by J. J. Thorn
"Yes, good job Lin! Go now Boss! "
Behind Griff, a woman held a look of concentration as she continued to focus on the 3 talons in front.
"They're fast, ok. You can't be afraid of a few cats Griff." Lin responded from behind Griff's position.
Tom darted towards Griff's position and started to slash down at the 3 blind beasts.
Within seconds, Tom's sharpened blade took off their heads and the field was silent once again.
"Good Job everyone, those were high E-Rank beasts." Tom sheathed his sword and looked towards his three teammates.
The Snow-Talons had come out of their den very quickly. It had taken them slightly by surprise, even though they had been hunting this exact monster.
When Tom took the listing for the Snow-Talons, he knew this would be a good opportunity to test out the team. With the Dungeon-run starting in 2 days, they needed to get ready for monster fighting again. For several of them, the last few months had been a time to rest.
"Lin, did you see the claws on those cats? Why would I not be afraid." Griff put his shield down and replied to Lin's earlier statement.
"You're the tough guy and you're going to tell me you're afraid of some cats?" Lin looked at Griff incredulously.
"I fear that I won't be able to protect those around me one day. I am not ashamed of that fear." Griff responded defiantly.
"Oh, cut it out you two. Griff, your armor isn't even scratched and your shield is barely cut up. We handled those Talons with ease! I can't wait for the Dungeon!" Rana interjected as she joined the group from her position from the back.
"I just don't understand why you wanted to do this hunt specifically, Tom?" Rana continued.
"The Dungeon is only a few hours walk from here, from what I've heard in town, and I wanted us to be familiar with fighting in the snow. Most of us are used to fighting where the weather conditions are slightly better." Tom responded.
"Ya, it's not even dark as yet. Gathering enough darkness to blind the Talons was annoying as is. Could we not have done this later in the day?" Lin joined the conversation.
"Your DARK affinity might make it easier for you to see Lin, but the rest of us don't do as well at night. Your affinity and daggers should do very well when we're in the Dungeon. And besides, I think you are all complaining way too much. The monsters we fought should fetch us a good price for their fur and claws alone! Plus, they were E-Rank monsters, same as all of you. The fact that we can handle them is a good indication before we try to handle the D-rank Dungeon in a couple of days."
"You've both got to just trust that the boss knows what he's doing. He is the only D-rank among us. He's the reason we all agreed to take on the Dungeon after all."
"Ya, you're both right. We just didn't even bring Holly along, so we don't even have our healer with us." Rana added, looking directly at Griff and Tom. A slight frown was still set across her face as she awaited Tom's response.
"I took that into consideration. If necessary, I knew I would be faster than these beasts. The listing at the Guild Hall was fairly descriptive and I was not worried. Even without Holly."
As Tom was responding to Rana and Lin's latest concerns about the fight, they all started to hear some growls coming from the cave.
The group of four started to go on high alert, weapons drawn once again as they stared towards the den where the Talons had come out of.
"Griff, up front."
"Lin, Rana, check if you can see anything."
"Darksight" Lin proclaimed her Rank 1 skill, while Rana started to augment her eyesight with internal energy.
"Nothing from me" Rana responded quickly.
"Not from me either. I can't see too far into the cave from here but wait... I think I see some slight movement... It's coming pretty fast and it's bigger than the other Talons."
As Lin telegraphed the beast's movements, it made itself visible to the rest of the group as well. From the mouth of the cave, a large blue-breasted Feline darted out of the cave. The Talon was as tall as Griff, with blue paws and long protruding incisors. The Alpha regarded the group, as the Dungeoneers looked upon the large beast.
Tom kept his composure as he started to yell out orders.
"Griff, keep that thing off us. Rana, move back and pepper it as much as you can. Lin, blind and shackle it. If you see an opening, try to attack it from afar. Aim for its legs."
Rana started to run behind the group as the others started to use their buffing skills.
"Hold," Griff yelled, causing his shield and arms to shimmer slightly as his hold of the shield and the toughness of the shield itself was increased. Griff's yell also caught the attention of the beast as it started to leap towards him.
"Sharpen," Tom whispered under his breath, as a thin line of magical energy covered his sword.
Tom looked on as the beast got closer to Griff's shield. His Rank 3 skill was an active taunt, allowing him to empower his voice, causing beasts to attack his shield directly. He was a perfect tank for their small team, both able to draw in monsters and protect them from the front lines.
As the monster reached Griff, inky blackness started to wrap around the front two legs of the beast, causing it to slow down. Lin had used her Rank 3 skill 'Shackle'. Lin's specialty was to debilitate and disrupt the movements of her enemies with her darkness.
In the case of the beast, it was too large and fast for the shackles to stop it completely, but the reduction in speed was noticeable.
As the shackles were applied, Lin's energy would be constantly depleted while the large beast continued to move around.
Even now, it was clear that a sheen of sweat was beginning to appear on her brow.
In spite of the shackles, the beast eventually reached Griff's shield, causing a resounding gong to spread across the landscape.
Luckily, Griff was strong enough to hold off on the beasts attack. The shackles also slowing down the attacks.
An arrow had also finally met its mark on the right shoulder of the massive beast. Rana had not been sending arrows during the initial run, probably waiting to use an empowered shot instead - her Rank 3 skill. The shot was more powerful, but it took a great amount of time to shoot.
Afterwards, arrows started to pepper the body of the beast as it continued to wail on Griff's shield. His 'Hold!' Rank 2 skill the only thing keeping him in place.
"Rana, do another empowered shot, your regular shots aren't having the same effect through it's tougher skin. It's at least D-Rank." Tom yelled, after taking a few seconds to analyze how the fight was progressing.
He started to run towards the beast, ready to engage with his sword.
"Lin, switch to blind for now."
Tom could not see, but Lin nodded as she started to switch tactics. He trusted that she would follow his orders. She concentrated on the beast and started to use her Rank 2 Skill instead. The Skills' main purpose was actually to create darkness in an area. Over time, she had gained enough proficiency to be able to concentrate the darkness around the heads of her enemy. This caused a significant decrease in visibility, but using the skill this way also drained her energy constantly. Also, her ability allowed her to manipulate darkness, meaning it needed to exist. The mountains in the distance helped, but the time of day did not.
As Tom dashed towards the Alpha, he readied his sword for a strike to its hind legs.
As soon as he started to see some darkness appear around the head of the Alpha, he used his own Rank 3 skill, while also empowering the skill further with some additional internal energy.
"Sword dash."
His sword dash skill was primarily a movement-based skill. Focusing on his legs, he received a burst of speed allowing him to reach the target incredibly fast. By empowering it further, he increased his speed at the cost of additional energy.
The gamble paid off as Tom reached the back left leg of the Alpha. Using his Sharpened blade, he swiped down on the leg of the beast, causing a cut that went down to the bone.
&nb
sp; As he was nearing the beast, it's increased senses were able to spot him getting close. At the last moment, it bounded away, causing the blade to stop at the bone.
Even so, the beast was still wounded, as it looked at the group, now more wary than before.
Tom did not give it an opportunity to rest as he bounded for the Alpha yet again.
The darkness around the head of the beast, and the inky black shackles, were still shown across its body - along with the blood that was now spreading across its back leg.
For a normal beast, this would have been enough to take it down, but the enlarged Talon was stronger than expected.
As Tom reached the beast, this time trying to attack at its neck, the beast swiped at him with its shackled claw.
Tom was able to able to get his sword up in time, and due to his reflexes throughout the years, he knew to also enhance his arms for the blow.
Regardless, Tom was thrown like a rag-doll to the ground. His body was bruised heavily, as the hit had been fairly clean.
A slight trail of blood could be seen in the snow, but luckily it appeared to be from the Alpha as Tom's sword had cut it's paw in the exchange, cutting it shallowly.
The Alpha chose that moment to pounce towards Tom, who was slowly rising from the ground.
As it almost reached Tom, an arrow came from its front and hit it in its right eye. The Alpha reared up in pain and began pawing at the pain. Realizing it couldn't do anything about the wound, it started to look around for the thing that had caused it so much pain. The darkness around its head made this difficult, and with only one eye available, it continued to shake its head left and right trying to find the culprit.
In this time, Tom's team did not let it finish its search.
"Come Here Cat!" Griff used the chance to draw the Alpha to him again.
Daggers started to pepper the back left leg of the monster as well. Most doing very little, but some finding purchase in the monster's flesh.
In this time, Tom also had time to stand up and was now behind the monster - now attacking Griff's shield again.
Standing up, Tom could tell that his body was in pain and that some bones were likely broken, but he internalized those thoughts as he looked on at the beast.
He decided to go for broke, recognizing that the Alpha could not be under-estimated.
Tom was still only Rank 3, but he was nearing Rank 4, and his ability to use his internal energy was tremendous. Coupled with his two Skills, he was able to use his energy all along his body with high proficiency. This proficiency had given him the opportunity to raise his Dungeoneer rank to D, above the rest of his team.
He started by reapplying his Rank 2 Skill to his sword once again, making sure it was as sharp as it could be. Then, he added internal energy to his arms and legs, making him faster and stronger than anyone around.
He concentrated on himself as he started to run towards the Alpha.
At this point, the Alpha's movements were lagging. Blood loss from Tom's initial hit and the ensuing dagger and arrows had caused it a significant amount of pain. Lin had also applied another shackle to its back legs as well in the ensuing chaos.
Tom used his second skill 'Sword Dash' as he got closer to the monster.
Tom’s body and sword blurred as he reached the beast.
At this point, the senses of the Alpha were completely dulled and weren't able to pick up the movements of the fast-moving human.
Tom aimed his sword directly at the Alpha's neck, not willing to take any additional chances.
Yet again, the beast had been able to move away slightly at the blow, but this time it did not matter.
Its whole head was not lost, but it began to bleed out profusely as Tom had once again hit the bone. Within seconds, the beast lay still on the ground as snow continued to fall on its dead body.
Griff collapsed next, exhausted from having fended off the beasts attacks and expending so much energy at once.
Lin was also exhausted, as her increased use of Skills had caused her internal energy to almost bottom out. Along with her daggers, she had constantly applied both her Skills to the Alpha during the entire fight.
Lin was younger than the rest of the team, but her abilities were tremendous.
Tom walked over to his teammates sluggishly. His internal energy reserves were also completely gone, having used most of it in that final attack.
Rana reached her team as everyone was seated on the ground, resting after their fearsome fight with the Alpha.
"Well, shit." Griff finally exclaimed.
"Haha, ya," Lin responded.
"My arrows barely even hurt that thing. It must have been a really high D-Rank. Did the posting even mention there being a den with an Alpha?"
"No, there was no mention of an Alpha. I'm guessing some guards noticed the smaller ones and didn't even know the den existed. We'll make sure to scavenge everything we can from the alpha - its claws, hide and fur were all more fearsome than the younger Talons for sure. We'll also let the Guild know to be careful. I'm guessing we provoked it by killing all of the smaller ones, but who knows what else is out here."
"See Lin, cats are scary!" The whole group started to laugh. Probably from exhaustion, mostly.
"Haha, well at least I got something out of it. I got 10% out of that fight and even created an alternate for my Rank 2 - something I'd been trying to do for years, but finally figured out because of that fight."
"You geniuses and your cool Skills - what did you create this time?" Griff grumbled to Lin and the rest of the group.
"Don't be jealous Griff, I'll remember you when I'm rich. It's called 'Disorient'. It's similar to the darkness I put around the Alpha's head, but now it's an actual Skill so I'll be able to use it a bit quicker and without as much energy. It seems like it'll also cause some confusion, instead of just obstructing vision."
"That's great Lin!" Rana regarded her friend happily. "I looked, and I made some progress on Rank 3 as well, what about you two boys? That was our hardest fight in a long time."
Rana looked towards both Griff and Tom. Griff started to shake his head, but Tom remained silent as he looked blankly at his Progress screen.
"C'mon Tom, are you ok?" Griff looked at Tom.
"He did get hit pretty hard. Hopefully, Holly is at the inn when we get back, she'll be able to check out his wounds and heal them up."
"Ya... I'm OK, I just... I Ranked up..."
Everyone's mouths dropped as they looked at their leader.
"WHAT. No way! I didn't know you were that close to Rank 4! What'd you get?!" Rana asked. Lin looked down and smirked - disappointed that she wasn't the first one in the group to reach Rank 4, but proud to know her leader was so much stronger than her.
"Haha, yeah, I'd actually been stuck for a while, at least 2 years. I just couldn't get it to increase no matter what I did. It's one of the reasons I pushed for us to do the Dungeon actually. I knew I needed a challenge and it's not every day a Dungeon like this pops up!" Tom continued to look dazed as he looked at his Progress.
"...So are you going to answer her question? What is your new Skill's name at least?" Lin asked.
"Oh, ya, sorry - I kept thinking during that fight that I wish I had a way to attack from further away. I think this will let me attack from afar, but I'll need to test it out. It's something I've always needed." Tom looked genuinely happy as he finally closed his Progress and regarded his team.
"But that's something to worry about later. It's still only at 1%, so I've got a long way to go! Lin, you start skinning the beasts and I'll start taking off their claws. I'll also grab the teeth of the Alpha. Those are probably worth at least 2 gold. We really got lucky none of us were more hurt, that thing was dangerous."
They all congratulated Tom for the good fortune and agreed with his last statements.
Tom started to stand up as he started walking towards the larger cat.
Before he could get too far, Rana yelled at him.
"Tom,
you still haven't told us the Skill's name!" Tom turned around and looked at his teammates once again. They had been together for close to 5 years now. They had all lost teammates and dealt with loss. He was glad to call them his team.
"Haha, ya, sorry about that. My mind is still stuck on the fact that it finally happened. It's funny really," Tom looked at his team as he chuckled.
"It's called Talon."
Chapter 14
Thunder God
"Holy shit, these people need to stop talking…"
"Stop acting like some drunkard being woken up on the side of the street, Zane, quiet down."
"Me quiet down? You're the one yelling! Are you telling me this is how you used to train your affinity every day?"
Zane and I were currently sitting in the auditorium of our first day at Prep. We made sure to be early so we could get a relatively good seat. Yesterday's trip to the market was fun, but it also made me realize that I was starting to slack off after having not trained for a couple of days.
I mentioned my concerns to Zane, and while reluctant, he wanted to try. As it turns out, my method of expending all of my internal energy was well known - I wasn't some idiot savant. Everyone used the method, and in fact, the difference between a good Dungeoneer and a bad one was apparently their ability to use internal energy. Skills helped, but your internal energy could dramatically change how you advance or progress. All news to me! In fact, Zane said that everyone augmented their Skills using internal energy, but most waited until after Rank 1. Apparently, the headache that comes with expending all of your internal energy at once is called 'Burnout'. The feeling that comes along with the Burnout is NOT fun. Over time, I've gotten used to the headaches, but apparently, most people don't put themselves through that torture early on.
Zane was one of these people. He had been reluctant to even try it, against all of his previous tutors' advice, but when I told him how high a percentage my progress was, he was pretty keen to give it a shot.
So, before coming to class, we both used all of his internal energy to augment our eyes before using our Skills on each other.
