Depthless Hunger

Running through the wastes.

Biting deep.

Tasting blood in his mouth.

Reveling in it.

Dreams faded away and Kai tasted only sand and glass. He was lying on his face on the shore, and the sand against his skin reminded him of everything that had happened. Now that he felt less hopeless, he forced himself up to his knees to make what he could of the rubble of his life.

His heart was thrashing in his chest and every part of him ached, likely due to how severely Anaelina had drained him. Kai fumbled at his belt for the flask Juray had given him, only to find the pouch open. He despaired for a moment, then saw the flask lying on the sand beside him.

Or rather, half of it.

Carefully spitting out some of the glass fragments in his mouth, Kai wondered at what had happened. Was it possible that in his frenzy he had drained the flask by tearing it open with his teeth? That might have saved his life, but it also meant that his current state was how he felt after healing. Surviving was going to be a challenge.

When he tried to examine his own soul to see what he'd done to it, all the symbols blurred. It was almost like he was seeing two different sets of symbols at once, phasing through one another. That instantly gave him a headache, so he forced himself to focus on the important details.

His Class was simply gone. Remembering his anger before, he felt almost insane, but apparently he'd survived the removal. More sensible was the fact that his Physique had increased to F-7, which was a strong piece of evidence suggesting that he had drunk Juray's potion. As for all the haze of confused symbols, he attributed that to the technique Anaelina had used to drain his soul.

Everything seemed a lot worse to his actual physical eyes. His Irunian bow had been destroyed and his sword appeared to be lost in the river, so he had only his gauntlets left. Most of his supplies and the remainder of his food had been in his satchel, which was probably sitting back at the camp. As much as he needed those, he couldn't risk going back.

Just about all that had survived were the items in his belt, as it was designed to endure difficult hunts. Unfortunately, that meant only his money and the few remaining Class potions he hadn't used in Monskon City. Not even a single healing potion. He'd been too reliant on Anaelina for the past several days.

Anger surged within him and died down just as quickly. Perhaps he'd worked through all of his emotions the previous night. He was still bitter about being taken in and believing in his worthless Class one more time, but it was only a lingering tinge to everything else. What mattered now was finding a path forward.

It took him some time to gain his orientation and figure out that the river had swept him south of the crossroad. His first priority was obviously to go there: not only could he replace some of his supplies, he could speak to the authorities about Anaelina. Even if she was dead, which he desperately hoped she was, he might be able to get more information about her.

As he jogged back, Kai felt increasingly healthy. Either the draining was wearing off or Juray had done a better job at the recovery flask than she'd thought, because his body felt fantastic. The only real problem was the gnawing hunger in his stomach.

Spurred by the desire for some answers, Kai didn't take a single break on the way back. Since he'd woken up in the early morning, he caught sight of the crossroads community by early evening. Nothing appeared to be on fire, at least not more than it ordinarily was. In fact, it seemed like everyone was going about their business, since the events of his life meant nothing to them.

At least, it seemed that way until a cloud shot toward him and there was a lance stabbing in his face. It should have speared him, but Kai grabbed it with one hand almost before he knew what he was doing, and to his surprise he held back the attack.

"What the hell?" It was the same guard as before, staring at him from the other side of the lance. "You have to be the same man as before, but... that is the strangest shroud I've ever seen. I don't know who taught it to you, but I suggest you slap them."

"Is something wrong?" It still took Kai a bit of focus to see his true soul through the haze of symbols, but the difference didn't seem like it should be shocking.

"I almost impaled you, and there's a part of me that still wants to." The guard pulled back his lance but stayed on his flying cloud, still highly alert. "We let you in and you didn't cause any trouble, so I want to trust you... but I can't let you walk around like that. Someone might eyeball you as a monster and kill you before they thought twice."

Whatever the man was seeing, it wasn't a problem solely with him. A few people walking around the edge of the community had taken a spiritual glance at Kai already and then looked again. Clearly something was setting them off.

"I don't want to cause any trouble," Kai said. "But I need to talk to you about something. Do you know a woman named Anaelina, from Rosemount?"

"You think I know every single traveler who passes through here? But in this case... a foreigner who looks like she's in danger of falling out of her dress? Yeah, she's known here. I'm not giving you any information about her. Even if you're just aiming for the obvious, we don't interfere with people's privacy here."

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"It's not that, it's a warning. You don't have to believe me, but she attacked me outside the city and tried to... drain away my strength, somehow. She nearly killed me and I really doubt I killed her before I got away."

"Draining power directly? Not just mana?" The guard folded his arms skeptically but at least he listened. "We don't really do anything if people murder each other outside of the fires, so long as they don't cause trouble here. But if she lured you out... I guess I can talk to the others. Of course, you might just be trying to sabotage her."

"It's the truth, and if you watch her I would bet that you'll see her try to isolate people." Kai searched for other words and eventually decided that he had done enough. If she was still alive, he would have cut off her main source of victims.

Meanwhile, the guard was still examining him suspiciously, his stance oddly tight. "If your soul was damaged, I guess that might explain it. Seriously, I would recommend that you get someone to help you with that right away. Lots of people out here attack first and ask questions later."

Kai thanked the guard and headed in the other direction. What had the guard's strange reaction been about?

.

..

.

What the fuck had that been? The guard remained tense until Kai disappeared into the landscape, then his hands began trembling uncontrollably. He had to dismiss his spear or it might have fallen.

When he'd first arrived, the traveler had been concerning enough: not too many hunters came through with so much Power and obvious training. But now he had transformed, like his humanity peeled away and revealed a horror underneath. Before, it would have been an even fight, but the second time the guard felt like he was nothing but prey, shivering in front of a predator.

The worst part was that it didn't make any sense. He'd seen a lot of monsters and tuned his senses on them. Occasionally there were vaguely humanoid monsters, like demonic apes or similar, but they were always clearly beasts. Then the traveler returned, inexplicably speaking like a person despite radiating horrifying levels of bloodlust.

He should have fought him. That would have been the responsible thing to do as a guard. And yet, when it came down to it, he hadn't dared.

After several deep breaths, the guard managed to calm himself. Perhaps the traveler really had just damaged his soul and needed help. It occurred to him that the traveler had wandered off in a dangerous direction, one with monsters that could threaten even the settlement. Part of the guard thought that he should have called after him to give a warning.

A larger part of him hoped that the monsters would finish him off and he'd never have to see anything like that ever again.

.

..

.

Getting close enough to the community to smell the food past the smoke had made Kai's hunger much worse, but he couldn't afford the risk. He decided to search for a safe place to stay the night, figure out what was wrong with his soul, and sort everything out before he went back.

It looked like there were a few potential camping points within sight of the community. Kai discarded those too close to the river, which left him with the hilly region to the west. He saw a few cave entrances and decided that they were too obvious as a choice - anyone else not staying in the community might have gone there. If he wanted to avoid interacting with anyone, the most likely option was a region of craggy boulders he could just see to the southwest.

Along the way, Kai examined himself more critically than before. If he was honest with himself, he wasn't pushing through a haze of symbols to see his true soul. It was more like he got several contradictory impressions and then chose the one he wanted. He could see how someone seeing it might mistake him for a monster.

What he was going to do about that, Kai had no idea. Food and shelter first.

Upon arriving at the crags, Kai was surprised how good of a shelter they would be. Near the edges, the wind whistled between the boulders, but by the time he got nearer the center, it was peaceful. Some of the larger boulders loomed high overhead and would provide shade as well. After collecting some firewood, he sat down and caught his breath.

This would be a good place to meditate and figure out what was wrong with his soul, since there was no sign of monsters. He was actually surprised that none of them had taken up residence in such a good location.

Wait, he'd learned this lesson before.

Kai leapt to his feet and dodged to the side as something slammed into the ground where he had been sitting. He was already pivoting toward it, smashing a fist into the rocky appendage. It broke apart and, as the creature staggered back, he finally got a good look at it.

What he had thought was a chunk of the boulder was in fact a monstrous beast that looked like the offspring of a spider and a crab. Two of its legs in front ended in massive pincers while the other two came down in spikes, like the one that had nearly stabbed him. His blow seemed to have shattered the joint, so he hoped that he was capable of hurting it, but the majority of its body seemed to be rock-like armor. Destroying its limb with one punch had to be a lucky hit.

For a moment they just stared at one another, Kai looking up into the beady eye knobs behind the pincers. The rock spider seemed to be confused that its ambush had failed. Kai wasn't sure exactly how he had reacted. Realizing the risk had been purely intellectual, and sensing the movement could be attributed to battle experience, but the immediate retaliation seemed to have come from nowhere.

When it reached forward to grab him with a pincer, Kai dodged past it and took a swing at its eyes. The monster reared up and his fist only cracked its central plate. An instant later, the other claw struck him in the chest and Kai was slammed into a boulder.

The rock spider immediately crawled toward him and Kai carefully examined it further.

Monster: Rock Spider

Threat: Gamma

>

Not just a gamma-ranked monster, but a strong gamma. Even though he had become much stronger between fighting the Direboar and fighting the Isulfr, every gamma-ranked monster fight had put his life on the line. This beast seemed to be more fragile than those, but its blow to the chest had hurt and he knew his Physique couldn't stand up to its stabbing limbs. It was a miracle it hadn't torn through him.

When it next approached it did so at an angle, menacing him with a heavy claw. If he wanted to win, he'd need to find an advantage. As it sped up, Kai scanned the boulders and then turned to run.

It immediately gave chase, but Kai slid low between two boulders that were close together. Just as he'd hoped, the rock spider thrust its claw into the gap after him. Kai whirled on it and brought both fists down as hard as he could.

The carapace splintered as it was driven to the ground and the rock spider screeched from the other side. Kai grinned and tried to ignore the pain in his chest. If he was smart and used the environment against the monster, he could wear it down and then go in for the kill.

Behind him, he sensed another boulder uncurling.

This time it was the most Kai could do to dodge aside as a second rock spider attacked him. He was trapped between it and the small entrance... no, it was even worse. The first rock spider crawled up over the barrier, fixated on him.

Two monsters that would have been nearly fatal on their own. Already injured with nowhere to run. Kai let out a cry and charged.

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