Death Smith - Book 2 - Chapter 20

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Pyromaniacs unite!

Ten days later.

Late-April, 14 AR.

Inside Rift 12.

Lance rushed through the bushes, seeing Alpha fly not that far above him. It kept him company and occasionally steered him in the right direction. The further Lance moved away from the Rift-event, the more uncomfortable it made him feel. ‘I wonder if all Rifters feel the same thing?’ Lance thought as he jumped over a small rock formation and landed in a clearing. He noticed the markings on the nearby trees and knew that Ash would be close.

Peering backwards, Lance could feel where the Rift-event was. He had heard from Daniel how it worked, with the GRRO manual going into more depth about it. A Rift-event would draw Rifters to it, with the unnatural energy resonating within a Rifter’s white-shard. The further you went away from it, the more uncomfortable it became. Lance figured it worked like a strange energy compass, allowing every Rifter to know where he needed to go to.

Lance moved slowly, not wanting to get stuck in one of the traps Ash would have made in the area. It did not take long for Lance to see the bear traps. Two of them still contained dead monsters, while the third one held a gnawed off leg. No doubt the monster had died not too far from here due to blood loss. Lance let Alpha steer him towards the last trap, seeing it untouched. He disarmed and stored all four of them before he moved on.

Lance had taught Ash how to dig small pit traps and place sharpened branches at the bottom. He had instructed Ash to scatter those pit traps around the forest to either kill or wound unsuspecting monsters. The two men had gotten better at making these traps during the last few days. They still had a lot they could learn to increase the lethality of the traps or camouflage them better, but the basics were there.

Alpha pointed out the pit traps they encountered, landing near them, and pointing its beak at it. So far, Lance had found six of those traps, all dug over the last two days. “Bloody hell, the lad has kept himself busy,” Lance said when he reached the last pit, seeing two monsters at the bottom, their shards cut out by the birds and removed.

It did not take Lance long after that to find Ash, seeing the pale warrior climb out of a murky pool he had used as a base of operations. He was dirty but intact save for a minor cut on his arms and a rip in his uniform. The way he rose out from the water, two javelins in hand, was terrifying.

Lance could see three monster corpses near the edge. No doubt Ash had drowned them or killed them by throwing a javelin or two. Lance had left Ash with ten javelins two days ago, so with only two of them left, Lance figured he had seen plenty of excitement. “Have you been picking on the local monsters again?” Lance asked, walking up to him and patting him on the back before activating his skill.

‘Repair item’

Lance watched the minor cuts get repaired as Ash’s durability restored to a 100 percent. His companion nodded once before he led Lance to a small hole he had dug. Inside of the hole were dozens of black-shards Ash and the birds had collected. Beta and Icarus joined them not long after that.

On their own, each of them would struggle when fighting a monster. Their lethality would grow immensely when they worked together as a team. The birds took care of the smaller flying monsters, while Ash dug pitfall traps or rearmed the bear traps to wreak havoc. Ash could also ambush the occasional Centaur-toad that was close to his hiding spot. It wasn’t always perfect, seeing as Lance had repaired all of his companions a few times over the last few days, but he was still gaining more black-shards than he was spending on repairs.

“You guys did great. Ash, I am going to let you watch all the Rambo movies back in Dublin. You’ll love it,” Lance said with a smile as he began counting all the black shards before storing them in his inventory.

“Let’s pack up and return to camp. We are going to push for the Rift-event in the morning. We have already cleared out most of the roaming bands of monsters, so we should leave this place tomorrow,” Lance explained, allowing his companions to finish their assignments.

Ash retrieved the steel entrenching tool from a nearby bush, afterwards standing next to Lance while sliding a finger through the rip in his uniform. “Broken…” His voice was deep and unnatural.

“Better. It still sounds like all my childhood nightmares combined into one sound. But keep it up, Ash. I’ll fix the uniform in my inventory. Remind me to buy you proper gear when we get paid, all right?” Lance asked Ash, seeing the man nod once before placing his hand on Lance’s shoulder, forming a physical connection.

[You have stored an item in the inventory.]

* * * * *

‘I have way too many items,’ Lance thought four hours later, seeing his filled-up inventory screen. He had packed what he could inside his backpack, but even then, he was running out of options. He had levelled up four times within this Rift, going from level twenty-four to twenty-eight. The speed of his growth was good, but his inventory was the limiting factor here. At level twenty-eight he had access to thirty-three storage slots, but with three birds, Ash, and his equipment, not to mention several monster corpses, and Lance’s normal provisions, he was hard-pressed to store it all.

‘Life would be so much easier if I don’t have to store Ash and his gear. Hell, slapping a backpack on Ash and getting him to carry stuff in and out of the Rift would be amazing.’ He knew full well that the GRRO registered each Rifter before entering and exiting a Rift. With no proper documentation, Ash being absurdly grey in all features, not to mention lacking a proper white-shard, there was no way it wouldn’t alert the authorities.

‘Some countries have less strict rules in place. It could be beneficial to go there?’ he thought as he prodded the little fire he had going. He had just finished his meal and was simply enjoying the heat and some time to himself. Although he was concerned about his growing inventory need, it was also a good problem to have. The fact that he had several monster corpses in his inventory, instead of just their hides or claws, meant that his income would increase once again exponentially.

He leaned backwards and stared into the sky. Seeing just one sun meant that it was ‘evening’. Although he had hardened himself through constantly clearing Rifts, he still got annoyed because of the constant sunlight, since it was affecting his quality of sleep.

‘Now, where should I put these?’ Lance thought, going over his status screen and noticing the three Attribute points he still had left. He had already spent the points he had gotten from his first three levels on Strength, Endurance and Agility.

‘I feel like my physical Attributes are doing fine at the moment. Perhaps even decent enough for a level four or five Rift. Perhaps more points in Perception? To help with my archery,’ Lance mused, wondering what the best pick would be. Wisdom was a stat mostly used for mages, but even Lance benefited from it. His Magicka would regenerate faster, as well squeeze out a better mental performance. It would also allow him to think faster in the heat of a moment, as well as recall information more clearly. ‘Perhaps luck? A few more points might help with the drop rate, or with a critical hit?’

[Luck:] [44] (+3)

He finally decided on Luck, figuring it was always good to have a bit of that on hand. That and the increased drop rate might award him better resources in the future. Opening his status screen, he noticed that his Magicka regeneration had increased because of it, allowing him to heal more frequently. ‘That should do for now.’

Lance spotted Iyas and Scott getting up and making their way towards him. Nodding, Lance kicked out the fire with dirt and followed them, hearing Scott give orders to the other Rifters, to watch for monsters, fires, or other threats while they were away.

“Are you ready?” Lance asked Iyas, watching the man summon his spear and swirl it around several times to warm up his shoulders. Like Lance, Iyas wasn’t particularly worried, not even as they were walking towards the Rift-event.

The Moroccan man nodded as he exchanged his normal generous smile for a more determined expression. Although all three of them were the strongest Rifters in the party, the threat of an injury because of an accident or trap could always happen. “Yeah. Igniting a whole forest is perfectly normal. What about you, Scott?”

Scott simply snorted at the question. He used his machete to cut a path, slicing apart vines and bushes. Slowly the party made their way deeper into the jungle, past the point where the Rifters had cleared out all the roaming monsters. It did not take them long before they noticed the location of the Rift-event. It was located amidst old ruins that the jungle had reclaimed. From what Lance could make out at this distance, enormous stone walls, buildings, and tall towers were present. Much of it was in ill repair or even in ruins. Trees had grown through the roofs of houses. Moss, vines, and other signs of nature had covered entire buildings and had swallowed up former roads.

“It looks ancient… and quite similar to what we used to see on earth,” Iyas pointed out as Lance agreed with him. “This could have been a large city at one point. Positioned near a river. Perhaps a trade hub at one point?”

“Could be. But who knows what the Rift really is? It isn’t the first ruin I have seen,” Lance said, sharing his thoughts. They had no way of finding out. Either the Rifts created places and ruins like these for Rifters to fight in, or the Rift connected them to actual ruined worlds somewhere. Both scenarios were equally terrifying.

“Can’t wait to burn it to the ground,” Scott stated, swapping his machete out for a shovel before he faced the other two Rifters. “Get to work.”

* * * * *

‘I need to remember to thank Daniel for his gift,’ Lance thought, making a mental note. They had spent the last ten hours digging up dirt and cutting away vegetation to make a fire line around the city. It was arduous work, with two Rifters digging and the third on watch, but their increased Strength and Endurance made quick progress. That there were only three of them made it more likely that they wouldn’t get spotted by other monsters.

Eventually, Scott had gotten impatient and had already started a few fires near the city, before Lance and Iyas joined him, seeing the flames quickly spread towards it. The fire lines would prevent most of the fires from spreading towards the Rifter’s camp. It would have taken them several days to make a perfectly safe circle around the city to contain the fire properly, but the Rifters figured this would suffice for now. Still, there was plenty of smoke that occasionally reached the Rifters, with Lance glad that he had Daniel’s scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth to filter out the fumes.

The fire was already engulfing the outer walls of the ruined city, blocking any monsters from getting to the Rifters from that side, or risk getting burned. In a few hours, the entire city would become a bonfire and take any monster along with it. Those that survived the fires by cowering inside the buildings would die from smoke inhalation. Those that escaped the city would find most of their forces now gone.

“That is a pretty sight,” Scott said finally, seeing the fire now spread beyond the walls and enter the city. Their heightened hearing could pick up the cries of monsters as they alarmed one another. “I love it when a Rift has an environment we can use to our advantage.”

Iyas nodded as he slammed his shovel on the ground. “Well, it beats having to deal with hundreds of monsters all at once. No doubt it will make it easier on the others.”

“Bah, sod them. If they can’t handle a level three Rift, they shouldn’t have entered it.” Scott barked as he grabbed his shovel and continued digging, slamming into the earth with tremendous force.

‘For someone who wants to be a leader, he cares little for their wellbeing,’ Lance thought, remembering how often he had seen types like Scott in his childhood. The bullies that wanted to be seen and heard but did not know how to use it when they finally got the position of power.

Lance himself was also a part of the problem. All three of them had set fire to the forest and made it spread towards the city. All three had done so to ‘lessen’ the enemy horde to make it easier to clear it. But starting that fire also meant that the experience it produced would go to them. ‘No doubt that is why Scott was so eager to be the first one to start the fire,’ Lance figured as he grabbed his canteen and threw some water over his face, temporarily removing a bit of the heat he was feeling.

Still, Lance was fine with it. Every Rifter was going to get paid upon completion, not to mention get a level from clearing the Rift. He needed the experience more than anyone else there, and fast! If he wanted to catch up with the three Rifters that had caused Thomas’ death, he would need to cut corners and lower himself to these types of tactics. If burning several forests inside Rifts would help, he would burn them all.

“Time to swap,” Lance said, patting Iyas on the shoulder, rotating him out.

Lance was glad that at least Iyas was there to remind them they were doing this for the sake of the other Rifters. ‘At least one of us has a conscious,’ Lance thought as he slammed his entrenching tool into the dirt.

* * * * *

Mira watched the black curtain of smoke in the distance when Lance, Scott and Iyas had returned to camp later that night. “Man, that fire is wild!” Mira exclaimed. Even from base camp, the Rifters could see the devastation the fire had caused. “Greenpeace is going to love you guys.”

Both Lance and Iyas had to laugh at that comment. Both knew how ridiculous their actions would be if they had done so on Earth. “At least we’d make the news,” Iyas replied, finishing his meal, and putting his plate and fork down on the ground. “Tomorrow is the day.”

“That it is,” Lance commented, knowing full well that they would face the remaining monsters and the Guardian. ‘I wonder if it is just one or multiple guardians?’ Lance thought before finishing his own meal and flushing it down with fresh water.

The three of them had bonded a bit during these last few days, with Lance learning more about their backstories. Mira had lost her leg and her uncle during her first Rift. Her uncle had been her caretaker and had been the one that had taught Mira how to hunt with the air rifle. After that, she had struggled to adjust to her new prosthetic leg and take on smaller jobs as a Rifter. She had endured a lot of discrimination from other Rifters, with most of them seeing her leg as a liability.

Iyas had revealed that he was traveling the world, looking for some purpose in life. His initial Rift had not been as gruesome as most initial Rifts, but he was struggling to unite both his previous life and that of a Rifter. He explained he wanted to see a lot of countries, to meet new people and try to find some balance and purpose.

Lance had shared some parts of his initial Rift and those after that, admitting that he had experienced good runs and bad ones. He had not mentioned Thomas, preferring to keep that part to himself. Lance was still struggling with what he had been through, and he did not have the time to make new friendships, because he was constantly rushing from one Rift into the next one. Still, Mira and Iyas were good people in his book.

“I can’t wait to have actual night-time again,” Lance commented, hoping that would increase the quality of his sleep again. The constant daylight wasn’t the thing that was bothering Lance the most. Fragmented memories formed his dreams, with Lance feeling himself soaring or plummeting through the air. He assumed it was a side effect of the forging process, with him slowly getting more exposed to the previous life of those that he forged into companions.

He had moments when the area around his own white-shard was painful, with him even tasting blood now and again. Still, he would pick that over those dreams of him soaring through the sky. There was something unnatural about that, experiencing a freefall only to soar up again mere seconds before slamming into the ground.

‘Let’s just hope that those birds won’t be as bad as Thomas’s voice in my head,’ Lance thought, hearing a faint whisper of his former friend somewhere in the depths of his mind, demanding to be heard. Eventually, Lance gave in as he grabbed his phone and found a matching song to fit the mood.

And so, the three Rifters stood there, watching the world in front of them burn while the screen on Lance’s phone listed the song he was listening to; Burning Love – Elvis Presley.

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Author: Osirium

Copyright: 2022 OsiriumWrites

Released: 2022