Soulweaver 46: Ambush (Patreon)

NOTE: Wanted to mention an edit I made to ch 34 - now, the soul crystal Greg gets from the dragon not only bestows stats, but also has an ability. Description below:

— Obsidian Dragonfire: Imbues the strength of the black flames of a Trial Guardian. Caution: VERY HOT!
- - -

“So tell me about this monster you’re supposed to kill,” I said as we prepared to enter the forest before us. “What does it look like?”

“The contract calls for the eradication of at least ten Killer Weasels,” Aerion said. “Any we kill exceeding that number pays a little extra.”

“Sorry? Weasels?” I asked. “Those furry little critters with long necks and stubby legs? ”

Aerion looked at me like I was crazy. “While they may appear harmless, I can assure you, they are quite deadly. You’d do well not to underestimate them.”

“Yeah, I got that from the Killer part of their name. What are its strengths and weaknesses?”

“They are quite fast and can be difficult to hit. Both their claws and their bite are deadly, though their hide is quite soft. One clean hit ought to kill them. Or at least, that’s what the contract advises.”

I gave her a sidelong glance. “And you’re sure we’ll be able to handle them?”

“They are Foundation-rank beasts. As delvers who successfully completed an Emergence Rank Trial, we have little to worry about.”

“Uh, I beg to differ,” I said, coming to a halt. “We nearly got ourselves killed many times in that Trial. Back there, we didn’t have a lot of options. This is different. Besides, I have no training and you, well, I have no worries if you use Reave, but what if your Essence runs out before you take them down?”

Aerion scrunched her brow. “You’re saying I’m being reckless?”

“A bit,” I admitted. “The more intel we have on these things, the better prepared we’ll be to deal with them.”

I’d had a lot of time to think about my actions in the Trial, and while we’d managed to get out of there alive, I really had been far too reckless. More than I’d ever have been while playing a game.

But that was exactly it—when your life is in danger and you’re panicking, it’s incredibly hard to craft and execute complex plans. Not just that. The stress of day after day of constant survival had gotten to me. It was something I needed to work on. And that started here.

“So, what do you suggest?” Aerion asked.

I thought for a moment. “How stealthy are these little buggers?”

“Not very. They squeak and chatter, and they are large enough to be easily noticed. I’m confident I’ll hear them before they’re a threat to us,” Aerion said.

“Ah right,” I said, glancing at her elf ears. Those things weren’t just for show. “In that case, I think I’ve got a plan. We spend an hour or two training outside, mostly so I can get used to using this poleaxe. Then, we head in, and find a weasel.”

“And… kill it?” Aerion asked.

“No. We hole up at a good vantage point, and we watch the thing. See how it moves. Figure out its quirks. And ideally, we want to see it kill something.”

“But… That will take too much time,” Aerion complained.

“It’s fine. Once we understand how one of them behaves, the others will go quick. And with two of us, it’ll be even faster.”

“I suppose,” Aerion said, looking conflicted for a moment, and I was sure she’d argue, but she set her face and nodded. “Your strategies saw us through the Trial. I’ll follow your lead.”

“Thanks,” I said with a warm smile. “Now, let’s work up a sweat.”

— —

An hour passed, and I felt much more confident. Swinging the poleaxe was awkward at first, but Aerion gave me a few pointers for my stance and my swinging technique, which really helped. After that, it was about trial and error.

I practiced swinging, stabbing, and smashing. I started by swinging at the air, before graduating to tree trunks. Turned out dislodging the weapon was a skill unto itself, and with three different weapons on the end, each required a slightly different technique.

I also practiced one-handing the weapon, hefting my shield in my left hand. I quickly discovered I had nowhere near enough strength for that. The best I could do was to hold the poleaxe in one position while bringing my shield to bear, hoping the enemy rammed it. 

Given how nimble our foe was, that felt unlikely.

“I… really need to find myself a teacher,” I said, huffing from exertion.

Aerion, for her part, had a much easier time of it. She actually had formal training with daggers, and her shortsword wasn’t much longer.

“I’ve received some instruction for this sort of weapon as well,” Aerion said, scrunching her nose. “Just that I never used it since they always felt too big for me.”

“Well, you swing well,” I said.

After that, we chatted tactics for a bit. Nothing fancy—I knew enough about organizing parties that fancy tactics tended to fail without extensive practice and familiarity with each other. Granted, that was for games, but I figured the same applied to real life. 

“Retreat. Defend. Attack,” Aerion summarized. “Then there’s Shock And Switch. Shock means I should use my Blessing, and Switch is when the attacker falls back and lets the other person take over.”

“Right,” I said. “We’ll start with those, and go from there.”

Aerion’s [Shock] ability seemed strong enough to be useful even at F - 0, but consumed part of her Essence each time it was used. The enhanced Essence in the forest ought to allow her Essence to recover a bit more quickly, but each invocation ate up a significant amount of her pool, so we’d have to be tactical when using it.

“Do you feel we’re ready?” Aerion asked.

I shrugged. I really wanted to get Aerion comfortable with [Reave], but the nature of that ability—namely, how it drained 100% of her Essence—meant we had very limited opportunities to use it. It took hours for her Essence to recover, so I figured we’d only get to try it in actual combat. “Ready as ever. Just keep your ears peeled, yeah?”

Aerion steeled herself, and together, we entered the forest.

Thankfully, this was an old growth grove with massive trees and little else in between, which made it easy to walk through. They reminded me of the Redwoods back home, except instead of red, coarse bark, these trees were smooth—almost wet—to the touch.

They were nearly as tall as Redwoods, though, and had similar needles that blanketed the floor. It not only made for easy walking since they prevented anything from growing, but it smelled nice too. Crisp and fresh, like pot pourri. 

It’d been some time since I’d gone for a nature walk and the chirping of alien birds really made it feel special.

“You look happy,” Aerion commented.

“Yeah, well. This is all new to me. It’s both similar and different from the ones we have back home.”

“Home, huh…” Aerion said wistfully. “Well, just remember there are creatures in here that have killed people. We wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“Right back at you.”

It was about thirty minutes later that we found a good vantage. A small hill that overlooked a large meadow. I could see shapes moving in the distance, which Aerion confirmed was our target.

We went prone, lying on our bellies, and moved as little as possible.

“Have you done this before?” Aerion whispered from beside me. “You act like you have.”

“Huh,” I muttered. “Maybe my bullshitting skills aren’t so bad, after all.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” I replied. “I’ve uh… Seen videos.”

Aerion frowned in confusion, but before she could clarify, a weasel darted into the meadow and stuck its head up.

They really were as adorable as the ones from my world, and their brown fur really allowed them to blend in.

Just that, after watching one open its razor-tooth maw and chomp down on a passing rodent, I revised my opinion. The thing was also about five times the size of a normal weasel, easily coming up to my knees.

A moment more of observation earned me a System Message.

Congratulations! Cunning has increased to 16.

Well, well. Now that was fascinating.

We continued to observe its habits—how quickly it moved, how it stalked its prey, how alert it was to its surroundings.

Congratulations! Cunning has increased to 17.

That sealed the deal. Cunning was Awareness. At least, it sure seemed that way.

“Something happen?” Aerion asked, no doubt noticing my pleasure.

“Something good. Tell you later. Still… Damn thing’s like the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog,” I muttered under my breath.

“What’s that?” Aerion asked.

“A fearsome creature most vile,” I said. “One that has taken the necks of many a great men.”

Aerion turned and frowned. “Why are you talking like that?”

I returned her gaze. “Aerion. One does not simply talk of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog without asking for death. Now, how about we ambush that little motherfucker?”

Aerion looked at me like I was crazy, and slowly backed away.

— — 

As far as ambushes went, ours was pretty simple. Aerion approached from the left while I cornered the thing from the right. We had two things going for us. It was alone, and it was distracted, bloodying its mouth as it devoured its kill, so now was the best time.

My only worry was that it’d bolt at the sight of us. Catching animals sounded easy, but they always had better senses than humans and were way faster, too.

Turned out I needn’t have worried. Animals usually ran away. Monsters attacked.

The weasel saw me first and bared its fangs. I didn’t even hesitate. The moment I was close enough, I fired my poleaxe’s [Skunk] attack, covering the creature in a cloud of nasty pungence. 

It recoiled instinctively, hopping back… Right into Aerion’s reach.

She swung her shortsword, catching the tip of the beast’s fur. It sliced through, and before it could get away, slammed it with [Shock]. The beast froze, allowing her to fire off a second and third slash, which all connected. I saw green on the edge of her blade.

The weasel broke out of its shock, and realizing it was being attacked on two fronts, it backed away from us. I moved next to Aerion, my poleaxe pointed at the weasel, and together, we advanced.

My [Skunky] spell hadn’t done a whole lot, but I was hoping her [Venomous Slash] would have more of an effect.

The weasel lunged again, this time targeting me. I once again fired [Skunky], but this time, I aimed at the ground in front of the weasel. The benefit to it forming a small cloud was that I didn’t have to aim. And I knew from games that the way to actually hit anything with such weapons was to aim at the ground.

The black cloud burst in front of the weasel, but the thing reacted too late to dodge. It sailed through the cloud, eyes closed.

When it opened them, Aerion was there, midswing.

The weasel shrieked, trying to block the blade, but its paw was no match for steel. Aerion made another cut. Then another, before the beast backed away.

“Is it just me? Or is it getting slower?” I said, slowly approaching the thing.

“Definitely slower,” Aerion confirmed, closing in on it as well.

Each step we took forced it to back away, clearly not wanting to fight, but also refusing to flee. It was only then that I noticed the color overlay was missing from the creature. Every enemy I’d fought in Dominion’s Trial had them. Was it something unique to this creature? Or did that ability only work in Trials?

Regardless, it meant we had to judge its condition by its behavior. And right now, it was a stalemate.

“Should I attack again? Should I use [Shock] again?” Aerion asked.

“No, save that. You got what… four or five strikes in with that venom?”

“Four.”

“Let it do its thing. If it works like I think it does, that weasel ought to keel over before long.”

The thing sat there with its fangs bared, sneering at us. When it realized we weren’t about to attack, it finally decided to flee.

Except it stumbled. Aerion burst forth, slashing and slicing, inflicting a dozen wounds on the thing.

Unable to take anymore, the weasel crumpled.

Congratulations! [Steel Poleaxe]’s Ability [Skunky] has leveled up to F - 1.

Congratulations! Vigor has increased to 24.

Congratulations! Dominion has increased to 16.

Congratulations! [Nobleman’s Steel Shortsword]’s Ability [Venom Strike] has leveled up to F - 1.

Congratulations! [Nobleman’s Steel Shortsword]’s Ability [Venom Strike] has leveled up to F - 2.

“What’s so funny?” Aerion asked, seeing my grin.

“Oh, nothing. Just that I think this is going to be a great opportunity for both of us. Now, come on. Let’s go kill more of these things.”