[Skill-Eater 2] Chapter 88: Mist Hunter (Patreon)

When Edge stepped out of his shelter to figure out what was going on, he began to laugh. This is perfect. The dungeon was covered with a blanket of fog. It was thicker than ever and showed no sign of dissipating anytime soon.

By now, he was starting to suspect that killing the elite ape had triggered a change within the Savage Garden.

The mist had begun arriving earlier in the day and lingering for longer, and this was even more extreme. The fog was so thick that even with Penetrate Mist running, the world still looked a little fuzzy. Without the sensory-enhancing skill, he couldn’t see his hand when it was more than a few inches from his face.

Edge knew that many dungeons contained threats that were triggered after reaching key milestones, and it seemed that the Savage Garden’s were tied to taking out the mini-bosses. He wondered what would happen when the next one fell—if the pervasive vapor would become even more treacherous, or dangers of a different sort would emerge.

He was lucky to have taken out the gorilla general before the Crimson Claws. On top of everything he’d won from the fight, he wouldn’t have a chance of beating the jailbirds to the boss if he couldn’t hunt in the mist. The environmental hazard was designed to increase the difficulty of conquering the dungeon. But thanks to his unique ability to steal skills from the monsters roaming its depths, what would have been a crippling disadvantage had become an invaluable gift instead.

He doubted that the fog would linger around the clock. But with any luck, there would be at least a few more days like this during the coming weeks. Hours where he could hunt at full strength, and his enemies would be forced to shelter in place.

Edge felt a surge of satisfaction when he imagined how miserable the convicts must be—the murderous bastards who had threatened his friends. The jailbirds would have to turtle up instead of clearing the dungeon while the mist barred their way, slowing their progress to a crawl.

Better still, the elite ape was dead, and the only other mini-boss he had seen near the jungle was the bone slime. No matter how strong the Claws’ crews were, he couldn’t imagine it being an easy fight for them. Even if they came together and managed to win, battling that living nightmare of a monster would likely result in some serious casualties.

Although Edge had handed the jailbirds a serious setback, his actions had centered himself within their sights. While One-Eye had already been hunting him, every prisoner in the dungeon would be looking for him now, eager to exact their revenge. He couldn’t afford to hunt in the jungle outside the cover of mist anymore. On clear days, he needed to stay deep in the swamp and would probably need to move into the dungeon’s final zone before long.

While these thoughts crossed his mind, he made his way back toward the jungle, looking for another monster that would be relatively easy to kill along the way. Unfortunately, he didn’t find anything of the sort.

While the cloying mist was a tremendous advantage, it wasn’t all good news. The sight-reaving weather made many of the dungeon’s inhabitants go to ground, hiding in their lairs until it passed. Right now, most of the marshland’s residents were underwater, or huddling in burrows or caves—none of which were wise places to enter if he wanted to keep his blood inside his body.

When he arrived at the end of the swamp, Edge found an unpleasant surprise waiting for him. The jailbirds had almost finished conquering the jungle, and all five crews were camped along the perimeter of the zone. While he could probably sneak past, fighting anywhere in the region would be certain to draw their attention, mist or no.

He had no desire whatsoever to face off against a team of battle-hardened, stage-two warriors. Any of their crews could obliterate him, and he might wind up fighting more than one if he wasn’t careful. He was tempted to try picking off a few off their scouts, but knew it was a bad idea. They were certain to be protected by powerful skills and equipment, and that any opening he found was more likely than not to be a trap instead.

Growling in irritation, he turned around and headed back the way he had come. A frustrating four hours of searching for prey later, he finally came across something promising. One of the apes from the gorilla general’s army had wandered into the marsh. It was probably driven here by the jailbirds’ advance.

Edge had known that there had to be quite a few of them left, given how many monkeys the elite had commanded. Even though the spindly-limbed primate could see in the mist, it was still a tempting target.

The apes were the weakest stage-two monsters he had seen in the dungeon. Their brains had been damaged by the elite’s domination. They were slow to react, and their wits had been scrambled. Additionally, he had already seen what these creatures could do, and was convinced he could take one in a straight exchange of blows.

It wound up being the easiest fight of the three.

Since a stealthy approach wouldn’t work, Edge began the battle like he normally would, using Shadow Step to close the distance and Elemental Blade to dish out damage with his naginata—supplemented with a few well-timed Double Slashes.

The ape was agile enough to dodge most of his attacks, but one of his Slashes left a pair of frost-rimed gashes across its chest. It tried blocking the next one with its bone-knuckle plates, only to discover that the chill conducted through the material, freezing half of that hand. It launched a ferocious counterattack, but without any Disruption-bolstered blows, Harden and Shadow Step neutralized every move that it made.

Once the monkey was committed to the melee, Edge shrank the polearm’s shaft and cast Manifest Chain. True to its name, Foebinder flew straight for the monster’s head, ready to bind it tight. The primate leaned out of the way and got ready to charge, but the move was just a feint. The moment that the end of the chain sailed past its field of view, it came curving back around to attack from its blind side.

The monkey knew that something was wrong, but he started Slashing, forcing the monster to focus on him. It screamed in fury, pouncing while raising both fists in the air. Before the ape’s punches connected, Foebinder’s coils wrapped around its shoulders and pulled tight, pinning its arms to its sides.

The enraged monster tried to break free, and though it was close, it didn’t have enough Power to escape. At that point, the creature panicked. It turned and got ready to run, but it was off-balance. A quick tug from the chain sent it staggering to one side. Before it regained its equilibrium, Edge walked up, gathered his strength, and then cut its legs out from under it.

While the monkey was dying in the dirt, he ran a quick test, trying to Shadow Step while the chain of oblivion was wrapped around the monster. As he’d suspected, it didn’t work.

Foebinder was effectively an extension of himself. It couldn’t turn incorporeal while it was touching another core-wielder’s Disruption field, although it wouldn’t be a problem otherwise. I’m glad I learned that detail now, instead of finding out the hard way.

Before the monkey’s heart stopped beating, Edge had time to Extract a single skill. It didn’t have anything that he wanted, or a slot for another power even if he did, so he stole a low-rank Uncommon and added its experience to Repel Water—almost filling its cup to the brim.

The instant that the life faded from the monster’s eyes, a message from the System appeared.

Congratulations. You have cleared the conditions to evolve to stage 2.

Would you like to evolve now?

“Hold that thought.”

Edge had to fight the temptation to say yes—so excited that his whole body was vibrating. But the last time he had evolved had been fucking intense, and some of the changes had been incredibly disorienting. It would be wise to wait until he returned to his shelter, so after harvesting the ape’s spiked knuckle plates, he started walking as fast as he could.

No matter how eager he was, he wasn’t about to lower his guard inside a dungeon. Or lead something dangerous back to my camp for that matter. His adrenaline was flowing like a river by the time he crossed the final stretch of soil. He activated Conceal, then waited on top of the rocks until he was certain that nothing was headed his way.

He set his alarm traps, stepped between the boulders, then sat down with his back against the stone. Wearing the biggest grin of his life, Edge summoned his Guide, braced himself, and addressed the System.

“Hit me. I’m ready to evolve to stage two.”