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Well, you would be quite right. It took me decades to work out a workable plan, and then a millennium to prepare.
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Several things happened at once. A thin, blue stream of energy shot out from Thor’s fingers as he triggered Icicle Strike, branching like lightning through the air before converging to strike the monster on the left. Pete rushed forward, targeting the monster on the right. Dark, grey threads of essence wrapped around his arm as he pulled it back, ready to swing and Cleave the creature.
Matt stepped forward to meet the last monster, his guandao held ready for a high line attack. The white creature reared up on his hind legs before thumping down to the ground, throwing up a cloud of dirt as it kicked off and ran towards him, its intense screams pushing ahead of it like a wave of terror striking Matt’s mind. The white blur coming towards him was terrifying, but his training and discipline took over as he lowered his balance and straightened the guandao, forcing its point to track the oncoming monster. As his hands clenched the handle, he almost lost his concentration when a spark of intent flowed into him from the weapon.
The spark carried a message that Matt instinctively understood. He recognised the wrongness of his stance, the defensive position he used with a spear. He instantly moved his feet into a new position and leaned forward, finding a different balancing point. Twisting the handle a half turn, he shifted the blade further out to the side of the normal defensive line, slightly opening up his position and letting some tension out from his legs. A spear relied on a solid foundation to strike in straight lines, holding the ground as the parry connected, retreat happening in a controlled, straight line backwards.
The guandao called for something different, for sweeping motions that avoided direct hard clashes of weapons and straight line confrontations, a style that was based on recycling momentum from one movement to the next. He loosened his body, ready to move to either side at a moment's notice, ready to flow like water. The weapon sent another spark through the handle, this time one of approval.
As his mind raced, the white monster rushed towards him and there was no more time to think. The rush of white fur leaped, arms pulled back as it prepared to strike down with its claws extended. Matt let his left foot swipe out backwards and to his right as he pivoted in place, slashing from high right to low left. The monster saw the strike coming and bent unnaturally in the air, dodging with supernatural speed to avoid the incoming strike, and Matt’s eyes widened in shock at the incredible display of agility. The monster’s new trajectory would take it harmlessly below the point in space where the arc of his swing would end.
Another spark of intent rushed in from the guandao, and in response, Matt pushed essence through the weapon. The guandao responded with glee; the blade flashing with dark red as a glowing cloud surrounded it. For a brief moment, Matt could see thin outlines of sharp blades forming inside an aura that radiated killing intent.
Even as the monster passed below the arc of the weapon’s strike, red ethereal blades caught it across the shoulder. One of the translucent blades sliced deeply across the creature’s back and another carved out a large part of flesh that spun away in a spray of blood. The monster hit the ground dazed and screaming in pain, and Matt exploited the moment of confusion to turn sharply and bring the blade down again, this time pushing essence even harder just before the blade hit. An intense glow of red hit the monster as an avalanche of steel, and the piercing screams cut off abruptly.
Still reeling in amazed terror at his new weapon, Matt spun to see Vic standing over the creature that Thor had frozen, his daggers red with blood and the monster dead. Pete was still fighting the last creature, and as Matt watched, he saw Pete struggling against the creature, pushed back step by step. Each time he tried to strike the monster, it avoided the incoming sword easily, always slipping out of its descending arc at the last possible moment. Matt watched Pete Cleave a mighty swing towards the monster’s side, only for the creature to drop to the ground and flow under the strike, coming up ready to counterattack a second later. There was something eerie about the way it moved to avoid the blade, seemingly knowing exactly where the blade would be and using its incredible agility to perfection.
Matt ran to help as Pete’s back was nearly to the cavern wall. He was still too far away when the monster avoided another Cleave and counterattacked with a mighty swing, and Matt saw claws tear a deep groove in Pete’s thigh that immediately spurted with dark red blood.
Just like Jasper, Matt thought, pushing himself harder. Mia would be right behind, but she couldn’t work unless he–
He shouted at the white monster, which spun away from Pete and looked him straight in the eyes, a strange intelligence considering him. He held the gaze, his own eyes hardening as he lunged forward to swing the guandao at the monster. Something like a smile crossed the monster’s features as it crouched down, only to leap towards him, spinning in the air in a manoeuvre designed to avoid Matt’s attack. As it passed his blade with only a few inches of clearing, he pushed essence down into the weapon and watched in satisfaction as the dark, red ghost blades shredded the creature mid-air.
A second later, what remained of the monster splashed against him, and he forced his breathing to calm as he turned around in a large circle to take stock of the situation.
Mia was already by Pete’s side, holding her hand against his thigh. Green essence flowed down from her hand to wrap Pete’s leg, and as he watched, he saw skin knitting back together. Mia met Matt’s eyes and gave a quick nod before turning back to her work, and Matt breathed out in relief.
Vic and Thor were approaching them, Vic’s eyes wide as he looked at Matt.
“What the fuck was that?” He asked, excitement and apprehension in his voice as he looked at Matt’s weapon. “Was it the same effect as before? With the red cloud? You can control the… invisible blades?”
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“Yes,” he smiled, looking down at the weapon, sensing it radiating with a sense of contentment. “I can push essence into it, like this,” he said and demonstrated the effect. “They were so quick, but they couldn’t avoid that aura.”
Vic paused, and he looked uncomfortable. Several times he opened his mouth, only to shut it again.
“What’s on your mind?” Matt finally asked.
“I…” Vic began to pace around, his movements reverting to the jerky, nervous nature they had in the beginning. “I thought you were… That you were broken somehow. When you couldn’t get levels and skills, you just saw the stupid threads. And… Well. I didn’t want to say anything, but the rest of us were becoming powerful. You were good with the spear, but… And you got nothing. No levels, no skills. No special powers.”
Matt opened his mouth to speak, but Vic kept going.
“I’m sorry. I kind of assumed you were…”
“Useless?” Matt smiled and touched Vic’s arm.
“I… Yes, I guess.” Then Vic looked up at him. “But you are not. That display back there was… just… You are… Fucking scary.” Vic looked down, then back at Matt. “And I’m glad you’re on our side. There must be more to those threads of yours… I’ve got a feeling you’ve just scratched the surface.”
Matt gave Vic’s arm a squeeze, not sure what to say. Finally, he just nodded at Vic before he looked over at a nearby monster corpse. “What the fuck were those creatures?”
Vic walked over to the single monster that was still more or less in one piece and not cut up into small pieces. Standing over it, he pointed down. “I’ve never seen arms or legs like that. They bend all funny, and there’s another joint that’s just fucking wrong.” Bending down, he reached out to touch the monster. When his fingers touched the bare white skin, his hand flinched back. “Yuck! They are weird. And creepy. It’s like touching a… It’s like hard slime. All smooth and slick.”
Matt snorted. “But seriously, I’ve never seen anything like that. How about you guys? Thor, do you know what they are?”
Thor just shook his head and watched as Vic used his boot to roll the dead monster onto its back.
The strangely long and thin arms and legs flopped over, and Matt joined Vic in studying the monster, bending down to inspect the corpse. The limbs ended in hands covered in hard scales, with long, hard claws, almost like talons. With the corpse rolled over, Matt could clearly see the extra joints in the arms and legs that allowed the limbs to bend in both directions. The hands appeared to have two extra opposing fingers that ended in softer skin instead of sharp claws.
“The way they moved…” Vic muttered and shook his head. “How they crawled over the ground. Nothing should move like that.”
Matt lifted the monster’s head to study it. Thin, almost cone-like, with a face dominated by two enormous eyes that were entirely white, like ice or snow, set above a small nose that was little more than two small nostrils. The mouth was hanging open, and Matt could see several rows of teeth arranged in layers going far into the creature’s mouth. As he bent down to look closer at the creature, his eyes caught on a thin tendril of glowing symbols that rose from the creature’s chest.
Matt leaned in closer. Similar to the boglins in the dungeon, there was a glow of threads emerging from somewhere inside the white monster, and he gingerly extended his hand towards the glow. When he waved his hand over the threads, they bent in the air, reaching for his hand, but nothing else happened. No crystal appeared in the air above the corpse.
Matt turned to Vic. “Can I borrow your dagger?”
“Erh. Sure?” Vic answered, and Matt took the offered dagger. Carefully, he cut into the monster, right where the glow was. The sharp blade cut easily through the creature’s skin, and then stopped on something hard. At first Matt thought it was bone, but when he looked closer, he could see something glinting inside the creature’s body. Carefully, he pressed his hand into the cut, and pulled out a small, clear gemstone.
“What is that?” Vic asked, taking the dagger back and leaning in to inspect the crystal. “It doesn’t look like the–oh, wait. Can I see?”
Matt held the crystal out for Vic, who picked it up. As he held it out, Thor leaned down to inspect the crystal.
“Essence Crystal of Life: Tier D. Attuned Affinity: Hunger. State: Full.” Thor read.
“What does that mean?” Matt asked.
Vic was peering hard at the crystal. “It doesn’t… It doesn’t get absorbed like a skill crystal, or a class crystal,” Vic said. “When I look at it, nothing happens. I don’t…”
As Vic’s voice trailed off, Thor said, “It has an affinity. Perhaps it does something if you have the same affinity? How about the other monsters, do they have–”
Before completing his sentence, Vic was off to cut the other monsters open. A short while later, he rejoined them, grinning as he held out another two crystals gleaming in his hand. “They all had them. It’s one more Hunger affinity, and this one is Ice.” He held it out to Thor. “I know your affinity changed to water, but…”
“Thanks,” Thor said as he took the crystal from Vic. “Let me try.” He held it up to inspect it, and a moment later Matt saw thin, blue threads shoot off from the crystal and into Thor.
“Oh,” Thor said in a low voice. “That was–it replenished my Water essence. After the fight, the essence was half full, and now… It’s almost full again. The crystals contain essence, and if you have the right affinity–”
“They recharge it,” Matt said distractedly, while he thought about the implications. “They contain essence. And they can be transported easily. Remember the dungeon when you were running out of essence? Having crystals with the right affinity would have been—”
“These are the first creatures we have killed outside the dungeons, right?” Thor interrupted, talking mostly to himself. “Does… Does everything have these crystals? Why have we not heard of them before?”
“Animals don’t have them,” Pete added. “I’ve hunted enough to know that.”
“So what’s the difference?” Vic asked.
There was a pause while they considered the question, before Thor suddenly jerked as his eyes found the fireplace. “Intelligence. They were intelligent…”
“But…” Matt scratched his head, “Why have we not seen them before? If they–”
Mia walked up to them together with Pete. “I’ve seen a crystal before,” she said, interrupting Matt. Her voice was trembling.
“Where?” Thor asked.
She didn’t answer at first and just looked at the crystal in Vic’s hand. Matt saw the muscles of her jaw tighten for a moment before she forced herself to relax with a deep breath.
“The collectors,” she said finally.