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

pounds without breaking a sweat? I felt a shuddering shift through my body, followed by a strange feeling of sturdiness. As if I were made of steel, unmovable and unstoppable. Nothing about my body contorted or twisted, but I could definitely sense some changes happening.

Once the transformation completed and my weight skyrocketed, the Griffin began to stop its ascent. Its wings began flapping hard, harder than I had ever seen, yet to no avail! We were sinking rapidly towards the mountains. The Griffin was too stubborn to let go, refusing to release me, but also refusing to admit defeat. It tried to fly forward, eschewing ascending in favor of simply powering us towards the great shadowlands however doing so was a fatal mistake. The moment the wings stopped straining to move us up, we plummeted towards the earth with astounding speed.

The legs of the Griffin released me, but I wasn’t about to let it get away. I grabbed hold of its clawed feet and sank my grip around its ankles, pulling it down towards the earth. The beast tried to fight me off, but we were just moving too quickly. The both of us crashed into the mountain at the same time, my dense body creating a huge crater where we landed.

Thankfully, my blessed boots worked at a thousand pounds just as well as my regular weight. I touched ground without a scratch. The Griffin was not so lucky. The impact of the fall, combined with the angle of the landing had smashed it clean into the ground, shattering its bones upon impact. The beast was on its back, trying to move, to get up, but a fall like that had broken just about every limb.

Climbing up to my feet, I walked over to the creature, placed a foot on its head and pushed down with a grunt. My enhanced density easily snapped the beast’s neck, killing it instantly. I let out a deep sigh and collapsed onto the ground, feeling the earth shift beneath me as I landed. That was an exhausting fight. But I must admit, it was nice to look up and see the sky.

I couldn’t tarry for long, however. I needed to find Brimley and the Stabwagon. Switching back to my strength charm, I climbed up and grabbed hold of the dead Griffin’s leg. It was a strange thing, to see the beast being hatched just for the purpose of fighting me. This spoke to some kind of intelligence in the hatching process. This monster could not have just attacked me on instinct alone, for it had tried to drag me back to the Shadewood. Something must have been giving it orders. But what? And how?

These questions seemed to just bounce around in my mind as I dragged the corpse through the tunnels of the mountain, searching for Brimley’s shop. Thankfully, the old man had painted a few arrows on the cavern walls, leading me to the right openings that would take me to his place. Best of all, he clearly marked traps with words, figuring that monsters couldn’t read, but humans could.

“Who’s there?” came the call as I hauled the body of the beast up to the shop front. I could be heard from a mile away for certain and the old man definitely was aware of the dragging sounds.

“It’s Avery,” I said, pounding on the locked door. “Open up. I’ve got a lot to do and barely any time.”

The old man was quite bewildered at my presence, but was more than accommodating, unlocking the shop and granting me access. I had precious little time to get things done. First and foremost, I was quick to cut open the Griffin and yank out whatever I could get my hands on to distill.

8,000 Bloodpoints greeted me as I cut open the creature. Quite a useful amount to have. Should I continue down my alchemy path, to hopefully unlock Level 3 potions? Maybe there would be something for resisting mental attacks.

“So…is Trig, gone?” Brimley asked as he hovered outside the door of the alchemy lab, watching me with curiosity. I paid him little mind as I continued to pull guts, lungs and liver out of the beast, throwing all the organs I could into the bubbling cauldrons.

“No, he’s alive,” I said. “But there’s some serious trouble brewing.”

“I see. Well, help yourself to my amenities,” the old man said, leaning against his cane. There was a slight irritation in his voice. No doubt he didn’t appreciate me just barging in without explaining anything. I paused from my work to look at him.

“Sorry, sir, it’s just things have grown a little complicated. I don’t even know where to begin.”

“I have all day,” he said. He then pointed his cane at the now bubbling cauldrons. “As do you. A haul that big will take the day to cook. Might as well tell me what’s going on in the meantime.”

With a shrug, I turned my attention to the charm bench, taking a moment to cut out the beak from the Griffin. The glistening yellow shell would make for a fine bracelet. As I worked, I explained everything that I had seen to the man. He listened in awe, not saying a word as I explained the strange horror of the Shadewood. As I spoke, I found myself growing increasingly more alarmed, as the pieces started putting themselves together.

The Eldest, the hatchery, the intelligence of the Griffin—all signs of there being a greater influence within the woods. But what was that influence? Was it the Shadow Beast? I was beginning to get the feeling that whatever was behind all of these things would unlock the key to finding the Vessel. But I only had a few pieces of the puzzle. I still needed to figure out what the picture was first.

“An intelligent monster?” Brimley said once I had finished telling him my tale. He rubbed his chin. “I’ve not heard of such a thing. Some speak, sure, but to really, truly think?