Duskbound-Chapter 142 - Book 2, 63

Though Velik no longer possessed [Stealth], remnants of the skill lived on in [Apex Hunter]. It had changed, of course. All skills did when they merged into something greater. Now it was focused on hunting, on seeking prey, unseen and unnoticed, until it was time to move in for the kill. Right now, that was exactly what Velik needed it for.

He entered the mine shortly after dusk, following the ruts in the stone from the countless wagon-loads of rock and ore that had been excavated out of the ground over several decades of activity. From what he'd learned, the mine had been abandoned twenty years ago when the silver had run out, and without regular maintenance, the structural support beams inside were slowly rotting away. People didn't go into the mine anymore, and for good reason.

Which makes it the perfect place to plant a dungeon seed. It's out of the way, and the locals know better than to go in. Anyone who does can be disposed of, and it's just the mine being dangerous like they already knew it was.

The real danger was going to be the monsters no doubt lurking in there, guarding whatever spawning chambers new agents of corruption were grown in. As far as Velik could tell, that was the whole point of the dungeon. Unfortunately, depending on how much mana was invested into a monster's creation, it didn't necessarily have to start at level 1. He couldn't pretend to understand the mechanics of it all, but what he'd learned from his time with the Monster Hunters Guild had made that part clear.

That was on a normal day, however. Tonight, there were predators lurking in the darkness—six of them. His job was to bring that number down, preferably non-lethally. None of them were confident that the sleeping draughts Jensen had purchased from the system store would work on powerful, gold-ranked hunters for long, but they had to at least try. The only other option was to bring Sildra into the mine, which would expose her to immense risk and prevent Velik from ambushing his targets.

He ghosted down the mine shafts, doing his best to make a mental map of the place as he went. They sloped generally downwards at a gentle angle, sometimes curving around as they followed the now-exhausted silver veins. So far, he'd seen and heard nothing, but he doubted it would remain that way for much longer. The mana was getting thicker, according to his compass. He was near the edge of the dungeon's domain.

The moment the needle started spinning wildly, he tucked it back into his pocket and stopped to peer into the darkness. He was only half a mile in, maybe not even that far, but that was enough for the light to cut out completely. The [Night Vision] enchantment on his gear allowed him to see, but it was a poor substitute for his own eyes, and he knew he needed to be extra careful moving forward.

A few minutes later, Velik came to a shaft leading straight down. The framework for some sort of wooden lift still sat at the top, but the ropes holding the platform had all long-since disintegrated, leaving no safe way to get down. He would have turned back then and there, except he spotted metal spikes freshly driven into the wall at regular intervals.

No chance those are from anyone but the first team. They definitely came this way.

Reluctantly, he started climbing down. If someone was waiting to ambush him, now was the perfect time for it. Normally, he'd trust his senses, but against a team of gold-ranked hunters, he couldn't rule out the possibility that he wasn't the only one going hunting in the mine.

His worries proved unfounded, however. Velik quickly reached the bottom of the shaft and found a whole second level to the mine, spreading out in every direction. He also found the remains of the lift in the form of shattered planks and rusted nails casually chucked to one side. Must have fallen from the top and broke apart when it hit the ground, he thought. And somebody took the time to clean up the mess, but why? Are the monsters using this shaft to get to the surface?

The spikes were new, of that much he was sure. He supposed Emberson's team could have cleaned up, but he couldn't think of a good reason why they would. The mystery of it bugged him, but without anything else to go on, he had no choice but to shrug it off and refocus on finding one of the corrupted hunters to bag.

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In that regard, at least, luck was with him. It wasn't ten minutes later that he spotted someone casually sitting on top of an overturned cart, idly juggling a dozen fist-sized stones at dizzying speeds, his hands a blur and his eyes staring vacantly off into the distance. A large halberd was leaned up against the wall next to him.

Yugon, Velik guessed, matching the description of the weapon and the man's speedy class. Phun's information had painted a picture of a cocky, light-hearted guy who was quick to boast and loved to party. In battle, he liked to vary his rhythm to keep his opponents from getting used to his moves, then pour on the speed in a sudden kill strike.

[Apex Hunter] painted the optimal path to reach his target, but Velik doubted he'd get there unnoticed. There was no cover once he stepped into the passage, and he'd be relying entirely on Yugon's inattention to sneak up on him. The correct answer was to wait for the situation to change, but Velik didn't have that kind of time. The only good alternative was speed, and that was unfortunately a strong point of Yugon's.

I bet he doesn't have the strength to back it up, though. He'll see me coming, but if I hit him hard enough…

Suiting action to words, Velik formed his spear into something with a thin, needle-like tip, then broke into a silent sprint. All he had to do was close a hundred feet and pin Yugon to the ground, then force the sleeping draught down the man's throat. If everything went well, the fight would be over in the next few seconds.

He made it a quarter of the way there when he heard the other hunter snort. "Stupid," the man said as one of the stones he was juggling smacked into his palm. Instead of going back up, he flicked it down the tunnel, right at Velik's face.

Too much to hope for, Velik thought as he twisted smoothly at the waist to avoid the projectile without breaking his stride. He'd known it was a long shot, but he hadn't accounted for the stones being used as a weapon once he'd been spotted.

Four more shot out in the next half a second, forcing Velik to abandon his forward momentum and dodge to the side. A fifth stone almost struck him, but he deflected it with his spear. The rest of the stones followed, blindingly fast and unerringly accurate. Velik blocked what he could, but two of them smacked into his torso and one broke apart against his knee.

Then Yugon was there, halberd in hand and aimed to skewer Velik on the point. Whether the hunter thought Velik was sufficiently distracted by the thrown barrage or simply that he was fast enough to close the distance before Velik could react, he was mistaken. Instead of being impaled on the weapon, Velik slipped sideways and slapped his free hand against the shaft right beneath the blade of the axe with enough force to throw Yugon off balance.

The next eight seconds were a blur of flailing limbs, thrusting strikes, and vicious impacts as they threw each other into the walls. In the end, Yugon's speed didn't give him an advantage over Velik, and the morphable nature of Velik's spear made it a significantly more practical weapon in the tight confines of the tunnel.

He stood over his downed adversary, his chest heaving and blood running from six different places. His spear was driven clean through Yugon's stomach and into the stone, pinning the man—and hopefully the monster inside him—in place. Velik pulled the sleeping draught out, tore the cap off, and reached down to pour it into the gasping man's mouth.

Come on, work. I don't have any alternative other than to kill this guy if he resists the potion.

Luck was with him. Yugon's weak thrashing slowly stilled, and the man's eyes closed. Velik waited a few moments longer to be certain, but when the man's body went completely limp and his heartbeat slowed down, he slowly retracted his spear. He had some worries about the hunter bleeding out, but that was a risk he'd have to take. As long as he got Yugon back to Sildra and the others soon enough, they could still save him.

No matter how high a person's physical was, blood loss would eventually kill them, so Velik didn't take the time to try to clean up the fight. It would make things worse when he came back if anyone discovered the scene, but there wasn't much he could do about it anyway. He grabbed the halberd, scooped up Yugon, and started backtracking.

At the mine shaft, he tossed the weapon into the refuse. Climbing up with an unconscious body was going to be difficult enough, especially since he wasn't sure the sleeping draught had worked on the monster hiding inside. He needed at least one hand free. If possible, he'd fetch the halberd later. Grimacing at the thought of being ambushed during the climb, Velik jumped up to the first spike and started to pull himself up.

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A few minutes later, he reached the top and ran for the entrance. One down, five to go.