Gleam [Karma Cultivator Isekai] - Chapter 36: Little games

Chapter 36: Little games

Bella was right. Rose district was only a few minutes away from Shikari Lane, and Chance could see where it had gotten its name. He’d originally thought it was some sort of sly reference to red lighting or the like, but he couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

The Rose district had been named very literally. The buildings were covered with bushy green foliage, all carefully trimmed and properly cared for so that large, beautiful flowered bloomed all the way down the streets. There was almost no traffic in the area, but Chance wasn’t sure if that was normally how things were or if it was because of all the Soothound sightings.

A faint sweet smell filled the air, and there was just enough of a breeze through the street to carry the scent to Chance’s nostrils. He let out a content sigh.

“I think I just found my favorite street on Gleam. It smells incredible.”

“You think I can eat the flowers?” Yeo asked. “They look magical. I bet they’d have some benefits.”

“You’d probably blow your Gate up,” Bella said, rubbing her chin. “Either that or get the Shikari called on us for stealing. They do look magical, though. Don’t tempt me.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the voice of reason?” Chance asked.

Bella cocked an eyebrow. “Reason? No. I’m self-aware enough to know that I make some pretty stupid decisions. I’m just not as completely brainless as Yeo.”

“Hey!” Yeo snapped. “I am not brainless. I simply follow my primal instincts, like our ancestors did before us.”

“Right,” Bella said. “Well, why don’t you use those primal instincts of yours to find some of the Soothounds while they chew on the flowers?”

Yeo pursed his lips. Then he pointed at the absolute last place Chance wanted him to – an alley branching off the road. It was nestled between two large bushes trimming the edges of houses.

“As good a place as any,” Bella said. Chance couldn’t argue with that. It wasn’t like the Soothounds were just going to be sitting around in the middle of the road, so the three of them walked toward the alley.

I’m overreacting. It’s not like the Old City is going to be in every single alleyway we come across. There’s nothing to worry-

Chance choked on his own saliva as they drew up between the bushes, where a cracked stone street led into the darkness.

“Not this one,” Chance snapped, grabbing Bella and Yeo’s shoulders and turning them away from it.

“What? Why! It looked like a perfect place for Soothounds to hide,” Yeo protested.

“I used my Karma powers. There was nothing in there,” Chance lied, his mind racing furiously. He couldn’t tell them about the Old City. That would put them in Yamish’s sights. But there was no way he could just keep them from walking into every single alleyway.

“Right, then,” Bella said slowly. She pointed at an alley on the opposite side of the street. “What about that one?”

From what Chance could tell, it just looked like a normal alley. He repressed the relieved sigh and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s check that one out.”

Yeo gave him a strange glance, but they walked over to it and stepped through the bushes, Chance at the lead. No sooner than they had taken a few paces in, one of the walls rippled. A pathway into the Old City appeared and Chance repressed a curse.

“Damn, how big are the alleys here?” Yeo asked, peering over Chance’s shoulder. “You detect any Soothounds down there?”

Chance didn’t even the chance to say no. A low growl echoed through the alley as a Soothound just a little shorter than him stalked out of the shadows, saliva dripping from its mouth as its cherry-red eyes focused on them.

“Yes,” Chance said, heaving a sigh. The monster bounded toward them, but he’d fought so many of them that his hand moved of its own accord. His urumi whipped out, slicing through the air and extending like a striking snake.

It punched clean through the Soothound’s chest with a snik. Even as Chance ripped the blade free, the light in the monster’s eyes winked out and its body slammed to the ground, rolling over to stop at his feet.

“Shit,” Yeo said, whistling. “When did you get so fast with the urumi, Chance? That was actually really solid.”

“It was,” Bella said, studying him. “That was quite impressive.”

“Thanks,” Chance said with an awkward chuckle. “Let’s get these and–”

Two more Soothounds padded out of the alley, their hackles raised. Chance groaned.

“Don’t worry, I got this!” Yeo said, darting past Chance and into the Old City. His kusarigama whirled around him and flew out as the monsters lunged at him. Blood sprayed across the alley and Yeo danced past them, a second kusarigama joining the first.

One of the Soothounds pitched forward, a leg severed at the limb. The sickle cut through its neck next, putting it down. The second met the same fate a second later.

“Man, this really is easy money,” Yeo said. “Come on! This place is huge.”

“Hold on,” Chance said. “Why don’t we just stay here? If they’re coming to us, there’s no reason to push further.”

“There could be a whole pack of them,” Bella said, nodding. “It’s unwise to get too deep, I think. We could get surrounded. And we need the ears – five gold each.”

Yeo harrumphed. He knelt, drawing the monsters into two metal orbs. “We forgot to use the Ward again.”

Bella tossed one of her own spheres onto the Soothound that Chance had killed, absorbing it with a flash of blue light. She knelt, grabbing it and handing it to Chance.

“Thanks,” Chance said.

“No problem. And there’s no point using a Ward on something as weak as these,” Bella said. “It’s meant for monsters that can damage the city when the fight, not juvenile Soothounds.”

“Good point. If the city isn’t at risk of getting damaged, there’s no point dropping a Ward. I think hear more Soothounds,” Yeo said, nodding down the alley. “Doesn’t sound like that many.”

“Let’s stay here,” Chance said firmly, glancing over his shoulder. Rose district still stretched out behind him, but he got the feeling that the second they turned any sort of corner, it would be gone.

“Fine with me, but I get the next set that show up,” Bella said, walking to join Yeo deeper in the alley.

“That’s fine with me,” Chance said. “I’ll, uh, stay back here and make sure we don’t get flanked.”

“Sure.” Yeo chuckled. “I’m sure we’re about to get jumped by the one Soothound that trotted straight through the streets in broad daylight.”

“Just don’t go any deeper,” Chance said, biting his lower lip. “And stay in my sight. Don’t leave this alley, or we could get separated.”

“Whatever you want,” Yeo said. “Don’t stay back there too long, or Bella and I are going to get to do all the fun stuff.”

Chance nodded absentmindedly. He leaned against the wall casually, then turned his head so that Yeo and Bella wouldn’t be able to see his lips move.

“Old City, what’s this about?” he hissed. “I’m meant to be keeping other people out! You know I can’t tell them anything. Stop trying to lure us deeper! If you keep sending weak Soothounds our way, they’re going to want to go farther in.”

The wall rippled, and a tiny circle traced itself into the cracked stone. Chance let out a relieved, muted sigh. “Thank you.”

A loud crash filled the alley. Chance spun as an enormous, fully grown Soothound staggered to its feet on the far end of the alley, stone raining down from the wall where it had landed.

“Gods, did anyone else see that?” Yeo asked, taking several steps back and readying his weapons. “That thing came flying out of nowhere!”

“Get your Ward ready,” Bella said, ice reaching out to cover her body. “We aren’t going to be able to take care of this one as easily as the last few.”

“Goddamn it,” Chance muttered, running to join them as the huge Soothound loped toward his friends.

Yeo’s sickles flashed out, but the large monster leapt over the weapons and landed atop the chains, slamming them to the ground. It lashed out with a huge paw, forcing Yeo to release the kusarigama and vault backward.

Bella lunged at the monster and thrust her hand into its leg. Ice wrapped around it in bands, crackling against the Soothound’s fur. It snarled and bit at her. Ice surged to form a shield in front of the girl, but it shattered under the monster’s huge jaws.

She dove back, narrowly avoiding its jagged teeth as they tore through the air where she’d just been. Chance flicked his urumi and the weapon whipped out. The soothound ducked and the blades scored across its back, screeching against its fur but failing to cut through it.

“Why is this one so dang big?” Yeo yelled. His kusarigama shattered beneath the soothound, the fragments flying back to his hands and reforming.

“It’s got really strong defenses. We’re going to need a lot of Essence to damage it,” Chance warned, jogging to join Yeo. “I’ve got a way to wound it. Activate the Ward once I get it, okay?”

Yeo nodded. “I was just about to tell you the same thing, but go wild.”

Chance darted forward, throwing himself into a roll as the Soothound swept at him with a huge paw. It whistled over his back and he came back up, his third eye snapping open as he poured Essence into it.

Strands of karmic debt shimmered into view all over the huge monster, and Chance grabbed the closest one. It tore away with a twang. For an instant, a faint outline of the threat remained behind. Chance didn’t have the time to wonder what it was. He threw himself out of the way as the Soothound’s jaws snapped shut, narrowly missing him.

Golden mist bloomed behind the monster, and a shaggy Soothound made of light leapt at its dark counterpart. Its claws scored through the bigger monster’s flesh and it bit into the monster’s neck, tearing fur and spraying hot blood across the alley.

A powerful thrum set Chance’s hair on end as an electric current flashed through the alley. A blue dome bloomed above them, tracing down and encapsulating them in the alleyway.

“Good job, Chance,” Yeo called. “It didn’t resist at all! You’re getting it good. Keep it up.”

The golden Soothound faded into particles, blowing away in nonexistent wind. The wounded monster caught Chance in the chest with a paw, slamming him into the wall and tearing several deep furrows through his chest with its jagged claws.

He cried out in pain and surprise and slid to the ground, the urumi falling from his hand beside him. Bella leapt forward, driving her fists into the monster’s chest in a series of brutal strikes. Each one sent a wave of Essence rippling outward and spread a growing blanket of ice across the monster.

Chance fumbled with his bag, pulling out one of the healing potions that Jagg had given him with rapidly numbing hands. He popped the top of it off and raised a shaking hand, nearly spilling the lifesaving liquid as he tried to bring it to his mouth.

Yeo joined the fight, his kusarigama flashing in the dim light. He and Bella circled the large monster, slowly but steadily whittling its defenses down. They both kept their space, only striking when its attention was on the other.

Chance managed to drink the potion and staggered to his feet as the wounds on his chest bubbled and lurched, knitting themselves back together. He grabbed the urumi from the ground and send it whistling out. Some of the wounds that his karmic punishment had inflicted on the Soothound were pretty large, and that meant they didn’t have the enhanced defense of its fur.

Sure enough, his blade bit deep, burrowing into the Soothound’s unprotected flesh. It screamed in fury, which earned it a violent blow to the face from Bella’s Essence empowered fists.

Teeth clattered across the ground and blood dripped from its mouth. It snarled, staggering backward. Yeo’s twin kusarigama sailed through the air, spinning around the monster’s neck like a lasso. He yanked them taut and sickles whipped around, both carving deep furrows through the monster’s hide.

Chance sent his urumi out once more and it sunk deep into the Soothoudn’s neck, just below its skull. With one final snarl, the Soothound collapsed to the ground with a crash. The alley fell silent, save the panting of the three Shikari.

Fishing an orb from his bag, Chance tossed it onto the large monster’s body. It vanished in a flash of blue light and he picked the filled orb up, tucking it into a pouch.

“Okay,” Yeo said, wiping his forehead as the blue dome faded above them and the Ward fell. “I think I might see what you mean. If there had been more than a few of those, we could have been in a lot of trouble.”

“You think?” Bella asked dryly. “Chance, are you okay? It looked like you got cut up pretty badly.”

“Yeah,” Chance said. “It was a pretty rough hit, but I’m fine. Thank God for those healing potions.”

“I hope that Soothound sells for more than just ten gold,” Yeo muttered, kicking a pebble across the ground. “Uh… maybe we should retreat to the entrance of the alley.”

“Good idea,” Chance said, not even bothering to hide his relief. They hadn’t actually gone down any turns in the alley, so Rose district was still behind them. The three quickly headed back toward the entrance.

“Should we just wait here for more Soothounds, then?” Yeo asked.

“Are both of you still up to fighting?” Bella asked. “I’m good myself.”

“I am too,” Yeo said. “Chance?”

“I’m fine as well. We just run if we see more than one fully grown Soothound,” Chance said. As long as they were at the entrance of the alley, they’d be safe. It was better than wandering around any further and somehow getting dragged deeper into the Old City.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chance spotted the wall rippling. An image of another large Soothound appeared in the stone. He suppressed a curse and shook his head urgently. Luckily, he was standing behind Bella and Yeo, so neither of them saw the motion.

The image changed to a group of smaller soothounds. Chance gave a curt nod. A moment later, a dozen soothound corpses catapulted out of the alley, forcing all of them to dive to the side. The bodies sailed over their heads and thudded to the street behind them.

“What in the hells?” Yeo asked, staring at them. “Okay. You all saw that. I’m not hallucinating. Right?”

“Seriously?” Chance hissed under his breath. “Stop!”

The alley rippled. Rosebushes erupted around the entrance, launching all three of them the last few feet out of they alley. Yeo leapt to his feet and darted over to the bush, squinting through the leaves.

“Well, I’ll be damned. It’s gone. There’s just a wall. It’s like the alley was never there.”

“I am thoroughly confused,” Bella said, looking from the Soothound bodies to the bush. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Yeah,” Chance lied, wondering if the Old City was intentionally trying to blow his cover. “Me neither. I, uh, think this one might be a bit out of our paygrade.”

And I’m coming back to hunt Soothounds as soon as I’m alone. The Old City and I need to have a nice, long talk that makes sure it doesn’t lob any more corpses at me in the near future.

“But hey, free loot!” Yeo said cheerfully, spinning and collecting the Soothound’s bodies. He paused at the aghast expressions on Bella and Chance’s faces. “What? No point passing it up. It’s a gift!”

“I don’t know if a monster can be cursed, but if it can, those are definitely cursed,” Bella said, crossing her arms.

“Not my problem,” Yeo replied. “The Shikari Guild can figure that one out themselves. I’m just going to make some bank off them in the process. I mean, look at this! One hundred and twenty gold, just lying around.”

“He’s got a point,” Chance admitted. “Someone else will just take them if we don’t.”

“Are we just going to gloss over the fact that the city literally changed right in front of us?”

“Meh. I’ve seen weirder shit. We’ll report it to the Shikari and move on,” Yeo replied. He gathered the last of the bodies and sauntered back over to them. “Shall we go turn this in? If you want, Chance and I can just split these between ourselves.”

“No way,” Bella said, narrowing her eyes. “I want in too.”

“Thought so,” Yeo said. “Let’s go, then. I might not be about to question the gift, but I think I understand when I’ve been told to get lost pretty well.”

“You probably get it a lot,” Bella grumbled.

“Yup.”

Chance shook his head as he fell in behind his friends. Evidently, accepting strangeness was natural once you lived in a world full of magic for long enough. But that wasn’t enough for him to completely brush off the Old City’s actions.

Something was seriously wrong, and he needed to find out what before anyone else got dragged into it. Bella had already met Yamish once, and he didn’t want the karmic bonds between any of them and the strange man to grow stronger.

If they did… a shiver ran down Chance’s back. He was learning very quickly that there were worse things than death, and somehow, he suspected his unsettling mentor might have been connected to more of them than he hoped.