[Skill-Eater 2] Chapter 95: Troubled Times (Patreon)

Sakura watched from the shadows as a ragged group of refugees gathered in front of Puppet Town’s north gate.

Doc had set up a tent where he was treating their wounds, and Dialla’s assistants were handing out food and water. While their relief seemed genuine, Sakura found the group’s arrival to be deeply suspicious, especially the timing.

According to their account, these people had been imprisoned within the Gilded Heights—the stronghold of the Crimson Claws. After being passed over to join the gang, it seemed that they were going to die in one horrific manner or another.

But six days ago, the guards had forgotten to lock their cell, and the captives made their escape. After stealing a map and all the supplies they could carry, they had fled into the wilderness, heading for the low-threat biome the jailbirds were planning to invade.

Half had died on the way to the Ivory Plains, where one of Earl’s scouts had spotted them and led them back to the settlement. On the bright side, now Earl and Dialla knew exactly where the Gilded Heights was located, although they would have figured it out sooner or later, based on the gang’s movements.

The refugees had been run through several Disruption fields to remove any foreign magic, and Doc was cleansing them of any parasites or diseases they might have. While Earl questioned the new arrivals, looking for spies in their midst, Sakura was surreptitiously scanning them with her powers, seeking the telltale signs of a convict who was masking their status—a process she was intimately familiar with.

But even her Unique core couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary.

Sakura had expected gang members to be mixed in with the survivors, using them as a screen to infiltrate the town. However, it seemed that wasn’t the case after all. She was surprised to discover that the battered group of men and women were exactly what they appeared to be—tourists who had been caught up in the anomaly and then captured by the Claws.

While she was dead certain that this group could never have escaped unless the convicts wanted them to, she couldn’t sense any threat posed by the ragtag, malnourished group. Yussuf might just be trying to stretch our resources even thinner than they already are, but I suspect that he’s planning something far more sinister.

Even still, Sakura wasn’t about to execute innocent people based on a bad feeling, and Dialla was confirming their identities and sweeping them for hostile magitech before letting anyone into the city. Once they were behind the walls, she was going to keep the refugees isolated for now—under constant watch from the peacekeepers and the militia.

While Sakura mulled the matter over, she pondered the dynamics of the burgeoning conflict with the Claws, which had begun when the System tipped the jailbirds off regarding the expedition’s existence and whereabouts.

It was hard to obtain reliable information about their activities, but she was certain that one strike force of Claws was operating inside the Savage Garden, with a few additional crews camped outside the entrance. A second strike force was hunting the survivors from the expedition, and a third was lurking somewhere on the Ivory Plains, preventing Earl from sending reinforcements to rescue the missing hunters.

Even with Lore-Weaver’s assistance, Sakura hadn’t been able to learn any additional details. The jailbirds were using a collection of skills and magitech devices that shielded them from her scrying. Her sense-links with Tessa and Edge had expired, although she could still send them direct messages thanks to her ultimate ability.

Sakura sighed and let out a soft growl. She always hated it when she couldn’t figure out what was going on. After all, collecting information and using it to her advantage was the fundamental nature of Lore-Weaver, the spinner of truth and lies.

Although she had never met Yusuff in person, she knew quite a bit about his temperament and exploits. The man had always fancied himself as more than the leader of a gang and dreamed of establishing his own kingdom. Before the anomaly, the wardens had kept the convicts away from the starting biomes, but now, all bets were off.

While Crimson Claws intended to conquer the dungeon and claim the manufactory, Sakura suspected that their true target had been Puppet Town all along. The Gilded Heights was a sorry collection of poorly-maintained buildings, set in the middle of a high-threat biome with few natural resources and legions of hungry beasts. A fertile biome like the plains—filled with stage-one-and-two beasts—was too tempting a prize to pass up.

The problem was, she couldn’t figure out how they intended to pull off their invasion. Their assault on the dungeon made perfect sense, keeping the survivors from the expedition bottled up while the jailbirds cleared the Savage Garden.

But Sakura couldn’t shake the feeling that both moves were a diversion, along with releasing the refugees. Whatever Yussuf the Red was planning, she could sense his knife poised behind her back.

She needed to figure out what was going on, then find a way to intervene before it was too late. The bright spot in all this chaos was that Edge was still alive, trapped inside the dungeon all this time. His presence was delaying the Claws’ plans and dividing their forces, regardless of the specifics of his situation.

Even if he couldn’t complete the quest, his efforts had bought Puppet Town a chance to prepare before the jailbirds arrived at their doorstep. And if the scion of Skill-Eater managed to conquer the Savage Garden, the settlement would grow stronger at a rapid rate.

She had already shared everything she had learned with Dialla—one of the few people who was aware that Sakura was more than she appeared. She would probably have to reveal more of her powers in the days ahead, although she was reluctant to relinquish her anonymity.

Her secrets were important, and she intended to keep them, but none of that would matter if the Claws took over. Sakura had already lived beneath one warlord’s thumb, and she would die before she did so again.

By now, everyone in the settlement knew about the attack on the expedition’s base camp. Earl was trying to come up with a way to rescue the survivors, but there was only so much he could do. The settlement had committed a significant portion of their fighting force to conquering the dungeon. If he sent out more than a handful of hunters, Puppet Town would be critically undermanned and vulnerable to attack.

At least they had the wall, the dome, and the turrets bookending the gates—defenses that were capable of repelling a small army all by themselves. Even if the Claws attacked in full force, they couldn’t invade the town without destroying the potent magitech defenses.

After a final sigh, Sakura turned away and started walking back to her underground base, pondering plans while wondering what the future held for everyone who was stranded on Ord.

***

Now that the jailbirds had conquered the jungle, Edge’s plans had proceeded to the swamp phase.

Before he was ready to explore the dungeon’s final zone and battle the monsters living in the marsh, he needed to find a way to cross the open water, then establish a new base deep within the city. Fortunately, he had been preparing for this transition for days, and there was only one last item on his list.

After advancing Repel Water to rank three, Edge was ready to try skiing with it again.

Just like last time, he made his way down toward a stretch of protected shallows, then scanned his surroundings to ensure that no monsters were lurking nearby. He walked a few feet into the river, visulaized the shape that he wanted his magic to take, then activated Repel Water.

As mana came surging out of his core and formed a curved field below his feet, Edge slowly rose above the waterline, wobbling as he fought to maintain his balance.

With the efficiency bonus from ranking up the skill, combined with the ability to increase its output at will, he was able to float quite a bit higher than before. He smiled wide as he came to a stop ten feet above the river’s surface. He would have to practice making the process fast and smooth, but it seemed that the skill’s power wasn’t going to be a problem after all.

That’s one less thing to worry about. Now, let’s find out if this will be a viable form of transportation. Edge adjusted the angle of the skill by a few degrees while narrowing the circle into an oval, so that the repulsive field was pushing behind him in addition to below.

He abruptly lurched forward, lost his balance, and fell into the river—terrified that the splash had attracted unwanted attention. He Shadow Stepped to get out of the water then activated Conceal. Ten minutes later, nothing had arrived to investigate, so he decided to give it another go.

Edge rose into the air, widened the scope of the field to increase his stability, then shifted the shape to create propulsion. The next thing he knew, he was moving, gliding across the water without tipping over. He had to make constant adjustments to remain upright—fighting to get the angle and power just right—but he was actually doing it.

He enjoyed a surge of satisfaction at his success, refining his technique while gliding along the riverbank until he was sure that he had the balance down and wouldn’t fall again. At that point, he turned up the power and started skating faster. Soon, he was traveling downstream quicker than he could run.

He broke into a shit-eating grin as he poured on the power, zipping along fast enough to set his hair whipping around his face. When Edge looked down, he saw that he was leaving a ripple in the water. But the disturbance was minimal, and he shouldn’t be too tempting of a target to the monsters below—although he wasn’t taking that for granted.

He laughed as he made an abrupt U-turn and traveled back the way he had come. Despite the danger surrounding him, the experience was thrilling and a great deal of fun. It was risky to linger near the water, but doing anything in the dungeon was dangerous, including remaining in place.

If I work up enough speed, nothing lurking below the water should be able to catch up. If anything comes at me from the land or air, I’ll retreat with Shadow Step, then Conceal until it goes away.

In short, Edge had obtained unlimited access to the sections of the swamp that didn’t have a land bridge leading to them, which meant that he could to hunt in the marshlands without having to worry about stumbling onto the Crimson Claws unaware.

Better still, now he could explore ruins filling the Savage Garden’s fourth zone, and it was finally time to cross the borderlands and get his first good look at the city.

He lowered himself to the shore and began walking, heading deeper into the dungeon. Once he had progressed as far as he could, he skirted the swamp’s perimeter for another twenty minutes before he found what he was looking for—a wide bank with a clear view of the surrounding terrain. He set his sights on the crumbling ruins ahead and got ready to make his move.

All that was left was to go for it and pray that this idea worked out as well as he’d hoped.

Edge took a deep breath, visualized his path, then activated Repel Water. Once he was hovering, he adjusted his angle and ramped up the power until he was zipping along at a considerable rate. Then he banked hard and began crossing the river, heading for the closest island in the city.

Just as he crossed the halfway point, he saw a massive shadow moving below the surface. Something big was down there, and it was headed his way.

He had known that something would spot him sooner or later and had a plan ready to go. Besides, it was too late to turn back now. He dialed Repel Water up to its maximum output, streaking along as the shadow followed hot on his heels.

The monster was remarkably quick for its size, but he was faster and reached the far shore with plenty of time to spare. But that didn’t mean Edge was safe. A few seconds after his feet touched solid ground, the water erupted as a dozen rubbery tentacles broke the surface, reaching for his location.

They would have caught him if he wasn’t prepared, but he had already activated Shadow Step. The world turned to murk and haze as darted away from the river and into the trees. He came to a stop within a patch of thick brush and immediately activated Conceal.

He could hear more splashing as whatever was lurking in the river tried to find him. But the monster gave up before long, and he breathed a soft sigh of relief. Edge spent a few minutes surveying the area from the safety of his Concealment, then rose to his feet and resumed his journey.