Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 144: Strategy

Trapper laughed at the confusion on Edge’s face—surprise that she was asking his thoughts on the matter.

“Don’t forget, as fucked up as our situation is, this is still your final exam. Normally, I’d have you set up the whole kill from start to finish, so that you can learn from the experience. We’re low on time and don’t have any room for error, so that isn’t going to happen today. But we can still go through the planning stage together and see how much of our way of life has rubbed off on you.”

Edge thought about the matter long and hard before offering a reply. About everything that he’d experienced since waking up on Ord and what he’d learned during his training. About how it felt to be in the presence of the giant predator, and what he’d gleaned from the encounter.

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When he was done, he met Trapper’s gaze and said, “That thing is insanely dangerous. Not just its obvious advantage in size and attributes, but because its stealth skill is so damn effective. If we let it get the drop on us, we’re done for. Now that we know it has a powerful ranged attack, trying to track it back to its lair is just begging to get ambushed. It would be a bad idea, even without another threat in the field.”

He turned, running his eyes across the farmstead while mulling the matter over. “Instead, we need to lure the padamas onto the ground of our choosing. Prepare the field ahead of time, so that we can control where it will appear and what it will do when it gets there. We should use traps to establish a moment of weakness. Create an opening, and then hit it with everything we have, before it has a chance to start unleashing its skills.”

Trapper nodded, gesturing for Edge to continue while the team offered words of support.

“We need to find somewhere that it will be willing to go but won’t be able to avoid your devices. Somewhere with a restricted entrance, so that it will trigger an alarm trap and announce its presence. In fact, this seems like an ideal location, now that I’ve thought it through.”

He realized that Trapper had already come to the same conclusion. That the reason she’d had the whole team climb the silo was so he could work out the solution for himself.

“Once we decide on our kill zone, we need to set out some bait. You should construct a series of traps and arrange them in a pattern where it won’t get hit by the first until it’s surrounded by the rest. That way, the lizard will trigger more while its trying to escape. The traps will keep it off balance—disoriented while we hit it with our skills and ranged attacks. Since it’s so big, a trap that uses its mass against it seems a lot more effective than trying to bombard it with conventional weapons.”

By now, Edge was really getting into it. “This setup will also give us a chance to run away and try again if things don’t work out the way we’ve planned. I don’t know enough about traps to suggest a specific design, although I do have one final thought. You don’t happen to have a means to suffocate it, do you?”

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Trapper looked impressed, and the rest of the team did too. “Not something that big, unless we can completely immobilize it first. Although a trap like that would work well on a target that’s not too much bigger than Blue. That was a fine answer, Edge. If you had more experience, you would have been able to suggest an ideal kill zone, trap, and bait. But your logic is solid and you’re thinking like a hunter instead of a brawler. Do you have anything else to add, Sasha?”

Sasha filled in a few details from their encounter with the big lizard, including its sharp senses and vulnerability to bad smells. She suggested using stink bombs and flashbangs to drive it off if the hunt turned sour, which earned her a nod of approval from Trapper. After that, the rest of the team added their own insights. Over the next half hour, their ideas congealed to form the beginnings of a plan.

In the end, they decided to use the center of the farm for the site of their ambush. It had ample locations to hide, and enough space to set up a range of traps. For bait, they planned to kill some beasts and place them in the direction of the lizard’s lair. To leave the carcasses lying a few hundred feet apart, creating a trail for the padamas to follow.

They would decide on their selection of traps in the morning, since manifest trap only lasted for twelve hours, then finalize their strategy for laying down the bait without getting caught by their quarry in the process.

A few minutes later, Jumo pointed to the silo beside them and said, “On top of everything else, why don’t we rig one of these buildings to collapse? We can wait until the padamas is caught in your other traps, then knock the whole thing down on top of it. If we’re lucky, we’ll kill it outright, without having to engage in a risky hand to claw melee.”

“That’s a fantastic idea, Jumo.” Trapper clasped him on the shoulder. “I’m glad that you’re on our side.” Now that their strategy session was complete, the team stood in a circle and placed their hands on top of each other, making Edge feel like a full member of the crew for the first time.

Their leader looked each of them in the eyes in turn and said, “Good job. We need to lay the groundwork before dark and start preparing the field first thing in the morning. Before the sun sets tomorrow, we’ll do our best to bring the big bastard down.”

With that, they climbed down from the silo and started surveying the farmstead, planning out more details as they went. The crew was eager to complete the hunt and get back to town. While everyone wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to grow stronger, there were more dangerous creatures in the area than they had planned for. The team would breathe easier once they were safe behind the warded walls of Puppet Town again.

Edge was grinning the entire way, filled with a rising tide of excitement that grew with every step he took. This was a fantastic opportunity to gain a few cycles, and far more importantly, to pick up another rare skill—ideally the cloak of invisibility that the lizard used while stalking its prey. Skill-Eater grumbled at the thought, sending out a pulse of gluttony that made his mouth water.

Be patient, big guy. He chided his mysterious partner. It will all be over soon.