While Vir had been dispatching his opponents, Vason, Neel, and Tia had corralled the remaining foes.
Into the stream.
Haymi fired an Arc spell, but not at the Broodlings, at the water.
“Apramor!”
Vir grasped her strategy and plunged his katar into the water. Lightning prana dissipated through the water body… and spread to the remaining five gelatinous beasts.
They spasmed, and Haymi fired Arc again. And again.
By her third spell, their foes spasmed no longer.
“That… was hard,” Tia said, plonking down on the ground as she wiped sweat from her brow.
“Tia, what are those things?” Vir asked. “Those were a little weak to be Ash Beasts, but I’ve seen no prana beasts like that either.”
“I’m afraid we’re up against a Brood Matron, and they are very much Ash Beasts,” Tia said. “The larger their domain, the stronger they become.”
“Balar Rank?” Vir replied, gazing at the blob-like corpses. Their gooey bodies had already begun to lose cohesion, dissipating into the stream. Only their chitinous pincers remained.
“Somewhere between 400 to 700 in the Ashen Realm, depending on their size. And… it’s already dominated this forest.”
25MONSTERS OF THE DEEP
“They’ve penetrated this far? Then…” Haymi said, her face pale.
Vason grimaced. “Then this is going to be a difficult fight indeed.”
Balar 400 to 700 was far beyond even what the Narapazu had been. Individually, Vir would’ve had no choice but to tuck his tail and run. Yet even with a party to support him, it felt like a tall order.
“What do you know about these Matrons? How do we fight them?” Vir asked.
Tia shook her head. “Not now. First, we need to establish a fortified base of operations. Preferably somewhere farther back where it’s safer. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for more enemies. We’re dealing with a mature Matron here, not some neophyte.”
Making camp was easier said than done. It took a full hour of bushwhacking—and several close calls—to find a suitable location. Vir relied on Prana Vision to warn of incoming enemies, forcing them to detour around enemy positions more than once.
And then, once they’d found the spot, they had to secure it. The location they picked was a densely vegetated area marked by four tall trees at each corner. Corners they could build palisades out of, thus fortifying their base.
They each got to work. Haymi swapped out the orbs in their weapons for C Grade Enhance Sharpness. Together with Prana Blade, Vir had little issue dicing through nearby trunks, stripping them of their bark and sharpening their tips. Against Broodlings, a tall wall wasn’t necessary, but Vir cut them tall enough that even an acrobat wouldn’t be able to vault over it easily.
Overkill, perhaps, but when wood was so abundant, Vir didn’t see any reason to skimp.
Vason dug trenches for the palisades—a much harder job—along with Tia.
They worked smoothly, and after only another three hours, they had a camp with palisades on all sides. The vegetation had been culled, and a fire ring installed.
The party of four huddled around a small fire as the sky darkened and the forest cooled. Unlike at Brij, the temperature never fell enough to cause any real worry, but a fire was a nice comfort, nonetheless. Plus, most animals feared fire. It acted as a safety measure as well.
“So, these beasts. What do we know?” Vir asked.
“Not much, I’m afraid. Details of Ash Beasts are exceedingly scarce. From what I’ve read, Matrons use their hunter-gatherers to kill and bring back food to the Matron, who produces more offspring. I believe scout Balar Ranks are around ten to twenty each.”
Vir’s eyes narrowed. “Scout? Are there different types of beasts?”
“There are. Scouts bring back information about hostiles and sources of nourishment, which the hunter-gatherers then kill and haul back. It was good that we killed them all today. If even one got back to the brood, we’d have been beset by their stronger brethren.”
“How strong are we talking?”
Tia shrugged. “The records I read didn’t say. Only that they were the warriors of the brood, so we can expect them to pack a punch.”
“More a question of how many,” Vason said, stoking the fire. “We can handle a handful. Maybe lay a pit trap and wait, or separate them and pick them off one by one. But against thirty? Sixty? That’s another matter entirely.”
“Vason’s right. We lack critical information about the enemy, and yet venturing deep into their hive is far too dangerous,” Haymi added.
“We’d be asking to get surrounded,” Tia said with a nod. “Except, we’re on a timer now.”
“You think the Matron will know her minions are missing?” Vir asked.
“It’s only a matter of time,” she replied. “I don’t believe the Matron can communicate with her workers, or there’d be no need for the scouts to report back as I’d read. But I’m sure she’d notice ten of her scouts going missing all at once.”
“Kinda odd for scouts to operate in packs, don’t you think?” Vason said, ripping off a piece of cooked flatbread and dipping it into a vegetable stew that Haymi had graciously whipped together. “They’d do better by splitting up.”
Vir shook his head. “If they can’t communicate, then at least one of them has to survive whatever they encounter to report back. They lose that ability if they travel individually and are injured or killed.”
“Right,” Tia said. “We should expect groups. I suspect the workers and the hunter-gatherers all operate this way as well.”
But we ought to confirm it, Vir thought. It made sense logically, but a mistaken assumption here could very well get them all killed.
“Which means we need to move fast. If we do end up staying in the forest, we’ll likely have to build several more fortifications and move between them to keep the enemy from discovering our camp,” Tia said with an awkward smile. “I trust your fortifications, Apramor, just that I’d rather avoid an ambush if we can.”
“I’d rather not be attacked in my sleep either,” he replied. Though that did leave them in a predicament. They needed more information about the enemy, and they needed it fast.
Vir dug into his stew and experienced an unexpected explosion of complex flavor. He’d been expecting mediocrity, but instead found the work of a master chef.
Vason cracked a grin. “Best perk of Spear’s Edge… Haymi’s cooking.”
“This is seriously good,” Vir said, relishing the mashed bean and lentil broth that bled into the perfectly cooked vegetables. He didn’t notice the satisfied smile creep across Haymi’s face.
“We’d be an even more efficient party if she only cooked more, but alas, not even Janak could convince her,” Vason said, holding his palm to his forehead.
His words earned him a C Grade Arc spell, fired right between his boots.
Vason yelped and jumped back, but Vir noticed he didn’t allow even a drop of his food to spill.
They really do get along well, Vir thought as he ate his stew.
“How do you fight so well together?” he asked. “I know you’ve known each other awhile, but there’s got to be more. When we fight, it almost feels like you’re a single entity rather than three people.”
Vason chuckled, while Haymi smiled slightly.
“A half dozen life-or-death situations will do that to you, Apramor,” Tia said softly. “Like how we fought that Narapazu? We all just kinda knew what to do. You included. Becomes second nature after a while.”
“I still feel like I’m just fighting independently, rather than gelling with you three, though.”
“Naw, you did great today! That was your first actual fight in a party. Trust me, I’ve seen people do far worse.”