The young hunter drew his first light grenade off his vest and tossed it up and down into his hand, waiting on me to give the order. I raised my bow, True Arrow loaded and ready to rock. This was it. Now or never.
I nodded and Trig tossed the small sphere with all of his might. It sailed through the air, straight towards the center of the vortex and exploded, causing a flash so bright I had to look away for a second.
There came a wild and hideous scream as the light expanded in the center of the vortex, creating a bright sphere, shoving all the shadows away immediately. At once, I could see the core, plain as daylight, and took aim, ignoring all else around me. Trig shouted something, but I only had time to focus on one thing: shooting that core.
My arrow flew through the sky, striking the core with startling speed. The beast let out a hideous shriek once more as I restrung an arrow and let it loose, watching as it too struck the core, piercing the round fleshy orb.
Bright red blood burst from the core, spattering everywhere as the light continued to keep everything else at bay. The darkness was trying to push back in, to cover the orb, but it could not suffer the artificial light created by Trig’s grenades.
Trig’s muffled shouting came back into focus after the second arrow hit with ease. “We gotta move! There’ something underneath us!”
He leapt down the hill, sliding on both feet to escape whatever threat lay below, but I was not so lucky. As the great light illuminated the entire area, I realized that I had not been standing on a hill at all, but rather the head of some enormous, scaled beast! It opened its jaws wide and for the third time in one adventure, I found myself being eaten alive.
I tumbled downwards into the open maw, grabbing in vain at something to hold onto. A long, red tongue came out to greet me, wrapping around my torso and yanking me into the mouth. The teeth slammed shut above me, sealing me inside.
Despite my predicament, I still had my bow and thus, gave the beast a great reason to spit me back out. Three arrows to the back of the throat caused this great creature to begin coughing and wheezing, its tongue releasing me, giving me an opportunity to jump through its opening and closing mouth as it gagged from the injuries. I was tempted to remain inside the mouth and to keep firing, but Trig and I had agreed on a plan. Strike and retreat. The only way this would work was if we stuck to the plan. This was something I had drilled into every last student back at Hunter’s Hope.
“Is the plan stupid?” I had shouted while pacing back and forth. “Is it dangerous? Is it suicidal? Stick to it. As long as you can carry out the plan, don’t change things up. Stick to the plan no matter what. Otherwise, your partner will have no clue what to do. We aren’t lone wolves out there. We’re a team. And teams always stick to the plan unless the Huntmaster calls otherwise.”
I stumbled out of the mouth of the beast, not even bothering to look behind me. Several other monsters were in the region, a few Griffins, some of those crab beasts and even a Fitzon which was wriggling towards me at full speed. The light gave everyone the ability to see me and I had no choice but to disappear into the darkness below, leaping off the beast’s head.
Luckily, the green torch had not gone out while inside the mouth of whatever creature had swallowed me. The flames did not seem to react to anything in particular. Not even the wind seemed to bother them. This was the only reason I was able to leap down into the darkness once more, vanishing from the swarm of beasts.
“Oh thank goodness you’re not dead,” Trig said as I landed beside him. The green lights danced across his leg, revealing that he had broken it on the way down.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” I said, grabbing him and hoisting him over my shoulder. “You can keep an eye out behind us.”
“I was sliding down that hill monster but it started freaking out, kicking me off hard,” Trig said. “I’m assuming that was you killing it?”
“Not quite. I just gave it a sore throat, nothing more,” I replied as I raced across the woods, following my instincts to find the arrows sitting back at the Stabwagon. Despite our undetectable approach to the Shadow Titan’s core, the arrows I had stuck into the ground were long gone. Perhaps the beast had a passive ability that made all trails simply vanish. Trig would have not only been lost if I had remained, but he would also have been too injured to scout the woods out and find his way back home. A monster could have followed the blood and taken him down easily enough.
“Well, I’d say our first hit was a success,” Trig said. “Did you see how many beasts popped up the moment that grenade went off? I counted at least 20.”
“I’m glad we planned for this in advance,” I replied as we reached the Titan Blind. The entire structure seemed undisturbed, perfectly safe from the rest of the world. We entered and I dropped Trig onto a cot, then sank down on the ground to begin dressing his wound immediately. A healing potion would fix it up right quick, provided that the leg break was clean. Accelerated healing to a leg that broke the wrong way could actually cripple him for life.
“So one down, three to go. Think we made a difference?” Trig grunted as I forced the leg to straighten so I could set it properly.
“I believe we did,” I mumbled.
“And uh, what ahhhhh!’ Trig gasped and tried to writhe out of my grasp, but I could hold him in place easily enough, putting the right amount of pressure to get the bones to line back up. “What leads you to believe thaaaat?”
“Because,” I said as I held the bones in place with one hand and giving him a healing potion with the other. “I can sense my arrows stuck in the core. And they happen to be moving quite fast.”
“For real?”
“I think it’s running. But the question is, where to?”
Chapter 40
Trig was healing up just fine. His fractured leg hadn’t been that bad and the accelerated healing potion was able to fix it up in no time. By the next morning, he was walking around without a problem, chasing Little Hig all around the hut to kill time while we waited for the Titan to stop moving.
While the shadows outside remained fixed, I could sense that my two arrows stuck in the core were still moving somewhere further to the southwest, nearly two miles away by now. Why exactly the creature was moving in that direction was a mystery. It was slowing down now, considerably, and I got the feeling my arrows would be stationary once more soon enough.
In the meantime, I readied another True Arrow and went over some ideas with Trig. Rather than just rush in blindly and take a shot, we needed to scout the locale first, to see if there was a significant reason as to why the Titan had run in that direction.
Trig’s theory was that there was a heavier concentration of monsters living in that area. Perhaps another nursery, belonging to even bigger monsters. Not a bad idea. My own guess was that the Shadow Titan was merely trying to relocate itself, unaware that we could track its exact location at all times. I guess we would find out soon enough.
With as little downtime as we could spare, we readied for our next attack and headed out into the shadows once more, the green flames as our guide. What waited for us deeper in the southwest? An ambush? An unaware Titan ready for another surprise attack? Or perhaps nothing at all, just a mere distraction crafted by the beast, moving my arrows someplace else. Too many unknowns.
We paid far more attention to the ground this time, ensuring that we weren’t standing on any kinds of inert monsters as we drew closer and closer to the Titan core’s location. The sounds of rushing water nearby caught my interest and I motioned for Trig to follow me.
A few hundred feet away from the path we were walking down was a large lagoon, filled with beautiful water! A massive waterfall was above, so tall that we couldn’t see the tops of it, pouring down hundreds of gallons into the lake. This was an excellent find, because the water would protect us from the shadows. A perfect place to retreat if things went really bad and we lost our light sources. Providing that the water was clear, of course.
/>
Without a word, I dove into the lake and swam around, looking for any signs of a L’Gara or some other aquatic nightmare. But fortunately, the lake water was perfectly safe, devoid of any life except for a few bored-looking fish who were quite unimpressed with me. They swam around, ignoring this intrusion into their daily lives, as if no one was there.
The clarity of this water was just like the other river I had been in. The light from above shined into the lake, giving me the ability to see just about everything, clear as day. Before I could swim back to the shore, I felt a strong impression from Josiah’s Storm. Tactical advantages can be found anywhere, it urged. Are you satisfied with your search of this place?
Good question. My Arrowfinder senses told me that the core wasn’t too far from here, not even half a mile. Turning underwater to face the direction of the core, I swam forward, scouring the lake area, searching for signs of anything of interest. The further I swam, the deeper the water became, until I realized that there was a long slope leading even deeper. I resurfaced for a moment, motioned for Trig to standby, then took a deep breath, diving back into that slope.
There was a wide opening at the end of the slope, leading through an underwater cavern of sorts. I wasn’t worried about my breath giving out, as I could just switch out my charms. So I swam forward, enjoying the refreshing, cool water and the fact that I wasn’t fighting for my life while underwater for once.
The further through the cave I swam, the stronger the water current behind me became, pushing me forward faster and faster. This must mean I was going down, right? Water didn’t flow up, did it?
Halfway through this trip, I had to switch to my L’Gara charm, slapping it on and enjoying the immediate burst of air that rushed through my lungs. The cavern was growing more claustrophobic as the walls closed in, and more than a few times, I found my supplies getting snagged on an outstretched rock.
“Will this ever end?” I burbled as I swam. The novelty of the underwater cavern had worn off and now I was trying to hurry as quickly as I could, the tightness of the rocky walls around me growing closer and closer with each passing moment. Finally, and much to my surprise, I found the exit to this long tunnel leading upwards. I swam up and next thing I knew, I was in a large cavern.
Carefully lighting another torch (I had left my green one back with Trig for fear of water putting it out), I stuck my head out of the water only to be greeted by a great red glowing light. My eyes were forced to look away from the bright lights for a moment, before they adjusted to the red aura in front of me.
The cavern was wide, with grey rocky walls, lined to the brim with jagged red crystals, all of which glowed brilliantly, stronger than even my torch light itself. My jaw dropped at the sight of these crystals; some of them were moving! They were red Masara! Corrupted or infected or just hostile gembeasts, apparently attaching themselves to the wall for some purpose.
I quickly doused my torch and ducked under the water, letting only my eyes peek above, watching as a few of these jagged gembeasts walked about, perhaps patrolling the area. They were auping as usual, making their strange noises perhaps to communicate with those in the distance (I could hear a great deal of rustling deeper into the cavern, but I couldn’t see that far.)
Yet, what surprised and confused me most of all was the fact that I could sense the location of my arrows, the ones I had fired straight into the Titan’s core. They were a mere 200 feet away from me. They were inside this cavern!
I was quick to grab my telepathy charm, to put it on and call Trig down here, but realized that doing so might be a mistake. These Masara were unknowns to me. They had been able to fool even the Overseer so long ago with their presence, tricking him into an ambush. Was it possible they could tune into telepathic communication? If so, my attempts to contact Trig would clearly tip them off. Besides, I doubt Trig could hold his breath that long anyway. It’d be better to retrieve him and share the L’Gara charm until we reached this area. I’d just have to fill him in on the way.
As I swam back to my companion, I ran the scenario through my head. There were really only two reasons my arrows would be located in this cavern. The first was that the Shadow Titan had simply ordered these Masara to take the arrows, knowing that I would follow them. But that required such an advanced understanding of my own abilities. And if the Titan could understand this, why wouldn’t it have anticipated our surprise attack earlier?
The second option was far more exciting and nerve-wracking. The Titan’s core was inside of the cavern. For what reason, I had no idea. Was it trying to heal somewhere private? Was the entire shadowy essence within the cavern, waiting to consume us? Or were the red Masara somehow involved with controlling or taking care of it? I guess we’d find the answer to these questions soon enough. Because as soon as I grabbed Trig, we’d be heading right back to the crystal caverns. Armed with sonic weapons, of course…
Chapter 41
Eventually we came to recognize the random movements of the red Masara gems as being part of some kind of patrol, though not in a way we would ever organize our own. They would sporadically move from place to place, without rhyme or reason. Sometimes a crystal from the wall would grow out and make a strange bleating sound, prompting the guards to strike that crystal, silencing it. From the outside, it seemed like pure madness. Maybe it was.
But my arrow senses were dead on. 200 feet away from where we hid in the water, deeper into the cavern, was the core. Or just my arrows. Yet…I doubted that these tall Masara with jagged arms, the soldier types I had encountered many times before, were guarding nothing.
Trig glanced at me, mouthing the words “electricity” as carefully as he could, reminding me that they had used electrical attacks in every encounter we had with them. And we were sitting in a pool of water, something that did not mix well with electricity. We’d be sopping wet upon emerging, making a single bolt of lightning deadlier than usual. We’d have to strike fast and mercilessly if we did indeed decide on fighting.
But I couldn’t really see any other choices here. There were four guards within view; the rest of the Masara were either attached to the walls or were shuffling back and forth. These shorter Masara lacked the jagged edges of their warrior kin, reminding me more of Brain and his ilk. Harmless, or at least, so I assumed. It didn’t much matter though. Unless they groveled or showed some sign of surrender, we’d destroy them all the same.
Time passed as we observed our enemy. Nothing fundamental seemed to change. The guards continued to erratically patrol in short bursts, covering only a small amount of ground at a time. The regular reds continued moving in and out of view, busy with some important task. I glanced at Trig, who shot me a look that said, “now or never.” And I could see him partly hoping that I picked “never.”
I drew my sonic bow and strung four arrows on it at once, shaking my head at Trig’s hope that we would just pack up and leave. We had come this far. And there was clearly something inside the other side of this cavern. Whatever it was, I wanted to find out.
Trig primed a grenade of unknown origin and shrugged, looking a bit displeased with my decision. But he was dutiful as always. He threw the spherical explosive straight into the center of the patrol, causing all four gembeasts to swing their heads towards the grenade at once. At the same time, I leapt out and began firing as fast as I could, striking the distracted beasts in the dead center of their torsos.
They tried to react to both things at once, simultaneously attempting to fire electrical bursts at me, while scattering out of range of the weapon they recognized. Due to Trig’s ability to remote detonate explosives, however, the enemy gembeasts failed at both tasks.
My shots weakened their torsos, the sonic energy breaking large chunks of red stone out of their bodies, allowing for Trig’s grenade to tear them to pieces—the explosion washing over them within seconds of my arrows striking true.
A burst of heat struck me as the explosion roared, the sound so strong I fel
t like my eardrums might pop. The explosion in such an enclosed area was excruciating and undoubtedly loud enough to alert everything in a mile radius.
“Let’s go, go, go!” I shouted, rushing forward, ignoring the noncombatants. The moment the attack began, they simply ceased moving entirely, perhaps hoping that they would not be seen as enemies. Their strategy worked, though if I had more time to react, I would have destroyed them anyway. But the fact was, I had no clue what stood beyond my field of vision and we needed to get to the core as soon as possible.
Trig followed after me, shouting something. I could scarcely hear him, for the ringing and pain in my ears were too great. I could feel a slight trickle down my sideburns, a familiar dampness that was thicker than simple water. My ears were bleeding on both sides from the explosion. An unexpected consequence. But hey, if I could grow a leg back, I could certainly regrow my eardrums. At least, so I hoped.
We ran past the debris of the shattered guards, making our way deeper into the cavern. At once, I realized why I had been unable to see past the guards. There was a wall before us, a smooth, black wall made out of some kind of material unfamiliar to me.
“Splosion…it…” Trig said, his words still fading in and out as I tried to puzzle out what he was saying. I assumed that he wanted to blow up this wall, but I had another idea. Raising my sonic bow, I fired a single shot into the black wall, watching as it cracked like glass, the long cracks running in all directions. With a sturdy kick, the entire crystal wall came tumbling down, changing color from black to red, revealing its true nature.
Trig muttered something in admiration of my instincts. At least, I assumed he was praising my instincts. But I was too busy focusing on what was in front of us to try and decipher his words.
There were seven other walls surrounding the room, in the shape of an octagon, each wall just as black as the one we had destroyed. In the center of this room was…the Titan’s Core! The large, white ball, radiating energy and pulsing like a heart, with my two arrows stuck inside of it.
Monster Hunting 401: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure Page 22