Skill Hunter: A LitRPG Adventure, page 33
Well, I suppose in the wild, might makes right, and Loup is undoubtedly bigger than that other wolf. His loss, our gain. Ike shook his head at the poor other wolf and squeezed into the cave. Loup followed him inside. At the doorway, she glanced back and made a quiet sound at the other wolf.
The other wolf grumbled back and, somewhat reluctantly, followed Loup into the cave.
57
WAITING OUT THE STORM
The three of them sat in the cave, waiting for the storm to pass. Wind howled by the entrance, and rain splattered over the stone. Deep in the cave, though, it remained warm and dry. The other wolf sat against the wall, head turned away from Loup and Ike. Every now and again, he sighed, but aside from that, he made no complaints. Loup shook herself off and settled down in the middle of the cave. She sprawled out across the dirt, snoozing.
Ike crouched against the wall. He watched the storm through the mouth of the cave. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Every now and again, the cool spray of rain washed over his skin. He sighed.
In the future, I need to be more careful about my skills. This time, there was no helping it, but it’s a good reminder that my skills have a few side effects that I have to watch out for. He wiped the spray off his face. With nothing better to do, he pulled up his skills list to check whether any had ranked up from his wild racing around.
[Name: Ike | Age: 15 | Status: Nm | Rank: 1 [Abyss Dweller]]
Skills: Common: 5 | Bronze 2 | Silver 1 | … | Rare 2 | … | Unique: 7
Common: All-Around Runner LVL 7 | Razor Handling LVL 9 | Spear Handling LVL 4 | Axe Handling LVL 4 | Sword Handling LVL 6 | Bow Handling LVL 1 | Primitive Crafting LVL 7
Bronze: Sensory Enhancement LVL 5 | Mana Manipulation LVL 3
Silver: Flurry of Kicks LVL 2
Rare: Salamander Healing LVL 9 | River-Splitting Sword LVL 4
Unique: Lightning Dash LVL 8 | Lightning Grasp LVL 5 | Lightning Clad (Forearm) LVL 5 | Lightning Clad (Calf) LVL 4 | Lightning Clad (Thigh) LVL 2 | Lightning Clad (Bicep) LVL 2 | Lightning Caller LVL 2
He grinned to himself. Two new Clad skills, and they’d all ranked up at least once! Most of his other skills had ranked up as well, with the exception of Salamander Healing, which remained at Level 9, and some of his low-level Common skills that didn’t use mana. He’d had to run around like a maniac burning mana to not die, but in return, he’d gotten some solid benefits. Especially in a place like the Abyss, where mana was hard to come by, he couldn’t consider his efforts wasted. He’d survived, and survived the storm he’d accidentally generated, too. To level up his skills on top of that could only be considered a bonus.
Closing the menu, he peered out at the storm. Hopefully the tornado didn’t hit Rosamund’s head directly. Or destroy his pack. Luckily, tornadoes are extreme destruction in a very limited span. If you’re hit, you’re fucked, but one step to the right of the hit, and you’ll be fine. Barring shrapnel, anyway. It does mean I’m praying here that it doesn’t hit my camp dead on, but on the other hand, there’s a good chance it completely misses my camp and everything is fine.
Tornadoes hit the slums sometimes. There weren’t many natural tornadoes in the area, but when mages fought in the upper city, all kinds of strange phenomena escaped and splattered into the slums. The mages never cared to protect the slums much, so it was on the slum dwellers to survive whatever fell off the upper city. One had destroyed a segment of his uncle’s villa, once. He remembered it vaguely. He’d been five at the time, and he’d cringed at the sight of it, expecting his uncle to burst into a rage. Instead, there had simply been silence. Silence and a strange resignation in his uncle’s eyes.
I didn’t understand it at the time, but… was that my uncle realizing that he’d never be high-enough rank to cast those kinds of phenomena himself? And here I am at Rank 1 making tornadoes. Ha!
Though I can’t say I’m that happy about having made tornadoes… Nor am I controlling them, so overall, I think it’s my loss.
He settled back against the wall. With nothing to do, he started to drift off to sleep.
Abruptly, Loup sat up. Her ears perked, and her head whipped around to stare toward the mouth of the cave.
A second later, the other wolf sat up as well. Both of them stared at the cave opening, waiting for something.
Ike shook off his doze and sat forward, rising into a crouch. He put a hand on his sword, ready to draw.
Through the lashing rain, two shadows walked toward the cave. They wore oiled coats, their bodies hidden beneath and their faces obscured by deep hoods. Ike could see them clearly but knew they couldn’t see him, tucked in the dark of the cave as he was.
The cave’s entrance was narrow, but it widened toward the center. Where Ike and the wolves sat, it was tall enough to stand in and wide enough to wield a sword, but only in the middle. It narrowed toward the edges where the ceiling sloped down to the floor. He crept toward the center of the cave. There, he’d have enough room to maneuver if it came to a fight, and the incoming people would have no room to swing their weapons.
He didn’t want a fight. But he had no idea what these figures’ intentions were. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Loup crept up beside him. She raised her hackles and bared her teeth but watched him closely, waiting for a signal to growl.
They drew closer. Ike tensed. The leading figure, the larger of the two, put his hand on the edge of the cave.
“Stop,” Ike warned them.
Loup growled.
The figures froze. The smaller one grabbed at the larger one.
“We’re only looking for shelter,” the larger one said calmly.
Ike frowned. I’ve heard that voice before. “Ket?”
A pause. The two figures looked at one another, taken aback. The larger one leaned in, squinting into the darkness. “…Ike?”
58
REUNION
Ike stepped back. He let the two of them in, out of the storm. Loup looked at him, then lowered her hackles and quieted, falling in at his heel.
Tana lowered her hood, and Ket followed her example a moment later. Their strange inverse eyes gazed at Ike, while their oiled hoods dripped on the cave floor.
“What are you doing in the Abyss?” Ket asked.
“I could ask the same of you,” Ike returned.
Tana looked at Ket. Quietly, she asked, “Who is this?”
“That’s right, you wouldn’t remember. He’s the one who freed you from the curse,” Ket replied.
Her eyes widened. She curtsied to Ike. “Thank you. I owe you a great debt.”
“Ah, it’s… it’s…” Ike didn’t know what to say, so he nodded awkwardly. “Thank you.”
Ket glanced at the wolves. “Are they safe?”
Ike looked down. He gently patted Loup’s head. “Loup is my friend. The other one… I think you can consider him Loup’s subordinate for the moment.”
Ket smiled. He laid his oilskin, wet-side down, on the stone and guided Tana to sit on it. Taking her oilskin, he set it aside to dry. “What’s happened since we escaped? Last I remember, you were a newbie hunter hanging out at the outpost. Didn’t have those swords or that wolf.”
“And the same for you. How did you two end up in the Abyss?” Ike asked. He’s already dodged the question once.
Ket nodded. “You first.”
Ike paused, then quickly summarized the events that had led to him entering the Abyss. He left out Silver’s involvement, Rosamund’s strange body, the part where he generated the storm. He skipped most of the chicken-hunting, too, but left in the essential pieces: Rosamund dragging him out as a guide; falling in; Rosamund’s father rescuing her; and entering the deeper parts of the Abyss.
He nodded at Ket. “So? How did you two end up down here?”
Ket grinned. “We live here.”
Ike blinked. “What?”
Tana glanced at Ket, then nodded and leaned forward. “We are Abyss Dwellers. Our eyes are like this”—she gestured at her black sclera and white irises—“because we’re exposed to lunam from birth. The two of us are citizens of the small country of Abyss Dwellers hidden in the heart of the Abyss. Historically… we’re something like the prisoners and rejects thrown away by the overcity. Over the thousands of years the overcity has existed, those prisoners and rejects have drawn together and created a small nation.”
Ike nodded. Reasonable. But… “If that’s the case, then you left the Abyss. You have a way out.”
“Had,” Ket stressed.
Tana pressed her lips together. She nodded, regret in her eyes. “M—Our queen, before she passed, had grown to become a powerful mage in her own right. She created a crystal that overcame the influence of lunam and the barrier spells on the Abyss and gifted it to me so that Ket and I could take a message to the Brightbriars. But… when we were captured, we lost the crystal.”
Ike grimaced. So much for that. Not that I think I have much of a future back in the city. Between knowing Rosamund’s true form and her general grudge for me, I’m probably better off down here. He nodded at her. “Why were you two headed to the overcity in the first place? What was so dire that you’d risk your only way out of the Abyss?”
Ket and Tana exchanged a glance. Tana nodded. “After the storm passes… it’s quicker to show you directly.”
Ike pursed his lips. He nodded. It’s not like I had anything to do other than kill monsters and secure my camp. If there’s a city down here, I might as well visit it. “If you don’t mind, I need to go pick up a few things from my camp first—we’re only sheltering here from the storm. But I would like to go to the city with you.” And see whatever you two are talking about.
Tana nodded. Ket watched her, then nodded as well. “We can wait. We’re already caught in the storm, and we’re in no rush.”
The three of them sat there, watching the storm roll by. Ike sat back against the opposite wall. Loup sat close beside him, watching Ket and Tana with wary eyes. The other wolf lifted his head, then lay back down pancake-style, too exhausted to give a shit anymore.
The storm slowed down. The clouds cleared, and the sun shone through. Ike stood, dusting himself off. He nodded at Tana and Ket. “If you two want to wait here, Loup and I can run to the camp and come right back.”
“We’ll take the opportunity to rest, then,” Tana said.
Loup followed Ike out. At the door, she turned back. The other wolf climbed to his feet and walked slowly out of the cave, huffing in annoyance at the door.
Wonder what the two of them went all the way out of the Abyss to talk to the city lord about? Ike looked over his shoulder once, then shook his head. Let’s hurry back to the camp. I shouldn’t waste their time… Any more than my storm already wasted it, anyway.
He set off at a jog. Loup ran at his side. The two of them headed into the forest, back to camp.
It didn’t take too long to reach his camp… or rather, the remains of it. The tornado hadn’t struck his camp directly, but the high winds had thrown around everything that wasn’t tied down or buried. His bag had largely survived unharmed. It was thrown into a tree, but there were no serious damages. The canvas was sturdy, and so was Rosamund’s head, nestled within his clothes as it was. The feathers were a total lost cause. No longer piled up, they were now thrown willy-nilly across the clearing, blanketing the trees and floor in down. Ike wrinkled his nose. He picked up the bits that remained—the claws and some of the bones—and packed them into his bag.
Untying Rosamund’s head from the outside of his bag, he checked that her gag was firmly in place, then stuffed her into the bag as well. Her eyes opened wide in protest, but with the gag, she couldn’t say a thing.
“Sorry. I ran into some people. Can’t really afford to let just anyone see you,” Ike explained to her.
Looking around, he checked his camp one last time for valuables, then whistled for Loup. They ran off again, back into the forest. This time, Ike led the way to where he’d killed the rooster. The rooster’s body was damp from the rain and thrown around a bit, but it had survived the storm mostly unharmed. He looked at the massive thing. There’s no way I’m taking that back all at once. So… what should I take first?
He tilted his head. The rooster’s impressive tailfeathers glinted green, even soaked with rainwater. He nodded to himself, then set about plucking the feathers. I bet there’s someone willing to pay a good price for those things.
With the rooster feathers strapped to the side of his pack, he made a gaudy figure racing through the forest. They grew close to the cave, and Loup took the lead again. The hill rose up before them. Tana and Ket stood there at the mouth of the cave. At the sight of Ike, Ket grinned, lifting a hand to wave him over.
“Looking good,” Ket said, looking over the huge, trembling green tail feathers strapped to Ike’s pack.
Ike glanced over his shoulder. “I know, right? Thinking of wearing them full-time.”
Tana giggled. She shook her head.
“No? I think they look good, though. Gonna have all the ladies tonight,” Ike said, waggling back and forth to make the feathers tremble and shine in the warm post-storm sun.
Tana shook her head harder. Ket grinned. “Maybe not. Come on. Before you go get all the chicks, why don’t we show you what’s happening down here?”
Ike sobered. He nodded. “Let’s go.”
59
IN THE DEPTHS
Ket led them through the forest, Tana close at his heels. He followed a path that Ike would have never found on his own. It carved through the forest, twisting and turning. Sometimes, the ground beneath their feet was bare, well-trod by people or beasts. Sometimes, Ket wound his way through a knot of trees with seemingly no guidance, surefooted as ever.
Loup walked at the back of the pack, in no rush. She loped along, yawning from time to time. Mud stained her paws. From time to time, she’d vanish off into the woods, but she’d always return to trot along at the rear of the line.
Ike drew up alongside Tana as they walked. She gave him a glance, then nodded a hello. Ike nodded back. “You’ve always lived down here?”
“Since I was born,” Tana said, smiling.
“You were born down here? Wow,” Ike muttered. He looked around them at the wildlife. “Must have been rough.”
“It isn’t much different from your city. We’re much smaller—not a true sect, just a small clan. Still, we have walls and barriers, like any larger sect would. The only difference is that the monsters truly outnumber us down here, given there’s so few of us, so rather than ranging out to hunt, we’re often backed in, barely maintaining our defenses.” Tana patted Ket on the shoulder. “That’s what makes hunters like Ket so valuable.”
“You’re too kind, Tana,” Ket said. He glanced over his shoulder, shooting Ike one of his trademark easy smiles. “I used to be a mage a few hundred years ago. In the overcity and everything. Made a little mistake, kissed the wrong girl, and got sent straight to the Abyss.”
“You did a little more than kiss that girl, the way I recall the story,” Tana replied, looking at Ket.
The man sighed wistfully. He spread his hands to the sky. “We would have made beautiful children.”
“You were a mage? In the overcity?” Ike asked, startled. Ket’s relaxed attitude and laid-back personality were nothing like what he expected from an overcity mage. I thought they were all haughty twats.
“A lifetime ago,” Ket said. He laughed, a derisive note in his voice, directed at himself. “I was someone else.”
“He had a lot to come to terms with, banished to the Abyss,” Tana said simply.
Ket snorted and shook his head.
“Wait, hundreds of years ago… what rank are you?” Ike asked.
“Three. On the verge of four, if you’d believe it,” Ket said.
Taken aback, Ike stared at him. “Then… couldn’t you have taken out that entire party, and the Salamander too…?”
“I wish. You can’t process lunam, right?” Ket asked.
“No,” Ike confirmed. And I’m not going to confess that I have a secret lunam-mana conversion engine, either.
Ket nodded. “I’ve been in the Abyss too long. I can no longer process mana. We ran into… difficulties passing our message along, and my lunam stores were running dry long before we encountered those bastards. Tana and I were separated for a brief moment, but that was too much. Once that shithead put the curse on Tana, my fate was sealed. I no longer had the lunam to break the curse outright, nor to kill him before he could activate the curse and kill her. All I could do was play along and wait for a moment to strike.”
He looked over his shoulder, casting an approving gaze at Ike. “If you hadn’t attacked him first in the aftermath of the Salamander fight, I would have done the same.”
“And risked my life,” Tana grumbled.
“I never would have done that. Only if the circumstances were right,” Ket said seriously, smile vanishing for a moment.
Tana nodded. She grinned a little, showing that she was joking.
Ike glanced between Tana and Ket. Tana’s aura was about the same strength as Ike’s, maybe a little weaker. Between the two of them, Ket clearly had the stronger aura, but he treated Tana with great respect. I wonder who Tana is in the Abyss? She’s clearly not some ordinary commoner. Maybe she’s a noble or something like that.
After all, she was sent with a message for the city lord. It makes sense if she’s someone with a name in the Abyss.
“So you use lunam in the Abyss instead of mana?” Ike asked.
Ket nodded. “It’s what we have. We don’t have a choice. Not everyone can handle the conversion, or survive it. Plenty of mages come down here and find themselves powerless. Only a few—lucky mages, like me, or those born in the Abyss, like Tana—can process lunam. Another reason why these forests are so well-stocked with beasts. Our mages, our hunters, are few and far between. We don’t need as many Skill Orbs as they do outside the Abyss, nor do our people have the power to obtain them.”
