Duskbound

The mana compass was far too complicated, in Velik's opinion, and he didn't understand why it needed to be attuned to him in order to function. It didn't seem to do anything different from when he'd first acquired it, other than that he could now rotate the symbols by prodding them. That caused the arrow to flicker in seemingly random directions, but without knowing what the symbols actually represented for sure, it wasn't helpful.

He set it to 'monster' and started following the compass with the hope that it would lead him toward the closest monster with a high amount of mana concentrated in it. In that regard, he was disappointed to find a weak level 27 a mile away. This'll make killing them more efficient, I suppose, but it doesn't really solve my problem, he thought as he stared down at the arrow, which had shifted direction to point slightly off to the right the instant the monster had died. Maybe if I adjust this part here…

A bit of experimentation over the next few hours taught him a bit about how to set the threshold, which wasn't based on a monster's level, but rather by how much mana it had in it. As far as he could tell, the more radically mutated from the base animal the monster was, the stronger its mana signature was. Presumably, those monsters that were born from pure mana would be prime targets for the compass.

What he really wanted to find was another champion elite. Velik was hoping they'd lead him to Chalin. Somehow, his childhood friend had lived through that night. For all Velik knew, that monster might have been Chalin, transformed by the same thing that had turned him into a Duskbound and granted him his class.

If that was the case, and Chalin was in fact the source of all monsters, then Velik had to admit he had no idea what the class orb had given his friend. As far as he knew, people couldn't make monsters. Even if they could, they certainly couldn't make hundreds of thousands of them.

Velik spent the night following the compass and messing with its settings. Slowly, his decarma count started to build back up, at least enough for him to start looking at purchasing some replacement potions for emergencies. The compass didn't do all that much to speed things up, not when the monsters were dense enough that he could move from one to another just by following his own senses, but he was slowly getting the device tuned to lead him to bigger and stronger prey, which meant more money.

Eventually, the compass led him to a peculiar stand of trees, all planted in evenly spaced rows running in parallel. Well, if the compass is right, there's a monster here right in the middle of all this. And considering how damn weird this looks, I'd say I'm about to walk into a fight with another champion.

The question of why the champions had arenas out in random stretches of the deep wood was not lost on Velik, but he didn't have an answer. All he could do was follow the trail and hope it led him where he wanted to go. Unfortunately, to do that, he needed to kill the champion elite hiding in the strange grove so that the compass would point the way to the next one.

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He'd gained a new skill, a few ranks, and a level since he'd fought his first champion. Beyond that, he had weeks of additional experience fighting monsters that were a higher level than him, something he hadn't had to do since he was a boy just starting out. Picking a fight was a gamble, but so was everything else he did. His whole life had been a series of calculated risks, so it was hard to be scared of the latest one on the stack.

His spear slithered down his arm and solidified into its combat shape and he stepped out into an open row. Nothing happened immediately, certainly nothing as viscerally violent as a ring of fire springing up around the grove. Everything was quiet, but it was the natural silence of a forest, comfortable and filled with the chirpings of bugs and the rustle of leaves as birds flitted through them.

Where are you? Come on out, I know you're here.

His eyes flicked back and forth, looking for some signs of the monster his compass had told him was lurking in the grove. Just because he couldn't see it didn't mean it wasn't there, of course. He relied on his other senses to get a feel for what was going on around him in an environment so heavy with visual obstructions, and they weren't giving him anything.

Velik came to a stop in the middle of the grove and turned in a circle. Tree. Tree. Tree. No undergrowth. Branches are all at least ten feet off the ground. Trunks are all the same size. No bugs on them anywhere. No animals at all. Does the monster eat them, or do they know better than to come here? That'd be—what was that?

His eyes had almost slid past a gossamer line anchored between two trees at the far end of the grove. That hadn't been there before. Spider webbing? Hidden spiders? That line is too thin to be made by anything big. There's no movement, but a horde of normal spiders could hide easily.

If the champion was some sort of sentient colony of spiders, this was going to be a messy fight. Velik was specialized for killing large, singular monsters, but he was tough and fast enough that a cloud of biting insects was generally more of an annoyance than a true threat. When that cloud was composed of champion elite monsters, he suspected he'd encounter a few surprises.

He completed another circuit and found a new line of spider silk between two nearby trees. The monsters were boxing him in, cutting off his options, and he hadn't even spotted them yet. He needed to view the scene from a different angle, literally, so he took off in a burst, traveling fifty feet in a quarter of a second and spinning to see the backs of the trees where the spiders were lurking.

Except, there were no spiders. There wasn't anything at all. Are they invisible? If so, then he'd bitten off more than he could chew. This kind of champion would require some sort of mage class capable of splashing fire or acid all over the grove, something that was completely outside his capabilities. Retreat was the only viable option.

Something flashed by him, and a line of burning fire drew itself across his back.

Velik spun, his spear whipping around to catch his attacker, but it was gone. Only the hot blood seeping down his back proved there'd been anything at all. It hurt far more than it had a right to, so much so that Velik's mind immediately jumped to some sort of poison. That would be on theme for a spider monster.

He ignored the pain and kept up a slow rotation while moving closer to the edge of the grove. As far as he could tell, there was nothing keeping him from fleeing this time, and he'd clearly run into a bad matchup for his skill set. It wasn't often he was forced to run, but he wasn't stupid enough to let a little pride keep him in a bad situation.

He saw a streak of black out of the corner of his eye and turned, his spear leading, to slash at it. Despite his speed, it was gone before he could bring it fully into his range of vision.

Not invisible, just ridiculously fast.

This time, he wasn't distracted by a fresh injury. He heard the soft crunch of something hitting bark on the tree next to him, but it was gone before he could spot it. [Predator's Visage] was giving him nothing to work with, either. Whatever this spider monster was, he needed to get out of its hunting ground.

Still spinning in a slow circle to watch around him, Velik started walking toward the edge of the grove. If he didn't know any better, he'd have sworn he was alone. Just going by the size of this gash, it's got to be bigger than a regular insect. Not a swarm, then. No way a thousand spiders that come up to my knee are hiding here. But, if it's just one… Where is it?

Something pressed into the side of his leg, just below the top of his boot. Velik froze and looked down to see a hair-thin slice in the leather and a line of spider silk pressed up against it. It was barely even bowed out, certainly not enough to snap it. Cautiously, Velik pulled his leg back and dipped his spear down to slice through the line. It parted, but scored a line across the spearhead.

How sharp is this webbing? This is insane!

He glanced back up at the edge of the grove and frowned to see no less than a dozen strands running from tree to tree in his way. The monster had predicted his exit path and taken steps to block him off. He could cut through them, but not without damaging his weapon. The [Mending] enchantment would fix that if he gave it enough time, but he might not live that long if he rendered the spear useless in the middle of a fight.

Shifting directions and making sure to walk sideways so he could keep an eye on his path while watching for monsters was difficult, but Velik made it work. That was how he spotted the line of spider silk zipping through the air to settle in place, then go taut against the other tree. Something black and green darted up the trunk and into the canopy, silent as a breath of air and far faster.

Found you.