Cypha greeted them with considerably more enthusiasm than she had the first time meeting them, when under the directions of her boss. She waved her chit over a sensor at the personnel entrance to the junkyard, and they entered as a group.
The entrance to the junkyard featured a small clearing for vehicles entering and exiting the area. Beyond it, was a singular multi-storey building which contained Juno’s office.
“Well… I guess this is my spot.” Noelle nervously wrung her hands in front of her as they waited for Cypha to retrieve her hoverbike. “I’ll see you when you finish up. Evantra…”
The girl licked her lips, avoiding her gaze.
“Be careful.”
Evantra simply returned a wry smile and a nod before heading in the direction of the approaching bike. As they raced towards their destination, Evantra glimpsed Noelle watching from the top of the steps, her knuckles white as she gripped the railing.
Evantra tapped the cheap earbud in her ear, speaking over the rushing wind.
“Is this working?”
“Shush.”
Cypha cast a brief glance back at Evantra, her mixture of disgust and fascination clear to see.
“Stop flirting you two. We’ve got a job to do.”
“How long before she realises, you think?” Evantra could detect a hint of amusement in Noelle’s voice.
“We wouldn’t want to destroy the poor girl’s fantasies.”
“Huh? What fantasies?” Cypha gave her a look of confusion, as she turned to glimpse at Evantra who was sitting in the cart pulled by the hoverbike.
“Nothing. Drive.”
---
Cypha and Evantra watched the drop as it happened. The Nezha dropship hovered over the junkyard before dropping its payload onto the hills of scrap below. It was of much simpler make than Caliburn’s mining barge, and a mere fraction of the size, cast in matte metal of dark grey sheen.
“A tip, preacher? Try not to get caught on the hills when a drop happens. Too many an unlucky techrat have lost their lives from getting stuck over a drop. The Nezha dropships are autonomous; they don’t give a Ghoulshit about our lives. Doubt they would even if they were manually operated.”
Evantra nodded, carefully scanning the surrounding heaps of metal, looking for any signs of movement.
“Also, be on the lookout for mimics. The little shits take the form of scrap and jump out at you like ghouls.”
Evantra bit down a smile, careful to keep her outward expression neutral.
Fingers crossed we encounter one.
“I’m receiving a ping. Let’s go.”
Cypha hefted the tablet in her hands, covered by a sturdy case and screen protector necessary to keep it undamaged in her profession.
They pushed onwards towards the recent drop site. Evantra stared as Cypha effortlessly ascended the scrapheap with the dexterity of a spider. She winced as she poked herself on the sharp edges of metal jutting out as she attempted to replicate her feat.
“I’m going in, keep a lookout. I’ll shout if I come across a mimic.”
“Everything ok on your end, Evantra?”
Noelle’s voice came through from the cheap earbuds she had provided her.
“Mmhm.”
“O-ok. Damn I feel a bit stupid sitting here doing noth—”
“You forgot to mute yourself.”
“Shi—”
IONIAN MIMIC QUEST: OFFERING DETECTED
Rank: Level 4 [Fairy]
Description: Slay the gnome (deceiver variant)
Evantra tensed up with the appearance of the notification, but she felt an undertone of excitement at the prospect of unlocking another skill.
“Cypha! We might have a creature incoming. Hey Noelle? Do you know anything about gnomes? Ones that are known to deceive?”
Evantra continued to carefully scan her periphery for any signs of movement, as Cypha grunted in the affirmative. Apparently, the girl wasn’t fazed by the prospect of having to go up against a Veilcreature or two, especially with how casual she was with the mimic.
“They should be easy enough to handle. The deceiver gnomes aren’t deadly, but they are annoying for Ghostslayers who rely on optics to detect traces of life. They’re capable of concealing their physiological markers like their heartbeat, heat signature, scent etcetera. They aren’t invisible though, so you should be fi—”
Evantra stumbled forwards as something leapt onto her back, shunting her off-balance, threatening to send her plummeting from her precarious perch on the side of the junk heap. She felt claws dig into her shoulder as the creature secured its foothold, drawing blood. Evantra pushed herself backwards, ramming her back into the metal struts jutting out from the junk heap, in a desperate attempt to crush the creature.
Sensing her intent, it leapt off her shoulders onto the junk heap beside her, landing on the remains of a vehicle chassis.
The gnome had the same beady red eyes that the teethlings did, and rose to about the height of her chest. It had dark grey skin, also of a similar hue to the teethlings she had encountered, and a bald, round head and yellow teeth that peeked out beneath cracked black lips.
In the moment that she took to steady herself, preparing to call out the Cypha to warn her of its appearance, the creature leapt for her again. Evantra desperately withdrew her Nagantra from its holster and sent a short burst of bullets towards the creature, which it dodged, ducking underneath the chassis of the vehicle beneath it.
“You ok, Evantra? I heard—”
“There’s a gnome out here! I’m taking care of it.”
“I’ll be out in just a second!”
Evantra’s eyes lingered on the chassis, waiting for the creature to emerge. She didn’t want to take the risk to try making her way towards it, she was sure it would leap out and send her tumbling into the heap below.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
What she didn’t expect, was for a stray projectile to force her into making the decision anyway. She leapt to the side as something hurtled towards her coming from the ground below. She slammed onto the roof of the vehicle below her, and she watched as the gnome emerged, scrambling to claw at her legs.
She kicked it, slamming her foot into its face, sending it hurling down into the heap below. She watched with a slight wince as it was impaled on a metal strut jutting from the side of the hill of junk.
Immediately returning her attention to the other threat that had emerged, she watched as what looked like a creature composed entirely of wind began hurtling towards her. Its movements were erratic, and it seemed to hop from one perch to another, enjoying significant airtime and rapidly ascending the heap.
If the Veilcreature isn’t necessary to forge a skill, it seems like my lovely interface doesn’t alert me to its presence. I can’t afford to keep forgetting that.
“Noelle, I’ve got something that looks like a small cloud approaching quickly.”
“A cloud? Wind elemental? You said small? Hmm… maybe it’s a lesser elemental, we’re seeing so many Avalonian creatures…”
Noelle trailed off, and Evantra was rapidly realising just why the girl’s suggestion to integrate some form of optics to allow her to view what Evantra did would have been a great boon. Evantra sprayed a short burst of bullets that the creature evaded by adopting a zig-zag motion, causing her bullets to ricochet into the junk beneath it, sending a few sparks flying.
Evantra’s eyes narrowed, and she resisted the urge to continue firing rounds in its direction. She waited for the creature to reach its next staging point in preparation for its next leap, before she timed a quick, precise burst. She watched as her bullets ripped through its form as it reached the apex of its jump. The translucent film that was its skin was torn to shreds, sending the creature tumbling into the heap underneath it.
“Evantra, my best guess is that it’s a wind sylph – a sort of lesser elemental. Don’t bother trying to find its core it doesn’t have those, only greater elementals do. It doesn’t have the power of flight, but it moves by leaping through the air from surface to—”
“Already killed it.”
“Oh. Good job.”
Ignoring the slight tone of disappointment in Noelle’s voice, Evantra’s gaze snapped to where Cypha had burrowed through the heap in search of the component the crawler had picked up on. She still hadn’t emerged.
I don’t have much time before Cypha’s finished.
She descended as rapidly as she could towards the body of the gnome, gritting her teeth as her feet slipped across tenuous footholds. Upon reaching the creature, the quest completion notification popped into her vision. Retrieving another vestibule of her blood that she had prepared, she dripped it onto the creature and activated the [ritual of consumption].
The body disappeared in a black flash, and her eyes lingered on the skill under the Ionian Mimic catalyst section that she had gained.
Ghostslayer Rank: Ghoul (Level 5)
Catalyst: Darkstalker (level 1)
- [Razor claws]
- [Darkvision]
- [Clot acceleration]
Catalyst: Ionian Mimic (level 5)
- [Conceal]
- [Skill locked]
- [Skill locked]
Rituals:
- [Ritual of Consumption]
- [Ritual of Veilsight]
Veilsouls: 2
Evantra attempted to activate the skill. She felt the characteristic slowing of her heartbeat, signifying that the skill was in effect.
I don't feel any different—
Recalling what Noelle had said about the gnome deceiver, Evantra placed her hand on her chest and realised…
That she couldn’t feel her heartbeat. Neither could she feel the warmth on her skin.
It seems to disguise my physiological markers that others can use to detect me. It mustn’t actually reduce my body temperature or… you know. Stop my heart. I’d be dead in that case. I wonder if it conceals anything else.
Evantra grimaced.
I wish there was a way to test this more systematically.
This is going to be really useful if I go up against creatures that use heat vision.
Or if I’m trying to hide from Ghostslayers with optics.
“You all good down there, preacher?”
Cypha seemed to have salvaged the components that the Crawler identified, and she called out to Evantra was she was standing further up the junk mound. Evantra gave her a thumbs-up.
“Ready to move to the next spot?”
---
“There’s another drop, this one is right on the edge of the yard.”
Evantra held onto the edge of the hoverbike’s seat, clinging to it as Cypha accelerated. Her thoughts were awhirl as they carved their path between hulking metallic hills. Since gaining her second catalyst, Evantra had been discreetly testing out the limits of her abilities. It seemed like she could concurrently activate skills from either catalyst at the same time – which meant that she could use [darkvision] while using [conceal]. That opened up more options, which would only further compound if and when she gained other catalysts.
So far, I’ve been extremely lucky to have found the creatures required to unlock my skills.
I can imagine a situation where I’m prevented from progressing, solely because I’m unable to find the creatures that I need to sacrifice.
They finally came to a halt at the very edge of the junkyards. It was bordered by a large, chain-link fence that curved along its entire perimeter. The cost of erecting something more sturdy across the entire length of the junkyards explained its haphazard and shoddy construction.
“Damn… looks like it’s tumbled through. Crawler couldn’t identify it, must be something small.”
Evantra watched as the techrat burrowed into the side of the hill of metal, expertly shifting junk and debris to carve a path to her find, without threatening the structural integrity of the structure.
IONIAN MIMIC QUEST: OFFERING DETECTED
Rank: Level 5 [Ghoul]
Description: Slay the mimic
“MIMIC! CYPHA! GET OU—”
Cypha’s scream tore into the air, and Evantra leapt for the small tunnel the girl had created. She swore, struggling to contort herself like the short techrat did, to manoeuvre her way through the narrow tunnel, avoiding the struts jutting out in her path.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Get out Cypha!”
“IT’S ON MY ARSE!”
Evantra breathed a sigh of relief as the girl tore straight out of the tunnel, somehow contorting her body to push past her, panting wildly. Bite marks were visible on her forearm, and it seemed like she had torn out of its grip to escape. Evantra’s respect for the short, techrat with a penchant for steamy romance novels instantly increased.
They watched the tunnel entrance intently, but as the seconds drew on, nothing emerged from Cypha’s makeshift tunnel.
“Damned mimics. They’re intelligent enough to lure us in where there’s a find. If you hadn’t yelled, I probably would have been a goner, thing would have gone for my neck. How did you know it was there? It’s not worth it, Evantra – let’s go—”
She stared in incredulity as Evantra strode towards the tunnel.
“Preacher, do you have a fuckin deathwish? Why are you walking towards the bleedin’ thing?”
“Stay well away from the pile. I’ll be right back.”
Evantra crept into the tunnel, and as it turned into a straight stretch, she pointed her Naganta forwards and let out a short burst of rounds. Her rounds sparked as they glanced off the debris and junk comprising the tunnel’s walls. She watched her surroundings for her hawk… waiting for…
She watched as a small Crawler bot scurried away out of the path of her fire.
Evantra steadied her breath, set her feet shoulder-width apart, and opened fire.
Only for the metallic strut jutting out to her right, to spontaneously morph into a humanoid monstrosity and lunge for her.
Evantra anticipated the blow.
If the creatures had made the junkyards their territory, and were intelligent enough to capitalise off of the deception, they would utilise the natural features of their surroundings. That extended both to fresh drops – to lure in the junkrats, and to the Crawlers that prowled the yards.
I just wish I had realised it sooner, that way I would have entered before Cypha.
If it was intelligent enough to detect that it had been made when Evantra shouted, it wasn’t likely to take the form of a Crawler, which would attract the most suspicion. It would wait for the techrat to fix its attention on one of them, before it struck.
[Razor claws]
Evantra’s nails turned black and shot outwards into claws as she ducked the mimic’s swipe, driving her nails in a flash upwards into the bottom of the creature’s jaw, and straight through the soft skin of its jaw into its brain.
She watched as it rapidly flickered into a number of different objects before ceasing, returning to its original form, which resembled a mundane ghoul.
Level up: Level 6 [Ghoul]
IODIAN MIMIC QUEST COMPLETE
Level: Level 5 [Ghoul]
Description: Slay the mimic
Veilsouls: 3
Execute [ritual of consumption]?
Quickly dripping her blood onto the creature, she watched as it disappeared, and checked the skill that had appeared on her interface in sheer glee, undercut only by her trembling hands.
[Object mimicry]
Before Evantra had the chance to test out her new skill, Cypha’s head popped out from right around the corner.
“Where’s the mimic?”
“I scared it off.”
Cypha peered down at Evantra’s bloodstained fingers, which were marred by the mimic’s black blood. The techrat’s gaze flitted back up towards Evantra’s face and down towards her fingers again.
“You know what? I actually believe you,” the girl said with a shudder, before turning away, making her way back out of the tunnel.
“Fucking preachers.”
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