Dungeons of the Crooked Mountains
Page 31
Unexpectedly, I got a vague explanation from the harn.
“Hunting spot. Battle. Rival.”
“Are you trying to say he lost his swamp to a stronger rival?” I asked in a whisper.
“Hrn,” Gorgie answered affirmatively.
The harn also let me know that the muckwalker was worn out by the fight. It was wounded and had lost lots of blood. Now it was looking for an aquatic home-base where it could recuperate. That was why it came into this damp cave, in hopes of finding some water to wallow in. In other words, Gorgie was suggesting that we attack the wounded critter before something else did.
When the monster came up closer, I saw that he was not wrong. A muckwalker. Level twenty-one. Whooping, burbling, and squelching heavily, it was heading for the middle of the cave.
Gorgie suggested we act immediately.
“Wait,” I whispered. “Let’s play it safe.”
I take out two brown spheres and throw them under the feet of the slowly shuffling creature.
The spheres broke open silently and the muckwalker caught the full brunt of the energy traps. The Blots instantly drained forty percent of its energy supply. The monster, not expecting such a dirty trick, gave a wheeze and its big fat body was instantly enshrouded in a murky green haze.
And that was all the master of the swamp was able to do. A moment later, it’s jelly-like body fell down heavily to the ground and a long slimy tongue rolled out of its wide toothy maw.
Gorgie was next to its round head in a few leaps and dealt several lightning-fast blows with his clawed paw. I forbid him from biting the creature — I didn’t want him to get poisoned. So the harn was acting cautious.
The pale green smoke that puffed out of the muckwalker after every one of the cat’s blows was slightly flickering. And somewhere around the tenth swipe, it completely dissipated.
That was the end. The muckwalker’s magic shield was down. Powerful blows rained down on the creature’s head, turning it into a pile of green jelly in a matter of seconds. Near the end, I also made my mark. I blasted the monster with a Ram, placing a period on the end of our skirmish.
Breathing heavily, my eyes wide in excitement, I looked at the harn. The cat was also breathing heavily. His feet and body were vibrating intensely. My pet was really going all out.
- You have killed Muckwalker (21).
- Congratulations! You receive:
- Experience essence (4200).
- Gold tablet of Intellect.
- Silver tablet (6).
- Monster Hunter token (30).
- Attention! The Higher Powers noticed you! You have replicated the legendary feat of Sigrun the Sly! You defeated a creature more than 20 levels higher than you using surprise attacks!
- Congratulations! You receive:
- Experience essence (3000).
- Iridescent tablet “Muckwalker” (1).
Before I could get appropriately happy at the new iridescent, Gorgie gave a sudden jolt! And a few moments later, the cave was filled with hissing and shrieking!
Giant rats! A pack of three!
Thinking for a moment, I uncork a vial of potion and take a swallow. The harn bristles up and stands at my side. Two drops and our supplies are filled to the brim.
A short glance back - I won’t be fast enough to reach the ledge. We’ll have to meet the enemy right here.
- Attention! You have activated Gulper’s Lair!
While the giant rats stood frozen in place, studying the battlefield, I take out the iridescent tablet, my hands shivering. There’s no time to read all the muckwalker’s spells, skills and abilities now. But before the giant rats went on the attack, I managed to toss ten points into Intellect.
Two hundred ten points into my magic supply! Now I can fight properly!
The big old rats jumped almost simultaneously. Two of them were immediately flung back by a Ram reinforced with Hunter’s Fury.
- You have attacked Giant Rock Rat (9)!
- Critical hit. You have dealt 75 damage!
- You have attacked Giant Rock Rat (9)!
- Critical hit. You have dealt 83 damage!
The third creature jumped right at me, but was knocked out of the air by Gorgie’s armored body. The two dark gray bodies intertwined into one squealing and growling ball, then flew a few steps aside. Despite the level difference, the giant rat was clearly losing the squabble. Gorgie’s scaled paws flickered like the wings of a dragonfly, turning the side and chest of the subterranean scavenger into a bloody mess.
The harn won but, it was unfortunately too slow. The ten-second stun passed like no time at all. Turning their whiskered heads, the rats went back on the attack. But this time they took a more devious approach. They split up.
One of them dashed off to help their mortally wounded friend, and the other was at my side in two jumps. It was over so quickly that I didn’t even have time to kick, though that was partially thanks to my delayed reaction speed.
The giant rat’s first blow was absorbed by the Lair, giving me time to come to my senses. Then I was left defenseless!
Ram! Squealing in distress, the rat again flies a few steps back and stays there next to the dead body of the muckwalker.
I look over to the harn. He’s lurching between the two creatures, a blistering-fast shadow landing powerful blows left and right.
I cast eel lightning in that direction and the giant rats get stuck in stupid poses. And that is their death sentence. Gorgie, enraged, rips through their throats one after the next and, without even a second of delay, turns toward the last rat just as its starting to come to its senses.
A Thorntail’s Jump and the harn is behind the giant rat, which was caught completely off guard. The cave cat’s fangs clamped down on the scavenger’s neck in the blink of an eye. Even I could hear its spine crunching.
That takes care of the last one... We won...
Not truly realizing what was happening, I got a warning from Gorgie. It’s time to run. A whole pack of rats would be coming here soon.
We left quickly. Well... As quickly as possible with my speed... Contrary to my fears, none of them followed us. Clearly the giant rats were just fine eating the bodies of other rats. Beyond that, there was also the muckwalker. They weren’t above eating it either. After I saw the sheer satisfaction of a rat pack devouring the remains of a megabat, I’m confident they would eat anything.
I finally got around to looking through the loot back at our camp site. My third iridescent tablet delighted me with a new spell.
- Muckwalker’s Defensive Aura.
- Level: 0 (0/20).
- Type: Spell.
- Rarity: Rare.
- Description:
- Using magic, muckwalkers can create a defensive aura.
- Effect:
- Absorbs 2000 damage.
- Requirements:
- Intellect — 9.
- Expends 100 mana.
- Note:
- Cooldown time: 3 hours.
Beyond that, happily, one of the swamp creature’s abilities was not labeled “anatomically incompatible.”
- Muckwalker’s Aquatic Regeneration.
- Level: 0 (0/20).
- Type: Active ability.
- Rarity: Rare.
- Description:
- When exhausted or wounded, Muckwalkers will search for an appropriate body of water, submerge themselves and magically speed up the healing process.
- Effect:
- +20 regeneration.
- Requirements:
- Intellect — 11.
- Expends 120 mana points.
- Note:
- Duration: 1 hour.
- Ability may be used no more than 1 time every 12 hours.
“We got so lucky to find that wounded muckwalker,” I whispered into the dozing Gorgie’s ear, rubbing my hands together.
“Hrn?”
“We got a very useful tablet. You might say it saved my life today.”
“Hr
n?!”
“Of course, of course! How could you think such a thing? If not for you, I’d have died long ago. You’re my main defense! What can I say! You’re my closest friend in the whole wide world!”
“Hrn,” Gorgie answered, licking me on the cheek.
I patted him lightly on his scaled neck and thought...
What is waiting for me up on the surface? How would the valiant scouts take my resurrection? I wonder what they told Skorx? Although, what am I talking about? Those bastards had already buried so many innocent souls — one more wouldn’t make a difference...
Chapter 24
You have killed Black Megabat (8).
- Congratulations! You receive:
- Experience essence (1600).
- Silver tablet (2).
- Attention! Your pet has reached level 7!
- Free characteristics: 3.
“CONGRATS ON the level-up, brother!” I embrace Gorgie, who’d grown a good deal stronger in the last few days.
“Hrn,” the cat nuzzled my cheek with his wet nose.
“Agreed! You’re my pretty boy! Come over here so I can pet you...”
- Ferocious Harn.
- Name: Gorgie.
- Level: 7 (0/36000).
- Status: Loyalty to master (permanent).
- Mind: 1/1
- Strength: 51.5/105
- Agility: 58.5/105
- Accuracy: 5.8/105
- Intuition: 6/7
- Wisdom: 6/14
- Animal instinct: 8/14
- Speed: 51.5/105
- Flexibility: 41.3/105
- Intellect: 28/70
- Mana supply: 330/330
- Health: 60/70
- Endurance: 52.5/70
- Life supply: 650/650
- Energy supply: 575/575
- Scale armor: 30/35
- Defense: 300/350
- Damage: +144…+462
- Bite: 30/35
- Paw swipe: 30/35
- Pounce: 6/7
- Animal regeneration: 10/14
- Hunter: 22.8/35
- Fisher: 12.8/35
- Resistance to Hexapod poison: 7/35
- Thorntail’s jump
It’s been nine days since the memorable battle with the muckwalker and giant rats. We’re now in the cave where I found the first Monster Hunters marker. There beyond that rock wall is the former lair of the gulper female. The place where the scouts abandoned me.
In the last few days, we hunted fairly successfully. Megabats, vipers, fangblooms, coldunes, giant rats — I don’t even remember how many. Unfortunately, as in the battle with those three rats, I was not always able to do damage, but even so I had fifty-four silver tablets in my backpack awaiting their hour.
Gorgie was now able to take down monsters without any help from me so, by mutual agreement, we decided to save the silvers for level seven.
Today, we’ll use some to improve Thorntail’s Jump. With a heavy sigh... Goodbye, seventeen tablets... Still, I can’t afford not to...
- Attention! You have enhanced your pet’s spell!
“Alright, let’s see what that got us,” I whispered.
“Hrn...”
- Thorntail’s Jump.
- Level: 1 (0/40).
- Type: Magical ability.
- Rarity: Rare.
- Description:
- Using magic, thorntails can get behind opponents in an instant and become temporarily invisible.
- Effect:
- Be instantly transported behind an opponent.
- Temporary invisibility duration: 5 seconds.
- Requirements:
- Intellect — 5.
- Expends 55 mana.
- Note:
- Cooldown time: 8 sec.
- Range: 20 ft.
Rubbing my hands together in satisfaction, I read the description one more time. Now the harn can jump one yard farther. And it isn’t much, but recharge time and mana expenditure came down a bit as well. And last... But not least... Gorgie will now be invisible to the enemy for a few seconds after he jumps!
“Beautiful!” I commented. “Darn, I guess we should have improved that spell earlier...”
“Hrn...”
“I agree... How could we have known?”
“Hrn...”
“Yes, yes, buddy.... I haven’t forgotten about your damage. But we have thirty-seven tablets left... We need to make sure we spend them intelligently.”
“Hrn!”
“But we agreed! Defense and health come after the spell. You’re able to handle the little stuff around here easily as it is. And it’s only little to you... What if, all the gods of this world forbid, but what if you die doing something reckless?! How do you suggest I live with that?! Just so you know, I wouldn’t make it long here without you... I’d last as long as it took to find one of those coldunes...”
Gorgie just frowned and placed his scaled head on his paw.
“That’s better...”
And before he started protesting again, I brought his scale armor up to max. That quickly brought the protection up fifty points. Then ten tablets into health — life supply hit the ceiling for this level — seven hundred fifty points. I glanced into the backpack. I had twenty-two silvers left.
As soon as I started thinking about the best way to invest the rest, a wet nose nuzzled my palm.
“Alright, if you say so,” I nodded, raising all the harn’s combat abilities to the ceiling. Eleven more down...
What now? After he got what he wanted, the harn closed his eyes and began dozing off peacefully.
I chuckled then got deep into his info again. There are a few characteristics and abilities I could bring up to the ceiling. I noticed that the Great System hadn’t once deigned to improve them in all those battles. So I’ll do it. One point into Intuition, six into Animal Instinct and four into Animal Regeneration. Alright... No more silvers... All that’s left is to use up the three points the System gave Gorgie for hitting level seven.
The battle with the Muckwalker gave Gorgie two points of Intellect so, with the spell improvement, his magic supply was now high enough for six jumps, which was one more than before.
If I increase the supply now, thirty extra mana points wouldn’t be enough for a seventh jump anyway. Sure, the surplus isn’t exactly bursting my pockets, but we’re in no position to just go wasting valuable points willy-nilly.
Strength, Agility, Endurance, Speed. These characteristics are improving at an acceptable pace as is. But Wisdom had practically not moved. I’ll bring it up - that’ll increase mana restore speed.
That settles it! Three points into Wisdom.
Now let’s see what that gets us.
- Ferocious Harn.
- Name: Gorgie.
- Level: 7 (0/36000).
- Status: Loyalty to master (permanent).
- Mind: 1/1
- Strength: 51.5/105
- Agility: 58.5/105
- Accuracy: 5.8/105
- Intuition: 7/7
- Wisdom: 9/14
- Animal instinct: 14/14
- Speed: 51.5/105
- Flexibility: 41.3/105
- Intellect: 28/70
- Mana supply: 330/330
- Health: 70/70
- Endurance: 52.5/70
- Life supply: 750/750
- Energy supply: 575/575
- Scale armor: 35/35
- Defense: 350/350
- Damage: +171…+541
- Bite: 35/35
- Paw swipe: 35/35
- Pounce: 7 / 7