Chapter 22

Several local policemen garbed in riot gear, armed with assault rifles and riot shields stood guard by the gate, as it was the only gate in the city at ground level, it was a large solid looking thing. Ten metres tall, made entirely out of steel, it needed large hydraulic pistons to open and close.

As they approached they showed their licences to the police who simply waved them through after a brief look, seeming used to the process. The three hunters stepped through the gate, noting the defensive metal spikes that crowded the areas to the left and right of the gate.

The marsh now lay before them. Thick mist covered everything in sight and only allowed them to see for around twenty metres before everything else became shrouded. Even though it was now nighttime, the marsh was lit up by the white mist, seeming almost luminous, so they wouldn’t have too much trouble seeing what was in their immediate vicinity at least.

They began walking, after a few metres the solid earth and grass immediately surrounding the city gave way to wet earth that squelched with every step they took. The wild ambient sounds of the marsh became more apparent as they moved away from the city, insects buzzed and chirped, amphibians croaked and other unidentified things growled, roared and shrieked. There also seemed to be a strange hissing echoing from all around.

They trudged through the marsh, pushing past long grass, stepping through deep mud. They had to watch their footing, several times one of them put a foot onto what they thought was dryish land only to find themselves knee deep in thick mud or water. Eventually Stacey began to lead the way, she was able to sense the content of water in the ground they walked over and keep them on a relatively dry path.

They headed north west following a small map included in the file, towards the sunken church. However it seemed Nate was in the mood for another detour.

“Hey, there's a marsh light nearby, wanna go check it out? I really want to get a look at one of these Marsh Fishers.” Nate pointed to their left, the other two looked where he pointed and saw a bright white glow that seemed to shift around slightly. Jack thought he could smell something sweet and pleasant in the air, something alluring.

Stacey evidently smelt it too. “Smell that? It's sweet I think? I think that's the pheromones the old guy was telling us about, the stuff the Marsh Fishers pump out along with the light to lure in prey.”

“It's nearby, wanna go check it out? C’mon, it’ll be quick.” Nate shot a pleading look at Stacey and Jack.

“If it's quick, why not?” Jack shrugged.

“Fine, but if I get vomited on again I’m going home.” Stacey sighed and shook her head in exasperation.

“Yes! Let's go!” Nate turned around and headed through the mist towards the nearby light source. “Yoohoo! Mr Marsh Fisher! We’re a bunch of helpless humans lost in the marsh! Please don’t eat us even though we’re delicious!”

Nate practically skipped along with Jack and Stacey following until the mist cleared enough for them to see the source of the light.

It was a bright white light resting on a patch of water, the sweet smelling air was stronger and Jack felt a faint urge to walk towards it. Though he knew that was the pheromones and resisted the urge. A small cloud of moths flitted around it, attracted to the light.

As they watched, the marsh light momentarily disappeared downwards, submerging under the water, the water let out a hiss and steam emanated upwards, adding to the mist. The marsh light then re-emerged, resting again on the water’s surface.

“So now what?” Jack asked.

“Um, well it's clearly an ambush predator, so er….just a sec.” Stacey got out her pager and began flicking through it, looking in the bestiary.

Nate squatted down and stared avidly at the light in interest.

Jack however, had sort of had enough of detours, he unsheathed his spear and walked towards the water and the source of the light.

“Er, Jack?” Nate called out uncertainly.

Jack ran a hefty charge of lightning through his spear as he extended it and placed the tip into the water. The reaction was immediate, the water violently frothed as something thrashed about just beneath the water surface. He caught sight of something partially emerging from the surface so he stabbed the spear into it and pulsed more electricity into the spear.

He manoeuvred whatever he appeared to have caught more towards dry land before getting down to his knees and grabbing the creature with his hands. It still seemed to be alive judging by its weak struggles and he had to wrestle with it, soon Nate and Stacey joined his side and helped him wrestle the beast out of the water.

Once they had the whole thing on dry land they stepped back to observe their catch.

It was big, around twice the size of a large man, it looked like a cross between a fish and a worm, similar to a lobster but with a muddy grey green segmented shell covering its thick elongated body. Running up and down the body were dozens of short pointed crab legs, at the rear end was a short fin-like appendage it perhaps used to help propel its way through the water. At the other end was a large wide mouth easily able to fit around large human sized prey, the mouth was surrounded by long hook covered tentacles. In the centre of what passed for a face was a long stalk, at the end of which rested the still glowing Will-o’-the-wisp, or marsh light as the locals called it.

“So this is a Marsh Fisher, not the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen but I guess that doesn’t matter.” Jack nudged it with a boot, it let out a weak strangled gurgle before he placed his boot down on it and sent out a strong surge of lightning down his leg.

The thing twitched for a few seconds before finally falling still. As he leant down to cultivate from it, waste not want not, Nate and Stacey observed.

While he finished up, Nate cut the glowing marsh light from the creature’s stalk like protrusion. Suddenly Jack had an amusing thought as he saw Nate handling the white glowing substance, staring at it in curiosity.

“Hehe, wouldn’t it be funny if this stalk thing on the monster’s head was actually its cock, and that glowing stuff was dried you know what. Hahahahaha! And the people of Ely are just using dried monster jizz to light and heat their city! Hahahaha!” He and Stacey burst into laughter and Nate dropped the glowing white stuff in horror, wiping his hands on his armour while gagging.

“Hehehe, I mean it's probably not, but……” Jack, Stacey and Nate looked dubiously down at the marsh light laying on a patch of wet grass, none of them made a move to pick it up for a few moments before Stacey broke the deadlock.

“Oh honestly, you two! Don’t be babies. We’ve all handled way worse stuff than this, even if it really is….that.” She took out a small plastic bag and used it to gingerly pick up the marsh light as if she were picking up dog poop.

“Yeah, you’re right, Stace. And if we can make a profit by selling monster jizz to the locals then that's just fine.” Nate nodded firmly in support of Stacey. “You’re okay to carry it though right?”

With the detour completed they backtracked slightly before heading off in search of the old sunken church.

After consulting the map frequently they found it, the moon was high in the sky at this point and its light melded with the white mist making the area unnaturally bright when it should’ve been the dead of night.

The church was an anglo-saxon church with the square tower rising a storey above the main roof covering the main part of the church. The entire thing was lopsided and half sunk into the marsh, the main doors were almost entirely obscured by mud and muck. What wasn’t buried underneath the mud was covered in thick growths of vegetation and patches of strange purple discolouration.

“Well, we’re here. Now what?” Jack asked the other two.

“Er…” Stacey got out the folder and rifled through it. “Ummm…….try whistling? It says here to try whistling.” She looked up at the other two in confusion.

“Well, it is a dog,” Jack said. “But what else does it say?”

As Jack and Stacey went through the various papers in the folder, Nate shrugged before pursing his lips together and letting out a shrill whistle.

Stacey and Jack looked up in alarm as Nate let out one piercingly loud shrill whistle after another. This continued for a minute before he stopped, looking around expectantly. When nothing happened the three hunters let out sighs of disappointment, they were about to turn back to the folder when a loud mournful howl emanated from within the depths of the mist.

The trio turned to look in multiple directions, they couldn’t pinpoint where the howl had come from, it just seemed to be all around them.

They got their weapons ready, tense and waiting for something to emerge from the mist.

They heard it before they saw it, a low rumbling growl that sounded more like it came from a bear than a dog. From the rolling banks of mist it emerged, a massive black dog, it stood the height of a large horse and the thick black shaggy fur gave it the appearance of a massive bear more than anything else.

It stared at them unblinkingly from yellow eyes, its mouth open to reveal rows of white glistening fangs as it let out a deep warning growl.

Nate was closest to it and the hound zeroed in on him, pacing very slowly towards him.

“Eh heh, nice doggy. My, what big teeth you have.” Nate backed away slowly and nervously, a hand held up in a placating manner.

While Nate had their quarry distracted, Jack took the opportunity to take out his pager. He brought up the camera function, turned around and made sure his face was in the shot but with the focus on the Black Shuck menacingly stalking towards an increasingly nervous Nate.

“Just hold it there for sec Nate…..got it. This looks great, thanks.” Jack smiled, putting away his pager.

Meanwhile Nate had seen enough, with an expletive he unleashed a large gout of fire directly into the beast’s face. The Black Shuck howled and whined in pain for a moment before it bounded to the side and darted towards Nate, snapping its jaws onto Nate's leg.

Nate went down and was quickly dragged into the mist by the monster, which easily carried him away.

Jack and Stacey immediately gave chase but had lost sight of Nate and the monster, however they quickly regained their bearings when they saw sudden orange flares of fire through the mist and faint cursing.

They quickly followed the fire and expletives before finally catching sight of Nate on his back, fending off the monster's large jaws with the flat of his blade. Jack didn’t hesitate, he extended his spear and ran forward, skewering the hound through its ribs, though he didn’t put any lightning into it for fear of hurting Nate.

The beast whined in pain again, it scampered off to the side away from Jack. Jack began pelting it with one quick bolt after another, it yelped in pain again and Jack kept it going. The beast’s movement began to get more sluggish and erratic but it snarled and began to move towards him.

He backed off until his feet reached the edge of dry land and he almost stepped into a pool of water. Just before the beast reached him a large ball of water rocketed into the side of its head at a phenomenal speed, the beast stumbled, dazed for a moment before it looked around in confusion. Then another ball hit, then another and another, Stacey appeared some ways to Jack’s left, drawing out large amounts of water from the marsh, forming it into large balls and flinging them the Black Shuck. The beast appeared increasingly disorientated, not knowing what to do.

While Stacey hit it with one bone crushing projectile after another Jack resumed his own efforts and began spamming quick bolts. The lightning appeared to do even more damage than before as the monster was now soaking wet.

Jack and Stacey’s barrage of lightning and water had the monster reeling but not quite defeated, it backed away from both of them and looked like it was going to try and escape.

That was when Nate rushed in from the side with a wordless cry and stabbed his sword deep into its chest, he held it there for a few seconds as he blasted fire through the blade and into the monster's chest cavity.

The Black Shuck couldn’t even cry out in pain as it died, smoke and fire were vomited from its mouth, its chest expanded before flame began dribbling out between its ribs. It collapsed with a wheezing sigh, finally dead.

The three hunters stood over it, panting for breath.

“Well……that wasn’t…..so bad,” Jack wheezed out, shaking and rubbing his sore left arm which he’d used to fire off twenty or more quick bolts in rapid succession, he was paying for it now.

“What's this pelt made off? It seems really resistant to lightning and fire,” Stacey remarked as she bent down to feel the fur of the beast.

Nate meanwhile bent down to look at the state of his leg, which had seen the not so gentle attentions of the Black Shuck when it had chomped down on it before dragging the individual attached into the mist.

“You okay?” Jack asked, looking down he could see Nate’s left greave was thoroughly mangled and bloody.

“Hmm, yep I’m fine, had way worse injuries than this. As long as I can move it then it should heal on its own,” he replied before giving his foot a shake and a twist. “All good.” He gave the okay sign with his fingers.

“How sure are we that it's a monster and not just a mutated dog?” Stacey asked.

After a moment's thought Jack had an idea. “We could wait for half an hour or so, if we see multicoloured light and vapour leaking out then know it's a monster, if not then it's just an animal.” The other two agreed to that idea and settled in to wait. After a few minutes they began to see faint trails of multicoloured vapour emanate from its wounds in its chest.

“I think that decides it, it's a genuine monster, not a mutated animal,” Stacey said. Jack nodded and made sure to take a picture of the beast with the vapour rising from it, just to document the fact.

He then knelt over the downed monster and began to cultivate from it. It was a big beast, right away he could tell it had more lightning essence inside it than was able to handle. The quality of the lightning essence too, seemed to be better than he was used to, it diffused easily into his body and passed into his core with little difficulty. Normally he cultivated from low ranked creatures like goblins, Leather Claws, slimes, or mutated animals but having cultivated from a dungeon goblin and now a Black Shuck, he began to think there might be a difference in quality as well as quantity. It seemed to depend on the cultivation source.

He stood up after a minute and looked down at the beast, wondering what they should do with it when a gruff voice sounded from their left.

“So, you did it then? You slew the Beast of Ely?” They turned around and saw the surveyor Eddy leaning against a short withered tree.

“Hey, it's Eddy!” Nate greeted him with a smile.

“It looked a tough fight, didn’t go down easy, did it,” he commented gruffly.

“No it did not, good thing there were three of us.” Jack nodded his thanks to Stacey and Nate who nodded back. Jack was now extremely glad he’d thought to bring them with him.

“Mm, what are you going to do with the corpse? We heard about you even down here, you’re the lightning cultivator no? You’re able to attune entire monster corpses and keep them from degrading. Are you claiming the whole beast or are you leaving it here for the marsh?” Eddy asked.

“Er, much as I would like to, I don’t think we'll be able to get the whole thing out of the marsh.” Jack scratched his head. He looked down at the huge beast, wondering which parts of the hound might be useful for harvesting.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll phone the outpost and get a few of the boys over here. They’ll help you drag the beast back to town, then we can arrange transport for wherever you want to take it.” Eddy got out his pager and started swiping through it.

Jack was surprised for a moment before thanking the man. Eddy dialled up the outpost and spoke to them for a few minutes before informing the trio that several hunters were on their way.

They waited around in the marsh for an hour before five more hunters finally made their way over to them.

Eddy told them what to do and everyone got to work, the hunters had brought a sort of large net which they wrapped around the Black Shuck. Normally, nine people would struggle to lift a creature the same size and weight as a large horse. Nine people who frequently practised cultivation and had the enhanced strength to go along with it however was another story. They managed to lift the beast with only mild strain and then began to lug it through the marsh.

It was then that Jack and co realised that up until then, hunting and killing the beast had been the easy part. Hauling a monstrous hound that weighed just over a full metric tonne through a marsh covered in mist thick enough to cut with a knife, that was most decidedly where the tricky part began.

Due to their haul, Eddy the surveyor, who knew the marsh like the back of his hand, or so he claimed, had to lead them on a winding meandering route through the marsh. They managed to avoid dangerous areas and ground with deep mud but it took them hours. By the time they made it back to town the sun was beginning to rise, giving the mist an orange tint.

Finally, they got their feet back onto solid dry ground and saw the large western gate looming up from the mist. Everyone sighed in relief.

The gate was closed but Eddy simply banged on the gate and yelled at whoever was on the other side to open up. After a moment a loud rumbling sounded and gates began to move, Eddy stepped back a few paces as the gates opened up.

The hunters dragged their haul into town, utterly exhausted and filthy.

Rather than seeing an empty street, which would’ve been normal at that hour, they instead saw a great crowd of people held back by police, all eagerly watching them, amongst the crowd were journalists and camera crews.

After a moment's hesitation they dragged the beast into town, the crowd was silent for a few seconds before it began to murmur. Then someone began clapping, then more people, then it spread like a wave until hundreds of people were clapping and cheering.

They finished dragging the dead monster into town and allowed it to lay there, everyone stepped away from it with relief, rubbing sore hands and backs.

The crowd continued to clap and cheer, taking pictures of them with phones, a lot of the attention appeared to be focussed on Jack. His helmet visor was raised, so he bashfully smiled and gave a small wave to the crowd. Stacey also didn’t quite know what to do with the attention, having been a relatively unknown rank and file D ranker until now. Nate however, was loving it, he immediately went up to the crowd with a large smile and began signing autographs for people who probably didn’t even know who he was, but they seemed happy for it nonetheless.

“Jack! Jack! Over here Jack!”

“Can you tell us about the hunt Jack?”

Jack looked over and saw a gaggle of journalists and camera teams, all pointing cameras and microphones at him.

The thought of speaking in front of a large crowd to a bunch of journalists and cameras didn’t enthuse him. However, one of the only things he’d managed to take away from his time with the PR department was that ignoring the media too often began to turn them against you. So with that in mind, he resolved himself to speak. Briefly, very very briefly.

Jack slowly approached the group of journalists waiting in the crowd. Their cameras eagerly pointed towards him. He gulped nervously before speaking, this was more nerve wracking than facing down a monster.

“Er, do….does anyone have any questions?” he asked nervously.

The reporters were silent in shock for a moment before they all frantically vied for his attention. Several of them asked him about the hunt, but some of them asked about the incident in Clifford’s Hill dungeon, he ignored them and focussed on the questions about the hunt.

He pointed to a man who asked, “What monster did you hunt there Jack?”

“Erm, it's called a Black Shuck…..I..undertook this hunt on behalf of the University of York, with my friends Stacey Fairchild and Nate Roshton,” he haltingly told them.

After a moment another barrage of questions began before Jack pointed to another reporter, a woman.

“What is a Black Shuck? Is this the same monster we’ve all been calling the Beast of Ely?”

“Um, we don’t really know much about it…..it's a type of canine monster and there've only been a few sightings……..I think there’s only been one successful hunt before now. And I think this is the beast of Ely, yes.”

He pointed to another woman.

“Are you not based in North Yorkshire Jack? Why did you come down south to hunt? She asked.

“Well, this hunt was sought of a…..part of a…group of hunts I’m doing for a client…..he’s um….looking into folklore, myths and legends and the like. He’s trying to find out why so many monsters from mythology and folktales um….bear so much resemblance to the monsters appearing these days,” he tried to explain as best he could, doing his best not to let any stage fright cripple his tongue.

At his answer, a ripple of interested murmurs spread through the crowds and journalists alike. The journalists momentarily paused as they tried to think of more questions about this little revelation Jack had imparted.

Just as they began to throw more questions at him a friendly arm was placed around his shoulders.

“Ok! I think that's enough questions for now!” Jack looked to see who it was and saw the bartender from the Ely outpost, grinning at the cameras. “Thanks for coming out guys! If you have any more questions please feel free to email or phone our PR department in Cambridge, okay! Bye now!”

He whispered to Jack while keeping his eyes and his smile fixed on the crowds. “That's good Jack, but don’t let too much slip to the public, some clients don’t like that. Let's head back, and keep smiling.”

He steered Jack away from the crowds who had mostly begun to disperse, with only a few interested onlookers remaining. They walked over to the rest of the hunters still standing by the Black Shuck.

The bartender let out a low whistle. “Wow, you weren’t kidding Eddy! It's a big one for certain!” He grinned.

Eddy grunted. “Mm, these three handled it well enough though.”

“Hey um, I just realised but, we weren’t stepping on anyone's toes were we?” Jack asked in concern.

The bartender just looked confused. “Oh? Whaddaya mean?”

“You said you reserved the hunt for us, but were there other hunters here that would’ve taken the hunt if not for us?” he asked.

“Hm? Oh! Well at first a couple of hunters did go out and try to take the beast on, but unfortunately the hunt was unsuccessful. The hunters did manage to escape though, which was good, and they’ll eventually make a full recovery, which is even better! So don’t worry about it kiddo! Yeah, there's only a few hunters here and no one above D rank, so we weren’t very well equipped to handle something like this,” the bartender admitted with a rueful chuckle. A few of the local hunters looked frustrated or resigned by this but they didn’t protest.

Jack accepted this without a simple nod, not really wanting to pick at any lingering resentment. Luckily Stacey stepped in.

“So, Eddy said you could arrange transport for the Black Shuck.” She looked at the bartender. “You’re the outpost commander right?”

“Yes indeed I am miss, and yes indeed I can. Where would you like it to go?” he asked with a smile.

“We’d like it transported to York if that’s alright with you,” she told him.

“We can do that definitely, we’ll arrange for a truck to come by from Cambridge and have the beast loaded up and taken North for you,” he confirmed. “But for now, I’ll bet you’re all tired, we have spare rooms and showers in the outpost. Why don’t you head there and get some sleep before you pass out?”

The trio of exhausted hunters readily took him up on the offer and headed back to the outpost where each of them immediately rinsed off in their showers and collapsed into their beds.