Liam released me as Ginger and Pendragon walked up. “Do we need to give you two a room?” While Ginger sounded like she was joking, the look that she shot me told a different story. I couldn’t tell if she was pissed at me or Liam. It wasn’t like I didn’t understand why she might be pissed at me. After all, she likely thought that I would chase after her brother. Yet this was the second time that she had caught the two of us cozying up.
Not that we were, or at least I didn’t think so. I sure as hell didn't see the asshole in that way. Of course, I didn’t see anyone like that. At least not while I was still in this body. Maybe I would reconsider after a heart-to-heart with a god or two. Preferably after they gave me what I wanted.
“Now what?” I looked at Pendragon as I asked the question. I wasn’t willing to look at either of the other two. At least not right now.
“There is a Hermetic Marmot nearby. Hunt it and kill it.” Liam answered for Pendragon who rolled his eyes.
“Any advice? Information?”
The only response I got, other than shaking heads, was “Watch the glow.” So helpful. I didn’t even know what glow he was talking about. Did its eyes glow? What about the air?
I growled out my annoyance as I mentally cast my mana out for the third time in less than an hour. It broke within moments. The bastard didn’t even have to tell me why, I already knew. “Can you at least point me in the right direction?” No one answered me which likely meant no. Great.
Chisa Katana in hand, I kept my ears peeled as I stumbled my way up the slope. Sure, I could have started by going down the hill first but then I would have had to climb up twice the damn thing if the creature wasn’t down there.
A sudden, soft skittering of rocks to my left caught my attention. The sound caused me to stop and look around. None of the three of them had moved to follow me so there was no way they caused the noise. While it could be the creature I was looking for, it could just as easily be a rock shifting or settling. Other than going over there and taking a look, there was only one other way to know.
So I stayed still as I waited for something to happen. It was deadly silent save for the natural breeze that ever so helpfully blew toward the spot. The complete lack of noise and no way to smell what was over there was driving me nuts. I nearly gave up and moved on when another clatter of pebbles filled the air.
I raced toward the noise. As I came around a boulder, I found a tiny hole with dirt flicking out. The dirt made a quiet hiss against the stone that was covered by the wind. Blade in hand, I didn’t hesitate to stab into the hole.
Something squealed in surprised pain as my blade struck something. It felt hard and firm. As the object was at the far end of my reach, I pulled my blade back to find a tiny drop of blood on the tip.
Whatever I had hit came flying out of the hole. It moved so fast that its momentum caused it to fly a good way down the slope before gravity brought it to the ground. It moved fast, faster than any creature I had come across. Still, I managed to keep an eye on the blurry mass.
As it skidded to a halt, I found myself looking at a groundhog-looking creature. I had no clue what the difference was, and honestly, I couldn’t care less given the way the thing was looking at me. Its beady eyes looked like they wanted to murder me.
Too bad it was below me. It would have to make its way up the hill if it wanted to get to me. Especially since I wasn’t going to give up the high ground, not when I didn’t know what the creature was capable of. So we stood there, staring each other down as we waited for the other to act.
Without warning, the creature let out a shrilling cry. I saw the mana around it ripple moments before something lit up on its paws. Whatever they were, they looked like runes. Ones I didn’t know.
On pure instinct, I managed to twist out of the way just in time for the creature to pass through where my chest had just been. The thing was fucking terrifyingly fast. I spun as the thing hit the ground just in time to see another symbol form on its fur.
This time the symbol was on its back and it was one I recognized. When its mouth opened, a torrent of flames spewed out. It splashed over the ground around me as I used my mana to deflect the stream.
Seeing this, the creature let out another scream as yet another symbol lit up. This one was on its forehead and it was linked to the fire rune. Fire engulfed the creature only to disappear, taking the creature with it.
For a mere moment, I thought the creature had just committed suicide. That thought didn’t last. Especially when the damn thing appeared above me with a pop of displaced air. I didn’t have enough time to move before the flaming ball-o-death landed on my head.
While the fire that licked at my skin tickled, it didn’t seem to do all that much. Of course, the fuckers razor sharp claws and teeth were a different story. Those things dug into my flesh as they sought to get to my yummy insides. As sudden as the attack came, Pendragon plucked the guy off my head.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The creature scrambled as it tried to reach his hand. Even its fire did nothing to his hand. He made it look easy to deal with. “What did Liam say about watching for the glow?” He asked.
Blood flowed down my face. Some of it continued down, following my skin until it reached my neckline. The rest dripped off my chin to land on the ground. “Cause that is so descriptive.” I managed to mumble as I forced as much mana into my healing spell as I could. My skin itched and crawled as the flesh knit itself back together. While it felt odd, it was reassuring to know I could heal myself.
“You think that every creature you are going to face will come with a manual on how to face it?” Pendragon spat back. “Even if they did, it would be region-specific and I wouldn’t trust any information I didn’t gather or confirm for myself. Neither should you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And why should I not trust information someone tells me about a creature?”
“Because it might be incomplete, misinformation, or flat-out wrong,” Liam spoke as if he had experienced such false information. “While most will do so on accident or without meaning, there are those that will do it for a variety of reasons. The biggest of which is greed.”
I knew they were right, but that didn’t mean I would dismiss what others told me. Instead of arguing the point, I returned the topic of conversation back to the creature flailing in mid-air as it tried to get away. “So what do I need to know about this creature?”
Pendragon and Liam both refused to answer. Pendragon simply shook his head while the other guy took a few steps back. Ginger, she looked relaxed as she sat on a boulder and looked to be brushing out her tail. The damned evil beast tossed the creature in my direction as he jumped back.
As it spun through the air, I found that it looked almost gleeful. The thing knew it had been caught and that there was no way it could take on the big guy and survive. So it probably thought the guy was being almost kind as he released it. The only thing that stood between it and freedom was a weak creature that it had nearly beaten once. How hard would it be to take it down a second time?
So I might have been personifying the creature. Sue me. I didn’t hold back as I poured mana into my muscles. While the mana started to flow, I almost worried that one of them would blast the skill away before I could use it.
Sure as shit, it failed moments before activating. Still, the mana that flooded into my muscles didn’t just sit idly before it dispersed. My muscles got a brief surge of power. Enough for my hands to accelerate my blade as it slashed up toward the creature.
Sparks erupted as the edge connected with the creature's fur. They were magnesium bright and blinded me long enough that I didn’t notice my blade simply pushed the creature away rather than cut into its flesh. My only hint of an issue was the pitter-patter of feet as the creature sprinted toward me.
Still blind from the flash grenade that was a result of my attack, I had no choice but to stumble-jump to the side and cut through where I thought the creature would be. Another flare of white turned the slowly recovering world into another blind hell.
Over and over, the creature jumped at me and I sliced at it. Either I got really lucky with the first hit or the creature was learning because I only experienced another eye-searing flash every three or so attacks. But, with how fast the creature attacked, that was enough to keep my eyes out of commission.
Other times, I either had to fight to keep my balance as the rocks under me slipped and slid around or moved too slowly. When that happened, the creature took full advantage. Blood welled from where the claws sliced their way across my face and hands. Thankfully the creature seemed unable to cut through my dress so even if it did hit me in the chest, it would be unable to go after the fleshy and unprotected belly that all creatures seemed to love to target.
I must have missed the creature enough times because my eyes had started to recover. The world around me was a mix of colorful blurs. One of which was running toward me. I don’t know how it happened but if I had to guess, just as the creature went to leap the rocks must have slipped forward. All I know is that the creature was going to miss.
I didn’t bother to move as the creature sailed over my head. Which was probably why the thing was able to catch onto my ears. Those bloody things were fucking long and upright as they helped me avoid getting hit.
My anger, pain, and annoyance came out in a rush of curses as the creature’s claws sliced through the cartilage that made up my ears. I didn’t even bother to follow the rules Liam had put into place at that point. Mana poured from me and wrapped itself around the creature. As the threads formed into runes, I pumped mana into each. Water splashed against the creature's fur and soaked in.
A mere fraction of a second later, my mana pushed into the creature's own fire rune. The thing burst into flame and promptly exploded. Blood and viscera went everywhere. While gruesome, I felt almost happy at the sight.
“Well,” came Liam’s voice, “is one way to kill something. A bit overkill though.”
I spun to face him. Whatever I looked and the expression that was on my face caused him to stop and lift an eyebrow. “Overkill?” I demanded. “How is that overkill? The fucker couldn’t be cut by my sword!”
“It couldn’t be sliced by your sword.” Ginger corrected. “Its fur offered no protection against stabbing.” And they were only just now telling me this. I take it back, these fuckers were worse than Barti ever was. At least he tried to teach me. These three were just going to watch me nearly die over and over again.
“If it helps, that is considered the weakest creature for…” Liam started but had to stop as he looked up in thought.
“At least a couple dozen miles.” Pendragon finished. “Mostly due to their need to be alone and the ease at which you can kill them.” Maybe I would just return to the starter town. At least there I would be relatively safe from the weakest creature killing me. Wait, that wasn’t true. The bunnies nearly got me too.
Damn it. Was the experience worth the time it took to kill it? At just over two thousand, not really, not when you consider the thing had just shy of twenty levels on me. Sure, it got me up to level thirty, but it would take, let me do some math, five more to reach the next level.
That was only the first of many though. If these were the weakest out here, I needed to gain quite a few levels to even have a hope of surviving out here without help. Judging by how much the sun had moved, I would be here the rest of the week hunting the things to gain any ground on Xander. And that wasn’t taking into account the dropoff in experience I would get as my level increased. Then again, what else did I have planned? It wasn’t like I could just level up by sitting around.
With a resigned sigh, I asked, “Are there any more of the things nearby?”
“Why don’t you tell us.” Yeah, I should have expected that answer from Liam. Wonder what the pack would say if he died while out here. By accident of course.