Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 48: Vortex Shot

Edge had been fascinated by Lilly’s magitech boltcaster ever since he had first laid eyes on it in the Mortium exchange. He watched closely as she engaged the boar monster—thrilled to finally get a chance to see the weapon in action.

True to its name, a boltcaster fired bolts that were similar to a crossbow’s. However, the magical weapon was rather different in design. Its body was a cylinder with a handle on one side, a trigger on the other, and a hole set into the business end.

Instead of needing to be manually reloaded like a mundane weapon, boltcasters manifested their ammunition by granting the aether contained in their tank material form. In exchange for an expensive power source, they could fire far faster than a bow or crossbow, mirroring the functionality of a semiautomatic weapon.

Lilly took aim and primed her next bolt. It took a heartbeat for the silver-grade aether to flow into the chamber and solidify before erupting out the end of the boltcaster. The shaft sank deep into the pig monster’s chest, which was advancing on the shadowkiller with an unsteady gait.

“Yep.” She nodded to herself. “Death Mark lowered its Durability into an ideal range. My Vortex Shots will be able to take full effect.” She took a few steps to lead the monster away from the crew, then raised the boltcaster and materialized another round.

This time, Lilly’s core ignited as she activated a skill to supplement her shot. The mana left her body and suffused the loaded bolt, enhancing it with her magic. Before she could let loose, the monster screamed and charged her position. Since it couldn’t control its body well, it was using its powerful muscles to launch itself forward in a series of clumsy hops that were surprisingly quick under the circumstances.

Lilly laughed behind her fox mask as she danced out of the way. Snake was remarkably nimble, but she was even more agile—the most dexterous fighter that Edge had ever seen. She glided across the battlefield like oil over water, swaying in time with the creature’s advance so adroitly that their performance looked orchestrated.

The pig unleashed a series of Acid Clouds, trying to restrict Fox’s movement and make her easier to catch. It didn’t help at all. The woman flowed beneath another awkward leap like silk in the breeze. She spun out of the way of the monster’s Gore, then took aim and fired her skill-infused bolt.

The instant she pulled the trigger, an incredible gust of wind was born. At first, Edge thought that she had used some type of wind skill to propel the bolt, similar to Riller’s Wind Shot, but that wasn’t the case. This wasn’t a blast of air boosting the shaft. Instead, the missile was spinning so fast that it generated a gale from the force of its rotation.

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Turning thousands of times each second, the barbed bolt plunged into the bipedal boar, right beside the skull Snake had drawn. It sank deep into the monster’s flesh and then fused with it, transferring all that rotational force into its soft tissue. The monster came to a screeching stop, reaching for the bolt. But it was already too late.

In between the drawing of one breath and the next, the pig’s chest twisted. Bones shattered and muscles snapped as its body was distorted beneath the incredible force of Lilly’s skill.

Her high-rank Vortex Shot severed tendons and nerves, bursting every organ in its body along the way. The monster took a final, staggering step, and then toppled to the ground—blood pouring from its offices from the catastrophic trauma her bolt had inflicted. In that moment, Edge understood the origin of the skill’s name. The creature’s torso had a spinning pattern twisted deep into its flesh, leaving a wound like a whirlpool.

Fox fired an unaugmented bolt right between the monster’s eyes to make sure it was dead. She walked back over to the team, gave Snake a fist bump, then opened her canteen and drained it dry.

Everyone was in awe of the shadowkiller duo, who had just eliminated an early stage-two monster as if it were no more threatening than a regular Earth pig. They waited for a few minutes until the Acid Clouds dispersed, then took a closer look at the glade.

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These monsters didn’t have any valuable parts other than the serpent’s fangs and the boar’s tusks. After extracting them, Tessa sprinkled some manner of powder on top of the corpses. They bubbled and hissed before dissolving and soaking into the ground. “We should clean up after ourselves,” she explained. “So the corpses don’t draw more monsters to our position.”

When the hunters finished surveying the clearing, two features caught their eye. The first was three trails leading away from the glade—not counting the one they had arrived by. The second was a pool of water in the middle of the open space.

The puddle was rich in magicytes, but when he took a closer look, Edge realized that something was wrong. There was a foulness permeating the fluid that made bile rise hot in his throat. It reminds me of the place I saw inside the blightlings’ cores. The toxic miasma that permitted that strange realm.

“It’s the dungeon’s taint,” Fox explained after following his gaze. “The inhabitants of dungeons don’t have access to the planet’s magic like monsters in the wild, so the System provides them with sufficient energy to grow. For reasons we don’t fully understand, the presence of monsters gradually corrupts magical energy. Tainted magicytes are incredibly toxic to non-monstrous life forms, so whatever you do, don’t fall into the pool or take a drink.”

“It’s rare to see an arrangement like this though,” Snake added. “Normally, corrupted magicytes permeate the dungeon. But here, they’re concentrated instead. It must have something to do with Savage Garden’s theme. It’s probably what the monsters were fighting over, although it doesn’t explain their unusual voracity. Regardless of the details, we should keep moving. Time is of the essence, and the sound of battle might draw other creatures to our location.”

While Tessa and Fox decided which path to follow, Mel walked over to the trail that led to the exit and removed a strip of brightly-colored cloth from her pack. She tied it to a protruding branch where the marker was clearly visible. “This way we won’t have to worry about getting lost on our way out.”

By the time she was done, Lilly had chosen their route, and the crew headed deeper into the dungeon.

Before long, the hunters reached another clearing. This one was smaller than the others—about twenty-five feet from end to end. Just like before, there was a corrupted pool in the middle. Sleeping beside it was another monster. This one was a pale grub the size of an Earth walrus. Its body was covered in long yellow barbs. The maggot monster had a stinging tail and wicked mandibles that looked sharp enough to cut a person in half.

Snake gestured to Edge, Jumo, and Mel. “It your turn to show us what you can do. We’ll watch out for adds and jump in if you need us. But if you were skilled enough to be selected for this mission, you shouldn’t need our help.”

Tessa looked like she wanted to say something, but Snake cut her off. “No spoilers or assists, and that includes your auras. They need to understand what it means to conquer a dungeon, and it will only get worse from here on out.” Since their opponent appeared to be sleeping, they began the encounter with a quick strategy session.

While Tessa activated her sensory skills to watch for anything headed their way, the trio put their heads together, going over their plan before committing to their attack. “Alright guys,” Mel began. “Do you have any ideas other than charging in and cutting it to pieces? Earl always says that I’m overly reliant on the direct approach, so I’m open to suggestions.”

“Nothing in here would survive a day if it didn’t have a means of defending itself while asleep,” Jumo said. “And that thing looks like it’s between early and middle stage two. Given how aggressive the other monsters were, it might be using a strategy that capitalizes on that tendency. Why don’t we start with some ranged attacks to see what it can do, then finish it off in melee?”

Edge nodded along, then summarized. “Alright. Let’s open with Piercing Javelin and Elemental Blade on my chakram. Mel, you can, I don’t know, throw a rock or something.”

The redheaded warrior laughed at his suggestion. “I know I said that I don’t have any ranged attacks, but I didn’t mean that I couldn’t pull off something basic.” She reached into her pack and withdrew a pair of throwing axes. “These little ladies don’t do much damage, but they can serve as a distraction.”

The trio decided to spread out along the border of the glade, then attack from multiple angles at once. They would see how the maggot monster responded, then close the distance and fight according to their primary roles. Jumo would draw the creature’s attention, while Edge and Mel circled around to land a critical strike.

He looked over to see if the crew’s stage-two members approved of their plan, only to remember that Fox and Snake were wearing masks. The shadowkillers couldn’t give away anything by reading their expressions or by following their gazes.

That might be part of the reason why they wear masks to begin with. Tessa seemed like she wanted to help, but after looking at the ground, she deliberately turned away. Ah well, it was worth a shot.

With that, all that was left to stick to the plan and see how the battle turned out.