Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!-Chapter 330 - . Pursuit

They reached the bottom of the mountain by the end of the day. The barrens stretched before them. Barely any plants grew among the cracked, dry earth, just scrubby bushes and some sparse grasses. No longer did dense grass rule the plains. Now, it was the lesser plants, the smaller, yet hardier strains that survived. Very little animal life filled the plains. Even when Ike extended his aether, all he sensed were bugs, small lizards, and a few birds. This place was barren in every sense of the word.

To match the barren lands, no cities broke the empty expanse. Not even a mortal city, or a hint of an itinerary existence. It was as though humans had simply given up on these lands. Looked at them, seen them as unlivable, and moved on to find somewhere else to live. The grasslands were empty, but these lands, these were…

"Deadlands," Ike muttered aloud.

"What do you mean? There's lots of life out there," Wisp replied.

"Bug life, maybe."

"Nothing wrong with that. Bugs gotta live somewhere," she said philosophically, one hand on her hip.

Ike gave her a look. "Bugs live everywhere."

"And they also live here," Wisp said proudly.

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"Birds live here, too," Mag butted in.

Ike sighed and patted his head. "That's true, kiddo. Someone has to eat the bugs."

"I'm the adult! You're the kiddo!" Mag replied, narrowing his eyes.

They set off over the barren lands. Ike jogged, not pushing his limits or even running hard. There was something about it, something about being here, that made him hesitate. He was so close to the crystal shards, the place he'd seen that man in white lay the body… the crystal tomb. And yet, he feared arriving. There was something that awaited him there. Something that would change everything he knew. He could sense it, without knowing why, or what, or how.

It's just the skill that lets me take control of the King. That's all it is.

But was it? The images the ants had shown him kept replaying in his head. The man in white, descending into the tomb with a body draped in his arms. Why? Who was that? Were they just warning him that it was a tomb, or had been a tomb at some point? If that was all, then he wasn't afraid. Even if there were skeletons or zombies, he'd just have to smash them to bits. At the end of the day, undead were no different from any other kind of monster.

The trepidation didn't abate. There was something about that crystal shape in the distance that made him distinctly uncomfortable. He glanced at Wisp and Mag, but neither of them reacted. Either this sensation was a thing only humans could feel, or he was the only one who felt this way.

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Abruptly, Ike's eyes widened. He touched his chest. Was this feeling not him, but the King? The King, who feared this place he approached? He chuckled under his breath. Well, well, well. Of course the Kingy was afraid of the crystal place. That was where he'd get the skill to control the King, after all. He'd be afraid of the place that held the skill that could control him, too.

"Ike? Are you alright?" Wisp asked.

"Oh, I'm all good now," Ike muttered to himself, his grin spreading wider.

Wisp leaned toward Mag. In a mock whisper, she said, "He's not alright."

Ike rolled his eyes at her. "I just figured something out, that's all."

She applauded. "Yay! He's learning! What was it, sweetie? Is the sky blue?"

Ike crossed his arms and glared.

Wisp giggled. "What? Everyone has to figure out colors one day."

"Come on. It's high time I control this 'King' guy already," Ike declared, speeding up.

"Said every evil vizier ever," Wisp pointed out.

Ike nodded, then paused. He squinted at her. "How do you know about human story tropes?"

"Ever heard of the fly on the wall? I ate that motherfucker," Wisp said proudly. "And then watched the rest of the play. I had a hobby of watching human performances for a while. Only a while, though. There was so much love-talk that I had to stop watching. The action ones were okay, though. Usually only had one or two stupid conversations and love declarations in between the sword fighting."

"You might've watched more plays than me," Ike admitted, as he ran on. He hadn't had a whole lot of time—or money—for the fine arts. Once or twice, he'd managed to catch a few minutes of an outdoor performance, but his uncle was always quick to find him when he was 'slacking off' and put him back to work. What little he knew about stories, he'd learned from the books he scrounged and hid away so that he could practice reading. It was easier to sneakily read a book than stealthily watch a play, after all.

"You aren't missing much," she said.

"Good to know."

"But maybe, when we get to the big city, it might be worth seeing one, once. You enjoyed watching Lord Nors' misery thingy in Shopkeep's city, right?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean the illusions Lord Nors set up in his city to explain how he'd come to the miserable end he did, with all his citizens replaced by puppets and his own family dead. Yeah, I don't know if I enjoyed the experience, but I did want to know what happened," Ike allowed.

"That's what plays are all about," Wisp said, nodding. "Especially the tragic ones. Those are the worst, though. It's all talk and no action. Everyone's sad all the time, and that's it. No one tries to get better, and then they all die and," she added, actually getting incensed, "AND no one eats them! What's the point, you know? I mean, I get killing everyone, or dying, or whatever, but what's the point if no one eats them afterward? They just died for nothing!"

"I think that's the point of tragedy," Ike pointed out.

"I disagree. Tragedy should have a better point. The point sucks."

"That's…" Ike refrained from repeating himself. It would be lost on Wisp, anyways. Besides, it wasn't as if he was a fan of tragedy, either. He didn't really mind Wisp trash-talking it.

The small party raced over the deadlands, hurtling ever closer to the crystal shards. Ike pushed himself to run faster and faster, his eyes locked on the distance. He was going to make it there and get this King under control, whether the man wanted it or not.

Skill. Skill, not man, Ike reminded himself. He ran on.