Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 10: Big Brother
When the nymph’s copy of Entangle entered Edge’s core, he was drawn inside too, where a message from his Guide was waiting.
You have extracted the skill: Entangle (Common, Rank 1).
You already have this skill in your collection.
Its experience will be added to your existing skill.
A few seconds later, both the stolen version of Entangle and the one living in his skill garden began to merge. They started shining as their essence blended, adding a portion of the copy’s experience to his original skill.
He noticed that the cup representing Entangle’s advancement had filled a decent amount, even though the duplicate was only rank one while his power was rank two. Extracting a copy is way more efficient than Absorbing a non-matching skill.
When the process was complete, he returned to his body in the Violet Groves. Less than a second had passed in the outside world, thanks to the intense time-dilation that occurred within the enigmatic space that existed inside a core. He turned and got ready to finish off the nymph, only to find that Extraction had done the job for him.
One skill down, two to go. Now where did the other nymph run off to? Edge was ready to hunt the wounded beast, using the tracking techniques that he had been learning from Sasha. However, on this occasion, he didn’t wind up needing them after all.
Mere moments after he began following the wooden creature’s trail, trouble came knocking at his door. The beast that had fled came running back, ready to rejoin the fight despite the damage it had received from attacking Edge’s Hardened body.
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He assumed a battle stance with the sound of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears. His confidence evaporated, as he prepared himself for a fight that was far more dangerous than the last.
The reason why was simple. It wasn’t the child-sized wooden beast that sent adrenaline surging through his veins and kicked his fight-or-flight reflex into high gear. It was the giant version that followed a few steps behind it. Oh shit. That one is stage two. That’s not good.
Edge gripped the shaft of his naginata as he took in the sight of a towering nymph that was two feet taller than himself and twice as broad at the shoulders. While the little nymphs were cute, at least when viewed from a distance, their big brother was downright terrifying.
It was still roughly humanoid, but its features could never be mistaken for a man’s. The beast had dense bands of bark running along its exterior, covering its wooden body in a second coating of armor that looked even tougher than the inner layer. They formed jagged spikes that protected its joints, granting the creature a fearsome visage.
But the real shock was its face. Instead of a childlike expression, the nymph’s head looked almost skeletal, with hulking jaws ending in an array of bladed teeth.
They must be evolving now that magicytes are flooding the biome. Edge didn’t know nearly as much about stage-two nymphs as he did about their smaller cousins. It was likely to have ranked-up skills of the variety that he was familiar with, but it might also have some powers that he’d never seen before.
Even with his recent growth, fighting a creature above his stage was a risky proposition. An early stage-two life form was bound to have superior attributes and skills that outranked his own. On top of that, the towering brute was loaded with Power and Durability, and likely had enough Disruption to make his skills less effective.
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If that wasn’t enough to deal with, the big nymph wasn’t nearly as slow as he would have expected given its size. Taken together, the only advantages he had were the reach of his polearm and the breadth of his skillset.
He thought about running before the nymph could catch him, hunting in some other part of the plains instead. But then Edge realized that whatever skills the big bastard was packing, they were likely to be at least rank three, possibly even rank four. It meant that this was a fantastic chance to get some experience for Regeneration, and possibly a high-rank copy of Entangle too. Not to mention, earn another cycle and come one step closer to reaching stage two himself.
He backpedaled to open some room, heading across the ground he had already covered, where he knew no beasts were waiting in ambush. As he moved, he took a closer look at the bulky brute that was chasing him, cataloguing its features and form.
The hulking humanoid was so wide that it seemed squat despite its considerable height. Its powerful arms ended in broad hands with long wooden spikes for fingers—deadly natural weapons that could tear into flesh with ease. Its thick bark looked tough enough to turn aside all but the most powerful of attacks, and its jagged teeth could probably crush rocks without breaking.
In short, Edge couldn’t afford to take a direct hit from its impressive collection of bladed bits, and he was sure that its skills were bad news too. On the other hand, he really wanted to steal the creature’s powers. This was a prime chance to rank up his skillset, and he was reluctant to let it slip through his fingers.
His core agreed with his assessment. He felt the giant slumbering inside him open one eye, regarding the stage-two nymph with contempt. Skill-Eater was sure that Edge could take it, and more importantly, it was certain that its skills were delicious. A surge of desire emanated from the space behind his ribs—an infectious hunger that had him drooling as he scampered across the forest floor with the pair of beasts following hot on his heels.
By now, Edge had judged that the nymph’s Speed was nearly equal to his own. He thought that he might have an advantage in Reflex and Control, but the beefy fellow had considerably more Power and Durability. He doubted that Endurance or Generation would play a critical role, since the fight should be over before either of them ran low on reserves.
In that moment, he made his choice. Fuck it. Let’s do this, big guy. I can always Shadow Step and Leap to safety if this battle doesn’t go our way.
Since he had decided to fight, Edge made his move without hesitation. He gathered his concentration and cast Entangle, targeting the ground in front of the big beast’s feet. His reactor ignited and mana went surging into the soil, assuming physical form as it crossed the distance between them. Four vines burst free from the earth and wrapped around the nymph’s thick legs.
It didn’t even acknowledge their existence. The hulking humanoid kept right on running until the tendrils went taught and it came to a stop. The nymph looked down in surprise at the vines restricting its movement.
Perhaps it hadn’t expected its prey to fight back. Or maybe it was astonished that Edge had used a skill its species shared. Either way, the result was the same. It brought one bladed hand up and sent its claws sweeping down with the full strength of its body behind the blow.
The bark-claws bit deep, severing two vines and slicing into a third. But Edge’s Entangle was rank two, and he had upgraded his creepers to have extra resistance against being cut or torn. In this case, it just meant that the beast needed to swing twice to sever them all, which it did. On the bright side, the move distracted the creature, taking its attention away from him long enough to use another skill.
By the time that the elder nymph cut through the last vine, he had already Shadow Stepped behind it, repeating the maneuver he had used to slay its smaller cousin. He Double Slashed along the way, adding momentum and penetration to the attack while doubling the business end of his naginata. With an impact that reverberated through his arms, the polearm bit deep, cutting a third of the way through the beast’s limb in a single swing.
The wooden giant let out a shriek of pain, but the attack wasn’t powerful enough to cripple or kill it. Half a heartbeat after Edge worked his blade back out, the nymph lashed out with its other arm—so fast that it almost took him out then and there.
He Leapt back in the nick of time, avoiding the bladed fingers streaking for his throat with inches to spare. The bark-covered beast issued a furious roar and came charging back in, heading straight for the spot where his boots were coming down. Fortunately, he landed a heartbeat before it arrived. He Leapt back again to open some room, extending the shaft of his naginata along the way.
Like Jumo had taught him, Edge grounded the butt of the shaft into the earth. Then he pointed the tip of the blade at his opponent’s chest, planning to use the beast’s momentum against it and impale it on the end of his polearm.
But that wasn’t quite how events played out. Everything went according to plan until the nymph ignited its core and unleashed its first skill of the fight.
