We Hunt Monsters, page 22
Keith immediately felt that something about this person was off, though seeing as they were standing with their back to him, he couldn’t make out any features.
“No need to fuss,” the figure said, his voice deep and echoing. “We have taken care of that little detail already. We have commissioned a storm from the guild in Umber City. They have no idea what it’s for, but we paid them enough for it not to matter.”
“What kind of storm?” asked the gruff man, though he sounded a lot more respectful when addressing the hooded man.
“A fifth-tier blizightning storm,” the man replied. “With that slowing them down, we’ll be able to have all of our agents gathered here at the appropriate time. The creature will wake, and the guild will be destroyed. It’s really that simple.”
“Have you thought about a contingency if your real agent in the guild is caught?” the gruff man asked.
“If he fails, you will take his place,” the hooded man replied. “So, for your sake, you’d best hope he succeeds.”
The man gulped audibly while the woman rose and bowed, giving Keith a good look at her for the first time. As he’d noted from her tracks back in Brick Town, she was extremely slight. Her body was slim and clad in form-fitting leather armor. A brace of daggers was slung around her waist, and several glowing vials were slotted into her belt.
Name: Tara
Race: Human
Class: Alchemic Assassin
Level: 18
Keith looked a bit further and finally found the information he was looking for.
Guild: Necro-Beast
He hadn’t heard of this guild yet but figured that with a name like that, they were obviously up to no good.
“I hope you don’t mess things up like you did last time, Ox,” the hooded man said.
Obviously, it was a codename, as Keith now knew. The woman bowed once more, her otherwise-pretty face twisting in annoyance.
“So long as you do your part, Lion.”
The way she emphasized the word told Keith that it was obviously a codename as well, and one that the man didn’t like to be called.
“See that you do,” Lion said before vanishing in a flash of green light, leaving the people alone.
“I hate that guy,” Tara muttered.
“Why was he put in charge instead of you?” asked the younger man.
“Because King thinks he has a better head for planning,” Tara replied. “But we’re going to prove him wrong.”
“How?” asked the man with the gruff voice.
“By showing him up before the storm strikes,” Tara said, brandishing a gleaming silver scroll.
“Where did you get that?” the younger man asked, sounding genuinely shocked.
“I got it off an innkeeper with sticky fingers,” Tara replied. “With this, we can show that monster up and prove that the human part of the guild is far superior. So, are you two in or out?”
“But what about the plan?” the youthful man asked. “We were literally just talking about it.”
“What about the spy?” the gruff one asked right after.
“The plan won’t be ruined, only changed enough so that we can take the credit for the majority,” Tara said. “We’ll be perfectly safe. This scroll activates at a distance, so we won’t be caught in the attack. As for the spy. Well, there are always unforeseen casualties. We’ll just say he couldn’t make it out in time.”
“I don’t like this,” voiced the youthful man. “Who will activate the seal if we don’t have a mage?”
“Screw it, I’m in,” the gruff-voiced man said, rising to his feet. “I’m sick and tired of that thing calling the shots. Besides, if we lose our mage, I’m sure we’ll be sent a replacement.”
Apparently, peer pressure was a thing in this world as well, because both of them turned to the other man, who finally caved.
“Fine,” he sighed. “But I’d better be credited too. I’m sticking my neck out here.”
“We all are,” Tara said, tucking the scroll away. “Now, come on. If we move quickly, we can beat the next snowstorm to the town.”
Keith quickly pressed himself up against the stone, shoving Cayla against it as well, as the three figures moved from the cave and out into the open. They pulled their cloaks tightly about themselves, so he still couldn’t see the others’ faces. Still, if there were any doubts as to where they were going, the rewards notification, as well as the quest update, immediately removed them.
+300 XP
Level Up!
Congratulations! You have reached level 8. You have 5 stat points to allocate.
15 silver coins have been added to your inventory.
Quest Update: Conspiracy
It seems like you’ve gotten yourself into quite the pickle. You’ve overheard some shady types talking about some mysterious plan involving the Pest Control Guild. After listening in, you’ve discovered several things about the attack planned against the guild. Better do something before it gets worse…
Difficulty: S
Current Objective: Intercept the attackers before they reach Oster’s Keep
Current Rewards: 1,000 XP, 2 small gold bars, 1 epic item
Time Remaining: 2 days, 6 hours, 44 minutes
35
As soon as the level up notification came up, Keith immediately opened his status and assigned the points. He could already see the reflected values of his automatic plus two to strength and one each to endurance and agility.
Knowing that they were about to go into some serious danger, he threw a couple of points into vitality, figuring that the extra HP wouldn’t be a bad thing. Then, he put another point into endurance.
Finally, deciding he could use a little luck, he put the final two into the luck stat, then looked over his abbreviated status.
Status (Abbreviated)
Name: Keith
Race: Human
Class: Hammermancer
Level: 8
XP: 8/800
HP: 170/170
STA: 330/330
Strength - 35 (33+2 Class)
Vitality - 17 (Base 12) (10+2)
Endurance - 33 (Base 31) (29+1+1 Class)
Agility - 25 (24+1 Class)
Wisdom - 12
Luck - 7 (5+2)
“Did you get a quest update too?” Keith asked as he closed his status, only to see Cayla staring through him with a glassy-eyed expression.
A quick check confirmed that she was now level nine, having grown from the previous eight when he’d met up with her earlier and asked her to join him. This proved to him that he’d either been taking more risks or more quests than her, as when he’d met her, she’d been level six, as opposed to his level three.
“Yeah,” she said, focusing back on him. “But how are we supposed to stop those three? There’s no way they’re not stronger than us.”
“The woman is level eighteen,” Keith said. “I’m not sure about the other two.”
Cayla winced at that, looking back over her shoulder to where the three had vanished behind the bend into Sheer Pass.
“How are the two of us supposed to stop a level eighteen?” Cayla asked. “Not to mention the other two.”
“No idea,” Keith said. “But the reward is high enough that I’m guessing it won’t be easy.”
“No kidding,” Cayla said. “Fifteen-hundred XP, a couple of small gold, and a rare item. It sure sounds like an easy way to get killed.”
“Greed can lead the unwary to an early grave,” Keith said, noting the differences in their rewards for completing this part of the quest.
It seemed she would be getting five hundred more XP than him but would be receiving a rare item instead of an epic one.
“But if we’re careful, we might find a way to stop them before they reach the town.”
“How?” Cayla asked.
“By using our brains instead of our brawn,” Keith replied, tapping the side of his head. “Come on. They should be out of sight by now, so we’ll be able to move through the Pass without being seen.”
“I don’t like this,” Cayla said, biting her bottom lip as they moved away from the boulder. “I can smell a storm coming.”
“Most likely the snowstorm the others were talking about. How good is your sense of smell?”
“Pretty good,” Cayla replied. “I can smell the blood in the humans we’re following. I could also smell the man who came to join them, and he most definitely was not human. In fact, I don’t even think he was among the living.”
“An undead?” Keith asked, not having dealt with anything of the sort in any of his previous lives.
“Not common in Raiah,” Bob said. “But not uncommon either. They’re mainly involved with dark guilds and the underworld. Those who cling to life so desperately, even after death, are rarely the scrupulous types.”
“Aren’t vampires technically undead as well?” Keith asked, looking to Cayla.
“Maybe in your world they are,” Cayla replied as she moved into the Pass. “But in our world, I’m as alive as anyone else.”
“What other traits do you have that a human wouldn’t?” Keith asked as he followed her.
Knowing she could smell their quarry definitely helped, as it meant they wouldn’t lose them, even in a snowstorm. However, Keith was curious to see what else Cayla could do.
“My hearing is a bit better than a human’s, and I naturally have more stamina,” Cayla replied. “However, my racial bonuses also come with some downsides attached. The main one is the blood-drinking, but I also don’t do well in the heat. If the temperature rises above eighty degrees, my HP will begin dropping, and the higher the temperature, the quicker it’ll drop.”
“Why don’t humans have racial bonuses?” Keith asked, addressing his question to Bob.
“You might not have any bonuses, but you also don’t have any detriments,” Bob replied. “Humans are the most adaptable, can learn any skill or class, and survive in any environment. But you pay for that adaptability by not getting anything special.”
“Fair enough,” Keith replied, pressing himself harder against the side of the cliff as the wind picked up.
“I’d say we have maybe an hour before the storm hits,” Cayla said, gripping tightly to the icy stone wall.
“Well, I think I may just have found a way to stop them,” Keith said, his mind having already started formulating a plan as soon as he heard about Cayla’s bonuses.
Now that he knew the snow would be coming sooner, he could count on it to slow the enemy, as well as ruin their vision, while the two of them wouldn’t have such a disadvantage. With his Ranger skill, he should be able to navigate fine, even in a storm. With Cayla’s sense of smell, tracking them should be easy, even if their tracks would be cleared by the blowing wind.
Additionally, they believed they could reach Oster’s Keep before the storm hit, so they wouldn’t be expecting it. Everything was lining up in their favor. Now, Keith just needed to find a way to use all of those factors to kill someone ten levels above his own.
The storm hit almost exactly when Cayla had predicted, the whirling wall of white flakes overtaking them just as they exited the mountain pass and onto a frozen lake. Although it would normally have been risky for them to step out, seeing as they had no cover, the start of the storm provided the perfect blanketing tool they needed to remain unseen.
Keith had pretty quickly discovered that despite Tara’s relatively high level of eighteen, the other two must have been a good deal lower, as he and Cayla had no problem keeping up. If anything, it was difficult for them not to overtake them.
“Alright,” Keith said as the enemy group – which was about halfway across the lake – vanished from view. “Can you still smell them?”
“Yeah,” Cayla said. “But it’s not a constant, steady scent. The snow is throwing me off a bit.”
“Not a problem,” Keith said. “So long as we know their general direction, we should be fine.”
While they had a general outline of a plan, it would ultimately all depend on where they were when the storm hit. Keith had been hoping they’d be on the lake, and to his delight, things had worked out in their favor.
“Tie this around your waist,” he said, slowing for a moment and removing the rope from his inventory. “Make sure it’s tied in a way that it can be easily released.”
“Why are we doing this again?” Cayla asked as she tried imitating the knot he tied.
“In case the ice breaks beneath us,” Keith replied. “We’ll want to make sure we have a safety net.”
Cayla finally got the rope tied correctly, and the two of them took off at a run. The ice underfoot crackled and crunched but otherwise didn’t make too much noise. After all, it had been cold enough for things to freeze since the previous blizzard.
However, what he was banking on, was that while the ice was thick enough to support them, it would still be weak enough to break.
“Slow down!” Cayla yelled as Keith poured on the speed. “I can’t keep up!”
“Try your best,” Keith called back, squinting into the whirling wall of white flakes and buffeting wind. “We need to outmaneuver them!”
“My stamina won’t hold up,” she yelled. “Running on ice slows movement speed by thirty percent and ups stamina consumption by half!”
“It’s your Ranger skill that’s preventing any of that from happening,” Bob said, poking his head out from beneath his cloak. “We’re on uneven ground, where you’re getting a bonus.”
“While at the same time, she’s being slowed down,” Keith said, thinking. “Do you think we can afford to meet her pace?”
“The enemy group will probably be even slower than you guys, seeing as they most likely didn’t come prepared,” Bob said. “They won’t be able to see as well, nor should they have any skills that help with walking on ice. If they were all at the same level as Tara, I’d say not to slow down, but at this rate, you can probably outflank them and still have time to set your trap.”
Though he wanted to do nothing less, Keith cut his pace in half, allowing Cayla to keep up with him.
“How in the world are you so quick?” she panted, the air before her lips steaming.
“I did a lot of outdoor activities in my previous world,” Keith said, deciding to tell a half-truth. “You probably don’t know this, but when otherworlders come here, any skills they had in their previous world get transferred over.”
“Well, that would explain it,” she replied, still breathing hard.
Taking a quick look at her stamina, he could see that it had been depleted a good bit and was now down to less than a third. Additionally, looking down, he could see her feet slipping and sliding every few seconds, while his own steps were smooth and steady.
They had a direction, but the enemy did not. He wondered how they were currently holding up.
“How far ahead are they?”
“I’d say we probably closed a bit less than half the distance,” Cayla replied. “They’re not moving very fast at all.”
“Perfect,” Keith replied, feeling a grin stretching across his face.
Now all they had to do was get out in front of the group to an area he knew they would have to travel, then set their trap and wait.
36
It took well over an hour of pushing through the whirling snow and whipping winds for them to reach the perfect spot – an area just about a hundred feet from shore and the continuation of the pass. Keith paused for a moment, looking around. He motioned for Cayla – who’d strayed a bit – to come closer because, as he’d already discovered, sound didn’t tend to travel well in a blizzard.
“How far out are they?” he asked as she leaned in to hear him.
Her hair was crusted with snow and ice, as was his, but while it felt cold, the rest of his body was oddly warm. The cloak was doing its job of keeping them from becoming frostbitten or getting negative debuffs.
“I’d say about half an hour at most,” Cayla said. “Their path is a bit meandering, but the strongest one is keeping them moving in the right direction.”
“Well, if that’s the case, we’ve got no time to waste,” Keith said, then reached down and yanked both hammers from their belt loops.
He slammed them together, making a muffled clang and thinking about them rejoining. Bob had explained that the process should be that simple, and as the hammers began to morph in his hands, he saw that the monkey had been right.
In just five seconds, the smaller, single-handed hammers had transformed into a long-handled beast of a weapon. Keith clutched it in both hands, noting the increased weight. This was a weapon that would definitely move more slowly but would also do more damage, as the description had shown.
Next to him, Cayla drew her scythe, then swung it up and over her head before bringing it down on the ice. The blade bit in about half an inch, and as soon as she removed it, Keith swung as well. However, instead of merely using the strength of his hammer and body, he also used his Steelstance skill.
His face and hands took on a bright metallic sheen just as the hammer slammed into the ground. Chips of ice and snow flew as the impact made the ground beneath them shudder. Still, it wasn’t enough to break the ice completely, and when he pulled the hammer back, Cayla struck several times more, trying to puncture the ice.
When Keith swung for the fourth time, he finally broke through, his hammer causing the ground to shudder as freezing water splashed up around it.
“Poop, that’s thick,” Keith said.
Cayla gave him an odd look but otherwise didn’t comment on his choice of language. As he’d clearly stated, the ice was quite thick. Over eight inches, to be exact, which was a lot more than they’d been expecting.
“We’re going to have to move faster if we want this done in time,” Keith said. “I want this patch to be at least fifteen feet across and six long. If we dig several holes outlining the area, we should be able to break up the center a bit faster.”
