Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 45: Savage Garden

After Fox, Mel, and Snake disappeared through the fog door, it was Edge’s turn to enter. As Trapper’s crew offered words of encouragement, he braced himself—ready to take his first step into the deadly dungeon known as the Savage Garden. He approached the doorway set into the living wall of the edifice, waved farewell to his friends, then stepped past the threshold.

The fog caressed his skin—a momentary chill before the oppressive heat returned in full force. When the world of light was restored to his eyes, he found himself standing in a jungle that was strikingly different from the biome outside.

It had been hot in the base camp—far more intense than the late summer heat suffusing the Ivory Plains. But the temperature inside the dungeon was downright sweltering. The air was warm and wet, flowing through the foliage like the breath of a titanic beast. Edge found himself sweating despite his considerable Durability.

Luckily, he had Regulate Temperature to lend him a hand. He switched the skill on, since it only had a minimal mana cost to sustain. The instant he did, the overbearing heat lessened to merely unpleasant, although it didn’t do anything to reduce the cloying moisture that had permeated every inch of his skin.

Tessa turned around, sensing the mana he’d expended, then looked away again. Edge would have to be careful around her, but she had no way of knowing which skill he’d used, since its effect ended at the boundary of his body. The other teams were spread out a little further ahead, standing in a clearing that was about a hundred feet wide.

While they waited for the final crew to appear, Team Arrow fanned out and scanned their surroundings for danger. Everyone was relieved to discover that the glade was empty, and none of the hunters had detected the presence of monsters nearby. Considering how many high-rank skills they had at their disposal, it meant that the area around the entrance was probably safe, at least for now.

Edge cast his senses into the overgrowth while inspecting the terrain that was visible from his position. He ran his gaze across the first zone of the dungeon, heart racing with an intoxicating blend of fear and excitement.

Instead of emerald green, these plants were a turquoise hue, with streaks of purple and red running along their leaves. The roof was open to the sky above, although only thin fingers of sunlight were able to work their way through the canopy to illuminate the forest floor.

The trees were imposing specimens that stretched over a hundred feet into the air. Their branches were thin and twisting, with orange bark that contrasted against the surrounding foliage. They looked sturdy enough to support his weight but were poorly-suited for climbing. Edge wasn’t inclined to do so regardless. Not when going up there would announce his presence to the lethal life forms that called the Savage Garden home.

The towering bamboo that marked the dungeon’s border was unlike any of the other vegetation. Besides the trees, he spotted a variety of bushes, vines, and ferns. The flora formed a solid wall along the border of the clearing—so dense that he doubted he could force his way through without cutting a path. Even if he could, the close confines would restrict his movement and limit his visibility to a few feet in front of his face, which would leave him helpless if a monster found him.

“I can see lots of bugs and small animals,” Tessa reported after igniting her core and activating a skill that made mana congeal around her eyes. “Nothing bigger than an Earth rat. It’s about what we expected. Dungeons don’t have complete ecosystems, just whatever is small enough to work its way between the walls. Everything else in here will likely be monstrous. There shouldn’t be any beasts. They instinctively avoid dungeons, since the monsters will eat them.”

Not long after, the first member of Team Sword passed through the fog door, followed by five other people. After their leader stepped back outside and reappeared a few minutes later, she explained that Gram had tried to send seven people through, using the dungeon’s population limit to see if anyone else was in here.

The door had only let 24 people in, which meant that one member of Setna’s crew was still alive. Gram needed space for a messenger, so Sword shifted one of their hunters onto the reserve roster and proceeded with a five-hunter team instead of six.

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By now, the scouts had finished surveying the perimeter of the clearing. It turned out that there were three paths leading through the dense vegetation. The crews following the walls would take the outside trails, while the other two went down the middle. They would split up a little later, whenever a good opportunity presented itself. The team leaders conferred for a few more minutes, pooling what their sensory specialists had gleaned, then everyone went their separate ways.

Before Team Arrow stepped onto their assigned path, Fox updated their strategy based on what they had learned. “Ok people, this is where the fun begins. These trails are only wide enough for single file, so here’s our formation. Jumo will go first, where he can hold off anything hostile that we stumble across. I’ll be behind him, followed by Snake, so we can offer support from range.

“Tessa will be in the middle and focus on using her sensory skills from the safest possible location. Mel will follow behind her, whose sole job is to watch Tessa’s back while her attention is divided. That leaves you guarding the rear, Edge. It’s the second most dangerous position, but since you can Regenerate and turn into shadows, you’re best suited to hold off an ambush from that approach until we can turn around and back you up.

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“If something hits us unaware, the first few seconds of the battle will be crucial. Jumo and Edge, your only objective is to keep yourselves alive until we know what we’re dealing with and devise a counter. Be prepared to use magitech devices, potions, and other consumables to buy time. Don’t save them if you get into trouble. They’re expensive, but hoarding Credits won’t do you any good if you’re dead, and this job is paying more than enough to make up the difference.

“Everything living in here will be more than happy to kill us. My job is to make sure that doesn’t happen. We will go slow while we learn how to work as a team, then ramp up our efforts once we hit our stride. We’ll fall back to this location if we get separated or need to retreat. But you should assume that some monsters will anticipate that reaction, so remain vigilant against nasty surprises on the way.

“Our goal is to advance as far as we can over the next twelve hours, then return to base camp and relay our findings. Gram will compile the reports and adjust our strategy as needed, then we’ll head back in bright and early tomorrow morning. Once we clear the starting zone and survey the adjacent regions, we’ll enter the next zone and keep right on going.

“Past that point, the mission will become even more dangerous, especially once we start spending the night in here. It’s only about seven miles to the far wall. But given the rough terrain and the monsters living inside, we expect that it will take at least a week to complete a full survey.

“We’ll kill everything that looks manageable, pick up anything valuable along the way, and avoid any monsters that are too tough to tackle without help from the other crews. We will keep clearing the dungeon until someone finds the boss’s room, at which point we’ll head back to camp and plan our final assault.

“We will probably keep clearing after the boss goes down, but since the fate of Puppet Town is riding on claiming that core manufactory, everything else is secondary to completing the main quest. If anyone gets injured or gods forbid, dies, we’ll need to swap them out with someone on the reserve roster.

“Finally, the first and last zones of a dungeon usually have the most fatalities. The last because it has the boss and the greatest threats in general, and the first because we’re working with less information than at any other point in the mission. Once we have a better understanding of the dungeon’s theme and the monsters living inside, we’ll be better prepared to handle whatever the Savage Garden throws at us. That means it’s better to play it safe during these first few hours, then pick up the pace as we adapt.

“If you have any questions or suggestions, speak up now. After we head into the brush, keep the chatter to a minimum and use hand signals whenever possible. Does anyone have anything else to add?”

At that point, Snake turned to face the crew. “I know that you have all fought monsters before. But just to be clear, there are some key differences between monsters and beasts. Monsters are insanely aggressive, have distorted features, and smell like shit. They will eat almost anything they can catch, including you. When they evolve, they spawn a brood that is one stage lower than their progenitor.”

As the shadowkiller spoke, Edge had a flashback of battling the shadowreavers and cancerous blightlings—the only monsters he had encountered thus far. He also knew a few things about monsters that no one else did, which he’d learned from touring their cores while stealing skills. Their inner worlds toxic alien landscapes that weren’t anywhere on Ord—filled with a cloying corruption that had sickened him only moments after exposure. He shook his head to clear it of the unpleasant memories, then focused on the rest of Snake’s explanation.

“Monsters have skillsets that revolve around killing to a greater extent than beasts, who tend to have a balanced collection of skills that helps them survive over the long-term. Oh, and the System awards Mortium for every monster we kill that’s stage two and above, plus any Mortium they have acquired from killing cored hunters or other monsters.”

Fox added a few more details, then unlimbered her boltcaster and got ready to head out. “Alright people, it’s clearing time. Let’s kill them all, complete the quest, and make it back to Puppet Town to enjoy a heroes’ welcome.”