Duskbound-Chapter 36Book 2,

The two hunters stared down at the body, which was itself a crushed, bloody slab of meat. The [Beast Tamer] had avoided the worst of the damage with his magical barrier, but enough of [Dread Lance] had slipped through to kill him. Bits of skin were still stuck here and there, but most of it had been torn away.

“That looked like it hurt,” Torwin said, a strange hitch in his voice. “Who was he?”

“No idea. He said he wanted that class orb I got as a quest reward, the one with Chalin’s class in it. He thought he could add it to his own class somehow.”

“Yeah. It’s tricky to do, but possible,” Torwin said. “Risky, though. Class orbs are rare enough that there hasn’t been a lot of experimentation on the subject. Most people who get their hands on one just use it to change class for a safer upgrade to their personal power.”

The old [Ranger] squatted down and started turning out the body’s pockets while Velik looked back at his notifications. The expected kill notification was there, along with a small surprise.

[You have slain a bonded primal spirit wolf (level 39).]

[You have been awarded 2 decarmas.]

[You have slain a human soul binder (level 48).]

[You have been awarded 3 decarmas.]

[Apex Hunter has advanced to rank 7.]

Getting so many skill advancements in the same day was unusual, but he supposed he’d just been close to ranking them up. A good, tough fight had pushed several of them over, and hopefully meant he’d soon be making advancements in his other skills. If he was lucky, he’d see something merge together.

“Aw, fuck,” Torwin said. “I was afraid of that.”

“What?” Velik asked, snapping back to attention.

The older hunter held up a small gold pin between two fingers. “Found it in his pocket. I was hoping it was a coincidence, but…”

“Wait, this guy is a member of the guild?” Velik asked.

“Up until about three minutes ago. His name was Gorlath. When I saw that bear, I thought it might be him. This proves it.”

“What is it with your guild, Torwin?” Velik demanded, suddenly angry. “First all the politics and being treated like crap. Then the mercenaries and this guy trying to kill me?”

“The guild… Well, it was different when I was young. Then money started coming into it, new people got into positions of power from outside the guild. It made sense at the time. A bunch of people who wanted to kill monsters didn’t have the skill sets needed to organize the place once it started expanding to multiple cities. Why not bring onboard the people who did?”

“Okay, but why me? What did I ever do to these people? If anything, it feels like they should have been excited to have me join. I’m good at killing monsters. I’m not a political threat. I don’t want anything to do with that. All they had to do was leave me alone and I would have happily done jobs and brought money in to fill the guild coffers.” Velik jabbed a finger at the body. “Instead, I get this. Why?”

“I don’t know,” Torwin said. “Gorlath wasn’t a nice man, but as far as I know, he’d never stoop to murdering someone just to get ahead. Something’s changed, and I can’t believe it’s just politics. You’re a threat to someone, somehow. Velik, I’m sorry. I didn’t know this would happen. It shouldn’t be happening, and whatever this is, we’re going to figure it out.”

The pair worked in silence for the next ten minutes, harvesting spirit wolf blood and stripping Gorlath’s corpse of anything valuable. That included the bracer, the spear, a ring, and the man’s belt buckle. Anything else that might have been enchanted hadn’t survived Velik’s killing blow, and of course, whatever decarmas he’d had on him were gone now. There was a reason people with families kept their fortunes in banks, after all.

Finally, Torwin picked up the bloody remains and started walking. “Attempted murder or not, he’s still a member of the guild. I have to return his body so they know that he’s dead. We’ll just leave the cause of his death a mystery for now,” he explained when he saw Velik’s curious look.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Where are the others at?” Velik asked after a few minutes.

“Giller and Jensen are still back at King’s Crossroad dealing with the marshals. Aria probably found a room at the most expensive inn that would still let her in this late at night, and Sildra is… hrmm… actually, I don’t know. She’s either with Jensen or Aria.”

Considering she was the most vulnerable member of their group, it was probably smart to keep track of Sildra’s location if they were splitting up, but Velik couldn’t find it in himself to care. She was undoubtedly safer than he was, whoever she was with. Then again, she does like to go wandering outside the walls at night. It wouldn’t surprise me much to find her in the woods with us. Maybe she’s trying to grab another level while she can.

“What’s a [Soul Binder]?” Velik asked suddenly, remembering the unusual class he’d seen on the kill notification.

“No idea. Why?”

“That’s what his class was.”

“Who, Gorlath’s?” Torwin asked. “No, he was a [Beast Tamer] like we thought.”

“Not according to the system,” Velik said. “Level 48 human [Soul Binder].”

“Sounds like some sort of mage class with a focus on controlling others, maybe some sort of hybrid [Necromancer]. But the animals were alive. Even spirit wolves are technically alive, not actual spirits.”

“There was one I never saw,” Velik pointed out. “Something with hooves. A deer, maybe?”

“I killed that one,” Torwin told him. “Needle horn buck.”

That accounted for the last of the tracks Velik had seen, but still didn’t explain Gorlath’s class. Though maybe the explanation is simple. He was after my class orb. Maybe that wasn’t the first one he used. Maybe he altered his original class and it evolved into that.

Velik shared his theory, but Torwin just said, “It’s a mystery. Could be that. One class orb shouldn’t trigger an evolution like that. Normally it would just unlock a new set of class skills related to the orb used up. But if he used two or three? Or it’s possible he just evolved it naturally at some point and never told anyone.”

They emerged onto the road a few minutes later, right about the time pre-dawn light started brightening the eastern sky. Velik could feel [Duskbound] starting to slip away, and after the night he’d had, he was ready to catch a few hours of sleep. “I think I’m just going to find our campsite and wait for everyone to catch back up,” he told Torwin.

“Will you actually be there when we get on the road again?” the old man asked, his voice solemn. He was seriously asking Velik if he planned on sticking with the group or disappearing.

“Unless something else attacks me,” Velik told him.

“Well, if that happens, try not to kill anyone if you can help it,” the [Ranger] said. “Maybe a bit more restraint than you used on the mercenaries.”

“There’s only so much I can do when someone is trying to kill me.”

“Do you want a different dagger? Maybe one that’s not enchanted to make whoever you stab bleed out?”

“No, that’s the whole point of the dagger,” Velik said.

Torwin sighed. “Just do your best.”

They split up there, Torwin going north back to King’s Crossroad and Velik finding their old campsite. He settled into a tree nearby, finding a perch twenty feet off the ground with a good amount of growth to shield it from casual inspection. It wasn’t the most defensible spot, but he’d made do with less in the past. With his back to the bole and his eyes facing the road back to the west, he let himself doze for a few hours while his body recovered from the night’s exertions.

* * *

It was never fun carrying a body, especially not that of someone who’d betrayed the Monster Hunter Guild’s principles of protecting humanity from the monsters that lurked in the night, but Torwin was determined to see the grisly duty through. He still had six or seven miles to go before he reached the gates, and then of course there’d be all sorts of explanations he’d have to give. It was going to be nothing but a headache.

R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freewebnovёl.ƈom Only.

He'd expected to have the road to himself—counted on it, even—so he was both surprised and annoyed to hear two voices coming his way. Briefly, he debated ducking off into the fields just so he wouldn’t have to satisfy some random traveler’s curiosity on why he was carrying a bloody corpse, but then he realized he recognized the voices.

“—don’t blame him, honestly,” Sildra said. “He was right about them wanting to question him.”

“Yeah, but running when he did makes him look guilty, and because we have no way to prove the mercenaries were lied to, we were relying on their goodwill. If he’d stayed, they might have taken our word for it, but now he’s wanted for questioning,” Giller replied. “And despite what Jensen said, I’m not as optimistic as him that he can smooth the whole thing over.”

Ah, that’s a bit of luck, then. Shame the other two aren’t with them, but then, neither of them are much for getting up early, and even less so when they never went to bed in the first place. I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose the whole day to King’s Crossroad.

Torwin kept walking forward, the body in his arms. The road curved around a hill ahead, and he knew as soon as he rounded that, he’d see his two traveling companions. At least, that was the plan until he heard Sildra gasp and say, “There’s a monster nearby!”

Instantly, Torwin was on alert. He hadn’t sensed anything, but that cat had gotten close without being noticed either. Gorlath’s body hit the road and he pulled his bow off his shoulder. An arrow formed on the string and Torwin hurried forward to connect with the other two.

Just then, Sildra appeared at the curve. Her eyes instantly locked on Torwin, then snapped over to the corpse behind him. “Torwin, look out!” she screamed, her finger raised to point past him.

He glanced back in confusion. There was nothing there, nothing but the body. “What?”

Gorlath’s form twitched once, then leaped to its feet. “Guess the game’s up, huh?”