Chương 28: Deadlands

"Deadland," Evan repeated, looking at the gray splotch on the map.

"Sounds very ominous, but what exactly is it?" Oliver winced, as if even just talking about the topic sent a shiver down his back.

"I told you about how monsters drain mana, right?" Evan nodded.

"Yes, I remember. Agatha called it Mana Blight, I think."

"That's right. That's what it's called when too many or too-strong monsters drain mana. It starts to damage the environment, humans included. That's how we noticed the presence of the Scrapmaw Queen. Because the plants in our fields started to wither and die."

"Right."

"The Deadlands are extreme cases of mana blight. An area where the monsters have become too strong to be fought. You usually find at least one monster above rank 20 there, in the center, and many other high-ranking monsters roaming around. They call them Deadlands because all mana has been drained, so the monsters are constantly looking to expand into new territory, where they can find more mana to grow and procreate."

"And there's nothing that can be done to revitalize these Deadlands? No way to bring the mana back there?" Oliver shook his head.

"Not to my knowledge, no." Evan stared at the innocent-looking gray spot on the map, thinking through the implications of what Oliver had just told him.

"But if you can't revert the process and the monsters are always trying to expand their territory, turning more healthy land into Deadland… doesn't that mean sooner or later the whole planet will be turned into Deadland?" Oliver slowly nodded, still wearing a look of deep concern on his face.

"That's why the Celestials gave us the affinity crystals and the ledger. So we can fight back, hold them back, protect the world from the Blight." Evan looked down at his chest, where he'd pinned the Monster Hunter badge to his armor.

"That's our job."

"Ours, yes. And the Sentinels."

"Sentinels? Who are they?"

"They're responsible for building and guarding the walls around the Deadlands, making sure the monsters can't get out and damage more land. Occasionally, they even send expeditions into the Deadlands to thin out the monster infestations. Needless to say, it's a pretty dangerous profession. If you cut off monsters from mana, they get… hungry. And a hungry monster is a feral monster."

"So we, the Monster Hunters, are the prevention, and the Sentinels are the containment?"

"You got it." Evan rolled his shoulders, trying to push back thoughts of this lush, idyllic world turning into a vast, dead, monster-infested desert.

"Okay. Let's go to Mistford and kill some monsters then." The village was farther away than the map had made it look, and Evan was starting to miss Alex's cloud horses. She'd mentioned familiar skill gems were expensive. How many monsters would he have to kill until he could afford a skill like this? Probably a lot. When they finally arrived in the village, his feet hurt in his not-quite-broken-in leather boots, and he was sweating in his armor under the unrelenting midday sun.

The heat was hard to bear, especially for Evan, whose pale complexion wasn't ideal for lots of sunshine. Oliver fared a lot better. Eyes sparkling with the promise of loot and rewards, he approached the notice board in Mistford's town square with large steps. The wooden board was filled with mundane notices, scribbled on sun-bleached pieces of paper. People looking to trade goods, looking for work or employees, and even one looking for a wife. There was a single red slip of paper among the ordinary-looking ones.

Oliver picked it off and read it out loud.

"MONSTER HUNTERS WANTED: Spotted an Earthsnare in the Celestial ruins near the Grayrun River." The moment he finished reading the notice, a soft chime informed Evan about a new quest in his log. [Quest: Kill the Earthsnare] A villager of Mistford has spotted an Earthsnare in the Celestial ruins near the Grayrun River. Kill the monster. Reward: 200 mana stones, 40 experience points]"More Celestial ruins?" Evan said.

The last time he'd explored Celestial ruins, he'd found three valuable skill gems, but Oliver quickly curbed his enthusiasm.

"Don't get excited. Ruins this close to a major city have been stripped clean of every speck of loot."

"Ah, that's a shame. I was hoping for some more gems. You're pretty close to rank 3. We'll need a good skill gem for you soon.." Oliver tilted his head, reading the note again.

"Celestial ruins are still high-mana places, so there's a small chance of a spontaneous manifestation."

"Of a skill gem?" Evan asked, eyebrows raised. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Or even a crystal. But, like I said, small chance. High-mana places usually just attract higher-rank monsters."

"How high-rank?" Oliver shrugged.

"The notice doesn't say. It's hard to judge a monster's rank for ordinary people. They don't have the ledger to tell them, so they have to more or less guess, based on the monster's size and behavior. But there are no other monster notices, so—" Just as he spoke those words, a middle-aged man walked up to the notice board and pinned a red slip of paper on it. He stepped back and looked at Oliver and Evan.

"Are you two monster hunters?" They both nodded urgently.

"Do you have a monster problem that needs solving, sir?" Evan asked, flashing the most confident smile he could muster. The man gestured at the paper he'd just pinned to the notice board with a grim face.

"My barn is infested with a whole bunch of Ashbugs."

"Where is your barn?" Oliver asked, squaring his shoulders.

"We can take care of the Ashbugs." The man looked between the two of them, frowning.

"Your armor looks mighty new. Not a scratch on it."

"Uh, yes. It's new. We just bought it yesterday," Evan said.

"You're newbies then?" Oliver awkwardly cleared his throat.

"No, we're very experienced. Just last week we solved a Scrapmaw infestation. Killed the queen and all. Isn't that right, Evan?"

"We… did that, yes," Evan confirmed reluctantly. They did, but he wasn't sure he'd call them experienced. But if Oliver thought they could take on this man's Ashbug problem—whatever Ashbugs were—he wouldn't spoil the party. The man shrugged.

"Fine. Give it a try, then. I'll give you 150 mana stones if you get rid of them all."

"Deal," Oliver said, shaking the man's hand.

"Follow me. I'll show you the way." The man's barn, who introduced himself as Thomas, wasn't far away. Oliver walked next to him, chatting him up, flaunting some of his farming knowledge, while Evan stayed a few steps behind, discreetly checking his guild tablet for information on Ashbugs. When they arrived at their destination, he slipped it back into his inventory.

"Well, here it is," Thomas said.

"I'll be over there, in my house. Come find me when the job's done." Evan waited until Thomas was out of earshot before he joined Oliver's side. His friend had already drawn his sword, and his expression was eager.

"I checked the monster encyclopedia for those Ashbug things. It says they're weak, which is good, but they burst on impact, releasing some kind of vision-obscuring ash, and if they latch onto unclothed skin, they can drain mana, so I suggest we keep our distance and use ranged attacks. Your Gravel Shot and my new projectile skill."

"Good plan." Oliver pulled a light orb from his inventory.

"You should take out yours as well. Maybe they'll help with those ash clouds." Evan followed the suggestion, and together they stepped into the barn. It was dusty and only dimly lit by a small, round window in the gable and a few rays of light shining through the gaps in the wooden planks of the walls. Most of the floor space was taken up by crates and grain-filled barrels. As soon as Oliver made a tentative step forward, they heard the first skittering.

Moments later, a whole swarm of fist-sized, disgusting bugs came crawling toward them, appearing out of every dark nook and cranny. There were at least two dozen of them.

"Ew," was the last thing Evan could get out before a handful of Ashbugs dropped from the ceiling beams and landed right on top of him. He felt their stingers pierce the unprotected skin of his face and neck and yelled out in pain and disgust while his mana bar dropped quickly. Shouting curses, he tried to shake them off in the world's most awkward panic-fueled dance move. Oliver rushed back to his side and swung his sword just inches above Evan's head, slicing apart a tick that had latched onto his scalp.

Just as the tablet had promised, the little monster burst into a cloud of black dust, engulfing both Evan and Oliver in darkness. Evan decided to take matters into his own hands and drew his knife. His powerful magical sword was of little use while those ticks were literally latched onto his skin, but he could reach him with the knife Maya had forged back in Silvercreek. Disregarding his own health and safety, he started stabbing at the creatures crawling over his body.

They died easily enough, allowing him to remove them from his skin without much resistance, but each dead bug meant another small explosion of black dust, giving more Ashbugs the chance to sneak up on them. Oliver sprayed his [Gravel Burst] blindly, managing to keep most of them at a distance, but Evan lacked a skill like this and he already felt a handful of the ticks crawling up his legs again.

Despite his regen power, the bugs had drained his mana bar significantly, so he saw no other choice but to use the last few precious points of mana to activate [Teleport]. He ended up a few feet away from Oliver, who was still obscured in the ash cloud. The air on the other side of the barn, where Evan found himself, was still mostly clear, giving him a good view of the Ashbugs crawling away from him and toward Olly.

Breathing heavily, he waited until he had regenerated enough mana points to try out his new [Comet Shot] skill for the first time. In hindsight, he probably should've tested it in a safe environment before using it in a fight, because he wasn't prepared for the power he unleashed. Golden light collected in his palm, and when he whipped his arm forward, a glowing orb of gold with a bright fiery trail arced through the ash-filled air.

It smashed through the opposite wall of the barn, exploding four bugs at once that were crawling down that wall, and rained down a shower of sparks that burned at least a dozen more to ash. The rest of the Ashbugs swarming Oliver skittered away in panic. Oliver came tumbling out of the ash cloud as well, going after the fleeing monsters. Lashing out with his sword, he managed to kill another half dozen in short succession.

Evan took care of the rest, swinging his sword in wide arcs, while Oliver combined [Iron Root] and [Petrifying Strike] to keep the few remaining Ashbugs from escaping back into their hiding spots. Together, they finished them off.

"I think that was all of them," Evan said, wiping sweat and black dust off his face. A quick check of his interface showed 56 kill notices, which earned him 164 experience points and 189 mana stones. Oliver slid his sword back into the scabbard at his belt and looked at the gaping hole in the barn wall.

"Man, that was a really cool attack… but I think you need to work on your aim." Evan sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Uh… I guess we'd better go and confess this to Thomas."

"No need…" said a deep voice behind them. Thomas stood on the other side of the hole, fists planted on his hips, expression stern. Oliver shrank away, leaving Evan to explain the mess they'd made.

"So, Thomas, we cleared out the Ashbugs, but there might've been some… collateral damage… of the structural kind."

"I can see that, boy."

"We'll of course relinquish the reward we discussed to pay for the damages we caused. And we're going to help fix the hole." Oliver looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"We are?"

"We have superhuman strength, do we not?" Evan hissed out of the corner of his mouth.

"Barely," Oliver muttered. Thomas shook his head.

"I knew it was a gamble to hire a couple of green boys to do Monster Hunter work. But you killed the monsters, so you'll get your payment. A deal is a deal. You will repair that hole, though. I have wood in the barn and tools in the shed over there. You can get right to work." He turned on his heel and stomped away, back toward his house. Evan looked after him for a moment, then turned to Oliver.

"Sorry about that, man." Oliver just laughed out loud and ruffled Evan's hair.

"Totally worth it. That comet shot was awesome. Come on, let's patch up this wall, and then we'll go hunt the Earthsnare."