Monster Hunting 401: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure by Andrew Karevik (book suggestions .TXT) 📗

every which way as the L’Gara thrashed around wildly. It was suffocating. Without the regeneration properties, the beast wasn’t able to survive without water.

Getting out of this monster shouldn’t be too hard. I didn’t need the bomb to kill it, I just needed it to make me an entrance. I cut through as far as my knife could go and then primed the explosive, trying to keep my footing as best I could as the creature thrashed about.

The explosion rocked the world around me, blasting a huge hole in the L’Gara’s body right as it died, falling inert and limp. I crawled slowly out of the body, covered in blood, guts and all sorts of awful juices.

“Did you kill it?” Trig said, still obediently facing away from the monster. He had used this time to rig a few traps at the entrances to impede the other creatures that might come our way.

“It’s dead alright,” I said, holding the slippery gem tightly in my grasp. I glanced down at it and could see a hundred reflections of my own face staring up at me, each face slightly distorted. “You uh…wouldn’t happen to have a towel on you, would you?”

Chapter 10

The victory beneath the trapdoor was bittersweet. Killing the L’Gara and that hideous tallbeast had netted us two corpses full of ingredients and Bloodpoints. However, it came at the extremely high cost of my beautiful, sturdy Titanframe armor. I tried to revert it to its normal form (once I was clothed again) but the armor would not respond.

The claws of the tallbeast had been so brutal and so violent that there was nothing I could do to salvage the armor. Without the ability to switch it back to its original form, carrying the monstrosity was out of the question. Our only option would be to leave it in the company of Mr. Brimley, who seemed more than pleased to help us with whatever we needed.

“The clock was more or less ticking on that one,” he said as he served us dinner in his modest dining room. “I can handle the small ones, but if a big one were to get into the shop…well, that’d be the end of my trade. I don’t mind dying so much but the boredom of having no work? Dreadful.”

I sat on the far end of the table, soaked to the bone in monster blood, sipping the tea he served without saying much. He had no running water, and we didn’t dare waste our meager supplies on washing up. Plus, the monster blood would prevent my scent from attracting other creatures. I had toweled off as much as I could, but until we found a lake or some other source of water…I’d be stinking like…well, like a woman who just crawled around in a monster’s stomach.

Trig, who was sitting on the other end of the table, tried his best to soldier through the horrid stench coming off of me. He gagged with each bite of the sausage on his plate, eventually giving up on the idea of eating altogether. Instead, he merely sighed and looked at Brimley.

“So, let’s talk turkey, pal,” he said with a grin. “I want some of those trap designs. Now, we didn’t just kill one monster down there, we killed two. That’s two problems you don’t have to face. So, it only stands to reason that we should get not only your guidance to Shadewood, but also some extra compensation.”

“Those corpses are full of all sorts of ingredients,” the old man replied, sipping his tea and smiling pleasantly. “Including charms. I told you before. I’ll give you those coins for those items, then you can give me the coins for my items. Simple enough.”

“Yeah…about the coins…” Trig said, looking at me for permission. The old man had not attacked us while we were on our excursion, which would have been a prime opportunity if he were up to something. And if he was a trader, he might do well to know about Hunter’s Hope. The tea we drank hadn’t killed us from poison yet, so we might as well tell him the truth.

I nodded at Trig, who then proceeded to explain, with great energy, all about our Venator base, all the while keeping details vague and not mentioning the civilian villages.

Brimley listened with curiosity for a time and nodded once the tale was done. “I see. I had suspected you weren’t part of the regular groups. No coins, confusion about the rules, questions about the base.”

“What are the rules, anyway?” I asked. Now that the charade was over, we could get some

answers.

“Well, the monster slayers follow strict rules when it comes to trading and selling gear. They build these little outposts all across the world. I happened upon this place while running from a beast and found it in…let’s say a more dismal state. So, I put things to order and fixed the shop up while I waited out the creature,” Brimley explained in between bites of the sausage. “And then…well, erm…” he trailed off. “We’re friends here, right? We can keep secrets?”

“Sure,” Trig said, leaning in for the gossip. “What happened?”

“A slayer came in from the cold. Killed the monster I was hiding from and then thought I ran the shop. So, I did what any rational man does when a normal human being kills a beast with ease, I played along as to avoid pissing him off. Acted like I was a shopkeeper, and he didn’t notice a thing. Eventually, I learned their rules and even how they managed to gain power. See these hunters? They don’t seem to be in a rush to let the world know how they gain their abilities.”

I tilted my head at that. “What do you mean?”

“Part of their rules is that every slayer is sworn to secrecy. Can’t say a word about how to gain powers. They don’t even talk about Bloodpoints. It’s all so very strange. Same rules apply with this