Chapter 394: 395. Solo Hunt

Balance gave Dallion a slight nudge as he returned to the real world atop his borrowed force. Before anything could happen, his acrobatics kicked in, preventing him from falling off or even swinging significantly. Anyone not paying attention would just attribute it to him adjusting on his saddle, but the awakened knew.

“How did it go?” Rei-Alika asked.

“Good,” Dallion replied.

It had been a painful experience, like most trials lately, but the results were worth it. His greatest fears had been put at bay, also the remnants of guilt had gone as well. For all practical purposes, it was as if he had taken the final step forward, leaving his past life behind. Dallion, of the Icepicker guild was no more; now he was Dallion the hunter trainee, and if he was going to make it to full hunter he had more than enough to worry about other than his past.

“Did you get some sleep?” Euryale rode closer. Dallion could sense the animal being freaked out to the point that it was terrified into submission. For some reason, animals didn’t react well to gorgons. Possibly they could feel what the species was capable of?

“No. I’m fine, though. It was more puzzle than fight.”

Several of the gorgon’s snakes moved about. After spending several months with her, Dallion had started to catch the emotions behind some of the snake movements. The one just now was “annoyance at lies.” He also knew from experience that at this stage, it was better to shut up and avoid getting into further trouble.

“You better be. There are critters out there.”

That’s her way of saying to run if you see one, Nil said.

And just when I thought you were starting to have a better opinion of me.

Opinion has nothing to do with it, ear boy. Unless you think you have the strength of an army of battle clerics?

Very funny.

The slow journey to Croya showed Dallion, the barrier existed between merchants and hunters. There was no doubt that they were happy to have adequate protection—and for cheap, at that. However, all of them kept their distance. Words were only exchanged when needed: letting Eury know when the caravan was stopping for food, responding to any questions that the hunters had, or sharing their fears of dangers.

Scares were few and far between, most often ending up to packs of animals—relatively harmless for hunters—or the occasional small pest that quickly fled as a group of hunters got close. As Nil pointed out, for better or worse, the trip so far was mostly uneventful. And that left Dallion more than enough time to practice, both in his realm and the real world.

With his major mental blocker gone, Dallion managed to grow by two more levels, dumping all his gained points on Reaction to get a round twenty. The trials themselves were quite easy compared to the last. Both were skill and combat based, testing whether he had what it took to defeat packs of animals while also not hurting them. The latter was a bit tricky, but he was starting to get a much better idea of how to use items to achieve things that would otherwise be close to impossible. In game terms, it was the same as creating critical failures using unconventional means. Getting a pebble to turn just enough to cause an enemy to slip, having the area blow up dust in a non-existent gust of wind, even have mini sink-holes form under a creature trapping it a few feet in the ground—all could be achieved through a kind request from the item or area guardian in question. Naturally, it worked much better in the realm trial than in the real world. Unlike the settlement areas, the wilderness had no guardians. Rather, the guardians were there, but sealed in such fashion that they couldn’t be felt or interacted with. The only way to do so, according to Nil, was to enter their realm and break the seal—which was reserved for awakeneds higher in level than anyone here.

This food tastes really bad, the bowl complained as Dallion ate what passed for soup. And I mean really, really bad. Outright awful.

I know. As an awakened, he couldn’t disagree. As a hunter, however, he had to make do with whatever was given. That was another reason hunters referred to area-awakened as sheltered.

It’s food, Dallion said. Thanks, though.

Back in my day, I would have kicked the butt of the cook that made this. Even if it was a hunter.

Does that mean you were a cook?

I’m an awakened, the bowl said in a snarky voice.

Was an awakened, the armadil shield said. For some reason, he loved to engage in banter with the bowl guardian, possibly because they were both awakened. The important thing is for you to keep an eye out for poison or other nastiness.

Define nastiness!

Just get a room, Dallion said, still eating. Better yet, I’ll get one for you when we reach town.

That might be a bit trickier than you might think, the armadil shield said. Something is lurking about.

I didn’t sense anything.

That’s because it’s careful to stay far enough not to be sensed. The rest of the hunters know about it, but it seems they’ve chosen not to talk about it as long as the thing keeps its distance. Forcing it to attack is in no one’s interest.

Dallion kept eating. Having a wilderness beast follow the caravan was somewhat concerning even if it was keeping its distance. Up to now, Dallion hadn’t seen too many of those. The reason was that his traveler’s emblem kept him relatively safe, acting like a warning sign to every creature that he was under the protection of the Moons. Only creatures that were seriously bad news—like roaming chainlings and the like—were a serious threat. Most beasts knew better than to mess with those protected by the Moons without a good reason. Hunter emblems, in contrast, were made so as not to be sensed. Their purpose was to protect their bearers from the wilderness itself and the creatures’ attempts to forcefully enter an awakened’s realm.

Dallion finished his food, then stepped away from the fire to wash the bowl. A few moments later, Euryale joined him.

“Once you’re done, get your combat gear and come along,” she whispered.

“Huh?” Dallion asked, confused.

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“We’ll be going through some practical training.”

There was no need for the gorgon to elaborate what that meant. Given the creature the armadil shield had told Dallion about, it was safe to assume that they’d be fighting it. The fact that Eury had approached Dallion alone suggested that she might have him do a solo hunt.

A sense of joy filled Dallion’s chest. A solo hunt, even with the gorgon overseeing, was a pretty big deal. It marked the first step one had to make in order to become a full hunter. At present Dallion wasn’t even an official trainee. The title had been given because he kept tagging along in order to learn—something he definitely needed. If he managed to pull this off, he’d officially become a hopeful and after that, Moons willing, the real thing.

Washing off the last remnants of thin soup, Dallion went back to his backpack, whipped the bowl carefully with a dry rag, then took all his weapons and the armadil shield, and went back to Eury. Without turning around, the gorgon nodded and walked into the night.

Five minutes later, when the caravan campfires were too far away for the pair to be seen, the gorgon made a sign for Dallion to stop.

“Ready?” she whispered.

“Mustn’t I spot it first?” Dallion whispered back.

“Not before your first fight. Besides, this one is different. It’s been stalking the caravan, so it’s eager to attack, just too weak to go all out against so many people. When it senses you’re alone, it’ll dash directly for you.”

Dallion nodded. He also assumed that would happen, which was why he had split a few times to look around while walking.

“Main thing—don’t be a hero,” the gorgon went on. “I know it’ll be challenging for you, but if it turns out to be something too strong, rush back and leave me to take care of it.”

“I’ve been in a few fights,” Dallion said, his ego slightly bruised by the remark.

“In the wilderness, there’s no telling what you might come across. It might be a stray crackling or it might be the monster that destroyed the village a week back. Never take anything for granted.”

That was part of the hunter’s mantra. The wilderness had its own rules which were much more chaotic than those in the city. The only principle that held true was that strength determined the outcome.

“Say when I’m good to go.” Dallion took out his whip blade. In the open that weapon was a lot more useful, not to mention that the familiar within was able to see through illusions.

“From here on, it’s all you,” Euryale said in stern fashion. “Do what you think you should.”

Finally! Dallion thought. This was the first actual trial he’d had in the real world. So far, all the rest were in the realms. Knowing there was no safety net made him anxious, but also eager.

Dallion took a deep breath, then slowly released it. For just a second, he closed his eyes, mentally preparing for the fight that was. When he opened his eyes next, he dashed forward. In the darkness, he was unable to sense the creature, but that didn’t matter. If Euryale was right, the creature would find him. All Dallion had to do was to get far enough from the main caravan to appear defenseless. In the eyes of the creature—thanks to his medallion—he was nothing more than a stranded traveler.

For every second Dallion spent running, he’d split into eight instances, looking in all directions. Euryale was no longer anywhere to be seen, but Dallion knew she was keeping an eye on him. After close to a minute, Dallion finally felt a cold void in the distance. In some ways, it was similar to the chainling, but also quite different… stickier, more malicious. It was as if the creature had started changing, but stopped half-way.

Instinct stepped in, causing during Dallion’s next split to have his instances dash in different directions. That turned out to be the correct move.

The creature emerged out of nowhere, tearing into one of the many instances. The darkness of the clouded night made it impossible for Dallion to see the monster’s actual shape. What he knew was that the creature was rather large—eight feet tall, at least—and extremely fast.

Gleam! Dallion said.

The whip blade extended, slashing through the darkness of its own accord. Not leaving anything to chance, Dallion quickly raised the shield in front of his chest. In less than a second a force pushed him back, as the beast slammed against the shield.

That hurt, the shield said as the tips of large claws emerged on the inside, moving towards Dallion.

Crackling claws, Dallion thought. Nothing else he knew could pierce from the shield with such ease. A second claw struck the whip blade mid-air, though failing to deal any damage. Instantly, Dallion let go of the whip blade and drew his Nox dagger. Splitting into a dozen instances, he attempted several different twists, aiming to strike the creature with his dagger. Two-thirds of the attempts ended in failure. However, one succeeded, and that was the one he chose to become reality.

A blood freezing scream filled the air, combining growing, barking, and yelping all in one. Not waiting to see what would follow, Dallion leaped back, gripping his dagger tightly. He could still hear the whip blade rip through the air. The sound of metal slashing flesh was everywhere, however, with each strike, the creature seemed to grow quieter.

Gleam, stop! Dallion ordered, drawing the kaleidervisto from his belt with his shield hand.

Blue light shined from the device, enough for Dallion to get a good look at what he was fighting. The creature was grotesque, as if someone had mixed claws, fangs, and blades of bone with darkness and quickly sculpted a cross between a bull and a wolf.

Careful! That’s not a crackling, Nil said.

What the heck is it? Dallion slowly took a step back.

A cutling.

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