During the hunting, I keep in regular contact with the colony through a chain of swift-running scouts, and from the sounds of things, they’re as busy as ever over there. What I haven’t heard about is the arrival of an invasion force, which I find a touch surprising. I’ve spent two days hunting down here! When are they going to get off their butts and attack us already?
I mean, I don’t want to sound ridiculous, but I’d almost prefer for the assault to come now, rather than endure this mysterious silence. It’s unbearable. Every moment, I expect the penny to drop and a violent struggle of survival to begin. In the meantime, all I can do is keep grinding, trying to get as strong as possible, as quickly as possible.
We’ve been relentless, and everyone is suffering from flagging energy levels, even me. At this distance from the colony, my Vestibule intake is significantly reduced. At least my babysitters are useful for something, since they provide me a bonus trickle.
Still, forty-eight hours of endless fighting hasn’t been for nothing. The Levels are piling in, and I’ve managed some tasty rank-ups. I put a bit of effort into chomping on the shadow creatures and pushing my Omen Chomp into the next rank. It’s been close for a long time, but I’ve been so focused on icing, burning, crushing, or slicing my opponents magically, that the old-fashioned mandible chomp has fallen by the wayside a bit. But if I’m going to be battling more of those armoured chumps, then a little extra shell-cracking power is going to come in handy.
[Omen Chomp (IV) Doom Chomp (V): Cost 1 SP. This advanced bite technique allows the wielder to further harness their inner energy and use it to inflict harm through the medium of teeth, mandibles, or fangs. Range and power are both increased at this rank, and the wielder gains insight into shaping the energy utilised in the strike.]
When the knowledge flows into my brain, it’s quite a surprise to find that the ethereal, energy-based mandibles that manifested when I employed the Skill could, in fact, be manipulated. I can’t do a whole lot with it right now, but I can make the mandibles a bit sharper, for added puncturing, or a bit more grindy, for… grinding… I suppose.
I have to say, the jump from rank four to five does provide a significant boost in power, from what I’ve seen so far. I’m quite curious about the sort of qualitative leap in strength the sixth tier will bring. Bit of a shame it’s going to take another eighty-sixty Levels to get there!
My other Skills have been progressing well. Very well, in fact! Without anyone else to prevent me from hoovering up the experience, I’ve made good progress. Nothing pumps the Skill Levels quite like battle does! Ice Magic Affinity has pushed all the way to rank five! Whoo! I’m also making solid progress—heh—on my Earth Magic. It won’t be long until that too reaches the fifth rank, then I can move on to the final remaining element.
[Master, I sense prey!]
[Oh-ho! Anything interesting?]
[I’m detecting a powerful concentration of Death Mana. Could be one creature, maybe a small group.]
[Ugh. I hate those things.]
[Experience is experience, Master.]
[Yeah, I know.]
The deeper we push into the second stratum, the thicker the stench of death becomes. It isn’t as if the Shadow Mana fades, it’s simply joined by another, more malevolent force. With the rise in Death Mana, we naturally see a rise in a type of monster I’m not at all fond of.
The undead.
The group creeps down the tunnel in order to get a better eye on the enemy, only to find they already have their eyes on us, in a sense. Only fifty metres away, sunk to its knees in a thick soup of what I can only describe as evil sludge, stands a proud-looking deer monster. Or, it would have appeared proud, if its eyes weren’t missing and large chunks of its flesh hadn’t simply sloughed off somewhere along the line.
I don’t have to focus particularly hard to sense a rising cloud of death surrounding the monster. Curiously, it just stands there, staring at us.
Hey, free XP is free XP. I’ll take it! My sub-brains work together, pumping Mana from my core through my Stone Magic Construct to produce the new energy which is seized by my main mind to weave together a deadly spike of hardened, compressed stone.
The stone spear is a simple, brutal, yet effective weapon, especially when using condensed Mana. I’ve seen these rocks puncture holes in all sorts of things. They should be fit for the purpose here. Not wanting to waste the opportunity my patient target is providing, I whip together half a dozen spears and launch them all at once.
The end result is… messy. Each spear is over a metre long and as thick as an adult human wrist. They pierce straight into the deer, which makes no sound, and sink deep into its flesh.
[You have defeated…]
[Nice!] I cheer.
“CONTACT!”
[What did you say?] I ask Crinis.
[That wasn’t me, Master! Mana signatures lighting up everywhere! It’s a trap!]
[BOOK-IT, PEOPLE!]
74. First Contact
The classic deer in the headlights trap! I should have seen it coming a mile away. Within an ecosystem with vast amounts of competition, since when is a monster that helpless ever left alive for more than a minute? This is the Dungeon, for goodness sake!
It’s so dark here I can’t see the individuals that have leapt forth from the shadows, and I don’t intend on hanging out until I can.
[Move it, Tiny! We are NOT sticking around to say hello,] I order my unruly pet.
The giant bat-faced ape was flexing his fists, eyes glaring wild and fierce as he sought for something to pummel. I’m not having any of it. Unknown enemies? We’re getting out of here! I can feel Crinis writhing on my thorax, desperate to attack those who would do me harm, but I act quickly to reel her in.
[Crinis! We’re leaving!]
[But, Master!]
[No buts!]
Thankfully, Invidia is smart enough that I don’t have to order him to retreat from a disadvantageous fight. The demon is already moving, and I follow his spherical, winged form as we rush back the way we came. Which still leaves me with one problem.
“Get the hell out of here, Protectant. I want your people ahead of me as we run! And don’t you dare go against me here! If one of you dies, I swear I’ll resurrect them so you know you can’t escape my wrath!”
The threat is completely hollow. I’d never desecrate the remains of my siblings, but it works. No member of the secret brigade appears and throws themselves in harm’s way, so I assume they are running ahead of me.
CRACK!
With an explosion of light, an incandescent beam of sword light blasts from the shadows and flashes toward me, carving deep gouges in the stone floor on its way. Holy heck! Dodge! My antennae blaze with future signs of severe danger and my nerves fire, throwing my body to one side before I have time to think about it.
I skitter, a tangle of legs that scrabble against the stone to regain purchase. The moment I do, I DASH with all my strength, picking up speed in an instant and rocketing forward as I sense more shapes emerging behind me. Whoever they are, they’re fast. Not to mention, hot! Not in a physically attractive way, though I haven’t seen them yet, but in a literal sense. My antennae are tingling at the insane amount of heat they generate.
They can’t possibly be people. They’d be cooking themselves from the inside out at those sorts of temperatures!
Have I been accosted by some sort of lava-people? I wouldn’t put it past Pangera to have lava-people! Desperate to gain information as I flee, my brains whip together a Fire Elemental Construct and I hastily craft a flame thrower, powering it with weak, uncompressed Mana. I’m not interested in damage, I just want to see!