I’d brought down the Edgebreaker chopper during the fall, and it was hard to tell which of the two different plumes of smoke rising from the valley belonged to the crashed chopper and which belonged to the cable car.

Hard, but not impossible. Using my long distance Wayfarers I managed to make out the cable that draped unceremoniously down the rocky side of the mountain in the distance. Following those cables down into the forest canopy I was pretty sure the cable car would be down there at the bottom.

The prestige supply drop was pretty much on my way from my current position at the mouth of Balaur’s cavern to the site of the cable car wreckage. There was no telling what kind of attention the dual crashes had attracted.

I activated my new Forest Strider ability and launched myself forward. It was a mistake to start out at a sprint, but I barely had enough time to think about my dumb mistake before I crashed headfirst into a tree. I took the brunt of the hit in the chest and shoulder, which sent me careening off to the side and into the snow.

“Straight lines,” I said to myself as I got back to my feet. “I should only be using this ability with a clear straight run.”

My shoulder hurt, but not that badly. I’d mostly just bruised my ego. It had been a mistake to start off at a sprint, because the ability doubled whatever speed I was currently moving at. It didn’t increase my reaction time or agility, which was a massive bummer.

It was like putting a regular human in the cockpit of a pod racer instead of someone with Jedi reflexes, and then making it so the racetrack was covered in towering trees.

I positioned myself in a space where it looked like I had a clearer run before activating the skill again. I walked at my normal pace, which sped up to running speed whenever I activated the ability. This gave me a lot more control of speed modulation, which let me duck and weave around the ginormous tree trunks around me.

Eventually I got the hang of it and sped through the underbrush like The Flash’s bumbling, slowpoke cousin. I kept going until I reached the impact crater with my prestige supply drop sitting in the centre. It had slammed into the ground in the middle of a copse of trees, which felled a couple of the ancient cedars. The small metal canister was still closed, which was a surprise. I’d half expected the rest of my team to come back for it.

Although if they’d had to carry on without me, then might have left it here for me in case I survived and caught up.

They had the same team location module that I did, so they would have known that I’d survived the fall. Someone would have seen me moving away as Mosul and his leshy carried me to Balaur’s cavern.

Alternatively, they might not have been able to return if the Edgebreaker team somehow managed to find them and overpower them. I didn’t want to think about that possibility, but it was one I needed to prepare for.

I stepped down into the crater and headed over to the supply drop. I held my hand out and it hissed as it opened.

My eyes widened at the sweet loot that awaited me.

Houndmaster’s Jacket

Prestige Outer Torso Armour

35% cold resistance

75 Armour

Inventory slots +4

Howl of Courage +2

Pack Dynamics +2

Guard Dog +2

Harbinger of Doom +2

That was the first item I’d seen that directly increased my skills, and it looked amazing to boot. It was black, which fit the rest of my EDGE Force gear, and it was absolutely full of pockets. There was even a pocket designed for treats, which I’m sure Kaiser would be pleased at. It also came with a hood, which might come in handy later if the weather turned. I hadn’t invested anything in most of those skill, but I’d already reached the top tier of Howl of Courage. So how would the +2 affect that skill?

I equipped the jacket, opened my skill tree and reviewed the data.

To my surprise, Howl of Courage was now sitting at 5/3, and those extra points boosted the effects of the skill by the same as a regular point. So now, instead of boosting the damage of the team by 15%, it boosted it to 25% and reduced the cooldown to a tiny 30 seconds. Every half a minute Kaiser would be able to use this ability to boost our damage by an enormous margin.

The other three skills hadn’t taken effect at all yet, and I figured this was because I hadn’t actually invested a single point into any of them in my actual skill tree.

The jacket was great, but the extra firepower in the supply drop was very welcome too. I had been running low on regular shotgun shells and 9mm ammunition, but the dozen shotgun shells made me feel a little better. There were another two pre-loaded magazines of 9mm ammo for my SMG. Each held 15 bullets.

There was also a bag of Kaiser Treats.

Kaiser Treat

For rewarding Kaiser, because he’s a very good boy. Eating one of these will grant Kaiser the following bonuses for five minutes:

+30% healing rate

+10% damage dealt

-10% damage received

Thanks to the new inventory slots, I had enough spaces for everything.

That reminded me – I had another packet of matches in the other jacket’s pocket. I fished the matches out and slipped them into a pocket in my new jacket.

That’s when I got the feeling that I was being watched. I’d been so focused on getting that sweet new loot that I’d let my guard down. Rookie mistake.

In the boughs of the trees were more of the dragonslayer’s monsters, but in a form that I hadn’t seen so far. They were mostly human, but with shorter legs and longer arms that ended in terrible claws. Their mouths were so wide and filled with so many teeth that they looked bolted on to the human faces. Thick muscles worked as their jaws opened and closed in a display of animal ferocity.

They almost looked chimpish, aside from the tattered clothes they wore. These things had been villagers once too.

To my surprise, a window appeared as I focussed on one of them.

Upyr

Danger: Moderate

The upyr is one of the creatures that may have inspired the original vampire legend. This ravenous monster consumes the flesh of living things and sustains itself with the anima it absorbs. These monsters are physically powerful, so keeping your distance from them is the best way to avoid an untimely death.

Ugh. So these things wanted to eat me. Wonderful.

I quickly did a head count, which was difficult as they kept moving from tree to tree to position themselves behind me. There were four or five of them. Not overwhelming numbers, but certainly more than I’d be able to handle by myself if they all attacked at once.

I had two explosive shots left in Gravedigger, which would hopefully make short work of two of them, and there were the two pre-loaded magazines for the SMG I could switch out quickly. I did have about 10 anima left in my tank too, which I might be able to use to get myself out of harm’s way if I needed to.

One of the upyrs leaped out of its tree towards me. Its arms were outstretched, massive clawed fingers splayed wide, ready to sink into my flesh. I aimed Gravedigger at its centre mass and fired.

The explosive shell hit it, then reduced it to mush. Arms, legs and its ugly simian head went flying off into the forest all around us. I got a nice chunk of experience for the kill, which was a lot higher than the nemorti. That probably had something to do with this monster’s danger rating or something.

The chittering jabbering of the other upyr quickly fell silent.

“Yeah, that’s right. You thought I was an easy target? Think again!” I shouted.

Three upyr leaped down from their trees and came at me all at once.

I ran towards one of them and used the last explosive shell to blow its legs off. It screeched as its legs were obliterated from the thighs down. I swung back around and aimed Gravedigger at the other two, who stopped in their tracks.

They didn’t know I was out of shells.

“I don’t know if you can understand what I’m saying, but you don’t want to end up like those other two, do you?” I asked as I backed away, towards the fallen upyr.

The two remaining upyr looked at each other uncertainly.

They could understand me. Just how much humanity was left inside those misshapen heads?

“If you leave now, I’m not going to kill you. Come for me again, and you’re dead meat.”

I activated the Claws of the Dragon ability. The fingertips on my left hand blazed with green anima as I slammed them down into the fallen upyr’s back. It screeched in pain but couldn’t do a thing to resist me.

Drawing on the anima in its body, I felt myself suffused with energy. The remaining life energy in the monster filled my anima tank almost to the brim before life faded from it. I gained another nice chunk of experience, but using this ability had an unpredictable effect on the other two upyr.

Their blazing red eyes glowed with a greater intensity at the sight of my green anima-tipped claws.

These two were agents of the dragonslayer, and they would know what the anima signature of Balaur looked like.

Both of them rushing me at once.

I holstered Gravedigger, grabbed my SMG, loaded one of the magazines in and sprayed them both with bullets. I hit more than I missed, but SMGs were spray and pray weapons. Not every shot you fired was destined to sink into monster flesh. Both of the upys peeled away in different directions, disappearing into the forest canopy.

Shadows danced between the boughs as they moved with simian grace between the trees. They were so fast that it felt like there were more than two left.

“Fuck this,” I said and pulled a Molotov out of my inventory.

I lit it, then threw it at the base of a tree around the crater. The flames caught and rushed up the side of the tree, catching on the brittle dry boughs towards the top. It was in flames in seconds, and one of the upyrs was unlucky enough to get caught in the inferno.

It fell out of the tree and sizzled in the snow as I loaded the other SMG clip and unloaded it into the sizzling, struggling form. The flames went out as I approached. I converted all the anima in my tank into pure experience points, which boosted me up quite a way towards the next level. I sunk my claws into the weak and dying upyr, draining it dry. I converted that anima into experience points as well, which got me even closer to hitting Level 12.

The last remaining upyr slammed into my back, knocking me forwards.

Damn, I hadn’t been paying attention!

My new jacket resisted a lot of the damage, but the upyr’s crushing grip felt like it would snap my collarbones at any second. Its short legs kicked and bucked at my back and legs. It got a few good hits in on me, and I needed to figure out a way to dislodge it. I couldn’t hit it with my guns, and my hatchet was useless. The upyr had it pinned in place too.

A sudden pain bloomed in the side of my neck as the upyr’s ape-like jaws sunk into my flesh. It gnawed at me, and I knew I was absolutely fucked it I didn’t do something in the next second.

Right in front of me was a fallen tree. A few of the old, splintered branches jutted out from the side of it.

I turned around, spinning the upyr right towards that jagged wood. I launched myself backwards and skewered the upyr. Its savage grunts of fury turned to shrieks of confusion and surprise as it let go of me.

I rolled away, grabbed my tactical hatchet, then hacked the monster to the brink of death as it tried to get free.

I’d come really close to skewering myself too, but it looked like my new jacket had broken off one of the stabbing boughs and pinned the upyr in place.

The upyr looked at me with a grin on its face.

“What are you smiling at, ugly?”

To my surprise, the fucking thing laughed at me.

“You never win,” it said with a voice like a washing machine full of bricks.

“I’m not the bastard looking like a pin cushion right now,” I said.

The upyr grunted at that. “He too strong. Lost too much to lose more. Trajan take back what his!”

“Trajan? Is that the dragonslayer’s name?” I asked.

The upyr laughed, then choked, gurgling on a thick wad of blood that it spat to the side. “Trajan kill you all.”

“I’ve heard enough,” I said, then plunged my green-tipped claws into the upyr’s chest. I drained it of anima and converted most of it into more experience to send me up to Level 12. I’d keep another little reserve of 50 anima available to use just in case. I opened my skill tree to invest my new points, but another window appeared which caused the other to shrink.

Anima ability acquired: Arboreal Assassin

Silent Takedown ability

Source: Upyr

Cost: 100 anima

This ability allows you to attack unseen while hiding in trees. You will leap down on an enemy and take it down silently. This ability can only be used if you have not been detected. May not work on strong or large enemies.

Whoa, that was awesome! I’d never been that good at climbing trees, but I was sure I’d have no problem with my new claws. This ability would come in handy if I needed to take down enemies without being spotted. Taking them down would mean draining them of anima too, so as long as I managed to kill my target, I’d be able to keep using this ability over and over.

Do you wish to equip Arboreal Assassin now?

Yes / No

Only one anima ability can be equipped at any one time.

Hrm, that was a little less than ideal. It would have been great to be able to use any of these abilities whenever I wanted, all adding into one big bag of tricks, but I didn’t know the anima mechanics of how it all worked. Maybe Balaur’s blessing could only stretch itself to cover one ability at a time.

I chose No, because I’d probably need Forest Strider to get back to my team, and I didn’t even have enough anima to use Aboreal Assassin anyway.

I immediately went to invest the new skill point into the Learned Scribe skill, which let me read any language. I’d finally be able to read that myths and legends book I’d nabbed back in the gift shop. But my current situation stopped me.

Warp was another option at the same level, and that augmented by Man’s Best Friend skill. I could command Kaiser to attack any enemy within line of sight, and he’d portal right to that enemy.

I had no idea what kind of situation I’d find myself in when I reached the EDGE Force facility, but if the Edgebreaker dickheads were there I might be able to use Warp to get the drop on them.

The battle had taken it out of me and drained me of most of my powerful resources, so I’d need every edge I could get. I only had a single Molotov left now, no explosive shells, and both of the pre-loaded SMG magazines were gone. I kept the empty magazines though, so I’d be able to use them again when I found some more ammunition.

I took a seat on the fallen tree a little further down from the dead upyr. I needed to recoup my lost health before continuing on. Ten minutes later, I was ready to rock and roll again. I checked the location of my team and they hadn’t moved. It was impossible to know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. The tracker didn’t give me any indication of whether or not they were still alive.

The little blinking light labelled Kaiser moved back and forth almost imperceptibly, but it definitely moved. Whenever he was nervous or restless, he’d pace back and forth, which is probably what he was doing right at that moment.

After further consideration, I dropped the next skill point into Warp. The very next one I got would have to go into Learned Scribe, but there would be plenty of time for that once I’d rescued everyone.

The black smoke from the cable car crash wasn’t far away now. I got back to my feet and trudged through the snow before reactivating my Forest Strider ability. The woods passed by in a blur and I soon arrived at the site of the crash. There were no bodies, and every sign pointed to them escaping the crash.

I followed the trail for a little longer until I reached the point where something had gone down. Three sets of tracks converged on the cluster of the EDGE Force tracks. Bastard and his Edgebreaker cronies, probably. They’d waited here until my team arrived, then jumped them.

It looked like they’d all continued on together, which was a comforting thought. Their trail soon made a change in direction up the side of the mountain.

I took a deep breath as my gaze lifted from where I was at the bottom of the valley all the way to the top of the ridge where the EDGE Force facility was supposed to be located.

This was not going to be fun. I reloaded six regular shells into Gravedigger as I started my trek up the side of the mountain.