LIGHTNOVELONLINE 10. Stalking Prey
Chapter 10 – Stalking Prey
Aenon woke up the next day and started setting up. He made multiple trips in and out of the cave, bringing in trap making supplies each time. His mana sense made avoiding the bone wards a breeze since they glowed in his vision like Christmas lights. He was also finally able to figure out what the shamans were doing with them. They were trying to figure out spells by the looks of it. But all they managed at this point was haphazardly pumping the bones with mana.
The hobgoblin shaman on the other hand, had far superior control and was moving the mana in certain patterns. Additionally, he was picking up something from the atmosphere to give his mana a certain color. On closer inspection, Aenon noticed tiny ethereal balls of varying colors floating all over the place. They only appeared in his mana vision and didn’t interact with physical matter and were the reason he had such difficulty adjusting to his new sight. They were literally everywhere, the ground, the air, even near fire and water. It was like Aenon was walking through a rainbow-colored fog.
The hobgoblin shaman was bleeding his internal mana from his hands and mixing it with the ethereal orbs to create various effects. But he needed to filter out the orbs first, which took time and was the reason spells had a cast time. When the orbs were successfully mixed in, they changed the mana’s color. For instance, the earth spike spell made his mana a dirty brown color, while the gravity spell appeared like transparent liquid glass. After the mixing was done, the new colored mana had to be moved in a certain pattern to successively cast the spell.
During his time outside the cave, Aenon tried interacting with the ethereal orbs, which he decided to call mana wisps. The density of different color wisps was affected by what was around it. Around the trees they had a faint green color and around water, a faint blue. He tried pulling and pushing these globs, but he simply could not interact with them. They bounced off his body if he tried touching them. Frustrated, he tried meditating and focusing on his own mana. He was still leaking a faint trickle of his mana, but since his mana never went down in his interface, he concluded that it was significantly less than his mana regen rate.
Like the shamans, he tried pumping out mana into tiny bones he picked up from the forest floor. The bones got a sheen to them and lit up in his vision. He kept adding more and more to it until eventually he detected faint cracks in the bone. Undeterred, he kept pushing on when suddenly…
BOOM
The bone exploded like a firecracker, charring his hand. He fell to his side from the pain but held in the scream. The explosion wasn’t loud enough to travel too far, but he didn’t want to risk giving up his location. With great difficulty he climbed the tallest tree near him and used his Stealth Skill to blend in with the leaves. He checked his health and mana pools.
HP: 1254/1960
MP: 628/2040
So, he had managed to blow up his hand using around 1412 of his mana. Still grimacing in pain, he tore off a sleeve and gingerly wrapped up his blackened appendage. He sensed movement in his peripheral vision and saw the snake crawl up the tree and settle down on the branch next to him, staring at him with serpentine eyes.
Before either of them could start a conversation, the place where the explosion took place was swarmed by goblins. Most of them were shamans, with a few scouts mixed in. They started sniffing and looking around while the shamans started a fight to claim the bone fragments he had blown up. Arbiter Allie wrapped herself around his neck just as the hobgoblin shaman entered the scene.
“Be quiet and do not do anything stupid. I am suppressing the mana leak from your body, but if you try to interact with mana right now, the hobgoblin will track you,” she whispered in his ear.
Aenon went still as a statue, pushing his Stealth Skill hard to not get noticed. He completely let go of his mana control and let the Arbiter take over that aspect. After about 20 minutes, the hobgoblin grew tired and retreated towards the cave, with the bone shards. After they left, the snake turned its head towards him, while still wrapped around his neck.
“You have the survival instinct of a toddler,” she stated calmly. At least she was not yelling or insulting him like before.
“That was an accident,” he said defensively.
“I am 2 years older than you, but much more experienced and higher leveled. Believe me when I say, that was no accident, but sheer stupidity on your part,” the snake hissed dangerously while squeezing on his throat, just enough to make it more difficult to talk, but not enough to choke him.
“Now, you will find a safe spot to hide, and we are having the conversation we couldn’t finish the last time. Try anything funny, and I will drag you back to the village and have them lock you up till you come to your senses. Blink once, if you understand.”
Aenon blinked once to confirm. Even though he hated it, he realized he couldn’t do anything against her. So, he decided to comply. She loosened her grip, allowing him to breathe freely. He took a few deep breaths and started marching towards the cave. She immediately tightened her grip.
“Safe… spot… there,” he managed to choke out a few words while pointing slightly away from the cave. He gasped when she loosened the coils around his neck. He moved silently towards his destination without further choking. He headed for a thick dead tree that he had come across earlier and climbed. There was an opening towards the top which opened into a hollow nest that was wide enough to be a small bedroom. He climbed in and covered the opening with some leaves. He still had a clear line of sight of the cave from here, and he could detect some movement around it.
The snake crawled down his body and transformed into an elf. She crossed her hands while maintaining a fierce expression. It reminded him of the time he was lectured by his schoolteacher for pulling a prank she was not very fond of. And just like that time he had enough presence of mind to look down quietly. Defiance would only make what’s coming next worse. She stared daggers at him for the next five minutes before finally speaking in a chilly tone.
“Talk. What was your grand plan here?” she was tapping her finger on her elbow in agitation.
“I, uh, saw that the hobgoblin and hobgoblin shaman are not getting along. The shaman has been keeping the hobgoblin close to death, but not killing him. Perhaps to make him submit. I planned to make them fight and take them out when they exhaust each other,” he said with full honesty, daring to look up just for a second.
Her expression softened for a moment, before the scowl returned. He was not sure if it was because she thought his plan had merit, or because she pitied him. He had come dangerously close to getting himself killed twice so far. And she had saved him both times.
“Alright. Now tell me what’s going on with your stats. My identify skill clearly shows you are level zero, but I can’t detect any Titles or class details. And before you begin, know this, if I wished you harm, I would have just left you in that cave or on that tree.”
Aenon hesitated briefly before sighing and showing her all the hidden Titles, except Unfettered and System’s Chosen. The question marks on the first bothered him, while the second was his hidden card of sorts. When she didn’t say anything, he risked looking up and found her staring at him in disbelief, with her jaw hanging open. He would have laughed at her expression if not for the current situation. He let her process it at her own pace.
“You… you… you have no class? And your Titles? You survived a soul attack from someone one evolution grade above? How is that even possible? And you met an Overseer?” she stammered as her words finally caught up to her thoughts.
“Is it that weird?” he asked with genuine curiosity.
“Weird? You think it’s weird? It’s damn near impossible, is what it is. You… I… I can’t. I just can’t figure you out,” she threw up her arms in frustration.
“Does that mean my plan would work? I mean, now that you see my stats, you know I am not weak,” he asked with some hope.
“What?” she asked in confusion.
“My hobgoblin assassination plan. You know, the plan I made in my infinite wisdom as a level zero,” he risked adding in some humor.
She scrunched up her nose in disbelief. Her eyebrows shot up in realization suddenly, “Your skills. Show me your slotted Skills.”
Skills
Stealth (Woods, Urban)
Savant
Weapons (Unarmed, Daggers)
Savant
“What the freak! No wonder I lost track of you so many times. I thought all humans had used their SP before being transferred here. How did you gain enough to rank 4 skills to savant and merge them?” her face now had a permanent expression of disbelief.
Aenon merely shrugged. If he told her everything, it might lead to Harley’s presence being known. The elf stared for a few more minutes before covering her eyes with her palms while shaking her head.
“This explains why you were so confident in going solo. And why you skipped getting a class. I am assuming you are trying for a better class with whatever shenanigans you have planned?”
“Yes,” Aenon said while nodding.
The stunningly beautiful elf took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Alright. I owe you an apology. I misjudged you for someone who was way in over his head. I am sorry about that. Your plan should work and would have worked flawlessly if not for your soul injury. An injury you knew nothing about. So yes, you did well. And though there are some more things I know you are hiding; I will not pry.”
For some reason Aenon felt good being vindicated. He was not sure if he could fully trust her, but at least he felt no hostility from her.
“And I know I am going to regret asking you this, but no one taught you mana control, did they?”
“Nope,” he responded plainly.
She gave him a flat stare before muttering to herself while shaking her head, “Monster. I am looking at a monster. If he survives long enough at least.”
Aenon had gotten hungry from all the talking and stress of the last hour. So, he settled down in a corner while the elf paced around talking to herself. He scoffed when he remembered what she told him about talking to oneself. He took out a system ration and started munching down while peeking through the leaves toward the cave. The goblins had been preparing something over the last few days. They had gathered enough weapons, bones and sticks mostly, to arm the entire army. Something big was about to happen.
Clap
“Alright. Here is what we are going to do,” Arbiter Allie declared finally. She seemed to have sorted out her thoughts.
“We?”
“Yes, we. Until your mana leak problem is fully fixed, I am tagging along. I will not interfere with anything you do, unless it is the direct result of your injury. So don’t expect me to step in if the hobgoblin is about to crush you. I will continue suppressing your mana leak while you continue doing whatever you had planned.”
Aaaaargh. Is she ever going to leave us alone?
Aenon froze at Harley’s outburst. But the elf had no reaction to it whatsoever. He tentatively tried mentally responding to Harley, “She can’t hear it.”
“Can’t hear what?”, Allie asked with a puzzled look.
Aha! I see what is going on. She can’t hear my thoughts because I am directing them at you. But you are directing your thoughts to your soul space and not at me. Try focusing your thoughts on me, and not your soul space. She has a weak link to it because she is blocking the mana leak.
“Puppies and rainbows,” Aenon projected his thoughts while focusing on Harley, making her giggle.
“Can’t hear what?” Allie repeated her question impatiently.
“My thoughts,” he projected towards his soul space. Her eyes widened slightly before she shook her head again while muttering.
“Of course you figured out how to use telepathic communication. Where in the multiverse did you crawl out of.”
She sighed before transforming back into the snake. She crawled up his leg and wrapped herself around his left arm before turning into metal. It was like a golden helical wristband going all the way from his wrist to his elbow.
“So, do you plan to stay in this form?” he asked.
“Actually, like I mentioned this is just an artifact. This is its original form, and I am merely controlling it. Believe it or not, but I have other tasks that are more important than babysitting you. There is another mess I need to clean up back in your starting village. Ugh, why do I get all the problem players? This trinket will patch the leak for now, and I will pop in occasionally to check up on you.”
“So, you are giving me this wristband?”
“Giving you? Hmph! As if. I am merely placing it on you. Do you know how valuable this is? You could buy half the planet you are on right now if you sold it. And don’t get any ideas, it is soul linked to me. You as much as scratch it, and I will know.”
With that her presence disappeared and the snake band went quiet. Aenon took a breath of relief and had exactly 5 seconds of peace before Harley chimed in, appearing in her shard form.
Ah, finally she is gone! Our soul space is so bland that it gets intolerable. We need some decorations for it. Maybe a nice rug and …
Aenon rolled his eyes and tuned her out. He moved his attention back to the cave. The pain in his injured right hand had all but disappeared. So, he unwound the bandage while keeping an eye out the hole. When he finished removing the wrap, he found his hand was as good as new. He smiled while placing the cloth strip in his inventory.
… And maybe a nice cozy plant in the corner.
Hey, are you ignoring me again?
“Sorry. Did you say something important?” he quipped mischievously with a smirk. She huffed and stormed off to a corner to sulk. Aenon laughed out loud before going over to apologize.
“Sorry, sorry. I was just joking. Buuuuut, since you are upset and don’t want to tag along, I guess I will have to take on the goblin horde on my own.” That seemed to have done the trick as the shard bobbed around him in excitement.
Upset, who is upset? Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go! I have been waiting ages for this.
“Calm down. Don’t forget what our main goal is. I need to upgrade my Predator Title first. A +6 AGI is useless. I might not get a better chance than this. So have some patience. What’s more, if it goes the way I envisioned it, we will be rolling in Titles soon.”
Harley deflated at this but stayed silent. She knew that this was a marathon, not a race. By the time he snuck out, it was dark, and the forest had an eerie glow to it. The glow was coming from all the torches the goblins had lit. The goblin ranks were much better organized now, and the infighting had all but seized. If any goblin dared create a scene, he/she was pulverized into a paste the next instant by the hobgoblin shaman’s gravity spell.
And so Aenon’s preparations continued. Concealing traps all over the cave while avoiding detection was close to impossible. But he did it anyway, with a lot of patience, and pushing his stealth skills to the edge. He had gotten so good at it; he didn’t even need the mental prods from the skill anymore.
At long last, more than a week later, he finally got the notification he was waiting for.
Title evolved: Predator (1) to Apex Predator (1)
Apex Predator (1): Stalk a group of more than 1000 for 7 days undetected.
+20 all stats
He smiled triumphantly as he finished his latest trap. He had finished his preparations days ago. And now it was time to start the second phase of his plan.
“You ready, Harl?”
I was ready ages ago. Let’s do this! Give me that sweet XP!
He put his stealth skill to maximum use and made his way right behind the throne the hobgoblin shaman was on. Due to its prominent position, it created a perfect blind spot for the entire cave. He picked up a spare knife he had swiped up from one of the dead bodies and with confidence, threw it straight at the battered and beaten hobgoblin that was lying 50 feet away from the tent.
The former leader’s life had been miserable this last week. The hobgoblin shaman had made it a habit of taunting and belittling the hulking brute. After a half dozen beat downs, it had mellowed out and was following orders reluctantly. But still the jeering and taunts never stopped. On more than one occasion the shaman had thrown rocks right in its eyes from afar.
And that is exactly where the knife hit. With a roar, the hobgoblin stood up while clutching its bleeding eye, and turned to the smaller hobgoblin, who had a bewildered look. The injured hobgoblin charged at its tormentor, throwing all caution into the wind.
The shaman instantly picked up its scepter and cast its trademark gravity spell. But unlike last time, the hobgoblin was mad with a fury that was building up for the entire week now. Despite being pressed down, he started crawling out of the crater, refusing to give in. All the goblins ran for cover.
The hobgoblin shaman was smart to a degree and had therefore been keeping its counterpart on the verge of death the whole time. It did not want to kill such a precious resource. Just break him into submission. If he was to cast an earth spike now, the hobgoblin would be dead. Aenon had realized this during his observations and was counting on it. The shaman kept casting the gravity spell each time the hobgoblin left the crater. After casting it for the seventh time, the hobgoblin shaman started wheezing.
Realizing it was pointless to try to subdue the berserk hobgoblin, he started channeling the earth spike spell at the very last second. But to the shaman’s bewilderment, there was spike jutting out of his throat. Not the earth kind, but metal. Before he had registered what was going on, Aenon had snuck up from behind and plunged his dagger through the neck, instantly killing the shaman.
The other hobgoblin, free of the spell, crawled faster towards the shaman, not even realizing his quarry was dead. He jumped the last few feet and tore into the shaman’s neck with his bare hands. In his bloodlust he failed to detect the assassin that was now behind his back. With precision, Aenon thrust his dagger into the remaining good eye of the hobgoblin.
Blinded in both eyes, the hobgoblin bellowed and started swinging its enormous hands wildly. None of the other goblins dared to even peek to see what was going on. And so Aenon started dancing around the hobgoblin with abandon, stabbing at its vital and sensitive areas until finally, after 15 minutes, it collapsed. Like a ghost, Aenon disappeared into the shadows again before any of the goblins came out of hiding. The only indication that there was a third enemy was the absence of an ear from each hobgoblin corpse.
Absolute silence reigned over the entire cave. When the goblins finally came out, they were stunned and speechless. For an entire minute, they just stared at the two enormous corpses, expecting one of them to rise. All the while, the one responsible for all this was keenly observing the scene from above.
“Time for the last phase.”
And with that he descended on the rest of his hapless prey, like a silent sentinel, beckoning them to their doom.