Jared and Eleisa dashed along the road, the scene coming into view as they crested a small hill. Below, maybe half a kilometer away, rolling fields were fenced off, some for growing crops, others to contain livestock. At the center, not far from the road, stood a small compound where the farmers and their hired hands must have lived. But the thing commanding their attention was a massive beast wreaking havoc.
Comparing the [Shellback Prowler](lvl 23) to its description on the job posting was like comparing a child’s retelling of a horror movie to the real thing. It stood at least three meters tall at the shoulder, back covered in menacing armor plates, which were in turn covered in spines. Its claws and teeth were on par with the afanc, meaning each one was longer than Jared’s hunting knife.
The smaller figures of the farm’s inhabitants stood at various points around it, waving sickles and axes, trying to keep it at bay, but it was obvious they would all be massacred if something didn’t change. As he took in the scene, the monster spun like a whirlwind, a spiked club on its tail smashing into one of the defenders, sending them sprawling. They didn’t get up.
Pulling Naomi from his shoulder where he had been resting her, he fell onto one knee, laying his rifle over the other. He sighted in at the beast, estimating its size and distance, performing the calculations rapidly in his head.
Assuming one of those humans is about average height for a human male, that would make them about 69 inches tall. Divide that by the constant of 39.4, makes 1.75. Multiply by 1000 gets me 1750, then divide by the man’s height in mils, about 3.25, which gets me 583 meters distance.
“Eleisa, what’s the wind like?”
Hearing no response, he glanced over, only to see her flying through the air, heading straight for the fight at high speed with a spear in her hand. He cursed, looking back into his scope. Slightly unfocusing the resolution, he looked for the hazy waves of heat, finding them tipping just slightly to the right.
Slight crossbreeze, maybe 3 or 4 mph.
Shifting his aim about half a mil to the left of where he wanted to hit, he breathed out smoothly, held his breath to steady his aim, and squeezed the trigger. An explosion of chitin erupted from the very top of the beast’s back, his bullet doing no more than grazing its shell. It didn’t even seem to notice, continuing its assault on the farm.
He cursed. How had he forgotten to take the elevation difference into account? He hadn’t made a rookie mistake like that in a long time. Shifting his aim down to compensate, he fired again, this time hitting it cleanly in the shoulder.
A massive roar shook the hills, and the beast looked around for what had managed to damage it.
Unable to find the source of its injury, it started lashing out harder at the people surrounding it. Jared adjusted his aim and fired again, hitting it in the side, just below where the armor ended. A spray of blood and viscera erupted from the new hole that pierced straight through the beast. As Jared was taking aim for his next shot, Eleisa darted in from above and to the side, plunging her spear down into the weak point Jared’s bullet had just created.
He was forced to readjust to avoid risking hitting her, aiming for the armored cat’s back leg. Another spray of blood accompanied a sharp crack as the bullet impacted its hip bone.
By this point, the creature had begun to slow, its movements becoming sluggish. That didn’t stop it from slamming its tail into Eleisa’s side as she was trying to free her spear. She was sent sprawling, landing in a heap a good distance away.
With some difficulty, he ripped his focus away from her.
The best way I can help her right now is by taking out that monster. Two bullets left, I’ve got to make them count.
Aiming for the beast’s center of mass, where its vitals were most likely to be, he squeezed the trigger twice before standing and breaking into a run. The landscape blurred by as he flung himself headlong towards the fracas, his strides eating up the distance faster than he would have thought possible. As he ran, he retrieved his hunting knife and a shortsword from Mimi, then tossed her onto his shoulder, where she used pseudopods to attach herself.
Finally reaching the beast, he found it bleeding heavily, barely able to walk, but approaching the fallen Eleisa to finish her off. Jared wouldn’t give it the chance.
Flipping his knife so he held it by the tip, he hurled it at the shellback’s face, where it glanced harmlessly off the chitin armor.
Dammit, that kind of thing always works in movies!
Then he had no more time for thoughts, as he arrived in melee range. Immediately, the cat lashed out with its front paw, nearly taking off Jared’s head. He managed to duck under the swipe, using the opportunity to get in close and shove his sword into the monster’s chest.
The blade sank in a couple inches, then stopped, stymied by the cat’s unusually thick breastbone.
It jumped back, deceptively graceful for its size and brought its head down to bite at Jared. He dove to the side, causing it to miss his chest, only for it to grab his leg and fling him straight up into the air. Jared flailed wildly as he soared several meters up, then started coming back down towards the cat’s open maw.
Eleisa took advantage of its brief moment of distraction, leaping up and grabbing Jared’s knife from where it had fallen, and rammed it up into the unprotected underside of the prowler’s jaw.
It stiffened for a moment, then Jared landed on its head, and all three of them came crashing to the ground.
[Shellback Prowler](lvl 23) slain!
Your party gains EXP
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
You have free stat points to assign!
Hunters’ Guild job complete!
Skill Sniper’s Marksmanship Upgraded from (Exceptional V) to (Exceptional VI)
Ignoring the pain that was screaming at him from all sides, he scrambled to get off of the corpse’s head and reach Eleisa. Only her top half was visible, the rest of her trapped underneath the beast, and it didn’t seem like she was conscious. Placing his cheek next to her mouth, he felt the feather-light touch of her breath and sighed in relief.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Having verified that she was still alive, he examined her injuries, trying to figure out if any were bad enough to make moving her a bad idea.
She seemed mostly intact, but had hairline cracks in her armor, spiderwebbing out from a point on her left side, and running up and down her right arm. What he could see of her wings had several ragged, painful-looking tears. She didn’t seem to be bleeding much, but he didn’t know if she had internal injuries.
With a heave, he shoved the prowler’s body until the rest of Eleisa’s figure was revealed, and he quickly checked her legs, finding nothing worse than more hair-thin cracks in her chitin.
Deciding it was better to leave her where she was, at least until she woke up, he dressed her wounds the best he could, then sat back against the prowler’s body, breathing hard.
Skill Unlocked! Battlefield Triage(Unskilled I)
Greater than Average competence shown…Assessing true Skill level…
Skill Battlefield Triage Upgraded from (Unskilled I) to (Proficient I)
Battlefield Triage(Proficient I) - While not medics or healers themselves, it is important that snipers and others who work in small teams know the basics of first aid in case of emergency. While in the wilds away from cities, you are able to judge the severity of wounds, and provide very basic treatment. This ability improves with each level in the Skill.
Skills:
Primary Class(7/10)
* Sniper’s Marksmanship(Exceptional VI)
* Sniper’s Stalking(Skilled VIII)
* Sniper’s Spotting(Proficient VII)
* Sniper’s Focus(Unskilled V)
* Big Game Harvesting(Unskilled VIII)
* Big Game Tracking(Unskilled II)
* Battlefield Triage(Proficient I)
Jared barely registered the notification, his mind caught up on other things.
I’m an idiot. On the way here we should have been talking strategy, not spouting meaningless drivel. I expected Eleisa to immediately know what to do, even when she hasn’t gotten any training on it. Our lack of communication had her throwing herself into harm’s way, and it was harder for me to get a clear shot.
Additionally, I came into this with only 6 rounds for my rifle, which was stupid. I should have experimented with my new skill to create more before coming out here. And when it comes to fighting in close range with monsters like this, I have no idea what I’m doing. It would probably be worth my time to pay someone with a high level Skill to teach me, at least the basics, so I can get a hand-to-hand Skill myself.
A pained groan pulled Jared from his thoughts, and he hurried over to Eleisa’s side. “How you doing, El?”
She groaned again. “If you are addressing me, I feel like I have been run over by a herd of stampeding rinoxen. And to avoid confusion, please use my complete name.”
Jared chuckled. “That’s probably not far from the truth, not that I know what a rinoxen is. As for your name, Eleisa is such a mouthful. It’s easier just to call you El, so that’s what I’m gonna do.”
He finished his statement with a smirk, quirking an eyebrow at her.
She shook her head, then winced at the movement. “A rinox is a large beast that grazes on the steppes near my homeland. It has very tough skin, large, hooved feet, and several horns on its head. Despite their placid nature, a rinox stampede can raze a city in minutes. Now, I am in a lot of pain. I don’t suppose you have any healing magic or potions?”
Jared shook his head. “No, sorry. If I did, I would have already used them on you.” He hesitated, then continued. “You’ve got a lot of cracks in your armor, and your wings are all torn up. Will you be able to heal fully?”
“Yes. It may take some time, and I will have to shed this layer of exoskeleton, leaving me vulnerable until the under-shell hardens. But I do not think I have suffered any irreversible damage. You may have to help me back to town, though.”
Then she caught sight of something, and her expression brightened.
“Or perhaps not. It seems killing that beast has given me the last levels needed for my Ascension. If you do not mind watching over me briefly, I will Ascend, and then we can be on our way.”
Jared agreed, and she closed her eyes, her breathing slowing. Jared took the time while she Ascended to retrieve his knife and begin harvesting useful parts from the prowler, starting with the eyes, which had a faint brown glow.
Shellback Prowler eye x2(Common, Excellent) - The eye of a common Shellback Prowler. The beast’s magic has infused it, giving it special properties. Has many uses for crafting.
Skill Big Game Harvesting upgraded from (Unskilled VIII) to (Unskilled IX)
Skill Big Game Harvesting upgraded from (Unskilled IX) to (Proficient I)
From there, the work sped up, with him harvesting the claws, teeth, and most of the shell. There were a few spots, like where his first bullet had hit, that were too damaged to salvage, but overall the shell was fairly intact, coming away in several large plates.
Soon after he started, Eleisa finished her Ascension and began helping him silently. The air was a little tense between them, as it was clear she had something she wanted to say to him, but lacked either the courage or the words to do so.
When they finished, the sun was dipping low towards the horizon.
Jared turned to her, looking her up and down. “So, what’d you get?”
Eleisa looked at him in confusion. “To what are you referring?”
He rolled his eyes. “Your Ascension. Get anything good? It certainly looks like it.”
“Ah. Yes, I was offered a satisfactory option. But what do you mean by that?”
Jared gestured at her body. “That.”
She looked down at herself, finding all the cracks in her armor had been filled in with a silver material, very similar to her eyes in color and luminance. Her eyes widened, her mouth opening slightly. Jared took the opportunity to say something.
“You know, where I come from there’s this practice called kintsugi. If people break their favorite dishes or other pieces of pottery, they use gold to piece it all back together, making it more beautiful for having broken. What happened to you looks pretty similar. And badass, if I’m being honest. Now, what’s your class about?”
She blushed, her cheeks darkening, then related the details to Jared which, honestly, sounded great to him.
“It is called Insular Mind Mage, and is built upon my two racial skills. The first is called Internal Focus, which is what prevents me from having any projection. If anything would put points into projection for any reason, Internal Focus replaces the points elsewhere. The other is one that all Kyriens share, and denotes our specific magical affinity. In my case, it is mental magic. My Ascended Skills have increased in scope, and my new skill shows great promise.”
She paused, taking a deep breath, seeming to steel herself.
“The GEAS also made it clear that I acted foolishly. By rushing ahead, I put myself, and by extension, you, in danger needlessly. If you no longer want me in your party, I will leave and you will not see me again.” She bowed as she said the last words, and her voice trembled.
Jared just put his face in his hand, shaking his head.
“Stop with the bowing, already.”
She straightened, and he could see the telltale glistening of tears in her eyes. He sighed, then continued.
“You’ve really got to stop being so hard on yourself. Did you make some mistakes? Sure. Were you the only one who did? Hell, no! I forgot to make myself more bullets, so I couldn’t keep attacking from a distance after only a few shots. I’m not used to targets that don’t go down after getting hit even once. We didn’t come up with a plan beforehand, like we should’ve, which led to us both making decisions we might not have, if we knew what the other person was going to do.”
A thought struck him, so he voiced it.
“When I told you I try to stay as far away from my target as possible to kill them, did you have any idea of what I meant?”
She shook her head.
“See? There’s something else I should have specified. I’m sure there aren’t many people here killing monsters from hundreds of meters away. We both made mistakes, we’ve learned a valuable lesson, and we’ll do better on the next one. Now, shall we see if we can find those farmers? I know at least a few of them were injured, and I’d like to do what I can.”
After a little searching, they found the farmers barricaded in one of the houses. Most had small injuries, but two had died, with another having more severe wounds. They expressed their gratitude, saying that if Jared and Eleisa hadn’t come when they did, it was likely all of them would be dead. After doing what he could to patch up the injured farmers, they set off back towards the town, which Jared realized he still didn’t know the name of. He asked Eleisa, to which she just shrugged.
Oh well, he could just find out from one of the citizens. But first, Jared was ready to get a good night’s sleep, then start practicing with his auxiliary class. He couldn’t wait to see what he could do.