Melton and Mathias woke up, this time both of them sober, and went down for a nice breakfast. Like usual Melton chose dairy products and milk while Mathias decided to go with skewers and light ale. After having their breakfast they decided to go to the mercenary guild. Mathias once again began with his long talks. This time it was about their next move which was finding an information broker and getting their hand on the intel they need about the Council of Torment.
"Since we need a lot of cash just in case of info is too expensive we will fight smaller but stronger monsters so we can skin them. I brought the bag from the shop and we can get quite a lot in in"
Once they went into the mercenary guild Mathias started picking a bunch of requests and bringing them to the reception. This time there was a different person at the desk and it seemed like a newbie since she was overwhelmed with requests. After some time the requests were approved and they went their way. They first went to the forest to hunt silver foxes. It was an extremely quick and venomous type of fox that was considered a strong foe even amongst B-rank monsters. Melton and Mathias were discussing strategies and in the end, they decided that they will plan to use fast attacks and aim for their heads.
After searching deep in the forest for about an hour they stumbled on a group of six silver foxes. As they were preparing quick and precise attacks aimed directly at their heads Mathias whispered to Melton
" This thing will surely give a nice pay"
"Concentrate on the attack first, money will come later," Melton said. He was a bit pissed that Mathias was not taking it seriously even though the enemy they are facing is a quick and venomous one, a single mistake could cost them lives if they are not careful.
The attacks got fired. Melton fired two quick bones that resemble needles and pierced the skulls of two foxes, Mathias used all 10 fingers to fire and managed to take out the other four but one of them was damaged
"What will we do with the last one?" Melton asked
"Eh. It's good enough. We only needed 3 to complete the mission anyway. What is important right now is to skin them" Mathias replied
Melton created a small skinning knife from his palm and started skinning them. After doing so he removed crystals and stored them in a small pouch while the skin was moved in the bag Mathias was dragging with himself cheerfully. After taking out ten more foxes, fifteen in total. they went near a weird cave. Mathias tied the bag up and left it in front of the cave and turned toward Melton
"Leave everything you don't need. This one will be tougher "
Melton was quite surprised by the way Mathias said this. This was the first time he heard him talking seriously. Melton had a bad feeling but his guts told him it was not as bad as he thinks it is. He left his pouch with crystals and prepared to enter. Upon entering there was a long and dark corridor. Mathias used his ability to make a smaller light. Upon walking for about ten minutes they entered a big open area in the cave and lights suddenly lit. There was something like a stone throne in front of them and on them were three wolves. What was unique was that those wolves were huge, they were standing on two legs, their front legs looked a lot like arms and they were all bulked buff. The wolves jumped from their thrones, slightly shattering ground on the place where their legs landed, and started speaking to our protagonists.
"Who dares to challenge us?" The wolf in the middle said
Melton quickly turned towards Mathias and asked him what was going on
The wolf in the middle began speaking "We are Workout Werewolves. Beings born to fight the strongest of all races.
"My name is Fitness Fenrir," The one on the left said
"My name is Chest Cerberus," The one at the right said
"And my name is Biceps Behemoth, " The one in the middle said
Then they all started speaking in coordinated
"We wait in this place for an opponent forth fighting. Those who defeat us are awaited with blessings but those who fail to do so are met with death"
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Melton started speaking angrily to Mathias " You Serious?!? What the hell is this?"
Mathias replied "They are A-rank monsters. A tough cookie to crack but the pay is quite good"
"So. What do we do," Melton asked
"It's easy. Fight like your life depends on it "
And so the battle began
Fitness Fenrir and Chest Cerberus fought Mathias while Biceps Behemoth fought Melton.
Melton quickly created armor made from his bones and initiated a fistfight. They started exchanging punches. The bone armor somehow protected Melton from serious injuries but his attacks did not have much of an effect. Melton was in a slight panic because he was forced to be on defense and the odds looked like they were against him. He modified his stone gauntlets and added sharp claws which gave him a chance to attack the Werewolf. The attack was dodged and they made the distance between each other. After seeing an opportunity Melton started a barrage of spear javelins at his enemy. Behemoth's pure arm strength and speed produced enough force to shatter the javelins and he started closing the distance. Once he got close his claws started glowing and he started a barrage of swings. Melton was blocking as much of them as possible but his armor started shattering and he was unable to completely defend himself from damage. He extended his elbow bones and aimed for the abdomen. Behemoth shattered the bone coming from the right elbow but did not manage to do so with the left one in time. The bone went about five centimeters deep into his abdomen before he destroyed it. He was surprised Melton got him so he added a comment
"Not bad kid. I hope you have more tricks up your sleeves of yours"
" I don't have sleeves though" Melton replied
"It's just a saying bro. Don't get ahead of yourself" Behemoth said and charged for another set of attacks
He was pushing Melton back with each attack but this time Melton could deflect each attack and even got a few strikes at him.
"I can regenerate my armor but is the same for your skin?" Melton added before catching Behemoth's arms and going into wrestling.
This intrigued Behemoth and so he accepted Meltons Challenge. He started pushing Melton with his full force while Melton was holding back as hard as he could. While they were doing so Melton brewed up a devious plan to take him out.
While they were wrestling Melton extended bones from his claws and pierced Behemoth's arms. Behemoth screamed and tried to gain distance but Melton's claws were already too deep in his hands. To get away he decided to use all his raw force and ripped his off. When he gained distance he was completely drowning in rage. He did a large battle cry and his arms started forming again. After he got his hands back he immediately rushed toward Melton with the thought of killing him in mind. Melton increased the size and thickness of his hands so they become more focused on defense. Behemoth went with a barrage of attacks, this time far stronger than any other ones, while Melton went on the defensive again but this time he was destroying Melton's defense. After getting rid of his gauntlets completely he went for Melton's head but as soon as he jumped, from the ground, appeared a bunch of bones pierced his throat and the lower part of the head where the lower jaw is not protecting it. When Melton retracted his bones back to his feet Behemoth fell to the ground and finally died. After confirming the death of the first one he went to help Mathias handle the rest. It seemed Mathias already defeated one and the last one seems quite injured. After receiving a barrage of spear javelins from the left and a barrage of energy beams from the right, Fitness Fenrir died and the battle finally ended. After taking their skin, which was quite hard to cut, they also got their hands on their crystals. They were a bit larger than hands and they were light blue color crystals that emit some kind of light. Melton carried the skin back to the bag at the entrance of the cave, untied the bag, and put the skin there while Mathias added crystals to Melton's pouch. Upon arriving in the guild they went to the reception and sold everything they collected that day. After appraising and calculating everything they earned themselves 3,5 platinum coins. From what Melton understood there are four currencies:
Bronze- equivalent to 1 cent
Silver- equivalent to 1 $ or €
Gold - equivalent to 100$ or 100€
Platinum- equivalent to 10,000$ or 10,000€ (since it is quite rare in this world).
After earning their money Mathias said that they need to go to the informant he knows so no booze tonight.
It was dark, around 9 pm, and Mathias lead them through a few small alleys until they found a small shabby home. Mathias knocked 4 knocks 4 times and the doors opened. After the doors opened they were met with an informant. He was old and shabby just like the house they were in. He was bald but there were a few hairs since he did not shave properly, and he had large eyebags along with a paranoid look.
"You see Melton. This is my old associate Insomniac Informant Ivan."
"SOo. What you want. Is it InFo?" Ivan asked. His voice was paranoid and trembling
"We need some information on Council of Torment" Melton replied
"THE COUNCIL?!?!? You better got some mad cash for that stuff."
"We got 3,5 platinum"
"My dear friend. That is quite a sum you got there but it is NOT ENOUGH. Those guys kill people like me as soon as they find out I know or said something. You got to earn a lot more. At least 500 platinum"
"THE HELL?! HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO GET SUCH MONEY?"
"Maybe we can go to the casino" Mathias added
"Casino?"
"Yeah. There is a large casino operating in the capital called The Gilded Nebula Casino. We can earn easy money there if we got some luck"
"Well. I guess we are left with no choice then"
And so they headed to their inn to rest for the night.
After waking up and having breakfast. They headed towards the east wing of the capital and stumbled across a huge casino.
"This my friend is the Gilded Nebula Casino".