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[Skill-Eater] Chapter 54: Thanks
🕑 Added 2024-07-20 17:01:01 +0000 UTC[Overdrive] cut off a fraction of a second after the reaver’s brain froze solid.
The searing power filling his chest faded away, and shadow step deactivated the moment that the mysterious engine stopped feeding it mana.
Edge and the reaver’s corpse materialized in front of Trapper’s crew half a heartbeat apart. He was relieved to see that the hunters had come together to finish off the last monster, overwhelming it with their skills while the big one was out of the picture.
In the aftermath of the intense battle, everyone simply stood there, staring at one another with wide eyes. Their expressions contained a pungent mixture of relief and disbelief. He felt exactly the same way.
Their confusion was inevitable, considering what had just happened. From their perspective, hundreds of shadows had been surging across the grass before two turned back into solid objects. Far more shocking, the stage-two monster that had nearly killed the crew was dead, while Edge was still breathing.
Before anyone broke the silence, the shadowreaver topped to the earth, its frozen body wreathed in icy mist. A red wave of exhaustion plowed into him a heartbeat later. A rising fugue that nearly dragged him down into unconsciousness.
He sank to his knees, barely holding on, as the realization of what had taken place hit him like a slap to the face. When it did, he broke into a beaming smile, despite the ringing in his ears and the dark spots dancing in front of his eyes. It’s over. I did it. We won.
Not only had Edge survived his toughest fight yet, he had managed to evolve Skill-Eater along the way. His unique core had grown even stronger, granting a portion of that power to him.
Better still, thanks to shadow step obscuring the finale, Trapper’s crew hadn’t been able to follow the action. He hadn’t given away several of his powers, including either of his ultimate abilities. He might still be able to keep the existence of Skill-Eater a secret after all.
“No, seriously. What the fuck just happened?” The strawberry blond hunter asked for the second time.
“I have no idea, Sasha.” Trapper let out a long sigh. “But we’re still alive, and it’s clear that we have this man to thank for it.” She turned and walked over to his side. “Your name is Edge, right? I saw your face on the new arrivals board just before the world went crazy.”
He nodded, still too weak to speak, waiting for the side effect of using [Overdrive] to wear off. I need to be careful. Getting hit by this mid-battle would be a death sentence.
“Are you going to be all right? I saw that monster run you through a few seconds before… whatever the hell just happened.” He looked up at Trapper, the first time that he had met the woman eye to eye. While he was a stranger to the crew’s leader, Edge had been following her feed for years.
She was tall and lean with athletic curves. Trapper had stormy grey eyes and prominent cheekbones. Strands of her dirty blond hair were poking out from under a wide brim hat, the back tied up in a no-nonsense ponytail.
The woman was famous for her ready smile and easy laugh. She was friendly and open, but she didn’t suffer fools lightly or let anyone take advantage of her crew. She was direct and honest, at least by the standards of Prison World. No one on Ord survived long without guile, especially hunters.
Trapper bent down and looked him straight in the eye. She clearly wanted to help, but not without being invited to do so. “Would you mind telling us how you were able to do that?”
By now, he was starting to feel better, as the mind-numbing tide of exhaustion retreated, leaving ordinary fatigue in its wake. Edge had an explanation ready to go, the lie on his lips waiting for that exact question.
“My shadow core’s ultimate and the monster’s skill made us incorporeal to you but solid to each other. It thought that it was invincible and didn’t see me coming. I was able to take it by surprise and land a lucky blow.”
He kept one arm folded across his chest, where the reaver’s claws had cut deep, hiding the unbroken skin below. “Don’t worry, I’ll be alright. As soon as I can recover some mana, my regeneration skill will heal the rest of these cuts. If you could spare a bandage so that I can stanch the bleeding, I would deeply appreciate it.”
Edge was already fully healed thanks to [Overdrive]. But he didn’t want to raise any questions about how he had used the skill after being drained to the dregs of his reservoir.
“Of course. It’s the least I can do after you saved us.” She tossed him a clean bandage from her pack. “I would like to talk to you later, but I need to go find Blue before she gets into trouble. We’ve already seen more than our fair share of it today.” She turned to face her crew. “I’ll meet you inside in an hour or two. But before I go.”
Trapper pointed to the monsters and said, “If you are planning to harvest the valuable bits, you’re going to need a knife. Here.” She reached into her pack and tossed him something that glinted in the sunlight. When Edge caught it, he realized that it was a folding knife, made of some alloy that he didn’t recognize.
“That blade is a masterwork. It’s wicked sharp and hard as diamond. A tool that will serve you well if you choose to follow the path of the hunter. Consider it my way of saying thanks for risking your life to help save mine.”
Edge let out a soft sigh of relief as she turned to go. It seemed that he had gotten away with his deception after all. But then Trapper came back with a shrewd look in her eye and asked a question that set his heart racing.
“Considering your unusual weapon, you’ve already run into those monsters while crossing the plains. Do you think there are more of them out there?” Be honest. Don’t say anything that will make her suspicious of your skills.
“There might be, but not in that spawn. They followed me out of a ravine that was brought here from the frontier. It’s several days away. At least thirty miles southwest of the fingers. I doubt that you’ll run into more so close to town, at least not until the plains’ new residents have some time to migrate. Be careful out there though. The world we knew is gone, and Ord is changing by the day. It might not be safe to wander far from town for much longer.”
“Thanks. I’ll take that advice to heart. You might already know, but on Ord, I go by Trapper.”
“Edge Vasher.” He rose to his feet to take her outstretched hand, offering a firm shake.
