Chapter 70

With the effects of Bloody Howl, we made short work of the second gorilla, which had already been severely injured, in no time. The skill lasted for only twenty seconds, and every four seconds the boost from it faded slightly. At the start, it granted a whopping plus 5 to the dexterity and strength of those affected. After four seconds, that went down to 4, then 3, two, and so on. Given our low stats, the boost was massive though. It meant for the first eight seconds, Lyn’s Dexterity was at or over the 11-threshold granting her a massive increase. As for me, the whole duration ensured my base damage on Claw and Fang stayed at 8.

Between Lyn’s arrows, my daggers, Nyle’s rapier as he joined the fray, strategic shots from Quill above, and of course Shadow, who tore out the ankle of the impaled gorilla, drastically reducing its movement, it was night and day compared to our first gorilla battle. In short, we’d learned a lot from the first fight, and now, already, had improved our teamwork. Even with the earlier debacle, even with Alax being out of the fight, the rest of us acted like a well-oiled machine.

“Well done,” Quill said, clapping his hands together as he landed on the ground. With the gorillas slain, it was safe, once again, for him to join us on the jungle floor. “Seriously, a much better showing than the first battle.”

“Those traps were a lot more effective this time around.” Nyle commented, motioning towards the first gorilla, and it’s severed paws, which lay a few feet away.

“That’s how they’re supposed to work.” Quill replied, “when the wires are actually secured properly.”

“Really, I already said I was sorry about that.” Lyn interjected defensively. “And you’re the one who undersold how strong the gorilla would be when it connected with the wire.”

“I’m sorry,” Quill held up his hands, “it’s not my fault I’m not used to dealing with Climber’s who physically aren’t strong enough to hold onto the wires. In all honesty, you four are the lowest leveled Climber’s I’ve ever hunted with. Most Coals that come hunting are at least in the low teens. And even then, it’s usually D-ranked Climber’s with gear boosting their stats even higher. The four of you,” he looked down at the first gorilla, where a very silent Alax still lay, “are definitely outside of the norm.”

“I guess the spike works better at skewering the targets too when they can’t grab hold of it to stop its momentum,” I added. Had the first gorilla not had its hands, that wooden spike would have certainly driven its way at least halfway into its massive chest, maybe more. Slowed down by a wound like that, it would have been a much easier fight.

“Our methods are efficient.” Quill said with a nod, “they’re tried and true, and we know what we’re doing. We have to, after all. It’s kind of our in job description.”

We all laughed at that, minus Alax. Quill looked down at the man, his eyes filled with pity, as he moved closer to the fallen gorilla. He placed his hand on its fur, and the gorilla disappeared. Interestingly, its two severed paws remained.

“Come on now Alax,” Quill said softly, holding a hand to the man. Alax was covered in blood, and his breathing was ragged. Considering the gorilla had smashed him with one of its stumped arms, I couldn’t help but wonder if his ribs had been broken. If they had, why hadn’t he healed himself? Why hadn’t he done anything, actually, since the gorilla fell atop him. “It’s safe now.”

Alax blinked at Quill, a dazed expression on his face. Quill sighed, grabbed the man’s wrist, and stood, heaving as he did to stand Alax up.

“Heal yourself,” Quill said forcefully. Alax held his hand to his side, his palm glowing with the whitish yellow light of healing magic. A moment later his breathing stabilized. “Drink,” Quill’s voice was still firm, it wasn’t a statement, a command. He held a flask up to Alax’s lips, and the Climber drank.

Immediately after, Alax was coughing and spitting, spraying blood and liquid all over.

“What was that,” he said between gasps, “are you trying to poison me?” More spitting and coughing. “My insides are burning.”

“Welcome back,” Quill said, laughing as the flask disappeared. “That, my dear Climber, is something we Hunters call Fear’s Bane.” More laughter, “it’s a special concoction of ours. Completely harmless, though too many swigs and you’ll find yourself drunk off your ass and unable to see straight. The strong burn, which will settle into a soothing warmth, helps snap you back into the present.” He shook his head, “we use it for Hunters who freeze up in battle. Much like you just did. We call it Tower lock.”

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“Tower lock?” I asked as Alax tried to glare at Quill. His coughing and sputtering was making it hard for him to do anything though.

“We see it a lot in our younger Hunters,” Quill began, “when they’re overcome with fear or panic. Usually its triggered by something traumatic, or the memory of such an event. It fills them with paralyzing fear, as they relive the experience. Given our line of work, we aren’t strangers to it.” He looked at Alax, “Climber’s experience it too, obviously. Just, it’s less talked about. The few Climbers I’ve spent time with who have mentioned it, they don’t like to talk about it. Say it’s a weakness in Climbers. And admitting to having it is a sign of a failed Climber.” He shrugged, “they act like getting Tower locked makes you broken. But honestly, I think it’s just part of being human.”

“I’m not broken.” Alax said firmly, finally straightening his back as he stood. He looked at all of us, and the aggression in his eyes immediately faded.

“No one said you were,” Quill said softly, patting Alax on the shoulder. The Hunter then walked over to the second gorilla, once again touching the creature, causing its body to disappear into his special inventory. “Just that you’d experienced something traumatic.”

Alax opened his mouth, looked at me, and closed it. The fight completely left him, and he bowed his head in shame. “Thank you, Ash.” He said softly after a moment. “For saving me.”

“Hopefully you’ll take this as a sign I really did want to help you earlier,” I said, my voice holding a bit more venom than I intended it to. I didn’t hold grudges like he did, but the memory of being crushed alive by the first gorilla while he stood and watched was still pretty fresh in my mind. “We’re all Climbers together. Working together, saving each other, it’s what we do.”

He looked up at that, his face unreadable. He looked around at everyone, then looked at Quill. This time, he bowed his head even deeper down. “I’m sorry Quill,” he said, practically crying. “I’ve, I’ve been acting terrible. And it could have cost you your life.”

Quill walked casually over to one of the severed gorilla paws, and tossed it to Shadow, who caught it with a happy bark. He grabbed the other then, and moved closer to Alax, whose head was still bowed. Quill gently patted the Climber atop his dark-haired head with the bloody gorilla paw, a grin on the Hunter’s face the whole time.

“You’re forgiven,” Quill said with a chuckle, “and the only harm here really was to poor Ash there the first battle, and you and your pride this second. Hopefully, with all of this aside, we can spend the rest of the day having smooth hunts, yeah?” The paw disappeared from his hand, into his inventory with the other carcasses.

“You’re… you’re not afraid of me locking up again?” Alax asked hesitantly.

“Even if you do, your teammates here will support you. If I had to guess, you’ve got some deep-rooted gorilla trauma to take care of. And the best treatment us Hunters have for that, other than good old Fear’s Bane, is good old fashioned exposure therapy.” He looked at the rest of us. “Besides, if I had to guess, the rest of that troop should be quite easy to deal with, now that they’ve lost three of their stronger members.” He glanced at Lyn, and then Alax. “Though, I have to ask. Why did two of them chase you?”

Lyn pointed at Alax, a small smirk on her face. Alax’s face went red.

“I, uh,” he took a breath, and sighed. “I may have thrown my spear at the younger gorilla in that second one’s arms… I didn’t think it would kill it, mind you, or anything like that.” He was stammering, “just, when I saw them, and thought back to what had happened to me during the Reaping, I saw red. I wanted them to suffer. So yeah, I threw my spear at the one it was holding. It pinned the little one into the larger one, before the small one disappeared. And then,” he nodded to the ground, where the other had been, “the other one came charging after us as well.”

“You, killed a baby.” Quill asked in disbelief. “You killed a baby gorilla in the arms of its parent?”

Alax nodded, obviously not proud of what he’d done.

“Oh boy Alax,” Quill shook his head, letting out a heavy sigh as he did, “you’ve got some serious problems to deal with, don’t you.”

“It’s just a creature of the Tower.” Alax muttered, “so is it really that messed up?”

“While you’re not wrong,” Quill said slowly, “it’s exactly that reasoning that makes it problematic. The Tower, I’m afraid you may be learning soon, takes certain things… personally.”

The air seemed to drop a few degrees around us as Quill spoke, his tone suddenly serious.

“What’s that even mean?” I asked. “Are you saying how we treat the creatures within the Tower will effect what happens within the Tower?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Quill said with a nod, “and it’s also why we’re heading out of the jungle now. It’s bad luck, continuing a hunt when someone’s committed an affront against the Tower.” He shook his head, muttering even more as he began to move back the way we came. Towards the exit of the jungle. “So much for reaching my quota today.”

The rest of us shared a look, questioning Quill’s sudden change in demeanor. Everything had been going well. We’d made short work of those two gorillas. Everything was set up. Even our traps hadn’t been damaged nearly as much as the first fight. And yet, Quill was hastily leaving, pausing only to return the razor wire to his inventory, Shadow on his heels.

“Are you sure that’s not just superstition?” Nyle asked as Quill took another step. Just then, a loud roar from deeper within the jungle echoed all around us. Deep. Powerful. Intense. There was no telling what direction it had come from. No telling what type of creature had made that sound. The trees rustled and creaked, and the very ground atop which we stood shook.

“Are you sure that’s not just superstition?” I said mockingly to Nyle, as we all hastily moved to rejoin Quill, weapons at the ready, eyes scanning the jungle. Our nerves were deep in our stomachs, and our hearts attempting to beat their way out of our chests. Superstition or not, one thing was very clear. Whatever had made that sound, we didn’t want to face. Getting out of the jungle seemed like a much, much better idea than continuing the hunt.