Path of Dragons

Book 3: Chapter 22: Breadcrumbs

Thor leaped backwards, fending off the Voxxian monster with his spear. At the same time, he used Ancestor’s Torpor, and a translucent spirit climbed out of the ground and wrapped itself around creature. From experience, he knew it was only visible to him, but the effects would be keenly felt by any enemy:

Ancestor’s Torpor

Summon an ancestral spirit that saps the Strength and Dexterity of your enemy. Duration based on Ethera attribute. Current: 19 seconds.

The monster stumbled, giving Thor the distance he needed to bring his next ability to bear when he raised one hand and called down yet another ancestral spirit. This one was much larger than the one associated with Ancestor’s Torpor, and it was plainly meant for battle.

Ancestral Champion

Summon an ancestral spirit for a single mighty strike.

The spirit descended upon the monster’s back, jabbing an elaborate spear through its body. It let out an unholy screech, but Thor knew it wouldn’t be enough. So, he directed his mana into Fury of the Stalker, and the blade of his spear erupted into red energy. At the same time, he embraced Survival of the Fittest, enhancing his attributes far beyond his normal power.

Then, while the monster was still reeling from Ancestral Torpor and the spiritual attack, Thor bounded forward ramming his tasseled spear into the creature’s neck. Scales parted beneath the sharp blade, and blood spurted. Still, the durable creature didn’t die. Indeed, it mustered its remaining strength and launched itself at Thor.

But he was already gone, having used Mirror Trap.

Mirror Trap

Channel the power of your ancestors to create an illusory copy. At the same time, you will appear at the enemy’s rear, unseen and unnoticed.

The monster never even realized that the spear in its neck had disappeared. Instead, it was too furious to realize that it had been duped. It slashed forward with its claws, swiping ineffectually through Thor’s illusion. It stumbled, off-balance and wounded. That’s when Thor struck, once again using Survival of the Fittest and Fury of the Stalker to enhance his next attack.

It bit deep into the unbalanced monster’s spine, severing its connection to the lower half of its body. It flopped onto its belly, where it furiously clawed against the unnatural black rock in an attempt to flip itself around.

Thor didn’t immediately kill it, though with its lack of mobility, that would have been easy enough. Instead, he circled the monster, his spear held loosely in one bloody hand. The battle had stretched his capability, and he bore more than a few wounds. Yet, after fighting six waves of increasingly dangerous Voxxian monsters, he was the only one still standing.

As was proper.

“You thought yourself my equal,” he said, looking down on the fallen creature. It truly was an ugly beast. All blue-green scales and ridges and too many limbs. Yet, there was a deadly grace to it, too. An efficiency of design that brought to mind true predation.

It had been a worthy foe.

Thor glanced at the other monsters he’d defeated. Tens of creatures, all dead. Just like every other enemy he’d ever faced. Because Thor did not lose. That had been true before the world’s transformation, and it remained the case after everything had changed. He’d begun to wonder if there were any true challenges out there for him.

But that was before he’d been tasked with hunting the so-called Druid. Without any real information as to the man’s location, he’d been forced to rely on Hunt of the Ancestors, which was, even in the best-case scenario, vague.

As a result, he felt like he was running in circles trying to track the Druid down. After leaving the elven town behind, he’d trekked through the wilderness for weeks, enduring all the hardships that travel through the wild places of the world entailed. Barely a day had gone by when he hadn’t been attacked by one beast or another, and though he could endure such minor inconveniences, there had been a few times when he’d been forced to use every tool in his kit to avoid becoming some animal’s supper.

And though Thor reveled in winning each battle, he vastly preferred being the hunter as opposed to the hunted.

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So, it was with mixed feelings that he’d entered the minor dimensional rift. There was a part of him that wanted to bypass the thing. Certainly, it would continue to corrupt the surrounding area, but that wasn’t his problem to solve. Yet, he knew precisely how beneficial such circumstances could be. Not only would conquering such a rift give him experience – which, at his level, was hard to come by – but they routinely gave other benefits as well.

In the end, that selfishness was what pushed him to enter the rift. And now, he only needed to finish the monster off, and he would be able to continue his quest to hunt the Druid. To that end, he stepped forward, raised his spear, and stabbed the struggling creature in the chest. For all that they were alien, the Voxx still had all the right organs and in all the proper places. So, piercing its heart was easy enough for the experienced hunter. After that, the monster only lasted a few more seconds before its life faded.

Only a moment after that, Thor found the reward box. He’d conquered enough rifts that he wasn’t surprised at the silver box’s sudden appearance, and he wasted no time before opening it and collecting the reward – an attribute potion that he downed only a moment later, giving him two extra points with which he could accentuate his attributes. He chose to allocate them into Dexterity.

Then, he looked to his wounds. He’d bought some alchemically treated bandages back in what was left of Oslo, but they were only marginally better than his natural healing. Still, he wasn’t about to traverse the wilderness with open wounds. So, he took quite some time to sew his wounds and wrap them in those treated bandages. Most of his injuries weren’t serious, but there was a gash across his thigh that, in the old world, probably would have taken months to completely heal. However, with the bandages as well as his Regeneration, it would heal in a few days. Likely, it wouldn’t even scar.

Once Thor had finished treating his wounds, he left the rift behind. At one point, he’d tried to harvest their tough scales with the intention of using the material for armor. However, the lifeless pieces began to decay the moment they interacted with Earth’s atmosphere, making them worthless.

The hulking man took a few minutes to settle himself, taking a couple of swigs of water from his Endless Canteen, then resumed his hunt as he followed the tendril of ethera associated with Ancestral Hunt. It was weak, but he could still follow it easily enough.

So it went for the next two days, during which he was forced to fight a few more beasts. None of them gave more than a trickle of experience, but animal life in the new version of Earth was incredibly territorial. So, even if they had no chance of winning, they attacked without mercy. And if he wasn’t careful, the collective weight of so many fights would eventually weigh him down. If that happened, he would eventually succumb.

One fight wasn’t dangerous. But twenty, all in a row? That was when things became much more serious. Still, Thor fought on, making steady but slow progress as he crossed the wilderness. And eventually, the tendril of ethera led him to a walled city.

In the center was an ancient castle, but much of the surrounding architecture looked a little more modern. Regardless, all Thor was concerned with was the fact that Ancestral Hunt had led him directly to the city. So, he strode down to the town and to a gate he’d spied from afar.

When he reached it, his progress was blocked by two guards – one a young male that looked like he still hadn’t reached adulthood and a stout female wearing a helmet.

The male said, “State your business.”

“My name is Thor Gunderson. Remove yourself from my path or suffer the consequences.”

“Buddy, you’re not –”

Thor struck, stabbing out with his spear so quickly that the young man never even had a chance to react. The woman, however, had quicker reflexes, and she responded by dragging her sword from the scabbard at her waist. But she was too slow to bring it to bear before Thor executed a thrust that took her in the chest. Her armor looked impressive enough, but it was entirely useless against Thor’s Tribal Spear. The blade cut through the metallic breastplate with ease, piercing her chest and destroying her heart.

Both guards fell.

Thor took a quick look at their equipment, decided looting it was more trouble than it was worth, then strode into the city. As he did, a few of the townspeople looked at him with distinct fear, but no one else barred his path. Which was a good thing. Thor wasn’t a monster. He didn’t want to kill anyone unless it was necessary. However, his version of necessary was more than a little skewed. He refused to be delayed by some weakling.

That was what Thor had discovered in the wake of Earth’s transformation. Once, the world was ruled by institutional power that was backed up by military might. Those institutions took great pains to protect the weak. But now? The weak were even more useless than ever, and Thor had all the power. And without consequence to hinder him, he saw no reason to burden himself with their problems or cater to the demands they could never hope to enforce.

Personal power was all that mattered.

As he followed Ancestral Hunt through the city, people hurried out of his way. Some might have done so because they knew who he was. The power rankings were visible to everyone, after all. Or maybe they’d heard what he had done to the guards. Whatever the case, no one seemed eager to get in his way.

Even the other guards, who pretended they didn’t even see him. They, better than anyone else, knew precisely how overmatched they would be in any fight.

Eventually, Ancestral Hunt led Thor to a large, two-story building that was marked by a red cross. That meant it was likely a place of healing. However, just before he stepped up to the door, someone called from behind, “Perhaps I could help you find something.”

A wave of irritation slid through Thor’s mind. Yet, he restrained himself. Due to the nature of Ancestral Hunt, he knew that his prey was not in the city. It was more like following the Druid’s tracks, which meant he was chasing the man’s past impact, rather than following him to his current location. As such, he’d found that supplementing the spell with interrogation was usually beneficial.

So, when he turned to see a slim, dignified, and older man standing before him, he took a moment to identify him with Hunter’s Eye.

Name: Orville Essex Archetype: Warrior Level: 38

The man was not quite strong enough to be on the power ladder, yet Essex was no weakling. By contrast, Thor would have been surprised if the guards had even reached level thirty. Still, Essex was no threat to someone like Thor.

“A Druid came through this town,” he said. “A man named Elijah Hart. I am hunting him. You will tell me everything you know of him, or I will lay waste to your town.”

“Do you believe you can do that?” asked Essex.

Suddenly, Thor became aware of a dozen other guards, each with levels nearing Essex’s. He dismissed them as inconsequential, saying, “I do.”

He could practically see the man’s thought process. Even if they managed to subdue Thor – practically an impossibility in and of itself – they would not do so without significant casualties. That was the tyranny of personal strength. They could bring a hundred men, and Thor would almost assuredly still come out on top. And if he didn’t, he would leave devastation in his wake.

“Very well. He came here and healed some of our citizens. Then, he conquered a nearby tower. After that, the mayor made the mistake of sending some people after him,” Essex explained.

“He killed them all?”

“No. He left in the night. I don’t know which way he went.”

“He did not punish them?” asked Thor, incredulous. If it had been him in that situation, he would have slain the attackers as well as the mayor. Probably a good many citizens as well, just for good measure.

“He just left.”

Perhaps this Druid was not as worthy a foe as Thor had first thought. Certainly his actions – healing people and running from danger – didn’t fit the image Thor had cultivated in his mind. Yet, he believed the guard.

“I will remain here for the night. In the morning, I expect supplies for a long journey. And ten gold ethereum.”

“The supplies we can do, but why would we give you our coins?”

“If you do not, I will kill everyone in this town,” said Thor. Then, he strode away, looking for somewhere to sleep. In the back of his mind, though, he couldn’t help but wonder if his hunt was going to end in disappointment like all the rest.