Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 47: Death Mark

Five minutes later, Tessa flashed a hand signal, and everyone froze in place. She had detected something ahead and needed to investigate before they came any closer.

She walked out a few feet in front of Jumo, then came to a stop and ignited her core. Swirls of mana gathered around her eyes, then spread across her nose and ears. Tessa peered into the distance, then deactivated her skill and whispered, “I can sense two monsters. For some reason, they’re fighting each other. It should be safe to advance.”

The crew crept forward, and soon the sound of battle reached Edge’s ears. The trail widened and the light grew brighter, until it opened into another large clearing. In the middle of the glade, two horrors were in the final stage of what must have been a brutal battle, judging by the blood and fur that was scattered across the scarred soil.

One of the monsters reminded him of a prehistoric hyena. It had broad shoulders, wiry fur, and hulking jaws housing row after row of jagged brown teeth. Its opponent was a serpent—twenty-five feet long and thick enough that he would have had trouble wrapping his arms around it. Its scales were a putrid yellow hue and covered in wicked black spikes.

Both creatures looked fearsome enough, but that wasn’t the reason why Edge’s eyes went wide at the sight as bile rose hot in his throat. The reason was that they were in the middle of devouring each other at the same time.

The reptile’s coils were wrapped tight around the hyena’s waist, and it was swallowing the monster by the tail. Meanwhile the hyena’s jaws were chewing into the serpent’s stomach, forming a conjoined circle like a hideous mockery of an ouroboros.

No wonder they aren’t paying attention to us. Edge had never seen anything like it. Plenty of monsters were vicious enough to kill others of their kind, but they generally left each other alone unless they were competing over territory or prey. Watching them consume each other with such zeal—such blissful abandon and carnal enthusiasm while their lifeblood soaked into the dirt—was truly bizarre and deeply unsettling.

It must have something to do with the dungeon’s theme. While on some level it was nice to see monsters eating each other instead of trying to eat him, he suspected that there were ramifications to this behavior he would find much less enjoyable.

For one thing, if the monsters were slaughtering each other, there was a good chance that they were evolving faster than normal. There might be creatures in here that were above the stages he would expect, given the concentration of magicytes in the surrounding biome.

Even the crew’s shadowkillers seemed shocked at the sight. Snake unstrapped his crossbow, took aim, and fired twice back-to-back. Each bolt struck a dying monster in the temple, killing it instantly. “We won’t get much experience under the circumstances,” he said. “But scraps are better than nothing.” He was about to enter the grove and harvest what he could from the remains, when Tessa stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait.” She pointed to the far side of the clearing. “There’s something else here. I think it was waiting for them to finish each other off.” No sooner had those words left her lips than another monster emerged from the foliage, heading for the corpses in the center of the glade.

This brute was a bipedal boar about seven feet tall. It had mismatched tusks, an upturned snout, and sunken red eyes. Every inch of its frame was covered with bulging muscles, but the proportions were all wrong.

The creature was so ripped that it had a hard time controlling its body—like it had grown so fast that it wasn’t sure how to move properly. The extra mass weighed it down, giving it a hunchbacked appearance. Its powerful fists dragged along the ground, and each step seemed ponderous and unbalanced.

When Edge took a closer look, he noticed that something was trapped beneath its skin—bloated bulges that interfered with the motion of its joints. The boar was looking straight at the crew, but didn’t hesitate as it walked over to the remains, opened its hideous maw, and began to feed.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Tessa reported. “But it’s absorbing their magic far more efficiently than normal. We should probably intervene before it finishes its entrée and decides to have us for dessert.”

The team raised their weapons and got ready to charge, only to have Fox wave them back. “Snake and I will handle this one. I have a funny feeling about its skills and suspect that it’s a bad target to swarm with the full crew. Besides, this is a good chance to show you how shadowkillers fight. I’ll let the rest of you handle the next one.”

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Edge didn’t mind waiting in line. He hadn’t seen any skills that he wanted to steal, and was intensely curious to learn how the veteran monster hunters would fight their chosen prey. The rest of the crew switched to ranged weapons, guarding the masked duo in case something else showed up during their battle. He watched with interest as Snake hefted his lance and Fox adjusted her boltcaster.

“Let’s go with the same plan we used against those razormaws last spring.” Snake gestured with the tip of his weapon.

“You got it. I’ll keep Big Ugly distracted while you apply your mark. Then I’ll let loose with Vortex Bolts until it drops.”

Snake nodded his agreement, then stepped into the glade, preparing to engage the hulking monstrosity alone. By now, the boar had devoured about a third of the corpses, staining its teeth crimson and covering its bulging belly in a glistening coat of ruby gore. It let loose a guttural growl as the man approached, looking up between bloody bites.

Snake’s stride was casual, like he didn’t have a care in the world. The next time his foot came down, the monster rose to its full height and unleashed a powerful uppercut that would have shattered Edge’s ribs. The man looked almost bored as he sidestepped the muscular fist at the last possible second. Then he jabbed with his lance in a graceful counterattack that made his body seem boneless.

The tip gouged the creature’s chest, but it didn’t penetrate deep. “It’s specialized in Power and Durability.” He leaned out of the way of a straight jab, then hopped beyond the reach of a Gore from the monster’s tusks.

“I don’t see any problem with our plan. I’ll apply Death Mark, and you can take it from there.” With that, Snake’s core ignited. Mana flowed through his arms and down the shaft of his lance before gathering along the tip of the blade.

Edge had come across a variety of skills that enhanced the lethality of a weapon by this point, including his own Double Slash. He expected the magic to bolster the damage of Snake’s strikes in one manner or another, but that wasn’t how Death Mark worked. “It’s a conditional skill,” Fox explained. “He has to draw all five lines before it activates.”

It was Edge’s first time watching a conditional skill in action. They were a seldom-seen variant that boosted their output in exchange for only working once specific conditions were met. The more restrictive the limitations, the more power the skill offered in exchange.

Half a heartbeat later, Snake lashed out, carving a line across the monster’s belly. He dodged a flurry of fists and tusks as he continued to attack—each strike adding to the pattern he was drawing on the creature’s chest.

Edge could sense the magic building, but it had no effect that he could see. He realized that the pattern resembled a stylized skull. He watched with avid interest, excited to find out what would happen next. Three more lines and the mark will be complete.

By this point, the boar monster was thoroughly enraged. None of its attacks had connected, and while Snake hadn’t inflicted any serious damage, the wounds were painful. But it mostly seemed frustrated that it couldn’t finish its meal while the hunter was in the way. After issuing a furious roar, the monster dropped to all fours, preventing the man from drawing the last two lines.

Before Edge learned how Snake would deal with the situation, something strange happened. One of the bulges beneath the boar’s skin started to swell—like a balloon was inflating below its flesh.

“Watch out,” Tessa yelled. “It’s about to activate an area of effect attack.” Sure enough, as Snake executed a backflip that dodged the creature’s tusks with millimeters to spare, its skin split, releasing a cloud of bright green mist. Edge wasn’t sure what he was looking at until the groundcover began to smoke, dissolving as it was eaten away by the caustic aerosol.

“Acid Cloud,” Fox commented. “Unusual means of distribution. Nasty stuff, but heavy enough that it won’t spread far.” For once, both Edge and Skill-Eater were utterly disinterested in stealing the power. Using something that makes acid form inside my body seems like a bad idea.

Meanwhile, Snake judged the distance and darted back in. Fox raised her boltcaster and fired, letting him carve another line on the monster’s belly when it reared back up. It came charging for him, releasing another Acid Cloud along the way. But the hunter merely circled around and lashed out with his lance for the final time of the fight.

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The instant that Death Mark was complete, the magic contained within the skill activated. The mark began coloring in like it was being tattooed by a master artist—until the skull was fully shaded. Edge sensed the mana contained within the mark catalyze in that moment, permeating the monster’s body and engulfing its core. He had no idea what was happening, but he was eager to find out.

“Death Mark reduces the Control, Disruption, and Durability of my target,” Snake explained as he danced out of reach. “In exchange for a complex setup, the disabling power is stronger than most skills that undermine the attributes of my quarry. It leaves a monster in an ideal state for Fox’s attacks to inflict maximum damage. I could explain her power too, but you’re about to see it yourself, and there’s no reason to spoil the surprise.”

While he spoke, Snake returned to the crew and Fox stepped into the clearing. Meanwhile, the boar had started stumbling around. It was barely in control of its awkward body, now that Death Mark was complete.

Lilly raised her boltcaster, activated the magitech magazine, and took an experimental shot. Edge watched on, committing every moment to memory as the fight entered its final stage.