“Time’s of the essence, Trig. I’m moving out now,” I paused and glanced at 41. Would she get a new name? Had she opted to keep it out of spite? Either way it was weird calling a person a number. “Uh, Mrs. Trig? Could you give us a moment?”
She clung tightly to her man. “Anything he says must be understood by our people. Let me speak his words in our parlance,” she said. Her voice was sharp and stern. Perhaps that marriage proposal was just a way to secure power in the new order of her tribe. Her grip on her new beloved seemed a bit more controlling than tender. Well, that certainly wasn’t my problem. At least, not for now anyway.
I shrugged and looked back at Trig. “Two days. If I don’t come back, that’s the signal to start thinking a way to get everyone home. Including the Vessel.” I paused once more and took a breath, hoping he understood what I was about to say. “You can’t save everyone. I’m not expecting you to. The goal is to save the most amount of people possible, emphasis on the word possible. Understand?”
Trig nodded, as did his wife. They both shared the same weary, haggard expression of those who had seen the gates of oblivion. Kindred spirits, in a way. Hopefully they would be able to keep everyone here safe. But if not…well, I hoped to at least see Trig again.
We said our goodbyes and I strolled into the woods, regular fire torch in hand, as well as a few of Trig’s flare gizmos. All I had to do was twist the middle of the explosive, and it would go off in a few seconds, illuminating 100 feet around me for up to an hour. Very useful in a dark, cruel place like the Shadewood.
I left through the main path, wanting to see the crab beasts for myself. Indeed, just as Trig had said, they were lined up at the edge of the village, where the light of the green torches barely touched. Their heads followed me as I walked past, weapon drawn and waiting for action. But they did not strike me. As I passed, their heads turned back towards the village. Focused. Silent. Waiting on a command.
You are wounded, the Vessel called out to me as I made my way through the forest, searching diligently for a sign of the Titan’s core. You are in no shape to be hunting.
The Masara captain wasn’t wrong. My knee injury was still hurting pretty bad, and we still didn’t really have the tools to fix the core issue. If we didn’t have an army of beasts waiting to break into the camp, I’d at least try and head out to Brimley’s alone, to see if he had some alcohol that could sterilize our surgical tools. But time was too precious. I’d just have to keep pushing, consequences be damned.
I didn’t respond to the Vessel. Telepathy required a charm equipped, and right now I had my extra strength, combined with the Glurp’s amorphous ability. Being slow meant I’d have to worry about getting hit. Without weak points, my body could tank just about any blow easily enough. At least, from a giant class creature.
Your silence is indicative of your determination, the Vessel continued. Refusing to equip the charm and speak to me. To agree or argue. You fight for a pod that is not your own. You risk everything for their safety. Their survival. A curious trait.
I couldn’t tell whether he was admiring my choices or looking down on them. But I shook his voice out of my head, focusing instead on the large tree in front of me. A bird’s-eye view had helped me before, had it not? And with that Gliding ability from the Griffin, I could leap fairly high and soar around the area, scouting from atop the forest instead of on a ground level approach.
I leapt up the first branch, my legs carrying me upwards easily enough. But the landing caused a tremendous amount of pain to shoot my bad leg.
“Come on!” I gasped, leaning against the trunk of the tree, trying to get stable. I had potions, regeneration powers and medical knowledge, but all of it was useless because my own damn attack had been so strong. My health dropped down by 2%. Not enough to make me reconsider everything, so I pushed the pain aside and jumped once more.
Landing this time was like kneeing a dagger right in the point. My leg buckled and I found myself staggering, hands on the thick branch holding me.
Sensing the agony I was in, the Quiverling was quick to scurry into my bag and pull out the Wyvern charm. The charm that could give me the power to fly. Aspect of the Wyrm was powerful. A minute of flight time, more than enough to charge out of the darkness and into the light. Combined with the Griffon charm, I could actually boost upwards way higher than my jump speed and glide around, searching for the target.
The only problem here was…well, the anguish the charm had caused me last time. Shudders ran down my spine as memories came flooding back to me. The rippling sensation in my back, the way my flesh contorted and twisted, then the tearing of my flesh to give way to wings, wings that I could feel as if they were my own hands. I had vowed to never use such a charm again. My handler had tried her damndest to get me to rescind that vow.
Now it would seem that I had a choice to make. I could try climbing my way up, but with a knee that was more or less useless. I could continue leaping until the arrow in my knee finally severed something important, or… I could suck it up and use the charm. Endure the horror of transformation one more time, for the sake of the village, for the sake of the Masara and for the sake of everyone back home.
“Damn you, Jenevive,” I muttered, taking off my weakness charm and exchanging it for the Great Wyrm’s tooth. “And damn you too, Quiverling.” I took a deep breath and activated the flight ability.
That hideous pain, the twisted, contorting transformation that came to me in dreams and nightmares alike, returned instantly, shoving its way out of my back. Too late I realized that my skintight armor would restrict the pair, potentially causing even more pain! But much to my surprise, the armor actually shifted, opening up in the back to allow the wings to spread themselves out, ripping through my tunic like it was paper.
These long, draconic wings stretched out far, aching with the familiar kind of ache you have when standing up after long hours of sitting at a desk. These wings were familiar; my body knew how to manage them and the pain slowly subsided. The intensity lasted only a second and then, then I was fine.
“What the…” I muttered as my new wings lifted me off the ground with ease, each flap sturdy and strong, causing me to rise higher and higher. I didn’t feel assaulted or overwhelmed. My brain wasn’t freaking out. My back ached a bit, but all was fine. Had I overblown what had happened to me the first time? Or had my body adapted to this particular transformation?
I didn’t know the answer but that didn’t much matter, for the wings carried me high into the air, the torch on my bag blowing in the wind, threatening to go out at a moment’s notice. I was forced to toss one of the light bombs into the air, which gave me enough clearance to get out of the darkness and into the daylight. One extra benefit to this light was that it adjusted my eyes enough for entering the world outside. Blindness would not overtake me today.
My heart leapt as I sailed upwards, each beat of my wings taking me upwards faster and faster, with almost no limitation on speed. The mighty Great Wyrm’s power to travel far and fast was exceptional and soon, I was high above the entire forest, gazing down at the massive shadowy square.
And then, just as quickly as they had arrived, the wings retracted back into my body. This hurt a bit more and my back was sore…but I didn’t lose my mind over it. Either I had already gone completely mad, to the point where bursting wings out of my back was no big deal, or my body had adjusted to this transformation. Jenevive was a genius!
My eyes swept across the landscape, eagerly taking in the visage of the billowing shadows that seemed to move like clouds. They were shifting and twisting, as if forming…something. A face? As I reached the apex of my flight, I quickly swapped out for my Griffin charm, praying that the Glide ability didn’t have a transformation effect.
Thankfully, Updraft didn’t do anything other than cause a fierce gale of wind to catch beneath my feet. For a moment, I felt as if I were standing on air itself, and then, gently, I began to glide downwards,
still standing. The drop rate was slow, like I was drifting down on top of water. I had more than enough time to observe what was going on below.
The billowing shadows were thrashing back and forth, like a pond during a storm, waves of darkness crashing over one another. The last time I was out here, I was focusing more on getting back to the mountains than what was going on below me. Now, as I drifted down slowly, my mouth opened in horror.
The shadows were indeed forming a face with two gleaming yellow eyes and a restless round jaw, opening and closing endlessly, as if trying to bite something invisible. And in between the two eyes was a glimmering white sphere, perhaps invisible to anyone except those with the Coresight.
Chapter 34
The gleaming eyes of the Shadow Titan began to focus towards me while I continued to observe it, trying to take in as much information as I could. The eyes glinted as the shadowy being’s mouth ceased opening and closing.
“Oaurrrrrrrrr,” the beast roared, the sound wave so loud that it bounced off the nearby mountain range several times. Looks like it definitely saw me.
“What are you gonna send at me this time, huh?” I shouted. “Another Griffin? I could use the Bloodpoints!”
The swirling darkness responded to this challenge by thrusting out a fully formed arm, made entirely of shadow. I yelped in surprise as this shadow arm reached up and tried to grab hold of me with its massive hand.
“Why did you have to taunt it?” I moaned as I adjusted my descent speed, suppressing the gliding ability in order to free-fall. This came rather naturally to me, courtesy of the Griffin charm, and I was able to dive bomb out of the way. However…my instincts seemed to scream to reactivate my glide and so I did. The momentum of my sudden swoop actually let me gain some air, thanks to the glide ability, granting me a pseudo flight for a brief time.
The massive fist tried to grab at me, swinging left and right as I swooped in between its grasp, elegantly dodging as if I were a bird. This was amazing! The wind blowing through my hair, the sun on my face; yes, I was locked in another fight with a Titan but for the first time since I had entered the Shadewood, my mood had lifted!
Josiah’s Storm appeared in my hands and I let loose a torrent of arrows at the outstretched arm, firing straight into the hand. The shadow was unaffected by such an attack, allowing my arrows to pass through as if it were nothing more than air itself.
While my eyes were occupied looking at the hand swiping at me once again, my danger senses screamed about something from below. But there was a limit to my dodging abilities, since I was suspended in midair. I couldn’t really jump out of the way. Another hand of shadow came crashing up out of the writhing mass, this time balled into a fist, punching me hard.
Yet, as the blow made contact with my little body, the Unbreakable ability kicked in and I felt all of the force localize to my chest, as if the fist had been only the size of a man’s, trying to punch me in the sternum. My armor rattled a bit, and I felt the force knock me upside down, but my health only dropped 5%. Hot damn! My abilities were working out!
The other hand came down from atop me, trying to grab hold of my feet as I plummeted down slowly. A quick adjustment of my descent speed solved that problem, but…I’ll be damned, I wasn’t really in a good position here. Each drop was killing my height advantage and I had a feeling that falling into the Shadow Titan’s body without a light source would be a quick death for me. This wasn’t a combat mission; it was a scouting job. And I had found the Core…just had to try something.
Using the last of my height advantage before the glowing point between the beast’s eyes fell out of view, I fired four arrows in an arc, watching as they disappeared into the shadows. They didn’t miss their target, for I wasn’t aiming at the core. Rather, I was aiming at the area below. My Arrowfinder ability would let me track down that area and hopefully the core would still be there. The features of the Titan didn’t seem to move around during this fight. Though it could conjure arms out of shadow, it seemed to keep its face in a stationary position.
I grabbed one of the light bombs and twisted the midsection hard, praying that the explosion wasn’t dangerous. Smaller hands of shadow had all emerged from the bank of darkness beneath me, all grasping up to grab a hold as I fell into them. Right before I met the hands, there came a loud pop, followed by a searing heat in between my hands, almost superheating my metal gloves. I gasped and held onto the ball, opening my fingers to allow the flare to do its job.
Beams of light came bursting out of my hands in all directions, causing the shadows to vanish around me instantly. The grasping fingers made of darkness retreated and the entire Titan shivered, letting out a high-pitched shriek, as if this light was hurting it. A column of light opened up as the Shadow Titan parted way for my descent. I hurtled down to the ground, adjusting my glide ability at the last moment to land gently, as to avoid shattering my bad knee.
Dropping the gleaming ball of light on the ground, I hastily produced two torches, lighting them both on fire with an elemental burst. Less than ten seconds later, the light bomb hacked, wheezed and then ceased emitting any light whatsoever. The shadows encroached upon me once more, yet…I got the feeling that the darkness was more afraid of me than I was of it. Had this Titan never encountered a Venator who knew what it was before? Had it ever been in danger?
These questions faded from my mind as my Arrowfinder abilities began to activate. Three miles to the southwest. That was where my arrows rested. And that was where the beating heart of the Shadow Titan lay, waiting for me to destroy it, just like I had slain the others. The shadows had a good reason to be afraid.
As I limped my way back home, pondering just how exactly we were to kill a thing primarily made out of shadows, there came a gurgling sound in the distance. A deep and familiar combination of huffing and dragging noises that instantly brought to mind the L’Gara we had faced deep in the mountains. Could it be? My heart rose for a moment at the realization that this kill could lead me closer to gaining that permanent strength bonus.
But…did I have time to waste? There was still a ticking clock here. It was only a matter of time before the Shadow Titan was able to send its forces to attack the village. And I needed to be back with them to defend from whatever wave was coming our way…but, still…what if an attack never came? What if the green flames that still burned so brightly kept the monsters away?
Trig would need to make more light grenades for our attack against the Shadow Beast. L’Gara had plenty of Estoan and Firnin to give…
A tough call, but ultimately, I decided to give in to temptation. Gaining one more point towards a permanent strength bonus, plus the additional yield that the L’Gara would give was just too useful to pass up. Besides, I’m sure Trig and the Overseer together could keep the village safe. At least…I really, really hoped so.
Following the sounds of the L’Gara, holding my torch high in the air, I made my way through the silent forest. In the distance, the gleaming circles caught my eye once more. The pods belonging to the beasts that continuously hatched within the forest. Would this nursery be destroyed when the Titan died? Part of me hoped that the monsters would only stop hatching. If we could bring a division of Breachers here to take a look, to analyze these eggs, who knows what we might learn?
A long dragging trail greeted me as I followed the sounds of the creature. The L’Gara had been dragging itself towards a large body of water, though not the same one I had been to before. This was a larger lake with no obvious source of where the water was coming from. Perhaps an underground river leading into it?
The darkness receded as the torchlight revealed a small L’Gara, desperately trying to crawl its way to the waters. I was surprised to see that this creature was only a fourth of their regular size. Its rubbery blue skin glinted as I inspected the beast.
“Just a little guy, eh?” I said, raising my bow. “I almost feel bad about this. Almost.” I readied four arrows on my fire bow, knowing
that heat caused double damage to them. But before I could fire off a shot, my danger senses warned me of impending danger coming from the water.
My heightened reflexes kicked in as I leapt out of the way, just in time. A long, blue tentacle came slamming its way out of the water, sweeping at me in an attempt to grab hold of my torso. Thankfully, my enhanced speed allowed me to dodge out of the way like it was nothing, firing four flaming arrows into the long, rubbery arm that was sticking out of the water.
Yet, for all my intense speed, once I was in midair, there was little I could do to change my directions. Another tentacle came out from the waters, this one a shade of blue paler than the first one assaulting me. I could do nothing to dodge this attack, unfortunately, and found my bad leg seized by the L’Gara.
Before I knew what hit me, I was underwater. Pain wracked my entire body while I fought to get free of the beast’s grasp. It wasn’t crushing my armor particularly hard, due to my various protection abilities, but my leg’s injury grew worse with the additional pressure, forcing the arrow within to move around.
I struggled to break free, kicking my good foot against the beast’s tentacle, trying to pull my leg out. But before I could escape this predicament, another tentacle from afar came sailing out of nowhere, catching my arm and yanking me away. It was another L’Gara! Three total! This wasn’t a random coincidence, this was a damned trap set by the Shadow Titan. And what do you know? I fell right into it, headfirst.
Chapter 35
I was in a gruesome game of tug-of-war between two very agitated L’Gara. Both of them were cognizant enough to know that I would be coming in their direction, but that was the extent of their intelligence. Now, they mostly focused on fighting over me, both of them trying to pull me towards their large, open mouths.
Monster Hunting 401: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure Page 19