The Cabin Is Always Hungry

Arc 4 | Last Resort (5)

LAST RESORT

Part 5

For the next two days, I scoured through the massive list of traits for my monsters. Since I only had one slot to fill for each of them, I had to make it count. This would be a part of them for a long time until I could unlock the fifth trait.

Once I was ready, I gathered the others by the boathouse.

It wasn’t a good idea for them to walk inside the cabin now that we’d set up the fake crime scene for the cops to find later. Plus, spending more crystals to clean up any of their messes was a waste of resources.

So, the lake it is.

I could feel their excitement. Today, they were going to receive some much-needed upgrades on their traits, plus a fourth additional trait, as promised. From creation, each archetype started with three monster traits that defined their features, attacks, and defensive capabilities, among others. Now that an administrator (and a guild) had sponsored me, they were kind enough to let me know that I could unlock nine additional traits in the future by either purchasing them with crystals and essence or by completing a hidden System quest. The latter I got when I completed my first official scenario and killed the cultists the System desperately wanted dead. A stacked and fully upgraded archetype would have a total of twelve traits, upgraded to the maximum level of twelve each, which would also cost more crystals and essence.

How many do I need for that? At least seven hundred essences spent on one archetype by the end?

I hated math in high school and barely made a passing grade in geometry. Fortunately, I had Oracle—my super calculator. Obviously, I didn’t have enough crystals to completely upgrade their sheets today, but I was determined to give each of them their fourth trait. After the work they’ve done helping me in the past week, it’s only fair I returned the favor.

Buying a fourth trait would cost five essences and a thousand crystals per archetype. Lucky for me, these traits came for free when I completed the System’s hidden quest, or else this would be such a freaking expensive endeavor that would bankrupt me; it’s not even worth it.

But free is nice. Free is good.

When I opened the [ Monster ] tab from the menu, everyone immediately felt my presence in the System. Goliath straightened his back and stood in attention, and Demon’s body—now possessing Jessica—steamed with smoke, which fired all sorts of bright flashes of hellfire. Siren even stopped brushing her hair and sang a soft, soulful hymn on the rock she sat on. Little white daisies bloomed all over Old Growth’s body, trembling with anticipation.

Nodding, I opened Goliath’s archetype sheet first.

I had thought about giving him this trait from the beginning, but it didn’t make the cut as his starting trait. Now, he can finally have it, I thought. I was extremely lucky that he already had experience as a fighter due to his background as a marine, although I didn’t really believe it was all luck. As a Death Core, I attracted killers, sinners, and murderers to my domain with unusual frequency. Like I was a magnet or something. Why wouldn’t the System choose Andy to be The Goliath?

Like calls to like, after all.

For his fourth trait, I wanted something that would elevate his skills as a killer and a hunter, making him a formidable force to be reckoned with during a delving night.

I hoped.

Expert Hunter I

The monster has expert mastery in their hunting skills, adaptability, and techniques for three (3) types of creatures. (Selected: Humanoids; Demonic; Beasts). They can automatically sense the presence of the selected creatures within a five-mile radius and track them with extreme accuracy, intuitively perceive their prey’s weaknesses, and exploit their fears. They also apply the appropriate hunting & tracking skills to gain advantage in two (2) terrains. (Selected: Forest, Urban).

This is a passive trait.

Humanoids and Beasts made sense, given the planet we were on, but I selected Demonic for the third creature type. Maybe not soon, but I felt I would be dealing with Astaroth’s forces in the future the more I chased after the cult across the globe. No doubt the devil prince was super fucking pissed. I killed many of his followers and made him lose a foothold on Earth. Who wouldn’t be? After all the hard work he had done?

Well, that’s what you get for murdering me, asshole.

And besides, the members of The Seat were technically fiend adjacent. They might have other fiends serving under them. They got their powers from a prime infernal source—a High Prince of Hell. I already knew demons existed. Who knew how many demonic forces were roaming on Earth that didn’t work for The Seat? They might strike tomorrow or far in the future, so it was best if I covered all my bases now rather than wait for the shoe to drop later. But if they ever get within five miles of my dungeon, Goliath would sniff them out like a bloodhound, and I would be ready for them. His chosen terrain was self-explanatory. We lived in the woods, and there were several mid-sized towns nearby for him to explore if he liked. New York was in the books, and Portland was on the horizon.

Goliath gave me a hearty two-thumbs up. When it came to honing and improving skills, he would be the guy who would appreciate it more. Men like him strived to be the best—to keep going until nothing was left.

I closed Goliath’s sheet and opened Siren’s.

Her fourth trait was easier to settle on, especially after what Demon had said about sirens and how, in other worlds, they were considered social, albeit predatory creatures. Sure, they formed communities around hunting and luring sailors to their deaths, but such creatures could still get lonely when isolated for too long. Siren had been alone for a week, and though I didn’t hear her complain, I could tell she yearned for a pod of her own. Without the dungeon and the System, Siren would have run away long ago looking for her kind or withered away in the deepest depths of the ocean without a pod and died of loneliness.

Do sirens even exist on Earth?

I asked Siren about that, and she wasn’t sure. It’s not like she had an antenna to sense her kin across the entire freaking planet. I reckoned that’s a big fat maybe. Human cultures had plenty to say about sirens–both scary, the romantic, and the Little Mermaid version. Did the sirens exist in the past, only hunted to extinction? Without proof, I assumed she was the last of her kind on this planet. I’m going to change that, I thought.

Pod of Sirens I The monster hunts in a maximum pod of four (4). Their hunting tactics and intelligence increase when in proximity with the same creature type, increasing Dread and rapidly lowering a delver’s Resolve when faced with two (2) or more monsters at once. When hunting in a pod, the monsters’ endurance and regenerative properties increase.

The lake’s surface shuddered, the slightest tremble beneath the earth, the low echoing boom of a gong or cannon in the distance, always heralding an archetype’s arrival. In this case, multiple archetypes. The price for making Siren’s life on Earth comfortable cost me three essences for summoning three additional sirens, forming her pod. Fortunately, it didn’t eat up my dungeon archetype limit since these three new arrivals shared the same abilities as the original siren.

Their tails gently licked above the water’s surface as they swam closer toward the shore. Siren let out the brightest smile and sang a high-pitched, vibrant note, her voice filling the lake with an amorous embrace. Three voices sang after her, matching her song of greeting, their heads barely bobbing up and down from the water. Like all sirens, they had the upper body of a strikingly beautiful woman and the tail of a fish. One had bright blonde hair, the other had copper-red hair, and the last was almost bald. Siren jumped off the rock she was sitting on and swam to the others.

Demon rolled her eyes. “Oh, great. Now, there are four. How am I going to sleep with them singing all night?”

“You don’t sleep,” I reminded her. Even when she was possessing a body, the Demon never slept.

“But Goliath does.”

Goliath gave her a slight, careless shrug.

“See? He doesn’t mind,” I said.

“I suppose so,” Demon sighed. “But what are we going to call them? I’m not calling all of them Siren.”

She was right about that. They couldn’t all be Siren. “You know, I never really asked. Do you all have names you went by before I summoned you? Before I made names for you?” I asked the entire group.

“A devil’s true name is never uttered,” Demon said. “But I was known by many names. Ugly names I care not to repeat. You may call me whatever you like, my liege.”

Goliath matched my stern gaze, so I guessed he didn’t want to be addressed by his old name. Fine,I’ll respect that. The sirens, to my surprise, had no need for verbal names. They communicated through song and recognized other sirens based on their frequency and vibrations in the water—like dolphins or whales—by whistling or clicking.

I pointed at the original siren to make it easier on myself and the others. “You will be Penelope,” I said, and she nodded and flashed me a demure smile.

I pointed at the blonde one with the high cheekbones and a narrow but strong jawline. “You are Scylla.”

I pointed at the redhead with the curly shoulder-length hair and pale, freckled skin. “Circe.”

And then I regarded the tallest of the sirens, closely shaved head with bright emerald eyes, straight shoulders, and dark skin as midnight. “And Calypso.”

Demon folded her arms and smirked. “And who are you, my lord? Odysseus?”

The bastard Poseidon, most likely, I mused, but I didn’t answer her. I regarded the sirens again to see if they agreed with their names. I doubted they’d object since they followed my word without question or hesitation. If these were the names they were given, then it shall be. “Unless you have other preferences?” I asked just to be polite.

The sirens shook their heads and agreed to their new names. However, they didn’t seem to care much for it since they were more enthused with each other’s company, swimming and leaping out of the water and playing games like dolphins and orcas would.

Demon immediately raised her hand. “Oh, me next! I’m ready!”

If looks could kill, Oracle would have cut Demon into ribbons. Instead, he strode over to Goliath and extended his palm out. “May I?” He pointed at the knife sheathed on Goliath’s belt.

Goliath raised an eyebrow, but he surprisingly handed the knife to him a beat later.

Oracle didn’t waste any time twirling the blade around his hand and threw it against the nearby tree. The knife slammed into the bark with such force that it shook the canopy. Several birds nesting above scrambled to fly away, disturbed by the sudden violent vibration. Then, his hand disintegrated into a cloud of black grain, hurtling toward the tree. Using the nanites’ pincers, he “ate” through the thick wood, cutting and felling the tree in half in under forty seconds.

Once the tree had fallen, Oracle turned to face us. “This swarm will do.”

Demon cackled and clapped while Goliath marched toward the fallen knife and picked it up. He glared at Oracle, but his eyes quickly softened. Even he appreciated the display of power.

Above us, dusk began to settle in the sky.

Now, all I had to do was sit back and watch the others practice their new skills and talents.

But Demon turned to me. “Didn’t the System also bequeath you with new toys, my lord? What have you decided?”

Right. “Shit, I almost forgot,” I said.

I was so focused on getting the others their traits that I didn’t even bother checking mine. “You all enjoy your night now. I doubted there would be a delve tonight, and I don’t sense anyone nearby.” I glimpsed Goliath, nodding his head and agreeing with me.

While the others approached the edge of the dock to introduce themselves to the new sirens, I was busy looking over my long list of options to upgrade my Core.

I looked over the list of environmental auras for North Cedar Lake. Due to how open my dungeon’s borders were to the outside world, I wanted to reduce the chances of escape like Leo did a few nights ago. I didn’t want to block off their exit completely but instead made it harder to traverse the forest the closer they were to the border.

Disorienting Overgrowth The woods are not a delver’s friend. Once triggered, thick overgrowth of trees and vegetation materializes around the dungeon’s borders, making it harder to find the path to a True Exit. You may designate one (1) true exit for each delve that the delvers must follow to leave your dungeon. If a delver has a low RESOLVE and fails to increase their WILLPOWER, they will be turned around and return at the heart of your domain (Selected: The Cabin). Duration: Until Dawn

My intentions weren’t to be cruel by limiting how the delvers leave my domain but to add a cryptic puzzle. I planned to leave little clues scattered around the cabin and across the property on how to exit my domain if they couldn’t last until dawn. These could be from creepy paintings, old-found footage from VHS tapes, journals from “fake” delvers who fell victim to my monsters, a nursery rhyme that the sirens could compose, or urban legends I could disseminate in Point Hope and the other nearby towns.

But if I had delvers I really wanted dead (like the cult)...then they’re out of luck.

Of course, the actual exit wouldn’t be the same for all the delves.

Instead of acquiring another skill, I improved my [ Telekinesis ] to prolong its active state and power. Now, I could levitate and move creatures and objects of eight hundred pounds for four minutes instead of one. [ Heat Surge ] also got updated, which gave me the option to blow the hand (or pockets) of the delver that grabbed me into bloody bits. Like a concentrated mini grenade, I mused. They wouldn’t have a fun time after that.

But I wasn’t done.

Now that I was legitimized by the System as a true Death Core (and not get eaten by the Administrators as junk food, discarded by the System), a new tab opened in my Core: The Death Core traits.

After reading through it, I realized that all Cores were just like archetypes upon their creation. We come from the same god—or Mother?—after all. Like the archetypes, each Core received three starting traits of their choosing that were unique to a Death Core ONLY. Although the list wasn’t as robust as theirs, plenty caught my eye and might be very useful in the future.

After an hour of searching, I narrowed it down to these two traits.

Control Weather I You can summon, shape, and manipulate the weather on both small and larger scales across a radius of a hundred miles. You can also sense and manipulate changes in air pressure, temperature, and humidity, which enables you to control the intensity of the weather. Due to your planet’s weather cycle, you can control the wind, call lightning and thunder, and shape water. As a Death Core trait, this negates Resolve requirement. Cost: 10 Power. Duration: 1-24 Hours. Arcane Resistance I You have a passive resistance to all arcane disciplines, spells, influence, and energy damage. You are resistant to all scrying magic and divine interventions, and alerts you of such effects. You also have a higher chance to negate or counter powerful spells that target you, even dissipating them completely ineffective at the cost of ten (10) Power per counter. Fractal Omniscience I You can meld with the minds of all the potential delvers within your domain and those within a hundred miles of your dungeon. You must be familiar with their name and exact location. You can read their thoughts, experience their desires, glimpse their memories, and feel their pain, fears, and suffering. You can focus on multiple delvers all at once without a limit. This trait does not allow telepathic communication. As a Death Core trait, this negates Resolve requirement. Cost: 10 Power. Duration: 1-24 Hours.

Elvis wasn’t kidding when he mentioned how dangerous Death Cores were. I could see why. Although it ate up a lot of power to channel them, their duration and net of influence were massive, especially when I didn’t have to wait for a delver’s Resolve to go down for my abilities to affect them. The smart thing to do was to start small. Other than the Cult of Astaroth, I wanted to be incognito to the rest of the world. At least while I was just starting out. Choosing an ability that could induce a city’s entire population into sleep paralysis and slowly succumb to dehydration or summon a tidal wave of shadows that would rend flesh down to the bone like piranhas was not very useful nor practical. In battle, yes, but it’s limited to only that. It would also attract too much-unwanted attention. I had no plans of destroying Earth and plunging the planet into the apocalypse. I can’t have that; I live here. My family still lives here.

I went for manipulating the weather instead.

It’s quite practical and has a lot of applications. Just creating a downpour passively improved the Dread effects of my domain. Let’s call it set dressing or mood setting. A blizzard could trap delvers in one location and limit their movement. An atmospheric storm could also cut them off from the rest of civilization for the night. If I didn’t want anyone near my dungeon, I could summon a flash flood or an ice storm to deter them from going anywhere near my borders. Perhaps I’d learn more once I get enough practice.

Arcane Resistance was a no-brainer. I was already uneasy that the Administrators were watching my every move. But what if The Seat had scrying abilities of their own? Well, I couldn’t have them snooping around my domain. No fucking way. Unfortunately, the System wouldn’t allow me to be immune to all forms of magic. I kept forgetting that one of the delvers’ primary goals was to destroy me to win the dungeon (and get all the loot). Favorite or not, the System wouldn’t bat an eye if I died.

I am still fair game in the grand scheme of things.

As for reading minds, I could read everyone like a book. Secrets. Desires. Ambition. Fears. The chapters of their lives unraveled before me. I didn’t pick it up because I wanted to be Professor Xavier (okay, it’s a little bit of that), but no one would be a stranger to me. I would be familiar with their lives and memories as if I lived them myself. I had difficulty giving Leo and Tessa their reward, and I was still unsatisfied with what I gave them. With this, I would already know. Not what they wanted but what they needed.

“Why read minds?” Demon asked me once she felt the changes in my domain.

It took me a moment to answer. I already knew my reasons, yes, but the practical ones.

Look, I’m not an idiot. I’m perfectly aware that the human part of me was slowly fading away since I woke up in that dark glade, singing blades soaked with my blood. Maybe this was a way–a slim chance–to keep my humanity alive within me, albeit through some fucked-up voyeuristic lens. To remind myself who I was feeding on. These are people, and they have lives. Like I did. I couldn’t sustain myself with just the cult alone; I had to go for real, ordinary people, too.

Four-hundred and sixty-three delvers.

Four-hundred and sixty-three memories, thoughts, and experiences.

I had to honor that in some way. Even if they perished within my dungeon, their memories would live on somewhere deep within my consciousness. I liked that. It made everything bearable, even for a tiny bit.

So, I answered, “To see who they really are? Maybe I want to understand their true selves. Not who they present to be on the outside, you know? Even when they don’t know it, I’ll know. Not many people get that.”

And I’ll judge. Of course, I’ll judge. Then, carry out the sentence and execute it: blood, bones, and all.

But I didn’t say the last part out loud.

Demon left it at that, satisfied.

If only I knew what Leo went through to be the man I saw last night. To understand how Tessa became resourceful when she barely left Point Hope, the typical sheltered princess of her wealthy adoring family. I wanted to understand them in some way. Perhaps I could also understand why Justin Hodge chose me as his sacrifice. What they all saw in me made them say, “That’s the boy fit to become a Death Core. That’s the boy who can endure the change.”

Well, it was too late now. Most of them were dead or were far away and gone.

I floated in the air and headed toward the cabin. “Follow me,” I said to the others.

Demon and Goliath were the first to walk up the trail, followed by the sirens, their tails slowly turning into human legs and feet. Water crept up and enveloped their naked bodies, which transformed into beautiful silk robes with flowery patterns. Oracle’s nanite humanoid form and Old Growth trailed behind last.

They gathered in front of the cabin in a semicircle. I reminded them of the exciting news that I had two archetype slots available and would fill them in tonight. They waited patiently, of course, as I finished creating them. But once I finalized their starting traits, I didn’t waste another second to summon them. The cannon echoed in the distance, heralding their arrival.

We waited again. A minute passed, and I thought I had messed something up during the selection process. I was about to open the menu tab to double-check my work when headlights from a truck appeared on the gravel road ahead, coming straight toward the cabin. The others and I froze, curious and yet alert.

New delvers? This soon?

No, the cops hadn’t even found the cultists yet. Danny and Tessa were still unconscious. Except for Leo, no one knew this place existed. And it couldn’t be Leo. I would have felt his presence a hundred miles away if he touched down at the airport. For a second there, I thought he was really going to delve again. To destroy me, this time. I couldn't help but be...proud of him?

But no.

I sensed a different presence within the approaching vehicle; friends were coming.