Duskbound

Things weren't as bad as Velik thought they'd be. There were plenty of monsters, but their levels hadn't improved much and the town watch was still holding their own. Beldrit had fended off a small invasion headed by a level 19 elite three days before Velik had returned, but they'd done it without a single casualty.

Could have been a lot worse, but it's still going to take days to get back on top of this, he thought to himself as he roamed through the forest. He'd killed hundreds of monsters just in the last few hours, mostly through the efforts of [Phalanx]. The skill was more awkward than he'd initially expected, but he was slowly improving his control. For the moment, the focus of his efforts was on increasing his accuracy. For these weaker monsters, it didn't make much difference if the tip of the magical spears struck an inch or two off from center mass, but he wanted to be able to hunt the deep wood, where pin-point precision was a basic requirement.

Normally, he didn't see many people out in the forest at night. Anybody without a high enough mental stat to see in the dark or some class-specific skill—or in Velik's case, a racial skill—was at too much of a disadvantage to the monsters that stalked the trees. Even lanterns and torches could only do so much to counteract the problem. So, Velik was used to running across the occasional woodsmen in the afternoon and evening, then having the run of the forest to himself after the sun went down.

That was why he was so surprised that he kept running into Sildra. Whatever her new class did, she also seemed to prefer working at night. Considering the ritual he'd overseen when a literal god had blessed her with a new class, he supposed that made sense. Less comforting, however, was the fact that she couldn't be any stronger than level 5 or 6, and maybe not that. It was rare to see a monster weaker than that, but ones at level 15 or higher were disturbingly common.

Sildra was going to get herself killed if she wasn't careful, or maybe even if she was. Her bodyguard was nowhere to be found, and he knew firsthand how hard it was to survive in the woods solo. Back when he'd been her level, the monsters had been much weaker, too. She wasn't a child, however, and he wasn't responsible for her choices.

If all the strong monsters in the area she was hunting in happened to die, leaving her with only targets closer to her own level, well, that was just her good luck. He'd spoken with Jensen after he'd spotted her the first time, and the apprentice monster hunter had agreed to focus primarily on killing monsters over level 10, though he'd claimed it was just good sense to leave the weaklings to the locals who could safely dispose of them while he focused his efforts where he could have the most impact.

It'd be less suspicious if he'd agreed before he found out who we were trying to help.

Velik might not have spent much time in civilization in the last decade, but he was still aware of how often young men made foolish decisions to impress pretty girls. Since it actually got Jensen to do what he wanted, he was willing to overlook that in this case. With any luck, the apprentice monster hunter's days would be too full from doing his job for things to go any further, unless Sildra decided she wanted it to. Whatever. That's not my problem.

He spent four days in a cycle of sleep, hunt, eat, hunt, and sleep. The owner of the Raven's Nest didn't seem to mind him taking meals there, and Velik found that he quite enjoyed eating food that was properly cooked. The price was negligible, so he made it part of his routine to stop there early in the evening before the sun went down completely and the real work started.

Unfortunately, while the Raven's Nest itself might tolerate his presence, other townsfolk were less understanding. There was a simple reason Velik had stayed away over the years. Deshir was the worst, but the other frontier towns held plenty of people who also blamed him for the rise in monster populations. Even those who'd previously been indifferent to his presence were starting to shift their stances over the last few months.

It was enough to make Velik long to retreat back to the comfortable solitude of the forest, but since he was still waiting for Torwin to return with his repaired compass and the promised upgrades, he tolerated the state of things.

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He'd just finished some lamb's meat grilled on a stick and a thick slice of fresh, buttered bread for dinner when things came to a head. Less than a hundred feet from the inn, a group of six loggers intercepted him. Three circled around behind him to cut off his escape, not that he thought for even a moment that they could stop him. [Apex Predator] was practically laughing in his head.

"Listen here, Black Tooth or whatever it is you call yourself," the one who appeared to be the leader said.

"Uh, it's Black Fang, boss," the one next to him said.

"Shut it, Travir! I'm busy here!"

"Sorry, boss."

Velik waited patiently, arms crossed as he watched. He itched to shape his spear into a combat form, but pulling it now would probably set the logging crew off and he would be forced to hurt them. If he was lucky, this would just be verbal harassment and not an attempt at giving him a beating to get their point across.

That had happened several times in the early years, even successfully once or twice. Someone had even chased him out into the forest and tried to murder him with a boar-hunting spear one night. That had been when Velik had sworn off ever setting foot in Deshir again, not in the least because he assumed the town would just hate him more when they discovered that guy's body the next day.

"Ahem. As I was saying, Black Tooth. We don't need you skulking around town, scaring honest, decent people and stealing things. Take your scrawny ass back into the trees and fall down a monster's gullet, why don't you?"

"I was leaving town when you stopped me," Velik said.

"Uh… Well… Good! And make sure you don't come back. We catch you here again, you won't live to regret it!"

"I'm afraid I have business in this town. I'll be back tomorrow at the same time."

"Maybe you don't understand. I said leave and don't come back," the logger snarled, spit flying from his lips as he took an aggressive step forward and puffed out his chest. "I've got a physical of 42. You don't want to screw with me."

That was probably an impressive amount for his level, but if that logger was higher than level 20, Velik would be surprised. When the man jabbed a finger into Velik's chest, he just stood there, unmoving. The logger poked him harder, then pressed his hand flat and shoved. Velik continued to stand there, unmoving.

"I think you should know three things," he told the group. "First, my physical is over 100, so you'll forgive me if I'm not impressed. Second, I don't really like killing people. I prefer to spend my time hunting monsters. Third, I often find myself doing things I don't like."

"The hell it is," the logger said. No longer making any pretense at subtlety, he put both hands on Velik and tried to shove him again.

"It would be inconvenient to have to hurt all of you," Velik said. "This is the last time I'm going to ask you to walk away."

"Uh, boss," Travir said from behind him. "[Identify] can't get a read on him. I think he's over level 25."

The logging crew traded nervous looks with each other and backed up a step, leaving just their boss in Velik's face. Before he could decide whether to take a swing or run off, a hand reached out of nowhere and grabbed him by the back of his neck. "What's wrong with you, idiot? Don't pick fights with people twice your level," Torwin said.

He jerked the logger backward and threw him to land on his back. The others scrambled to help their boss up, and wordlessly, they all retreated while giving the two hunters murderous looks.

"That wasn't necessary," Velik said.

"Figured it'd be better if you didn't have to kill anyone. Besides, I've got all sorts of stuff for you and I've been carrying it around long enough. Let's head back inside so I can pass it over and tell you what I learned."

"Will it take long?" Velik asked. He wanted out of the town as quickly as possible and was more than happy to sort through everything out in the forest.

"A bit," Torwin said. "Some of the things I found out… Well, I've got a few questions I'm hoping you can answer. It might help fill in a few holes and confirm what happened to you when you were a kid."

What's there to fill in? It's obvious at this point that the monster I saw was Chalin. The class orb changed his race, too. I guess there's only one way to find out.

"Alright," Velik said. "Let's find somewhere private to talk though. I don't want everyone overhearing this."

"Induar's got a private parlor I'm sure he'll let us use," Torwin said. He walked past Velik and toward the Raven's Nest.

Who's Induar?