Mask of Humanity

A monstrous claw of silver energy sliced through the jungle. It sank talons the size of swords into a tree and gripped tight, the bark erupting with snaps and cracks, chips of wood flying. The claw was connected to a long Soul Sense tendril that stretched through the air, a line of white through it. The tendril flexed powerfully, snapping to pull something forward.

Nicolai hurtled through the air, passing by the Spectral Claw which detached and roamed ahead of him, following the movements of his reaching arm and extending Soul Sense. The fast-passing air would have snatched at his hair, whipped at his clothes, dug at his eyes, if it weren't for the Skin Suit. But covered as he was, he felt nothing but the smooth movements of his body, the deep satisfaction of using such a powerful Symbiote combination, and the thrill of flying through the air faster than he'd ever experienced before—at least, on this world.

The Spectral Claw pulled with significantly more strength than the Grasping Finger ever had, and it had a longer reach, too. It was a huge improvement in every regard. There were, however, two downsides. The Spectral Claw was formed from a total of eight Symbiotes, and it was burning a tremendous amount of Oma with each reach-and-grab, perhaps ten times what the Grasping Finger had required. Thankfully, with his newly completed Node system he possessed a far larger store of Oma than in the past.

The other issue was of greater concern. The eight Symbiotes were releasing powerful, far-reaching ripples into the Aura, ripples he was unable to restrain and which would attract anything or anyone with a spirit to feel them.

He switched, with some regret, to the Grasping Finger. His speed decreased by half. Regrettably, despite having two Grasping Fingers, one in each hand, he was unable to use them simultaneously. This was because he only had a single Soul Sense tendril. If he was Tier 2—which gave the ability to create two tendrils—he would have been able to use them both together, reaching and grasping independently for greater speed.

Nicolai was en route to a circular area, perhaps 800 metres wide and about four miles from his base, tagged as "Gorothune." This ping was the result of his Mark's new Slayers Guild functions.

Hunt Job Alert!

Detected: Gorothune - 110,000 pts

A Gorothune is in your area. Hunt it, and be rewarded.

Gorothunes are ground-burrowing ambush hunters, a type of Spirit Beast. They use their large claws, vibration sensing abilities, Soul Sense, and the earth-based Symbiotes they tend to collect to move through the earth. After getting into position beneath their prey, they will leap out in ambush. When hunting a Gorothune, one may wish to avoid the ground.

Their valuable organs and Symbiotes tend to be in their heads and near to their hearts. A wise Slayer will kill the target while avoiding damaging these parts, in order to receive the full reward and gain Symbiote loot.

Many creatures in the jungle were minor. For example, the Redback he'd killed before encountering Hao's group. Such a creature was unlikely to ever be targeted by his Slayers Mark, which only targeted creatures with desirable parts.

The Gorothune was different. It was valuable, which was why someone had put out a request for a Slayer to hunt one. Nicolai intended to do a significant amount of hunting. It was a way to gain points-tags and Symbiotes while thoroughly exploring his nearby environment.

Gorothunes were certainly valuable and worth hunting, but with a greater reward there also came a greater risk, as it was also more dangerous than the average Spirit Beast. Even if it was only Tier 1, it would likely be difficult to bring down. He was especially interested in the fact that it would likely have earth-based Symbiotes that would augment its burrowing abilities. He'd like a Symbiote like that for himself.

He accessed the PathFinder interface and gave some mental directions. On his map, a shining line was drawn from his current location to the circle. No real use in this situation, the Pathfinder merely told him the best route to get to that area—a straight line.

He could have used the TreasureFinder to locate its exact location, but the TreasureFinder only had a single charge a day, and this day, since he was heading out anyway, he intended a different use for it. It also created Aura ripples while searching and perhaps wouldn't even function if used in his spiritually sealed base.

There was another, simpler reason he didn't use the TreasureFinder. He looked forward to the challenge of tracking down the Gorothune himself. Since his Mark had detected it and he'd set out, he'd been delving deeper into his stored information, seeking to learn all he could about it.

Both the Memory Tome at the castle, and his more recently purchased Memory Discs, had touched on the Gorothune, thus allowing him more details than that given in the brief description from the Slayers Guild. Both of these sources, handily, gave slightly different information, and as a result he had a thorough understanding of it and the tracks it left behind.

He was closing in, but there were no signs yet. While moving he had to take care. The Gorothune was in a more active area.

While travelling through the jungle, searching for the cave that had become his home, he'd observed that some areas had been especially active, full of dangerous creatures. Now armed with Memory Discs that explained the phenomenon, he understood why this was.

These busier areas arose naturally, due to a higher concentration of Aura which caused creatures living within to grow faster, become stronger, and possess more Symbiotes. He anticipated that most of his jobs for the Slayers Guild would see him entering areas like this.

He could feel the moment he entered the area, as though he'd crossed some kind of invisible line. A faint shift in the Aura, a sense of danger. He paused and settled onto a tree branch, turning slowly to take in his surroundings. He breathed deep of the thickening Aura, filtering through his Skin Suit's air filters. It was louder, here. The endless chattering and shrieking of the jungle, the sound of life and death.

A flock of small, colourful birds roved like some glittering snake between the trees and passed over him, wings rustling. A trail of squirrel-like rodents with oddly large, spined tails scampered up the side of his tree, one of them briefly pausing to stare in his direction before continuing on, sharp claws clicking as it dug into the wood. Their movement kicked up motes of golden dust, glowing in the light filtering down from above.

On a neighbouring tree he saw a busy nest of some kind of hornet. Their appearance, bright green and as big as his fist, caught at his memory. Jade Hornets. The corpses of the bugs were somewhat valuable, a minor refinement material.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Quite a lot of them were buzzing out from the nest, and he saw them moving in a line through the air. He tracked them, and saw there was a brown-and-black snake on a branch, one that looked to his eye a bit like a viper. The hornets were attacking it viciously while it hissed and bit, head bobbing, body flinching. Even as he watched it became paralysed, and was carried by multiple hornets through the air, toward the nest.

As he observed, even more hornets began bursting from the hive—a great papery construction hanging from the side of a tree, metres across—increasingly upset and concerned. As though they sensed his regard. Perhaps, through the Aura, they did. Cyberwarfare double checked his Soul for Intent leakage, found a small leak and sealed it.

Nicolai turned away. The hornets were safe from his clutches, at least for today.

This was to be a surgical strike, in and out. This area of increased activity was dangerous. In spite of all he'd learned and gained, out here he was closer to the bottom of the food chain than the top. Part of his purpose today was broadening his understanding of the jungle and its dangers. As he became more comfortable with this place and other areas like it, he would become willing to deviate, performing some smaller hunts as he went.

But for now, he would remain focused on hunting the Gorothune, and tangling with a few hundred very large and aggressive hornets wasn't something he'd be able to do while maintaining stealth.

He continued his journey, penetrating ever deeper into the jungle. While floating between some branches, a thump from below pulled his attention. Peering down he saw a huge, draconic creature with a long, raised tail ending in a heavy, barbed club come lumbering through the trees, shouldering smaller saplings aside with as much effort and notice as he might part long stalks of grass. Based on its Soul Sense—large, and split into two tendrils which roved ahead of it—this creature was Tier 2.

The information he'd absorbed roiled, the Modules rapidly searching, and in only a moment he knew what he was looking at. A Clubtail Tyrant, a powerful breed of Toothbearer. It was the kind of thing he might hunt, but for now there was no listing for one. He knew that even the M99 might fail to penetrate its heavy, bony skull, and the thick green scales that formed an overlapping layer of armour over its whole body. If he didn't score a kill quickly, it would activate Symbiotes and come at him in a fury. It was emanating ripples, and from their taste he knew it had numerous Symbiotes. Enough, perhaps, that it would be able to attack him even if he hid up here.

He settled against a tree, using his skinsuits climbing claws to attach himself, and waited for it to pass. The wind sighed, rattling the leaves as it wheezed downward. The huge creature sniffed at the air, raising its head curiously. He was now upwind from it, and the dirt he'd covered himself in wasn't foolproof. As it stomped toward the tree where he lurked, Nicolai detached and floated slowly upwards.

Settling into a higher branch, he watched as it investigated down below. It reared up on its back legs, planted its front claws against the tree—making the whole thing shake—then extended its head and sniffed at the tree branch he'd stood upon.

We're being watched, Threat Analysis informed him. Don't move. They look extremely dangerous. There was something odd in its tone.

Nicolai didn't move, his neck prickling. Where? Threat Analysis drew his attention to one of his Skin Suit helmet's camera feeds. Through the camera, he saw a group of shadowy beings clustered on the branches above him, eyes glittering in the dim light.

The lens zoomed in, shifting to low-light, and he saw them more clearly. Apes covered by pale-gold fur, they were staring at his location with simian confusion. Now focused on them and their sounds, he heard them letting out faint muttering noises. He smiled as he felt Threat Analysis's amusement.

A group of wild apes. Minor spirit beasts, no danger. He filtered through the information and found the answer. Gold Fur Apes. They tended to be weak, rarely going higher than Tier 1. Occasionally one could find wind-type Symbiotes on them. Their tendons were a basic refinement material. From what he'd learned, there were some monkey species in this world which were more dangerous—they came in very large groups, almost like armies. These weren't that kind. They seemed curious. From this close, the observant creatures had noticed the shimmers of his poncho, and were confused.

Again, not his target. The Clubtail Tyrant was moving away. He rose and floated off, continuing his journey.

They're following, said Threat Analysis a minute later. The Modules were watching the creatures, mirroring their curiosity.

Through a camera he saw that, indeed, they were. The curious creatures formed a train behind him, scampering over branches, swinging on trailing vines. They were letting out excited noises, and generating quite a ruckus in their pursuit.

Nicolai frowned. This would not do. They marked him and caused a disturbance. He slid behind a tree-trunk, deactivated everything but the Lurker Symbiote, and settled in, waiting as they drew closer. He had no particular desire to kill them, but they were beings worth hunting, if only due to the tendons. More to the point, he needed to scare them off.

The faint click of a silenced pistol sounded once. One of the lead apes, an old male, stumbled and fell. The others let out shrieks of surprise as it was suddenly wrenched through the air, seized by the Grasping Finger. So long as he only used one Symbiote in concert with the Lurker, it was able to conceal the ripples. The corpse hurtled towards Nicolai who caught it, activating his Mark.

The corpse shimmered and was gone. Send to the Slayers Guild butcher. The apes stared for a moment, then began to shriek and scream in rage and confusion.

They were answered by another click, and another old ape died and was dragged through the air.

The creatures got the idea after that, turning and fleeing to shriek elsewhere. He was surprised they'd stuck around as long as they had, considering they were pursuing something mostly invisible which had already silently killed and claimed one of them. Nicolai seized the next corpse and sent it away, too.

The Mask wasn't exactly happy about the deaths of the innocent creatures, and Threat Analysis, a wildlife fan, commiserated with it. But both understood the necessity, and Nicolai had selected his targets with some care. He was new to being a Slayer, but already he had formed some opinions. A Slayer was a hunter of beasts. Any hunter should follow some simple rules, so as to ensure that they do not overly damage the ecosystem and thus put themselves out of work.

Pregnant females should never be killed, nor the immature. Young, fertile females, and young, virile males are also better left alone. The best targets are the more mature ones, who would be larger in size and better prizes in any case. Even then, care should be taken not to kill all the mature creatures in a pack, as these may be providing food and safety for the others. If one doesn't particularly value the loot, then the old and infirm—who don't have long left in any case—are the ideal kills.

This, he felt, was how a Slayer should think. He may be new to the job, but he intended to fulfil the role the same as he would any other: To the very best of his ability.

He was within the marked area, now. In fact, he'd pressed all the way to the very centre. If the map was accurate, then the Gorothune was currently within 400 metres of him. So far, he'd seen no signs.

Nicolai began to circle around his starting point. If one were to observe his route on a map, they would see he was forming a perfect spiral. He would go from in to out. His drones moved with him, spreading wide to give him half-a-dozen fast-moving eyes, piloted by Threat Analysis. After only a few minutes, the Module tugged at his attention. It'd spotted some signs of the Gorothune.

Nicolai came to investigate, and saw it. Down on the ground, a place where the plants and greenery were disturbed, the earth pushed up in an untidy pile. A very, very large molehill. His bionic eye zoomed in. From the state of the earth—still moist, as earth from underground often was, yet to be dried by the sun and the wind—this was quite fresh. Something had been digging here within the past day.

He and the drones began a new spiral, moving out from that first sign, and soon they found another. A large tree had a series of ragged tears down its side. Claw marks, from something scratching at it. A habit Gorothunes had. Their claws grew continuously, and thus they needed to find scratching posts.

Shortly, he found another sign. Another molehill (gorothune-hill), only this one had the remnants of some slain creature mixed amidst the dirt. It had fed here. The kill was recent, as was the hill, more recent than the last. Perhaps five hours.

These signs, if one were to consider their placement on a map, formed a line. The Gorothune would most likely be found at the end of that line. He ceased his spiralling and slipped through the jungle, arrowing toward his target.