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[Skill-Eater 2] Chapter 40: Road’s End
🕑 Added 2025-03-03 18:00:14 +0000 UTCWhen Edge opened his eyes, the navy blue of a predawn sky met his gaze.
He slipped out of his bedroll, repacked his gear, then sat down beside his friends while Violet cooked breakfast over the firepit. As he dug into the bowl of spiced porridge she handed him a few minutes later, he turned his thoughts to the jungle looming in the distance.
The caravan was nearing the southeastern border of the Ivory Plains. In another hour, the wagon train would reach the borderlands and enter the frontier biome that contained the Savage Garden.
The scouts had begun charting a path while everyone else was asleep, since most of them could see in the dark. Some had returned to share their initial findings with Gram, and the rest were heading deeper into the jungle. By the time that the wagons crossed into the borderlands, the scouts should have finished surveying the area around the dungeon’s entrance. Their mission was to identify any dangerous beasts, locate reliable sources of food and water, and find a good spot to establish their base camp.
Edge hoped that the jungle wasn’t as dangerous as the biomes he’d seen while standing on the Titan’s Nose after battling the garax. The biomes the crew had named the Ravenous Wastes and Jumo’s Vault were bizarre, inhospitable regions that were filled with countless threats. Hazards that even Puppet Town’s elite forces would have a hard time enduring without suffering significant casualties.
Before long, it was light enough to see, and the wagons resumed rolling along the road. The next hour passed in a frenzy of activity, as everyone scrambled to make their final preparations before heading into the frontier, many for the first time. Whatever they found when they crossed through the borderlands was certain to be a significant threat—likely the greatest challenge that any of them had faced since being trapped on Ord.
With the survival of Puppet Town hanging in the balance, they were willing to risk it all to secure their collective future, although personal gain was a powerful motivator too. Despite the danger that was growing by the footfall, the air was charged with enthusiasm. Everyone was eager to get their hands on the rewards Dialla and the various factions had promised, not to mention anything valuable they could find in and around the dungeon.
When he took his turn riding beside Violet on the wagon, Edge looked out over a sea of nervous faces. Listened to the blend of excitement and fear in their voices. This was the first true challenge they must overcome to thrive in the new existence the anomaly had thrust them into, and they were ready to rise to the occasion.
Not long after, the road came to an end. When he stopped to take a closer look, he saw that the paving stones had been cut in half by the magic that had teleported the Ivory Plains to the other side of Ord. Past that point, the endless prairie transitioned into ferns and trees, which grew thicker until the canopy became a solid wall—so dense that the trailbreakers had to cut a road for the rest of the expedition to follow.
Edge’s adrenaline started to flow as he cast his gaze into the distance. The easy part of their journey was over, and their true ordeal was about to begin. But not quite yet.
Even with the cores, skills, and beast labor at their disposal, it was going to take the rest of the morning to reach the dungeon, which was visible from the top of a nearby rise. While the caravan waited for the trailbreakers to carve a path, Trapper’s crew climbed the hill, since they were eager to see the dungeon with their own eyes. Everyone else must have had the same idea, and the hilltop was covered with people staring into the distance while speaking in animated voices.
Edge pulled out his spyglass, then took a good, long look at the strange growth protruding from the jungle’s canopy. It was clear at a glance that it wasn’t a natural feature of the landscape.
From the outside, the dungeon looked like a living box that was big enough to hold a major city. Thick stalks of a bamboolike plant stretched toward the heavens above—covered in protruding thorns. The walls topped off about three hundred feet in the air, leaving plenty of room inside for behemoth-class creatures to roam.
He knew from watching the feed that those walls would prove impervious to damage, regardless of the materials used to make them. That if anyone were foolish enough to climb them or try to enter the dungeon from the air, they would receive a warning from the System, followed by lethal countermeasures preventing the attempt.
There were only two sanctioned ways to enter or leave a dungeon. The first was the main entrance in front, and the second was the exit that would appear in the final room after the boss was slain. Edge traced the profile of the towering edifice while talking with the hunters lining the hillcrest.
Twenty minutes later, a woman walked over to share some the details of the scouts’ report. They estimated that the dungeon was approximately seven miles on each side, making it about the size of the city of San Fransisco back on Earth.
“Imposing, isn’t it?” Jumo clasped Edge on the back. “Don’t worry. After what we’ve been through, I’m sure that the two of us can carry the rest of our crew. We’ll take down the boss, complete the quest, and come out with our bags stuffed full of treasures like you wouldn’t believe.”
Edge laughed at his friend’s show of bravado. “I doubt it will be that easy, but I’m eager to give it my all. I hope that everyone outside will be alright too. Camping within a frontier biome is certain to come with its own share of hazards.”
“They have Trapper, Ander, and Gram backing them up. Not to mention the deputies and some of the best freelancers in town. While we’re busy inside, everyone else should have a chance to explore the region and pick up some valuable resources. It will be dangerous. But by this point, I don’t think any of the residents of Puppet Town have a safe path to tread. Over time, being underpowered and hiding behind the walls will be just as risky as heading out to grow stronger.”
Trapper nodded along with Jumo’s assessment, then said, “I agree with every word, but don’t underestimate dungeons. Some of the strongest people I’ve ever known have lost their lives by doing so, and it wasn’t even unconquered. Remember what I’ve taught you. Use your head and play it safe. There’s no reason to take unnecessary risks with everyone in base camp ready to back you up.”
Sasha and Riller offered their own advice and words of encouragement, although they didn’t know anything he didn’t by this point. Edge understood where they were coming from. He was worried about the rest of the team too. Guarding the base camp might not be as dangerous as delving the dungeon. But dealing with the residents of an unknown, frontier biome was certain to be no walk in the park.
“Here.” Violet turned to hand him a package, then offered another to Jumo. “I whipped up a pair of poison gas grenades for both of you. It’s the same kind that we used against the cancerous blightlings. If you find yourself in a pinch, these should buy you a few minutes to regain control of the situation.”
“Thanks, Violet. You’re the best.” Edge put the metal spheres into his backpack, since they were too large for his belt pouch. Then he walked over and gave Violet a hug, followed by the rest of his team.
They stayed up there for the better part of an hour, then Trapper’s crew climbed back down and fell into formation at the end of the wagon train. The trailbreakers finished their labor soon after, and the expedition was ready to roll out. He watched as the vanguard entered the jungle. The lead wagons passed through the borderlands before disappearing into the dense growth beyond.
After checking in with the scouts, it was time for their team to head out. The hunters followed the wagon in front of them—tension growing by the heartbeat as they approached an unexplored region inhabited by unknown creatures. It wasn’t too bad in the borderlands, where the sun and sky were visible through the foliage. But that all changed when they entered the jungle.
The instant that Edge stepped beneath the canopy, the atmosphere shifted. His heart pounded as electric anticipation rose to fill the air. It was dark enough that he would have had a hard time seeing before binding his core and raising his Perception. Only a fraction of the light filtered in through the overgrowth, throwing scattered patches of shadow and sun across the roughhewn earth.
Tall trees and dense ferns were everywhere, growing so close together that they formed a living maze. A warren of narrow corridors and small clearings that limited visibility in every direction, making it impossible for him to see anything beyond his immediate surroundings.
The close confines had the unfortunate side effect of freeing Edge’s imagination to run wild. Visions of monsters standing just behind the verdant barrier marched across his mind’s eye, granting the branches swaying in the wind an air of menace and impending violence.
Animals and insects were prolific in this biome, filling the air with the buzzing of wings and the scamper of tiny feet. Unidentifiable howls and hoots echoed across the forest floor. It felt like he was being watched by a thousand hidden eyes, causing the hair on his neck to rise and stand on end.
The humidity grew by the mile, and soon they were all sweating despite their superhuman attributes. Regulate Temperature could help with the heat, but the skill couldn’t do anything about the moisture in the air. He would have tried playing with Repel Water to see if it could help, but he didn’t want to get caught using more skills than he should be able to slot. Fortunately, internal skills were much harder to detect, and he could be using Regeneration to heal blisters on his feet just as easily as anything else.
Dialing up the tension another notch, Edge could smell the reek of monsters riding the breeze, flowing alongside the green of plants and musk of earth. While each species had its own foul odor, they all shared the scent of death that could be detected from miles away under the right conditions.
Although he couldn’t sense anything nearby, his instincts were screaming that this jungle was filled with terrifying opponents. Stage-two predators were certain to abound within its depths, and possibly stage-three creatures too. Skill-Eater opened one eye at the thought before drifting back to sleep. His core was certain that they would be delicious, if Edge lived long enough to claim their powers for his own.
It turned out that his growing unease was more than just a figment of his turbocharged imagination.
Only a few minutes later, the scouts came running back. The moment they did, cries erupted down the line. The expedition’s leaders issued orders for everyone to assume combat formations and ready their skills.
Something big was headed their way and a battle was about to begin.
Comments
Robert McCarter
Fun! Minor point: "Edge looked out over a sea of nervous faces. Listened to the chatter of hundreds of people speaking"
