If there were one thing that all young beastmen despised, it was crafting. It was a task for the old and weak who could no longer hold a place on the battlefield. If it weren’t for the Blood Moon, no young beastman would have practiced it in the slightest. If there was one sure way to piss off any young beastman, it was to praise their crafting skill.
Ruhl and Mira both charged. They were a couple dozen yards away so I had a few seconds. And like I had several times before when I was desperate, I closed my eyes and focused my mind on a certain sigil.
It was perfectly legal for me to use magic so long as I didn’t use premade artifacts. Like my inventory, it was a natural ability I possessed, so the monitor would be fine if I used it. It was just that my non-artifact magic skills were pretty pathetic so I tried not to rely on them. But in a desperate scenario, I could pull a bit of magic off.
I focused on the fire root and added on one of the simplest restraints that would throw it forward. Heat smoldered in the palm of the hand concealed behind the nose plate for a second before I thrust it outward, flinging a fireball not at the pair in front of me but towards the frost wyrm corpse, or more specifically, a fist sized hole just beneath the tip of its tail.
One of the reasons worms are good for the soil is their excrement, the high nitrogen content in it acting as a good fertilizer. Of course, high nitrogen content also meant worm excrement was quite flammable. I could only hope that it worked the same for the frost wyrm, as a normal worm.
As the fireball approached its target, I dropped to the ground and leveled the nose plate to face the frost wyrm corpse while I squished as much of myself as possible behind it. Of course, Ruhl and Mira had no idea what was going on. I couldn’t help but glance at their confused faces standing just a couple feet away when the fireball completed its path and reached the frost wyrm’s asshole.
The feeble fireball sparked to life as it greedily consumed the nitrogen based fuel, first burning away the lingering traces around the hole in a flash before expanding into the frost wyrm’s insides. Inside the flame continued doing the same things as it did on the outside, converting the nitrogen rich excrement into heat and gas. But unlike outside the worm, inside there was nowhere for the gasses to expand. Pressure quickly grew until the frost wyrm corpse could no longer contain it.
The frost wyrm exploded, sending flaming hunks of meat everywhere. My low position on the ground and the hard nose plate angled for deflection protected me from the worst of it, but Ruhl and Mira weren’t so lucky. The explosion flash burned the outer layers of both their bodies before flinging them against the cliff wall. Jagged rocks stabbed deep inside both their bodies piercing vital organs. Both died.
You gained 2237 EXP
You gained 2337 EXP
As for myself, my hair was singed and bruises from chunks of wyrm meat falling on my chest made me wince with every breath, but I survived. I got to my feet as soon as I could and looked towards where the third beastman had been perched. I was slightly worried he’d come after me right away, before my ears stopped ringing.
But, I didn’t see the newly minted hawkman where he’d been a moment before instead I found him collapsed on the ground below, his blood slowly seeping into the snow around him.
I walked over to Krill and tried to find a pulse. There wasn’t one.
“The explosion took out all three,” I said, not quite believing my luck, before a sense of greed made me feel cheated. “But the interface only had two experience messages.”
‘You created the explosion and the explosion killed those two,’ Mai pointed to Ruhl and Mira. ‘But the third one died from the fall not the explosion. The surprise of the explosion must have caused him to slip.’
“So, I did kill him,” I said.
‘You only get experience for things you do. If the enemy dies of their own stupidity you get nothing,’ Mai explained.
Krill had landed on top of the heart he’d stolen so it was ruined. I turned my attention from the beastman to the remnants of the frost wyrm’s corpse. About a third of it remained where it had started in a smoldering heap but the rest was spread across several hundred yards in either direction. Pieces where splattered all up the canyon walls, and although I prove it, it’d be fair to assume some chunks had been thrown outside the canyon entirely.
“Are any of the wyrm hearts salvageable?” I asked.
‘Let me look,’ said Mai.
I scanned my eyes across the random looking hunks of wyrm meat splattered all over the place as Mai searched out the hearts and highlighted them like I had x-ray vision. All six of the remaining hearts looked to be in bad shape. I picked the one that looked to be the most intact and dug it out of the remaining carcass before examining it more closely.
†Damaged Mature Frost Wyrm Heart†
Durability: 110/200
Effects: Blood Moon’s Blessing Material (quest)
Description: Heart of a fully mature frost wyrm. Unfortunately, this heart has been badly damaged. Heart has lost 45% of its durability so if you attempt to use it as a Blood Moon’s Blessing material there is a 45% chance of failure. If it fails, you will lose Blood Moon Blessing until it is reapplied.
The Blood Moon Blessing could only be applied on a blood moon so if I lost, it couldn’t be reapplied for a year or more, even if the beastmen allowed it, which they wouldn’t.
“45% chance of failure is too great. I guess I need to move on and find something else,” I said. My mood was a mix of disappointment and worry. It’d already been 30 hours since I’d received the blessing. Nearly half of my time was gone and I had next to nothing to show for it.
‘Let’s get going,’ said Mai.
I stored the heart in my inventory, to use in case I didn’t find a better option. Before I set off, I robbed Ruhl of his stone knuckles. He didn’t need it anymore, I could use a weapon and it was superior to one I could make especially given my rapidly shortening time frame.
It was well into the morning before I reached the end of the canyon. Since there was less wind in the canyon, allowing more restful sleep, I decided to stop and rest through the afternoon before fully exiting.
Ch. 14: Fright
“Gon, don’t go. Hear the surface world is awful,” said a murlimp female. Murlimps genders outwardly appeared so similar that only other murlimps were able to tell them apart.
“Teran, only a year, maybe two. I make four times money than stay in Gehenna and only if Gon keep job after transition,” said Gon.
“Yes, after many daemons move to other world, work change,” Teran agreed.
“Maybe after no find work,” said Gon. Murlimps usually found employment in construction, but after so many daemons moved, there would be a glut of empty real estate and thus a dearth of new construction, even with the growing needs of the military.
“Only a year,” Gon repeated as he pulled Teran close and embraced her.
Subject 117 woke with a start. It took him a moment to realize where he was and calm down. Subject 117 wasn’t sure why his heart always pounded so hard after coming out of one of his strange dreams, but he figured it might be his subconscious mind trying to highlight their importance.
‘Gon, was that my name?’ 117 wondered. He had many dreams over the past few months since his escape. Many contained Teran, others seemed to be random slices of life, but this was the first time he had heard the name. All the dreams had been from Gon’s perspective, as if he was looking through Gon’s eyes. This combined with the fact that 117 had no memories from before the laboratory experiments he’d been put through made him believe the dreams were memories from before. A dark rage smoldered within 117. The experiments were the source of all his suffering, not just the physical suffering he partially remembered and the mental anguish of unknown missing memories, but also his current predicament.
117 spent his first two months of freedom regretting his escape. Although the experiments had enhanced 117’s robust physical form, it hadn’t gone quite far enough. A half-fr
ozen, half-starved 117 spent months on the brink of death. Only his rage towards the scientist who brought him to this state and a desire to recover what he had lost kept 117 going as he inched his way south. It was only in the past few weeks that he’d stumbled upon a place he could survive.
117 first entered the cave to get out of the cold and ended up finding an excellent cache of food, a small vein of coal. 117 could rely on the beasts of the surface for sustenance, but the energy they provided was hardly worth the effort of chasing them down. Coal worked much better for a murlimp.
Subject 117 got up and shook himself to get his blood pumping before he reached down into the cave floor and broke off a lump of coal for breakfast. He had a busy day ahead.
117 would have preferred to stay in the cave for the rest of winter, but 117 knew he couldn’t stay. The coal vein was nearly exhausted and 117 had to go out and search for a new food source. 117 would spend the warmest part of the day looking but if he didn’t find anything, he would return for the night only to continue the search the following day.
Once he was done with breakfast, 117 moved outside. He had to squint to the limit to keep the bright sun from blinding him. Living underground, daemons had excellent no or low light sight. 117 would have preferred to hunt at night but it was much colder then and temperature held priority.
‘Euuuoooogga. Up scope, all men brace themselves for impact,’ said Mai, who’d turned herself into a submarine. ‘Euuuoooogga.’ If questioned she’d say she blared the foghorn a second time to be safe even though it clearly wasn’t necessary.
“I’m up, what is it?” My eyes snapped open and, in an instant, I was on my feet and struggling to put on Ruhl’s stone knuckles. “Are we under attack? Or have you spotted prey worthy of pursuit?” Those categories weren’t very different. Most worthy prey were the things most likely to eat your face.
‘No, you told me to let you sleep for five hours. It’s been five hours,’ said Mai nonchalantly.
“You mean there’s nothing out there,” I said, my eyes still darting around.
‘There’s plenty out there, snow, rocks, trees,’ said Mai.
“Then why the hell did you raise the alarm?” I said.
‘You ask me to be your alarm clock, yet you don’t expect me to alarm,’ said Mai.
“You could have been gentler about it,” I said, dropping the stone knuckles back onto the ground.
‘How do you know I didn’t try something gentler before working my way up to the giant foghorn?’ said Mai. A handkerchief appeared in her hand and she mimed wiping up tears.
“Did you?” I asked.
‘Now, that’s not the point,’ said Mai.
“That’s exactly the point,” I said.
‘No, the point is you don’t bother to consider all the possibilities before leaping to unjust accusations and that’s that. Now get going you’re wasting time.’ Mai disappeared cutting off the conversation.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. You’re running because you know I’d win this argument,” I yelled into the open air. I didn’t want to admit it, but Mai was right. I needed to get moving and besides, although being jolted awake isn’t fun, it might have been for the best. At least this way I skipped past the awkward drowsy phase when you first awake where you can be an idiot, or even more of an idiot.
It was early in the evening and I only had a bit over a day remaining but given how bad the cold debuff had gotten I knew I had to take some time to warm up. I exited the canyon and gathered some wood from nearby trees before using my magic to start a fire. The fire warmed me up, restoring my lost stats as I used it to melt some snow, wet the soil, and make a new set of mud armor.
Altogether, it had taken about an hour, but since it returned me to full strength, I thought it was worth it. Once the mud armor was successfully baked on, I set off.
“Mai, turn on the thermal vision,” I said. After a few seconds of delay, the trees and snow darkened to black while my hands and feet started to glow bright red as if I was seeing everything through an infrared camera. Although I called it thermal vision, the detection didn’t involve my eyes at all. Mai used subtle variations in temperature being sensed across my skin to interpolate a sense of heat coming from every direction around me. She then adapted the temperature into a color depending on the amount and laid it over based on whatever I happened to be looking at that particular instant.
In this mode, I’d easily spot any warm-blooded creatures regardless of how well camouflaged. I could have asked Mai to do this earlier but other matters had preoccupied me. Now that I was finally going to hunt, it was thermal vision’s time to shine.
The next hours passed somehow simultaneously very quickly and slowly, quickly because of the anxiety growing with every tick of the clock and slowly because of how little occurred. Even with Mai’s thermal vision, the only thing I found was a necropossum den. I made quick work of the den’s inhabitant and stored its corpse in my inventory, but I doubted I’d choose to use it over the damaged wyrm heart. I then continued my search, hoping to find a better option.
Hours went by. Normally, I would have stopped to rest around midday, living with the beastmen my sleeping patterns had shifted to match there’s, but given how little time I had left, I decided to skip it and keep going. The blessing would wear off either very late at night or very early in the morning depending on how you looked at it. I could rest after all of this was over.
With the thermal vision, any animal would have been obvious so I had little need to search carefully. I just kept moving. My eyes scanned in every direction as I crossed vast stretches of terrain. Still, as the sun went down, all I’d found was that necropossum den. My muscles ached and my eyes strained with all the overdrawn focus, like I’d just completed a video game marathon, though my task wasn’t complete. As the sun diminished to its last sliver on the horizon, I gradually coasted to a stop.
“Quests,” I said, checking the clock for the umpteenth time.
Quest Log
.Becoming a Clansmen Time Remaining: 7 hours 42 min
.Acquire a beastform
.Gain recognition from the clan
.Investigating the Permerine Shrine Time Remaining: Unknown
.Journey to the Shrine
.Figure out its relation to weather
.Stop it
‘A bit under eight hours remaining,’ said Mai.
“Don’t you think I don’t know that already,” I snapped.
‘Really? You actually doing this?’ said Mai.
“Sorry, it’s just so frustrating,” I immediately apologized. I knew Mai was trying to help. “Are you sure the thermal vision is working? That it isn’t missing anything out here?”
‘It’s finding anything warm-blooded. Anything else it won’t work,’ said Mai. Almost everything that could have survived in this climate was warm blooded. The only things that weren’t were a few special creatures like the iciclimanders. While I didn’t have any special ways to find such creatures, all of them were extraordinarily rare so chances were I didn’t miss any of them.
I took out some water and grilled wyrm meat from my inventory before digging in. The meat was tough and under normal circumstances would be tossed as inedible but I wasn’t in any position to be picky.
As the last of the sun faded beyond the horizon and the sky grew cold and dark, I noticed a strange dim glow from the east.
“What’s that?” I pointed it out to Mai. The glow was weak but seemed to be spread over a large area across some distant hills.
‘I’m not sure,’ Mai hesitated. ‘The only way something could produce such a wide glow is if there is a large number of beasts in that area.’
“A large number of beasts? Then we have to go,” I said, my feet already guiding me towards the hills in the east. “How far is it exactly?”
‘The center of the heat source is 2.3 miles away. At your current pace, it will take you 18 minutes. 15 minutes,’ Mai corrected as I redoubled my ef
forts.
I couldn’t risk this group of prey getting away. It might have been my last chance. At the same time I was hopeful, I couldn’t help but be a bit worried. If it was a large group of prey animals, it wasn’t what I was looking for and if it was a large group of predators, it was probably beyond my ability to handle.
‘Careful Speedy, if you go too quickly you won’t be able to sneak up on them,’ Mai warned.
As I approached, I entered a region where all the ground around me seemed to glow with a dim light, but still I didn’t see any bright outlines of individual creatures.
“Where is it coming from?” I asked Mai, though I did have some idea.
‘It seems to be coming from under this hill. Its making the whole thing warm,’ said Mai, confirming my suspicions.
“It must be a den of some sort. I’m going to see if there’s an entrance,” I said.
I circled around the side of the hill until I came upon a large cave a dozen feet across that ran deeper into the earth than I could see. Without my thermal vision all I would have seen was darkness, but even with it all I saw was an intensity of heat that grew the deeper I looked. It bothered me that I still didn’t see any individual animal heat lines like when I had been in the forest but that made sense. Thermal vision wasn’t x-ray vision, no matter how similar the two may have seemed. While it may have let me notice heat, leaking through thick brush it couldn’t do the same for solid rock.
‘Be careful,’ Mai warned as I entered the cave. ‘It’s too hot. I think it must be a geothermal vent of some sort, it’s the only thing I can think of that would produce this sort of reading.’
“A geothermal vent?” I said, my voice filling with disappointment. “Well, I still need to check it out. You never know there might be something hanging around the vent. In fact, I bet that’s very possible. I’ll find something staying by the vent to get away from the cold.”
The Ice Lands Page 18
