Soul caller a litrpg adv.., p.29
Soul Caller: A LitRPG Adventure, page 29
What really drew his attention, however, was the monstrous beast stomping through the forest behind them. While the other scaled beasts had only been the size of a wolf, this scaled beast was the size of a grizzly and only had four legs. It had an extra-long torso that rose nearly twelve feet into the air with three hooked arms on either side that ended in claws, opening and closing sporadically as it marched along. A massive spiked tail swung behind it to act as a counterweight, and it seemed to be tracking something with the small, six-legged scaled beasts running out front, darting this way and that across the path. Suddenly, one of them let out a shriek and charged toward the woods alongside the path. A shot rang out, and a beam of rifle fire tore through the scaled beast that had shrieked, causing the other scaled beasts to let out screams of their own. They threw themselves toward the brush where the shot had originated with complete disregard, and a moment later Merrick saw another shot, this one missing as it flashed over one of the scaled beast’s heads.
Flushed out of their hiding place, two prospectors broke from the trees, sprinting up the path with all their might as the scaled beast quickly closed in behind them. The giant beast was not nearly as fast as its small companions and stomped up the path, casually brushing aside a tree that got in its way. Hearing the crack of the trunk and seeing the tree fall, Merrick began to understand what it was he had heard the day before. Carefully, he drew up his rifle. The prospectors were running up the ravine straight toward him, but Merrick was more concerned about the agile beasts behind them. He had a deep dislike for the greedy prospectors, but the unnatural scaled beast set his teeth on edge and awoke a murderous impulse in his heart. Watching the scaled beasts as they skittered this way and that, chasing after the prospectors, Merrick made a slight adjustment with his rifle and pressed his thumb against the manastone.
With a crack, the sound of the rifle echoed through the ravine and the beam of light passed straight through a monster’s body.
[Ding! Six experience points.]
Shocked by the sudden shot, one of the prospectors missed his footing and fell, landing hard on the ground and tumbling over. The other prospector turned when he saw his companion fall, trying to drag him up as the remaining scaled beast closed in. Ten feet from them, it let out a piercing shriek and leapt through the air, intending to skewer them with the talons on the end of its sharp legs. Just before it arrived, another crack sounded and its body was pierced through, thrown to the side by a second beam of light. Putting his second rifle away, Merrick took one look at the giant scaled beast stomping up the ravine and took off running. It was likely the prospectors would be able to outpace the slower scaled beast, but Merrick wasn’t about to stick around and find out.
The fact that both of the first scaled beasts had given him six experience points, while the second had given him less than one, indicated that they weren’t, like the strangers, distinct creatures. That meant he would have to kill a lot of them to level up. As he ran, Merrick tried to figure out his next move. Arriving at the top of the ridge, he suddenly stopped, crouching down behind a boulder. In the distance, he could see the trees shaking. There were more of the large scaled beasts directly in his path. That likely meant more of the small ones as well. It was clear the entire area was filled with them, and Merrick suddenly felt glad he had left the canyon when he did.
There were not so many, it seemed, that he wouldn’t be able to slip through, and so he set his mind on that new task, passing through the mountains without getting caught by them. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed when he heard a loud wail high up above him. Turning, he looked and saw a tall, three-legged scaled beast near the top of the mountain. It was letting out a piercing shriek that carried for miles, and somehow Merrick knew he had been seen.
Lifting his rifle to his shoulder, he took a shot, silencing the creature with a beam of pure mana. Its cry choked off, fading as it echoed around the mountains, but a quick glance down at the forest below showed that the large creatures stomping through the trees had turned in his direction. Realizing he was in trouble, Merrick quickly scanned the area before turning and sprinting up toward the peak. The last time he’d been here it had been covered in snakes, but he was hoping to find it clear now. His steps were sure and he practically flew up over the top of the mountain. Just as he had hoped, there were no snakes in sight. Clearly, the rock snakes were much smarter than he was and knew not to be out and about when the scaled beasts were hunting.
Heading up over the mountain at a rapid pace, Merrick was forced to change direction several times as he noticed signs of the scaled beasts ahead. There were more and more of them crawling all over the mountain, and as much as he wanted to try and fight them, he knew it would be foolish. When he made it over the top of the mountain and began to descend the other side, he finally felt a measure of relief and turned south, hoping to make it through the rapidly closing encirclement. Running through the woods, he kept his rifles strapped to his back and held his throwing spears in hand. Across the mountains, he could hear the echo of rifles firing, and each time the sound reverberated, the scaled beasts would shift direction towards the sound.
Realizing his only hope of getting away was avoiding using his rifles altogether, Merrick made as little noise as possible. About halfway down the mountain, he saw another one of the giant scaled beasts crashing through the woods and saw six of the smaller spider-like monsters scuttling around it. They were directly in his path, but after a moment of hesitation, Merrick didn’t slow down. As far as he could see, there were no monsters beyond them, but if he were to change direction, it was likely he would find himself sandwiched between two of the roaming groups. Instead, he decided to drive straight through them, trusting in his speed to get him past.
His feet carried him silently across the ground, and by the time one of the small scaled beasts realized he was there, he was already past it, dodging between it and one of its companions. Focusing all of his strength into his legs, Merrick bounded down the mountainside in great leaps, each one carrying him a dozen feet. With a shriek, the scaled beast rushed after him, but Merrick didn’t stop, even when the others turned in his direction. He continued to run, his feet landing perfectly, allowing him to maintain his balance as he raced down the mountain, the scaled beasts spreading out as they tried to keep up.
Letting out a loud roar that shook the air, the large scaled beast stomped down the hill ponderously and was soon left far behind. Though the smaller scaled beasts were still after him, their six legs carrying them agilely over the rough terrain, Merrick did not pause. Eventually, extending the distance between him and his pursuers, he turned to the east, running along a ridge before cutting south once again. By this time, the scaled beasts were no longer in sight, and Merrick continued to run, doing his best to confuse the trail.
He’d gotten an up-close look at them as he ran and confirmed that they did not have any eyes but instead seemed to use their sharp sense of hearing to track their prey. It made sense to him that they didn’t use scent, as he was convinced they wouldn’t be able to smell anything over their own stench. Continuing to run through the forest, Merrick turned south once again, skirting around another mountain. The pass that would lead back toward his village lay right ahead of him, and he maintained his highest speed as he traveled toward it, only stopping when the moon was high in the sky.
Slowing to a walk, he began to look for a place to camp, when suddenly the faint smell of smoke caught his attention. Without hesitation, Merrick threw himself off the trail, rolling into the brush as a piercing blast of light ripped through the air. It had been so close he had felt the heat, and as he landed on the ground, he didn’t stop moving. Pressing with his hands and feet against the ground, he jumped to the side like a jaguar as another blast of light tore into the earth, digging a long, scorched furrow where he had just been.
Still on his hands and feet, he scrambled behind a tree and paused. Trying to control his breath, which was coming in sharp gasps, he heard a faint curse up ahead, recognizing it as the voice of Joseph, the bearded prospector. Locating where the sound had come from, he whipped up one of his rifles and fired a shot, smashing apart the branches the prospector had been hiding behind.
His heart pounding in his chest, Merrick moved through the brush as quietly as he could, swapping out his spent rifle for the charged one on his back. The second shot Joseph had fired been thinner, more focused, looking like the shots fired from the pistol Vale had carried, while the first shot had definitely come from a manatech rifle. Pausing behind a tree as he circled the spot Joseph had fired from, Merrick listened, his ears straining in the silence. When he heard a thud to one side he didn’t move, keeping his focus honed. It had sounded like wood against a tree trunk, rather than a step, and Merrick didn’t take the bait as he waited for Joseph to reveal himself.
39
The moonlight shone through the leaves, casting dappled patterns on the forest floor as Merrick eased himself out of his pack. It was too cumbersome to carry with him in a fight, and so he left it leaning against the tree as he began to slowly reposition himself. Creeping slowly along the forest floor, Merrick was careful not to disturb any of the twigs or leaves that lay under him as he engaged in this deadly game of tag. A faint memory of hunting games he had played with his friends when he was young came to mind, but Merrick couldn’t afford to be distracted, so he banished them from his mind and focused on finding Joseph without first getting discovered himself. The shots worried him, not so much that another would come, but that they would attract the attention of the scaled beasts that had been hunting him earlier in the day. In the clear mountain air, the sound of a manatech rifle firing carried for miles, and the scaled beasts were clearly adept at identifying the location of sounds.
Drawing closer to the source of the smoke, Merrick realized the fire had been hastily extinguished and thought it likely Joseph had withdrawn. Easing himself back from the edge of the camp, just in case the prospector was still around, Merrick returned to his pack, picking it up and vanishing into the woods. He had been hoping to stop and rest, but that was no longer an option. With Joseph ahead of him, positioned in between him and the pass, and the scaled beasts closing in from behind, waiting would spell a death sentence. Instead, Merrick needed to move.
For a moment, he considered turning east and making the long trek to the other pass. But he rejected that idea when he thought of the distance. The scaled beasts had clearly been moving in that direction, and it was incredibly likely they would get to the pass before he would. That left only one other option, racing Joseph to the pass. Taking a moment to empty his pack of anything extraneous, Merrick kept only enough food for the next two days, along with his other essentials. The wolf skin coat and his blanket, along with the deer hide tent he had made, as well as the majority of his food, were all left behind so he could travel as light as possible. He had a feeling that either he would be through the pass in two days, or he’d be dead, and extra food wouldn’t help him with either. Keeping to the cover of the trees, Merrick began to jog through the woods, avoiding the exposed path.
As he traveled, he kept an eye out for any sign of an ambush but didn’t see anything. For a full day he traveled, winding up the hills and around the mountains until the pass stood before him. Though he had gained some distance from the scaled beasts that pursued him, he had seen others approaching from the west and knew that, within the next ten hours, the entire mountain range would be infested with the terrible creatures. They seemed almost endless in number and were clearly intent on establishing the mountain range as their territory. When Merrick arrived at the pass, he found a surprising sight waiting for him. Joseph stood in the shadow of one of the rocks, his rifle in hand and his pistol at his belt. He had clearly been waiting for Merrick to arrive, and as Merrick stepped up into the pass, he lifted his hand.
“No fight. Talk,” he said in his broken words.
Pausing at the edge of the pass, Merrick looked at Joseph, his rifle held at the ready, and then scanned the walls to either side. The pass was little more than a deep gash in the sheer stone cliffs, roughly fifteen feet wide and twenty-five feet long. The ground was uneven, but there were no places to hide. When he was confident there wasn’t an ambush waiting for him, Merrick walked forward, stopping a dozen feet from the prospector.
“Talk. What do you want to talk about?” he asked, fixing Joseph with a hard stare.
“Me, you. Go together. Safe.”
It was clear that Joseph was struggling with his vocabulary, but his intent was clear enough. When he saw Merrick’s quizzical glance, he gestured for him to come closer, pointing down beyond the pass. Ready for any sign of something fishy, Merrick strode over, looking out the other side of the pass, down the mountain. What he saw caused his expression to harden, and he let out a long hiss. There were dozens of scaled beasts that seemed to be patrolling the opposite side of the mountain. More were hidden among the rocks, remaining absolutely still. It was clear they were guarding this pass, which was one of the two ways into the heart of the mountain range.
Studying the monsters below, Merrick considered his options. Breaking through by himself would be almost impossible, but if he were to work together with Joseph, there was a chance they might actually be able to do it. With four guns between them, they would be able to keep up a fairly sustained rate of fire, and by covering each other as they moved, it wasn’t impossible they would be able to break through the blockade. Still, that meant trusting a man he had been trying to kill for the last week and who had made a concerted effort to kill him only a day earlier. Looking at Merrick, Joseph held up his hand.
“No harm. Me, you. We go.”
Joseph’s words were so garbled, Merrick nearly rolled his eyes, but he managed to keep a straight face as he nodded.
“Fine. We go. Together.”
Feeling silly for his words, Merrick gestured for Joseph to lead the way. To his credit, the prospector only hesitated for a moment before turning and showing his back to Merric, a clear testament to his courage. Feeling that the situation was rather incredible, Merrick followed Joseph as they began to carefully make their way down the side of the mountain. They were about 300 feet from the nearest hidden scaled beast, and Merrick watched as Joseph moved like a wraith across the rocky ground. The prospector moved almost as smoothly as Merrick did, explaining how he had managed to get ahead of Merrick during their frantic escape through the mountains. He had a particular way of walking that triggered a faint memory in Merrick, but he was too focused on the coming fight to figure out what it was. They stopped when they were only fifty feet from the hidden creature, which was curled up in a depression behind a rock, and Joseph gestured for Merrick to use one of his rifles.
Pointing at himself, Joseph pointed toward a set of scaled beasts in the distance, indicating that he would fire at them at the same time. Nodding to show he understood, Merrick lifted his rifle as Joseph mirrored his action. Without waiting, Merrick pressed on the manastone, feeling the surge of energy run through his rifle and hearing a loud crack immediately echoed by Joseph next to him. His shot went true, tearing through the middle of the scaled beast and killing it instantly, and with a smooth motion, he swapped his expended rifle for the fresh one.
Joseph had just started to lower his rifle and turn when he found Merrick holding the second rifle. Though he wasn’t pointing it directly at the prospector, it was close enough to give Joseph pause. After a tense moment, the prospector just grinned mirthlessly, showing his teeth as he nodded his head.
“That was a good shot,” he said in his own language, not caring if Merrick understood.
The echo of the rifle shots alerted the scaled beast to their presence, and shrieks began to ring out across the mountainside. Coolly surveying the side of the mountain and the terrain in front of them, Joseph gestured for Merrick to follow and began to lead the way down toward the forest below, drawing his pistol as he waited for his rifle to recharge. There were still a few dozen scaled beasts between them and the thick forest, but as one approached, Joseph lifted his pistol and fired, scoring a clean hit that ripped its legs from its body.
Moving down the mountain as fast as they could, they shot as soon as their weapons were ready, blasting the incoming monsters apart in a steady cacophony of ringing cracks. The sound seemed to roll like thunder across the mountain and into the valley below, and it wasn’t long before Merrick and Joseph heard the sound of shrieks echoing through the pass behind them. It was clear the monsters on the other side of the mountain had realized they were there, so they did their best to speed up. Both of them were highly accurate, and every shot killed another scaled beast, but there were more of the monsters than they had realized, and it wasn’t long before they were forced to abandon their steady progress and make a mad dash down the side of the mountain.
They had focused most of their fire directly below them, clearing a path through the scaled beasts hidden there, but as they ran past a pile of rocks, a monster they had missed suddenly leapt out. Merrick had just shot a beast attempting to close the distance from the side and was in the middle of switching his rifles when the scaled beast leapt down on top of them. Joseph was behind him, and while Merrick could have dodged, it would have meant the scaled beast would have skewered Joseph through the chest, so he let out a roar and slammed his empty rifle forward, hoping to buy himself a moment. A flicker of motion at his side caused him to look over as Joseph’s pistol appeared beside his head and blasted the creature at point-blank range. A thick hand grabbed Merrick and pulled him to the side as the monster landed in a heap.
