Monster Hunting 401: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure by Andrew Karevik (best books to read txt) 📕

In the end, this trade-off was fair, for Trig and I could not come to an agreement on who got the Kaos. The sheer benefit of such an item on a joint kill essentially meant the other was being robbed, regardless of how the rest of the goods were shared. I wasn’t so obstinate, of course, to insist that I get the elixir, but Trig was equally as hesitant as I. Fortunately, the armor and the blueprints were far more valuable to the both of us, for selling our charms was out of the question. Charms provided too many benefits to give up.

Finally, the old man spoke, breaking the silence that filled the air. I felt my heart nearly leap out of my chest as he began to mutter to us. “We are as far as I’m willing to go. And as far as either of you should go. I don’t know what you want in that forest, but…it’s not worth your lives. You two are quite pleasant and I am fond of your company. A deal’s a deal, yet I cannot help but feel I should have misled you. Claimed to have tricked you. You are both far too good to die for nothing.”

There was no point in arguing. We had not told him a thing about our journey, so he merely assumed we were doing as the other Venators did, hunting and fighting. He did not know the burden we had on our shoulders. Well, the burden I had on my shoulders.

I turned to look at Trig. The boyishness on his face had washed away and all I could see was the grim specter of war and determination. He was not about to be swayed from entering the forest with me. And if that speech didn’t get him to stand down, I don’t think there was anything I could say either.

We reached the edge of the cavern to see…nothing. Nothing but darkness, as if we were standing in yet another tunnel. There was but one thing we could see, the one testament to the fact that we truly were outdoors. Sticking out of the darkness was a gigantic branch, towering nearly a hundred feet above us. The branch was red and full of green leaves, but the sight of it left us scratching our heads.

“Is the branch floating?” Trig asked. “Just hovering in midair?”

I craned my neck, looking up at the sky, but I could only see a great black blanket, as if it were an eternal night—though a night without stars or the moon. “I have no idea.”

The old man unceremoniously produced a light stone and tossed it forward as hard as he could. We watched as the darkness parted ways, revealing the mighty tree the branch was connected to. The darkness seemed to recede from the light, as if it were some kind of fog, driving back by brightness instead of wind.

“Woah,” Trig said, taking out his own light stone and walking forward. He swung it around like a sword, beating back the darkness. The shadows retreated from the stone, but the moment the light was somewhere else, the darkness billowed back over, almost like a cloud.

“Many walk into the dark. None return,” Brimley said. “I know nothing of what lies beyond. But I do know this: you don’t want to be in the darkness. I spoke to a man once who…well, he had the power of the darksight, could see into shadows and even supernatural darkness without a problem. He laughed at my warning and said light was of no problem. Then he ceased speaking. In an instant. One moment we were talking and the next, he was gone. I called out to him…but he did not answer. Did something silent snatch him in the darkness so fast I could barely register it? Or does that darkness consume those without lights? This I cannot say.”

I found myself swallowing hard at that. Was he just hamming this up to scare us into staying? Or…did the darkness really just devour a man instantly, snuffing him out like a candle in the wind?

“It’s probably some kind of monster,” Trig said, breaking the tense silence. He drew his daggers out and cut the air in front of him. “No reason for us to worry. Just keep the lights on and we’ll find some weakness in it. Not the first time we’ve fought something invisible.”

Trig was right, for sure. There were a few beasts out there that could become invisible, either to the eye or to the mind, but…I wish I had his confidence in this matter. To him, this was nothing more than another part of the adventurous life. I wasn’t quite convinced this would be business as usual. Everything seemed to point in the other direction.

“Well, there’s no stopping us, I’m afraid,” I said, patting the old man on the shoulder. “You’ve been a big help to us, Brimley. We appreciate your efforts to look out for our lives, but we have more important things to worry about. If we come back, maybe we can talk about cooperating more in the future.”

“That’s a pretty big if,” the old man muttered, turning around and hobbling away. “I wish you well. As if wishes could do anything.”

Chapter 13

The darkness had little respect for our meager light stones. In normal circumstances, a light stone functions about as well as a torch, giving us around 30 or so feet of vision. But in this dark forest, it was as if the darkness was trying to push against the light, smothering the effects. We could barely see ten feet ahead of us at any given time.

Trig, for all of his big talk, was unnaturally silent and far too close for comfort. He was nearly pressing against me each step, as if terrified something was going to swoop me or him far away. I preferred my space, of course, but in this circumstance, maybe