Depthless Hunger

Chapter 81: Tracking a Gomodo

Getting away from the politics of Rayakan to hunt again should have made Kai happy, but even as they ventured deeper into Goralia, he found himself thinking about everything. There were so many variables, he was ultimately hoping that people deserved his trust. Razz most of all, given how he had put himself front and center.

Running into Dommag Corinin without any accusations of theft should have been comforting too. It barely registered. Regardless of what they knew about him, the Corinin clan of this city would ruin his life if they thought they would profit.

The one person he was sad to leave was Tusquo. There was so much more they could have spoken about, yet it seemed that events pulled them apart again. He also somewhat regretted that he hadn't gotten another weapon sphere, even though he knew that was selfish. Tusquo couldn't generate those easily and Irun desperately needed its strength if cities like Rayakan were willing to taunt them like this.

Which left him with his claws. Kai flexed a hand and hoped that would be enough.

"What do we know about this thing?" As she ran, Zae Zin Nim waved the papers in his direction. She had been silent for the first several days of their travel, mostly cultivating, but now she seemed oddly interested.

"First, I should tell you that I've never hunted one." Kai managed to take the papers from her to look at the drawing of the squat lizard. He couldn't hold them as adroitly while moving and they ended up fluttering all around. "But I've read a little about them in the Hunters Guild records. They're more common in Goralia as far as rare monsters go, which... I guess that's kind of contradictory. Among rare monsters, they're-"

"I get it. What do we know about fighting them?"

"The accounts weren't very well written in my opinion. They say Gomodos are usually lazy, but apparently they can be fast. It was unclear if they're really durable, or just hard to stop. What I got out of it is that you need to be absolutely sure you've put them down. I remember one hunter said he lost a leg from a Gomodo he was sure was dead."

"That's not very useful, without a scale for exactly how tough they are."

"I think they keep growing throughout their lives, so presumably they only get stronger. The reports suggest this one is fairly large, so we should take it seriously."

"Hmm." Zae Zin Nim shook her head. "If it couldn't be taken down by the elite mercenaries, then it may be a challenge. I wanted to test my skills against it, but it might be better not to take the risk. We use our best attacks right from the start, end the battle before it begins."

"Oh, I don't think the elites would have fought it." When she gave him a flat stare, he hastened to explain. "Remember that the Hunters Guild is controlled by the Corinin clan. The monster isn't causing enough of a problem for them to care, so they're not going to send their strongest assets. Whatever the reward is, it was put up by smaller villages. The amount is probably nothing compared to what the top mercenaries are getting paid, so they're not going to bother chasing after it."

"Hmph. Then do whatever you want."

The package Razz had shoved at him contained three things: the notification requesting someone defeat the Gomodo, a scrawled note about its last known location, and a letter stating a few terms. Since Kai could never join a Hunters Guild again, he couldn't fight it as an official hunt. But if Zae Zin Nim claimed to have killed it and took the reward, it wouldn't be worth the trouble for anyone to try to pin blame on him.

Or so he hoped. Razz had clearly prepared for this and wanted to use it to convince them to help with the Irunians. If the timing had been slightly different, the terms might have changed as well.

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He decided there was no point second-guessing himself. No politics, no merchants. Just a big nasty lizard that he needed to kill.

When they reached the correct region, he had been afraid it would take weeks to finally locate it. To his surprise, as soon as they identified themselves, local farmers began pointing them in the right direction. They weren't exactly cheerful, and a few muttered derogatory comments about hunters under their breath, but they were quite invested in showing which way the monster went.

Once they got closer, the string of helpful farmers ended because Kai could see for himself. A house had collapsed and a swath had been torn through a field. It seemed to end at a wall of trees serving as a windbreak alongside the field. He was a bit disappointed that the Gomodo wasn't visible from a distance.

"It might be smarter than average." Kai looked over the fields and trees, seeing too many potential ambush points. "It could have left that big obvious trail, then hid in the crops to attack us from the side."

"So this is another time that it would be convenient to fly." Zae Zin Nim sighed and gestured for him to go first.

All his caution was unnecessary: they soon caught sight of the Gomodo lying at the end of the crop damage. Honestly, it looked kind of stupid. Just a flat lizard flopped on its side. It was chewing on half a tree trunk, its jaw working slowly over the wood. Still, its hide looked tough enough to turn a normal blade, so it could lie there with impunity.

Just in case, Kai opened his spiritual sight...

Monster: Gomodo

Threat: Beta (II)

>

...and saw that it was rated as a beta level threat. Zae Zin Nim appeared to have noticed the same, because she shook her head. "Doesn't look like the smart sort of monster."

"It's possible that standards are really so low here in the south," Kai said, "but we should still be careful. Think we can kill it in the first stroke?"

"Might as well."

The monster must have been able to hear them, because it rolled off its side enough for one eye to swivel in their direction. It just kept chewing. Something about that made him nervous, so Kai resolved to really put everything he had into the attack. End the fight before it could play any tricks.

"Okay." He took a deep breath and raised his hand in a claw. "Three... two..."

"Let's just kill it." Zae Zin Nim unleashed a qi attack trailing blue flames, so he had no choice but to strike it as well.

Despite the lack of coordination, both strikes hit at about the same time. The qi singed the beast's hide and his claws tore into it, sending it flipping over...

And it landed on its feet and suddenly began racing toward them.

Zae Zin Nim had better instincts than him, unleashing a series of qi bolts just as strong as her first. Kai instead hesitated, and when he examined the qi tearing into the monster's body, he realized a terrible change.

Monster: Gomodo

Threat: Gamma (III)

>

It looked like a gamma-ranked threat to him now. This monster didn't just appear lazy, something about its nature tricked a hunter's senses. He tried to call a warning, but it was already too late.

Even though the qi was burning its body terribly, the Gomodo just kept charging. At the last second Zae Zin Nim realized that she had made a mistake, but it was too late: the monster reared up and snapped its jaws around her arm.

Such massive jaws slamming closed should have torn off her arm entirely. Yet Kai was startled to see a line of blue flame extending out of its maw to her shoulder. It was her Coldfire behaving in a way that he'd never seen before. Zae Zin Nim looked shocked as well, as if she hadn't intended to defend herself that way.

The only one who wasn't shocked was the Gomodo, which resolutely tried to chew off her arm despite the flames.

Kai leapt in to assist, stomping on the monster's back hard enough to break its spine. Its jaws jerked open, allowing Zae Zin Nim to pull free. She quickly slammed her other palm against the side of its head, a blow that drove it to the ground. Betting that it still wasn't finished, Kai lifted his foot for another stomp.

Except the Gomodo moved faster. Its back jerked at the broken point, swiveling in an unnatural way and striking him hard enough to send him tumbling. Kai hit the ground and skidded back, pulling himself back to his feet and already fearing what he knew he'd see:

Monster: Gomodo

Threat: Delta (IV)

>

The Delta-tier threat reared up, its maw opening around Zae Zin Nim's head. She cried out in surprise and it slammed her to the ground, jaws closing around her neck. They were resisted by an aura of blue flames that lit up around her body, but the monster didn't seem to care. Even though it was scorched by dozens of wounds, it just kept biting down on her.

As Kai rushed to save her, the flames began to gutter out.

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