“Okay, last two cards.” Having already outfitted herself and eaten a fair share of biscuits from the jar, Maggie only had two more cards left to check.

Hunter’s Crossbow

Rank D — Item Card

“A simple crossbow, that happens to be used by a hunter… To hunt.”

“Is it me, or are these descriptions kinda snarky?”

I have noticed that some seem to be more informal while others are serious and descriptive. There is some clear discrepancy here.

“Ugh.” After claiming the Crossbow card, Maggie went for the last remaining card in her hand.

Wooden Crossbow Bolt Pack

Rank D — Item Card

“A pouch containing 20 crossbow bolts, wooden graded. It will handle most of your ordinary game… Most of.”

“Okay, there is clearly a pattern here. Do you think we will have to hunt something?”

You would imagine that. The word ‘Hunter’ was mentioned at least five times.

“Yeah. I’m not looking forward to it, I have no idea if I can hunt or prepare game for food, for what is worth. But hey, on the bright side, this seems like a better weapon than the kitchen knife!”

That it is. And I have a feeling that you most likely won’t be hunting for food. You better start getting used to the weapon.

“You want me to try it right here?”

Why not? You have plenty of targets. Besides, this is already established as a safe environment. We don’t know what we will face going forward.

“Yeah, I guess you are right, there were a lot of monsters out there. But you want me to shoot the bodies? Belinda, you are cold sometimes.”

They are inanimate targets, and most probably were never alive to begin with. And I do not possess a significant body temperature, because…

“Yeah, I get it. No body.”

Yes. No body.

Throwing her hands up in the air, Maggie just accepted her imminent ‘not live’ target practice as something she needed to do, and then walked towards the farthest of the strange bodies, positioning it against the wall. Having previously claimed the crossbow and bolts, she walked back to the end of the room and deployed them, the hefty crossbow coming into existence on her hands after a few seconds, and then, a moment later, a pouch containing the bolts.

“Ohh. This is heavy,” She tried the weight of the weapon, looking for the best way to position it, until she finally settled that it probably would be best to hold it under her arm, pointing forward when shooting.

Satisfied with her stance, she positioned the shooting end of the weapon on the ground, stepping on the handle at its farthest point for stability, and then pulled its string all the way back, charging it with a bolt.

You seem to know what you are doing.

“I do, don’t I! I’m not sure if I have ever fired one of these bad boys, but I certainly have seen it being used before.” Saying that, she brought the weapon all the way back up, preparing to fire at her target.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Okay, here I go.” In a quick motion, she pulled the trigger and the bolt was almost instantly propelled forward, and as a punch, she immediately felt the recoil of the weapon hit her arm and chest. It wasn’t strong enough to harm her, or make her lose her balance. In fact, it was barely a thing, especially considering the size of the weapon. That’s why she didn’t have any excuse whatsoever for having terribly missed her unmoving target from less than ten meters away.

“Ugh…”

Maybe try it again?

“Yes, of course” She recharged the weapon and shot… and completely missed again. And the next two times. She even snapped a bolt in the base on her last try.

“Ookay. Nope. I am terrible with it. I can’t aim for my life.” Carefully, she rested the crossbow on the ground. “How do I put it back in the card?”

You can't. Once you call an item it is permanently deployed.

“Well… Perhaps I will get better if I practice enough.”

Hopefully, you will. We might as well keep going, we are starting to leave my comfort zone, timewise. Let's go. We have 30 minutes.

“Okay, about that; you are awfully calm, considering we only have half an hour left to live!”

You don't need to be overly distressed. I sense that there are enemies close ahead.

“This feels like more reasons for me to be overly distressed!” Maggie threw her arms upwards, with a fair amount of distress in her voice.

I don't feel any immediate danger… And considering our findings, perhaps this time we will be the ones to attack first.

“I’m not sure I like the idea of attacking something unannounced either.” Slowly, Maggie unarmed the crossbow, storing the remaining bolts in its pouch, now tied to the back of her belt. The weapon secured, she decided to just strap it against her haversack, not really putting much attention to it. It would make it heavy, and very awkward, balance-wise, but she really didn’t want to be carrying the cumbersome thing around.

That is exactly what being a hunter entails, Maggie. Belinda continued.

“Yeah, I don’t think I would be a good hunter, everything considered. Besides, as you said, it isn’t like I am going to hunt for food.”

Belinda sighed at that. That is something she will probably be doing quite often.

We should move now, Maggie. Are you certain you got everything from this room?

“Positive. There were just the robed guys in this room. Well, them and these guys,” She nudged the strange featureless grey bodies with her feet, “What are these things, anyway? They look like some giant dolls.”

Well, I am… not certain. They look biological in nature, but at the same time… Artificial? Ah, something escapes my grasp on the subject. Although It feels familiar to me somehow… Alas, we can not waste time.

“Right. Waste time we shall not.”

***

Leaving the room, they only had one other path to follow, so it was a simple choice. At first glance, it gave the impression that it would go forward for a long time, but as soon as she started walking, Maggie realized that in truth, the path declined into a steady descent. That, with the dim lighting and the fact that it seemed to follow a slight curve, made it look longer than it really was, given the lack of a visible end. In reality, it didn’t take even two minutes for her to see an increase in light, and then an opening.

Same as the window from before, Maggie’s view was open to the vast immensity of wherever she was— the seemingly never-ending ocean of fire still extending far beyond her vision on the sky. But now, where its bottom counterpart should be, there were a series of dry land masses and ruins, linked together by floating platforms and bridges. At the end of the path, she found herself on top of a ledge, made of the same orange-coloured stone as the other structures she had seen so far. The ledge was immediately over a slope that descended into a new path below.

“Oh, snap.” Looking down, she finally noticed she was not, in fact, alone. Half a dozen small creatures seemed to carelessly lay on the ground at the end of the slope, amidst some sparse dead vegetation and crumbling walls— some remains of a structure, she surmised.

What do you see?

“Right. Tiny little fellas, like the one back in the room. But these are way smaller and don’t have the weird arm.” While she was too far up to see the finer details, especially with how well the monsters blended into the environment with their reddish skin tint, she noticed the child-like creatures were more feral than the one she fought less than an hour ago. These favoured walking on all four when they moved— Their proportions more monkey-like than of a human. And while she didn’t notice at first, they had longer ears and a long jagged tail that whipped behind them with every movement. “What are these things anyway?”

I believe they are a type of Imp; fire-oriented minor demons.

Maggie gasped, “So this is hell!”

I didn’t say that.

“You just said the words Imp, and demon. That seems very hell-themed to me!”

Take it as you may. We haven’t found a plausible explanation for anything we have encountered so far. Maggie could swear she felt Belinda mentally shrugging after that.

“Being in hell is a plausible explanation.” She mumbled.

What is that?

“Nothing— Okay. So what now?”

I believe this might be where the hunter motto is pointing us towards. Do you think you can make a shot from here?

“Hmm. They are not that far, just deep down below. And they are not moving at all, they seem to be just… Chilling? So maybe it is possible.”

Okay. Do it.

“I’m sorry little guys,” she sighed, “Mama needs more time to live.” With one eye closed Maggie bit at her tongue. Holding her breath for a moment, she focused on her target, making sure she would get it right this time, and then, with precise calculations, she took the shot.

And missed it miserably.

“Nope, still bad at it.” Her bolt went wide and missed the closest imp by a large breadth, hitting a dry, wizened tree at their left.

She took a deep breath, setting her crossbow under her arm. “Well, at least I am good at running.”

Why is that?

“Because they are running away.” As soon as the bolt hit the tree, startling the Imps that were close, they took one good look at her and fled in the opposite direction.

What? After them!

“And there goes calm Belinda.”

Maggie, I’m not feeling any other presence near. Those are our only targets!

“Oh boy.”