Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 140: Harden
Now that Trapper had outlined their plan, the crew dispersed to complete their assignments.
Edge made his way over to an auxiliary structure that had probably been used for storage. As he walked, he took in the prolific devastation surrounding him on all sides. It was hard to imagine that this was a vibrant, bustling holding less than a week ago. A grim reminder that the Ivory Plains were growing more dangerous by the day.
At least there weren’t any bodies, though what he did find was bad enough. There were signs everywhere that people had engaged in a desperate battle while running for their lives. Some of them might have gotten away, judging by the footprints that continued past the farm’s border. But thanks to his growing proficiency at reading tracks, Edge could tell that for far too many of the people who lived here, their last moments had been filled with terror and pain.
He eventually found some blightling corpses littering the ground. Some had been slain by the mini-turret’s plasma, while others had been killed by a variety of weapons and skills. When he made it to the building, he circled the perimeter before heading inside. He ran his eyes across a collection of farming equipment—nothing that looked valuable or useful on a hunt.
When Edge turned to leave, he heard a skittering coming from behind him. A sound that he now recognized as the scraping of chitin against a hard surface. He followed the noise to the back corner, naginata clasped between his hands with the blade lowered to protect his legs. Trapper’s sense life must have missed something.
He tracked the clattering to its source—an overturned handcart with a big barrel on top. Ready to thrust with his polearm, he flipped the device over and took in the sight of a half-dead crab monster. Both the blightling’s claws had been crushed, along with half its limbs. Whatever it was hunting in here, the nasty bastard bit off more than it could chew.
He would have pitied the creature if it were an animal or beast. But the hatred in the monster’s growls as it staggered forward while trying to sting him killed any inclination toward mercy or empathy he might have felt. After looking around to make sure that none of the crew was nearby, Edge poked the monster with his iceblade to subdue it, and activated [Extraction].
Once again, he found himself standing in a strange tentacle forest—motes of silver ash raining from a pale white sky. He couldn’t see the virulent green ocean this time around, although there was a vast purple mountain in the distance that looked like a volcano.
He had been too distracted by running for his life to get a good feel for the place last time he was here. But this time around, he could sense a pervasive wrongness permeating the soil and sky. An impression of corruption. Of otherness. A premonition that this environment was antithetical to life as he knew it.
Being here was disorienting and it made him feel sick, even in this disembodied state. It might even be dangerous to linger in the monster’s core for long. It only deepened the mystery of the bizarre environment, but solving it would have to wait until another day.
Right now, Edge needed to steal a skill and get out before the effect grew worse. There wasn’t a reason to linger. The early stage-one monster only had one skill—the one that he was hoping to find.
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His chains were already hunting for harden of their own accord, so he left early and reentered his own body. After a brief wrestling match, the living links dragged the skill out and tossed it into his mouth. He repeated the freezing trick using elemental blade, which made the shell easy to digest. This time, he was able to get a better sense of the flavor, accompanied by the same impression of resiliency he had noticed before.
It tasted like shellfish and the sea, but also of something that he couldn’t quite place. Hints of spices that seemed more like chemicals than the flavor of food. Now that Edge had peeked inside a blightlings’ core for a second time, he thought that it might have something to do with that alien wasteland. It was caustic and burned his tongue, although it didn’t seem to be toxic as far as he could tell.
When the skill finished merging with his existing copy, harden had acquired about half the experience it needed to rank-up. One or two more should do it. As soon the process was finished, he thrust with the naginata to finish the monster off. Although it was hanging on the verge of death, he wasn’t taking any chances.
Now that the blightling was dead, he went ahead and activated harden for the first time. He wanted to get a better feel for how it worked before trying it in battle. He willed the skill to cover his right fist and then sent his intentions into his core. Mana flowed out of his reactor and into his hand, covering his skin with a series of interlocking scales made of clear crystal about as thick as his thumbnails.
Edge walked over to the barrel and punched it as hard as he could, shattering the wooden container in a great spray of splinters. This skill is great. I barely felt that at all. He deactivated harden just as Jumo walked in the door. “Are you alright? I heard a crash and was worried that you ran into something unfriendly.”
“There was an injured monster trapped under a handcart.” Edge pointed to the carcass. “I finished it off, and that was the only one I saw.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re ok.” The men walked back to the wagon together, where the rest of the team was already waiting.
When they arrived, Trapper turned to address the crew. “It seems that this place got hit by the blightlings after all. There weren’t any signs that the padamas breached the walls. Given what we saw on the way here, it’s likely further to the north, and possibly a bit to the east.”
Since it was better to sleep with a roof over your head, most of the perimeter fence was still intact, and the grain silos doubled as watch towers, Trapper decided to spend the night in the farmstead before resuming their hunt at dawn.
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“It’s only a few hours before sunset, and this is the most defensible position that we’re likely to find. Go ahead and make camp, then it’s alright to relax. I’ll set some alarm traps to guard the perimeter and Riller and Sasha can take turns standing sentry.”
With that, everyone went off to take care of various tasks. Edge followed Violet into the field, helping her pick vegetables for dinner. Blue ambled behind them, although the dino’s version of helping was to sample every plant they came across and give her verdict on the taste. She wasn’t a picky eater, but Blue clearly enjoyed some types of produce more than others. Her favorite was a melon that looked like a bright pink pumpkin the size of a beachball.
After watching the azure beast eat five of them back-to-back, he was curious enough to give it a try. He broke off a big piece and took a bite, running the plant over his palate. It was crunchy and surprisingly sweet, with a flavor that reminded him of honey and herbs. He added a pair to the dinner pile, then helped Violet carry everything over to the wagon.
While they were busy, Jumo had built a cookfire and set the kettle over the open flame. Violet let everyone know that it would be about an hour before dinner was ready, leaving Edge with some time to use as he pleased.
