Ch. 7: Double Revenge 5

“Alright, so you remember the basics of my plan?” Rainier was setting up two travel packs for him and Sataska filled with non-perishable edibles, a handful of blaze crystals each, and a crudely drawn map using ink like concoction Rainier devised from poisonfinger juice and the thick oil of chisis seeds.

While in Outpost Roseir, Rainier accidentally mixed the two secreted liquids and found that it practically stained every surface save for wet or metallic surfaces. He procured a flask of the mixture and carried it around just in case he needed to write something down.

The map showed landmarks and approximate distances and directions. Rainier wasn’t skilled in cartography, so there was no way he could possible make any map accurate. At most, it was like a set of vague directions leading a person to where X marks the spot.

“Yes, ummm… I need to annoy some arachnacosas and lure them to the big mouth monster without getting caught or found out by mother’s brood, I got it. Sataska held out a hand and counted off a list on her fingers.

“Wow, you actually paid attention, apparently you do have something of an attention span.”

“Hey, what do these marks mean?” Asked Sataska as she pointed at various crude figures on the map Rainier made.

“Even though I just showed you what is on this map…”

“Hey, is this all the food left?” Asked Sataska again as she swallowed the last of the soup Rainier had made.

Rainier rubbed his temple wearily. “I’m with a clear as day idiot here.”

“I do believe you just insulted a Queen! Though, I guess I can let it go considering your strength…” Sataska had a confused expression, as if she was contemplating something.

“Shush, idiots don’t talk.” Rainier shook his head while staring down Sataska as if he was talking down an arrogant child.

“I may be insulted once, but I won’t be insulted twi-”

Rainier interrupted Sataska’s nonsense by handing her a sheet and a makeshift sack woven from tough grass stalks. “Anyways, here’s the map and some dried meat, don’t eat it all in one sitting.”

Apparently forgetting that she was looked down upon, Sataska look at Rainier with dewy eyes. “We won’t be separated long, will we?”

Rainier would normally think that a girl acting like this would be cute, but he couldn’t get over the fact of two things, the first was that she was an ant and the second was that she was plain stupid.

“If things go well, my plan shouldn’t take more than a day to bear fruit. Even so, make sure that you don’t lure them over until the next day.” Rainier’s confidence in his plan was warranted.

If there was one thing that was constant in Ademptis, it was just how fast danger can be. Monsters and corrupt species were anything but slow. They evolved over centuries to hunt prey and survive in this hostile world.

Evoants were no different, their bodies were vastly superior to humans and they developed keen senses reliant on their antennae. Arachnacosa were equally dangerous, though not as strong in body as evoants due to their numbers, they possessed a clear intelligence in tactics that was not to be messed with.

If Rainier needed to live, he needed to be both stronger and sneakier. He already had the knowledge to do one from the vast amounts of texts he read on earth, and he had the method to do the first.

It was all a matter making it happen.

-----

Rainier drew the Razor of Envy, he stalked a duo of hornet stags grazing on the vine of a carnifer. That very vine staggered about as it was chewed upon before curling around the legs of one of the stags without its noticing.

Rainier watched as the hornet stag bleat in fear as the vine tightened and lassoed its legs together where it was then dragged into an unknown brush presumable to be eaten.

Taking this moment to strike, Rainier gutted the flank of the remaining startled hornet stag, covering the razor in as much blood as possible. The hornet stag thrashed about violently, attempting to gore Rainier with its thorn like antlers. Rainier was even lifted off the ground a few times due to the sheer strength of the hornet stag stomping against the ground, sending them both into the air.

Yet it was futile, its insides were already being shown and blood sprayed everywhere. The hornet stag soon ceased its attempts to buck away Rainier and fell to the ground limp. The submission hold Rainier had placed the hornet stag in proved superior and ultimately won.

Almost immediately, Rainier felt a twinge of severe pain as the blood coating the razor was absorbed by the blade. He felt the spasms ripple through his body until they centered on his calves.

So far, Rainier had slain four hornet stags. There was the very first one, and this kill right here marked the third one he had hunted since separating from Sataska.

‘It feels like the power my legs are gaining has tapered off, I don’t think I’ll get any stronger from killing more hornet stags.’ Although Rainier wasn’t certain of his thoughts, it was true that his legs muscles had ceased developing since their magnanimous growth.

Rainier was interested in testing out his legs, so he moved to an open karst field littered with rocks that had a pearly luster and a limestone texture.

Ashstone – A type of stone that was excavated for its special fire resistant properties. It is said to completely negate fire magic and explosions depending on the purity of the stone. In return it has a weakness towards the erosion of wind and water. Realizing the capabilities of Ashstone, many engineers placed the stone in key areas where an explosion might disrupt the balance of a building. It is also quite sturdy, allowing many tons of pressure to be placed upon it without breaking.

“Ashstone, huh?” Rainier, who always carried the encyclopedia with him, read the newest entry in the book while contemplating the possibilities of taking advantage of the resource before him. “Well, I don’t have the manpower to mine the stone anyways. But perhaps at a later date…”

Rainier then walked to the middle of the field and placed down everything except for the razor. He then looked up to the closest tall rock and stood next to it. “A simple jump…” Rainier then jumped as high as he possible could.

The change was already apparent. Rainier jumped a full two meters higher than the rock, which was at least four meters high. Compared to the first hornet stag he slew, his jump had doubled in height and then some. He grabbed onto the rock ledge as he fell down and pulled himself up so he could stand and survey the rocky field. After soaking in the geography, he hopped off the rock while performing a front flip just because he could.

Rainier tested his legs in various other ways. He ran a small course around the field which he estimated to take a normal person around a minute and a half to complete; he ran it in under twenty-six seconds.

The next test Rainier collected rocks of varying densities in a line. He then kicked them with as much force as possible. He broke every single one of them except for two rocks which he figured contained the purest amount of the ashstone, both rocks had a dusky blackness to them. He also took a smaller rock and tossed it upwards before kicking it like a soccer ball. Upon impact, it burst into dust. He kicked a second rock with the same coloring of the rocks he couldn’t break and kicked that instead, sending it flying for who knows how far. All Rainier knew was that rock had disappeared from his eyes with a speed he could barely distinguish.

“Nice, though having only strong legs is a bit annoying. Wonder if I can do something about my body or arms…”

“Sksss…”

A familiar hiss shivered through his ears and small antennae nubs on the back of his neck. Rainier turned and faced the source of the noise to see two evoants, one burly and the other with chitin plates that looked melted on.

“Ssssatasssska… Where? Ssssssks.” The larger one seemed to be the speaker of the two, though they both adopted threatening poses ready to attack at any moment.

“Not here.”

“WHERE?!” Screeched the melted one as he thrust his hands to his sides.

“She’s safe, don’t worry. Your queen can have her under as long as if you listen to me.” Rainier spoke diplomatically, if he angered the two before him and brought them into a fight, his plan was ruined. He just now realized that his plan was actually teetering on failure at any moment.

“Sssstop and hear… Him out.” The large one seemed rather sensible, much to Rainier’s amazement.

Once the melted one calmed down, Rainier continued. “I will only return Sataska if I can have a face to face negotiation with your queen.”

“…”

“If you’re worrying about her safety, it’s not like I could do much damage all by myself against the queen and her queensguard.”

“Kill you... Skssss. Will kill you… Sksssss.”

“If you do, I can promise that your queen that she’ll never see Sataska again. Also, if we don’t have these negotiations soon, her precious daughter will somehow make her way to bottom of the plateau. Rainier put on his most evil looking smile, intimidation is key in these situations.

“Ssssks. Negotiations… Where?”

“The crater, besides if you found me here, then it’s pretty obvious you can find where I will be. Be sure to not come until tomorrow, don’t worry about the ant girl, she won’t be harmed unless she resists or you and any other ants follow me.” After speaking to the two evoants, Rainier haughtily dismissed them. He most certainly earned their ire, though he didn’t particularly care about how they saw him. Even so, it wasn’t like the loyal guards of the evoant queen had much of a personality.

Rainier intentionally left the details about the negotiations vague. First of all, he wanted to piss them off and seem like he was willing to kill the queen’s daughter, Sataska. Then he also specifically didn’t mention anything about coming alone, he hoped that they took note of that and brought a considerable force of evoants to the oasis trap.

So far at least half the day had come to pass. Rainier wanted to get back to the oasis trap as soon as possible. Since the giant monster had a unique feeling to it, Rainier’s antennae nubs were unusually receptive to the rotten stench exuded from its gullet. Rainier could only guess how many rotting animal corpses were still being digested.

‘Things will start heating up fast. I’m taking a giant gamble with my plan; I won’t be surprised if it fails as well.’ Rainier exhaled, he was fully aware that success was very unlikely. ‘Playing it safe is too boring.’

Adrenaline, the natural high. Rainier had experienced it dozens of times since coming to Ademptis. And while he didn’t realize it, Rainier was definitely addicted to the rush.

-----

The next day.

Rainier stealthily made his way back to the inside of the oasis trap’s mouth. When he came back, he was surprised to see it completely covered once again in sand, rocks, and dried shrubs.

Even though an oasis trap swallows everything in its massive mouth, it actually has filters that sort out the edible from the inedible. It then redistributed the inedible matter through its pores above its body so it could recycle what it used to disguise the area as a legitimate oasis once again.

“Efficient.” Mumbled Rainier to himself as he walked down to the center pool where all the food entered the oasis trap’s body. He refilled his waterskin while drinking some of the pristine liquid.

He wasn’t swayed by the fact that the water was technically the oasis trap’s saliva. If it tasted like water and provided the same hydration as water while providing nutritious benefits, then there was no reason to not drink it.

“Ahh, so thirsty.” Rainier downed the flask, he was fairly dehydrated from running all the way here with his amped up legs.

Rainier looked down into the pool. He wasn’t sure how deep it was considering the fact that it is the throat of the oasis trap, but he also didn’t intend to find out. If the mouth closed any time, Rainier planned to jump to safety.

“Well you can’t eat me, but don’t worry, I’ll let you feast soon.” Rainier stared deeply into the pool as if speaking to the oasis trap like it could understand him.

The thing was, it did.

Two thick membranes pushed aside revealing what could only be an eye.

“Holy!” Shocked for only a moment, Rainier stood ready to flee, yet he felt safe. He was sure that the oasis trap didn’t intend to try to eat him. How he felt this, Rainier could not explain.

The eye had a sky blue color to it with the iris forming an erratic star. Crimson red lines formed a complex web below the membrane, which Rainier guessed to be blood vessels. The thick membranes, being the eyelids, were smooth and refused to blink. The thing Rainier felt was the most strange about the eye was that it was under the pool, basically inside the oasis trap’s throat.

“…” After an uncomfortable silence for Rainier who had no idea what the oasis trap was thinking, he finally spoke. “You seem to eat quite a bit. And I helped you to a decent meal not too long ago.”

The eye blinked twice.

“Would you like me to treat you to another filling meal?”

The eye blinked twice once again, this seemed to be the oasis trap’s version of “yes”.

“Oh, this’ll be interesting. Well hopefully during tomorrow, if things go well, the feast will be around a hundred bodies. Trust me and you’ll have a delicious feast.”

Rainier smiled ruthlessly with open teeth. He then noticed a stringy tentacle from the inside of the oasis trap’s mouth dive down its throat. While wary, Rainier didn’t flinch and was interested in what the oasis trap was going to do.

Rainier never expected the oasis trap to be intelligent enough to communicate with him. This new fact changed his opinion entirely on the oasis trap. Perhaps the two of them could come to some sort of understanding?

‘I kind of like the idea of having a giant ravenous monster under my thumb.’

While pondering the matter, the tentacle accomplished its objective and was traveling back up the oasis trap’s throat. Rainier saw a strange glint accompanying the end of the tentacle. It seemed the appendage was carrying an object from its body’s depths.

The tentacle tossed the object it was carrying from the pool close to Rainier’s feet. At once Rainier saw what it was: ‘A mask?’

There lay a mask similar to that which performers wore during ancient Greek plays or that which harlequins wore. It portrayed complete neutrality in its expression, as you could not see any hint of emotion at all. The mask had two faint red dots on both cheeks for faux blush. The eyes were closed shut on the mask that was consistent with the mask’s neutrality; it also had no access for eyesight

But why? Why did the oasis trap give Rainier this mask? The encyclopedia hummed as if in reply, Rainier quickly checked the newest entry.

Garavan’s Masque – A mask crafted by the famous human playwright Garavan Kinton for personal usage. Due to Garavan’s obsessive desire to understand the emotions of various races, some of his obsession was poured into the mask. The result of this unique enchantment allowed the mask to change the emotion on the mask to the one most strongly felt by the wearer, although only among the four basic emotions of happiness, sorrow, anger, and surprise.

This is not all. Each of the four emotions carries unique physical and mental enhancements that depend on the wearer’s emotional intensity on how useful they are. Happiness allows the wearer to effectively manipulate the minds of others, how many minds depend on the wearer’s mental fortitude. Sorrow allows the wearer to predict events up to weeks ahead; the predicted events are more accurate depending on the distance in time. Anger allows the wearer to amplify their body’s physical capabilities with the limit depending on how angry the wearer is. Surprise allows the wearer to heighten their mental and physical reflexes and awareness. Although only a rumor, it is said that Garavan’s Masque was blessed by the human god of emotions, Whimsyl.

“This… Is incredibly overpowered. And how the hell did it end up in you?” Asked Rainier to the oasis trap though he didn’t expect much of an answer.

Another tentacle, this one larger than the one that brought the mask up rose from the rose from the pool and shook around like as if shrugging.

“Well, thank you at the very least. I’m going to make sure you have plenty to eat soon.”

Rainier put on the mask, finding unsharpened metal hooks to latch and lock onto his face so that it didn’t move around. Despite the ominous way the mask attached to someone’s face, Rainier unhesitatingly put it on.

If anyone had put on this mask, they would not be able to tell the difference between looking through it and their normal eyesight. Even though the mask had no slits for the eyes on the front, Rainier could somehow look through the mask as if there was nothing obstructing his vision. “Pretty convenient I guess.”

Even though Rainier thought that Garavan’s Masque was too strong and convenient for its own good, he failed to understand that there were similarly strong foes that could overrule a magical item’s ability with their own power.

Ademptis was not so easy to survive in with just a single item, no matter how versatile it was. Not even the numerous monsters, big and small, could survive without being capable.

“And this is why I intend to tower over this damn world. And there’s no point in living if I can’t even pull off one plot.” Rainier took off the mask and used the hooks to latch on to the wrap around his waist. He then looked at the horizon and frowned. “Sataska… She’d better not screw this up. She is an idiot after all.”