Chapter 26 – The Plague Bringers

  Coach's voice trembled as he shouted warnings. Hundreds of creatures, some with fur and claws, others slimy and scaled, crept closer with each passing second. Their glowing eyes shone in the flickering torchlight.

  Just as Coach feared, the next round of monsters carried disease among them. They outnumbered the first wave of monsters and carried a dangerous bite, their saliva dripping with a mysterious virus. The sixth wave exhaled an acidic gas that burned their skin and seared their lungs. The twelfth wave carried pustules on their skin that burst upon death, showering them with a caustic ooze that burned and infected their bodies. The waves only seemed to become more dangerous, and now, for the twentieth wave, they were faced with a combination of all three threats. Ben tightened his grip on his weapon and braced himself for the battle that lay ahead.

  Coach Liv’s voice boomed through the battlefield, “Flamethrowers!” Seth and Sam stepped forward, blasting the little nightmares with fire that burned the bodies before they could reach them. The rest of the team retreated for a brief moment of respite, taking advantage of Al’s healing aura that provided a small measure of relief from the pain and toxins that had clogged their minds.

  “Melee, attack!” Coach Liv hollered, and they all sprang into action, dispatching any survivors and readying themselves for the rodent beasts. They were fewer in number than their predecessors but also larger in size, making them harder to take down.

  Coach Liv’s voice boomed as he yelled, “Cut the tails!” He had reminded them of this strategy too many times to count, yet it still hadn't sunk in for some of them. The bearman's armor was torn and his skin was marred with tiny, red bite marks – a sign of his weakened health from the continual onslaught of poison and disease. He kept insisting he was training his new resistance skills, but they had all guessed that he was shielding them from expending too much of the healer's mana by stubbornly refusing healing for himself.

  The next wave approached, about fifty strong in total. Ben stepped forward and slipped into the shadows, using his Stealth skill to vanish from sight.

  The first group of rodents moved past him, four of them together. Then a group of five. He created a long shadow knife and focused on two stragglers. Approaching from behind, he raised his knife and struck in one motion, easily severing one rodent's tail. He followed up by driving his second blade into the other rodent’s skull before it could react or even make a sound.

  Still unnoticed, he slipped back into Stealth and stalked after the other rodents. Just ahead, he could hear Robin and the others engage with the first four that passed by him, the other group of five quickly approaching them from a different direction. Ben could hear his friends struggling with just four of the beasts. He wasn’t sure they would survive against the next group of five. He needed to thin the herd, and he needed to be careful about it.

  With Stealth active, Ben came alongside one of the two trailing rodents, his footfalls all but silent thanks to his skill and the Muckwalker Boots. The two rodents were close to each other, close enough for him to take a risk.

  He didn’t need anything as large as the Zhanmadao, but something similar to it would suffice. Taking a shallow breath, he timed his step to match theirs. With one more step, he formed a flamberge from the shadows and stepped forward in one motion, driving the sword through both tails. The weapon dropped from his hands, dissipating back into black nothingness and he immediately formed two long knives, which he quickly stabbed into the closest rodent’s back, striking the lung with one blade and guts with the other. He twisted and jerked both blades free and ran as the second of the beasts squealed loudly, drawing the attention of the other three that were in the lead.

  Ben had to make a fast choice of direction to run. He ran toward his allies, taking a couple of painful scratches on his arms and legs as he passed the monsters. They might move slowly, but their attacks were swift. Thankfully, they were easy to outpace, and he quickly caught up to his teammates. Most of the rodents were dead, and Coach Liv was quickly cleaning them up.

  “Group of four just behind me, one is injured. Two groups of five more coming from the other directions,” he warned as he stabbed a knife into the closest of the rodents left by his group, knocking it off Robin’s shield and giving her a little relief.

  Robin grunted in response, bringing her mace down twice in rapid succession, crushing the rodent’s skull. “How many did you already take out?”

  “Three,” he answered, breathing heavily. He wasn’t completely out of breath, but he’d certainly exerted himself.

  Robin grunted again, though she sounded more approving than before. “You know, that’s kind of impressive considering how much trouble the rest of us are having just killing one . . . not counting Sam or Seth. Those two just aren’t fair to compare to.”

  Only three of the rodents made it this far, and they only had eyes for Ben . . . until Robin smacked her mace against her shield, using her taunt to draw the beasts to her. The second that they looked away from the badgerman, he activated Stealth, fading from view. A couple of silent steps, and he was behind them again. With their attention on his defender, it was easy for him to pick them off one after another. They moved to help the other half of their team and then on to Coach Liv to finish the cleanup.

  They got a short five-minute break to recover, and then the next groups were coming again, and Ben was back to ambushing and killing rodents as quickly and efficiently as he could. If he felt the emotion, he might have started to fear just how easy it was to kill the monsters. But he didn’t feel fear. He knew there was a task in front of him that needed to be done.

  The eerie silence of the bog was broken by the snarling and howling of horrific beasts as they emerged from the murky depths. Ben quickly lost count of how many monsters they were facing as their numbers seemed to never end. Their Mancers' fireballs flew through the air with less and less power as their mana levels dropped dangerously low. Ben felt his body tire with every group they vanquished, his exhaustion turning his limbs to lead.

  He had chased down and killed one of the more elusive monsters when the air suddenly reverberated with thunder, and the ground beneath his boots began to shift and separate. He instinctively ducked into stealth while scanning for a safe place to hide. His gaze quickly fell on a pair of beast corpses, and with a silent prayer, he silently raced towards them and hunkered down between them.

  No sooner had he found his hiding place than a great rodent forced its way up from below. Its thick, leathery hide slowly emerged from the bog, and its six massive legs rolled out from its swollen body, nearly twice as tall as Ben. Its fur looked like it had been eaten away in patches, leaving only discolored streaks of blackened flesh, and pustules filled with pus and eggs lined its back. Maggots crawled in and out of the sores. As it slowly approached, it dragged its thick tail through the muck behind it, leaving a trail of repugnance in its wake. The boss had finally appeared.

  The massive creature moved through the bog, and Ben realized that he had the opportunity he couldn’t have planned for as he projected its path towards his weary teammates. The ground shook as the creature approached, its footsteps making loud splashes as they disturbed shallow pools of water and blood. Its red eyes felt like they were boring into him, and he could feel its rancid breath on his skin as it came within two meters of him. He could see its long tail dragging through the mud and blood, leaving thick smears in its wake.

  With one meter to go, Ben started burning through his remaining mana to form the heaviest Zhanmadao he could. The mana burned as he pushed every last dreg he had into it as he came out of Stealth. The massive heavy blade formed overhead, and he strained his muscles as hard as he could, swinging down hard on the boss’ tail, cutting through thick hide, dense muscle, and rock-hard bone, almost severing it in one blow. And yet, it still wasn’t enough. He grunted with effort as he jumped and put his full weight on the weapon, trying to push it the last ten centimeters as the beast began thrashing. He heard pustules popping and knew time was going to quickly run out even as the blade cut six centimeters deeper. His muscles burned, acid, disease, and poison, all running through his body. He jumped again and put all the force he could muster and direct. Finally, the blade slid through the rest of the flesh. The tail landed with a wet plop in the mud as blood sprayed even as he fell into the mud, utterly exhausted. It was all he could do to avoid getting kicked. He heard and smelled pustules popping more rapidly and knew he needed to run for it. It took a force of will he didn’t know he had to get back on his feet and stumble away.

  The beast screamed and thrashed as blood gushed from the beast's weak spot. It spun about, looking for him but not finding him as he buried himself under a small pile of corpses, trying to use Hide and Stealth. He needed the skills to activate so he could make another attack, but it was harder while the beast was looking for him.

  Eventually, the beast huffed and began walking back toward his team only to falter half a dozen steps later. He thought it might have found him but then it whimpered. It stumbled a few more steps then collapsed. Had he just killed it with that one attack? That didn’t seem possible. Even with the tail cut off, it should have taken minutes to bleed out. It was then he saw numerous notifications popping up.

  Congratulations! You have learned to identify the vulnerabilities in others. The Rare Skill Find Weakness has been added to your skill list.

  Congratulations! You have learned to effectively remove limbs from others. The Rare Skill Sever has been added to your skill list.

  Congratulations! Your skill Bleed has improved to Advanced.

  Congratulations! Your skill Stealth has improved to Advanced.

  Congratulations! Your skill Fighting has improved to Advanced.

  Congratulations! Your skill Footwork has improved to Advanced.

  Congratulations! Your skill Hiding has improved to Intermediate.

  That was a lot of gains and improvement hitting Ben all at once. It was thrilling to see such gains, so much so that he considered trying to kill more bosses on his own. It was strange sometimes when a new skill was added to his list. Find Weakness, for example. The skill was self-explanatory in what it did but not how it worked. From what he was getting from it, it . . . synergized with his Synesthesia skill to help him identify the weak points in a beast or even one of the kin. It didn’t explicitly tell him. It was more . . . instinctual. Just like he instinctively knew Sever worked in almost perfect synergy with Bleed.

  And the skill upgrades were fantastic. He could instinctually feel the influence of the improvements on his skills. He understood how to strike at veins and open them wider to draw more blood with his Bleed Skill. There were similar instinctual improvements in the other skills. He also knew it was a long road to move any skill above the Advanced Rank. He might never see any of these skills advance for the rest of his life. He hoped that wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t deny the possibility.

  With a tired sigh, Ben pushed away the corpses and climbed back to his feet and out of the mud. He could still hear fighting and knew he should help.

  When he caught up with his team, there was only one boss beast left, and it was not long for this world. The tail had already been removed, and it was moving sluggishly. Seth and Sam continued pelting it with fire and ice magic from range. Only Robin and Liam moved into melee range, and then only to keep it in place. He didn’t even have time to throw a dart before the beast dropped to the ground dead.

  He looked around and saw Al working on Coach Liv. The bearman didn’t look good. He had some deep cuts through his leather armor that seeped blood. Ben was more worried about the disease and poison that was no doubt running through Coach. The instructor’s face was ashen grey, and not just from dried dirt.

  “Teams of two, go clean up the stragglers,” Al barked. “We need our next rewards. Hopefully, one of them will include something to help Coach.”

  “Liam, go with Leonardo,” Robin said. “Burion, you’re with me.”

  It took almost forty minutes to clean up twelve straggling beasts that were either injured or wandering aimlessly.

  When everyone returned, Ben quickly set about sending everyone to their chests, hoping for something that would help Coach Liv survive.

  “Comrade Robin, this one is yours,” the badgerman said at the first of the reward chests that smelled of coal and iron.

  Robin opened her reward, as hopeful as the rest of them, only to frown when she got a skill stone. With a frown, she said, “Regeneration.”

  Al glanced over and answered, “It’s a passive self-healing skill. I don’t know if that will save Coach.”

  He moved on to the next chest, “Comrade Alphonse, this one is yours.”

  Al looked between the chest and Coach Liv, hesitating for a moment before looking at Robin to comment, “I’ll be right back. Hopefully, there is something in there to help Coach.”

  Robin nodded.

  Al jogged over to the plinth Ben had indicated. He opened the lid and pulled out a single skill stone, it only took a second for him to grin and the stone to crumble into dust. “Cleanse,” he said, hurrying back to Coach and using his new skill, his hands glowing a soothing blue color.

  That was a relief. Cleanse was something they all could have used. As he looked around, he saw the pale faces and sweat-drenched foreheads and knew they were all sick. He could even smell the orange and green sickness coming out of his own skin. He was almost certain they’d have all died by now if not for the two Resistance skills they received before.

  Feeling relief, he put aside the individual reward chests for the moment and moved to the large supply chest in the center. He opened it and found the usual suspects. He pulled out the safe zone pillar first and drove the spike into the ground then fed it a little mana to activate.

  Naturally, that was when Seth just had to open his mouth again. He asked, “What about the rest of the chests?”

  “I’ll get to it, let me get the camp set and start cooking the beast meat, okay?” Ben asked.

  Seth glowered and looked ready to press him, but Sam stepped in, “That’s enough, Seth. You need to stop. Your reward will still be there in an hour or ten hours. It’s not going anywhere. But our team needs to rest and to eat. You and I should be trying to meditate.”

  Seth reluctantly conceded to his cousin, leaving the badgerman to get their camp set.

  Ben started the fire over the ashes of their previous fires. Once that was going, he spitted the two beasts the supply chest gave them and set them to cook.

  It took about thirty minutes to do all of that, and when it was done, Ben looked for his friend to ask, “Comrade Robin, would you watch these while I get everyone else their rewards? Just turn the spit occasionally if you would.”

  Robin smiled and nodded. With that taken care of, Ben moved back to the ring of plinths. It didn’t take long to direct everyone to their rewards. Everyone got a skill stone. Magic Arrow for Leonardo, Fire Arrow for Sam, Ice Arrow for Seth. Liam got Regeneration, same as Robin.

  That left just two reward chests, his and Coach Liv’s. Ben looked back first to see the meat was still cooking, and Robin was doing an adequate job turning the spit at regular intervals. If the pattern followed, he would get a skill stone, same as everyone else, but his would probably be related to his Shadow Attunement.

  He approached his reward chest. He touched the lock, and it came undone with a soft click. He lifted the lid and found two skill stones waiting for him. It seemed it was his turn to get a bonus reward.

  He lifted out the first stone and held it in his hand.

  Skill Stone – Shadow Caltrops. Would you like to learn the Mystic Skill Shadow Caltrops?

  Ben thought yes, and the stone crumbled away.

  Congratulations! You’ve learned to turn shadows into small spiked impediments to forward progress. The Mystic Skill Shadow Caltrops has been added to your skill list.

  He smiled. It was exactly what he needed. Anything he could do to slow the enemy down was welcome. When cast, the spell would cover a small area of ground with small shadow spikes, meant to injure feet and slow down approaching enemies. Better still, he could move freely among the caltrops, and they wouldn’t injure his feet as the caster. He was very pleased by the skill.

  He reached into the box and pulled out his second skill stone.

  Skill Stone – Shadow Cloak. Would you like to learn The Unsung Hero Skill Shadow Cloak?

  “What in the name of all the gods and goddesses was a Hero Skill?” Ben wondered internally He had never heard of such a thing. And just what did a skill called Shadow Cloak do? He was intrigued but also worried. “What if the dean looked at his skills again? Would she see it? Would she think he was a hero? Or would she think he stole the skill from Al?” Ben frowned at that thought and shook his head. Al didn’t have the right attunement for shadow anything. Still, this skill was something he didn’t think he could turn down. He sent the thought of yes, and instead of crumbling, another message appeared.

  Are you sure you wish to learn this skill? Doing so will remove the skills Hiding and Stealth and prevent you from learning Shadow Stealth and Shadow Hide.

  That was . . . worrisome. Ben depended on his Stealth skill a great deal. It was an important part of his Job. He also didn’t like that this would prevent him from learning Shadow Stealth or Shadow Hide. However, he also knew if he was losing out on those skills, then Shadow Cloak must have had parts of those skills embedded within. Ben thought yes again and got another message.

  Warning! This is a Heroic Skill specific to The Unsung Path and will prevent learning any other Heroic Skill outside of The Unsung Path. Are you certain you wish to proceed?

  Ben frowned at the stone. The Unsung Path. He was sure it was referring to his Achievement, The Unsung. It also suggested that he might be able to choose a different path, not just that of The Unsung. But did he want to be more than The Unsung? Did he want the fame and prestige that would come with being the Hero? Ben liked being anonymous. He liked lurking in the shadows. He had no problem being The Unsung even if he never took the Job. The answer to all those questions was no. Ben thought yes again.