“Keep on moving,” said his father, and Sean nodded.
Moving his body was tedious before, and it still was, but his great Vitality let him recover faster than he could get tired. He was now able to simply not care about any downtime or exhaustion. But the pain was now evident when he moved, aching every now and then. He could heal broken bones in three days if they were major ones but his Vitality had increased ever so slightly after that.
There were others outside now. They were training as well, it seemed. Mostly spars, using wooden sticks that were about the size of daggers and some cool-looking crossbows being shot at targets. Sean could see Uncle Jeremy pacing around, shouting commands on the other side of the manor.
But his practice?
It was basically sidestepping but while breathing constantly —barely stopping his inhalation.
“If you stop moving or breathing, you die,” he said and Sean felt his lungs strain. He wasn’t used to exercising like this. His body couldn’t get enough oxygen, and for the first time, Sean felt himself get tired and exhausted. It had been only around thirty minutes since he’d started this but it felt worse than running up a mountain for an entire night, “Breathe harder and more, or you’ll exhaust yourself.”
He could keep breathing for thirty seconds while moving but he ended up stopping at that mark.
Sean was heaving now, not due to hyperventilation, but due to actual exhaustion.
“You want to kill the vampires, don’t you?” asked his father, “Then learn to breathe like that. Or you’ll be simply crushed with a mere flick of their wrist. They can turn cars into balls of steel. Your bones are nothing.”
He was trying, truly, yet he couldn’t push on further.
Sean groaned as he collapsed, falling to the ground on his butt onto the barren ground. Most of the grass was gone in the easily accessible parts of the manor. The reason was obvious —people were training and they were moving around freely. And for who knows how long. He hadn’t sat down with them just yet.
“Before you learn that, you are not allowed to hunt,” said his father, but when Sean collapsed, he took a seat next to him. He wasn’t angry but he had the frown back on his face. Sean preferred that over the grin he’d seen recently.
He was angry and tired.
So he felt like sleeping.
“Keep your mind clear,” said his father, “Don’t regret. Move forward.”
Sean simply listened. He couldn’t speak, heaving like that, nor did he want to.
The crippling depression had eased.
It wasn’t crippling now.
That didn’t mean he was fine, though. He was filled with anger and frustration. He felt helpless —a mix of feelings he never wanted to feel again if he could help it. There was something so utterly wrong with that feeling. It made him feel… helpless.
“How many did you kill?” asked Sean, looking down. He hadn’t meant to ask that but it simply came out of his mouth, “Monsters, I mean.”
“Twenty-two,” said his father, staring off at the distance, sitting just an inch to his right, “Many don’t even get a first. It’s not a job for everyone. It’s dangerous. Every hunt is a fight stacked against your favor. You don’t have to force yourself if you can’t do it.”
“It is a job for me,” said Sean, “I felt… relieved when I killed it.”
He went quiet.
Was it a job for him? Was he really good hunter material?
Aunt Charlie said he was, but was he, really?
“Then you won’t be a good hunter,” said his father.
Sean turned to look at him, angry now. Sean whispered, barely containing his rage, “And why is that?”
“Because you were relieved when you killed it,” he said, “You wouldn’t be relieved if you would be a good hunter. You would have asked for more if you were. Like all the hunters that survived. Relieved? That’s the same feeling all the hunters that died felt.”
Again, he was quiet.
“Think about it. That anger. Will it always be with you? Because once you’ve made the choice, there’s no turning back. They’ll be out for you, trying to hunt you down every step of the way for the rest of your life,” said his father, “You were in a gray area before, because of our mistakes. But if you kill one of theirs and they find out, then you become a target.”
The exhaustion had fended off the sadness but it came back with full force once he remembered what had caused it in the first place —Clara’s death. They’d killed her so they had to die.
It was too simple a connection to make before, but now, it was different.
“Did I ever have a choice?” asked Sean.
His house was intentionally ruined, even a supposedly mindless vampire attacked him on sight after seeing his name and the family he could turn to for support talked of killing as if it was just a walk in the park.
But the scariest thing about everything was none of those facts.
It was the fact that it was easy. Killing something was far too easy. He tried to lie to himself, tried to paint the giants and the vampires as monsters. And that made it too easy.
It was disturbing.
Was he turning into a murderer?
No… he was a hunter.
It was his job and responsibility to hunt.
Sean looked at his father and caught him slowly shaking his head. He had his usual frown on his face. It was difficult to force him to have any expression other than that.
“Things have changed,” said Sean, “It’s even less of an option than before, dad. I have to kill to survive now. I can’t count on cops and soldiers to protect me. Heck, I’m guessing they’re all running around, panicking like us when monsters straight out of Jurassic Park popped out. Add vampires and all the nonsense on top of it and-”
“They know,” interjected his father, stopping Sean in the middle of his sentence, “They’ve been compromised for a long time now. Even before Broica announced its independence. The only military that isn’t compromised for sure is the Coalition.”
What?
Did vampires just serve in the military, ready to kill everyone?
“They can brainwash people and turn them into their willing servants,” said his father, “That’s why you have to keep breathing. If you stop, your blood starts flowing slower. If it does, it sets in. And if it sets in, you’re compromised. If you keep breathing, maybe you’ll have a chance.”
Sean’s eyes narrowed.
Was that what the vampire he’d killed tried to do?
Did his… Presence negate it?
It seemed to imply that it could negate any effect that affected the mind as long as it didn’t come from someone divine —but what were the odds of him having to fight gods?
“Is that all it stops?” asked Sean. If it was so, then he could ignore it. Breathing like this was hell and getting used to it was a far-fetched dream.
“It stops everything they can do to you without their claws and fangs. Don’t slack off on the basics. It’ll save your life more than fancy techniques ever will, especially if you’re a wizard,” he said and pointed at the others training in the distance, “You don’t need any of that nonsense. Just learn to survive.”
But he wanted more.
He wanted to kill them.
There was truth in his father’s words, though. He could get stronger with his Magic so physical techniques were unnecessary for him.
Getting a little bit of Agility was necessary, however, as Sean realized just how slow he was back in the encounter with the vampire. If Liz wasn’t there to push him out of the way, he would have died.
Speaking of Liz, Aunt Charlie and Chris had gone to meet them…
He’d almost started to wonder where Chris was despite knowing the answer, but no one could blame him —wanting to see a friend after so long was something that everyone felt, especially if it was a childhood friend that you took for granted.
“You can move away, you know? Overseas, either to America or Australia,” his father said as he stood up, leaving him alone, “Then you won’t need to deal with all this nonsense that we dug ourselves into.”
“I won’t,” said Sean, “I won’t run from them. I’ll run to them.”
“At least you got the spirit,” said his father and waved his hand lazily, walking back to the house, “Do whatever you want, but you aren’t leaving the manor until you learn how to breathe like that.”
Sean watched his back as he walked away and activated his Appraisal. The System complied, giving him a Status Screen.
Skill ‘Appraisal’ has been activated!
Name: Jack Morris
Class: Slayer Lvl 5
Title(s): Survivor, Monster Slayer, Survivor, Wolfsbane
Mana: 230/230