Monster Hunting 401: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure

by Andrew Karevik

  I fired an arrow with a sloppy release, so that the shot would go wild, striking an armored part of the beast. To my credit, the shot still took a chunk of the shell off, making the creature wobble even more. I hobbled to the left, towards the tree where Eckshaw was hiding.

  “What are you doing? Get in there,” I said. “We need all hands on deck for something that big!”

  “Are you not monster hunters? Handle this yourselves,” Eckshaw said, his voice stiff and disjointed.

  I fired a few more shots, allowing each arrow to either go wide or hit non-vital areas. “My legs screwed up, I can’t do my usual thing of leaping around,” I said. Certainly not a lie. My dodging out of the way of that first attack had actually torn quite a bit of tissue in my knee.

  Another explosion rocked the creature as Trig once again delivered his payload with ease, scurrying up one of the creature’s hind legs and throwing the bombs beneath the beast. The force of the attack caused the great crab to lurch forward a few steps.

  “The wagon!” I shouted as I clambered to the Stabwagon, pushing it backwards with both hands, barely able to shove it out of the way as one of the hind legs came crashing down. Dirt kicked up from the force of the strike and I was blinded for a second.

  One second was all it took, for one moment I was on the ground, the next I was in the air, seized by the deceptively long arms of the beast. It had hidden the true length of its pincers, opting to simply jut them forward a few feet out. In truth, these claws were just as long as the legs, though able to fold back with double joints.

  The pincers closed around my torso tightly, trying to crush the life out of me.

  “Help! Help!” came a shout to my left as I struggled to catch my bearings. The crab had lifted me in the air and was trying to cut me in half, but my reinforced armor wasn’t giving, leaving the creature to continue trying, without an understanding of why a little human wouldn’t die.

  In the other claw of the beast was Eckshaw, squirming and trying to get free. His armor wasn’t as well-crafted as mine, slowly bending and warping as the beast continued to apply steady pressure. He punched his fists fruitlessly against the claw, unable to do anything other than squirm.

  My bow had already appeared in my hands. I saw the joint of the crab beast, plain as day. Shooting it would be easy at this range, especially since the creature wasn’t moving the limbs up and down, focusing instead on just applying more force. I aimed at the joint of the beast and took a deep breath. I had to be a hair away from striking the actual joint, close enough to where the creature dwelling inside the mind of the man believed that I was trying to free him.

  A terrible twinge of guilt and horror rose up through me as I lined up the shot. The young nurse, the idealistic girl who had become a healer in the hopes of saving people’s lives, begged me to reconsider. To treat this man’s life as sacred. But…the hunter ignored the voice of that girl. I fired the shot perfectly, striking the outer carapace, breaking off a piece of armor, but otherwise doing no lasting damage.

  “It’s no use, that’s—” I shouted, but a hideous squelching sound, followed by a blood-curdling scream interrupted me. I glanced over, quickly as I could, to confirm that the man had been chopped in half. The crab beast paid no mind to the death of Eckshaw and merely released what was left of the body, not interested in feasting, only interested in killing.

  I swallowed hard, turned to face the exposed brain of the creature and fired three shots, killing it instantly. It didn’t even have a chance to blink. We were free of the Eldest’s eye for now, but at what cost?

  Chapter 28

  I landed on the ground, feeling my stomach gurgle. A certain kind of nausea came over me, the kind of queasiness that only guilt could produce. But I had to push those feelings away, like any other feelings I had in the heat of battle. I made my decision, I had to stand by it.

  Trig was already atop me, prying the pincer open to set me free. His face was white as a ghost. That old look in his eyes came back, the sorrow and fear intermingled together. Could he ever forgive me for what I had done?

  “Good call,” he muttered. “I was scared you weren’t picking up on the plan.”

  And there it was. He had come to the same conclusion as I, without ever sharing a word. No wonder his last attack had targeted a different part of the body, instead of the exposed brain.

  “Was this the right decision?” I said, staggering over to the wagon. Time was of the essence here. Who knows how long it would take the Eldest to track us down?

  “Objectively? Yes,” Trig said. “But it’s not the kind of thing we mention. To anyone. Ever.”

  I nodded at that. “Right, right. Okay, we need to focus. Eckshaw’s sacrifice gives us some time.”

  “Sacrifice,” Trig chuckled. “Let’s not get too hasty to add that to the title. For all we know, the guy could have sold out his people and was working happily in exchange for safety. I mean, he was one of the few who could wear armor, right? What if the whole Shamed thing was because he was selling everyone out?”

  “Enough, we need to focus,” I shot back. It was interesting that while I took a more positive approach, believing that Eckshaw would have done this to save his people, Trig assumed a more sinister reason. I guess our own justifications would be in line with how we viewed the world. But now was not the time for a half-empty, half-full discussion. We had a village to save.

  “First off, take this disgusting charm and wear it,” I said, throwing him the squishy bracelet. “It’s got a Mind Blank ability. Second, we need to figure out how to boil water so fast that it’ll turn to steam almost instantly.”

  “Interesting,” Trig said, rubbing his chin. “Hence why we’re at a lake. I thought you were stalling. Why do we need steam?”

  “To kill the Eldest. Dehydration effects are extremely potent since the beast is made out of mostly, er, liquid. If we produce a high concentration of steam, we can raise the humidity and temperature rather quickly, killing it as fast as possible. Other methods, attacking or setting a fire would tip it off. But if we release a burst of steam towards the beast, it might die faster than it can think.”

  “Huh,” Trig said. “That’s an interesting idea.”

  I pointed to a few of the barrels that were hanging on the outside of the Stabwagon. Now empty, they were meant to carry large amounts of food, food that we had eaten weeks ago on our journey. Each barrel was enough to carry about 40 gallons of water. Would that be enough? Well, we had to find out.

  Trig went into action, carrying the barrels to the lake, filling them up and then rolling them back to the wagon. I, with my increased strength but limited mobility, was able to hoist each barrel and rig it to the sides of the Stabwagon, so that they were hanging off. We had eight barrels total, four that could hold 40 gallons, four that could hold about half of that.

  Carefully strapping the barrels to both sides of the wagons allowed it to appear like the wagon’s purpose was to carry such a heavy load. We made sure to make each side match, in order to create an aesthetic that wouldn’t be seen as strange or conspicuous. And, in order to draw attention away from the barrels, we placed the large gem atop the wagon, for all to see.

  Once the water was in place, we then had to determine how exactly we would turn the liquid into steam. Fortunately, Trig knew a little something about that. His education from Maxwell’s Breach had given him some insight into how physics worked, though not enough for him to explain to me effectively.

  The first step was to heat the water up, not enough to convert to steam, but enough to be primed for the boiling point. We achieved this by collecting stones and heating them in the cauldron, coating each stone in Firnin, which for some reason was able to retain a significant amount of heat. The alchemical substance was also denser than water, meaning it would settle at the bottom of the barrels. We had to use the stones instead of just pure Firnin simply because we didn’t have enough of the stuff. The rocks would heat the Firni
n, which would then transfer the heat to the water, slowly but surely. At least, that’s what Trig thought. He made far too many jokes about not paying attention in class for my taste. But what else were we going to do?

  Each barrel lid had an explosive attached to it, with a timer set for exactly five minutes. The explosives that Trig had put together, using the rest of alchemical ingredients, were going to be extremely hot, but not very strong. He had basically rigged up “dud” charges, grenades that could burst a great deal of flame and energy out, but not in a radius strong enough to hurt anything. Terrible for the battlefield, but exactly what we needed.

  The third and final step was rigging the corks. I drilled a hole in the top of each barrel, then corked it up, running a string to each cork, until they were all connected via one long rope. Yanking the rope would uncork every barrel at once, releasing the trapped steam inside. That was plan A, an attempt to somewhat secretly release the steam into the area. If, for some reason, the heated gas didn’t move fast enough or the Eldest realized something was amiss, Plan B was for a second rope to be pulled, ripping the lids off of each barrel.

  It took half a day of work, but we made a lot of progress. We couldn’t afford to spend the bombs to test the system out, so really, we had to rely on luck and prayers to see that it would work as intended. There was another failsafe, a desperate last resort measure that Trig had put together to ensure that the water did turn into steam as quickly as possible, but it was certainly our last resort. The wagon would not survive this method, meaning we would be effectively stranded in the dark without an alchemy workshop, a charm bench and perhaps even with a destroyed gem. But that was the risk I was willing to take.

  Time was of the essence, so we didn’t really have much time to do anything with the crab beast, other than to harvest it for Bloodpoints and grab a piece of its corpse for charm making later. Thankfully, we didn’t have to argue about who gained the Bloodpoints. Since this beast was definitely a giant, my Giantslayer ability allowed me to gain the full 6,000 Bloodpoints without having to harvest. Trig was free to also gain that many points, thus settling any need for squabbling between us.

  “There you are,” Trig said to someone in the darkness. I turned to see a few of the humans from the village had finally arrived, only a mere half hour after we had finished all of our rigging. They had a new leader now, a man who wore the exact same armor as Eckshaw. In fact, they were so identical-looking that for a moment, I thought I was facing Eckshaw himself, only to remember what had happened.

  “We’ve been waiting forever for you,” Trig continued. “What took so long?”

  “Navigating these woods can be treacherous,” the armored leader said. There was no pretense of humanity in his voice here, no feeble attempt to look as if there really were a person in control of himself. “You would be lost, if not for the fact that these waters are near the village. Though finding a replacement mind for Eckshaw was…troublesome.”

  I shivered at those words. “Well, we have all the water we need. My wounds are cleaned,” I lied. “Let’s go.” I patted the large gem sitting atop the wagon. “No doubt the Eldest wants to see this up close and personal.”

  “Yes…yes, I do,” the leader replied. “More than anything.”

  Chapter 29

  Controlling my heart rate and my breath had never been harder than at this moment. The cart wheeled behind us, dutifully following as we approached the great brass doors of the Eldest’s hut. Sweat was threatening to pour down my eyes at any second, no matter how much I wiped my brow. The reality was sinking in, the reality that if we did not kill this creature instantly, an entire village would suffer, starting with the youngest.

  I glanced at Trig, who was taking up the rear of the cart, hands near the failsafe. Hands close to the trigger for plan B. He wore a grim determination in his eyes, but he too was breathing heavily, struggling to contain his nerves. The heat of battle was one thing, but playing such a dangerous game with the lives of innocents? Of civilians we had never met before? This was an entirely different kind of fear.

  “Go in,” our nameless escort said, pushing on the brass doors with little ceremony. They were quick to swing open, greeting us, urging us to enter. Behind us, the entire village had gathered, lined up as if to give us a stark reminder of who would perish if we tried anything foolish. Trig nodded at me and I at him. We moved forward, into the pale green shadows of the cold burning torches, wagon creaking as it rolled behind us, having no trouble getting in between the doors.

  A single barrel clunked the edge of the door frame and Trig and I both winced, expecting to be greeted by a torrent of explosions, but thankfully the remote charges he had built held in place. If the bump had been too violent…well, best not to dwell on it.

  “Finally,” the Eldest gloated as we entered. “Long have I waited for this day. The day that my foe has been slain. The day that my influence grows even greater.”

  The Orphine emerged from the shadows, still in its grotesque mockery of a human form. It looked quite pleased with us, or perhaps itself for having maneuvered things this way. Behind us, the door slammed shut, sealing us in. I glanced at Trig one last time, careful not to make a single motion other than eye contact. It was almost time.

  I walked forward, pointing to the gem behind me. “Is this of value to you?”

  “Indeed it is,” the Eldest said, chuckling, its voice radiating from the dozens of mouths beneath its coat. “That is an item that gave my enemy great power. And now, I wish it for myself.”

  “Then you must make us a trade,” I said, walking slightly to the right. The twisted eye stalks of the creature turned to follow me, to ensure that I wasn’t going to try and attack it. My enhanced senses picked up the faintest “pop” followed by a hissing. The first barrel had opened up. It was one of the smaller barrels, the test to see if we could slowly raise the temperature without being noticed.

  “A trade?” The Eldest bellowed. “I will trade you the lives of all the people in this village! How is that for a trade? Or did you cease to value them on your way here? Did watching the death of Eckshaw harden you to their predicament? Or maybe you take a sick delight in seeing the lives of your own snuffed out?”

  Those words were meant to scare me, to intimidate and cow me, but I absorbed them readily enough. For as the creature ranted in its booming, monotone voice, Trig opened another small container. More hissing, more steam being released. Already I could feel the temperature beginning to rise. Little by little, humidity was coming into the area, countering the cold, stale air of a place without sunlight.

  “We agreed to the killing of your foe in exchange for their safety,” I said. “And in exchange for green fire. But this gem changes things. It undoubtedly has power. Power that you want. So you must give us something more.”

  The Eldest did not like this whatsoever. It raised its grotesque woman form upwards, looming high above me, staring down as if it could pounce at any moment. “Must? You tell me that I must? I do as I please.” Another pop. Another hissing. The Eldest…didn’t notice at all. So focused that he was on arguing with me that the sound of its own voice masked the hissing of the barrels being released, one by one.

  I raised my hands, playing a little helpless human. “S-sorry! I didn’t mean it that way. I meant; we just need help. To get to the other side of this forest. I know my way back home, but we want to pass through!”

  I raised my hands a little higher. The heat was growing in the room at a considerable pace. The air was primed. Almost time to give the signal.

  The Eldest looked at me and grunted, content with itself, its eye stalks curving inward in a pleased expression. “Is that all? You wish to leave? That can be arranged.”

  “Really?” I said, pulling my hands down and clasping my fingers together. This was the signal. At once, four more “pops” followed by rapid hissing. The air grew thick with steam almost instantly as the primed grenades quietly exploded in unison, accele
rating the boiling of the water in the barrels.

  A wave of heat washed over me; a warm, sticky heat that actually felt rather soothing. Well, soothing for a second, then suddenly it became scalding as the rest of the steam caught up with us. It wasn’t unbearable to me, but I sure started sweating, more than normal.

  “The…air…” the Eldest grunted. “It’s…hot.” The great beast tried to turn around and slide towards one of the green torches, but it was too late. With all eight barrels now releasing steam at full blast, the entire room had become one giant sweat factory. The Eldest’s body began to wither, shriveling up like a raisin as the heat overpowered it. The immense size of the creature vanished, along with presumably all moisture within it, as the steam sucked the life juices out of the Orphine with ease.

  What was left was little more than a long, deflated string of grey flesh, all guises of humanity completely gone. The steam continued to pour from the barrels, ignorant to the fact that we had indeed managed to kill the Orphine without it noticing. Plan A had worked perfectly fine. The damn creature was so full of itself that it couldn’t possibly imagine us finding a way around it.

  “Woah!” Trig said as he walked forward to kick at the shriveled corpse, to confirm that it was indeed dead. “You weren’t kidding about them being made out of liquid.” As his foot struck the body, he yelped and stepped back in surprise. “There’s something under there!”

  We both looked at each other, then carefully knelt down to examine the dehydrated corpse. A quick application of a knife revealed that there was a long, slender gemstone within the body. It was like the gem we had found earlier, except this seemed to be more of a fragment than anything. A long, slender chunk with a jagged edge, as if it had been broken off of something.

  I glanced back at the other, smooth gemstone. Would they fuse together if I touched them to each other? What a strange idea to come into my head…but the jagged edge seemed to call to me. My mind was completely free of compulsion, I knew, but something deep down was urging me to connect the edge to the stone.