Chapter 23: 23. Foul Air Hunting

Adequate light made Dallion appreciate the realm of the Well a whole lot more. Maybe it was due to him killing off—or “mending” as the awakened term went—a lot of the area’s creatures, or maybe it was the effects of morning, but the unwelcoming feelings of fear and dread that hung in the air the previous day were gone. If it wasn’t for the complete lack of plants or forest animals, this would easily pass for a perfect hiking trip in nature—again, minus the actual nature.

The air felt fresh, the water from the streams, once Dallion brought the courage to try some, tasted sweet, and the central mountain was a rock climber’s dream. Dallion wasn’t a rock climber, but he had watched enough YouTube videos to assume himself an online connoisseur. The increase of his “statistics” made him believe he could climb up the face of a cliff. Reality quickly smacked him on the head, showing him how little had changed in this aspect. Even after everything that had happened so far, a rock climber Dallion was not.

By midday the fascination had started to wane. Despite spending hours exploring the foot of the mountain, including venturing in several of the many caves that drilled it, Dallion hadn’t found anything of interest. Worse, he hadn’t found anything remotely edible, which—as his stomach kept reminding him—was starting to be something of a problem.

There was no sign of the panther creatures, as if the light had made them hide away somewhere. On the one hand, that was a good thing, it meant Dallion could enjoy some calm before sunset. However, the nagging feeling that something was wrong reared its ugly head.

The guardian, Dallion thought. All I need to do is to defeat the guardian. I don’t have to mend everything to a hundred percent.

No matter what he told himself, though, the gamer in him cried out in pain.

The higher the boy got, the warmer the weather became. More and more caves appeared, making Dallion lose interest in further exploration. The assumption was that the guardian would be on the peak of the mountain where the final fight would take place.

When Dallion reached the halfway point, two things became clear: there was no way he could climb to the top in one day, and once it got dark, the pack of cracks would attack again. Logically , there were two options. He could spend several nights fighting at the foot in the mountain, killing a few of the creatures then retreating to safety. It was a long, but certain method of success. Sadly, the lack of food would make each day progressively more difficult.

Another option was to follow the everything-or-nothing philosophy and face the pack on the mountain itself. As long as he picked a good enough spot, there was a chance that he would think the pack enough for the creatures to scatter, then kill them off one by one. Finally, there was the seek out approach: find the crack’s lairs, provided such existed, and take them one at a time.

Being the logical sort of person, Dallion decided to pick the last choice. That way he could always face the pack in the event he failed to find any lairs before nightfall.

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After another few thousand feet up the mountain, Dallion stopped to take a rest. The sun had started its descent, giving the realm several hours of light left. In a part of the sky, three of the seven moons were visible as pale circles, patiently waiting to shine.

“Find a beast’s lair,” Dallion said out loud. “If I were a crack in a well, where would I hide?”

The obvious answer was beneath the stones. The boy had often heard of people talking that it’s the hidden cracks that were the most dangerous of all. Likely that was true, but in a world of awakened that wouldn’t hold true, especially when talking about a well. Given the level of technology, Dallion doubted the well underwent yearly inspections. Based on the percentage the last time it had been mended was during its last improvement, if even then. No one would go through the trouble of covering up surface cracks, which meant they had to be visible.

The boy stood up, carefully inspecting his surroundings. Initially there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but soon he started to see certain small discrepancies.

Thank you, improved Perception. The boy smiled.

While the overall state of the realm had vastly improved since the previous day, that wasn’t always the case. Here and there large chunks of rock were darker and in a crumblier state. Not only that, but a few of the small springs Dallion could see were far murkier than the neighboring ones. The boy must have seen dozens like them while going up, but thought nothing of it. If his theory was right, a beast lair was affecting both the rocks and water, showing him where the beasts were hiding.

It took Dallion about an hour to find a cave in decrepit condition. The moment he entered, the smell of stale air hit him, making the boy instantly cover his nose. This had to be the place. Dallion drew his sword and cautiously continued on.

The inside of the cave was pitch black. Normally Dallion wouldn’t be able to make anything out, but his awakening helped him see vague outlines. Combined with his heightened sense of sound, smell, and touch, that was enough for him not to trip or walk face into a wall.

For minutes nothing changed. Just as Dallion was starting to have second thoughts, a faint growl came from further down the cave. It wasn’t an aggressive growl, more like a snore in a cartoon show. There could be no doubt, however, as to its source.

Dallion let out a mental sigh of relief. The rules of logic still applied. Now all that he hoped for was that he hadn’t bitten off more than he could chew. Moments later, red footstep markers appeared in the darkness—he had just been given the opportunity to attack first.

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