111. The Favorites

  [Designation: GUNGNIR]

  [Item Class: AUXILIARY]

  [Anchored Realm: PRETJORD (+1)]

  [Item Description: Gods come in many shapes, and often with little in the way of fanfare or grandeur. A prayer for favorable weather. The lamentations of a grieving mother. Or sometimes, the simple desire of a soul to be recognized and justly rewarded for his skill and talent. One such god heard one such prayer in one such memory of a long-forgotten world. The god recognized and rewarded this soul by crafting a divine weapon. A perfect replica of the soul’s skill as a hunter—and his talent for never missing his mark.]

  ***

  The final bombastic syllable of King Tyr’s speech sent the Netherpool’s winter wonderland into chaos.

  Notwithstanding the royal arbiter’s warnings (invitations?) about what was or wasn’t allowed by the rulebook, no team hurried to form alliances or rivalries—at least not so early into the game. Pairs of Wayfarers, together with their Anchored spotters, scattered across the open ice. Every trio intended to carve out a piece of the pie that, with any luck, would yield the biggest slice on the table.

  Team Serac monkey-saw and monkey-did, doing their darnedest to look as purposeful as the rest of the competition. They were, however, somewhat slowed by the ice itself as well as by the pace of Petter Svensen, who lagged behind the bigger, fitter, and more experienced spotters. Zacko didn’t seem to mind the apparent deficit, as he offered a typically blasé quip.

  “This is fine. If anything, it gives us the best vantage point for watching and learning from the entire field. Like my mama always used to say: when in Pretjord.”

  Serac, ever the eager student, gave the Manusya several seconds to finish his sentence, before running out of patience.

  “When in Pretjord what?”

  “Never mind. Take a look up ahead, though. The favorites are already getting stuck in.”

  The ‘favorites’, of course, referred to Team Rathor. They boasted a formidable line-up made up of two captains: Rathor himself of the Kronvakt and Captain Sea Bass from the Kronheer, today acting as spotter. Rounding out the trio as the second hunter was a [Designation: HILDE VINDSDATTER]. She of the manta ray typing and an impressive pair of pectoral fins.

  If there was one example to watch and learn from, Team Rathor had to be it. Serac kept her eyes peeled even as she jogged behind the main pack. She wasn’t alone in her approach; Wayfarers on the other teams hung back slightly, as if ‘waiting’ for Rathor to claim the first stake in the Realmhunt. Even in this supposedly free-for-all competition, a clear pecking order was in effect.

  Presently, Captain-turned-spotter Sea Bass ordered his group to a halt with a raised fist, which his two Wayfaring teammates promptly obeyed. The Anchored man brought his scarred face close to the ground, looking for all the world like he wanted to sniff the ice. After only a brief moment of this, he took out an ordinary carving knife to quite literally mark a ‘spot’ on the ice. Job done, he stepped back a fair distance, retreating to the safety of unmarked ice.

  The hunters immediately sprang into action. First, Rathor jumped into the air, fishing trident in hand. At the same time, Hilde ducked underneath and brought both of her finned arms skyward with a powerful stroke. Whoosh! The ensuing gust of wind pushed Rathor higher into the air (and sent his ash-gray mane awhirl, Serac couldn’t help but notice), well into fall damage territory. From his elevated position, the Yaksha prince threw GUNGNIR with an almost casual flair, plunging its barbed triangle of a blade into the ice.

  [Auxiliary Technique: TRUEFLIGHT]

  The trident hit the mark with remarkable accuracy, breaking off a sizable block of solid ice as it did. Then, as if pulled by an invisible string, it shot straight into the air and back into the hand of its thrower, ice-block and all.

  A gasp of wonder and excitement went up from the spectators in the tented area. The ‘show’ was well and truly on—a flashy opener by its marquee performer.

  As for the performer himself, he handled his sure-to-be-lethal fall with aplomb and trickery. He brandished his trident with a nearly complete throwing motion, but stopped short of letting loose. GUNGNIR and its captured block of ice crashed earthward in the blink of an eye, dragging with it Rathor’s bullet-like figure. Back straight, legs together, and free arm tucked to the side.

  The ice shattered into smithereens, dispersing the kinetic energy of the landing while leaving GUNGNIR to stand on its blade, straight up and down. Its wielder, of course, had held onto GUNGNIR’s shaft for the duration of the circus trick. For one instant, Rathor held a one-armed handstand, his sinewy musculature helping to absorb what remained of the impact.

  Cool as you like, the prince finished off the sequence by flipping back onto his feet, prompting more applause. Through it all, he didn’t lose a single drop of HP. The man even had the casual audacity to turn and wave toward the adoring crowd!

  “You can just do that?” Serac turned to her teammates, scandalized. “Pretend to throw your spear and somehow gain the power of flight?”

  “Not quite flight in the strictest sense, Miss,” Petter explained confidently, clearly having done his homework. “Notice he needed Miss Hilde’s help to fly up into the air in the first instance. That’s because GUNGNIR needs something solid to aim at. The technique also has limited range. Prince Rathor couldn’t just aim for the canopies and fly from here to the top of the Realmtree in one go.”

  “Either way, it’s a homing spear guided by an aimbot,” there Zacko went again with his jargon, “which you can hitch a ride on and use as a gap-closer. Conditional or no, seems plenty OP to me. I guess he ain’t the big shot prince/captain for nothing.”

  “Oh, if you think that’s powerful, Mister, wait until you see it in action with FURNACE! Keep watching now; I think they’re just about to start their hunt proper.”

  “Through that new hole in the ice?” Serac asked, taking mental notes.

  “That’s right! First, Mister Army Captain marks out the prime location. Next, Prince Rathor carves out the chokepoint. And now—”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Right on cue, Hilde the manta ray folded her fins and dove straight into the so-called chokepoint (brrr!). This was followed by a lull in the action, one Serac seriously imagined would end with the manta-ray woman floating back to the surface as a block of frozen Wayfarer. But then the ground at her cleats began to shake, signaling a large-scale movement in the water beneath.

  Whatever Hilde was doing down there, it was working. Her trick was nowhere near as flashy or crowd-pleasing as the prince’s, but you couldn’t argue with the results. The first of which popped out of the chokepoint in the form of a dark, scaly shadow.

  In a Realm of fish-people, it was no surprise that some of the Aberrants also took after a piscine form. The [Mennesketer] was one such horror show, though in truth, it looked to be more teeth than fish. A slippery, wriggling body tapered far too acutely into a tattered tailfin. The head was larger than the rest of its body, consisting of only two discernible components: a single eye that glowed a [Hungry] red, itself overshadowed by the creature’s flaring spike-pit of a mouth.

  The Mennesketer splashed through the surface, furiously snapping its jaws as if to eat the very air. But its appearance proved short-lived, what with a seasoned hunter waiting on the other side of the ice.

  [FURNACE: ON]

  [Auxiliary Technique: TRUEFLIGHT—SAMGHATA]

  Before Serac could even process what had happened, the Mennesketer went poof into Souldust, leaving behind sparks of white-hot fire as the only clue of how it died. Serac snapped her attention onto the smiter, just in time to see a burning GUNGNIR fly back into its thrower’s hand.

  Rathor himself had undergone a temporary transformation. The Rakshasa part of his torso, namely the faded vermilion skin uncovered by shark scales, now took on a scorching, dark-red hue—much closer to Serac’s own cinnabar. He also radiated an aura that was hard to define, flickering constantly between Zealous-green and Infernal-black.

  The effect was brief, however, and the prince was back to his vermilion, smile-and-wave-at-the-crowd self in no time, along with a Pathsighted message that read: [FURNACE: OFF].

  Rathor’s in the same category of Wayfarers as Zacko or the Tomasens, Serac analyzed on the fly. By which I mean he imbues his Auxiliary with the magic of his main Instrument. Just where is he ‘hiding’ it though? Unless—?

  The show was far from over. The ice-quake continued in conjunction with Hilde Vindsdatter’s underwater work. Before long, more piranha-like Wildspawns broke the surface in droves, where only a fiery death awaited them.

  [FURNACE: ON]

  [Auxiliary Technique: TRUEFLIGHT—RAURAVA]

  Serac was ready this time, and she bore true witness to GUNGNIR’s true flight. Or multiple flights in this case. The trident caught fire again, but the flames now split off into five detached tongues, each morphing into a replica of the main body.

  Six tridents—one physical and five fiery apparitions—flew into the swarm of Mennesketers at speed. Like spearing fish in a barrel. The whole lot of them went up in flames and Souldust, as instantly dead as their vanguard before them.

  “It’s an AOE upgrade to the first spell,” Zacko muttered Serac’s exact thoughts. “Our big shot prince has got something of a toolbox up his sleeve. A figurative sleeve, of course, in every sense of the word.”

  Serac was locked in. She didn’t even let the unwelcome reminder of Rathor’s fashion choice distract her from the main attraction. The show now moved onto its climax with the entrance of a big bad villain.

  In fact, the ‘elite mob’ more than just made an entrance. The thing sent more broken chunks of ice flying everywhere as it widened the chokepoint to accommodate its own formidable size. And where the Mennesketer had been a piranha with too much teeth, the [Jotuneter] looked to be more tentacles than fish.

  The Wildspawn had taken after the kraken of legend. It extended its tentacles onto the icy surface, probing, writhing, and uncoiling into its full, fearsome height. Easily twice the size of even a bull-shark Yaksha king, and therefore instantly dwarfing and casting a multi-faceted shadow over every soul in the vicinity. A giant-eater indeed.

  The Jotuneter now unfurled the bulbous proboscis that passed for its mouth, before letting out a spittle-flecked screech. It made no audible sound (and therefore elicited a complete non-reaction from Zacko). Yet Petter as well as the gathered spectators broke out in cries of pain and dismay. Even Serac winced a little, as her somewhat ripple-aware horns picked up on the monster’s ravenous intent.

  As it turned out, the Jotuneter’s greeting did have its intended effect, at least as far as Pathsight was concerned. For Serac’s overlay suddenly exploded with multiple messages at once, affecting almost every Wayfarer in range: [Status Effect: FEAR]. Almost everyone, except Zacko and Serac herself. Being outrealmers did have its perks after all!

  Prince Rathor too seemed utterly unfazed, smiling up at his much bigger ‘prey’ and its shower of spittle. The scaly portion of his torso, however, did react to the screech by standing on end, proving he wasn’t entirely immune to the Jotuneter’s scare tactics. Regardless, it wasn’t enough to proc the [Fear] effect, which meant the trident-slinger was free to spend his Mana with impunity.

  [FURNACE: ON]

  [Auxiliary Technique: TRUEFLIGHT—TAPANA]

  Back to a single burning spear, but it flew as swift and true as always, finding its mark inside the Jotuneter’s open maw. The kraken didn’t instantly disappear like its little piranha brothers, but the whole thing did go up in flames, eliciting another silent scream of a much more pitiful variety.

  [JOTUNETER Status Effect: HELLFIRE]

  It then stayed on fire for some time. Unable to fight back, it quickly curled up into overburnt calamari. [Tapana]’s fire flickered green-and-black like Rathor’s aura, even as the Jotuneter’s Health bar shriveled into nothing.

  Funnily enough, the effect reminded Serac very much of her own [Catharsis] spell. It seemed to be a persistent DoT effect (a chunky one at that!) rather than separate hits of tiered damage, which only made it all the more terrifying. Then there was Rathor himself, admiring his own barbecue-craft with the wolfish smile of an apex predator. The whole scene left Serac feeling more than a little queasy…

  “There’s that fight-or-flight response again, Wayfarer.” Trippy in his monotone underscored the disturbing turn of events. “Though I rather suspect it’s for a different reason than previously.”

  “You’re not wrong about that,” Serac muttered in her outside voice. Then, her mood turned on a dime as a new thought occurred to her, “But you know what, somehow this whole thing has got me feeling peckish. What a shame to see that giant squid burn up into Souldust! If only I could’ve [Harvested] it, I’ll bet you Petey could’ve come up with another banger recipe.”

  “You’ll get your chance yet, Miss Serac,” the chef in question piped up. “You’ve now seen the basic loop of the Realmhunt. Spotter to scout out a promising chokepoint, then the two hunters work together to flush out and smite as many mob-class Aberrants as quickly as they can. The more mobs you smite in one concentrated area, the higher the likelihood of drawing out an elite, like the Jotuneter we just saw. With any luck, you catch the attention of the biggest ‘fish’ in the sea: the Frostkrill. At least, that’s the theory under typical conditions.”

  As if to illustrate Petter’s summary, Hilde the manta ray now jumped out of the chokepoint herself, drawing the curtains on Team Rathor’s first ‘loop’. Drenched from head to toe, she wrapped her fins around herself and shivered violently, striking a miserable contrast to her partner’s turn as the flashy and very-much-dry showman. To Rathor’s credit, however, he immediately set his GUNGNIR on fire again, demonstrating his chops as an on-demand heat source on top of being an apex predator.

  Aw, there Serac went again with her flip-or-flop response, what a gentleman! Oblivious to his hunter companion’s inane thoughts, Petter Svensen drew in closer, eager to get the Team Serac show back on the road.

  “But there’s nothing typical about this year, Miss Serac, what with that secret weapon in your pocket. We’ve seen what the favorites are up to. Now, it’s time for us long shots to flip the script!”

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