Duskbound

The most powerful enchantment on Velik's spear was called [Mana Drinker], and its effects were both subtle and understated. It did exactly what any reasonable person would expect: it stole mana from its victims. That drained them of resources, which didn't have an immediate impact at the time Velik dealt an injury, but every strike hastened the fight to its inevitable conclusion.

What it did with that mana was perhaps more relevant. [Shape Shifting] was a powerful, but expensive enchantment, and Velik used to be very discerning about making subtle alterations at key moments to achieve victory. Since evolving his spear up to a legendary ranked weapon with the help of a champion seed, he'd outgrown the need to be frugal with the weapon.

Now it shifted form frequently and rapidly, and without fear of damage thanks to its [Mending] enchantment keeping it in perfect condition. Velik was capable of abusing his spear to a horrific extent, knowing full well that the monster he was fighting would fuel its repair.

So when he punched it into Emberson's stomach, he did so with not only the full strength of his body behind it, but with the [Power Surge] enchantment from his ring backing it up, and with [Shape Shifting] working to morph the tip into something hooked and barbed once it was past the armor and flesh.

He had a simple goal: to rip the monster out of Emberson's body, even if it meant taking an organ or two with it. It was brutal and vicious and just as likely to kill Emberson as not, but the platinum-ranked hunter was simply too powerful to take half measures against. Velik felt the spear catch against something, and he pulled hard.

Emberson's wings faltered, perhaps because of [Mana Drinker] or perhaps simply from a loss of concentration brought on by having his insides ripped open. Whatever the reason, he started to fall out of the air. Then something inside him gave way, and the spear tore free. Velik slipped back to the ground, a chunk of something red and squirming impaled on the barbs he'd grown on the tip of his weapon.

Pale silver light poured out of the wound to match what was coming out of Emberson's mouth. His hand flitted up even as he fell, and he whipped his sword at Sildra. It spun, end over end, with such speed that it bridged the gap between them instantly. Velik didn't even have an instant to respond, but he wasn't the only one there.

Sildra lacked a high enough mental to even see the attack coming, so she didn't try to dodge. Giller, on the other hand, was in a position to defend her. Her own skill grabbed hold of the sword and altered its course just enough that it flashed by Sildra's face before burying itself up to the hilt in the wall of the cave.

Not to be deterred, Emberson's free hand flung out another of those intense beams of fire. But here, Velik's spear showed its worth. The beam made it halfway, then sputtered and flicked away into nothingness. At the same time, Emberson's fiery wings vanished, and he went into a free fall.

Before the platinum could hit the ground, something erupted out of his mouth and leaped away. None of them were in a good position to strike it, not with it still being thirty feet in the air and no one there to provide ranged support, but that didn't mean it got away clean. It was obviously wounded.

Emberson followed the retreating monster's path with his eyes, grunted, and flung his remaining sword at it. The diamond-edged blade bisected the monster cleanly, causing close to half its mass to crash into the trees. Velik thought that would be the end of it, but no system message appeared.

He caught Emberson's body as the mortally wounded platinum fell and forced a healing potion into him. "I don't know if this will be enough," he said, "but I hope it stabilizes you. I'm going after that thing."

Then he set Emberson down and let Sildra rush over to take him. Leaving two more healing potions behind, Velik sprinted off into the trees.

* * *

Voldar Emberson's world was pain like he'd never known. Even when his team had been ambushed by those monsters masquerading as his fellow hunters, being used as a host body for one of them hadn't hurt quite so bad as he did right now.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Part of it was his own wounds. The guild's newest gold was certainly no slouch in a fight, no matter how inept he was at dealing with other people. Voldar had been gored by a skril bull once, and even its adaptive morphology—the damn horns kept growing inside him—hadn't hurt as bad as that kid's spear. There was no way that weapon was ranked anything lower than epic. It might even be legendary.

The other part was the druid girl. Her lunar flame mostly burned the monster that had been inside him, but the monster linked itself to Voldar as a matter of course. It helped it retain control if its host had to share in pain it suffered. So, while he appreciated the attempt to free him, the agony had been indescribable.

That, combined with the sudden drain in both his and the monster's mana, had prompted the bastard to flee. Sadly, none of them had been able to capture it, and his own attack had done nothing more than injure the monster. After that, Voldar had lapsed into unconsciousness.

When he came to, he was lying on his back, his armor peeled open somehow and Torwin's young former apprentice leaning over him. "You up?" the kid asked.

"Barely," Voldar croaked. "How… How am I alive?"

"By the grace of the gods and about thirty thousand decarmas worth of emergency system store purchases, mostly."

He would have winced at that figure casually being tossed out if he could have moved at all. The truth was that he could barely even feel his tongue in his mouth, let alone anything below that. Given what he remembered from the fight that monster had put his body through, that was probably for the best.

"The numbing agent should wear off in about half an hour," the kid said. Voldar struggled to remember his name, other than that he was an Alderworth son. Torwin had botched the contract, not that Voldar blamed him for it.

"Will I be able to fight?" Voldar asked.

"Today? Probably not. But I think you'll live long enough to get you to a real healer. You might be interested to know that Phun also survived the ambush."

"Good."

He wished he could allow himself to relax, but the truth of the matter was that he'd been sent here to wipe out a dungeon producing more of the parasitic monsters that had infested the guild. In that matter, he'd failed utterly. But being used as a host to one of those things had granted him access to the dungeon, enough at least to have seen where the important parts were.

"What about the rest?" he asked suddenly as he remembered what he'd seen when the monster had brought him to the cave.

"Restrained, for now," the kid told him. "Sildra's working on driving the parasites out."

"Can she?"

They'd done a lot of work to lock down hunters who were infected because the truth of the matter was that the girl wasn't quick at her job. Voldar didn't blame her, of course. She wasn't even level 20 yet, and the parasite monsters were often level 40 or even 50. Justifications aside, there were three hunters in their camp and only one person strong enough to restrain them in their wounded states.

It was a disaster waiting to happen, and the irony of being freed only to be brutally murdered minutes later by one of his own teammates still under monster control was not lost on Voldar. I'm basically living on borrowed time, anyway. I shouldn't even have survived the fight.

"Well, two of you are clean. The little guy is asleep still, and Giller's holding the big woman down, so…" Torwin's former apprentice trailed off. He wasn't stupid; he knew exactly how bad things would be if Revick recovered from whatever they'd dosed him with before they were ready for him.

Sildra was exhausted. Voldar couldn't even turn his head, but he could hear it in her breathing and the creaking of her body every time she shifted in place. The girl had overexerted herself, but there was nothing anyone could do to help her. She would just have to push through, at least to the point where she'd finished one exorcism.

"Where's the guy with the spear?"

"Still chasing after the monster that got away."

"Dangerous," Voldar said. "If it gets in him…"

"Then we'll all die," the Alderworth boy finished for him.

"Have a little faith in me," Giller said. "I've already kicked his ass once."

"Yeah, by cheating in a spar. I don't think it'll go so well when he's not holding back."

"You think I wasn't holding back?" Giller asked incredulously.

"It doesn't matter," the Alderworth boy told her. "Unless you think you can keep two captives restrained and fight Velik at the same time."

He's got a point. Gods, there has to be something I can do.

The monster had left him in bad condition, but he still had some of his equipment and a stockpile of decarmas, most of which he apparently owed to the Alderworth boy for what he'd spent keeping Voldar alive. The only thing he had to help was information.

Screaming filled the cavern, and something dark flashed across his field of vision. Before it could get away, a band of metal slammed into it. Voldar heard stone crack and felt the vibrations as the monster was hammered repeatedly.

A collective sigh of relief went through the camp's occupants, which Voldar took to mean the monster was dead. That meant there was only one left in the camp, if he understood things correctly. Maybe there's some hope for us yet, he thought. That assumed one thing though.

The spear-wielder, Velik, stepped into the cave. Sildra looked up at him and let out a gasp. "Oh, gods," she said with a horrified moan.

That can't be good.