Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 147: Wait

One adrenaline-soaked hour passed as the crew hid in the shadows, waiting for their moment to strike. Then another rolled by, followed by a third. By now, the tension was so thick that Edge could taste it in the air. Feel it on his skin, like lightning was about to strike.

Every shifting shadow, every creaking branch or animal bleating in the distance sent a fresh surge of cortisol flowing into his veins, urging him to spring into action. Skill-Eater’s gluttony only made things worse, setting him drooling in anticipation of the feast to come.

Dial it back, big guy. You’re going to make me jump the gun and get us all killed. The entity living inside Edge growled in irritation, but then it hunkered down to wait—making the ordeal just a little more bearable. He looked to the other hunters for reassurance, who had far more experience with this kind of situation. But everyone looked almost as worried as he felt, even Trapper.

It was clear from their expressions, from the white-knuckled grips around their weapons, that this hunt was far more dangerous than what they were used to. But the crew was determined to bring the beast down, protect the town, and grow stronger from the experience. When Sasha’s gaze met his own, they shared a nervous grin, then returned their attention to the task at hand—watching through the farmhouse windows, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

While he listened for the alarm traps to trigger, Edge visualized what he would do in various circumstances to pass the time, so that he would be ready to act without hesitation no matter which way this went down. He kept his eyes on Riller up in the silo, looking for the signal that would reveal their quarry had arrived, and the battle of their lives was about to begin.

Cloak of invisibility, the rare stealth skill they thought the padamas was using, had a massive mana drain. It shouldn’t bother to activate it unless it suspected that there was something out of the ordinary. But the hunters couldn’t take that for granted and had to be prepared for the beast to appear without warning. There was even a chance that it would bypass the alarms by tearing a fresh hole in the fence, making the tense situation that much more intense.

Noon had come and gone, and still, nothing had happened. By now, there was a fair chance that something else had devoured the trail of bait and their efforts had failed to bear fruit. Everyone was exhausted from the long vigil and constant stress, even though they had been sitting in place for most of the day.

The crew was just deciding that they would have to try again the next morning, when the giant lizard arrived at last. It must have had its stealth skill up during the approach after all, because Riller never saw it coming. Instead, one of Trapper’s alarms rang out—a clear, chiming tone, like two big bells slamming together.

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Edge gripped the shaft of his naginata so hard that his knuckles popped. He was ready to charge into battle—too keyed up from the gallon of adrenaline sloshing through his veins to remember the plan in that moment.

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Trapper calmed him down with a hand on one shoulder. “Wait.” She mouthed the word rather than spoke. “Let it take the bait.” He nodded, took a deep breath, then shook his head to clear his mind before settling back down to wait.

Heart hammering in his chest like a metronome on methamphetamine, Edge peered out from the main room of the farmhouse—head just high enough to see over the window seal. He was afraid that the beast had detected their presence. That instead of going for the bait, it would burst through the side of the building and hit the hunters hard before they even knew it was there. But he trusted Trapper’s judgment and the crew’s Perception, so he forced himself to focus and play the role he had been assigned.

That was when he heard the scrabbling of arm-thick claws slinking across the soil, gradually growing louder as the massive creature drew closer to the center of the farmstead. The alarm must have put it on guard. But at least we know what direction it’s coming from. It seemed that the lizard’s skill reduced the noise it made, but it didn’t eliminate it completely—likely the result of choosing an upgrade that made its visual camouflage even more powerful or granted it some manner of utility instead.

Everyone sat on pins and needles, adrenaline coursing through their bloodstreams like floodwater racing down a gully. That was when Riller flashed a hand signal—just a slight movement of his fingers. The beast changed direction and is coming from the north instead of east. It must have thought that something was odd about the bait trail and decided to scout the area before eating the rest.

A breathless minute passed, then another. Just when Edge couldn’t take the suspense anymore, the beast appeared at last. It was already near the outer ring of traps when it dropped its cloak of invisibility to conserve mana.

The padamas’s colossal form wavered into existence as it deactivated the high-rank skill. At first, Edge could only see a faint outline of displaced air. But then the space began to color in, adding the texture of scales and the profile of bulging muscle until the lizard was visible to the naked eye. Its movements grew louder in that moment, although it was still remarkably quiet for a creature of that size.

Holy shit. That’s one powerful stealth skill. I was able to see straight through the padamas without picking up any clues that it was there. No wonder it was able to sneak up on the stone lion. Cloak of invisibility is way stronger than conceal. I need to steal it before we land the killing blow.

He was surprised that Skill-Eater didn’t share his enthusiasm. It was eager to feed, but it didn’t seem interested in that particular power. It was the first time that Edge’s core didn’t salivate at the prospect of [Extracting] a rare skill. It was weird, but it wasn’t going to stop him from claiming cloak of invisibility for his own.

I’m lucky that I was awarded so much Mortium for killing Warren, and that I decided not to spend it. The beast might even have two or three rares that I can steal.

All such thoughts were driven from his head when the padamas approached the site where the team had laid their bait. They just needed the lizard to enter the kill zone and distract itself by consuming its meal, and the decisive moment would arrive at last.

After a long, arduous journey, their target was in sight, and Trapper’s crew was ready to bring the big bad down.