Chapter 47: Slaughter
[You have killed an F rank (Normal) Spike Beast.]
[1 F rank (Normal) Origin Crystal has been dropped.
[You have killed...]
The notifications kept coming in.
With Rohan’s defensive capability being revealed, the duo were able to take down a dozen Spike Beasts in their first few hours of hunting.
The hunt itself was similar to their time in the Firestone Forest hunting Worker Ants day in, day out. The Spike Beasts lacked intelligence and largely fought by instinct, allowing Rohan and Elane to make quick work of them through their combined abilities.
Rohan’s Firestone Skin made him near invincible when facing off against the Spike beasts, and he took the role of a tank to grab the aggro of every Spike Beast that came near them so that Elane could then strike them down with her bow from afar.
The extra Origin Crystals were nice to have, but the two didn’t plan to make it a habit to hunt for them in the gates. People only really resorted to that if they died in the Origin Realm and were locked out for a month. They’d rather risk their lives inside the gates in search of Origin Crystals than sit idly by for a month, absorbing the pitiful amount of Origin Energy the air around them offered.
So far, there had only been one occasion where things grew a little out of their control. A group of five Spike Beasts, the highest they’d encountered as of yet, noticed the two of them and attacked.
This was the first time the two of them felt some pressure, as Rohan wasn’t able to direct all of their attention on him, and one of the Spike Beasts managed to launch a barrage of spikes at Elane in the distance before he could block them.
Thankfully, Elane managed to dodge all but one, making away with just a nick on her shoulder as the final spike grazed her skin, carving out a line and trailing blood behind it.
This was the only time Rohan had to act beyond his role as the tank. The entire time it was Elane that dealt every blow to the Spike Beasts, but Rohan summoned his spear to take the rogue beast out before it could launch another targeted attack towards her.
"That was a close one..."
Rohan gulped.
He felt guilty for not being able to block that barrage of spikes, causing Elane to be injured. It was his idea for her to deal all the damage with her ranged attacks while he stowed his spear away and blocked every incoming attack from the Spike Beasts, so he viewed this as a failure entirely on his behalf.
"Don’t worry about it."
Elane reassured him with a wince. She stored some medical supplies in her backpack before heading out that day, knowing they were going to be risking their lives in a gate. After applying some rubbing alcohol and a bandage over her wound, she felt ready enough to keep going.
Looking around, Rohan hesitated before choosing to keep his spear summoned. He wanted this excursion to be a chance for Elane to shine, but now that things had turned out like this, it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Are you sure you can keep going? Won’t the injury to your shoulder affect your ability to shoot?"
They chose a relatively hidden spot to hunker down while Elane patched herself up. He stood watch over their surroundings while Elane dealt with her pain.
"Yes, I can manage. Besides, we can’t leave until we find a waystone regardless."
Tsk.
Waystones. Rohan had almost forgotten about them.
Gates were different from the Origin Realm, as you weren’t forced to spend a set amount of time inside before being kicked out. Theoretically, you could spend as long as you liked, as well as leave whenever you liked.
So long as you found one of the many waystones dotted across the surface.
They looked like tall obelisks made entirely out of a black stone-like material. In some places, they’d stand out like a sore thumb, but in the area Rohan and Elane found themselves thrown into, the entire landscape was scattered with boulders small and large, making finding a waystone amongst them exceedingly difficult.
"You’re right. How about we set our main goal to finding a waystone? From there on, we can centralise our hunt around that waystone’s location. That way we can leave any time we feel like."
They came into this gate knowing they would be there for an indeterminate amount of time — they planned to keep hunting until one of the Spike Beasts dropped a Genetic Armament or Gene. Either would do, despite the Gene being a speed-enhancing type.
Without having a set time to leave by, finding a waystone wasn’t that urgent for them originally. But Elane was injured now, so plans had to change.
***
"Right ahead! I see movement."
Elane hushed Rohan into silence and forced him to stop their advancement.
"What do you see?"
Rohan’s face lay in a frown since Elane didn’t specify what she saw from the outset. Normally she’d just say ’four beasts ahead!’ or the like, so the fact she didn’t this time unsettled him.
"There’s a group of four awakened facing off against six Spike Beasts down in the ridge below. It looks like the Spike Beasts are on the losing side, but two of the Awakened look injured."
Elane sat in wait after her words. They were inside a gate. Stories of Awakened attacking other Awakened in gates were far rarer than in the Origin Realm.
There weren’t any explicit rules about what to do when encountering other people inside a gate, other than the obvious of not harming or killing the other party.
But there was an unofficial consensus to stay out of each other’s way should you cross each other while inside and especially not interfere in other people’s battles.
Rohan and Elane planned to wait for the Awakened in battle below them to finish their fight before being on their way.
However, a sudden shift in the battle below caught his eye, and his expression contorted from impatience to a scowl.
A lone Spike Beast appeared on the edge of their battle.
...But its behaviour was weird. It acted way out of the norm for Spike Beasts.
And the Awakened in battle were completely unaware of its presence.