Chapter 48: Hunting

By the time Jet finished cutting the last usable scent gland from the Ash-Mane Ravager, the clearing smelled so strongly of blood that remaining there any longer would have been asking for trouble.

He sealed the organ inside one of their containers, wiped his harvesting knife clean, and rose while Frey tightened the straps around a bundle of tusks.

They had taken every Monster Core, selected the most valuable materials listed in their route package, and abandoned the rest. Even after being selective, their packs were noticeably heavier.

Jet checked the compass unit mounted near his belt, confirmed their position against the eastern route, then glanced toward the surrounding trees.

The forest had gone suspiciously quiet around the slaughter site. Scavengers would come first. Larger predators might follow them. Neither possibility gave them a reason to linger. Without ceremony, the two left the corpses behind and continued deeper into the Outer Hunting Belt.

The next several hours settled into a rhythm that felt completely different from Jet’s first Descent. They moved, hunted, harvested, checked their route, then moved again.

The Thousand Boughs remained dangerous, but danger was easier to manage when they weren’t lost, injured, and improvising weapons from whatever piece of wood happened to be nearby.

Their first encounter after the Ravagers came near a shallow stream where something resembling a deer stood motionless between the trees.

It was almost beautiful from a distance, with smooth silver-grey hide and branching antlers covered in faint blue lines. Then its head rotated far beyond the limits of any normal neck, revealing a second mouth running vertically down its throat.

The System identified it as a Lesser Monster called a Split-Throat Hart.

Jet had barely finished reading the name when the creature opened both mouths and released a shriek powerful enough to disturb the surface of the stream.

Frey covered one ear and cursed while Jet rushed before it could scream again. The Hart lowered its antlers and charged, hooves hammering wet earth. Jet avoided the first rush, but the monster pivoted with surprising speed and swung its antlers sideways.

He ducked beneath them, cut across its front leg, and forced it down. Frey sent one Vritra Coil around the antlers and wrenched its head backward. Jet stepped into the opening and drove the Vorpal Blade through the exposed throat.

Less than two minutes later, another Lesser Monster Core joined their growing collection.

They encountered three Glasswing Manticores an hour later, although the creatures had little resemblance to the mythical beast beyond their general feline shape.

Each was slightly larger than a tiger, with dark green hide, long segmented tails ending in hooked bone, and four translucent wings that folded flat against their backs.

The wings weren’t strong enough for sustained flight, but they allowed sudden bursts through the air that made the monsters difficult to track among the trees. The first attacked Frey from above and discovered that changing direction in midair became considerably harder when a spectral serpent coil wrapped around its tail.

Frey slammed it into the ground, Jet severed one wing as it tried to rise, and the creature died beneath Frey’s blades. The remaining two attempted to circle them from opposite sides. They lasted longer, but not by much.

Afterward came a pair of Rootback Tortoises whose shells resembled moving chunks of forest floor. They were slow until threatened, at which point thick roots beneath their shells erupted outward like spears.

Jet and Frey spent several frustrating minutes trying to approach without being skewered before Frey used two Coils to hold the roots apart long enough for Jet to reach the softer underside of one creature’s neck.

The second withdrew completely into its shell. They couldn’t penetrate it efficiently and eventually walked away rather than waste time and Mana.

Ten minutes later the stubborn creature apparently decided their retreat was genuine, extended its head, and received a Vorpal Blade through the skull after discovering Jet had been waiting behind a tree.

They didn’t laugh much. There was too much work to do.

Whenever a Core materialized, one of them collected it. Whenever a corpse carried something their information package marked as valuable, they harvested only what justified the weight.

The Manticores yielded sections of intact wing membrane and tail hooks. The Harts possessed small resonance organs near their throats. Rootback shell was valuable but absurdly heavy, so they took only two manageable plates and continued.

Their new harvesting equipment earned its cost several times over. There was no ripping materials loose with bare hands, wrapping bloody organs in torn cloth, or abandoning useful parts because they had nowhere sanitary to store them.

By the fourth hour, the number of Lesser Monster Cores in their possession had climbed enough that Jet stopped thinking of each individual Core as an unexpected reward.

They were becoming the measurable result of the expedition. Some would eventually go toward their Divine Runes. Others would pay for food, entry fees, information, repairs, and future supplies inside Zenith. A portion would remain untouched for emergencies.

The arrangement they’d made before leaving already felt less like financial planning and more like common sense.

They weren’t alone in the Outer Hunting Belt either.

Near a rocky slope, Jet and Frey crossed paths with six Walkers dragging the carcass of a long reptilian monster onto a reinforced hauling sled. Two members wore matching Guild insignias, while the others appeared independent.

Everyone noticed everyone. Hands remained close enough to weapons to be sensible, but there was no dramatic confrontation.

One of the older Walkers gave Jet a brief nod.

Jet returned it, Frey did the same, and both groups continued in opposite directions.

Half an hour later they spotted another team fighting several Lesser Monsters across a distant stream and changed course rather than interfere.

Nobody had time to manufacture trouble over another team’s kills when an enormous wilderness full of monsters surrounded them.

The Second Generation had awakened only days ago, and every new Walker seemed painfully aware that thousands of others were beginning the same race.

Some wanted stronger Divine Runes.

Some wanted money. Others wanted Guild contracts, reputation, or simply enough strength to avoid becoming irrelevant in a world changing beneath their feet. Whatever their reasons, stopping strangers on a trail to argue over corpses nobody had contested was a waste of daylight.

Five hours after leaving the Ravager clearing, Jet and Frey had moved considerably farther east than either expected.

Their pace remained cautious, but repeated combat had made their coordination smoother.

They no longer needed to discuss every approach. Frey knew when Jet intended to draw a monster’s attention, and Jet could usually tell whether a Vritra Coil was meant to restrain, reposition, or crush from the way Frey moved his hand.

Neither fought perfectly. Jet collected another bruise along his left shoulder from a Glasswing Manticore, while one Rootback spear had opened a shallow cut across Frey’s thigh. Yet their injuries remained minor, their supplies intact, and their Core count continued rising.

They were following a narrow animal trail between enormous ironwood trees when the ground trembled.

Jet stopped.

Frey stopped beside him.

A second vibration traveled through their boots.

THUD.

Birdlike creatures exploded from the canopy several hundred meters ahead.

THUD.

Something heavy struck wood, followed by a deep cracking sound that rolled through the forest. Jet’s hand settled on the Vorpal Blade. Frey drew both curved weapons, his earlier fatigue disappearing behind immediate focus. Neither needed to discuss whether the sound belonged to something small.

The trees ahead suddenly erupted.

BOOOOM!

A trunk thicker than Jet’s torso flew sideways through the undergrowth and shattered against another tree. Leaves and splinters filled the air as an enormous shape pushed through the opening it had created.

Jet’s eyes rose, then continued rising.

The monster stood roughly as tall as a city bus. It resembled a grotesque ape built from too many competing features: enormous arms hanging below its knees, a barrel-shaped torso covered in coarse rust-red fur, and patches of black stone-like plating growing naturally over its shoulders, forearms, and chest.

Its hands ended in thick curved claws instead of nails. Two short ivory horns protruded from its temples, while its broad jaw opened to reveal heavy yellow fangs meant for crushing rather than tearing. The creature dropped onto its knuckles, and the earth sank beneath the weight.

[Beyond Monster Encountered.]

[Stonehide Blood Ape.]

[Classification: Lesser Monster.]

The Blood Ape roared.

Jet felt the sound in his ribs.

Then it charged forward.

"Don’t take that first hit directly; its weight alone will flatten you!" Frey shouted as both of them split in opposite directions.

The Ape’s fist came down where they’d been standing.

BOOOOM!

Earth burst upward. A crater appeared beneath its knuckles, throwing dirt and shattered roots through the air. Jet sprinted along its right side while Frey attacked from the left. Two Vritra Coils shot forward and wrapped around the Ape’s forearm. They tightened.

The arm slowed.

It didn’t stop.

Frey’s boots dragged through the soil as the enormous limb continued moving despite both coils constricting around it. "This bastard is ridiculously heavy!"

Jet reached the Ape’s flank and swung.

CLANG!

The Vorpal Blade struck the black plating covering its ribs and bounced hard enough to numb his fingers.

The Ape twisted immediately. Its other arm swept sideways.

Jet dropped flat.

WHOOOM!

The massive hand passed above him and struck an ironwood tree.

CRAAACK!

The trunk snapped in half.

Jet rolled beneath the Ape’s torso, came up behind its leg, and slashed across the back of the knee where stone plating gave way to fur. The blade bit deep. Blood sprayed across the ground, and the Ape roared as its leg buckled.

Frey moved instantly. Three more Vritra Coils manifested around him, bringing the total to five. Two wrapped the injured leg while another closed around the Ape’s opposite ankle. Frey crossed his arms sharply.

The coils contracted.

BOOM!

The monster crashed onto one knee.

Its fist hammered backward blindly.

Jet jumped aside as the ground collapsed where he’d stood. He ran up a fallen trunk, planted one foot against the broken end, and launched himself toward the Ape’s shoulder. The creature saw him. Its mouth opened, and one gigantic hand snapped upward.

Frey pulled.

All five Coils tightened at once.

The Ape’s body jerked half a meter sideways.

Its hand missed Jet.

Jet landed directly on its plated shoulder.

The Blood Ape thrashed violently, ripping one Coil apart with a sharp CRACK as dark Mana scattered into the air. Jet nearly lost his footing. He drove the Vorpal Blade between two stone plates to anchor himself, pulled it free, then climbed higher as the Ape reached for him.

"Keep its right arm down for three seconds!" Jet shouted.

Frey didn’t answer. He simply moved.

The remaining Coils abandoned the monster’s legs and snapped around its right arm, shoulder, and neck. Frey planted both feet, muscles tightening beneath his combat shirt as the spectral serpents contracted. The Ape fought them, rising despite its wounded knee.

One Coil cracked.

Then another.

Jet reached its neck.

The Blood Ape turned its head toward him.

Too late.

Jet gripped the Vorpal Blade with both hands, twisted his entire body, and swung once.

SHRAAAK!

The blade passed through fur, flesh, bone, and the unprotected gap beneath the skull.

The gigantic head separated cleanly.

For one strange second, the body remained upright.

Then blood erupted from the severed neck.

BOOOOOOM!

The Stonehide Blood Ape collapsed into the ruined earth, its head rolling several meters before stopping against a broken tree.

Jet landed beside it with the Vorpal Blade dripping in his hands.