Ikrei P.O.V.

We were hiking towards the mountain range behind the castle at high speed. High speed for a hunter, that is.

“You double checked your supplies, Ikrei?” Brother Darin inquired.

“Everything is as stated by Lord Sarkan, seven haversacks of supplies plus weapons.” I continued our speed run.

“Don’t forget your emergency artifacts. The ones that should have been listed in the requirements for this exercise.”

I knew how to use both of them by now. The reminder worried me a little.

‘Fearbeasts said the muscle mass. The training is based on fear.’

We reached the side of one of the mountains. There was an opening similar to a cave but it seemed to be manmade.

“We are hunting orgon fed spiders. They’ll be tricky.” Darin gesticulated me inside the cave.

“Cracklers?!” I was taken aback.

I had heard of them but never faced them before. They tend to be in the deep regions of cave tunnels or near the center of large orgon deposits. They are called cracklers because of the vibration they emit with their legs when they are in an excited, alerted state.

‘This is getting seriously complicated.’

“You got my back, right?” I was looking for positive reinforcement.

“As much as it is required.” He answered.

Leading the way, Darin went ahead of me as we descended into the depths of the cave tunnels. A strange orgon laced smell permeated the surroundings. The scent or whatever it was, was causing me a severe headache. After descending approximately four levels, Darin took out his blade but kept moving forward.

“They are coming, get ready.”

I took out my blades and had my preset orgonid charges ready for release.

“Be careful with the explosives, if you use them too much you will alert the Queen.” Darin said.

“This is a true spider den?!”

“It is too early for you to sound distraught. Focus and show me everything you got.” Darin ordered.

‘Inhale, exhale, release.’

I readied myself gripping my dual blades waiting for the spiders. Hissing was audible from all directions.

“Roll!” Shouted Darin.

I rolled to my right instinctively. Acidic spit fell where my feet where, just a second before. The green viscosity melted a very small portion of the rocks.

“Hunt two hundred of them with no charges. I’ll cover you, begin!”

Before I could even get under way, Darin was already blocking several coordinated spit attacks by the spiders that were aimed at me. His blade was absorbing the acid. He was fast, ridiculously so.

‘A mastercraft blade, maybe?’

“What are you waiting for?” Darin’s question snapped me out of my wonderment.

Some of the blue colored spiders were just a few cubits away hidden behind rocks and orgon crystals. I charged at them. They weren’t too troublesome, the inhuman energy control regime allowed me to execute minute burst of energy with incredible precision. Perfect for a practitioner with meager resources.

The blades came down on the spiders like a mallet. They were a little bigger than my forearm. One, two, three, four arachnids gushed their green liquid as they perished. Darin’s cover and my occasional evasion created a good synergy.

SWISH! CRACK! SWISH! CRACK!

With a controlled burst of energy, I continued my assault. My attacks were as precise as they were powerful when compared to an elite non-awakened hunter.

‘Not bad for a former pelt peeler.’

“Let’s speed this up.” My cloaked guide ordered.

SWISH! SWISH! CRACK! SWISH! SWISH! CRACK!

A few acidic gobs managed to touch my armor. The increased velocity brought about a reduction in precision. I was unwilling to compensate with an increase in my internal energy consumption.

The exercise progressed for the next fifty-eight araneae legged kills.

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“Good enough for a warm up.” Darin told me.

He immediately punched the hardened orgon filled rock floor. A tremor was provoked.

As expected and before long, attercops showed up. Spiders as big as my entire arm.

“Those guys don’t do acid attacks; their legs and fangs can slice you open like a hunter’s blade. I’ll deal with the hundreds of smaller ones that target us from a distance.” He casually stated.

“But there’s more than a hundred of the big ones.” I objected.

“I know.” Darin became a blur and blitzed the powerless arachnids.

‘Fear, right? Gurnir!’

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My blades required several cuts to pierce the thorax or the abdomen. The orgon made these spiders highly resistant to craftsman level weapons.

‘No wonder some armors are made from the bigger spiders. I should have asked for mastercraftsman weaponry.’

I pounced and evaded, hit and run. I was on the lookout for my cloaked guardian, I was trying to stay within his vicinity. That was my plan anyway, he wasn’t cooperating.

“AHHH!” I was panting heavily.

Three consecutive strikes and I landed a finishing blow through the hardened carapace of one of the attercops.

‘Four down, ninety-nine to go. You need more than this to scare me, Darin.’

ZEEEZ! ZEEEZ! ZEEEZ!

The sharpened legs of my inhospitable dwellers scratched my neck at times. I decided to start infusing my blades with a quarter of a drop of kinetic energy.

SWISH! CRACK!

A true, one movement bash right between the eyes.

‘I don’t know how long I can hold on like this without using the supplies. Let’s just deal with what’s in front of me.’

I kept doing my hit and run with the added kinetic blade attack. I was incapable of launching an energy blast outward from the blade. Covering the blade with the energy was my limit.

Slowly but surely I was getting surrounded. I couldn’t predict how long my armor or my focus would hold up. I ran like mad around the tunnels looking for cover but never going further down.

‘Further down, bigger beasts. No, thank you.’

Hiding against a column, I held my breath. Obviously, my hastily made plan did not work. The hissing around the cave system augmented. I could barely glimpse a blur that beheaded, sliced or tore open the arachnids that wanted to launch ranged attacks towards my position. Being tired and worried, I chose to disobey the ‘rules’ of the exercise.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

The ground trembled, the orgon explosives activated a chain reaction with the nearby orgon crystals. Around thirty of the attercops died instantly. The cave was very sturdy, considerable dust but no rock slide. Darin didn’t utter a word.

‘Maybe not only the entrance is manmade but the whole structure. Mines and all that.’

I took out an orgon dilution from my temporal ring and gulped it down. Refreshing.

I restarted my araneae hunt with renewed vigor.

Several hours later, the last of the attercops fell by my blade.

The exertion took its toll, with my hands on my knees I looked for my guardian.

“Since you used the orgonid charges, it is time to double down. Follow me!” Darin appeared from my blind spot.

He was unmistakably going to continue the descent.

“We are going deeper?” I asked.

“You are starting to brood, Sachear?”

He persisted with his original intent. He didn’t even look back.

I went through the motions, I estimated that we were two levels further down. The amount of orgon crytals were increasing.

“What now?” I asked.

“We deal with the next wave. Rest and prepare for an hour, we will begin after that. The next ones will be harder. Krigsain taught you how to sharpen your craftsman blades, correct?” Darin questioned.

“In passing but yeah, he did…I’ll get to it.” I sat on a nearby rock quite uncomfortably.

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“Ready?” Darin asked as he prepared for another punch.

“Er…No.”

‘I was being honest.’

“He he…sorry?” He smashed the ground again.

The tremors occurred and more attercops, arachnids showed up. But this time, four massive, blue and purple colored spiders appeared in a cluster. They were twice my size at first glance. They were emitting awakened energy, these guys were true fearbeasts, it reminded me of the alpha shadow wolf.

“Fight those four, I’ll deal with the rest.” Darin said.

“These guys have a core, maybe more. I got a wisp.” I complained.

“You have four, I have near four hundred. Be careful with their webs, they can manipulate earth. Don’t die.” Darin dashed where his targets were located.

‘Overpowering with proper execution is out. Bag of tricks and charges, lots of charges. Inhale, exhale, relax. Overcome your fear.’

I let my skimpy core energy radiate thoroughly. I made a beeline near the first purple spipra I saw.

Once I got close enough, an earth spike emerged from the ground, I barely evaded and got welt on my orgon infused breastplate. Three more spikes came forth. My charges were released, the charges and the spikes clashed.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

Two breaths. I threw one of my blades targeting between the insect’s eyes. The energy coated blade penetrated. One hit kill. A weak carapace.

‘I have enough energy for three breaths of time. Although the amount of power is miniscule, there is no waste thanks to my control.’

Three breaths. I took an orgon dilution from my temporal ring and gulped it. The latent core was replenished. Time for round two.

Four breaths. I rushed to retrieve my blade but the remaining spipra launched spider webs and a dome of dirt and rocks formed on top of me. The webs that stuck to my body, pinned me in place. I cut the webs with my blade using all the strength in my latent core as a resource to regain movement with increased speed.

Five breaths. I took out the orgon dilution for another sip. I charged at the dome with my remaining blade.

“HELP ME!” I screamed.

Using charges here was dangerous. Spikes target me again, three spikes coming from the ground.

Six breaths. ‘Skimpy’ replenished once more. I got impaled in the leg by one of the spikes. I twisted and dodged the other two.

“I’m coming!” I heard Darin’s voice coming from outside the earth cage.

Hissing, blades and more rumbling from the earth was audible. My senses were heightened, I was afraid. Six more spikes appeared below me. Desperate, I released more charges from my temporal ring.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

The eruption destroyed the spipra’s fabrications.

Seven breaths. The armor took it, it was dented and became basically useless, but the orgon protection worked. Nevertheless, I was bleeding from the back of my head, that’s two bleeding injuries. The ground gave way from underneath me.

“No, no, no!” I began a forced descent, my body pulling me downward through the massive hole.

“Give me your hand!” Darin grabbed my right hand and pulled.

“Thanks—” I felt the same sticky substance around my legs. The spider webs, tens of them.

A powerful stridence resounded inside the cave system.

Eight breaths. My ‘skimpy’ core’s energy dissipated instantaneously. The injuries accelerated the energy depletion.

“Their mother is here. I’ll come get you.” Darin let go of my hand.

“What?! No! No!”

I began another plunge into the depths. Flailing my right arm wildly looking for a hand that wasn’t there.

‘Why does this keep happening to me? Maybe I curse too much?!’

“AHHH!”