Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

Ike at their head, the centipedes rushed through the castle and out onto the battlements. Wisp was gone. The Old Guard had hidden. There was only one tasty morsel ahead of them, and his name was Ike. Unhesitating, Ike leaped off the wall and down toward the battle.

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The centipedes poured after him. Like a wave crashing against the shore, they slammed down on the ground outside of the castle. Scar and Rufus fled, leading their men away. One or two of the centipedes peeled off to chase, but most of them followed Ike.

"Look! Look at all this delicious food!" Ike shouted, gesturing ahead of him at the fire monsters.

He barely needed to incite them. The centipedes leaped forth, rushing toward those delicious, precooked meals. For their part, the fire monsters’ eyes lit with rage. The puny humans had brought reinforcements? Unacceptable! They rushed toward the centipedes, enraged beyond anything they’d felt so far.

Ike darted away, dancing back to the castle as the two forces slammed into one another. Rufus and Scar followed his lead, regrouping their forces on the wall. The Old Guard emerged from the round room, and Mag and Wisp descended from above—Wisp on a thread, and Mag fluttering down.

"What the hell," Wisp muttered.

"I had an idea. Thought it might buy us all some break time," Ike said. He grinned down proudly at the chaos, his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, it worked, I guess," Wisp said. She shook her head. "What the hell, though. Who thinks to go piss off the guys who we barely beat in the previous trial to come fight the guys in this trial?"

"Ike," Mag said simply.

"Well, yeah, clearly. I guess I really mean, what sane person thinks to do that. To which the answer is, no one, because Ike’s crazy," Wisp added, without a pause for Ike to butt in edgewise.

Ike spread his hands. "It worked." Stay tuned with empire

"And if it didn’t work?" Rufus asked sharply.

"Then I died, probably," Ike said with a shrug.

"Not just you. All of us!" Rufus snapped.

"It’s true, but on the other hand, we couldn’t just keep doing this forever. We were all getting worn down. Ike has bought us a lot of time. Maybe even the rest of the battle. We can always go get more centipedes, after all," Scar pointed out.

Rufus rounded on her. "You’re on his side?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. Wouldn’t be if it hadn’t worked. But it did, so hey! Risk taking is part of being a mage. You’ll never get anywhere if you never take any risks. That’s how you die a measly Rank 2, without ever testing your limits. Surely even a coddled young master like yourself knows that much."

Rufus twisted his lips. He turned away without saying any more.

"Centipedes are just inferior spiders, if you think about it," Wisp offered, to absolutely no one’s cue.

"Yeah?" Ike asked, taking the bait to see where it went.

She nodded. "Yeah. Too many legs. Lots of legs is a good thing, but you gotta know when to stop. Not at four, obviously, but eight is a good number. You can still control each leg individually, without having essentially two limbs because you have so many limbs you can’t put them each in your mind. Plus, they’re too long, and they can’t cast webs. They might eat spiders, but they are truly the inferior bugs."

"I see, I see," Ike said, nodding. He paused. "Wait, they eat spiders?"

"Mhm. I eat them now, because I’m stronger. But if we were both bitty-sized, they’d eat me."

"Damn. This has really been a hell of a trial for spiders, huh," Ike muttered.

"Not only that, but there’s also a bird," Wisp protested.

"Huh?" Mag asked, looking over. He’d been crouched on the crenelations, not paying attention, but he looked back when she said ’bird.’

Scar glanced from one to the other. "Have I missed something? Why are we talking about spiders?"

Ike thumbed at Wisp. "She’s a spider beast."

Wisp transformed. She waved a foreleg at Scar, then transformed back. "Hiii."

Scar blinked. She nodded, slowly. "Ah. I see."

"I’m a bird," Mag chirped.

"I knew that. Wait, then—" She squinted at Ike.

Ike spread his hands. "Just human."

"As far as you know," Wisp muttered, waggling her brows at him.

"Thank you, Wisp. Unhelpful as it is," Ike replied.

Scar pointed. "And the kid. I thought he was just some child prodigy, but that’s not it, is it? What kind of beast is he?"

"I’m no beast. Nor a kid, thank you very much," Shawn said. He hopped off Wisp’s shoulder and walked over to Ike, lifting his arms for Ike to pick him up. Ike obeyed, and he gave her a haughty look from the higher vantage point of Ike’s shoulder. He unleashed a small amount of his weight, letting it press on the shoulders of all present. Two of Rufus’ men instantly dropped to a knee, and one of Scar’s men wobbled and barely caught herself. Wisp didn’t flinch, and Mag only pitched a little bit on his perch.

Shawn looked down on all of them. "Know that ye stand in the presence of a mountain."

Scar’s eyes widened. Her mana washed over Ike, then retreated, and her shocked gaze grew even deeper. "Holy shit. He really is a mountain. What the fuck is your team?"

Ike rubbed the back of his head and let out an awkward chuckle. "Uh, you know… just a few people I picked up along the way?"

"Where’s this way of yours? Show me, so I can go find a bunch of rare beasts and mountain seeds," Scar demanded jokingly.

Ike laughed. "Well, if you cross the enormous desert that separates this region, then go climb the mountain range that separates the next two regions…"

She raised her brow. "Damn. Your sect really sent you far afield, huh? I’m surprised. A talent like you, I figured you’d be someone’s precious inner disciple, or something."

Ike coughed awkwardly. "Er, well…"

"He’s just a wanderer. Isn’t even a member of a sect or clan. Barely has a city to call home," Wisp butted in.

Scar blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, er, sorry…"

"How is that possible? He isn’t older than two hundred—I’d know from his aura. He’s already Rank 3, on the verge of Rank 4, and somehow he did all that by ’just wandering,’ without any formal tutelage?"

Ike waved his hand. "I had a teacher. A panther-beast named Silver taught me a sword skill."

"Oh, to break through from Rank 2 to 3?" Scar asked.

"No, um…it was my first sword skill. I picked it up at Rank 1," Ike said, a little sheepish.

She stared at him disbelievingly. Even Rufus, who’d been half-paying attention, was looking at Ike in a new, somewhat terrified light. "But that’s impossible. Ranking up to Rank 3, without any support, that’s…"

"And, uh, I’m seventeen or eighteen. I really am. I don’t know how to slow my aging or anything, so I’m just… as old as I look," Ike said, spreading his hands.

Scar nodded slowly. She smiled at Ike and reached out a hand to pull him in by the shoulders. "Ike, old buddy, old pal. What do you say about joining my sect? We’re a very large sect, with premier resources. We’d pull out all the stops for a talent like you. In fact, I’d be shocked if the Sect Master didn’t take you in as a personal disciple! No, forget the Sect Master. The City Lord would absolutely love to take you on, personally. I’ll assure it! All you have to do is join my sect, and we’ll get the rest set up for you!"

Ike laughed. He shoved her away playfully. "I’m just a slum rat. There’s no need to exaggerate."

"She’s not exaggerating. My city… I suppose you aren’t interested in the Father God, but even so…" Rufus looked like he was vomiting as he said it, but pressed on anyways. "My city would fall over itself to pick up a disciple like you, if everything you’ve said is true. Your talent even—" He swallowed visibly. "—even surpasses mine, and I’m considered the talent of a dozen generations."

Wisp cackled like a witch, rolling around on the floor and laughing. She sat up as Rufus went quiet. "Hey, Ike. Get him to compliment you more. I’m really enjoying it."

Ike rolled his eyes at her. "Uh huh. Look, we aren’t out of the woods yet. Everyone, rest up. When this round of centipedes wears out, I’ll lead another expedition into the tunnels to round up some more. The centipedes are a supplement, not a replacement, though, so I need everyone ready to fight. And that means resting hard now. Understood?"

Scar popped a salute. To Ike’s extreme surprise, Rufus clasped his hands and bowed in acknowledgement, the first time Rufus had shown him anything more than a stiff nod. True, it was still extremely stiff, but nonetheless, he did it.

Ike rubbed the back of his neck. "Am I really that shocking?"

Wisp snorted. "I dunno. You’d be pretty damn shocking if you were a beast, but I thought humans had different timelines because of your short lives. But I guess by Rank 3, you’d be living a few centuries even as a pathetic, short-lived human, so yeah. You know what? Yeah. You are shocking."

"Thank you, Wisp," Ike said, snorting under his breath. Nothing like a few of Wisp’s backhanded compliments to bring him back to earth. There was something reassuring about it. Grounding.

"You’re so welcome. And hey! I’ll be here all week." With a grin, she scuttled back up to the highest point of the tower, where she settled in a cozy web she’d built between the top post and the wall. Mag perched above her, haughtily harrumphing from his higher vantage point, but Ike had to admit, the cozy web looked way better than the cold perch at the top of the metal bar.

Shaking his head one last time, he headed back into the depths to get some true rest, himself.