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

rest of the steam caught up with us. It wasn’t unbearable to me, but I sure started sweating, more than normal.

“The…air…” the Eldest grunted. “It’s…hot.” The great beast tried to turn around and slide towards one of the green torches, but it was too late. With all eight barrels now releasing steam at full blast, the entire room had become one giant sweat factory. The Eldest’s body began to wither, shriveling up like a raisin as the heat overpowered it. The immense size of the creature vanished, along with presumably all moisture within it, as the steam sucked the life juices out of the Orphine with ease.

What was left was little more than a long, deflated string of grey flesh, all guises of humanity completely gone. The steam continued to pour from the barrels, ignorant to the fact that we had indeed managed to kill the Orphine without it noticing. Plan A had worked perfectly fine. The damn creature was so full of itself that it couldn’t possibly imagine us finding a way around it.

“Woah!” Trig said as he walked forward to kick at the shriveled corpse, to confirm that it was indeed dead. “You weren’t kidding about them being made out of liquid.” As his foot struck the body, he yelped and stepped back in surprise. “There’s something under there!”

We both looked at each other, then carefully knelt down to examine the dehydrated corpse. A quick application of a knife revealed that there was a long, slender gemstone within the body. It was like the gem we had found earlier, except this seemed to be more of a fragment than anything. A long, slender chunk with a jagged edge, as if it had been broken off of something.

I glanced back at the other, smooth gemstone. Would they fuse together if I touched them to each other? What a strange idea to come into my head…but the jagged edge seemed to call to me. My mind was completely free of compulsion, I knew, but something deep down was urging me to connect the edge to the stone.

Call it curiosity, compulsion or just plain stupidity. Either way, I found myself grabbing hold of the slender gem and carrying it over to the larger gem sitting atop the wagon. Both gems began to glow more as they approached each other, their brightness pushing back the ever-encroaching darkness. So much so the darkness was driven out of the hut entirely, leaving nothing but light to touch everything.

“What are you doing?” Trig asked as he watched me carefully move the long blue rod closer.

“I’m not sure…but I think these go together. Like they’re part of the same thing,” I said.

Trig was quick to get away from the body, stepping in between me and the wagon. “Easy there, we don’t know how any of this is supposed to work. And that gem was giving those Orphines a lot of nasty powers.”

“Including intelligence,” I said, narrowing my eyes in thought. “Trig, I think this is the vessel. But I think it’s been broken apart. Maybe if we put it back together, it’ll be in control of itself.”

“And will it be friendly?” Trig asked. “Because I completely blanked out when I saw the stone for the first time.”

“That remains to be seen…” I said. “But I think it’s worth the risk.”

“What’s going on?” came a shout outside, followed by a series of poundings against the brass door. It was a panicked, human voice, one belonging to that nameless armored man who had escorted us back to the village. He sounded completely human. “Why can’t I hear the Eldest anymore?”

I glanced at Trig. “Go handle the villagers. Explain what happened and then light real fires around the area. I’ll see where this avenue leads.”

Little Hig poked its head out from Trig’s pouch, where he had been presumably resting in for the last few hours. The monkey looked at me with those same judging eyes as before, though it seemed a little happier than before. Trig patted his pet on the head, rubbing it gently.

“You sure about this?” he asked.

“Not in the least, but I’m not afraid. Masara hate sonic attacks, and I’ve got a bow for it. I’ll be fine.”

More pounding on the door. More confused shouts by people who might be free to think and speak for the first time in…well, maybe their entire lives. Trig turned his attention to those doors and made a hasty exit, knowing he had a duty to follow orders first and ask questions after.

“Well…” I said, turning my attention back to the shimmering gemstone atop the wagon. It was glowing so brightly now, it almost seemed excited. Here’s hoping…

Chapter 30

For the second time that week, I was blinded. Touching the long, slender gem to its counterpart caused a massive flash of blue light, right when I was staring right at it. I fell backwards, yelping and clutching my eyes, regretting that I had been looking directly into the gem. My danger senses weren’t flaring at all, nor did I hear any rustling of movement, so this wasn’t an attack.

Rubbing my eyes a few times, I opened them slowly to allow sight to slowly return. Once the sparkles and lights faded from my eyesight, a figure came into view. It was a Masara! The gem had changed shaped wildly, transforming from a large chunk of stone into a much more familiar gembeast. Though…this one was different from Brain and his ilk. This one had longer limbs, that were jagged on the edges, and it was taller too. More shaped like those lightning warriors we had met on the battlefield a few times.

The octagonal head of this Masara titled as it looked at me. It was vibrating, I knew, trying to speak to me. I was quick to swap out my strength charm for the telepathy bracelet, to see if I could make contact.

Can you understand me? I asked.

Yes. You are intelligent. This is most excellent. I can