The stench of blood and guts would have turned Ginny’s stomach without the Trauma Buffer and she knew it. She kept her footfalls as quiet as possible. The monster, whatever it was, left a clear set of paw marks in the blood of its victims.
She followed cautiously, chain weapon coiled on her arm as her mastery skill suggested. She also held a probably ineffective throwing knife in her dominant hand.
She turned a corner and thought for a shocking moment that there must be a whole crowd of these things. Then she noticed that most of the tracks looked old, the blood was brown, oxidized, dry.
The reddest tracks led into the open warehouse door at the rear of the big box craft store. In fact most of the tracks did. It was like the monster kept returning bloody, over and over.
Ginny paused, looking around the landscape carefully. The most recent tracks went in, but none of the tracks went out. There were some claw marks on the pavement beside the loading dock, as if the monster habitually jumped down. That area did not show bloodstains. There was no indication of if she would find it inside or if it was already stalking her. The blood trail ended in the lair either way.
With a deep breath and a decision, Ginny crept up the concrete steps of the loading dock, checking behind her frequently, and eased her head around the wall.
The monster was inside. It was facing away from her, arranging unraveled bolts of cloth into a large pile. She looked at it for as long as she dared. It seemed like some kind of dinosaur. Waist high, bright red feathers on its back and head, with dexterous clawed hands on long arms and a thick balancing tail.
The neck and belly would be obvious weak points. The back seemed to have bony spots between the feathers.
It walked on two legs, a detail she’d not quite grasped from following the tracks. She had no experience following tracks, after all.
Ginny made a mistake.
She forgot that she was wearing a bundle of weapons and let them clatter against the wall beside her as she eased back around the corner. She winced and stepped squarely into the open doorway as the dinosaur responded by turning towards her. Ginny let the throwing knife fly.
Either she was better at throwing things that she’d ever expected, or she was incredibly lucky. Possibly so lucky that the luck amulet had something to do with it.
The throwing knife lodged squarely in the monster’s eye. It sunk all the way in, then disappeared, leaving a deep bloody wound and a completely ruined eye.
The monster screeched in rage and turned to face her with its other eye.
Ginny took that time to spin up her new chain weapon. The weighted end moved like a dream. The chain itself was more delicate, less likely to pinch her hands. She could probably get away with wielding it bare handed.
She played the chain out to give herself a first blow from as far away as possible. The weight caught the dinosaur in the jaw, right near the hinge. The mandible shattered, the chomping muscles tore. That was one natural weapon it couldn’t use effectively anymore.
The weight swung around for another blow from the opposite direction. This time she caught the top of its long toothy nose, shattering more teeth and ruining its sense of smell.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She quickly rained down blows to the side of its neck, repeatedly on each side in her figure eight fashion. She didn’t see a good clean line to hit the belly, so she kept on the neck, hoping for an artery opening shot.
The monster clawed at its throat, wheezing and gasping for breath. It had barely even begun a step in her direction before it collapsed on the ground.
Ginny continued to bash it with swift overhead blows, pulling the weight back to her hand each time, until the red feathered monster dissolved into essence. Or rather it dropped two essence crystals for 2000 Essence.
That was considerably more Essence than her previous estimates. There was no way this beast was a level 200. The excess must have been planned by the system or something. It emphasized to Ginny how little she really knew.
Quest Complete: Mystery Beast- The Level 15 Red Crested Raptor is defeated. Rewards: 10 F-grade Essence Crystals; General Skill Tracking granted and leveled up to tier 4; Major Perk
Ginny took a deep breath as the crystals appeared in a tray at her feet. That Dimensional Storage Perk could not come quickly enough. She stashed the tray in her gym bag with her other Essence Crystals.
“There isn’t another one around here, is there?”
No. This female spawned already fertile and was clearing her territory in preparation for laying eggs. Don’t forget to investigate the Rare Treasure Chest she was guarding.
“Right.”
Ginny found the chest inside the nest of wadded up fabric and broken craft store furniture.
The large brown wooden chest was trimmed in bright blue. There was a hasp but no lock. She lifted the lid, holding her breath. What would be inside? Did the rating scheme go all the way up to mythic, or was that not part of the gestalt the system kept mentioning.
The contents of the chest shone briefly as she opened it, almost as if the items had been generic and shifted magically to suit the opener. That would fit what she knew about games and literature involving treasure chests.
There were five items in the chest. Ginny immediately wondered if the challenge was meant for a team of five. Eventually she was going to encounter a monster who was a hard counter to her fighting style. There was no way she could evade injury indefinitely.
She lifted out a cloth bundle which caused it to identify itself for her.
E-grade Quilted Rogue Armor- level 5 required. Top, bottom, head, hand and foot armor made of Drykellen Spider Silk and Gryphon feathers. Blends into shadows, resistant to blunt and fall damage, resistant to cold, weak to fire. Self Repairing, Self Cleaning, +10% to stealth skills
“Something to grow into.” She tucked it into her bag.
Next was a plain gold band.
E-grade Ring of Fire Resistance- level 5 required. Negates all damage from F-grade fire sources. Halves damage from E-grade fire sources. Quarters damage from D-grade fire sources.
Ginny snorted. An item to shore up the stated weakness of the armor. At this rate she’d be wasting every bit of essence she owned to level up to wear this gear. Actually, that seemed like an excellent idea. She did have over 19,000 Essence, mostly in crystals in her bag.
She picked up the purse next. It was full when she touched it, but immediately emptied and the purse dissolved in her hand.
300 Essence allocated to charge Automatic Gold Collecting Purse
Ah. A large amount of gold had just deposited into her purse. 30,000 if she remembered the conversion rate. Nice.
Next was an almost mechanical looking device.
Programmable E-grade Training Target- Self repairing device to train thrown, launched and aimed weapons. Not suitable for swords, polearms, spears or other melee weapons.
“Is my chain weapon suitable for use with this?”
Yes. And your throwing knives. Luck should never be relied on over skill.
“Thanks. Good advice.” She reached in for the last item, a large book.
Leveling and Advancement for the Rogue Classes.
She huffed. She probably would have bought something like this next time she checked out the shop. She should probably check it out before she went on a leveling spree. She should probably save the leveling spree for after she set up her safe base core.
She tucked the book in her bag and left the stockroom through the shop. It would be quicker than going around. Everywhere she looked there were more bodies. In here it was all women, a few in store uniforms, mostly older women out for their morning quilting class, if the matching projects meant anything.
She exited grimly and headed towards home again. She was more than halfway there.