57. Waiting Out the Storm (Patreon)

The three of them sat in the cave, waiting for the storm to pass. Wind howled by the entrance, and rain splattered over the stone. Deep in the cave, though, it remained warm and dry. The other wolf sat against the wall, head turned away from Loup and Ike. Every now and again, he sighed, but aside from that, he made no complaints. Loup shook herself off and settled down in the middle of the cave. She sprawled out across the dirt, snoozing.

Ike crouched against the wall. He watched the storm through the mouth of the cave. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Every now and again, the cool spray of rain washed over his skin. He sighed.

In the future, I need to be more careful about my skills. This time, there was no helping it, but it’s a good reminder that my skills have a few side effects that I have to watch out for. He wiped the spray off his face. With nothing better to do, he pulled up his skills list to check whether any had ranked up from his wild racing around.

[Name: Ike | Age: 15 | Status: Nm | Rank: 1 [Abyss Dweller]]

Skills: Common: 5 | Bronze 2 |  Silver 1 | … | Rare 2 | … | Unique: 7

Common: All-Around Runner Lvl 7 | Razor Handling Lvl 9 | Spear Handling Lvl 4 | Axe Handling Lvl 4 | Sword Handling Lvl 6 | Bow Handling Lvl 1 | Primitive Crafting Lvl 7

Bronze: Sensory Enhancement Lvl 5 | Mana Manipulation Lvl 3

Silver: Flurry of Kicks Lvl 2

Rare: Salamander Healing Lvl 9 | River-Splitting Sword Lvl 4

Unique: Lightning Dash Lvl 8 | Lightning Grasp Lvl 5 | Lightning Clad (Forearm) Lvl 5 | Lightning Clad (Calf) Lvl 4 | Lightning Clad (Thigh) Lvl 2 | Lightning Clad (Bicep) Lvl 2 | Lightning Caller Lvl 2

He grinned to himself. Two new Clad skills, and they’d all ranked up at least once! Most of his other skills had ranked up as well, with the exception of Salamander Healing, which remained at level 9, and some of his low-level Common skills that didn’t use mana. He’d had to run around like a maniac burning mana to not die, but in return, he’d gotten some solid benefits. Especially in a place like the Abyss, where mana was hard to come by, he couldn’t consider his efforts wasted. He’d survived, and survived the storm he’d accidentally generated, too. To level up his skills on top of that could only be considered a bonus.

Closing the menu, he peered out at the storm. Hopefully the tornado didn’t hit Rosamund’s head directly. Or destroy his pack. Luckily, tornadoes are extreme destruction in a very limited span. If you’re hit, you’re fucked, but one step to the right of the hit, and you’ll be fine. Barring shrapnel, anyways. It does mean I’m praying here that it doesn’t hit my camp dead on, but on the other hand, there’s a good chance it completely misses my camp and everything is fine.

Tornadoes hit the slums, sometimes. There weren’t many natural tornadoes in the area, but when mages fought in the upper city, all kinds of strange phenomena escaped and splattered into the slums. The mages never cared to protect the slums much, so it was on the slum dwellers to survive whatever fell off the upper city. One had destroyed a segment of his uncle’s villa, once. He remembered it vaguely. He’d been five at the time, and he’d cringed at the sight of it, expecting his uncle to burst into a rage. Instead, there had simply been silence. Silence, and a strange resignation in his uncle’s eyes.

I didn’t understand it at the time, but…was that my uncle realizing that he’d never be high enough Rank to cast those kinds of phenomena himself? And here I am at Rank 1 making tornadoes. Ha!

…Though, I can’t say I’m that happy about having made tornadoes. Nor am I controlling them, so overall, I think it’s my loss.

He settled back against the wall. With nothing to do, he started to drift off to sleep.

Abruptly, Loup sat up. Her ears perked, and her head whipped around to stare toward the mouth of the cave.

A second later, the other wolf sat up as well. Both of them stared at the cave opening, waiting for something.

Ike shook off his doze and sat forward, rising into a crouch. He put a hand on his sword, ready to draw.

Through the lashing rain, two shadows walked toward the cave. They wore oiled coats, their bodies hidden beneath and their faces obscured by deep hoods. Ike could see them clearly, but knew they couldn’t see him, tucked in the dark of the cave as he was.

The cave’s entrance was narrow, but it widened toward the center. Where Ike and the wolves sat, it was tall enough to stand in and wide enough to wield a sword, but only in the middle. It narrowed toward the edges where the ceiling sloped down to the floor. He crept toward the center of the cave. There, he’d have enough room to maneuver if it came to a fight, and the incoming people would have no room to swing their weapons.

He didn’t want a fight. But he had no idea what these figures’ intentions were. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

Loup crept up beside him. She raised her hackles and bared her teeth, but watched him closely, waiting for a signal to growl.

They drew closer. Ike tensed. The leading figure, the larger of the two, put his hand on the edge of the cave.

“Stop,” Ike warned them.

Loup growled.

The figures froze. The smaller one grabbed at the larger one.

“We’re only looking for shelter,” the larger one said calmly.

Ike frowned. I’ve heard that voice before. “Ket?”

A pause. The two figures looked at one another, taken aback. The larger one leaned in, squinting into the darkness. “…Ike?”