.

  I got my shoulder behind the shield, and took the blow.

  It bent the shield around my body. Some of the tentacles whipped around the edge of the shield and slamming against me, slicing through any exposed skin. I grimaced against the pain and wished I was wearing heavy plate armor. I needed to just get a suit made already. I wondered if I had something better than steel available to me at the holding.

  The haste spell made it so I had enough time to get distracted in the middle of the fucking fight.

  The creature tightened its bone tentacles and pulled. I started to lift off the ground, but as soon as I let go of the shield, I dropped.

  “Greater Bone Thrall!” Bear shouted out, her shrill voice cutting through the rising wind.

  Perfect timing for a storm to hit, I thought. Then I shook my head and forced my attention on the Bone Thrall. He threw the shield over himself, having at least enough intelligence to realize he was no longer holding me. Looking at the creature, though, I suddenly had access to more information about it.

  GREATER BONE THRALL

  Undead Abomination

  Lvl ???

  HP: High

  MP: Low

  Known Weaknesses: None.

  Did Bear do that? I wasn’t sure how I could see the thralls stats now.

  But more importantly, no listed weaknesses.

  Fuckers.

  I swung at the nearest leg, slicing through some of its tendons. I cut some of the bone tentacles off. As soon as they were separated from the bone thrall’s body, they became normal bones with nothing holding them together.

  The thrall stumbled a bit, now that one leg was shorter than the rest.

  But then it just ripped some extra bones out of its torso to replace the ones I’d cut out of it.

  I shook my head. This dude was scary.

  While I was shaking my head, the thing I’d thought was its third leg came around like an arm and smashed me into the air.

  I flew for a moment and then smashed into the rocky face of the mountain, falling to the ground with a whump. I popped back up immediately, feeling the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I pulled another shield out.

  “How’s the door?” I shouted as I charged back towards the bone thrall, who was slowly stepping towards the fire.

  “Still closed!” Tarryn yelled.

  The bone thrall showed its first bit of emotion as it got close to the fire. Clearly, flames spooked the thing. It edged around it, even though there was something close to the bonfire it wanted: a goblin corpse. He grabbed it gingerly and then shoveled it into the spot where the creature’s mouth should have been. The shorter tentacles there grabbed the goblin corpse and it disappeared. Or was torn apart. Hard to tell.

  I hurdled the fire, and swung overhead, slicing through another part of the bone thrall.

  And as I did, the thrall grabbed me.

  It was a crushing grasp, but I had my sword arm free. I hacked and hacked at the arm as it brought me up to its mouth, and just as I was staring at the horror of the bizarre conflagration of bones, tentacles, and a sparking purple that I could only assume was some horrific magic, I cut through the last bit of the thrall’s arm, and it dropped me.

  I dropped to the ground, the bones around me cushioning my crash. I rolled to one side as the great amalgamation of bones brought more bones out of its torso to refill its arm. Some of those were smaller, with bits of flesh still attached. Goblin bones.

  “Try some fire!” I shouted to Bear while I got to my feet.

  I looked up in time to see a new segmented bone-tentacle forming, whipping out from the back of the creature.

  I knelt on the ground, shield up to the sky. Once again there was a great hit from the bone thrall. The tentacle smashed against the shield, denting the metal and, conveniently for me, pulverizing several of the bones in the tentacle. But peeking out from beneath my shield, it was pretty damn clear the bone thrall was chowing down on the goblin remains, and growing.

  A firebolt shot over my head and smashed into the nearest bone tentacle.

  The thing went up like a Christmas tree in March.

  I laughed, and got out from under the ruined shield.

  The bone thrall somehow let go of the burning arm, and it dropped to the ground.

  So I threw my shield as hard as I could, and it bashed the thing in the head, knocking off a good portion of the thing’s skull.

  It stumbled and seemed to have trouble figuring out what to do. And how to do it.

  I pulled a hammer out of my bag of tricks, and went to work smashing any of the bones I could reach. With each swing, I’d either knock bones out of the thrall or powderize them.

  The bone thrall stumbled, which brought its head within reach.

  I slammed the hammer through the skull. As soon as the skull was broken, the creature just collapsed into a pile of bones.

  “You’re not so tough,” I shouted.

  “Montana,” Amber called out. “More.”

  Sure enough, as I gloated over the remains of the thrall, the other reflective things we’d seen in the dark came into the bonfire light. There were a lot of Bone Thralls coming towards us. A lot.

  “Tarryn!” I shouted, backing up. “Door.”

  “Working on it,” he replied.

  “Work faster!”

  I hauled back and threw the hammer at the nearest bone thrall.

  The hammer went end over end and crushed the skull of the thrall.

  Bones started to fall.

  Think this might not be so bad.

  Except the next thrall in line, like, snatched bones, and started growing before my eyes. Big enough that the torso and head were now out of the ring of firelight.

  There was a whistling sort of noise, and I dove to the side.

  A bone tentacle slammed into the ground hard enough t
hat it rattled my teeth.

  “Door’s open!” Tarry shouted.

  I rolled over and sprinted for the door, thinking I’d see a great huge opening in the wall. You know, like what the big door seemed to be. But it was a small door, like, sized appropriately for a human, but not the forty foot-thing I thought it’d be. The rest of the group were busy shoving Fritz through the door. I hit his bulbous feathery butt at full speed, and it was enough to shove the monster goose through. The rest of us tumbled in after.

  “Keep moving!” I shouted. “They’ve got reach!”

  To prove my point, the first segmented tentacle shot through the open door, and wrapped its horrific appendage around Amber’s waist.

  Ragnar grabbed her arms, and the bone thrall pulled her toward the door.

  I had a sword out and sliced through the tentacle.

  “Stand back,” Tarryn said.

  He clasped both hands together and whispered something under his breath. His hands started to glow. Then fire poured forth, spraying out in a great burst of brilliant orange flame. He walked the fire up and out the door, blocking the entrance.

  There was a great whoomp outside, and a brilliant flash of light illuminated the great hall we were in. Then another and another. Whoomp whoomp whoomp.

  Stillness.

  Tarryn collapsed in the doorway.

  I sprinted to the mancer and stood over him, ready to defend from him.

  Not necessary. Outside, there wasn’t much in the way of snow around the area, just mud or dirt. Most of it scorched. And a few piles of bones in the process of being consumed by flames.

  “Good spell,” I said.

  “Tough to use if you have any friends around,” Tarryn said weakly. “Had to wait until I could get you inside.”

  I dragged him farther inside, and then watched as Bear did a thing near the doorway. The stone door dropped back in place, closing us in darkness.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  An ominous feeling came over us. It was still. Quiet. Dark. Very dark.

  I pushed into darkvision, and the Hall came to light. Sort of. It was more like it came to high contrast black and white. We were in what could only be described as the world’s biggest foyer. The ceiling soared so high it was beyond the range of my darkvision, so it looked like the walls just went up into space.