“Come on,” I whispered, feeling my hand grow numb, hanging from the rope. Acrobatics would let me jump, swing and climb, but Strength was the only thing that was keeping me up right now. I scanned the beast’s body but could find no telltale sign of a weak point. It had to be the beast’s stomach, the only spot I could not see, since it crawled along the ground.
I did not have enough hands for this. Struggling not to drop my crossbow, I loosened my grip on the weapon and caught it in between my elbow crook, freeing up my fingers.
“Please work,” I whispered as I made the motions to activate the Dazzle spell. The spell itself did not target a specific spot of the creature, merely its vision. If it worked, I might be able to take a shot.
I muttered the sacred words and watched as a thin beam of light escaped from my fingers, zipping towards the Dread Beast which was almost upon me. As soon as the light touched the creature, it reared up and began snapping its mandibles, as if a target was right in front of it.
With no time to lose, I slanted my arm down, letting the crossbow slide into my hands and I aimed right at the big red spot on the imitation chitin plating of the beast. The crossbow went ker-thunk as it fired the bolt in the air, leaving a trail of blue mist in its wake. I had enchanted this crossbow with a Water Elemental affinity, to increase the stun chance of the bolts.
The watery bolt embedded itself deep into the Dread Beast’s stomach and it let out another yelp, more energy dispersing from its body, vanishing into thin air. It fell on the ground and began to writhe, thrashing about as it began to change shape once again, this time shrinking in form.
The more power it loses, the deadlier it will become, echoed in my head, perhaps a memory of Rashar’s words, or maybe a prompting from his spirit. Either way, I knew I had to get out of this area and into a favorable position. The Dread Beast was only just now waking up. I had inflicted the damage I could, but sticking around would put me in a bad spot. Fighting in a dark cave with no easy way to escape was not ideal fighting ground.
Taking advantage of the distraction, I was quick to climb up and fire another rope crossbow upwards, so I could have enough space to swing to the main rope. Getting from the bottom of the pit to the top wasn’t particularly hard and I managed to swing, leap and then scamper my way out of the hut.
I hustled as fast as I could out the door, jumping over the three locktraps I had placed at the entrance. I ran into the central clearing, where I had once been target shooting with Rashar. The entire area was a death trap, with carefully dug out pits, spear traps, snares and beartraps scattered everywhere. Thanks to my enhanced memory, I could easily remember where everything was placed. I had run several drills as well, to ensure my muscle memory could keep track of where to step and what to avoid.
Standing in the center of the trap clearing, bow in hand, I trained my weapon on the door and waited. Whatever was going to come out would be powerful, enraged, and above all, ready to fight to the death for a meal.
Chapter 34
“I fear the strategy has changed,” came a voice from behind me while I continued to wait. My grip around the bow was beginning to weaken as the hour passed. I had waited so long for the Dread Beast to emerge, but it had never come out. All my planning, my preparing, wouldn’t mean a thing if I couldn’t fight the beast in favorable territory. Perhaps it sensed this and was waiting to ambush me when I returned to check in on the creature’s position.
I glanced behind me to see Rashar was standing there, arms crossed and a worried look upon his face. No doubt the tigerman was unhappy with this change of circumstances as well.
“What do I do?” I whispered, still holding the bow up. My arms were growing tired from staying in this stance for so long, but I had to be ready for the ultimate fight ahead of me.
“I would relax a bit,” Rashar said. “The beast is long gone.”
“What?” I growled. “That can’t be right.”
“This is…troubling for a number of reasons,” Rashar replied. “You injured it and it lost a great deal of power, but once it was fully able to access what energy it had left, the beast fled.”
“I’ll have to track it then,” I replied, slinging my bow over my back. Time wasn’t on my side here, no doubt the Dread Beast could move quickly. I grabbed three snaptraps off the ground and threw them into my satchel before moving towards the hut again.
“Don’t!” Rashar said. “It most likely wants you to give chase. So it can lure you in a trap of some kind.”
“If I don’t finish this now, it will finish me in the future,” I replied. “I’d rather be hunting it, than it chasing me.”
There was a pained pause from my mentor, but he spoke as I made my way to the hut. “Hidden in one of the cupboards is a potion of speed. Same as you’ve had before. Be cautious, Avery. This beast appears to have consumed a great deal of intelligence as well as raw power.”
I nodded wordlessly at this admonition and pressed into the hut. Finding the potion wasn’t hard and, within ten minutes, I was hot on the trail of the beast, following the freshly dug underground hole the creature had made. It was moving fast, digging upwards towards the surface. Where it was heading, I did not know.
Eventually, I saw light at the end of the tunnel, the shining brilliant lights of the surface. The Dread Beast had burrowed its way up, to some unknown area of the jungle. I grabbed hold of my bow and shivered. This could be a trap, a power move meant to catch me off-guard. I had to be sure I was safe coming out of the hole.
I quickly swapped my charms out, grabbing the Kinru’s perception ability, then closed my eyes and listened intently. My enhanced senses were strong enough to make out the sound of trees rustling in the wind, the sound of footsteps moving about and the splashing of water. Violent splashing, followed by the sounds of hisses, snaps and snarls. Then there was thumping, shocks in the ground as something long and powerful was crashing against the floor.
“The lake beast,” I whispered, opening my eyes and swapping my charms back out. This could not be a coincidence. The sounds above indicated some kind of fight was going on between two creatures, no doubt the Dread Beast hunting the creature in the lake. Perhaps it would be able to consume the Bloodpoints from a fallen monster. Although, wouldn’t it have been hunting other monsters all along if it could? Or maybe the beast was so desperate that it would rather take its chances against a monster as opposed to a human for a meal.
Either way, there was a fight going on above and the Dread Beast could be winning. I had to get involved and turn the tide of the fight. I took a deep breath and centered myself, then began to climb upwards, through the sloping tunnel to the surface.
The fresh air was welcome, but I was quickly distracted by the sight of the Dread Beast in its prime, a long, lanky dog-like beast similar to the Ur-Harna. The beast had eight spines jutting out of its back, whipping forward at the tree-trunk-sized tentacles that were thrashing about in the water. The spines were long and flexible, able to grab hold of two or three tentacles at a time, coiling around the trunks and tightening to cut them off.
Whatever was below shrieked, the water bubbling violently as wave after wave of water splashed out, but the Dread Beast did not relent. Now, fully awake and in its true form, the ancient monster had little trouble taking control of the lake monster’s limbs. The spines shifted, and I could see that they were beginning to adopt razor edges, to allow each long spine to dig deeper into the flesh of the lake monster. Green blood began to drip from every limb as the Dread Beast merely held its ground, unfazed by the shrieking and wild thrashing from beneath the water.
This was my chance to get a shot in. Without thinking, I grabbed my bow and fired two arrows as quickly as I could, taking full advantage of my new Rapid Shot ability. Two arrows sailed through the air, striking not the body of the Dread Beast but rather at the base of two separate spines. The ka-fwoom of the arrows lighting ablaze in midair caught the Dread Beast’s attention for a second, but it could not react in time.
The arrows struck the spines, severing one entirely from its base.
Roaring in anger, the Dread Beast tried to grow another spine, but one of the lake monster’s limbs shook free of the now destroyed spine and smashed down with all of its might. The Dread Beast released its grips and leapt aside, narrowly avoiding the tree-sized appendage. However, the force of the attack caused an immense shockwave to ripple across the ground, like a localized earthquake, knocking both myself and the Dread Beast down.
Scrambling to my feet, I made a beeline for the familiar banyan trees, knowing that a higher vantage point would be vital in keeping my footing. But as I ran, something snagged around my ankle and whipped me up in the air before I could react. The force was immense and I heard a loud pop in my spine as I was jerked into the air. Wrapped around my leg, brutally crushing it was none other than one of the lake monster’s four tentacles.
“Damn it!” I shouted, firing a shot into the thick trunk that was jutting out of the water. But my arrows did little other than to draw some blood. I heard more crunching sounds in my ankle as the tentacle merely squeezed as tightly as it could, lifting me higher into the air.
I had very little time here. I reached back to grab an arrow but felt nothing but thin air. Fumbling my hands around the quiver desperately, I was horrified to realize that my damned arrows had all fallen out of the quiver when I was flipped upside down. I reached for the short sword at my side, but before I could get my hand on it, I was suddenly underwater.
The creature had pulled me beneath, no doubt to eagerly consume me. The water was shallower than I had realized, perhaps eight feet deep, no more. There was a crescent moon shaped beast in the water, identical to the shape the Dread Beast had taken earlier, although bigger, blue and with glowing yellow eyes. Its maw was opened wide and the tentacle was dragging me to a quick death.
Then came a splash in the water; the Dread Beast. It too had been seized by a wayward tentacle, but unlike me, this monster had many ways to escape. It was rapidly changing shape, its skin jutting out long spikes that stabbed into the two tentacles that were wrapped around it. Claws, tails and razor sharp teeth emerged from every side of the Dread Beast as it transformed into some nightmarish horror that was beyond imagination.
I felt a slackness around the tentacle holding me. The lake fiend had lost its ability to focus on two targets at once and I took the opportunity to pull my leg free before it could tighten on me again. The two monsters were in a violent struggle, yet the Dread Beast was clearly winning the fight. Even underwater, the creature was a fury to behold.
My lungs burning from the lack of air, I swam upwards as fast as I could (all the while noticing my speed potion did not affect my swimming ability.) Gasping and wheezing for air as soon as my head broke the surface of the water, I paddled towards the shore, but a shriek from beneath forced me to pause. The fight was over for the lake monster, I could sense. The Dread Beast was a killing machine, and if Venators had no chance against it, then a monster would certainly fall to it as well. I couldn’t face this thing alone. I needed help, even if the stupid beast beneath didn’t realize that I was an ally in this fight for survival.
Taking a deep, deep breath and grabbing the two crossbows out of my leg holsters, I dove beneath the water again. The water was perfectly clean, thanks to the maintenance of the lake monster, adequately eating any living organism in the water, algae and peat moss included. I could see that the large crescent moon head was injured; a large chunk of flesh had been torn out by one of the jaws of the Dread Beast’s current form.
Two tentacles had been severed and were floating up to the surface, and the remaining tentacles of the lake monster were ineffectively swatting at the Dread Beast as it continued to simply tear into the side of its head, working at a very specific point. I could see the bright, shining spot of the lake monster’s weak point and instinctively knew that the brain was easiest to reach from that side of the head.
I aimed my two crossbows forward, lining up the shot perfectly. Both possessed the power of the weak water affinity, blessed by my magical abilities. I just hoped the stun damage would be enough to help my temporary ally in fighting off the Dread Beast. Both of my fingers slid over the trigger mechanism and I said a silent prayer, pulling on them at the same time.
The crossbows had no trouble activating underwater. I heard the click of the firing mechanism and both bolts fired out at full speed, piercing through the water. Then came something I had not been expecting. Each bolt seemed to spiral in the water, creating a vortex effect as they sailed towards their target, not slowing down as I had feared, but instead speeding up . The water affinity must be more powerful when actually surrounded by water.
Not only did two bolts strike the Dread Beast as it clawed its way deeper, but so did two spiraling vortexes of water. The force of both bolts was like a tidal wave crashing so hard into the Dread Beast that it was thrown off the injured lake monster and towards the rocky cliff walls lining the back of the lake.
The lake monster, sensing it was safe for a moment, regained all energy that it possibly could and began to violently smash at the Dread Beast. The stun effect of my twin bolts had staggered and slowed my ancient foe down significantly and it was caught changing shapes again, albeit slowly and without efficiency. In-between forms, the Dread Beast could do little to defend itself from the two massive tree-trunk-sized limbs that slapped, slammed and smashed it, over and over again.
My lungs once again informed me that staying beneath the water would be fatal and I was forced to return to the surface, gasping for air. My right ankle was properly shattered from the lake monster’s surprise attack and I had to crawl towards the scattered bolts and arrows on the ground.
The waters continued to stir as I reloaded both crossbows, throwing the bolts back into my quiver before turning right back around and crawling towards the water. My leg was on fire, but I was perfectly mobile when swimming. If the Dread Beast had survived and killed the lake monster by now, my only chances would be in the water where I could still move around freely.
With another deep breath, I disappeared beneath the surface to see that the Dread Beast was no longer moving. The tentacles had firmly wrapped around its body and were squeezing so tightly, I could see thousands of little wisps of red energy seeping out of the creature. The ancient foe had been too weak to fight both a Venator and a monster at the same time. It had made a terrible mistake in deciding to feast on something weaker before fighting me.
The lake beast was slowly moving the tentacles to its mouth, still greatly wounded. It would feast on the corpse of the Dread Beast, taking the bones and organs of the monster with it. I could not allow that to happen.
I was a little sorry to kill the lake beast after it had helped me out so much, but then I remembered that the damned thing had also shattered my ankle and almost drowned me. If it had any more energy left in its system, I would be fighting it right now. I aimed my crossbows at the softened weak spot, the glowing side of the crescent moon’s head, then fired the bolts. The lake beast stiffened immediately as my shots pierced its brain and its limbs went loose at once, allowing the Dread Beast’s body to sink to the bottom. They were both death. One perhaps dead longer than the other.
Surfacing for a quick second to catch my breath, I dove down again and swam towards the Dread Beast’s corpse, short sword in hand. I couldn’t leave its body to regenerate or heal or even to feign death. I had to end this right now or it would follow me for the rest of my life, however long that would be.
As I swam closer, I could see that the Dread Beast had reverted to its true form upon being squeezed to death, the dog-like beast with spines running down the back of it. My lungs were burning again and I knew I wouldn’t be able to carve it up beneath the water. So I grabbed hold of one of the beast’s extended spines and pulled it up with all of my might. Fortunately, the monster was light enough to drag to the surface.
As soon as the body was on the shallow part of the shore, I
raised my hunting knife to dig deep into the beast’s body. But before I could bring it down, a voice spoke softly to me.
“Wait,” said the voice, weak and injured. I glanced around for a moment, but realized the voice was coming from the Dread Beast.
“It’s alive!” I shouted, raising the blade to bury into the monster’s eye to kill it once and for all, but the beast did not move much. It merely shifted and shimmered, slowly changing form.
“Not yet,” the beast whispered. “You need to know something first.”
Mystified and horrified, all at once, I watched as the monster’s body shifted into that of a normal, human male. He looked no different than any of the other men in my own village. Fear welled up within me at this. It could change shape to look like a man?
“W-what are you?” I whispered, my hands frozen. My instincts were screaming at me to bury the knife into the skull and finish this off, but I could not move. Was I under some spell? Or just so surprised by its capacity for speech that I couldn’t react.
“My name was Jorman, I think,” he said, eyes shut. He was breathing heavily and despite the fact that he had become a human again, I could see that he was greatly wounded. Blood was seeping out of his eyes and mouth. Should I administer first aid? Wait, no that was insane.
“You’re a monster,” I said.
“Indeed,” Jorman said, gasping. “But I get to be human for a few moments, I guess. Are you a Venator? Or just lucky?”
“A Venator,” I said.
“How very unlucky,” Jorman replied. His breathing was growing greatly labored, but he forced himself to open his eyes and look directly into mine. “You need to know something. Before it’s too late.”
His eye color was deep red, the same color as the Bloodpoints I had seen before. “What happened to you?”
“The hunt consumes us. Each one of us,” he whispered, voice trembling. “The blood doesn’t make us stronger; it makes us one of them . Sooner or later, we lose control. We change. Something else takes over.”
Monster Hunting 101: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Titan Termination) Page 22