The Hunter’s Guide To Monsters

Krow ultimately decided to put off decimating monster nests for now, in favor of village quests and scouting the surrounding lands.

The lands below Cerkanst were thankfully not as dramatic as the highlands. Though the peaks were high and the valleys low, they were hills and shallows in comparison.

At least here, in the borderlands, his definition of 'mountain' wasn't constantly getting updated.

The semi-official word was that the Urla Mountains had peaks three times higher than Mount Everest. Amazing. The fact that the king in Velkenbragg didn't freeze on his throne was proof enough that Zushkenar was a magical world.

Krow skidded down a rain smoothened boulder and flipped onto a flat rock lower down.

He'd seen what looked like round blue leaves as he was passing by earlier.

Having scouted now more than twenty kilometers out from Cerkanst, he was more confident that he could gather enough gold for all his plans after the craft update.

He'd seen a family of Silverbeard Red Martens playing around in the tree branches earlier.

In a nearby river, an entire shiver of Icetower Riversharks had surfaced briefly, startling him into nearly becoming a Krow-shaped snack to a passel of shark pups. He'd nearly forgotten to modify the place-mark that his Ghostcaller scouts had tagged on the Map.

He leaned off the flat rock.

Hah, it was Blueshade Roundgrass!

"Map, mark green, silver." A corresponding mark appeared on the Map, indicating his current location. Green for plant, silver for average profit currently.

The blue circular leaves were used in several potions of mid-level importance – the General Antidote was one, actually.

Krow stretched. Should he go further and see what monsters and plants came out at nightfall at this distance from Cerkanst?

In his explorations, from when he decided to stay in the village until now, he had five silver-gold nests marked in his map. Silver-gold for good profit.

He also had two pure gold marks, one plant green, one predator red. Gold for excellent profit.

Some marks were within violet circles, which indicated the target would only be seen after nightfall.

So far, Krow didn't have any marks for the shadowbeasts that came out after moonset.

He looked toward the cliff.

If he went back to Cerkanst now, he had time to take a few quests.

He nodded. Enough exploring for today. He double-jumped for a branch above him, then tree-hopped toward Cerkanst.

The tree line ended some kilometers before the cliffs that held the village. It would still take him an hour to return. He threw a grapplehook and flipped over the trunk of a leaning tree. A twist of the wrist and the hook shook free, disappeared back into his Inventory.

He skated sideways down a moss-covered branch, grinning, used the momentum to fling himself into the air in the direction of the next tree.

Always so exhilarating to let his DEX and Acrobat skills out to play.

He jumped down the tree branches and landed on a rock. There was a ghost-scouted monster nest nearby that he hadn't checked out yet.

One last nest.

He stepped into a clearing and saw…his eyes widened.

"Stop!" He yelled the word as quietly as he could.

The girl paused, hand in the air. When she looked over, he gestured her urgently backward.

She tilted her head in confusion.

Since he stepped into the clearing, he didn't take his eyes off the monsters just standing there casually.

Long red tops, like chili peppers upside down, thick and squat stems that looked like they were made out of iridescent crystal.

The whole looking like a bunch of simple mushrooms. At their base, Redsilk Algae spread outward like blood gushing out of the feet of monuments.

Of course, they weren't mushrooms.

Peppercap Toads, also known unofficially as Firework Toads. Because if you disturbed one, the colorful explosion that transpired would be your last tribute and also the grand farewell of your funeral.

Twelve peppercaps rose upward.

Six Toads.

The girl huffed at his gesturing, still reached to touch the stem.

Was he going to lose his first life in Redlands because someone thought a peppercap toad was shiny?

"What kind of herbalist are you?!" he whisper-yelled.

He recognized her. Menrike, his erstwhile guide, who abandoned him cruelly on the streets of Cerkanst after one minute of being a guide.

She glared back. "I have good eyes, aunt said so! What do you, a hunter, know about mushrooms?"

"Mushrooms!?"

An amateur herbalist.

Shkav.

"Oh," he said in normal tones. "We're going to die."

Even if he ran away as fast as he could, once she touched that Toad, its defense mechanism would explode, saturating the forest for kilometers around in a cloud of pretty, sparkling poison.

That was the fallout if just one woke up.

But six?

The girl, who undoubtedly heard him, judging from the small huff she made, ignored him.

"Menrike," a calm voice, still as a mountain lake, sounded. Somehow, it stilled the girl's advance. "Leave that alone and come here."

Krow glanced to the left briefly, to see a draculkar with eyes fixed on the peppercaps.

At least someone here knew the danger!

"But aunt…"

"Now, child."

Menrike sighed, turned around.

This was one way to give him an appreciation of how draculkar were only officially adult when they reached the age of twenty-five. Despite her height, Menrike was, in human terms, a pre-teen.

He would appreciate the detail gone into each character later, as the contrast with the responsibility of the younger Talebrech was curious.

Right now, there were more important concerns.

Krow didn't take his eyes off the mushrooms. Menrike was now passing close to the last of the ones arrayed in the clearing.

He started to breathe.

Then Menrike slipped.

"Child!"

Krow double-jumped forward, grabbed Menrike by the arm. He used the momentum of her fall and another double-jump to twist mid-air and throw her toward her aunt.

In the same motion, he brought out all the Paralyzing Mist Vials he could and broke all of them.

He only had Minor Vials. Peppercap Toads were not one-serpens monsters. He broke more.

He brought out his last crate and kicked it open. Ten Vials, twenty.

The air filled with paralyzing mist.

In the shadow of those peppercaps that were the ears of each monster, Krow saw up close how the Toads woke up.