Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

Ike raced through the forest. What Scar had said kept replaying through his head. Why were they executed when the trial ended? Did the trial devour them to re-seal the monster? Or… was it simply a side effect of something more fundamental? Something like folding the realm away to seal the monster once more, but in collapsing the realm, they'd naturally die, crushed like ants in a folding tablecloth?

He wrinkled his nose. Scar was right. It wasn't important, and he shouldn't waste his time thinking on it. He really was their primary tactician, and he couldn't afford to fall behind, mentally or physically.

Still, he couldn't help but think about it. Even as he sat in the depths of the castle, focused on absorbing mana, some small part of him wondered about the monster, and what the trial did to it. From what the voice in his head said, it was something the people who had created the trial couldn't kill. Possibly even the thing that had killed the kingdom that came before, the kingdom that had created this trial.

But if that was the case, how was he supposed to kill it? If the entire kingdom couldn't kill that monster, even with that super-powerful skill this trial realm was meant to hide, how were they supposed to kill it, without even the super-powerful skill?

Unless. Ike's eyes widened, and he shot to his feet. He stared into the centipede tunnels. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be true. Her castle had fallen, just like everyone else's.

Or did it?

He hadn't confirmed it. He hadn't confirmed anything. He hadn't even seen the castle fall.

Ike couldn't wait any longer. He sprinted into the centipede tunnels.

"Ike?" Startled, Wisp stood as well. She chased after him. "Where are you going?"

"Don't worry about it. Stay back. Gather mana," Ike replied.

"Nah, I'm coming," Wisp said. She leaped and landed on his shoulder, quickly taking the shape of a small spider. "I'm not getting left out of the fun this time. Where are we going? Hunting a momma centipede?"

"No. Worse." Ike told her his suspicions.

Wisp cackled. She danced on his shoulder. "Interesting, interesting! Oooh, how nasty. I hope you're right. That'd be real gross. A real underhanded move."

"A good way to try to win the trial," Ike pointed out.

"Yeah. Jealous you didn't think of it?"

He snorted. "It wouldn't actually work. There's something here, some intelligence that's watching us. If we don't clear the trial in the intended way, I'm not sure if it would count it as a victory, even if we defeated all the monsters in this realm."

"You think not? Then, do you think that intelligence would kill her, if she succeeded at her gambit?" Read latest stories on empire

"Yeah, more or less. Well, it might not have to. That monster might not go away until we're all dead. Either that, or the trial collapses to re-seal it, or something, and at that point, everyone dies, regardless of what they've done up until that moment." Ike shrugged. "It's all just guesswork. I have no idea how it actually works."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, it's an interesting idea. We'll find out if we don't beat that thing fast enough, won't we?" Wisp pointed out.

That gave Ike pause, even if his feet kept moving at the same pace. "Damn. You think it's on a timer?"

"Might be. It's probably a mage-scale timer, so, you know, years, not hours. But like you, I don't know. Could be anything," Wisp said with a shrug.

Ike twisted his lips. She was right, but nonetheless, he couldn't help brace for the worst option.

Ike raced through the tunnels. Earlier, he'd plumbed their depths, looking for more powerful centipedes. This time, though, he stayed at the shallow level. He ran in one direction, single-minded. There was one destination for him. One place he needed to go. Just to confirm something. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe it was all in his head. But the sinking feeling in his gut told him he knew what was happening, that his guess was right, that the clan known for subterfuge and underhanded tactics was doing exactly what they were best known for.

Ahead of him, stone walls broke the monotony of the rough-carved centipede tunnels. And in the stone walls, a man in dark robes locked eyes with Ike. The man hesitated just one second, then raised his weapon.

Ike scowled. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way."

"Yummy! It's been too long," Wisp cheered on his shoulder.

The man rushed at them. Wisp turned around, and a stream of white silk wrapped around him. He slashed through it before it fully wrapped him, but that motion left him open. Ike slipped in. The Hungry Sword sang as it smashed through his neck, eating him open like a thousand tiny mouths.

The man dropped to the ground. The Hungry Sword pulled in Ike's hand, yanking him toward the man's sword. Ike picked it up and offered it to the Hungry Sword, and in a matter of seconds, the sword demolished its lesser counterpart.

Wisp hopped off his shoulder for long enough to cocoon the man against the wall, then rejoined Ike. "Yummy yummy, tasty bodies, tasty in my tummy. People meat, fun to eat, gonna chew 'em up real good. Bite them and they turn to jelly, slurp them up into my belly—"

"Could you not?" Ike asked.

"What?"

"You're singing about eating people!" he protested.

"So?"

"I'm people!"

"You have a whole nursery rhyme about killing spiders. No, several!" Wisp protested.

"And I don't sing them around you," Ike pointed out.

She considered for a minute. "Yeah, but you could. And I wouldn't get insulted or anything."

Ike gave her a look. "Would you not?"

"I mean sarcastically yes, but not for real," she said.

"You just want to keep singing your people-eating song," Ike accused her.

"I was one with the rhythm. A part of the beat. The creative juices were flowing. Mmm, flowing juices…"

"Alright, alright," Ike complained.

Two men dropped from the ceiling toward Ike and Wisp. Before they even finished falling, Ike smashed one of them into the ceiling with the Hungry Sword. The blades whirled, gnawing a hole through his gut. The man screamed in pain and horror. Wisp tackled the other one. He lashed out, cutting her in half—and then the shadow of Wisp vanished. She appeared on his neck and chomped down, pumping venom into him.

"Fool. I'm immune to most poisons," the man snapped.

"Joke's on you, this is venom," Wisp replied.

He smacked at her body, but she was already gone. Her fangs latched onto his ankle, and this time, she simply dug her feet in and tore. It would have been humorous to see a tiny spider tear the leg off a man, if it wasn't for all the screaming and the splashing blood everywhere.

Ike released the man from the ceiling, striking his neck open on the way down to truly finish him off. The other man succumbed to Wisp's poison moments later.

"Ha, idiot," Wisp muttered, too busy chewing his leg to offer a real insult.

"Two left," Ike replied.

She glanced at him. "You know, if we're going to recruit them, we probably shouldn't kill them all."

Ike's eyes flashed. Recruit them? These cowards, who hid when everyone else fought? Who refused to take on their part of the battle? "Who said we're going to recruit them?" he replied darkly.

Wisp giggled. "More meat for me!"

The Hungry Sword thrummed in excitement, and Ike delved deeper into Vi's castle.