I'm hungry, so hungry. Everything smells like metal. My arm hurts my leg hurts, everything hurts. There's dried blood everywhere. I'm cold, so cold. I don't have any energy to get up.
I'm so injured.... they'd hate to see me like this. I need a healer but most are in the castle. I still have some soul shards. I slowly get up and I drag myself to my secret stash of soul shards under a floorboard. I grab 3 and I go to the castle. I hold it up to the guard.
It's taken and I'm let inside I get food and healing. It all passes in a blur, I don't talk to anyone and nobody really talks to me. That's just fine with me.
I leave, I'm not staying, I don't even want to stay in the castle.
I go to my hovel, I remember Kelly helped fixed up the door and the windows. She was somehow both competitive and yet lazy at the same time.
Adam was the one to help with the roof, one time he fell right on Luke we still mention it, or we did.
Luke was the one to repair some of the furniture, he treated it like a hobby, something to do in his free time, he even gave me food if I brought him things to fix up. I knew them so well.... yet I didn't know them did I?
They should have been able to leave, Luke has two older brothers and a younger sister to look out for. Adam has his friends and his parents. Kelly had a whole large extended family. Yet they all died just like that. It isn't fair, they could have survived if the guards had just helped, its not fair for them, for their families, for me.
I walk in the streets, and I duck behind a part of a roof that had fallen onto the street. I avoid the notice of a fallen monster, an annoying creature that one.
After it passes I keep moving to my goal.
Today I'm hunting a fallen demon, although I'm not just trying to die, no this demon is almost completely fire-based, and I'm immune to fire, a bad match up for it along with it having a large scar that scales won't grow over.
I've been studying the damn thing for what half a year now. I carefully make my way towards the building it nests in. It will be a hard fight but I've prepared very very well. I slink to the large ruined building, it's maybe some kind of city hall. It's the demon's territory.
My daggers aren't going to be very useful in this fight so I don't even try to summon them. The thing gives off a ton of heat, even though its a lizard, so it's easy to figure out where it is in the building. I move to the roof easily, getting behind it for a sneak attack. I slowly get into the building from the roof, it can sense heat but, I don't give off any limiting its spotting ability.
I move slowly and silently, when I see even the slightest movement from it I act. I make large ice spikes that shoot from the ground. It won't kill the thing but it will slow the demon down. I make a large set of ice claws as the ice spikes melt, I get almost grabbed in the head near instantly, for anyone else they'd die instantly from the heat.
I instead get the thing in the eye with one of my claws. I jump back as it lets go of me, I wanted to do more damage with that hit but half blinding the thing is still good. I fling eyes eye off my claw blood drips down the claws and onto the ground.
I make massive ice spikes again, it either needs to melt them or dodge them and like I expected it dodges them. It jumps at me, I flip up an ice halberd cutting its chest open right on its scar. It reels back as I grab the handle thrusting it in the demon. Its flames intensify melting the end of the halberd. I slide to the side almost getting caught by a fast side swipe. I lean back as it goes for the head I use the opening to cut its arm.
I duck down getting a chunk taken out of my arm. Just as it goes for my neck to grab it, or cut it open. I put all my focus on keeping my ice claws from melting. I use its speed lunging at me to cut into its chest right in the wound I already made. I grab and crush its heart. Even in that second it lived it grabs my neck and nearly crushes it before it falls on me.
[You have slain an fallen demon, flame of the divine. Your cold grows deeper]
[You have received an echo.]
"Holy shit, I got an echo!"
I pull my arm out letting the demon fall to the ground the flames finally going out. It's like a giant lizard mixed with a human, it mostly moves on all 4 but can be on two legs.
I hold my throat breathing hard. I sigh making an ice sled, I pick up the demon putting it on the sled and I get to moving while I look at my runes for my first ever echo.
Echo: [flame of the divine]
Echo type: demon
Echo attributes: [burning flame] [consuming fire] [heat sense]
Echo description: [a small piece of flame from a being killed broke off becoming this flame]
[Transform echo to ice?]
I'm not sure what those last few runes mean but it doesn't really matter I got an ascended demon echo!
I had been watching it for ages, one of the times I was watching it a fallen monster attacked it and was able to get it in the chest over the heart. After months more of watching it I figured out that the scales there are weaker because of that. If they weren't then id be dead.
When I get back to my hovel I open my door picking up the demon.
"Boss I swear if it's another one of those-"
I toss it down in front of the healer I hired half a year ago. To keep her employed I've started
"hunting"
every week, although most of the time its just scaring off nightmare creatures from the stuff they killed. She gets most of the soul shards in return they take care of most of the stuff I don't want to deal with.
Like dealing with people or selling stuff or really most things that aren't hunting and butchering the nightmare creatures I kill. She stares at me in pure disbelief slowly looking from the fallen demon to me.
"Is- no it- how- why????"
I tilt my head
"It was almost completely fire-based, my old cohort told me about it."
I summon my daggers as she stares at me. I hold the snow dagger out for her to take
"Well?"
She shakes her head and she starts helping me butchering the thing.
It takes us ages to finish. She sits back then she leans forward pointing the dagger at me.
"Okay okay I get it, you had the advantage with the type match up. But how?"
I look up from organizing the butchered demon.
"I've been watching it for half a year. It couldn't sense me because of my flaw so I got in a really good sneak attack. Still, it almost snapped my neck"
I show off the I've bandage around my neck. It can't heal me too fast but it makes it hurt less.
"Why in the hell would you even try killing it? You're lucky you survived"
She moves forward and starts healing me, it's slow and a little clumsy but it helps a lot. Plus after all those soul shards and the experience she now has it's a lot better than the start.
"For one, selling stuff from it could fetch a lot of soul shards, for two potential memories or echoes for three it was such a stacked match up for me that I'd have an easier time killing it than any other fallen nightmare creatures"
She sighs grabs two of the soul shards from the thing
"you sure you dont want them all?"
That was a dumb question
"of course I dont, why are you even asking?"
She sighs crushing one and pocketing the other. She picks up everything that she intends to sell and leaves the hovel. I get up looking around for a bit before I lie in bed, I pull the blanket over me as I desummon my armor to let it heal. I summon my notebook and I start sketching.
If I get out then I'll make sure teacher Julius gets to know everything there is about this unexplored place.
It's been about 2 years since that night. I've been hunting alone using the skills they taught me. The ability to travel the dark city without being killed, to hunt, to kill, to make, really most things I learned from them.
I hired healer a few days after I started watching the demon. I was sick of my cooking and having to sell my kills. Plus I don't have to do a lot of the house stuff.
Apparently, I've gotten a really weird reputation as a crazy, cruel, and hateful hunter, I'm one of the two only solo hunters, I haven't really met the other I've heard she's strong though. Or really healer has heard she's strong and has told me, most things I learn about the people of the castle comes from her.
She said something about a famous singer being here, it's kinda funny. I lived under a rock when I was in the waking world so I've never really heard of him. I don't really care too much about most things, I just want to survive. When I remember how confident I was that I'd easily be able to kill anything in my path in the academy, I almost laugh about how wrong I was.
After I'm done sketching the demon, I starts practicing throwing knives. Before killing it I had no clue what it looked like, I only knew its shape. The door swings open, I look up
"You're going to catch Gunlaug's attention if you haven't already gotten it. I swear to god ■■■■."
I tilt my head
"Why would I care if I get his attention?"
LShe stares at me with an expression of tired annoyance.
"You know what it doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure the rumors about you being sinister are only going to get worse with your newest kill."
I get mildly irritated
"■■■■ we both know why you have that reputation, you hunt nightmare creatures alone"
"isn't there another hunter who does the same thing?"
She points at me annoyed
"Yeah but she talks with people and doesn't just hire someone to sell the stuff she kills for her. Somehow you have the reputation of being sinister when you're just an anxious weirdo dork"
I scoff
"I am not anxious nor a dork"
"You didn't deny being weird."
She flops on her own bed
"So why did you go after that thing? This time give me the real reason"
I think for a bit
"a member of my old cohort said she wanted to kill it"
I lay down fully pulling the blanket over myself fully and I go to sleep pretty fast.
"What the hell! Healer what the fuck"
Healer stands over me with an annoyed expression.
"I swear today you're coming with me to sell the rest of that fallen demon. I am sick of trying to change your reputation"
I stare at her with annoyance and irritation, she smacked me awake, she hit me in the face! For something so stupid as reputation!
"Why, I don't care about my reputation"
She glarea at me with an expression of irritation
"I do! Your reputation follows me around like a damn shadow"
I sigh deeply its not really fair for my reputation to follow healer around
"Fair enough I guess...."
I summon my armor as I get up. I stretch then I smooth myself out. She grabs the collar of my armor and she starts pulling me out
"Desummon that damn helmet, it only makes you look worse"
"Fine..."
I desummon the helmet.
"Don't make any weird expressions understood?"
"I can't see my face how am I meant to know what expression I'm making?"
She sighs in an exasperated way.
Later we walk together she seems to only get more irritated at me for some reason.
We had already sold half of the hide and a few of the teeth. I had made an ice bag for the soul shards we had gotten from it. I haven't been paying too much attention to anything going on. Healer leans over to me whispering "You little- you look even worse with that resting bitch face" I stare at her then I tilt my head "What are you talking about?" I hear her mutter something that I don't pay any attention to. I promptly zone back out thinking about my next hunt.
"HUH- you think 3 fallen demons' teeth is worth that little? 1 soul shard for all of them? That is a damn scam, 1 soul shard for each you understand?"
Healer argues with some stingy guy, and she lightly elbows me. I look over at her then at the man who tenses up, I then look away going back to thinking about my next hunt. After a while, the deal is made for 2 soul shards for 3 teeth.
We're finally done selling after most of the day it was already night by the time we were done.
Apparently, the other solo hunter is out hunting at the moment. Well was out hunting, I hear walking and see her with 2 girls and a boy, one blonde and the other white haired, and one boy with black hair. I walk past, healer stops for a second then keeps walking looking confused.
"What's with that look?"
She stares at me now even more confused
"Those 3 are new, it's been months since the winter solstice."
Now that she mentioned it. It has been months. Those 3 have to be quite strong. I nod
"Well let's get back already, don't you want your half of soul shards?"
She looks at me then nods
"you're really something else you know that ■■■■"