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World: MSS - Loading...
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“Aurora! Skaris! You’re losing the formation! Tighter!”
Aurora took a powerful step in the direction of the Hwacha, lunging forward with her lance in a calvary charge. The monster screamed, trying to escape but Skaris’ spear weaved and lashed out, keeping the creature in place with precise, focused strikes. The armor-clad woman’s lance tip skewered the creature in its thigh which caused it to go ballistic.
It started turning to and fro, struggling to escape the clutches of the two warriors. The coffin behind the monster swung in the air like a big club, threatening to knock Skaris unconscious. Skaris danced out of the way, too graceful for a seven-foot tall lizard beastman, and his spear whirled in large flaming arcs; leaving sticky blue flames on the Hwacha’s back.
Finally, Stole’s arbalest hummed with power and then belched out a bolt –one of the dozens she’d fired– and it hit the Hwacha squarely in the head. The Hwacha turned glassy-eyed, its movements slowing down as if it was confused then disintegrated into a combination of light and dust. Stole breathed hard, lowering her arbalest and looked to me, her eyes asking for approval. I gave a curt nod, walking towards the two frontliners.
Aurora was breathing heavily but her eyes were anything but tired. If anything, I’d say she was heaving fun. Skaris on the other hand looked frustrated; stabbing his spear into the soft ground and muttering curses under his breath.
“-ssssstupid sssssshite-eating monsssssster.” He rummaged through the drops, a few coins and armor that was no doubt useless to any of us. “How many wassss thissss one, Sssslaveborn?”
“Seven.” I answered.
“Sssseven. And not a sssssingle usssseful thing.” He complained.
I was almost tempted to tell him that the Core drop rate for the Hwacha was dismally low, around 1% or so. Plus, the Hwacha had five different types of Core colors; the chances of us getting the right Core on the first try was low. If it ever dropped at all. But there would be no use in discouraging the lizard beastman, he was already frustrated enough.
Kyrian walked up next to me. “Lock. We should leave soon. It will soon be nightfall.”
The young mage was right. The sun was setting in the distance, stretching the shadows into long slowering spots of black. During Nightfall, not only would the monsters present here become stronger but it would cause the ecosystem to change and nocturnal monsters would start to roam.
“But I feel like we could squeeze in one or two more…” I thought to myself, debating.
“Let’s hunt one more.” I finally decided, “Then we’ll call it a day.”
“Mr. Lock, I don’t believe there’s enough time.”
“I’ll join in this time.”
Stole almost jumped then with words dripping with sarcasm, “Really? You won’t just stand in the back, telling us what to do? You’ll actually join in and get your hands dirty? Wow. That’s so… gracious of you.”
“Then it’ll be quick.” Kyrian agreed. “We should hurry. Stole?”
She sniffed in response. “Don’t even need to look for another one. Look over there.”
Following the line of her finger, we saw another Hwacha running this way; dragging the coffin and followed by the dust cloud it was kicking up. The monster bucked when it saw us, beginning to pick up speed and flames flickering along its body.
“Same as before.” I ordered.
Stole groaned but hoisted her Arbalest.
Kyrian acted first, calling forth [Electric Webs] to slow down the monster, followed by one of the few curses he knew [Reduce Sight]. Kyrian had done a complete turnaround after my advice; he started employing even his weaker spells and I could see the effects that this had in battle. He might not be throwing around lightning and frying things to a crisp but was like a conductor, controlling the pace and flow of our battle.
Aurora and Skaris dashed forward next to each other. Few seconds before they collided with the monster, Skaris split off and began to harass it with spear strikes, though careful not to wound it just yet. Right before impact, Aurora braced herself by planting her Tower Shield into the rocky ground, her face showing no fear as the Hwacha used [Explosive Charge].
The explosion was pathetically small.
Skaris had held back on purpose. If he hurt the creature [Fiery Road] would cause the creature to go faster and faster; meaning [Explosive Charge] would be strengthened as a result. Then, Aurora would have trouble keeping the monster engaged and our backliners would be in danger, not to mention their projectiles would be less likely to hit. He wasn’t just trying to hurt monsters without thinking anymore, Skaris was thinking ahead and thinking about the effect on the team as a whole.
Like I said, people dismiss Skaris due to his racial heritage and general manners. But the warrior had good instincts and a sense for battle. He was finally acting like a proper party member.
They all were.
Stole used [Concentrated Aim] and fired the first of her shots, which pierced the creature’s chest. I saw her grimace, ready for this battle of attrition. With Kyrian and Skaris doing almost no damage to the Hwacha, Stole had been acting as the sole DPS for the party for today. She was running low on mana and arbalest bolts, and I could tell that hunting as a group for so long was weighing on her.
So I entered the fray, putting on my helm.
My new helm –that I affectionately referred to as the Seeing Helm– resembled a mask more than a helm. A rounded cloth covering the top of my head and the mask sliding down like a visor. The mask was just a white slate with two holes for eyes, the [Seeing Crystal] embedded in one of the sockets.
With it, I could see.
The distance between me and the creature, the paces that I had to take, Skaris and Aurora’s arm movements at the edge of my peripheral vision. Everything that I had taken for granted before [Snow White] plucked out my eye came back and a rush of exhilaration traveled from my spine, settling at the bottom of my stomach. Nervous butterflies floated around and I heard myself laughing as grayish Aura covered my katana.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Then I activated my Cores.
[King’s Guard] which took the Lunar Shield from my hand and lifted it high above my head, rotating around lazily…
…[Share the Load] put my wrist in a manacle and chains, which was attached to another manacle that wrapped around Hwacha's throat…
…Followed immediately by [Arcane Masochism] which offset the debuff from [Share the Load] and strengthened my arms Legs and core muscles.
Then I slashed the creature in front of me. Once. Twice. Twice more. With each laceration, my sword left a mark, the [Artisan of Battle], a black inky oily thing that writhed as if alive. With every other hit the markings solidified like paintbrush artwork, sometimes into tree branches, sometimes into daggers and at other times clawed hands. But no matter what form it took, it cut the creature from the inside out.
I ducked and spun away with ease, having seen the coffin swinging towards me from a mile away. Normally, I’d have stayed and allowed the Lunar Shield to block it. But with my recovered vision…
…I saw Aurora step into my place, heaving with her shield and driving the creature off-balance. Skaris capitalized on it immediately, his spear flicking out half a dozen times in a span of seconds.
Lightning flashed and the Arbalest sung.
After another minute, the creature let out a woeful cry in its death throes, standing upright and still before its life faded away.
I wasn’t even breathing hard.
“You know, if you’d join in earlier we could have killed twice as many.” Stole growled, approaching us.
“No… we couldn’t have.” Kyrian followed right behind her. “We only worked together so well because we took the time to hunt this monster, learning its behavior and abilities. Isn’t that right, Lock?”
I nodded. “We’re going to be hunting these exclusively until we leave with the Church.” I left out the part about how they’d started moving as a party together, lest they become over-cognizant of it.
It was a fine line we were walking on. Yes, you had to learn how to work as a team but at the same time, that didn’t mean suppressing your own abilities to match the others. If we paid too much attention to the actions of others, it would have the opposite effect; we’d be weakening ourselves. To work together meant that we had to make decisions on where my abilities were best spent while simultaneously not holding anyone else back. And often times, that became a poison in and of itself, trying to match up with your teammates while suppressing your own potential.
“Sssshhhaa!” Skaris’ cry brought me back to the moment. “At lasssst!”
“W-What? What dropped! Let me see!” Stole struggled to get through Aurora and Skaris who crowded around the drop.
The Hwacha had finally dropped something worthwhile; a small lock of bristly red hair that was tied together with a leather braid.
“What is it?” Stole’s eyes were wide.
“It’s a [Charm] called [Hwacha’s Hair].” I explained. “If you hold it on your person, it bestows you with a special blessing.”
“So which blessing does this one provide?”
Kyrian took the hair from Skaris, closing his eyes and running his hand over it. I felt his mana move through the item. Since the world of MSS didn’t have any way of identifying item effects, the only way for the denizens of this world to learn more was through mages. They were both adventurers and researchers, the latter being instrumental to furthering the knowledge of this world.
So I kept my mouth shut about its effects, waiting for Kyrian to do his thing.
“It seems to provide a certain level of elemental resistance, mostly to fire.” The mage handed the hair to stole, who had been waiting for it. She turned it this way and that. “Without research equipment, it is hard to determine how much. It would be easier to consult the Guild and see if they have a record of this charm.”
To add on to what Kyrian said, the Hwacha’s Hair provided a flat 10% elemental resistance to water and lightning, and 25% to fire.
“Then let’s have Aurora hold on to it during our hunts.” I suggested.
Aurora nodded gratefully, then added. “We have never discussed the distribution of this party or a Shared Account.”
Right. I had forgotten it.
Once forming a permanent party, the party usually collected gold from everyone –or rather, set aside coins to be used for the party as a whole. This extended to items as well, Charms, Weapons, Equipment and in rare cases; Cores. Depending on the party, it could range from anything that resembled capitalism to outright communism. Of course, as a player who played the videogame, I leaned towards Communism.
But the real world wasn’t like that. Everyone wanted a little bit more and be rewarded for their hard work accordingly. As the de-facto party leader right now, it was up to me to strike a fair solution.
And for me, that meant pushing it off.
“We can talk about it tomorrow.” I shook my head as Stole finally passed the lock of hair over to Aurora. “We should start heading back.”
The five of us began to walk back and idle chatter began to pick up. I was amazed at how much difference having Stole in this party made. Everyone else had been rather of the serious kind, but the young beastgirl brought a little flair to this bleary party made up of adults who’d been hurt by the world too much.
“So what’s to stop someone from stuffing their pockets full of these Charms? Couldn’t they be super invincible then?”
“Charms have a unique mana signature and if you have too much, they begin to interfere with each other.” Kyrian explained calmly. “Plus, many of them have strict requirements. For example, when I checked the [Hwacha’s Hair] earlier, the mana signature was very faint and only activated when exposed to the outside air while it was in contact with my skin. I imagine that the charm would not work if it’s not touched directly.”
“Oh that sucks.” Stole pouted. “So I can’t have too many charms?”
“Depends.” Kyrian was more than happy to explain and it was one of those rare moments where I was reminded that Kyrian was a real bona fide mage, something considered a nerd in this world. “I’ve heard Ring-type charms have a higher capacity for interference and multiple of them can be worn. In fact, most jewelry type Charms, often referred to as Accessories, can be worn without fear of them losing too much of their effect. Though the rarity among them is the issue…”
As Kyrian trailed off, I thought back to Bilgrun Blazecopper.
He’d been furious when I turned my pockets inside out to prove I didn’t possess a single gold coin. The dwarf had only agreed to let me go after I told him about my current dealings with the church… plus, I promised to visit his store more frequently. If the dwarf was skilled enough to modify a Seeing Crystal…
“I should see if he could make other things for my party.”
It was a common enough theme in RPGs. You meet a merchant or a skilled smith, do some quests for them and you get access to exclusive wares or a discount.
Plus, there was the fact that he literally let me walk away with the Seeing Helm with nothing more than a verbal promise to pay him back.
“Feels like he might be one of those pushovers…” Contemplating how morally wrong it was to push Bilgrun into giving me a higher line of credit, I almost missed it when Stole stopped talking and froze on the spot.
Aurora bumped into the young girl. “...Ms. Stole?”
Stole wrinkled her nose, like she smelled something unpleasant. “We’re not alone.”
They appeared out of nowhere.
Some of them had been hiding behind rocks, some behind trees. Others had used some kind of stealth-based ability to hide themselves and others. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that there were a lot of them.
At first glance, they looked like normal adventurers. But the mismatching armor, the rusted weapons next to shiny new ones told me a different story. You see, no self-respecting adventurer would go around with mismatching armor like that; nor have a mixture of weapons that was rusted in one hand and well-oiled in the other. These guys were thieves, plain and simple, and I’d be a fool to think they left their victims alive.
Their eyes were hard and flat, and instead of looking at our faces they were checking out our equipment.
A few of them were leering at Aurora and Stole, their gazes sweeping up and down.
Shit.
“Mr. Lock, I’ve heard of them.” Aurora whispered urgently, ushering Stole behind her. The poor girl’s eyes were wide with fear, looking around while clutching her Arbalest like a teddy bear. “They’re a Clan called the Scavengers.”
“These guys are a registered Clan?” My voice sounded incredulous to my own ears.
“Yup we are.” One of them took a step towards us, wearing heavy armor from head to toe. His face was hidden behind the helm and speak of which, all of them had their faces hidden in one way or another.
Skaris hissed, hefting a spear.
“Whoa, easy there big feller.” The man chuckled, raising his hands. “See? I’m not holding a weapon.”
I took a few steps forward, meeting him. “Move.” I said simply.
The man cocked his head to the side, “Now now, let me get my piece out first. Er-, what was it again? Ah, here it is.”
The guy took out a piece of paper and began to read from it. “Hear Adventurers, The Cliff has been deemed Scavenger Territory. To hunt in Scavenger Territory, all Adventurers are subject to a fee of 20% of their earnings.”
“Can these waste buckets do that?” Stole whispered. She probably got over the initial shock of seeing so many adventurers in front of us and her natural belligerence was returning.
“Clans can charge a fee. But to my knowledge, they did not register the field we were in, only the Cliff.”
Aurora was right.
But I didn’t want to give them an excuse to start a fight. There were too many of them and I had no idea just how strong they could be. Plus… I wasn’t by myself. If it was just me, I could probably have escaped. But with Aurora and Kyrian, the two slowest members of the party behind us?
No. The smart thing here was to give a few coins and go our way.
“We found a few coins and scrap armor. You’re welcome to it.” To make a point, I took said drops from my Dimension Ring, dropping it at my feet.
“Ah… of course.” The helmeted man looked behind him for support, then cleared his throat. “But you see-”
“Ah, thank you! Thank you!” A skinnier man came to the front, rubbing his hands like a third-rate villain from a kid’s movie. He nudged the armored man aside, picking up the coins and scraps I dropped on the ground. “That’ll be all then!”
I glared at him.
Something was fishy.
But again, now wasn’t the time to delve into this issue. I needed to get us out of here.
“Let’s go.”
The men parted before us.
I let my party walk ahead of me and brought up the rear. I saw Aurora walk in front of the party despite Skaris trying to take point. It was because all the men were whispering, making catcalls and eyeing her, Skaris trying to use his significant height to somewhat shield the two females of our party. Stole –unused to such sexual aggression– kind of cowered. Adventurer you might be, but if you’re a teenage girl and all these big men are making overt suggestions at you, I’m sure I would get scared too.
But Aurora held her head high and fulfilled her job as the tank of our party, leading the front. I saw Kyrian’s staff smoldering with smoke, even the usual calm mage was barely containing his anger.
The entire way, I walked five paces behind my party; daring anyone to make a move.
It seemed like forever… but we were out.
And by the time we were out, Stole’s eyes were wet with tears and Aurora’s face was flush with both humiliation and rage.
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“Why’d you let them go?!”
“Well… they were hunting Hwachas, didn’t they?”
“So?”
“The ones who hunt Hwachas come back. Always.” The skinny man looked at the retreating feigures, eyes clouded with greed. “Let’s wait… give it a few.”
“Then we’ll hit it big. I’m sure the boss will be happy too.”
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