Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 156: Garax

Sasha turned off silent step and activated flame imbuement, causing fiery mana to gather along the length of her spear. Violet cast enhance beast, just as Blue charged—transforming the battle-trained beast and the woman riding it into a surging azure blur.

Jumo began dashing to build momentum and was trailing just a bit behind Blue. He was planning to combo it with lunge the second that he moved into range.

Edge couldn’t see Trapper or Violet, but he knew the women were ready to let loose the instant that the behemoth realized they were there. Riller ran beside Edge—planning to sprint into the garax’s view while the others landed their attacks. For his part, Edge shadow stepped for just a second to build up speed. Then he turned it off and leapt, accelerating his approach so that he arrived in time with Jumo.

The garax must have sensed the mana from the crew’s skills and noticed that something was wrong at the last possible second. It pulled its head up, dripping with gore, and began to turn. But it was already too late. The hunters had timed their skills so that the beast couldn’t respond fast enough to counter or get out of the way.

At that point, Trapper’s crew landed their heaviest hits over the span of two seconds, and all hell broke loose.

First, Sasha and Blue collided with the garax’s left foot with the force of a battering ram. Blue was still charging at full speed. She thrust half a heartbeat before impact, unleashing a skill combo to add even more might to the blow. Mana congealed along her horns, which went plunging into the garax’s thick skin to penetrate the muscles below.

Sasha had set her spear flush with Blue’s horns, allowing her weapon to take advantage of the dino’s momentum. Her spear didn’t bite as deep, but it was sufficient to let her flame imbuement spread across the garax’s skin and add some fire to the pain of its wounds.

The woman was braced against Blue’s harness, but the force of the blow sent her flying, which she had known was going to happen. Sasha hit the ground hard, rolled, and then sprang back to her feet—racing toward the cart to grab her bow.

Meanwhile, Blue gored, widening the wounds from her horns before darting back to open some room. The sapphire dino needed to be careful, since she was the most vulnerable to the behemoth’s attacks due to her size.

A bare second later, Edge and Jumo arrived on scene. Edge was streaking through the air and Jumo was dashing almost as fast. Since he couldn’t afford to hold back, Edge used the only skill that would increase the damage of a straight thrust, double strike. Jumo lunged at the same time, executing a skill combo of his own. Both of their long weapons struck the Garax’s ankle, piercing its leg all the way down to the bone.

The wounded predator shrieked and began to spin with its scythe-claws leading the way. It had been caught by surprise, but nothing lived to be that big if it couldn’t respond to an emerging threat at a moment’s notice.

Before the beast could bring its natural weapons to bear, Trapper and Violet made their move. They had begun to fire the instant that the others attacked, and their shots landed before the Garax could finish its maneuver.

Trapper was unloading the remaining bolts in her magtech crossbow in a ceaseless barrage. She was using ice rounds this time, each aether-infused bolt glowing glacial blue. Three of them hit the garax’s shin in the span of as many heartbeats, causing plumes of ice to blossom across its scales.

Violet’s first firebomb missed, due to the garax’s abrupt motion. But the next two landed on target, wreathing its head in cracking flames that momentarily blinded it.

Even then, the beast almost got Jumo and Edge with its attacks. Its bladed claws came sweeping around in a circle—tearing up the ground like the grim reaper’s plow. He would have died in that moment if he hadn’t been ready to shadow step between the blades at the last possible second.

Jumo didn’t have time to dash out of the way. Instead, he took a pair of claws on the shaft of his spear. The weapon was made of ironwood and was incredibly dense. Although it blunted the force of the blow, the garax’s claws cut the weapon into three pieces, then caught Jumo’s armor and sent him flying.

He landed hard in the dirt, bleeding and stunned but not seriously wounded. Sasha came rushing in and grabbed Jumo by the arms—dragging him behind the corner of a building before the behemoth regained its sight.

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Edge switched to elemental blade now that he was in range. He began slashing like a fiend, as more rime from Trapper’s bolts helped to freeze its injured ankle.

By this point, he was almost out of mana. He had enough in the tank for a few cheaper skills, and he was saving them until it counted. He resumed attacking with his polearm, jabbing the point into the beast’s wounded tissue.

But then he was caught by a hasty kick. There was an incredible impact, and Edge went flying back—rolling in the dirt before slamming into a wall. He hit his head hard enough to daze him, watching the battle raging before his eyes.

Riller was standing on the other side of the garax, with a flashbang in one hand and a stink bomb in the other. The instant that the fire around the behemoth’s eyes went out, he let loose and threw.

The sensory assault from both devices enraged the wounded predator, and its eyes locked onto Riller. It began chasing after the uncored man—limping from its wounds but still far too fast to evade for long.

It crossed the distance in two seconds flat—both sets of claws streaking toward the brave hunter in a blood-smeared flash of ivory. In that moment, Edge was certain that he was about to watch Riller get cut down like a hot blade through cream.

But the man wasn’t going down without a fight. Wearing a look of intense concentration, he ducked beneath one set of claws. Then, to Edge’s astonishment, he turned sideways and stepped between the next—avoiding death by a fraction of an inch on either side.

Edge knew that Riller couldn’t keep it up for long, incredible reflexes or no. Before the big bad could try again, Jumo and Blue were there. They repeated their initial attack, not doing quite as much damage with a shorter charge, but further widening its wounds.

When its savaged tissue was penetrated yet again, the beast went berserk. It began stomping and slashing in a frenzy, even leaning down to try to bite. Although its feet weren’t clawed, they were still deadly with that much weight on top of them.

The pounding threw Jumo off balance. He almost got squished by its toes and bitten by its teeth within the span of five seconds. Then the creature brought its tail whipping around in a low arc. It collided with Jumo and sent him rolling in the dirt, and this time he didn’t get up.

The garax unleashed a wicked swipe of its claws, aiming for the crew’s beast this time around. Blue turned and caught the claws with her horns in the nick of time. The move kept her from losing her head, but the tips sliced her flesh and sent her flying back from the impact.

The behemoth turned and let loose a furious growl—planning to finish Jumo and Blue off with its next attack. But suddenly, Riller was there. He was screaming at the garax, flinging consumables into its face in a heavy barrage.

Edge rose to his feet and tried to make it back in time. The women kept on firing to distract the garax, but it was beyond furious and didn’t turn their way. Its gaze locked onto the man below it, with murder clear in every crook of its features. It was ready to bring the pain to the puny creatures that had dared to wound it, and it was going to start by putting an end to Riller, here and now.

He could tell that the man had a plan. That the daring hunter intended to lure the beast through the slippery oil and into the pit traps. Which, with any luck, would be enough to make the big bad trip and fall. It was a solid move and incredibly brave, but it wasn’t how the next few seconds went down.

Instead of chasing him right away, the behemoth ignited its core. For the last time of the fight, mana began congealing within its throat—so thick that it warped the air, like Edge was looking through a malformed pane of glass.

“Get back!” Violet yelled. It’s going to…”

Her warning was cut off by the same event that rendered it unnecessary. Because at that point, the enraged beast opened its jaws and roared at full blast—packing even more magic into the skill than before. It seemed that the hunters had made it mad enough to drain its reservoir dry, even if it had to leave the biome to recover after the battle.

When the high-power skill broke over the team, everyone was frozen in place. Violet could still breathe, since she had been further back this time. But Riller was completely paralyzed—helpless to do anything as the behemoth looked down at him with bloodthirsty satisfaction. It could have waited for him to suffocate at that point, but beast chose to enact its revenge with the direct approach instead.

The towering brute sauntered over to the helpless man—ground shaking with every step that it took. It stopped to consider Riller for the span of a breath, savoring the moment. Then the garax opened its jaws and bent down to devour the hunter in a single bite.

Edge activated shadow step long enough to weaken the roar’s effect. Even though he was able to move, he could barely control his body this time around, thanks to the extra mana the beast had packed into the skill and the hit he’d taken to his head.

Shit. I’m not going to make it in time. He fought for every step, but he knew deep inside that it was already too late. That he was witnessing the final moments of the valiant young hunter.

But Edge had failed to notice the crew’s leader flare her Disruption—timing the pulse to intersect the wave of mana released by intimidating roar and maximize its protective effect.

Half a heartbeat before the garax’s cavernous mouth closed around Riller, Trapper came streaking in from one side. She propelled herself with an intense burst of wind from manipulate air, launching herself forward in a blur.

She hit Riller hard—sending him rolling out of the way with a look of dawning realization on his face. Then the beast’s jaws snapped shut, closing around the courageous woman’s flying form with a clack of utter finality.

Everyone watched in horror as the behemoth resumed its full height, grumbled in contentment, and then swallowed Trapper whole.