Novels2Search
Slay Hero
Chapter 29

Chapter 29

An arrow pierced deep into the monster’s neck, bringing only another fearsome roar. Nine feet tall, a hulking mass of muscle and fat wrapped in yellowish leathery skin, the ogre exuded raw brutish power. A second arrow pierced its neck and still its enraged charge did not slow. An arrow lodged firmly its head not even halfway down the metal, the first shot he loosed in the battle having not even pierced its skull.

The ogre raised a crude club as large as a man and swung as Shin leapt back, loosing a third arrow into its throat as the wind struck past. The arrows all sunk deep but did nothing but anger it further, it’s vitality and savage tenacity too much for attacks of this level.

Shin didn’t bother aiming for its heart or gut. He had tested such attempts on the one before and had met the same result. The ogre raised its club, slowly to Shin’s current standards, and an arrow struck its eye. The ogre reeled but did not fall, its bone structure did not allow for normal barbed arrows to pass through. Shin made a mental note to acquire some bolt tipped ones when next he could as he blinded the monster fully.

He stored his bow and burst forward unarmed, rippling waves pulsing and condensing in his palm. The ogre’s head jolted, its sharp sense of smell not lost along with its eyes. Shin ducked under a powerful swing and rolled away as another caved in the ground at impact. A single hit would shatter his body beyond repair but still he ducked and sidestepped around the ogre, slipping inside as the ripples reached its peak and struck its side.

A small shockwave erupted from his palm, knocking the yellow brute off its feet with the sound of snapping bones. The ogre landed with a thunderous crash and struggled to its feet with a grimace and bloody hurls, but on its two feet it stood again, tall and fierce.

Shin drew two red daggers into his hands. A fully condensed ripple to the guts would have kept down anything he had come across in this temperate highland so far, but ogres were too tough, too big. He blitzed forward, dodging its wild and powerful swings, drawing lines of blood with each passing moment. Soon the great creature collapsed, its body and the ground beneath drenched in warm blood, still flowing rapidly.

[Ogre (rare) - Lesser Lord]

Strength - 353

Agility - 118

Constitution - 309

Vitality - 322

Dexterity - 155

Perception - 214

Force - 101

Spirit - 147

Control - 133

Willpower - 152

Skills:

Heavy Whack, Clobber, Charge, Greater Roar,

Traits:

Greater Tough Bones (rare), Greater Leather Skin (rare), Lesser Disease Resistance (rare), Minor Poison Resistance (uncommon),

Shin glanced over to the growing trail of ogre corpses as Inari drunk her fill of violence. Each took a medley of slashes to put down but she could land that medley before any grasped the hope of even grazing her. The last of the tribe fell and she sauntered over to Shin’s side, gloating her overwhelming victory in the unspoken competition of who could kill the most things.

“I’ll summon you again soon.”

Inari nudged Shin disapprovingly, having not received the praise she sought, as she returned to his soul in dazzling lights. With his proud partner on forced respite, Shin headed off towards the large settlement he found quite a bit earlier. He had searched and fought across the highlands for hours and hadn’t come across a single spirit above common tier. Training was of eternal importance but right now his priority was spirits, and for the first time, true party members.

---

Shin glanced at the towering unmanned stone walls as he passed through the gate. 100 feet tall, nearly double what he could jump straight up at his best, and 20 feet wide of giant stone blocks, lined with battlements and elevated watchtowers, it gave the presence of infallibility. The town itself was nearly as impressive. Lined with buildings of various make and purposes, all large and made of mostly stone or brick unlike the new world villages.

Workshops and stores hung signs with symbols easy to tell what wears they sold and fronting them were nonhumans. Short bulky bearded dwarfs, small large headed gnomes, long eared beautiful elves, scaled draconians and half monsters. All unidentifiable and all unmoving from their buildings.

Shin saw none of the fantasy races walking the town proper, that role filled by the hundreds of players and parties that arrived before him, talking and arguing amongst themselves. With no oversight they were just as likely to fight as they were to partner, but a common trait among them was a sense of awareness. Most stared at Shin, either a glance or too long, the vast majority Greater Peasant but he was not the only lord among them.

Shin didn’t pay attention to his fellow players long as his eyes found a familiar sign, a quill across a scroll. He walked straight over to the old gnome woman sitting behind the open counter to her store with a jaded no nonsense scowl. Shin took notice of the little paper beings working behind her that the system labeled uncommon tier Origami, moving around items and cleaning up.

“Shikigami?”

She scoffed, then looked into Shin’s oddly sincere eyes with a pause. “Origami. Step below Shikigami. No souls, just paper golems basically. Good for odd jobs and such but useless in a fight.”

“How do you make them?”

“What grade are you?”

“Novice.”

“Then you don’t. What’s your field? Talismans, scrolls, or brands?”

“Talismans?” Shin guessed. He hadn’t heard of the other two, something the stern eyed gnome seemed to pick up on.

“Spell scrolls, allows any halfwit to use a skill for triple the cost. Brands are magical markings, gives the user power or changes their qualities, temporarily over time or one time use. How far are you into Novice?”

Shin tilted his head.

“Your skill, boy.” The old woman stressed. “What can you do?”

“Fire, flash, light, illusion.” Shin recounted the talismans he had made so far.

“Failed any fire or light lately?”

“No.”

“How many uncommon ones have you made so far?”

“Two.”

“Control?”

“108.”

The old gnome leaned back slightly. “That’s enough to get you to journeyman at most. Raise your Control if you really want to accomplish anything in this craft.”

“I can get to journeyman now?”

The gnome woman looked him straight in the eyes. “Yeah, if you’re in a rush. 2 silver an hour and I can teach you anything I know.”

Shin took out a gold coin and placed it on the counter. The gnome woman’s expression turned somewhat exasperated.

“Can’t do nothing with this. Split it up.” Another silent pause had her sighing. “Hold the coin and focus on it, turn it into silver.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Shin did has instructed and the gold coin burst into silver coins clattering over the counter, a hundred in total Shin counted at a glance. The old woman picked up two and they vanished in her hands.

“Hide your wealth, boy. You’re getting looks.”

Shin glanced back at the greedy and examining faces, then stored his silver no more concerned than before.

“Door’s around the side.” She thumbed. “You can work in the back, plenty of supplies around. Don’t expect me to mind you like a baby bird, got a store to run here.”

Shin walked around building and through the unlocked door to the back, glancing around before turning towards a low desk.

“Just a moment.” The old woman beckoned as she placed out slips out on the counter and took out a brush. Her quill moved effortlessly as she drew across the paper slips one by one, Shin watching closely with prismatic eyes.

“Lightning, wind, water, earth, wood, clean, temperature. Get your bases covered before you move on, don’t want to build on flimsy ground. Show me a hundred of each, then we’ll start proper.”

Shin walked off to the desk at the back of the room, and sat down, taking up his brush as his focus deepened.

---

The dim hue of dusk painted the town orange. More and more players had gravitated in but few had started interacting with the stores much, least of all the less popular professions. Shin had been the only one to take up tutorage in the tiny inscription store but that didn’t bother him nor the storekeep at all. Glowing light gathered and broke into falling fragments around the latest talisman. Shin picked it up and walked over to the old gnome who had barely moved from her seat all day.

“Another hour?” She asked, routinely.

“No.”

She turned with some slight surprise on her face as Shin placed seven stacks of talismans on the counter. She flipped through each one randomly and sparsely with sharp eyes before putting the last stack down, looking at Shin for a moment.

“Alright, pay attention. Elements are the easiest to grasp for most but each step up is a mountain, not a hill.” She painted new slips, these with more intricate designs. “Five main elements and lightning. Hundred each just like last time.”

“Can I work here overnight.”

“If you want. Money up front.”

Shin handed over 30 silver coins. The old gnome pocked them and closed up the long windows of her open counter window, and throwing several talismans at it and the door before heading up the stairs to the second floor.

“Don’t make any noise.”

Shin silently nodded and returned to his desk, the symbols and processes of the uncommon tier elements fresh in his mind.

---

The old gnome woman walked downstairs at the crack of dawn, unhurried and unenthusiastic. As she took her last step, he eyes perked up at the boy in the back. A thin veil of mana surrounded him as he painted talisman after talisman ceaselessly, failure or success irrelevant, his brush continued to move deep and deliberate from within his trance.

The gnome stood patiently in silence, examining the boy for a while before walking over. “What’s your count?”

Shin’s hand stopped and easy going nonchalance returned to his eyes but the veil remained. “27 fire, 23 lightning, 19 water, 22-”

“Yes, yes, that’s enough. You should have reached Journeyman with that. Those 50 points you got-”

“I put them in Spirit.”

“...You want my advice, go master a few of your skills and throw the points into Control. Then you come back and practice. Save yourself some time and coin.”

“Okay.” Shin thought for a moment then rose to his feet. He wanted to fuse and upgrade some of his skills soon anyway.

“Those uncommon tier element talismans only have a potency of about 100 Force, keep that in mind.”

Shin paused for a moment. “Shin.”

“Grenda, not that it matters.” The old gnome swished her hand and the talismans on the door and window returned to her, as she started to open up shop. “Still got three hours left on your money.”

“Mm.” Shin head out and off towards the gate. Grenda watched him go with the same sullen expression as always, but not the indifference. Nearly a quarter of the quota in just one night. No matter how much the system was helping these initiates, that was abnormal talent. Still, her thoughts on it lingered only a few moments before she sighed them away, returning to thoughts of surviving one day at a time, no leeway for anything more.

Shin headed out of the still unguarded town gate and straight for the mountain, taking only several minutes to reach one of the points of interest he spotted on his way here, a swirling portal to a rare lesser lord dungeon. He entered immediately stepping out into a solid rocky cave tunnel. His eyes flashed prismatic then returned to normal. Unlike the goblin dungeon, he couldn’t see through the walls of the tunnel, at least not these parts. Inari appeared by his side as he equipped a braided brass ring.

“Stay behind me.”

Inari seemed displeased about the arrangement but sulkingly stood at his side all the same, though only slightly behind. Shin walked through the dungeon carefully, every so often the carved eye of the ring glowed. He jumped over an area and Inari copied him, walking near the side of a wall next and then the other side, and jumped again. Like this they travelled for a few minutes, the quality of traps unimpressive but the sheer number of them an issue, more so as they hadn’t encountered a single monster yet.

Shin stopped in front of an slightly protruding section in center the rocky ground and glanced to the sides. It was obvious and the ring told him as much, detecting the real triggers along the sides around it. Shin threw a talisman at the center tile which turned into a clump of hardened dirt that struck it hard, the trap door beneath opening up. The trick for the goblin dungeon had been obvious too so Shin couldn’t help but feel something was off.

He jumped over the trap door and leant back instantly as a blade swept over him. Inari mid jump stepped on the air to flip over it landing right beside Shin. The ring hadn’t detected that one either, Shin only evading it by sheer reflexes. He looked back at the jammed blade having served its one use and considered leaving the dungeon and its traps above his ability, but a sight up ahead convinced him to carry on.

They came across an opening area flanked by small cliffs that didn’t quite reach the ceiling. A small dragonheaded humanoid creature rose up from above the cliff and slung a stone straight at Shin. He sidestepped the stone easily and put an arrow through its red scaled hide, seemingly not nearly as sturdy as it looked.

He waved off Inari to stop just as she was about to lunge, and threw two handfuls of talismans, clumps of hardened earth bombarding the ground as all manner of traps set off. Darts, spikes, falling rocks, and trap doors set off in front of them culminating in a pair of massive swinging axes cutting through the air from both ways, swinging back and forth like an executioner’s pendulum.

Inari burst into the air before they settled as panicked kobolds sprouted from behind their crude barricades pelting them with stones from the slings. Shin effortlessly stepped and slipped the slow attacks planting an arrow in three kobolds before Inari leapt over to finish his side off too. A slightly larger aged kobold carrying a leather sack fled down the path onwards, taking only a few steps before an arrow pierced the back of its skull.

[Kobold (uncommon) - Lesser Lord]

Strength - 86

Agility - 112

Constitution - 63

Vitality - 102

Dexterity - 128

Perception - 141

Force - 125

Spirit - 100

Control - 76

Willpower - 67

The Kobold Trapsmith up ahead had slightly better stats but unimpressive all the same. Shin ignored the destitute regular kobolds and skipped ahead to rummage through the trapsmith’s bag. Mostly tools with a few parts and pieces and surprisingly crude blueprints for traps. Shin recognized some of the easy to detect traps that weren’t part of the dungeon terrain itself, including the hanging axes.

Although the implication that dungeon monsters could set traps themselves independent of what he assumed were those built into the dungeon’s themselves, it was of little importance to him at the moment. He and Inari continued onwards, maintaining vigilance against further traps, but there were no more to be found leading up to a path sloping down.

Inari took the vanguard on her own initiative and Shin readied his bow as they descended down into a large cavern inhabited by four creatures. Wingless dragons as tall as a horse and twice as long, the fire drakes stood on four clawed legs covered from head to toe in red scales, their murky white undersides like riveted plate armor.

The fire drakes sensed them coming nearly as soon as they entered, clenching their throats and spitting large balls of fire at the two trespassers. Shin dodged the two aimed at him with a wide berth and loosed an arrow that barely pierced the white plate scales around its neck.

Three more fireballs spat at him before two charged in for a melee. Inari struck one, luring it over to her personal brawl, leaving only one for Shin to deal with. The quick and agile monster dodged a second arrowed aimed for its eye and snapped at Shin as he leapt away, an axe and clubsword taking the place of his bow.

Shin sidestepped another bite and rolled under a quick swipe of its front leg as he chopped at the drake’s hide. The axe recoiled like it had struck a clump of metal and Shin jumped away from a second swipe. Another fireball, planted its feet long enough for Shin to dash forward and saw across its neck with the obsidian blades of the macana, though that too did little better than the axe, just barely reaching flesh to draw the slightest bit of blood.

Shin flipped back as the angered drake swirled in place, lashing its thick flat tail like a jagged whip, before lunging at him once more. Shin’s two weapons vanished and the obsidian needle sword he looted from the Igarashi traitor took root in his hand. Shin blurred to side of the drake’s lunging jaw, his arm drawn back in perfect fencing position, and thrust. The estoc pierced through the creature’s tough scales into its flesh.

He slide away from the retaliation to a new opening, puncturing it once more. Shin danced around the thrashing monster like a wasp, taking small bites from its flesh whenever he could. The air around the drake grew hotter and hotter like a furnace he could feel, though his top shielded him from the blistering heat.

The fire drake’s wild movements slowed as Shin targeted its muscles and joints mercilessly. The kobolds had shown signs of more human intelligence but this drake was a smart beast at most, unable to answer greater skill and tactics for anything but raw anger and effort.

Soon the drake staggered a moment too long and two quick thrusts stole its eyes. It recoiled with a great roar and two talismans triggered within its mouth, bringing paralyzing and searing lightning. It stunned the scaled beast for only a moment but that was enough for Shin to lunge forward and pierce through its open mouth into its brain. He pulled back his pitch black estoc as deftly as he thrust, and the drake fell with it.

Over on the other side, Inari slashed through a wounded drake’s neck again and again until she took its head fully, felling the final of her three opponents. But even she had found some trouble with these monsters, evident by her increased fatigue and a few claw wounds on her body. Shin’s own status was not ideal. No injuries to speak off but he had but half his aura and hardly any mana left.

“We’ll come back later.”

He headed off back to the entrance and Inari followed. Shin had only intended on testing the dungeon’s difficult with his current abilities but the result was worse than he expected. He needed equipment. He needed to train more. And above all, he needed teammates, chief among them a scout.