Chapter 29: Chapter 28: Appointed’s Meeting

The door to the cabin flew open, interrupting Tess’s story and letting in a howling burst of wind and snow. A huge four-armed figure shook off the snow that was coating him, then slammed the door shut behind him. While he wasn’t as tall as a goliath like Ker, he more than made up for it in sheer…thickness. He was incredibly muscled, with shaggy brown hair that blended into the heavy furs he was wearing.

And then there was the bow. It was massive, a fair bit taller than the man was, made of some sort of imposing-looking bone. She…honestly didn’t see how it was supposed to work. From her admittedly minimal knowledge of bow making, she was sure the bone should snap, or not bend enough, or even that it would require such an unreasonable amount of strength to pull the string back that it would be unfeasible to use…not that strength seemed to be a concern for the mammoth of a man in front of her.

“What’s the big idea, Evan?!” He growled, “The yearly meeting’s not scheduled for another two months and I was in the middle of hunting a particularly nasty Phosphorescent Mangler. If there’s not a very good reason for this, I’m not going to be happy.”

“Don’t worry, Valin, I didn’t call this just to call it.” Gramps soothed, patting the back of Tess’s chair. “We’ve got a new member.”

Valin arched a brow, staring Tess down with a look that suggested he was looking at more than just her appearance. “Really?” He said skeptically, “She looks rather underwhelming to me.”

Gramps smirked. “Looks can be deceiving.” He said, waving a hand and causing some sort of…motionless body to appear in the room. “Please give the dummy a good hit, Tess.” He instructed, “Full power, no need to hold back for fear of leaking secrets.”

Tess nodded, unsheathing her claws and stalking towards the dummy. She activated all her Skills and, slashed downwards, then hurriedly jumped back so she was out of the way of the status explosion that would hit after You Are Already Dead’s time was up.

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