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[Skill-Eater] Chapter 44: Rescue (Thirty Seconds Earlier)
🕑 Added 2024-07-15 21:49:11 +0000 UTCEdge pushed his body into a burst of speed, adrenaline burning away his exhaustion in an electric tide of anticipation. He could see the walls of Puppet Town in the distance, the promise of safety so close that it made him ache for the end to his prolonged ordeal.
But that wasn’t the way he was headed. Right now, he was running toward danger instead of away, sprinting straight for the group of monsters he had spent the last two days struggling to avoid. He laughed at the irony while reaching behind his back to pull the reaver’s claw free from his pack.
He had his doubts that he’d made the right call. But he had decided to help, and he intended to follow through. The problem was, Edge wasn’t sure that anything he could do would make a difference, even if he was willing to reveal some of the skills that he’d been planning to keep secret.
The monsters had only engaged Trapper’s crew a few seconds earlier, and the group was already in trouble. The reavers had driven the hunters apart in their opening rush, preventing them from teaming up or preparing any skills. It was only a matter of time before their formation collapsed. The moment that happened, the feathered fiends would tear into crew like a chainsaw through cheesecake.
Although he was sprinting as fast as he could, Edge wasn’t going to make it in time. Not unless he burned through a huge chunk of his mana using shadow step.
The first time that he used the skill he had learned that that in addition changing his body, it let him move far faster than he usually could. It was wildly inefficient compared to a mobility skill. But if he was willing to start the fight without a full tank, he could cross the last two hundred feet in a fraction of the time it would take him otherwise.
“Fuck it.” Edge gathered his concentration and ignited his core. Mana went surging throughout his body and the change overcame him, the world fading away to a soft grey mist. He knew that his body and gear had turned into shadows, although he appeared solid to himself in this form.
His speed tripled in an instant. In addition to not having any wind resistance, he weighed less than a wet cough, letting every step launch him forward. I come back down to the ground just like normal, so gravity is still affecting me.
All of this was fascinating, but he would have to ponder the dynamics of his rare skill later. Right now, he needed to focus every scrap of his attention on arriving in time, and on planning out his next move before he got there.
Edge was only supposed to have a maximum of three skills at his stage. He would keep entangle and conceal in reserve unless he was left with no other choice. He had already come up with a plan to explain shadow step while the monsters were stalking him. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was time to find out.
As these thoughts passed through his head, he surged across the grass in a shadowy blur, the magicytes in his reservoir draining into his reactor at an alarming rate. He wasn’t going to have a lot left in reserve by the time he arrived, so he needed to make every skill count.
He wouldn’t be able to use any combos this time, but he already had an alternative in mind. Now, which of the reavers do I want to fight first? While he covered the last stretch of ground, Edge cast his gaze across the battlefield, taking in the events that had occurred over the last handful of heartbeats.
One of the monsters was facing off against the crew’s beasts. The first looked like a blue triceratops a bit bigger than an Earth donkey. She was fast and strong. Even the monster gave way when she charged or gored.
The other was a shaggy red bear about half the size of its companion. He was having a hard time getting close enough to attack, due to the reach of the monster’s claws. But whenever it turned away, he darted back in to rend and chomp.
Both the beasts were stage-one and armed with offensive skills. Edge recognized them from the feed, along with the rest of the crew. Lucky and Blue seem to be holding their own for now.
In the middle of the hunters’ formation, Trapper was fighting toe-to-toe against two of the reavers at once. The leather-clad leader was hard-pressed, unable to use her signature trap skills, which required some setup before they could be activated. But the veteran hunter was nearly stage-two and adept with her sword. She was holding both birdlike creatures at bay for the moment.
Two men were fending off the advance of the fourth shadowreaver. Jumo was armed with a spear and wearing some manner of chitin armor, and Riller was equipped with a pair of long knives and leather clothing. He had a longbow strapped to his back, which was his primary weapon. He seemed to be looking for an opportunity to pull back from the fight long enough to draw it.
That left the final member of Trapper’s crew, an athletic woman with strawberry blond hair and piercing green eyes. She was wearing dark wooden armor and carried a burning spear, which had to be the manifestation of a skill that Edge wasn’t familiar with. She’s the newest member of the crew. I think her name is Sasha.
He had thought that she was holding her own too. But then the monster circled round and darted in low. She moved to counter its rush but was outmaneuvered instead. The reaver created an opening with its claws while preparing to lunge with its beak.
The disarming technique caught Sasha by surprise, breaking through her guard and leaving her chest exposed. In another second or two, the reaver was going to activate its skill and land a killing blow.
None of the crew could make it in time, but Edge just might have a chance.
