Chapter 131: Good Eating

The hydra had, if nothing else, at least given up enough experience to push both of Jadis’ classes over the top. She received no new skills since both were even number levels, but it was still satisfying to see her numbers go up as the three added points in her Eldritch attribute were enough to boost all of her physical stats by a single point. The rest of her team also received levels and when Jadis shared her own progress, the others did the same.

Aila’s Cart Driver class went up a single level, while her Arcanist class went up two levels. Jadis was curious about what kind of skill Cart Driver would offer her at level twenty-one, since in her own class and the others who had classes that reached that level, they had all received some kind of significant enhancement to the base skill that the primary class started with. When Jadis had asked about it, Aila had informed her that she had indeed been offered a skill that would have greatly improved her Smooth Ride skill, but she had not taken it or the other option the system had presented her. Since she wasn’t focused on driving a cart, there wasn’t much point in wasting any of her skill slots on something that had no practical use in battle. Instead, she’d chosen Lesser Arcane Improvement I, which had boosted her Arcane stat by five points and taken her overall score to one hundred and two, combined with Jadis’ boost.

Her Arcanist class received a new skill as well, only this time it was something she actually wanted. Aila had received modification options and had chosen a new trap modification for her spells that looked useful.

According to Aila, even though the spell cost a little more than the spike trap modification, it should prove to be a powerful alternative to the more damaging spell alteration. She doubted that the snare trap would do much damage, if any at all, but if it was anything like other snare spells she’d read about and seen, it wouldn’t disappear shortly after activation like the spike traps and would instead linger, holding down the unfortunate victim either for the duration of the spell or until it was broken. Jadis had to agree, that while it wasn’t a direct damage kind of spell, it did sound like a useful spell depending on the circumstances.

Eir had only gone up a single level, a product of not having much involvement in the fighting before the hydra, Jadis figured. Her progress had been slower than everyone else’s so far thanks to her non-combat nature and that was something Jadis wanted to change. If possible, Jadis wanted to take the cleric out on some solo demon slaying in the future so she could boost her leveling along the same way she had done for Aila. That was a problem for later, though. In the immediate, Eir’s newest skill was a progression of her disease and poison purging spells.

Jadis noted the increased cost compared to the other versions of the spells and when asked why, Eir had explained that technically, demons were considered to be parasites by the system and any skill that could potentially remove them from the bodies of their victims was highly valuable but also generally came with a higher cost as well. Remove Lesser Parasite wasn’t enough to purge any demons from a controlled individual anyway, Eir confided, since even weak demons were considered to be Greater parasites at a minimum, the next step above Lesser in the value system, but the spell still had strong uses. In fact, after having checked to make sure everyone in the group had full health, Eir had used the parasite removal spell on Jadis just to make sure that she had no issues with the more common kind of internal pest.

Kerr had also only gone up a single level in her primary class, but that single level was a lot, or so Kerr had happily explained. Leveling slowed down significantly once a class reached twenty and only got slower the higher the level. To have reached level thirty only a few weeks after reaching level twenty-nine in her Archer class was amazing progress, far faster than any she would normally experience. There was no special reward at level thirty, unfortunately, so Kerr had just put her two free attribute points into her Dexterity, but that was still a big step forward for her. In only another five levels, she would reach CLR sixty and would unlock her Tertiary class, a feat that few people accomplished and, other than longer lived races, most never achieved during the years between demon invasions when no bonus experience was given. Kerr was, understandably, thrilled to have her progress towards one of the major goals in her life accelerated forward so much in so little an amount of time.

Thea had gone up two levels, in her secondary class alone, which put both her level distribution and CLR into the same pattern as Jadis, funnily enough. The guardswoman had proved to be no slouch in terms of her combat abilities, a fact that Jadis was starting to realize meant Magistrate Vraekae hadn’t just sent basic everyday guards to protect her outside of the city walls but had instead assigned some of her better leveled soldiers with rarer, more powerful classes. That thought also reminded Jadis that she needed to have a long discussion with the Magistrate about her situation once they got back to Far Felsen, but that was another problem for later.

Other than the single free attribute point that Thea had put into her Strength stat to make it a solid twenty-five, her newest skill had been a large attribute booster.

The increase was a big one, bringing her Resilience stat up to thirty-four. Jadis was certain that if she wasn’t now used to tossing around attribute boosts of over fifty points to her companions, the eight-point boost would have looked far more impressive.

“Just a guess,” Jay had said when Thea had told her about her most recent skill, “but I’m thinking the reason you were offered that skill is because you saw through that hydra’s illusion, right?”

“Probably,” Thea said with a shy little shrug.

“It’s amazing you were able to catch on so quickly. That could have been a disaster if you hadn’t. Really impressive job in that fight.”

“I, um, have higher resilience than any of you.” Thea modestly waved aside the praise, blushing pink. “And I have, ah, a couple of skills that make it easier to spot the, uh, inconsistencies with illusions. It’s just part of my normal duties standing watch.”

“Yeah, no. Throwing yourself into the jaws of a giant beast to save my life is not part of normal duties,” Dys shook her head, not letting Thea brush what she’d done off as mere duty. “That was fucking amazing and also stupid as all hell. Seriously, thank you for putting yourself between me and those teeth, but in the name of D don’t do something so reckless again. That was fucking nuts.”

Thea looked pleased, ashamed, and bashful all at the same time, an interesting mix of emotions to see on one person’s face. Jadis didn’t press the issue of Thea almost leaping straight down a monster’s gullet any further, though. It would have come across as more than a little hypocritical, considering her own proclivity towards bold and reckless action. In reality, she admired the guts the guard had to even think of attempting such a crazy stunt.

The problem with having pulled off the amazing, insanely reckless stunt, though, was now Thea had no shield. And without a shield, a lot of her class utility was gone. There was no easy answer to that problem, unfortunately, but there was at least some potential for a solution, given some time and creativity.

At Kerr’s insistence, the group spent some time butchering the massive hydra carcass that now blocked the long tunnel. Both she and Aila lamented not being able to bring the whole thing back to the city for processing, as the rare magical beast would have been worth a huge amount of gold if they sold its parts to various different crafters like alchemists and leather workers. They couldn’t take it all, but they did take some parts, such as a collection of fangs, claws, and some of the larger scales from its hide. Kerr also insisted they take the monster’s liver, not as an ingredient for an alchemist, but as a prize for them to eat.

“This is a delicacy,” she said with a toothy grin, holding up a bloody liver that had to weigh as much as Eir. “You have no idea how fucking jealous all the lazy scum sacks back home would be to know that we get to taste a hydra liver.”

“Is it really that good?” Syd asked skeptically. Jadis had never been a big fan of liver when she’d tried it back on Earth and she couldn’t imagine it coming from a hydra would make much of a difference.

Before answering, and to Jadis’ shock, Kerr bit into the liver, tearing out a raw chunk of the still warm organ meat.

“So. Fucking. Good.” Kerr moaned around her mouthful in a way that mirrored when she’d had a different kind of meat stuffing her not too long ago.

With a little prodding and goading from the therion, everyone else sampled the liver as well and, having tasted it, Jadis had to admit that it was actually amazing. Despite the coppery tang from the blood, the liver had a flavor surprisingly similar to fatty salmon sushi, a favorite food of hers that Jadis had figured she’d likely never get the chance to eat again.

Between the three of Jadis and the others taking decent chunks out of the liver as well, there was a lot less of the liver left after their impromptu taste test than Jadis had expected there to be. Cutting up what remained, they stored the meat in some of their leather bags for later.

The last thing they ended up taking from the Hydra corpse was a collection of its bones. Peeling the flesh and viscera from large pieces of rib and other bones was a challenge, one that they couldn’t spend too much time on, but Jadis managed to gather together a decent amount of the skeletal material. She hoped that, with the use of some rope, she might be able to cobble together some kind of makeshift shield for Thea to use. It was probably a futile effort, but she figured even a crappy shield made from bones was better than no shield at all, especially since Thea’s skills boosted the defensive power of any shield she equipped.

They were all tired after their long day of underground travel and fighting, especially after the hydra encounter, but they decided to push further on, since sticking around the giant corpse was probably a bad idea. The smell of blood and decay was no doubt going to attract scavengers of all sorts, some of which could be hostile.

Jadis led her companions further along the tunnel, leaving behind the slain hydra. She would have liked to have gather more components from the fallen beast as well, but practicality dictated that they couldn’t waste more time around the corpse, not when their position was so insecure and they still didn’t know how much further they needed to travel before they could get out of the cavern system.

Besides, Jadis did not want to run into another Hydra so soon, even if its liver did taste great.

They travelled for another couple of hours, putting a good distance between them and the hydra carcass before finally veering off the main path and taking refuge in a small off-shoot cavern that had no other exits. After eating, everyone fell asleep quickly as at least one of Jadis’ bodies stood watch by the entrance at all times, trading off the duty several times. At one point, Thea woke and joined Dys in her vigil, silently standing guard with her spear in hand, offering little conversation but at least keeping her company via her presence. After what had to have been six or eight hours, the group woke and shared a breakfast of trail rations and hydra liver, then resumed their trek through the tunnel.

Their path forward went smoothly with little interruption from magic beasts. Occasionally, Jadis saw signs of giant yellow salamanders or other large creatures in the dark, but the beasts seemed to be avoiding them, all quickly scurrying off into side passages before Jadis’ group could get close. When Jadis pointed the oddity out, Aila posited that the creatures were probably being scared off by the smell of the hydra blood coming from the bones and liver and other trophies they carried with them.

Kerr took immediate credit for the repelling effects of carrying around hydra scent with them, though Jadis had the distinct impression that Kerr had not had any idea the hydra smell would be so effective at clearing their way.

Hours later, around the time Jadis was considering calling for a rest, both Kerr and Eir perked up at the same time.

“You hear that?” Kerr called out excitedly, her furry ears poking out from her helmet swiveling around dramatically.

“I do!” Eir agreed, her own red ears perking up. “I can hear it!”

“Hear what?” Aila asked, looking around the dim tunnel cautiously.

“Wind!” Eir said, followed a moment later by Kerr.

“I can hear fucking wind, freckles! There’s an exit nearby!”

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