Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 8: Nymph Hunt

Edge wove his way through the towering crimson ferns, keeping one eye on the shadow-strewn ground and the other on the purple canopy stretching out above his head.

He couldn’t afford to ignore either elevation. The beasts he was stalking were infamous for ambushing people from the branches as well as lurking below the soil, making the treetops just as dangerous as the forest floor.

Today, he was hunting alone, pursuing prey that was likely to have a duplicate of the skill he was hoping to advance, Entangle. One of the benefits of trusting Trapper’s crew with his secret was that they were eager to help him out however they could, including sharing any promising leads that might further his development.

While he was chatting with another crew, Jumo had learned that the hunters had spotted a pack of nymphs living in the Violet Groves sub-biome. Since they weren’t worth many Credits, the crew considered the wooden carnivores to be a nuisance rather than a source of income. They were happy to share the sighting with anyone who might be interested in removing the predators from the region, which was adjacent to several prime beast and resource-hunting spots.

Edge was excited to be back in the field. In addition to developing his skillset, this was a great opportunity to try out Double Slash in battle for the first time. A chance to find out how far he had come since being ambushed by the aggressive critters during the early days of his adventures.

After using his Skill-Merger Token the day before, he had spent the rest of the afternoon hunting in the grasslands around town. He wound up stealing three basic skills from animals, then Absorbed them to transfer a portion of their experience to the skills of his choice.

Edge had put two of them into Regeneration, since it was the power that he was most interested in ranking up right now, and the third into Regulate Temperature, because it only needed to Absorb a single skill to advance to rank two.

After Skill-Eater consumed the animal’s skill, Regulate Temperature, which took the form of a heavy fur coat, began to glow. The cup representing its experience was filled to the brim, and a message from the System appeared before his eyes.

The skill (Regulate Temperature) has advanced to Rank 2.

Its mana efficiency has been enhanced.

Please choose between one of the following options:

Regulate Temperature will offer significantly more insulation from cold but will lose a modest amount of protection from heat. Regulate Temperature will become an aura, extending its effect to all allies within a ten-foot radius. Regulate Temperature will offer modest protection against fire and cold-based attacks.Warning: if no option is selected, your skill will remain unchanged and gain a slight bonus to mana efficiency.

The first option was off the table. It would be great if Edge wanted to specialize in operating in cold climates, but he had no idea where he would wind up over the coming months. While the upgrade sounded like a net gain, he was reluctant to weaken the skill’s ability to endure hot weather.

The second offering wasn’t bad and he’d spent some time considering it. Since he had joined Trapper’s crew, he wasn’t opposed to picking an upgrade that could help out the whole team. However, Regulate Temperature wasn’t something they were likely to benefit from very often, especially with a range of only ten feet from his position. Not to mention, appropriate clothing and magitech devices could solve the problem just as easily.

But the main reason why he had decided to pass up the second option was because the third had a direct combat application, providing additional defense against hot and cold-based attacks that would stack with his armor, Disruption, and Durability.

It might only come up every now and again. But after witnessing the devastating effects of the high-ranked skills contained within the spellshots in Warren’s revolver, Inferno and the ice round Edge had used to immobilize the garax, having some protection against fire and frost sounded like a good idea.

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After confirming his choice, the coat of fur changed shape, gaining a layer of what looked like orange scales along the interior. He could sense that they had a high specific heat and low thermal conductivity, adding another layer on top of the skill’s existing insulation.

Now that he was done considering his latest upgrade, Edge returned his attention to the matter at hand. It was time to hunt some nymphs and work on ranking up Entangle if the beasts happened to have a copy of the skill on the menu, and Regeneration if they didn’t.

By now, he was drawing close to the spot where the hunters had sighted the band of wooden predators. Edge reached behind his back to unfasten his naginata from its draw-strap, then touched the section of the shaft that made it grow to its natural length. When the black wood stopped expanding, he resumed walking with the blade of his polearm leading the way.

Not long after, he found a pile of bones encased in what appeared to be amber—a crystalline substance the nymphs excreted after consuming their prey. That was when he heard something moving above his head. When he looked up, he spotted a pair of big brown eyes watching him through a gap in the branches—eyes set into a wooden face with a childlike expression and needle-sharp teeth.

The beast’s bark was brown, which contrasted against the red trees and their purple leaves, or Edge would have had a harder time spotting it. Then again, there’s a good chance that it revealed itself on purpose. Which could only mean one thing. There were more nymphs in the area, and he was already surrounded.

He wasn’t too worried—this situation was exactly what he had been expecting. Nymphs never hunted alone and preferred to use ambush tactics, which he had learned the hard way shortly after binding Skill-Eater and crossing the Ivory Plains. The beasts were extremely hard to detect in wooded areas. They were far more likely to notice him before he spotted them.

Adrenaline surged into his veins. His heart pounded in his chest as the electric tension that precedes an imminent battle rose to fill the air. Edge took a deep breath to calm his nerves, refusing to let his opponent control his behavior or dictate the pace of the conflict.

His first objective was to make sure that he wasn’t hit from behind by the beasts that were certain to be closing on his position. His second was to figure out what skills they were wielding before committing to a course of action. He had spent several hours planning out what strategy he would use to tackle various powers while hiking to the grove. As soon as each nymph revealed their skillset, he would have a counter ready to go.

He was willing to strike before that if an opening presented itself, but he would have to remain vigilant while there were unknown skills at play. Judging by the size of the beast above him, the pack was still early stage one, and each nymph would have two skills at most.

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Confirming his suspicions that the first creature was acting as a decoy, it leapt to the ground fifteen feet in front of him—a move designed to draw his attention. The child-sized predator looked up at Edge with an expression that was remarkably cute… until it opened a mouth full of wooden daggers and hissed.

Although he didn’t look away, most of his attention was on his surroundings. He was listening for the sound of something sneaking up from behind. Feeling the ground below his boots for vibrations, and on the lookout for any sources of mana springing to life nearby.

It gave him a chance to inspect the humanoid predator standing in front of him. This nymph was three feet tall, with stocky shoulders and wide hips. Its exterior was coated in a bark-like growth that was dense enough to protect it from cuts and scratches. Its arms ended in a pair of swordlike spikes that were long enough to run him through.

While the creature’s natural weaponry wasn’t too threatening to a cored hunter, the skills the nymphs were wielding made them far more dangerous than their stature would suggest. By now, Edge could hear another creature approaching from behind, but he didn’t feel any vibrations coming through the ground. It meant that there wasn’t a Burrowing beast below him this time, which would simplify the battle to come.

That was all the time for reflection he was granted. Because that was when the nymph hissed again and came charging straight for him, moving in time with the one advancing from behind.

He noticed two critical details in that moment, which kicked his heartbeat up another gear. The first was that the beasts were making a lot more noise than they needed to. The second was that there was an open space on his left where he could break free from the nymphs’ encirclement. It looked like a fortunate oversight on their part, but he was sure that it represented something far more sinister.

Sorry, guys. I’m not falling for that one again. Edge started darting for the open space, like he had been taken in by their ruse. Three steps into his sprint, he ignited his core and Leapt. Sure enough, a set of grasping vines burst free from the soil, directly in front of the spot where he’d been running.

Half a heartbeat later, a second set of tendrils emerged behind his heels. Even if he had evaded both skills, he would have been trapped between them if he let the nymphs have their way. It was a variation of the ambush that had caught him before—an effective combination of misdirection and preparation, intended to lure prey onto the ground of their choosing and cut off all avenues of retreat.

He suspected that there were more vines surrounding him, set in a pattern that would be impossible to avoid if he were running on the ground instead of sailing through the air. That’s two copies of Entangle in their skillsets.

Edge felt Skill-Eater grumble in anticipation, as hunger spread from his core to permeate every fiber of his being. Once they reveal their other skills, I’ll have a counter ready to go.