“We are, thank you,” I answered. “Though, I do have a few questions.”
“You are the type,” Twill said, adding a mock sigh and roll of the eyes. “Please, ask away.”
“Okay, first, why ten feet of rock under us?” I asked.
“Grootslang’s hunt from below. They are fantastic burrowers with those tusks. They move quickly through the dirt, deadly fast even. They can still dig through rock, though at a much slower rate. And it is much louder, sounds like a woodpecker but much louder,” Twill answered.
Suddenly, my mind made the connection to the ‘Never Ending Hunt’ book. I borrowed it from the library in Root City at the start of the dive but only read it recently. The book specifically mentioned the grootslang. After I read it and didn’t gain a skill, I tried using ‘Meditation’ which yielded the ‘Beasts and Monsters’ subskill in ‘Lore’.
Skill: Lore
Rank: II
Level: 59
Experience: 66.47%
Description: Lore is the study of the history of the World Tree and its denizens.
Subskills:
Beasts and Monsters
Your knowledge of the denizens of the World Tree has granted you an understanding of the Beasts and Monsters that populate the many provinces. Advantage: Deal 5% more damage to Beasts. Receive 5% less damage from Beasts. Enhancement: Increase recognition of Beasts and your ability to track them by 5%.
The more I learned about the ‘Lore’ profession, the more I was certain people were stupid and impatient. You can’t complain about a straight up increase in damage to an entire group of creatures.
Anyway, I remembered the part about the grootslang’s hunting methods and their subterranean movement skills. “So, the solid rock beneath us is to make sure that a grootslang doesn’t surprise us,” I said, stating what I should have already realized.
“Exactly,” Twill said with an affirming nod.
“Okay, so, what’s the deal with the Diamond Bazaar?” I asked, motioning to the ghost town all around us.
“More than 50 years ago, the Diamond Bazaar was the center of commerce for the province, it was called such because of the diamond mine,” Twill said, pointing toward the mountain. “Anyway, one day, a grootslang took up residence. There is nothing a grootslang likes to eat more than diamonds. Problem was, this grootslang had no problem with eating miners either. The monster leveled up and grew rapidly, too rapidly. By the time the town sought help, the monster had grown too much and established a high-level raid dungeon. If that wasn’t enough, it started having babies that would venture outside of the dungeon and into the mine to feed, and just like their mother, they had no problem eating miners.”
“So, why not hire a high-level raid party to kill it?” Olaf asked.
“Oh, they did. They hired at least ten of them, and every one of them died to the last man. After that, no one was interested in the job. People still hope the adventurers will eventually level high enough to take it on,” Twill answered.
“Just how high is the mother’s level?” I asked.
“I do not know. The last group that tried, said her nameplate read
One look at Olaf and I knew we would be back to this province at some point. I was just glad that Olaf wasn’t considering going in and using his ‘Summon God: Fenrir’ spell. Micaela already used hers last month during the Anvilton siege to one shot a boss that was most likely meant to escape.
“Anyway,” Twill continued. “After so many failed attempts and with the smaller, but still deadly, grootslang coming out of the raid dungeon, the flow of diamonds stopped. Traders stopped coming and the Diamond Bazaar died out and the Beastkin Bazaar flourished.”
“So, we’ll be hunting one of the grootslang that comes out of the raid dungeon?” Olaf asked.
“There are usually one or two roaming the mines and province. Thankfully, never more than that,” Twill explained. “First thing tomorrow, we will be mining up some bait then setting up an ambush in the old miner’s camp inside the mine. Make sure you and yours get a good night of rest.”
“Bait?” I asked, stopping Twill from leaving.
“Diamonds,” Olaf answered. “What if we run into the grootslang before we get to the ambush point?”
“That is why we have scouts,” Twill answered with a grin. “Now, as I said. We will be starting early tomorrow so get some sleep.”
Accepting our dismissal, Olaf and I returned to the rest of our friends.
“What did Twill want?” Rose asked, waiting until we were close enough to hear her so she wouldn’t need to relinquish her seat by the smaller campfire that was setup by our small collection of tents.
Olaf went ahead and briefed everyone on what we learned before excusing himself and Micaela, more like dragging her into their tent.
I pulled up a seat next to Rose and pulled her close, thankfully she leaned right over and rested her head on my shoulder.
“So, what is Titan up to without us?” I asked.
“Probably running around with Perses and the Meerkatmen Battle Riders,” Baby answered. “You’ve created a monster, Bye-bye,” she added in complaint.
“What did I do?” I asked.
Baby just gave me a scathing look that was reminiscent of some of the looks Rose has given me, or it would have been if not for the childlike face giving me that look.
Naturally, Rose just giggled at her sister. Baby then used her ‘look’ again, first at Rose and then back to me when I laughed.
“Fine,” Baby pouted. “I’m going to bed. Just see if I heal you tomorrow.”
“We should all get to bed,” Harrison said, following the Fairy’s lead and moving on to his own tent.
Sooty nodded and followed as well.
I only saw the flap of Nahid’s small tent open and close but saw no sign of the Catgirl’s actual presence.
“Come on,” Rose said, straightening up and standing. She offered a hand to me, “Let’s go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day.”
The next morning, I was greeted by a lot of activity all around the camp. But the most important activity was that of Micaela making the most important meal of the day, breakfast.
“Morning, Bye-bye,” Micaela greeted, holding out a plate. “Olaf went with the miners to help them get some diamonds to use as bait,” she added without being asked.
Sooty just grunted when he emerged from his tent. He looked rather grumpy, but we had gotten used to that. Apparently, he didn’t care for sleeping without his wife.
Nahid graced us with her presence just long enough to get a plate and rapidly eat before she vanished once again. I’ll say this for the Catgirl, she was dedicated to her training. Then again, after what I learned about the way the Citizens level up and level up their skills, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Morning,” Rose and Baby’s voices came at the same time as they emerged from their tents.
“I will be staying outside the cave with the wagon teams,” Sooty volunteered. “As soon as the monster is dead, we will bring the wagons inside to start working on the corpse.”
I nodded at that, glad that he wasn’t putting himself at risk.
“In the rear with the gear,” Harrison said, chuckling at his own joke. “Not for me. I am looking forward to getting a little face time with that beastie after last time.”
“That makes two of us,” Rose volunteered, grinning eagerly. “I can’t wait to put a hurt on it.”
A horn sounded a few minutes later, ending our banter and morning conversations. We learned as we traveled, that horn meant it was time to get moving. In this case, it was time to get the hunt underway.
“Morning everyone,” Twill began. He was standing on a wagon bed to give himself the elevation to address everyone and make sure everyone could see him. “Our miners have got a good number of diamonds, so the bait is ready. For those of us hunting this beast, we will be moving down to the second level of the mine a
nd into the old miner’s camp. For those of you who do not know, we fight inside the mine so the grootslang cannot escape into the soft dirt.”
Well, that answered one question.
“Dougra will be our primary Trapper,” Twill said, nodding to
Dougra was a broad-shouldered Orc standing just in front of the wagon. He was dressed head to toe in thick chainmail armor. He had a small round shield mounted to one of his forearms and held a heavy chain net in the other hand. His net was much heavier duty than my own.
“We have two Shield-Walls with us today so we may as well take advantage, Rose Thorns and John Harrison are part of our benefactors party,” Twill said, getting groans from many of the Hunters. “Hey, cut that out. Rose is an adventurer and John is a former Root City Patrolman. These aren’t some nobleman riffraff,” he added, which seemed to quiet the less approving of the Hunters.
“Right, so Rose and John will be our secondaries. Wilcox, use ‘Mind Ward’ on Rose first. Rose, that means when the first mass fear is used, you are going to taunt. John will get the next ‘Mind Ward’ and Dougra will get the last,” Twill explained the tanks duties for the fight ahead of us. I was slightly confused by the tank swap though.
Another Hunter spoke up, asking the question before I could, “Why change out the Trapper at all?”
“Noxious Breath stacks,” Twill answered. “We do not want any of our tanks to get more than a few stacks. Beyond that, it makes life on the healers easier if our heavies can use their cooldown abilities.”
If I remembered correctly, a grootslang didn’t gain the ‘Noxious Breath’ until they were an
“And speaking of healers,” Twill said. “Heavies take priority. And just because we are rotating heavies does not mean you can stop healing a heavy if he or she has stacks of ‘Noxious Breath’. Am I clear?”
I nodded along with the Hunters around me. I didn’t expect to do much healing in this fight, but if it became a necessity, then I would deal with it when the time came.
“Alright, let us get inside,” Twill ordered, hopping off the wagon and leading the way into the mine.
“At least it’s not gremlins this time,” Baby muttered, following the torchlight ahead of us as did everyone else.
I was surprised by how big the mine was. We must have walked for almost two hours with the passage winding deeper into the mountain and down slight declines that seemed to be placed almost at random through the mine. Eventually, we came to a large cavern, maybe two hundred yards across with about a dozen wooden buildings, and I use the term ‘buildings’ very loosely. There were only a few that could actually still be considered a building, the rest were a wall or two that looked ready to fall over with a stiff wind. Though the floor to ceiling pillars of stone were pretty awesome. I didn’t think the pillars were carved either, it looked more like a stalactite and a stalagmite met in the middle and just formed something stronger. There were five . . . no six, of the pillars scattered around the cavern.
“Everyone douse your torches and find a spot to hide,” Twill ordered, his voice barely more than a whisper.
Silently, everyone followed the order, extinguishing torches and spreading out, picking walls to stand behind. The main objective being to be out of view of the entrance to the mining camp.
I picked a spot that put me in range to leap at the monster, assuming it was the center spot where Twill was just standing and waiting.
As soon as everyone was hidden, Twill pulled a small pouch out of the bag at his waist. He kneeled down on one knee then lowered the pouch to the ground and overturned it, dumping out a small pile of diamonds. Twill then quickly retreated to the back of the cavern to his own hiding space, probably placing himself farther away from the center than anyone else.
Then we waited.
And waited.
It was around three hours later I finally heard something from the entrance to the cavern. And then the sound got farther away.
Another two hours of near silence before I heard something. This time the sound got louder. It was coming closer.
I activated my ‘Stealth’ skill and peaked around the corner of my hiding place. There it was. It was bigger than the one my friends and I fought when we arrived in the province. Its skin was a dark grey, though that may have been due to the darkness of the cavern and my ‘Dark Sight’ subskill. It had four large tusks, two angled downward from the upper jaw and two angled upward from the lower jaw and all four of them unnaturally sharp at the points. And then there were the eyes. The haunting blood red eyes.
When it retreated back out of view, I was worried something went wrong. Did it smell us? Did it sense there was a trap? Thankfully, I didn’t wait long. The monster surged forward into the cavern, covering the near one hundred yards in an instant. The grootslang almost dived onto the small pile of diamonds, it’s large slobbering tongue lapping at the hard-stone floor. The monster was determined not to miss a single one of the precious stones.
I had just started to wonder when we would attack when the question was answered in the form of a sparking something flying through the air. It landed right where the monster was licking and exploded, instantly causing visible damage to the monster’s health bar. Maybe only 2% of its health was claimed but it was plenty of damage to get its attention.
The grootslang reared back in pain, bellowing in outrage. It’s long snake like body pulling into the cavern and coiling under it to give it some height.
Dougra the Trapper ran out, chucking another lit explosive inside the coils, causing another bellow of pain and another 2% of its health vanished. He then ran up to the grootslang and whipped his chain net forward, scoring a hit to the large body but showing no visible change in the monster’s health bar.
The grootslang’s eyes narrow and it struck down at Dougra.
The Trapper sidestepped but still needed to use his small round shield to deflect one of the tusks. He immediately followed up with whipping his chain net again, but this time the net opened just enough to tangle around the two closest tusks. With a hard yank, the grootslang’s head fell sideways, impacting with the ground hard, it’s large serpentine body, squirming at the sudden unbalancing.
A shot rang out a moment later, claiming another significant chunk of the monster’s health and signaling the start of damage. I couldn’t help but look for the source of that first shot and saw Twill’s rifle barrel still smoking while the man was already working on reloading.
I was surprised by how few of the Hunters moved into melee range. Most of the Hunters used bows or crossbows but not a single spellcaster in the bunch, not even Jackson the Earth Mage. The Mage must have stayed in camp. It looked like all the damage the Hunters dealt was from physical weapons. Was this just the way they did things? Was the Hunter’s Union anti-magic? But that couldn’t be the case, they had healers with them, and the healers definitely used magic.
I joined the fray, casting ‘Holy Shock’ stunning the monster for all of a second but that wasn’t the point nor was the -651-HP. The goal was to boost my next attacks damage. Leaping to close the distance, I struck my follow up blow with ‘Justice Strike’ dealing -1,162-HP damage and ‘Holy Blast’ for another -822-HP damage. I tried ‘Ligament Rip’ but it didn’t work. Either the grootslang did not have ligaments or I just wasn’t striking the right place.
I flipped out of the way as the tip of the tail came shooting forward, thankfully sailing right under me. Dougra wasn’t so lucky. He blocked the blow with his small shield, but it forced him back which also pulled the net free of the
tusks, freeing the grootslang to move around once again.
I went right back to putting out damage. I really wished the beast would have shown me a weakness, but nothing highlighted for me. I briefly considered the difference in our levels might reduce my chance to ‘Hit Them Where It Hurts’, but only briefly. The way the monster was thrashing about made melee damage difficult.
Then the monster bellowed again, this time it was the ‘Fearful Trumpeting’, and I was running uncontrollably, getting hit bodily by the snake’s tail in the process and watching half of my health vanish in an instant. Wearing light leather armor only provided so much protection. And against a World Class monster, what gamers would sometimes call a World Boss, it wasn’t surprising that I would take that hard of a hit from a monster that was also 10 levels higher than I was.
When the fear ended, I was leaning back against one of the pillars with a ‘Crippled’ debuff and couldn’t feel my legs.
“Great, broken back,” I mumbled, beginning to cast ‘Holy Heal’.
Skill: Holy Heal
Rank: Beginner
Level: 9
Experience: 71.11%
Description: Suffuse a target with Holy energy, healing their wounds and restoring their life.
Spell Healing: +437-540-HP
Spell Cast Speed: 2-seconds
Range: 25-yards
Spell Effect (Active): Heal a single target.
Mana Cost: -218-MP
Three casts later, I was back almost to full health and re-engaging with the monster. This time, I hit it with ‘Holy Fire’ giving it a single stack of the damage over time spell. I leaped in again, striking hard as I landed, slinging spells and trying to put out damage.
I saw Rose out of the corner of my eye, a wicked grin on her face as she let her ‘Shield-Wall’ take the punishment from the tusks. With each hit, I would see her HP dip and then refill, not quite undoing the damage dealt. More importantly, it was awesome to see her ‘Exsanguination’ spell at work. Then she got her first stack of ‘Noxious Breath’ and her HP began ticking downward much faster.
World Tree Online- the Endless Savanna- 3rd Dive Page 41
