Chapter 192

With about ten hours on the clock until they departed, Luke didn’t think he could scrape together the last 11,000 XP he needed to level up one more time, not unless he got lucky with another cluster of high level spiders attacking all at once. He was almost eager for that to happen, just so he could test out his new [Area Denial] skill properly.

“Everyone get some rest,” Hakiro said. “You’ll be traveling all through tomorrow and it’s likely you’ll be fighting within a few hours of getting home.”

The two trainers moved off to a different table to have their own whispered discussion while Luke started working on the plates of food that were coming out from the kitchen. At the far end of the table, the messenger who’d brought the news was also eating, albeit at a much more sedate pace. The boy looked ready to topple over at any moment, and Luke had his suspicions that the reason they weren’t leaving right away was that someone would have to literally carry the messenger back out of the forest if they tried.

Then again, the trainees weren’t in much better shape. Luke had been sparring with them for hours and while he was merely ready for a good meal, their stamina was much lower. If they were pushed, the trainees would probably make it back to Heishin with just enough energy to stagger to their rooms before they dropped.

“-one warrior isn’t going to make a difference to the city,” Jalet hissed, drawing Luke’s attention. “But it could be life and death to these boys.”

“I know.” Hakiro’s voice sounded pained. “I do, believe me, but I have my own oaths. I can’t delay my departure now that I know.”

“I don’t know if I can protect them all by myself. I can’t be in two places at once,” Jalet said.

“Ask Luke to help you. He’s looking to snag more XP anyway.”

“I would feel more comfortable if you were here instead.”

Luke snorted softly as he took another bite of his sandwich. It was only a few miles to the edge of the forest. Chances were that they wouldn’t be attacked by anything, and even if they were, they had enough fighters to keep the servants, healer, and cook safe in the middle of the group. If Hakiro wanted to run ahead early, that was his business.

“What are you going to do?” Zea asked, drawing Luke’s attention back from his eavesdropping.

Luke shrugged and finished chewing. “Kill some spiders, I guess. Probably won’t get enough of them to get the last level I need before we leave.”

“You want to go with them?”

“I guess? I doubt our contract says anything about me defending them from demonic attack, but it’s going to be hard for them to pay up their end of it if they’re all dead.”

“We actually got most of our side from them already,” Zea said. “There were a few hard-to-find materials they didn’t have on hand, but we’re doing pretty good there. The biggest thing is getting you enough levels to buy [XP Reset] and [XP Cycle]. Do you think they’ll let us stay behind so you can finish?”

“Probably not,” Luke said. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

He got up and crossed the dining area to join Hakiro and Jalet at their table. They felt silent at his approach, and as Luke went to sit down, Hakiro said, “We’re having a private discussion right now.”

“Not really,” Luke said. “But it seemed less rude to participate if I sat over here rather than just yelling across the room.”

“You… heard us?” Hakiro asked.

“You weren’t being that quiet.”

“The enchantments in the table are supposed to prevent sound from carrying,” Jalet said. “They aren’t scheduled for maintenance for another two years. I wonder if someone damaged them.”

Luke hadn’t ever noticed anything like that, but then again, usually everyone sat at the same table when they ate anyway. They didn’t have near enough people to fill up the all the available seats. All of the enchantments he knew about seemed to be working correctly, or at least he hadn’t heard Zea grumbling about anything being broken.

Now that Luke thought about it, he wondered if Zea had something to do with the noise enchantments failing. He glanced over and saw her stealing food off his abandoned plate. She looked innocent, but he didn’t know if he believed her.

“That’s a problem for another time,” Hakiro said firmly. “You’ve heard our plans then. I will be leaving in the next hour, and the rest of you will follow in the morning. We’ll be relying on you to keep our people safe from any attacks that come from the rear while Jalet holds the front. Sando and Asher will have to hold the sides.”

“About that. I’ve got no problems escorting everyone out of the forest, but I think I’m going to need a few days to get another level. Maybe even a week. Is it going to be an issue if we stay here without you all?”

“In a word, yes. The enchantments are keyed to our family,” Hakiro said. “You won’t be able to access the hunting lodge without myself or Jalet here. There’s also the fact that we could use another strong warrior on the front lines back at the city. It’s… There was a lot of damage from the previous attacks. Supposedly an elder demon joined the attacking demons, some sort of giant woman made of metal who leaves flaming footprints as she walks.”

“I get that, but wouldn’t it be better for me to grind out this last level so that when I come back, I can get twenty other people back into the fight?”

Hakiro didn’t turn to look at Luke as he spoke. He didn’t need to. “If we were defending against barbarian raiders or some sort of monster outbreak, I’d agree with you. But demons are unique. We don’t get XP from killing them, so I’m sure all of the older warriors are out there fighting already. Please, have some patience. We’ll come back to finish your training once things are safe, I promise. It’s in my family’s own best interest to see that we do.”

“Besides all that, there’s something weird going on with the spider colonies right now. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve been training new warriors here for twenty years,” Jalet added. “Until that gets sorted, it’s far more dangerous than usual to be here. We were already planning on cutting this trip short as soon as you gained your next level.”

It looked like they were both set on their decisions. If Luke wanted to keep hunting here, he’d be doing it under his own power with his own resources. He expected they’d object to that as well since he had yet to fulfill his half of the contract. It just made sense that they’d want to keep their eyes on him until then.

If this had all happened even a week later, it would have been a non-issue.  All he could do now was make the most of the last few hours available to him. If he went deeper into the forest, it would be more dangerous, but that was kind of the point. The more monsters he found, the faster he’d gain XP. It was hard to picture any one monster that could actually threaten him, and as long as he was careful, they shouldn’t be able to swarm him.

“I’m going to get as much XP as I can before we leave in the morning,” Luke said.

“You should get some rest so you’re at your best tomorrow,” Jalet objected.

“Nah, I’m fine. I don’t need to sleep for a few more days at least. I know I won’t push through to the next level before morning, but every little bit helps. Maybe I’ll get lucky and run into another one of those swarms like we did on the first day.”

“Only you would think that was good luck,” Hakiro told him.

Luke shrugged and said, “I’ll go let Zea know so she can prepare and we’ll be ready to leave when the sun comes up.”

* * *

The cold didn’t bother him, even if the rain was a bit annoying. The mud was the worst of it, but [Area Denial] was quickly showing Luke the difference between a basic skill, even one at max rank, and an advanced skill. Spiders he didn’t even realize were there were dying when his mace swept through them and blasted them off of whatever branch they were lurking on. Nothing within five feet of him snuck up on him.

Luke had to revise exactly how aware of the world around him he thought he was. Yes, he noticed far more than he had back on Earth, and skills like [Detection] enhanced that even further, but he hadn’t really given a lot of consideration to how other creatures would also have ranks in [Stealth]or, in the case of some spiders, [Stalker], and how even at rank 2 or 3, that would help counteract his high base perception.

[Area Denial] did not give a single solitary fuck about [Stealth] or [Stalker]. If something got within a few feet of him and tried to sneak attack him, Luke was reacting before he even knew what it was. And the farther away from the hunting lodge he got, the more spiders there were. At some point, he was forced to abandon any ideas he had about what kind of spider was supposed to be where. Either the maps were completely wrong outside of the mile or two around the base, or everything had changed in the last few days.

The XP was also coming remarkably quickly. He was easily clearing more than 1,000 an hour, and as long as that didn’t slow down, he thought he just might pull that final level in time for their departure. The only downside there was that he had to keep going deeper and deeper to find spiders in the quantities he needed, and it turns out that the bigger, tougher ones all liked to congregate in the deep woods.

The bigger spiders tended to be ambush predators rather than trappers, which actually worked out in Luke’s favor. It was far easier to smash them with his mace than to try to tear through the webs, not that there weren’t tons of spider silk strung up through the trees by the smaller monsters anyway. But on the rare occasions that a big one decided they did want to do some interior decorating, their webs proved significantly harder to break.

“Look,” Luke told the spider sitting at the top of the web thirty feet over his head. “We both know if you come down here, I’m going to bash your guts out. You’re level 24, and that’s great and all by spider standards, but it’s not going to save you from me. So, I’m going to make myself an exit right over here, and if you’re smart, you’ll stay the hell away from me.”

The spider watched him silently. It was the size of a compact car, with fangs as long as his damn arm. He really didn’t want to have to kill it for a very simple reason. It was going to be a giant mess, and he hated fighting next to the webs. They weren’t strong enough to hold him, but it was like having one of those roided out gym bros back home who got all aggressive and wanted to prove they could shove whoever they wanted around grabbing at him while he fought.

Luke reached up to the web and tore it from its anchor point on the tree. The spider shifted in the branches overhead, no doubt preparing itself to skitter down and attack him. “I’m serious,” Luke called up as he tore another anchor point free. “I do not have time to play with you, and you’re not worth the effort for how little XP you give. Just keep your happy ass up there and we won’t have a problem.”

The third anchor point popped loose, and the spider descended down its web.