Heart suddenly racing, Alex immediately searched Sixth Sense for the voice’s origin. With the cave fifteen meters away, he’d been maintaining it so that the skill would catch anything entering or exiting the mouth. It was beyond wide enough that he should have caught anyone well before they reached him, but the whisper had been close, and it was the only indication he’d received of another person in the area. Part of him screamed to move, but he didn’t listen. He didn’t know where was safe at the moment, and moving now might just land him in an even worse position. Mind trying to catch up with the rapidity of his chest, Alex suppressed unproductive thoughts, only focusing on tracking down the potential threat.
“Everything should be good. Paulie’s been watching for over two hours, it hasn’t moved. We’re still good right Jerry?” This voice was masculine, their words breathy as they tried to keep low. Alex could tell the man was close, no further than ten feet away, but the mental trail he’d been following vanished as they quieted. There was a prolonged pause before a third voice ushered a response, their hushed words clipped in exasperation.
“I already told you the range, and that the skill doesn’t filter sound well. Now be silent.”
The younger man immediately continued speaking, ignoring the other’s command. “Well I told you there was no need for all this skulduggery anyway, but the two of you insisted.”
“I didn’t insist, just agreed,” the first woman retorted. “How can you be sure it worked anyway?”
“I already told you,” the second speaker continued, voice still low, but contempt clear, “Paulie’s saying it hasn’t moved in hours. This is prime hunting time, if the beast was conscious, it would have left already.”
“Then why don’t you and Paulie just head in first if the two of you are so certain,” the woman mocked.
“Maybe I’ll just send-” His voice had been raising with every word, but before he could finish, the other man, Jerry, interjected, his aggravation clear as he rejoined the conversation.
“That is enough. Hush.” Surprisingly, this time both complied, the group going silent once more.
It hadn’t taken long for Alex to realize they weren't talking about him, and the incessant bickering gave him time to track down three of the supposed four in their group. The woman had been the closest, almost directly below his tree, while the other two hadn’t been much further away. He still couldn’t see them; whatever skill Jerry had used was at too high a level for even his newly advanced skill to pierce. Alex thought he could feel the whispers of a foreign energy blanketing the area, as he’d experienced something similar to when others used magic, but he wasn’t sure it was real, let alone what hid his apparent competition.
He did his best to keep track of the sensation nonetheless, but his main focus was on the location of that Paulie person. While it was possible they were with the trio, based on the way the rest of the group had spoken, Alex doubted it. It was more likely they’d been watching from a distance, much like he had, though there was a problem with that theory as well. Alex had left the hideout this morning before the sun was up, even going as far as to dodge every fight after reaching level twenty-eight so he didn’t waste time. He’d been in his current position for over three hours, meaning he should have caught this Paulie when they arrived, but he hadn’t seen a single person.
Alex could understand his simple F-Grade skill wouldn’t be infallible, especially after what had just happened, but he was just hoping his opponent in espionage hadn’t spotted him. It was unlikely; the annoying man had spoken like he had a direct line of communication, if this Paulie knew of him the trio would have as well. Reasoning that they had probably missed one another due to concealment skills, Alex continued to keep an eye out as he considered how this affected his plans. The group were certainly there for the beast, their brief conversation suggesting they knew why it had remained sleeping all morning, but Alex doubted they were much higher leveled than himself with how cautiously they approached the creature. Refraining from using Soul Sight as to not risk alerting them, Alex remained watching over the seeming empty forest for the moment.
“Well, we can’t just wait around forever,” The woman whispered, now twenty feet deeper in the clearing, and ten feet away from where he’d thought the group to be. “If it really did work, we need to get in there before it wears off.”
“Then why don’t you go first,” the man muttered bitterly, but Jerry spoke before the squabbling could restart in earnest.
“We’ve come this far, and it hasn’t risen, if we are certain the Geran is in there, then we set up position and move together.” Their tone had lost a that edge of irritation, morphing into that of a leader, and leaving no room for argument from the other two.
As the trio made to group and advance, at least that was what he assumed was happening, Alex took the moment to massively expand Sixth Sense’s range. The flood of information hit him like it had a week ago, but now with a clarity unmatched by the F-Grade version of the skill. Unfortunately, it seemed his attributes weren’t yet prepared for such a wide bubble, and he remembered while he refrained from creating them before advancing his body. He hadn’t found anything in the search, but based on the fact he hadn’t seen the trio either, it wasn’t much to work with.
Hoping that anything supposed to be with, or watching over the group was more focused on them or the cave entrance, he silently rose to his feet. His clothing consisted of an oversized cloth shirt, some leather pants, and no shoes. Running around barefoot was annoying, though his raised attributes stopped it from being the problem it would have been back on earth, now it benefited him as he silently leaped from one branch to the next. Alex had marked out a path of branches that would lead him directly to the lair’s entrance earlier, in case things had actually gone to plan, but now he skirted along the outskirts of where the group last spoke.
At the moment, his only goal was to watch. Best case scenario, the group would act as a distraction, potentially even killing the beast, while Alex swooped in and, recovered, some loot. If that happened, Alex would need to be a bit more tactical about what he stole as to not alert the combatants, but it would be worth it to avoid a fight he had no chance of winning. The worst case scenario would be if their group was working on bad information, and they all died while Alex was inside the cave. His only hope then would be to get out while the beast gnawed at their dead bodies, but that was the absolute worst way things could go down.
For now he’d watch the fight with Sixth Sense, only interfering if he was certain things would go his way. The second things started to look bad, he could just hightail it out of there and try again tomorrow, or try something else, he still had three days until the next beast wave after all. Alex did find it a bit morbid that he needed to be so flippant about these people’s potential death, but this wasn’t his fight. At the very least, he'd learned enough over this past few weeks to avoid sticking his neck out here.
Picking out a tree thirty feet from the cave entrance, Alex climbed to a higher branch and took a seat, the perch offering a direct view of the likely battlegrounds. His heart rate sped up as the group finally appeared near the mouth of the cave, muscles tense even without any plans to partake in the combat. Only three appeared, meaning it was unlikely Alex could get involved without being stopped by the third, but he continued to watch anyway, surprised by how well geared the team looked to be.
Their formation was that of the three pointed triangle, with the woman at the front, and the two men at the rear. At least Alex assumed it was the woman, as they wore a full set of plate armor, including a helmet that covered their face. Rather than the skin tight design of the city guard’s uniform this was closer to the bulky armor Alex was familiar with from Earth. Similar to Anise’s armor, however, it radiated out power into the air, showing the clear presence of magic. In both hands she held a massive great sword that looked to weight more than him, grip so tight she looked ready to cleave a nearby tree in half with it. Alex, having no plans to find out, reaffirmed that he was unlikely to be getting any loot.
The woman was a mountain, and she looked ready to use every ounce of strength available to end the beast. He refrained from analyzing her for obvious reasons, but based on what he’d learned, Sixth Sense reasoned she was somewhere around the upper thirties.
The men were much less physically intimidating, though the one he suspected to be Jerry definitely spoke of thinly-veiled power. He was dressed in a set of wool-like robes, and Alex didn’t know if mage was a class but, the multiple necklaces and rings that completed the ensemble. His eyes were currently closed, aura absolutely wreaking of magic to Sixth Sense, though Alex couldn’t tell what the man was doing with all the power he was gathering.
Not much of the last man could be seen from his perch, besides that he was he least visually interesting of the group. He looked to wear a set of leather armor, Alex didn’t know if it was magically enhanced or not, though he could see the weapon in the man’s hands obviously was. Before he could get a better look, the man stored it as Jerry issued a command, his voice still low.
“Ben, do it.”
Alex watched with interest as the leather dressed man picked a small stone up off the ground and held it for a moment. Raising one hand to cover his eyes, he tossed it into the cave entrance, the whole space silent but for the echoing skips of the rock. As it stilled a few seconds later there was a moment of absolute silence, before Ben shouted, obviously no longer caring about being heard.
“It’s there, do it.”
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Jerry wasted no time, a cacophony of noise filling to area as four massive icicles ripped from the man’s hand’s and flew straight into the mouth of the cave. While impressive, Alex might have suspected the projectiles to miss their target due to how large the cave’s interior was, but with a flick of his hand the ice multiplied. Well, it would be more accurate to say they split, all four pillars halving again and again rapidly until they created a machine gun like hail sure to hit the beast.
Sixth Sense encompassed much of the cave’s area, but it didn’t give much information as meters of rock and dirt separated him from his target. The roar the beast let out, however, was enough to alert Alex it had been hit, the sound seeming to vibrate his very bones. He cowered back slightly, even thirty feet away, and Alex questioned how they could even consider fighting such a powerful creature. Jerry seemed completely unfazed, and the same looked to be true for the warrior, but Ben looked similarly effected by the creature’s cry.
When the beast finally emerged, Alex felt some of the fear leave him. The creature still looked strong enough to tear him in half with a casual bite, but what left the cave was obviously weaker than what he’d seen kill the Jarkit the day prior. It was mostly black, with stripes of gray fur that reminded Alex of a tiger, but its movements were sluggish, showing signs of obvious exhaustion even after having just woke from a deep sleep. Reevaluating his initial assessment, he supposed the group might actually have a chance. Whatever they’d slipped the cat had definitely affected it, the question was would it be enough.
While Alex had been lost in thought inspecting the beast, the group had acted. The warrior was the first to move, heavy thuds echoing off the dirt as she ran. Her blade had been gripped tight high in the air, and she brought it down so fast the speed defied anything a person should have been able to do with such a heavy weapon. It was silly, but for a moment Alex thought it might end right then, though the beast quickly showed it wasn’t willing to go down so easily.
It pushed itself to the side, fatigue seemingly gone as the creature just out of the blade's reach. The sword connected with only dirt a moment later, but the warrior wasn’t discouraged. She brought the blade back around near instantly, a shot from Ben’s crossbow connecting with the creature as it tried to dodge the warrior’s follow-up strike. It let out a short grunt of pain, but managed to avoid the woman’s swing once more. Seeming to have no limit, she shifted her stance, pivoting, so the blade would arc back down diagonally. As she started on her third attempt to maim the creature, its body began to vibrate.
It wasn’t as if the beast, was just quickly moving side to side, its form literally blurred, until it suddenly split into two, one of which pounced at the woman. Alex thought she’d stop her flurry then, but she didn’t, instead switching her stance so she could pivot the slash into a cleave, to the praise of Bladed Weapon Mastery. Alex admitted it was impressive, the angle of this new strike enough so it would hit both beast’s ruling out its defacto defense. Unfortunately, even with the impressive maneuver it seemed she had miscalculated somewhere along the way, her attack connecting with the creature’s fake, but not reaching the actual beast before it did her.
The two went down to the ground, the woman trying and failing to defend against the beast’s rapid claw strikes. The armor’s resistance matched its appearance standing up to the brutal attacks, unfortunately it seemed the beast was accustomed to dealing with armored targets, its sharps claws denting the metal as it repeatedly targeted the same spot. Alex found himself cringing as he watched, it was only a matter of seconds before the creature got through and tore her chest to shreds. Not breaking stride in its attacks, the beast opened its mouth, a ball of black energy quickly forming. Before it could fire the attack, surely killing the woman, its body was sent flying as a whole section of tree batted it off the woman.
Alex been focused on the woman’s plight he hadn’t even noticed it happen, but Jerry had ripped a tree out of the ground, roots and all, and was using it as an oversized baseball bat.
“I had to break the spell, focus on slowing it so I can start again.” Jerry yelled; his hands raised as he telekinetically controlled the massive cylinder of wood.
Neither responded, but Jerry wasn’t listening, breathing heavy and gaze focused as spoke a verbal command that still the tree’s slightly bobbing motion. Another command rotated the static item on its axis so the peak faced the recovering beast, and Ben took the moment to fire another two crossbow arrows into its flank. The tree split apart a moment later, thin lines seeming to have split the once uniform wood into javelins that loosed at the beast like machine gun fire.
Dirt kicked up and trees were partly destroyed as the spears of wood tried to track their fleeing target, the beast darting in and out of view as it circled the party. Ammo whittling down, with little to show in terms of damage but a few shrapnel splinters, Jerry made a fist, halting the rapid fire for a moment before sending the last two at once. Unlike the others, these seemed to actively seek the beast, forcing to actively dodge and weave lest it be directly impaled. It managed to lose one of them by quickly dodging around a tree, but was thrown off course as the final etched a deep gash in its side before continuing off into the distance.
The creature’s body split again as it recovered, the entire group too far to take advantage of its new injury. A moment later it split again, leaving the trio to contend with four of the beasts. Even from this distance Alex could see flickers in two of them, this many copies likely difficult for the tiger to keep up in its injured state, but he doubted the group noticed.
The tank had only just gotten to her feet, and though her face was obscured, it was obvious she was pissed off. With a full body diagonal swing, she sent a projection of her blades swing flying at one of the beasts like an arc of magic. It barely connected, but beast faded into nothingness as the end of its tail fell off, the strike clearly having connected with a clone. To the back of all but Ben, who was turning from side to side frantically, one of the creatures climbed a tree with a look of weightlessness, making Alex feel much less safe in his current vantage.
Switching to another of the creatures, the woman fired off another blade projection, this one missing its target and cutting a foot deep into one of the nearby trees. Jerry was up next, creating another of his large icicles to fire at a charging clone, the frozen lance easily piercing the copy before it vanished. Alex’s focus was back on the beast in the tree. He was almost certain it was the real one, as the other seemed to just be dashing in circles as to not get hit by an attack. It seemed not even Ben had stopped the creature, the man just firing arrow after arrow at the sprinting copy as the real one charged up another beam of energy aimed at him.
Ben was caught completely unaware, fully focused on his task, but something warned him at the last moment, allowing him to roll forward, dodging the attack by a hair’s width. Swinging as the turned, the warrior released a blade projection with the arc of a semicircle, the attack perfectly aimed to hit its target. Before the strike could connect, the beast shot from the tree, moving to another out of range of the attack. The branch the woman had targeted disconnected, but never reached the ground as Jerry caught it with his magic, instantly sharpening the wood with a wave of force and firing it at the tiger.
Giving up on another dodge the attack, the beast took the strike head on, its claws smashing the pike with little trouble. It seemed, however, to have not accounted for what would happen after splitting the branch as splintered wood peppered the beast. The creature fell from its ledge, but rather than hit the ground with a thud, Alex watched in amazed horror as it continued through the Earth, its body disappearing. It only took a moment for the creature’s outline to reappear behind a tree near Jerry, the beast immediately launching at the man.
In a show of competence Ben lacked, the mage was ready, not hesitating as he forced a spike of earth up and into the creature. The conjured stalagmite ripping a gash near one of the beast’s hips. It was good damage, and it was obvious they were quickly wearing down the beast, but the force wasn’t enough to throw the creature off, making a collision with Jerry inevitable. Luckily for the continuation of his life, the warrior hadn’t been idle, using some skill to place herself directly between the two.
She’d appeared crouched, ready to absorb the full weight of the beast, just as Jerry dived out of the way without hesitation. Seeing no way to divert towards its original target, the two connected, the woman being pushed back, but managing to remain standing. The creature was surrounded by the entire group now, and Alex reasoned it was nearing its end. The warrior was holding strong, the mage readying a spell, and the bow wielder, well he was panicking. He’d not yet risen from the ground and was now shuffling back, shooting arm shaking as he tried to get a clear shot.
“Get back,” he yelled; firing before his words could even register.
There had literally been no time. Jerry’s eyes widened in horror as he cut of his spell and tried to run, but the woman’s attention was fully focused on the one ton beast trying to split her in two. Alex didn’t know what was happening, but based on the mage’s reaction, it wouldn’t be good. The arrow connected with one of the creature’s hind legs, a second of nothing passing before it exploded.
Ben was far enough away to avoid most of the damage, but the others, namely the beast at the epicenter of the blast, hadn’t been so lucky. Dust and debris flew in the fireball’s aftermath, the smoke carrying the smell of burnt meat as if to pay homage to the tiger’s lost leg. The woman came out of the blast similarly poorly, her armor dented and damaged in places, crushed in others. The dent from her chest had been broken through to show charred skin, and Alex wasn’t sure she was even alive. When he caught sight of Jerry a few meters away, he knew he didn’t need to hold that sentiment for him. The man was lying still, his stomach against the trunk of a tree, the woman’s forgotten sword having impaled him through the spine.
His goal completely forgotten, Alex watched as the beast staggered weakly on three legs before falling to the ground. Rather than collapse there, the tiger once more melded into the ground, as the least injured member of the party swiveled frantically.
Reappearing behind some trees ten feet away, still on its stomach, the creature immediately shot a beam of energy at the man. He dived out of the way once more, another uncanny warning coming through. Turning the dive into a roll, he aimed to fire another shot, but Alex could tell the fight was over. Ben was panicking too much to finish the job, and the beast was refusing to die unless it could take the party with it. The warrior woman wasn’t dead yet, but after their betrayer fell, there’d be nothing to stop the beast from finishing her. He was relatively certain the beast would die too in the end, but Alex didn’t know its rate of healing, it was entirely possible the tiger would be at least partly healed by tomorrow.
Before he could get the shot off, the beast released another beam, going for the quantity not quality approach. Just as Alex was writing off the scrambling man, something dove from above, a bird by the looks of it, the flyer intercepting the strike with its body. Ben finally pulled the trigger, this explosive arrow connecting with a nearby tree, but sending the beast rolling back nonetheless. Ben seemed to notice what happened then, the man who’d held so much confidence earlier panicking as he screamed out a name.
“Paulie. Paulie no.”
Watching the man lose himself to grief, Alex did a quick mental calculation. Everything had happened so fast, but the beast was weak now. Ben was surely dead if he didn’t move, and the woman as well. Knowing he said he wouldn’t get involved, Alex pulled a scarf out of his inventory and wrapped it around his face so only his eyes were visible. The beast was leaking blood by the liter, he wouldn’t get a better chance to wrap it up than this. Dropping to a lower branch, he activated Silent Strike and put every ounce of force he could muster into pushing off, the wood splintering in his wake.