“I’m out of mana,” he huffed. “This thing just won’t die.”
I glanced at the L’Gara to see that it had ceased trying to fight entirely but was still very much so alive. The wounds it bore were sealing themselves up, regenerating like the own gaping hole in my stomach. An interesting ability, though not one I had known about the creature. Perhaps this regeneration was how it was able to live outside of the water.
“Skin is too tough,” I mused. “And the regeneration effect on something that big makes our efforts pretty useless.” In the distance, I could hear the calls and cries of other monsters in the tunnels. No doubt the racket, combined with the scent of our blood was bringing in quite a bit of creatures from the outside. We had to fix this problem and fast!
“Well, should we…” Trig turned to face me and leapt back, eyes wide. “Holy crap, are you okay?” he gasped, pointing to the hole in my abdomen. It was sealing itself back up at this point and my health wasn’t dropping, so I didn’t pay it any mind.
“Focus, Trig, we need to solve this issue before one of two things happens. A: a swarm of more creatures come in and ruins our mission. Or B: something huge drops down on top of us and we’re now fighting two giant things at once,” I snapped.
Trig nodded, quickly turning his focus back to the creature. “My mana is burnt, and I’ve got one bomb left. They don’t seem to do much damage,” he said. The L’Gara hissed and swiped at us lethargically, still unable to do anything.
I let out a long, deep sigh. “Turn around,” I said, grabbing my tunic.
“Why?”
“Give me the bomb and turn around. I don’t want to get my clothes ruined. Don’t you dare peek, understood?”
Trig shrugged and obeyed, turning around while producing the small grenade. It wasn’t terribly big, but I knew those things packed a punch. “Just twist the center of it till it clicks,” he instructed. “Then you have about ten seconds.”
“Got it,” I replied, hastily disrobing. With the bomb in one hand, a knife in the other, I ran towards the beast, naked as the day I was born. My only regret was that I didn’t have something to cover my hair. From my previous experience inside of these beasts, digestive acid was murder on the roots.
Chapter 9
The beast was too lethargic to catch me as I leapt through the air and dove into its wide, open mouth. I prayed that it had some discernable weak point within, some organ responsible for its motor function or perhaps regeneration abilities.
The creature’s massive, razor sharp jaws tried to clamp down shut on me, but I was far too swift for it. I slid down its throat and into the gullet, fast as could be. I had learned my lesson from the first time I crawled inside a beast’s insides voluntarily: clothing and armor restricted movement. Time was of the essence within these things and I couldn’t afford to get hooked or snagged on anything.
What struck me first was the sheer frigidness of this creature’s interior. I had been expecting the standard warmth of digestive acids, but this beast seemed to have no digestive tract. The mouth led down into a relatively empty sack. My eyesight, still under the influence of the nighthawk potion, was unhindered and I could see nothing but blue intestinal lining.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered, lifting my knife and cutting through the lining, hoping to find some organs. The anatomy of monsters was a crapshoot. Some had full organic systems, functioning just like a regular biological creature, while others were just empty husks, powered by cores or strange magics.
My knife tore a hole through the beast, causing it to shudder and shriek violently. Blood oozed everywhere as I cut wide enough for me to slide through. Something glowing greeted my vision. A core, perhaps?
A burst of stomach acid splashed across me, burning my skin, but I ignored the pain. It wasn’t strong enough to outright wound me, so I pushed through the lining, getting closer to the glowing source, slashing through dense tissue and stomach as if I were in a jungle of flesh. How strange my life had become, to go from helping Dr. Jace cut people open to heal them, to digging inside the bodies of monsters and cutting them apart from the inside out.
I made my way through this mix of blood, gastric acid and who knows what else to find the source of the glowing light. Lodged deep into the tissue of the beast was a blue gem no bigger than the size of my fist. A Masara gem! My memory flashed back to the Ligoran beast I had faced once. It wore a red gem atop its head, granting it extra power, power that other Ligorans did not necessarily have.
This gem must be giving the L’Gara regeneration abilities. Time for a little surgery then. I raised my knife high and slashed a few times, cutting through the tissue. The gem rapidly repaired the area around it, keeping itself lodged deep within. I tried to grasp and pull, but even with my enhanced strength, the thing was lodged in tightly. Almost as…almost as if this thing had been born with the gem inside of it.
The idea of blowing the gem up came to me, but I shook it away. The actual Masara might know what this gem was. It was blue, like them, right? So it must be related to them in some way. Or perhaps this was…maybe it was the Vessel? Nah, I couldn’t be that lucky, could I?
Either way, I needed to cut it out in the name of science. With a heft, I began to rapidly slash at different spots of the beast’s body, creating deep gashes for it to repair. The more cuts I made, the slower the regeneration became… until finally, I was able to just cut the gem out before it could resecure itself.
The moment the gem was removed from its resting place, the creature began to freak out. It let out a hideous scream and started to gasp and convulse. I felt the walls around me tumble every which way as the L’Gara thrashed around wildly. It was suffocating. Without the regeneration properties, the beast wasn’t able to survive without water.
Getting out of this monster shouldn’t be too hard. I didn’t need the bomb to kill it, I just needed it to make me an entrance. I cut through as far as my knife could go and then primed the explosive, trying to keep my footing as best I could as the creature thrashed about.
The explosion rocked the world around me, blasting a huge hole in the L’Gara’s body right as it died, falling inert and limp. I crawled slowly out of the body, covered in blood, guts and all sorts of awful juices.
“Did you kill it?” Trig said, still obediently facing away from the monster. He had used this time to rig a few traps at the entrances to impede the other creatures that might come our way.
“It’s dead alright,” I said, holding the slippery gem tightly in my grasp. I glanced down at it and could see a hundred reflections of my own face staring up at me, each face slightly distorted. “You uh…wouldn’t happen to have a towel on you, would you?”
Chapter 10
The victory beneath the trapdoor was bittersweet. Killing the L’Gara and that hideous tallbeast had netted us two corpses full of ingredients and Bloodpoints. However, it came at the extremely high cost of my beautiful, sturdy Titanframe armor. I tried to revert it to its normal form (once I was clothed again) but the armor would not respond.
The claws of the tallbeast had been so brutal and so violent that there was nothing I could do to salvage the armor. Without the ability to switch it back to its original form, carrying the monstrosity was out of the question. Our only option would be to leave it in the company of Mr. Brimley, who seemed more than pleased to help us with whatever we needed.
“The clock was more or less ticking on that one,” he said as he served us dinner in his modest dining room. “I can handle the small ones, but if a big one were to get into the shop…well, that’d be the end of my trade. I don’t mind dying so much but the boredom of having no work? Dreadful.”
I sat on the far end of the table, soaked to the bone in monster blood, sipping the tea he served without saying much. He had no running water, and we didn’t dare waste our meager supplies on washing up. Plus, the monster blood would prevent my scent from attracting other creatures. I had toweled off as much as I co
uld, but until we found a lake or some other source of water…I’d be stinking like…well, like a woman who just crawled around in a monster’s stomach.
Trig, who was sitting on the other end of the table, tried his best to soldier through the horrid stench coming off of me. He gagged with each bite of the sausage on his plate, eventually giving up on the idea of eating altogether. Instead, he merely sighed and looked at Brimley.
“So, let’s talk turkey, pal,” he said with a grin. “I want some of those trap designs. Now, we didn’t just kill one monster down there, we killed two. That’s two problems you don’t have to face. So, it only stands to reason that we should get not only your guidance to Shadewood, but also some extra compensation.”
“Those corpses are full of all sorts of ingredients,” the old man replied, sipping his tea and smiling pleasantly. “Including charms. I told you before. I’ll give you those coins for those items, then you can give me the coins for my items. Simple enough.”
“Yeah…about the coins…” Trig said, looking at me for permission. The old man had not attacked us while we were on our excursion, which would have been a prime opportunity if he were up to something. And if he was a trader, he might do well to know about Hunter’s Hope. The tea we drank hadn’t killed us from poison yet, so we might as well tell him the truth.
I nodded at Trig, who then proceeded to explain, with great energy, all about our Venator base, all the while keeping details vague and not mentioning the civilian villages.
Brimley listened with curiosity for a time and nodded once the tale was done. “I see. I had suspected you weren’t part of the regular groups. No coins, confusion about the rules, questions about the base.”
“What are the rules, anyway?” I asked. Now that the charade was over, we could get some
answers.
“Well, the monster slayers follow strict rules when it comes to trading and selling gear. They build these little outposts all across the world. I happened upon this place while running from a beast and found it in…let’s say a more dismal state. So, I put things to order and fixed the shop up while I waited out the creature,” Brimley explained in between bites of the sausage. “And then…well, erm…” he trailed off. “We’re friends here, right? We can keep secrets?”
“Sure,” Trig said, leaning in for the gossip. “What happened?”
“A slayer came in from the cold. Killed the monster I was hiding from and then thought I ran the shop. So, I did what any rational man does when a normal human being kills a beast with ease, I played along as to avoid pissing him off. Acted like I was a shopkeeper, and he didn’t notice a thing. Eventually, I learned their rules and even how they managed to gain power. See these hunters? They don’t seem to be in a rush to let the world know how they gain their abilities.”
I tilted my head at that. “What do you mean?”
“Part of their rules is that every slayer is sworn to secrecy. Can’t say a word about how to gain powers. They don’t even talk about Bloodpoints. It’s all so very strange. Same rules apply with this gear. That’s why they use these coins.” The old man produced a small bag and spilled the contents out on the table. A few golden medallions clattered out. A single coin managed to roll all the way up to me, as if trying to reach me specifically. “To make sure that charms and enchanted gear are only sold to actual slayers and not just curious civilians with a bunch of wheat for trade.”
The coin was made of gold, with the symbol of a ruby printed on both sides. The metalwork was cautious, intricate and perhaps even handmade. It looked nothing like the portrayal of money in the history books. Written on one side of the coin were the words “The hunt never ends”, forming a circle so the words seemed to connect.
“Wow…” I whispered, gazing at this coin. An entire group of Venators, operational and established enough to have their own outposts and shops.
“So, over time, I learned their tricks, found a way to get some of those Bloodpoints myself and well…learned how to trap the hell out of this place,” Brimley continued. “Monsters never stop pouring into the mountain. So I actually managed to pick up where the previous owner left off. Making crafts and charms of my own, building trap blueprints and the like. Found a crafting class known as the Artificer. And hunters come in, just like you, though they’re usually looking for me.”
“Where do they go?” Trig asked. “When they’re done uh, shopping here?”
A darkness fell over Brimley’s face as he shook his head. “A few leave the way they came in. But most? They enter the Shadewood. And they never return.”
Trig and I both looked at one another. I could see the color draining from my companion’s face as the reality began to sink in. It’s easy to be gung-ho about fighting some abstract concept far away, but now that we were on the cusp of the Shadewood, the young man was beginning to have his doubts. As was I. But unlike him, I had an obligation and a duty to enter those woods.
“That is most unfortunate,” I said. “But that is where we are headed. Perhaps if they survived, we could meet them.”
“That’s a very big if, ma’am,” Brimley said. He finished his sausage and shoved the plate away, frowning. “But I don’t suppose we can delay the conversation any longer. If you wish to reach the woods, I can take you. But I’d warn you against entering.”
“How convenient, your warnings only came after we aided you,” Trig chuckled.
He laughed as well. “It’s a poor salesman who talks you out of the sale before he gets what he wants. But in all earnest and honesty, I must protest your entry. Though I have never been inside the wood itself, I have met a great many man, woman and hybrid who wished to enter that place. And I have never seen them again.”
“Well, then I suppose if you really cared, you’d give us a discount,” I replied, pushing back my own plate. The man made a mean Kinru sausage, that was for sure. “Because we’re going in there as soon as we finish harvesting those corpses.”
“There are many foul words in this world,” Brimley said with a snort. “And none more foul than discount. But please, stay as long as you like. I don’t mind the company, nor the extra protection.”
We finished up our breakfast (or was it dinner? Hard to tell underground) and went about our duties. Trig was tasked with butchering the meat of the L’Gara, using his stealth abilities to do so without being caught by the other monsters lurking beneath the trap door. Brimley spent his time fixing the damage I had done to the hinges, and I turned my attention to the alchemical harvests that our recent expeditions had provided.
There was yet another laboratory within this shop, one that was a mixture of professional harvesting equipment and improvised gear created by the ingenuous Brimley. I had to admit, for being someone who knew very little about the ways of the Venators, he certainly knew how to make do. I wondered if it would be worth the conversation of bringing him back home with us. Artificer sounded like an excellent class and he could teach our engineers a thing or two. But…I suppose that conversation would have to come up once we returned from the Shadewood.
The harvesting process went quite quickly, thanks to the larger vats and distilleries provided by an actual lab, and I was able to finish up three batches in a single day. Quite the haul!
Glurp Yield:
Firnin: 300 points
Estoan: 250 points
Lab Bonus: +100%
Weaknesses Revealed:
- Impeding Hunger: Glurps’ need for constant nutrients absorbed from living matter forces them to attempt attacking any stimulus they receive, whether real or not. If these attacks fail, they expend tremendous amounts of energy.
- Liquid Breakdown: While Glurps appear to be composed of mud, this is a mere form of camouflage. A Glurp can appear as any color, in any liquid state. However, while they mimic liquids, they are solid in nature, just flexible and amorphous. Water attacks dilute their ability to hold themselves together and will bypass their natural damage resistance.
L’Gara Yield:
Firnin: 500 points
Estoan: 500 points
Kaos: 1 point
Lab Bonus: +100%
Weaknesses Revealed:
- Stranded: When outside of water, the L’Gara suffers considerable strength and accuracy penalties. Though the creature is functionally able to move by dragging itself along the ground, it will suffer from suffocation after only a short time.
- Heat Intolerance: Though fire elemental attacks tend to be diminished due to their aquatic environment, the L’Gara cannot tolerate high levels of heat. Finding some way to superheat their water will quickly kill them.
Ilrex Yield:
Firnin: 0
Estoan: 300 points
Lab Bonus: +100%
Weaknesses Revealed:
- Echoconfusion: Lacking eyes, the Ilrex relies upon echolocation to target its prey. Its high-pitched shrieks give it the ability to pinpoint opponents. Silence spells or damage to its mouth will hinder its ability to use this power. When blinded, the Ilrex will easily attack anything it can touch, regardless of whether it is organic or not.
- Single-minded: The Ilrex latches onto a target and continues to attack until the target is dead. Unless engaged by another individual, the Ilrex will not cease its claw attacks. Should the target expire, the Ilrex will continue to shred the corpse until it has sufficiently been satisfied that the target is indeed dead; so attempting to play dead will only hasten your actual demise.
Plenty of ingredients, secrets and…a Kaos point. Those were so rare, I could scarcely believe the small black bottle that I held in my hands. Kaos unlocked additional classes and abilities. Crafting the elixir took 8 hours but, it could fundamentally alter my path...
In the distance, I heard Trig laughing about something. I frowned, realizing that I wasn’t alone here. Technically, this haul belonged to the both of us and while I had killed the L’Gara, he was also risking his life fighting it. We’d have to choose who got the elixir.
Monster Hunting 401: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure Page 5