"What are you doing here?" Peter whispered.
"We’re going hunting, remember?" the man said.
Fuck… I forgot… “So early?” Peter growled.
“At what hour does your Highness hunt?” Marius hissed.
"Let me grab some clothes. And I’ll take my dog; I want to train him."
Marius nodded and started walking back and forth in the corridor. Peter picked up some reinforced boots, and after a minute of thinking, he equipped his leather armor and the helmet. He was convinced Marius didn’t like him much and was the type to shoot birdshots in his ass just for fun, pretending it was an error.
“What the fuck are you doing dressed like that?” the man gasped when Peter rejoined him.
“This stops monster bites,” Peter patted himself on the chest, over the jacket, “and the helmet has night vision and a display.”
“Kid, hunting monsters is illegal. If we’re caught, that’ll ruin our business.”
“Then what do you propose?”
“We hunt normal game, duh! I spotted a marsh fifty miles away. Good chance to pick waterfowl… Monsters! These youngsters,” Peter could hear Marius snort and whisper the last words. They exited the building two minutes later, aiming toward a muscle car.
“Waterfowl sounds nice,” Peter said to enlighten the mood.
“Are you OK if I go fast?" Marius asked once in the car.
"As long you drive safely," Peter said.
“Buckle up.”
What Marius meant by fast was not what Peter had in mind. Once out of the town’s limits, they never went below a hundred miles; at times, they reached a hundred and twenty. The forest and landscape passed near them in a blur. The most frightening thing was when the road turned to the left or right, and Marius was turning the wheel in the opposite direction. Shredder had curved in a ball on the rear seat, his paw over his eyes, whining.
"I learned to drive in the army," Marius said matter-of-factly.
"Amen," Peter said. It was not a bright answer, but he was so shocked he couldn't find something smarter. He grabbed the armrest tightly and prayed. The fifty-and-some miles took them twenty-five minutes. Half a mile before the Hoit Marsh, the road was blocked by a concrete barrier.
Marius stopped the car in the middle of the road. "Let’s hurry."
Peter exited the vehicle, taking Shredder. Marius joined him and pointed to a note on the windshield: Boobytrapped.
"It’s a joke, right?" Peter asked.
Marius ignored the question. "C’mon, it’s late. Are we going to hunt or what?"
The morning light was still to appear, barely a bluish haze on the horizon. Regina's uncle entered the woods without any dithering. They advanced into the wetlands for twenty minutes, with Marius leading the way and Shredder at the rear. Marius stopped Peter several times, warning him about deeper mud patches on the path, demonstrating their depth by sticking fallen branches in them.
"How do you know?" Peter asked after a while.
"I'm a Bayou guy, son.”
Hey. Good morning. No. Peter squeezed his eyes, noticing a line of tablets tied to the trees. Never seen this type before… Do you think this is a reservation?
“There’s the lake, and we’re lucky,” Marius whispered, signaling Peter to stop, then pointing at a flock of geese resting on the water. He silently searched in his backpack and extracted a short, double-barrel shotgun. It looked like it had been saw off, but just by a few inches.
“Ready?” Marius whispered. Peter nodded, his gun already in hand. Seeing the pistol, the older man facepalmed. With a deep sigh, he turned, crouched, advanced for a few more yards, and fired his barrels at the defenseless birds, ignoring every sportsmanship rule. The flock erupted up in the air.
"I got three. Dog, go fetch!" Marius ordered, putting his gun on the ground.
The pup advanced toward the water, checked the temperature with a paw, then nodded in denial. “Woof!”
“Some hunting dog! OK, I’ll swim...” he said, preparing to undress. “All OK, kid? You’re not crying over some birds, right?” he continued. Peter has moved up his visor, staring at him with widened eyes.
“Y-you s-shot them on the w-water!” Peter yelled.
“Say again?” the man furrowed his brow.
“You shot them on the water! It’s illegal!”
“No, it’s not.”
“It’s immoral! Have you heard the expression ‘sitting duck’? They have no chance on the water.”
“That’s the point, kid... Why take chances?” Cutting short the arguing, Marius advanced into the lake. The birds were not far away, and the water only reached the man’s chest. Marius was about to return to the shore when a strange noise approached—loud, rhythmical flappings. The geese were now back with a vengeance, the gaggle diving toward them in a cloud of angry beaks.
"Get out! Incoming!" Peter yelled.
Throwing the geese on the shore, Marius plunged forward, pulled himself on some roots, and reached his gun. Amazingly, he managed to recharge and shoot twice before the flock arrived. Peter lowered his visor and discharged all his bullets, adding Impulse to enhance penetration and get more targets. Before attacking the two men, the birds screamed. Peter froze in place, chills running down his spine.
You have been inflicted with Debuff: Goosebumps.
A second later, the flock arrived, hitting them with the force of dozens of hard fists. Recovering first, Peter stepped back, channeling a curtain of lightning all around his arms, slapping the birds down while taking some distance not to hit Marius, who was still in the water. The flock retreated but only to come back for another round.
"What the fuck are those?" Marius yelled, recharging and shooting his gun anew.
"Monsters. Mutated geese," Peter yelled. Shit… we’re still in the radius of the college’s reservations…
To counter Peter's lightning fists, the following attack split into countless tiny waves of three to five birds. If he zapped a group, the next would arrive from another direction. Keeping his back to a tree to have cover, Peter switched to the Spear of the Minotaur, shaping it into a cleaver and taking swipes to the left and right. Meanwhile, Marius used the stock of his gun as a mace, protecting his face with his free arm. Shredder jumped in the air, barking, snatching the flying monsters out of the air like frisbees.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“Good dog!” Marius yelled, raising his rucksack as a shield and continuing the same tactic
After what appeared like an eternity, the last bird fell.
You have slain Crazed Goose (Lvl. 6) x 159
You are now level 36.
Shredder is now level 25
3 APs available.
Loot the bodies? Y/N
Due to those monsters' high numbers, coordination, and Elite status, you have received a more sizeable XP chunk than their level would normally offer.
"What the fuck!" Marius exclaimed when the birds' bodies disappeared under his eyes.
"Magical Ability," Peter said. "Didn’t Regina tell you?"
"That you’re a cultivator? No. Why are you disintegrating them?"
"I’m a Wild Mage, not a cultivator, and I’m sending the birds to my magical storage. Which could be a great asset to your business and a secret. You better not flap your piehole about it. Are you hurt?"
"Only in my ego," the older man groaned, massaging his knee. Despite his brave words, Marius’s torso was covered in cuts and bruises.
“Eat this,” Peter offered a pill to Marius. “Magic healing stuff.”
"Those were monsters, right?" the man asked.
“Yeah…"
"Strange… I looked up Google Maps, and there was nothing marked here.”
"Cultivators don’t give a shit on Google Maps," Peter rolled his eyes. "Let’s go back. Are you done?"
"Yeah… It was a nice hunt after all," Marius said, dressing back. “Keeps in shape.”
The line of light on the horizon turned red, indicating that the sun was about to rise. The two men walked back in the same order, with Regina's uncle at the front and the warg last.
Suddenly, a roar startled them. "Wucha doon wuth moo boords?" A rumbling like an approaching train started, and then a giant wolf-humanoid shape appeared, running toward them at full speed.
"Rougarou!" Regina's father yelled in panic.
"Run!" Marius shouted, taking the lead at a tremendous speed.
Peter hurried after him as fast as possible. Behind them, the sound of running steps was gaining on them.
"There are totems in the trees. If we pass them, we're safe," Peter yelled.
Marius nodded and accelerated. They went beyond the protection line and stopped forty feet later to assess the situation. The monster kept coming, the totems having no effect on him. It was at least eight feet tall, with five inches long claws. A moment later, Marius shot the werewolf twice in the head. The bird shots grazed the mutant's face, and it howled in pain. However, it remained up and very much alive.
"I'm out of ammo!" Regina's father said, running toward the car, which was now visible. "Hurry!"
Peter had two more clips, but recharging the pistol took time, and the werewolf was almost on them. There was only one way to play it safe. Taking Shredder by the skin of his neck, he ran forward, grabbed Marius's shirt, and Warped. A moment later, they were next to the car.
“Whoa,” Marius yelled. “That was impressive! How do you—”
“Later!” Peter screamed.” They entered the car in a hurry, and then Marius turned the key.
For a few seconds, there was only whiteness and a deafening noise. Peter passed out. When he regained consciousness, Marius was pulling him out of the smoking car.
“Sorry, I forgot about the stun grenade!” Marius screamed.
"You fucking idiot! Cah…" Peter yelled, then coughed, his ears buzzing all over.
"I said I’m sorry, OK?" Marius shouted.
"Grrr!" and "Woof!" were the two interjections the mutated monster and Shredder let out. The first had caught up with them, and the latter was putting himself before his master as a last line of defense.
"Run, kid!" Marius yelled, turning to face the werewolf, a hunting knife at the ready. "For the record, I hate you, but I’m doing this for Regina. Take care of her."
"Stop, stupid, I'll—"
Warp us out was lost in translation. Marius attacked the mutant. After several useless knife swipes that didn't cut through the fur, the two flailed their arms at each other like a pair of berserked kindergarten kids, finally turning to grapple. The werewolf and the man fell to the ground, each trying to get the upper hand but failing.
At the same time, the pup was barking his lungs out, trying to bite the beast. Extracting a magazine from storage, Peter recharged his gun. The problem was there was no clear target; the two combatants were clewed together in a mix of arms, legs, and teeth. The werewolf's jaws were clenched around Marius's backpack, and the man showed quite a bit of grit, trying to bite off the monster's throat yet spitting out tuffs of hair every other second.
Peter fired in the air. The monster jerked briefly, scared by the noise, allowing Marius to extract himself from the grappling situation and duck-roll away.
"Doon't shoot!" the monster yelped, protecting his head with his arms.
That made Peter reconsider things. "You're sentient?"
"Doon't shoot!" the werewolf repeated.
"Give me the gun, I'll do it," Marius forwarded his hand.
"I so swear, if you don't shut your mouth, I'll blow your kneecaps off," Peter yelled. "You, the hairy one. Who are you?"
"Huy… changed… not knuw…" The beast raised his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Pleais, doon't shoot… me angur you kulled boords. Uy hoonting gaard nouw," the werewolf pointed briefly at his tattered uniform.
“You’re the reservation’s guard?” Peter gasped.
“Uye,” the werewolf nodded.
Shit…
“They employ monsters?” Marius asked.
“It’s not a monster; he’s a mutated human. Shut up and let me think!”
No kidding, Poirot! Genius deduction.
"Hey, furry," Peter snapped at the werewolf. "You have two choices. One, I shoot you. Two, you eat a medicine that will make you control your anger."
"…Mydicine," the creature said after a pause, opening its jaws, heaving with his tongue out like a dog waiting to be thrown a bone. Peter obliged.
“What’s that for?” Marius asked when Peter handed him a second pill.
"To prevent you from turning into that.”
“Goodness gracious… Thanks,” Marius blurted, crossing himself and swallowing the pill quickly.
The werewolf stared into nothingness, chewing on the pill. "I'm back to normal!" he yelled suddenly. "Fuuuck… I’m not back to normal…” the beast wailed, patting his fur. “That sucks! I want my life back… How will the ladies like me now?"
"Let's go," Peter said to Marius. "The creature is healed."
"Doesn't look like healed to me!"
“I’m not a creature; I’m William,” the werewolf said.
Peter opened the doors of the car to let out the smoke. "Who’s the magic specialist here, you or I?"
"Good point," Marius nodded, waving his hand in front of his face. “That grenade stinks… Last time I buy Chinese.”
“Hey, you’re not leaving me here, are you?” William asked.
“Sorry, but I have to ask… What happened to you? You got bitten?” Marius asked.
“Yeah, Sherlock, that’s exactly what happened!” William growled. “Then I became able to change my shape, and some idiotic woman tested a shot on me that made me go nuts.”
Is he a victim of Melinda’s tests? Peter shivered.
Meanwhile, William spoke on, and Peter heard only the last words of his phrase. “—and hired me as a Park Ranger under the Integrate the Crazed program.”
“I’m sorry I shot your birds,” Marius said.
“You think I give a fuck about some birds?” William roared, attracting a bark from Shredder. “I want my life back! I can’t stay in this shithole. I’m an urban guy. Bloddy cultivator assholes!” the werewolf pumped his fist in the air.
I beg you, don’t reveal yourself yet. Let’s ensure he’s safe for now… “Look… William… you can’t mingle around like that,” Peter pursed his lips. “But I think I might have a safe place for you.”
“Regina’s friend’s shelter?” Marius asked.
“I’m a person, not an animal,” the werewolf grumbled, frowning.
“Better a shelter than being shot by the first happy trigger American seeing you,” Marius pointed. “Err… sorry… I guess I’m one of them.”
“It’s not a shelter. It’s just a place where you would integrate… with normal people but who look more like you.”
Yep. With a whig and little makeup, he could pass for a lionfolk, right?
“We have to go,” Peter said.
They entered the car, with William on the rear seat, taking shredder in his lap. Marius started the engine and drove on with the window down.
“Slow down, or I’ll barf,” William announced. He and the warg were terrified, panting with their tongue out, and their eyes widened.
"You’re nuts," Peter stated while the terrain started to blur again from the speed.
"OK, I’ll go slower. For the record, you know what we’re doing for a living, right?" Marius asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Transporting gold and stuff,” Peter said.
“And what do you think it’s the most important skill when idiots ambush your armored car?”
“Oh…” Peter facepalmed. “You are a driver…”
“The best. That’s what I was trying to tell you. So… what’s the plan for our friend?” Marius looked in the rear window.
“There’s another nicer and bigger reservation where I have some friends who could ensure his safety.”
“Where? Where?” the werewolf rushed to ask.
“It’s a secret!” Peter hissed.
“C’mon! You know you can trust me, right?” Marius insisted. “If you tell me, I can drive you there faster than you could go.”
“No, you cannot. It’s in Brazil, and we must go through a secret Cultivator portal,” Peter invented a lie on the spot.
“Brazil? I love Brazil!” William exclaimed.