Chapter 306 Stealth ant rides forth, status update
Leaving behind my three co-adventures I made my way back along our trail as quick as I could whilst keeping a low profile. I was on my own this time, I didn't want to stumble into a fight that I couldn't handle.
It felt unnerving to be exposed on the surface, I felt that lack of comfort pierce me right in the confidence now that I was here without any backup. In fact, no Tiny and no Crinis alongside me for the first time in how long?! Crinis had been with me since not long after we reached the surface during the wave, but Tiny had been with me long before that, since finding the colony almost!
That big lug-head. As much as his ... limited decision making capacity and hunger for a fight had been an inconvenience to say the least, it was fun having him around. He wasn't much for conversation but things tended to never be boring when he was around. He didn't exactly 'settle' for the status quo, he pushed himself, he pushed the situation forward, never allowing himself to shy from a challenge. I had to admire that.
Or he was stupid and free from the sense of self preservation. Either way, it was fun to have him with me.
I will perform core surgery on him and buff his intellect though. Every time he charges forward into nigh mortal danger, I feel myself age internally another ten years. If he keeps going at the rate he's going them I'm going to wither away to dust by the end of the year.
If they even have years here. Or rather, how long is each year in this world? It could be one of those places that orbits its star once every six thousand days. Presuming people grow at the same speed as they did on Earth, you'd be eighteen earth years by the time your first birthday rolled around.
Running through the fields I keep my antennae twitching here and there, making use of my range of vision to try and prevent anything from sneaking up on me. I engage in the stealthy patterns of behaviour that served me so well in the first weeks of my life in this world. Obviously I can't attach myself to the ceiling up here, denying me the full experience of my youth, but I do my best to keep my profile hidden in the long grass, sticking my head up every now and again to take in the lay of the land.
I haven't seen anything yet, but that doesn't mean that I won't.
I'm still gutted that I forgot to secure that core. Just when I thought I might be getting a little smarter, a little more wise, I go ahead and do something stupid like this. That core would mean so much for the colony if I could get it to the Queen, I'm sure of it. If she can evolve in an awesome way, who knows what she might be able to become?
Perhaps it's my ant instincts in me, but I deeply want the Queen to be safe and secure in the colony. The thought of any harm coming to her just makes my little ant heart hurt. Personally, I don't think it has much to do with my new body. Having a family, having a parent who cared and valued me, that's something I've never had before. I don't like to dwell on the negative much but my human life had been ... less than ideal.
Even something simple like being accepted without question by my siblings, the trust and care the Queen, my mother, had shown without expecting anything in return. It's nice. I was desperate for this sense of belonging, I can see that now. Perhaps that was why I was so quick to accept my place within the colony. Now that I've invested so much into my new family, I want to ensure only the best for them.
Which is why I want this damn core!
It's quite the journey to make it back to where we had defeated the Croca-Commander. I focus during my travel time exposed under the open sky, crouching low when I can, moving swiftly and carefully.
Even so, I get a chance to check my status and take in a few of the skill level ups that I missed during the fight against the commander. Mana transformation levelled up to 8, which is nice. Splintering chomp made it to 10 and Advanced mind magic affinity jumped twice to reach 4. Battling against tough foes can really net levels at a quick pace. I took a moment to run my eye over my status:
Name: Anthony
Level: 30 (Special core)
Might: 41
Toughness: 29
Cunning: 44
Will: 35
HP: 58/58
MP: 180/230
Skills: Expert Excavation (III) Level 3; Improved Acid Shot (II) Level 9; Advanced Grip (II) Level 4; Shattering Bite (IV) Level 14; Advanced Stealth (II) Level 5; Splintering Chomp (III) Level 10; Tunnel Map (II) Level 6; Mana Transformation (III) Level 8; Condensed Mana (III) Level 1; External Mana Manipulation (I) Level 2; Empowered Mana Sensing (II) Level 1; Core Surgery (III) Level 6; Expert Exo-Skeleton Defence (III) level 3; Pet Communication (I) Level 4; Rapid Dash (II) Level 4; Expert Water Magic Affinity (III) Level 1; Advanced Stamina (II) Level 7; Pet Growth Speed (I) Level 1; Mana Scrooge (II) Level 5; Advanced Cerebral Endurance (II) Level 9; Profound Mediation (II) Level 2; Advanced Precise Shooting (II) Level 2; Tearing Bite (II) Level 9; Enhanced Mind Magic Affinity (II) level 4;
Mutations: Omni Focused Eyes +10, Precognitive Infrared Antennae +10, Mana Eating Restrictive Acid +10, Rapid Absorption Legs +15, Empowered Mandibles +15, True Diamond Carapace +15, Rapid Limb Regeneration Gland +10, Persuasive Pheromone Language Gland +10, Bottomless Gravity Magic Gland +15, Adaptable Coordination Cortex +15, Dispersive Regenerating Inner Carapace Plating +10;
Species: Dispersed Mind Ant (Formica)
Skill points: 19
Biomass: 212
I have a lot of Biomass to spend at the moment, I'll need to take care of that soon. The other thing I need to think about is that I'll be able to evolve again in ten levels. My strategy of absorbing a portion of the rare core and hoping my body would adapt seems to have worked. The pain and discomfort is still there, but it's diminished over time. There may be a shot that I'll be able to take the rest of the core before I evolve. Claws crossed.
Speaking of levelling skills, I need to ensure I'm taking the time to grind up a few points whilst I'm up here on the surface. I have two sub-brains who are doing nothing but picking their noses right now, may as well set them a task!
I can almost feel the begrudging acceptance as my force my sub minds to begin reaching out and manipulating the thin mana in the air. The lowest skill that I have regarding magic is my external mana manipulation, so I may as well grind it up to the second rank at least.
My two brains grab hold of the mana and begin to try and move it outside of my body. It's a difficult task, much more difficult that grabbing hold of the pliable mana within my core. I need to save that mana as much as possible so forget about using it to practice!
When I allow the two brains to cooperate, they demonstrate much better progress, utilising their resources together they are able to grab hold of more mana and shift it around in lazy patterns in the air.
Ten minutes later I was rewarded with the first level up.
[External mana manipulation has reached level 2]
Nice! Keep at it sub minds! I'm counting on you!
It was a strange sensation, having my sub brains working on something as my main mind dithered. It was me working hard to control to the mana outside of my body but at the same time it wasn't. As if my left hand were busy as hell with a task and my right hand was idle but each hand had its own brain?
I continued on my way under the open sky and after my external mana manipulation skill reached level three I finally found the place where we had battled the Croca-Commander. There were still signs of our fight to be found, the disturbed grass, the hemisphere of soil that had been consumed by my gravity bomb. The mana here felt ... odd. My two sub minds were still actively reaching out to the mana in the air, but it felt, almost thin. As if there was just less of it to take hold of in this place.
The body of the Croca-Commander was gone without a trace. In the soft earth near where we had left it was a reptilian footprint, large enough that I could stand in it, my entire body encompassed within.
Thatsa big Croc.
-x-X-x-
Around the scene of the battle I could see the oversized footprints pressed into the ground all over the place. It was clear that they approached from the direction we had pursued the commander, meaning they had come from the direction of the capital city, Liria. It was also clear that the creature who had come here had cleaned up all of the Biomass we had left behind. I'm not certain if Biomass could fade on the surface as it did within the Dungeon, I suspected not, which led me to believe that the creature who had come here had chewed all of it up before departing.
There was no doubt in my mind who these oversized Croc prints belonged to: Garralosh.
The mother Croc.
There were so many damned prints in the ground it wasn't easy to tell how many legs the creature had. Judging by the progression from Croca-Beast to Croca-Commander, I can expect that the number of limbs, tails and heads has only gone up. Images of bizarre formations of Croca parts run through my head. Four heads? Nine tails?! Twenty two arms?!
I shook myself to push the pictures from my mind. Ultimately, it didn't matter. The rare core had been lost in my carelessness and I couldn't get it back. Disappointment and guilt washed over me in that moment. If it had been for me, I doubt I would have cared this much. So stupid!
Only one way to fix it. Try and hunt down another Croca-Commander and present its core to Mother! Heck, I'll bring her the core of big momma Garralosh myself if I have to.
With a upwelling of determination, I decided to ignore the idea that I'd just pledged to defeat a Crocodile who's feet are larger than my whole body and turned back to meet up with my crew. I spent the journey once again huddled in the long grass, my minds grasping at the mana in the air.
Curiously, I found the mana replenished itself the further from the battle site I found myself. Why the heck was the ambient mana so thin in just that location? It seemed weird. There must be a reason.
The only significant event I could think of that had occurred in that place is that Garralosh, a very old, very powerful monster, had passed through the area. But what did that have to do with the mana in the air?
Wait.
Hang on a second.
Big 'ol monster, highly evolved, powerful core, on the surface, needs mana, mana in the air is lacking after it passed through...
There are some dots here that I feel I'm connecting...
Stopping in place, I hesitantly stretched out with my main mind, sending my awareness outside of my body in the strange way that was only possible here in this world, to sense the mana in the air. Like part of the atmosphere, the mana suffused everything, every blade of grass, every leaf and the air itself. Not nearly to the level it existed within the Dungeon itself, but still, it was there.
I grabbed hold of a small portion of mana with my thoughts, gripping it tight in a vice of pure will, and drew it down toward me, toward my body and then inside, toward my core. To my shock, the mana was drawn straight into my core like a drop of water being soaked into a sponge.
Holy moly!
So this means I can draw mana out of the air in order to sustain my core whilst I'm up on the surface? Why the hell didn't I think of that before?! The core draws mana into itself passively, I guess I just didn't think of trying to supplement its automatic replenishment function by controlling the mana around me. Negligent! I've been negligent again! I should not have neglected the External Mana Manipulation skill for so long! What other precious secret does it hold?!
It's obvious now that Garralosh is using this skill and a much higher level than I am in order to offset the demands of its core whilst moving on the surface, but I still feel it isn't enough to explain how such an evolved monster can move about up here. I'm only estimating here, and on only a tiny amount of data, but I feel like if I were to rank up the skill and devote my two sub brains to constantly pulling ambient mana into my core, I would still be short of breaking even by just a smidge. If Garralosh has risen the skill to rank four or five, and has a powerful mind rig, she would still be running at a massive loss.
Perhaps she can only maintain herself up here for short bursts. Then why come at all? It just doesn't make sense to me. I may need to grill Morrelia further when I make it back to them.
External mana Manipulation had made it to level four by the time I reunited with the gang. The constant use was certainly keeping the skill ticking up a nice rate. The fact I didn't even have to use my main mind to do it was even better. As a rank one skill, it's still limited in the knowledge and skill that it grants. I'm excited to see what it will give at the second and third rank.
When I returned to the improvised Dungeon we had dug I found Morrelia, Crinis and Tiny resting. All three of them looked up at my descent, my pets happy to see me, Morrelia more irritated that anything my the looks of things.
After connecting the mind bridge I told Morrelia what I had found.
[So Garralosh has actually set foot on the surface] she frowned.
[I believe that she's using external mana manipulation to drag mana into her core. The air in the area was extremely thin when I got there].
Morrelia nodded.
[It's a known tactic, even humans use this method to recharge magic items faster.]
[That alone shouldn't be enough, surely?] I waggled my antennae in protest, [a monster that size must have a potent core. If a few skills were enough for monsters to operate on the surface, wouldn't it happen all the time? I understand that it's basically unheard of for Dungeon monsters to run around on the surface!]
[It's true] Morrelia sighed, [the problem is the wave we are experiencing. For some reason it's caused the density of the ambient mana on the surface to rise, that isn't meant to happen. That can cause the normal monsters to rise to the surface, but it shouldn't be enough for a creature like Garralosh. There's something strange happening and I can't explain it.]
She appeared frustrated by her lack of understanding toward this situation. Ever since we had come to the former Kingdom of Liria, Morrelia had contained a simmering anger inside her, well, more simmering anger that usual. I had to remind myself every now and again that this was her homeland we're stomping around in.
[So what's the plan?] I asked, [I'm here for reconnaissance and I would love to get a chance at grabbing another rare core, so I'm going to stick around. What about you?]
Morrelia dropped her chin to chest as she thought for a moment.
[I'll stay] she declared. [I want to get to the capital and see it for myself. I also want to find out just how a monster like Garralosh is moving around on the surface. There must be more there that we can learn.]
[Alright, give me a little while to get ready and then we can go.]
Time to spend some Biomass.
-x-X-x-
I've managed to amass over two hundred Biomass since my last big spend, not a heap, not when compared to the last haul, but still healthy. With this I'll be able to get three more mutations to +15, bringing me so close to the perfect full mutation form that I want before my next evolution. If I'd been more patient and chewed my way through more Biomass at the early evolutions, I wouldn't have had to stuff my face so much during this one!
Lessons have been learned. I won't be evolving until my mutations are complete!
As Morrelia sat down to keep watch over us, my pets and I settled in to spend our Biomass. Crinis was already close to the perfect +10 all around. She must be nearly ready to evolve as well. Still only tier two, she can get much stronger yet. Tiny is in the same boat as me, tier two and battling to get enough food into him to get his body fully upgraded.
Alright then. I still have to upgrade my eyes, my antennae, my regeneration gland, my Language gland and my carapace plating. So after this round of mutations I'll still have two to go. So close!
Ok, so which should I go with?
Eyes for sure. Up here on the surface I find my eyesight still isn't up to the task of seeing long distances. In the Dungeon, the wide open spaces are not quite this wide and open and I can get around much better, but up here the long distance vision is still a little weak.
[Would you like to upgrade Omni Focused eyes from +10 to +15? This will cost 65 Biomass?]
Let's do it!
[At this level you may choose to combine your mutations, or emphasise one. Which will you select?]
Okay then! So far I have upgraded my eyes to have a long distance section of vision focused toward the front, then I upgraded them to have other, separate areas of focused vision pointing in most directions. The effect is that I have quite decent vision forward, above, behind and to the sides of me, but with fairly chunky gaps of poor, blurry eyesight between. I'm happy with both upgrades so I suppose the way forward is to fuse!
Nice. Let's hold that one and focus on the next. I think carapace plating will be the solid play. If I'm going to keep fighting against monsters as far out of my league stats wise as the commanders, then I want all the defence I can get!
[Would you like to upgrade your Dispersive Regenerative Carapace Plating to +15? This will cost 65 Biomass.]
Yassss!
[At this level you may choose to combine your mutations, or emphasise one. Which will you select?]
Now this is a little interesting. The two upgrades I have on my inner carapace, Dispersive and Regenerative, are both very useful. The dispersive plating helps my carapace to spread out the damage of blunt attacks, making it harder to crack, whilst the regenerative aspect allows my plating to regenerate itself very quickly. This increases my survivability by a lot since my carapace is tough to penetrate, and heals damage that is done to it.
If both upgrades are equally good, we will fuse them!
One to go.
I think I'll choose my regeneration gland on this one. If I'm going to be battling up against larger, more damaging monster, then being able to repair damage during the fight could be critical, just as it has been in the past. The thing that worries me the most is my legs. The carapace that covers my body is super tough, and getting tougher with every mutation and evolution. I'm excessively proud of it to be honest. So shiny, so strong.
But it doesn't do a whole lot for my stick-like ant legs. Monstrous ant I may be, my legs are still skinny and oh so snap-able. To be honest, I didn't think legs this size would be able to hold me up at my current girth, I suppose I have mana to thank for that. They are a defensive liability, so I desperately want to improve my ability to regrow them at a moment's notice.
[Would you like to upgrade your Rapid Limb Regeneration Gland to +15? This will cost 65 Biomass.]
[At this level you may choose to combine your mutations, or emphasise one. Which will you select?]
The two upgrades I have assist in the growth of missing limbs, which thankfully includes my antennae, and speeds up the process. Both are valuable, so fusion is once again the path I choose!
Alright then! Those choices are all locked in, suppose I'd better confirm them then...
Wait!
I nearly forgot about the itch again! Shifting my head slightly I can see Morrelia is leaning against the wall, almost appearing to be dozing but I can tell her senses are attuned to possible threats here in this small Dungeon chamber.
If she sees me wiggling and rolling around on the ground then all of dignity as the leader of the ants will be lost! In fact, one could almost say that my dignity is the dignity of the colony itself! That may be a little bit of a stretch, but still! I need to get her out of the room. Some sort of diversion is necessary.
[Hey, Morrelia. Any chance you could have a quick look up on the surface? I think I heard something moving around. Through vibrations you know, we ants are very sensitive to vibrations moving through the dirt. It's the antennae, fantastic wiggly things they are. You know what they say, they aint this long for nothing! Ha! Ha! Haaaaaaa.]
Smooth.
Morrelia lifted one eyebrow at my persuasive diatribe before she nodded slightly.
[Sure, I'll take a look.]
So saying she turned and quickly climbed her way up and out of our little chamber.
Quick as a flash I dove behind Tiny. Not content with this level of coverage I began to dig furiously, my mandibles sending dirt flying into the air, covering Tiny who groaned in irritation but thankfully didn't move.
Aha! Now I have secured a small trough in the ground, am screened behind Tiny and Morrelia has left the chamber. I must seize this moment!
Confirm those mutations!
ACK!
So quickly?! Holy mackerel!
STAGRABALLIGANUFFIN!!!
It doesn't take long before I have assumed the now traditional position, on my back and flailing wildly at the air with my legs as the overpowering itch of mutation rips through me without mercy. I can only take some small measure of comfort in the knowledge that I have, for once, managed to not be observed.
Victory!
A few minutes later, Tiny, Crinis and I emerged from the chamber to find Morrelia resting on the surface. I take a moment to re-establish our mental communication that I'd let lapse during my ... er ... episode.
[So where do you think we should go next?] I asked, keeping it cool.
[There are a few smaller settlements I know of in the area that I'd like to visit, there's a chance we'll find some survivors there. Other than that, I want to move toward the capital and get a good look at it.]
[Sounds reasonable] I agreed, [all of that is quite valuable for the colony as well. Let's make a start.]
And so, we were off!
-x-X-x-
Once Tiny, Crinis and I had refilled our cores and Morrelia had snacked on her travel rations we set out once again, this time moving slower and taking more care as we moved. We weren't trying to chase anyone down and stumbling under the eye of big momma Croc was not something we wanted to experience. I made sure I was training my external mana manipulation as we moved, putting those sub brains to work and making them earn their keep. This had the added benefit of slowing down the drain on my core since I was able to capture the mana in the air and pull it in to replace my losses.
I did try and see if I could sense where the mana I lost went, perhaps to see if I could retain it, drag it straight back into myself and therefore never lose any mana at all, but I failed. No matter how I tried I wasn't able to sense where the mana that left the core went to, whether it bled out into the air, was consumed in some way by my body or just vanished out of my core via some extra-dimensional portal.
This could be a research project for the colony one day down the line.
Morrelia seemed to know what she was doing, leading us down farm tracks and dirt roads to locate isolated clusters of homes that we would investigate in the hopes of locating survivors tucked away in cellars, barns or attics. I was surprised by our strike rate, we did manage to find a surprising number of people who had taken shelter from the monsters and managed to hide themselves.
When we uncovered the first group of bedraggled survivors, Tiny cracking open the cellar doors with his bare hands, I'd been shocked! How the heck had the monsters managed to overlook them?!
Turns out that the monsters aren't the best at checking the nooks and crannies. They may have been put under the compulsion of their Croc overlords through some mechanism I have no understanding of, but they do seem to be a little lazy in the execution of their sweeps.
The larger towns and villages have received the full monster horde treatment. Burnt to the ground, the buildings smashed in and the people eaten or scattered, but the smaller hamlets have been hit with a lighter hand. More of a smash and grab approach, without a vigorous hunt for survivors.
The people we find are not in a good way. Starved and half crazed from their time in isolation, too afraid to stick their heads out into the open air in case a monster happened to be nearby, half of them either attacked or hid from myself, Tiny and Crinis before Morrelia could calm them down. I thought we'd have a hard time convincing the people to move, so fearful were they, but each time we managed to uncover another clutch of starved, desperate people, Morrelia managed to convince the of the security that waited for them in the village to the south.
After Morrelia helped the people pack whilst us monsters sat about at a calming distance. We had tried to assist by lifting and shifting things but Morrelia suggested we move to one side and allow the people to get themselves organised without us, as it would cause less "stress" to the survivors.
Which is fair enough. I do hope that Morrelia emphasised the presence of an entire colony of monsters living right next to this village of survivors. If any accidents were to occur, things could get very hairy down there, very quickly.
Over the span of a few days we covered a lot of ground, running all over southern Liria. We had a couple of run ins with bands of roving monsters, smaller ones this time, without any of the more evolved Croca beasts. We were able to clean those up without much stress, and I made sure to grind my skills across the battles.
It didn't take long for external mana manipulation to level to five and I was able to rank it up to Greater External Mana Manipulation. The rank up imbued me with the knowledge I needed to extend my reach further and grasp hold of mana at an extended range from my body. This increased the amount of mana I could shift somewhat but not by as much as I'd thought. I could use my will to effect mana almost twice as far away as I could before, a range of almost five metres. The extended range, came at a cost though, the further the mana was from my core, the harder it was to influence.
The upshot was that my minds burned more mental energy the further away the mana was from me. Whilst my sub brains were able to grasp mana close to me almost constantly, expanding their reach caused them to flame out before much time had passed. I decided to slowly increase the range of my mana manipulation as my levels increased and I became more confident with the technique.
After we had made a pass through the surrounding region, we had to retreat back to the Dungeon in order to recharge and plot our move toward the capital. I had business with a croc.
-x-X-x-
Since leaving Midum, Isaac and his fellow survivors had made good time. Isaac found it was easy to motivate folks when they were escaping a literal horde of savage monsters that had killed almost everyone they knew. Glad to have survived, worried that it wouldn't last, the townsfolk and former guardsmen and women had packed their stuff with alacrity and hustled their way south, following the directions that Morrelia had given them.
Thinking of Morrelia brought a smile to Isaac's face and pang to his heart. He was deep in it, he could see that as sure as he could see the nose on his own face. He'd never been taken with someone on first sight like this in his entire life. Everything about her just seemed to punch him right in his most tender preferences. Strong, no nonsense, capable, decisive and built with a body that looked as if she could pick him and rip him in half with her bare hands.
Not to mention her raging temperament which had made him feel as if that might actually happen at any moment. Talking to her had felt like the best and most dangerous thing Isaac had done in his entire life.
Shaking his head to dismiss the lingering thoughts of the goddess who had captivated him so and tried to focus his mind on the literal mountain of an issue before him.
"It's a pile 'o somethin' alright" he muttered to himself, "just not sure if it's the plops yet."
"You say somethin' Isaac?" Anna, his fellow former Midum town guard queried from his left.
"Nothin' worth hearing" he nodded toward the massive hill of dirt that rose before them, "what you make of it, Anna?" he asked.
The dour guard shook her head. "It's well over my pay grade Isaac. I never seen anything like it."
'Aint that the truth, Isaac thought to himself as he tried to take it all in. He'd been warned before he'd left Midum, spoken to again, at length, when they'd arrived at the village, but he still wasn't prepared for the reality of it. A whole colony of monsters, living right next to a human village.
And apparently everything was... fine?
Isaac watched as hundreds of ant monsters larger than his old dog Toby ran about on the enormous mound of dirt at a feverish pace, carrying dirt out of the tunnels, shifting its position on the hill or using their bodies to press and compact the soil.
"It's so quiet" Isaac observed to Anna as he watched the ants work.
"It's eerie" she agreed after listening for a moment.
The monsters didn't talk, or communicate in any visible way, they just moved around each other in perfect synch. The effort and energy they expended put human labourers to shame, without a word of complaint or a single individual shirking. It was mighty impressive, in a way.
As to what they were doing., they appeared to be building a castle, out of dirt. Oh it didn't have all the trimmings of a cast, the fancy towers and gabled roofs, but in Isaac's more direct mind, this ant hill had the essentials: A big ass wall and a raised fort inside.
It even had a moat! How in the hell a group of monstrous insects managed to engineer something like this was beyond Isaac. Sure, a moat was nothing but a trench filled with water, sure a wall wasn't anything but a heap of dirt piled up, but it was the little things. The dirt wall had been properly braced against thick wooden posts, presenting a formidable obstacle to any who wanted to assault the hill. The moat would normally cause all sorts of problem regarding drainage but it seems that the ants had managed to think of that problem and used a bed of crushed stone, packed down hard, to help minimise.
The moat was even fed from their own channel network for cryin' out loud!
Shaking his head, Isaac turned on his heel and walked back toward the village, Anna trailing behind.
"You're finished looking Isaac?"
"Aye."
"What do you make of it?"
"I haven't the slightest."
"People are fair nervous" Anna warned him, "it's unnerving for them to settle down in a place so close to a pack of monsters."
Isaac grunted in agreement, "not surprising, considering they were just chased from their homes."
There were rumblings amongst the new arrivals, uncomfortable with their new situation, but Isaac had to admit, the locals were a very ... passionate group of advocates. The priest in particular was relentless in his efforts to ease the new arrivals into coexistence with the colony.
As he and Anna drew closer to the village, Isaac saw the one armed silhouette of Beyn hustling towards him. Isaac supressed a sigh. The priest had been welcoming, helpful, cheerful and tireless is his efforts to comfort the people of Midum, which was more than Isaac could have hoped for. It was just that the man was a little ... intense.
"Greetings friend! Returning after paying homage to our friends?" Beyn called as he cheerfully waved his remaining hand at them in greeting.
Isaac rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't say payin' homage, as such your worship. Just wanted to take a look."
The former town guardsmen's lack of fervour washed off the priest like water. He simply nodded with enthusiasm, eyes shining as he looked towards the ant hill in the distance. "It's incredible isn't it? I can't believe how fast they are learning, how fast they are changing! I swear they are watching us, trying to understand us. In a years' time, who knows what they might be capable of? A miracle is what it is. Divine deliverance!"
"'Course it is father, 'aint nobody sayin' any different" Isaac hurriedly cut him off. He'd already been subjected to one of father Beyn's spontaneous sermons and he wasn't keen to repeat the experience. Only the timely intervention of Mrs Enid Bly had saved him.
Before the priest could get wound up again, Isaac cast about to divert the topic of conversation but came up blank. Dang it! He had to act fast or something else would set of the fanatical priest! In desperation he flicked a glance at Anna and she received his panicked signal.
"Ah, your holiness, there, father" she piped up haltingly, "I was, uh, wondering if, you could, ah, tell me some more about the, em, leader ant?"
You idiot! Isaac thought to himself, you couldn't possibly have dropped your foot in the sloppy soil any harder than that.
As expected, the priests eyes lit ablaze at the mention of his favourite subject. The man's entire face came alight as if it were receiving the mana of the Dungeon directly.
"I would love to!" he boomed, throwing his one arm wide as he stepped forward, closing the distance to his victim.
Isaac averted his eyes from Anna's pleading gaze. Sometimes sacrifices were necessary in order to achieve the greater good. With the priests' voice rising to the heavens behind him, Isaac stepped quietly away and moved toward the village proper.
He'd been fascinated to learn that the ant monster he'd seen with Morrelia had not been a pet and had in fact been the master of the other two monsters he'd seen. Just thinking about it was enough to make him shiver. Had it wanted to that ant could have slaughtered his people without resistance.
All in all, Isaac had to admit that conditions here in the village were better than he had expected by far. He'd only arrived a few days ago and already simple housing was being organised, people were being put to work, fields expanded, combat training undertaken. Despite the recent tragedy, the village town had an incredible energy that was surprising on os many levels.
In a moment of clarity he suddenly realised that the people of the village reminded him of nothing so much as the colony of ants he'd been watching just minutes ago. The single minded, uncomplaining zeal at which they approached their work was unlike anything he'd seen. Something different was happening here, and it wasn't just the monsters, the people were changing also.
It'd be interesting to see what came of it.
-x-X-x-
Here now at the end of the world, what do we have to say to those that we destroyed? I'm sure it's not something that would cross the mind of most on my side of the divide. Would we even say anything, if given the chance? I don't believe so.
We saw this path as inevitable. The moment the truth was learned, our feet were marching on this road. Others would not, could not accept this reality. It is no fault of theirs. They are not built as we are. Perhaps they cursed us, wailed against us in their palaces and war councils. It matters not.
We did what had to be done.
- Author unknown
We settled back into the mini-Dungeon chamber we had excavated to allow us monsters a chance to regain our mana and rest. Morrelia kept an eye out from up top. She barely seemed to need to sleep, catching a few hours here and there seemed to be enough to sustain her almost superhuman levels of effort over an extended period of time. It's been a sharp reminder to me that in this world a person is not limited as they were back on earth. Acts of physical or mental prowess that would be impossible to a human on earth can be made trivial here with levels and training.
So who am I to say that being able to run and fight against horrific beasts for an entire day, sleep for three hours and then do it all again the next is remarkable in this world? Obviously not every person can do that, according to Beyn, most people level twenty to forty times across their entire lives. That isn't enough to amount to much for most classes, the stat growth is simply too low. For the elites though, the privileged who are able to, via wealth or ability, farm the Dungeon and raise their levels fast, who knows what kind of incredible feats they are capable of.
Liria was apparently a young, backwater kingdom, founded by pioneering farmers who wanted to open up more land for agriculture. The real powerhouses are further north and east across the lake, so I'm told. I don't think that'll matter much to us though, being a small colony in the middle of the wilds, neighbouring a tiny village, we shouldn't be of any consequence to anyone for a long time.
[Are we ready to head to Liria?] I asked Morrelia as she kept an eye out above us.
[Yes] she answered, [I can't think of anywhere else in this area where I might find survivors.]
[I'm surprised you found as many as you did. Makes me think there may be quite a few more hidden away in remote places, perhaps even in the towns if people were smart enough to hide.]
It was true. Including the folks from Midum, we'd found hundreds of survivors and sent them packing to the village. I hope Enid has it all under control down there, finding beds and meals for the villagers was tricky as is, it's going to be even harder now.
For now, it isn't my problem. The colony has sent me out to act as their scout and determine the nature of the threat on the surface and that is what I'm going to do. We've managed to do some damage, killed a heap of monsters and rescued some people, that's all good and noble, but not the main reason why I'm here.
Although the Biomass and skill levels have been nice. My constant practice of external mana manipulation has continued to yield results, taking Greater External Mana Manipulation to level 3. Enhanced mind magic affinity levelled once, Advanced Cerebral Endurance went to level ten and I ranked it up to Expert Cerebral Endurance. I also managed to gain a level! It was something of a shock to level up by cleaning up weaker monsters from the upper levels of the Dungeon but I think it was mostly due to the Garralosh Commander putting me close to the edge.
We've also been making sure to keep eating as much Biomass as we can when we get a chance. I've gotten my supply back to thirty five, which isn't much but every little bit helps! My incomplete mutations and my impending evolution are weighing on my mind more heavily with every passing day. Something inside is saying that this evolution is going to be different and I want to make sure I'm as prepared as I can be. That feeling could also just be my oversized core causing me pain, who knows.
[We need to be careful as we approach the city] Morrelia brought me back to our conversation, [I'm still not sure how it's possible for Garralosh to be up here, but if we run into that beast then I don't think either of us could make it out alive.]
[I thought you said she wasn't as evolved as I thought?] I protested, [now your saying we couldn't even run away?]
Morrelia growled in frustration, but it wasn't directed at me. I could almost feel her glare through the dirt above my head.
[I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you, it might even help keep us alive. The truth is that Garralosh has been prevented from descending to the lower layers in order to starve her out. My father, and the Legion, didn't want to allow Garralosh to grow. I'm not sure exactly why they singled out the beast in this way, but they did it, they boxed her in. The thin mana was supposed to kill the creature eventually, without anyone having to hunt the filthy thing down.]
[But it hasn't worked] I pointed out the obvious, [Garralosh seems to be fine and dandy, better than ever in fact, she's doing the crocodile rock all over the surface for goodness sake!]
[I know!] Morrelia ground out, [something hasn't worked and I have no idea what. Garralosh was defeated by my father decades ago and was supposed to have scurried off to slowly die from a lack of mana. Something about this situation is very wrong!]
[Wait a second, your Dad defeated Garralosh? Like, by himself?!]
Silence.
Holy HECK?! No wonder Morrelia is so freakishly strong! Thems is some crazy genes!
[So, uh. If your Dad comes back up to the surface ... could you, uh, put in a good word for the colony? We aren't so bad... certainly aren't crocodilic in any way.]
[Ha!] Morrelia barked out a short laugh across our mental connection before she managed to stifle it. [Commander Titus isn't a big fan of Dungeon monsters. If he finds you I can't think of anything would prevent him from attempting to destroy you utterly.]
...
Well, that brought the mood down.
[Okay, putting your murderous, immensely powerful sire to one side, how do you plan to approach the city? I won't let you go in alone, the colony has requested that I scout and I'm not going back without clapping my eyes on the big Croc at least once.]
Morrelia laid out her plan and we finessed the details for an hour before we felt confident enough to proceed. I roused Tiny and Crinis from their rest, climbed out of the Dungeon and we were off.
-x-X-x-
After we left our little slice of Dungeon, cores fully charged and feeling fresh, we began to make our way toward the capital in earnest. We'd done a few sweeps out this way before but had resisted the urge to push too close to the city in the event we attracted the wrong type of attention whilst there were still people that could be saved and roving bands of monsters that could be cleaned up toward the south.
Those things have been cleared up now and there is nothing to stop us making our approach. Moving cautiously, we kept low, avoiding the main roads as Morrelia directed us west into the large forest south of the city. Moving back under those leafy branches was nostalgic to me, on the north side of this forest is where the colony set up our first nest on the surface. Not far from the village where I bit off Beyns arm. Ah, memories.
I wonder the Branchies are still around?
Morrelia takes care that we stay hidden and out of sight as we continue to progress to the north, displaying a level of woodcraft that I hadn't expected to see in such a bloodthirsty warrior. When I, perhaps unwisely, commented on it, she snorted out a laugh of derision before replying.
[You think roaming the wilds is as simple as killing everything you find? If you don't know when and how to hide yourself, a hunter will wind up dead and eaten before they can blink.]
[That's a little surprising to me] I replied honestly, [I haven't seen anything on the surface that could hope to put a scratch on you or me. Is there really a need for that kind of caution?]
Morrelia continued to move and scout as we spoke, her eyes shifting without pause and her feet placed carefully as we moved.
[Don't get a big head. Surface monsters are much weaker than Dungeon monsters, that much is true, but there are still creatures on the surface that are powerful. Why else do you think the entire surface is yet to be reclaimed? Probably half of the landmass of Pangera is still considered 'wildlands', with no sapient race laying claim to it.
[But why?!] I exclaimed, [I just don't understand. If you have fighters that are able to battle in the Dungeon, then you can surely spend some of that strength on the surface? Don't people want to rid the surface of monsters? Wouldn't that be safer?]
[The key point you aren't grasping here, is whether or not that land is valuable.]
[Well. You need land, right? For farming... and... living?]
Morrelia laughed, a harsh barking sound that suited her warriors demeanour far more than a girlish titter would have.
[Oh aye. For regular folks, land is critical. Need to farm, grow families, fell lumber, mine. The wealth and prosperity of the common people is built on land, certainly. What about the elites? What about the rulers of those mighty nations? For what do they need land for?]
I could feel the ire rising in Morrelia as she spoke and decided I should keep my mouth shut until she was finished. Wisdom showing itself in me once again!
[The truth is, to the truly powerful, territory in the Dungeon is a thousand times more valuable that territory on the surface. Rare materials, monster components, cores, experience, these are the things that they are willing to fight for. The greatest empires of the surface don't measure their strength by how wide their lands are, but how deep. The regular people on the surface are left to fend for themselves, when they aren't being drafted into some new crusade beneath the earth.]
[So that's why you spent your time hunting in the south? You wanted to use your skills and strength to try and help out where others wouldn't.]
She hesitated before she spoke, just for a brief moment but I caught it none the less.
[Yes. Amongst other reasons, I wanted to try and do something to assist people on the border. My crew and I would take commissions to hunt from the monarchy, bounties basically, it wasn't much but we made a living out of and got to feel that we were doing something worthwhile.]
I felt like it was a bit of a waste of her skills to be honest. If she'd been doing something more like what she was doing know in the village, training people and escorting them into the Dungeon to allow them to build up the strength to defend themselves, it would have been a more effective way to protect the people on the border. You know the old saying: Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will kill monsters in defence of family and property.
Or something.
I made my opinion known to Morrelia and she seemed to reluctantly agree.
[It's possible] she conceded, [I've greatly enjoyed training the refugees, more than I had expected I would, to be honest. I'd never thought I'd have the patience for it. I'm not sure if it's something I could have done before. Access to the Dungeon was restricted in Liria, just like everywhere, and finding people in the villages who were willing to flaunt that rule and fight for themselves would have been hard before this mess occurred.]
[Why is access to the Dungeon so restricted anyway? Wouldn't it be good if people got a little stronger and advanced their classes?]
Morrelia smiled grimly, her eyes still shifting left and right as she scouted for danger. [That's exactly why. They don't want people getting stronger, advancing their classes and potentially creating their own centres of power outside of their control.]
I sighed internally. Even in another world people would be this petty and selfish. This kind of thing just reinforces to me the wisdom of the colony way of life. The idea of a worker trying to seek some sort of advantage over another worker is almost enough to make to me laugh out loud! If anything they would scheme to ensure that they themselves were sacrificing more and working harder than others.
Our conversation had run its course so Morrelia and I fell into a companionable silence. It would take quite some time for us to make our way through this forest, particularly since we didn't want to be seen. I wasn't even training any mental skills as we travelled, wanting to maintain my mental energy in the event that we ran into trouble.
Fortunately, we didn't. After extended travel without rest, we managed to make it the northern side of the forest. Somewhat sadly, we didn't run into the old anthill, I think we passed somewhat to the east of it, but eventually the trees began to thin out as we approached the edge of the forest.
My nerves grew apace as we advanced, I'd heard a lot about Garralosh since I'd been reborn and her stupid children had scared the willies out of me on more than one occasion. I'm ready to lay my eyes on the culprit.
-x-X-x-
After a long period of stop-start running through the forest we eventually made our way clear of it and into the open fields. The once neat and organised fields that had been planted with crops or contained docile herds of animals were gone, trampled into the muck by monstrous feet. I didn't expect the sight to effect as much as it did. My heart experienced a definite pang when I gazed upon the sheer destruction and human misery that had occurred here.
I hadn't exactly had a positive life experience amongst humans before my rebirth. In fact I'd go so far as to say it was horrible. I never knew why, but my parents had hated me from, as far as I could tell, the moment of my birth. Growing up in that kind of environment wasn't conducive to my ability to form healthy relationships, things at school went as you might imagine.
After I grew old enough to care for myself my parents pretty much disappeared, I dropped out of school and most social contact vanished. When I think of it in those terms, it doesn't seem strange that my mentality became a little weird. It makes me a little uncomfortable to admit it, but I felt more at home and more welcome amongst the colony in this life than I ever did amongst humans in my last one.
They accepted me without wanting anything in return, never asked anything from me and my mother, the Queen, gave me her complete and total trust in an instant, simply because I was member of her family.
That was something I'd never experienced before. Not even anything remotely like it. Gandalf mentioned that people brought to Pangera were usually crazy in some way, broken, I think was the way he phrased it. I've never really thought of myself in that way, my life wasn't ideal by any means, but I always felt there were plenty who were worse off than me, but not I think I get what he was trying to say.
He didn't necessarily just want to bring insane people here to Pangera and reincarnate them as monsters, he wanted to bring people who would feel more at home here, amongst the monsters, than they did in their previous lives. I suppose it could be said that only a crazy person would meet that criteria and perhaps that is what he meant by 'broken' people.
I wonder what will happen if I were to meet another person like myself, someone who had originated from Earth. It's a question that's been bothering me for a long time. We're both monsters after all, designed to fight and kill each other in order to progress along our path. If I meet one and they try to nibble my face off I'm certain to fight back, no question about that. Is peaceful cooperation even possible in the Dungeon?
My mind weighed down by these concerns, we begin to make our way through the final stretch of our journey. We crept across abandoned fields and passed the numerous scattered farmhouses and small villages that orbited the beating heart of this small kingdom, the capital city of Liria.
The once proud stone walls no longer looked so imposing, large gaps had been smashed into the stone, giving us glimpses of the destruction that had occurred within. Massive stone blocks that had been part of the wall had been scattered across a wide area of land, as if the masonry had been smashed by a titans fist, blasted out of place and flown a hundred metres to land in a field.
What buildings that had existed outside the walls, concentrated around the gates for the most part, had simply ceased to exist, flattened and destroyed, barely a wall remained standing of these dwellings which appeared to have drawn the monsters ire for some reason. They present an ill omen for what remains of the city inside the walls.
Morrelia grows more tense the closer to the city we get. Her muscles are bunched and knotted by the time we reach two hundred metres of the wall, her eyes are ablaze with fury, like balls of liquid magma they seem to radiate heat into the air, so great is her wrath.
[Try and stay cool] I advise her, somewhat uselessly, [Whatever has happened inside the city is likely to be worse than what we see out here and this is exactly the wrong place to go berserk.]
[Don't you think I know that?] she replied, though her teeth remained clenched in her mouth.
Not going to have a lot of luck there...
[Crinis] I speak to my loyal follower, [If Morrelia flies off the handle, I need you to try and grab her so we can run the heck out of here.]
[I'll do my best, Master!] she replies, never failing to follow my instructions to the letter. If only Tiny could be so diligent.
The ape in question is sniffing the air as we speak, looking bored without anything to fight. Just to be certain I reach out and speak to him as well. I want to make sure there aren't any incidents.
[We aren't here to fight, Tiny] I warned him, [You are not to attack any monster we see inside the city. No fighting at all until we are safely away. This is an order.]
I reinforce the point to ensure there is no wiggle room for him to avoid obeying me. I can't afford any stuff ups this time.
Morrelia and I decide to climb the wall and take a peak rather than slip through one of the cracks and move directly into the city. We want to get as much information as we can whilst remaining as far from any momma Crocs that might happen to be positioned inside the city, so taking a glimpse from a higher vantage point makes the most sense, even if it might outline us against the sky. Most monsters have quite poor vision anyway, especially those from the first strata. Since we only intend to look for a few seconds, we should be safe.
Hunkered down, we circle the city a little until we come to a largely undamaged stretch of wall with no openings for a few hundred metres on either side. If we're spotted and pursued then the monsters either having to go over the wall of travel the extra distance could mean the difference between life and death.
I look constantly around at our surroundings, it's eerily quiet. Where I expected to see roaming hordes of monsters there is almost no motion, no sound. The city feels dead, in a complete way, as if no living existed within it for the last hundred years when only a few months ago I had seen it full of life! Just what is going on here?!
When we begin to close the final stretch to the base of the wall itself I feel something change.
I freeze in place for a moment before snapping out instructions to my pets.
[You two stay back here! Do not get any closer than this!]
[Master! No!] Crinis protested.
Thank goodness she's sitting on my back and not on my head, otherwise she would have felt this change at the same time I did.
[Off you get Crinis, Tiny come over here and let her ride on your shoulder. Don't get any closer to the city than this!]
As an aside I speak to Morrelia. [You can feel that too, right?]
Her face looks even more tense than it did before, something I hadn't imagined was possible. If she looked like she could eat rocks before, she looks like she could chew through steel now.
She nodded. [Somewhat, though I imagine it may be a little different to you.]
Once Tiny had taken Crinis off my back and moved back a little, the little ball of mayhem protesting the entire time, I began to move forward once more, very slowly.
It was an aura, an aura that had hit me like a truck running straight into my brain. Oppressive, dominant and filled with endless fury it switched on the moment I drew close enough to feel it, as if someone had flicked a switch. My entire body quailed at the touch of that aura and my minds shied away from it. This was far worse than what we experienced in the Marsh Expanse, this was ten times worse.
Garralosh. It had to be. If it isn't the big Croc, if one of her children can unleash this kind of power, then we are cooked. We are a duck stuffed into a chicken, stuffed into a turkey and then double baked kind of cooked. I'm talking well-done with the charred marinade on the outside.
Focus dammit Anthony! Stop imagining yourself beings so delicious!
As if moving through molasses I firm my will and push forward to the base wall and then begin to climb. One leg at a time, I advance, my claws digging into the stone and sticking like a vice as I reach up to grasp my next foothold.
[Advanced Grip (II) has reached level 5]
Shut UP!
Who cares about that right now?!
Impressively, Morrelia uses her own bare hands to climb, her fingers display extraordinary strength as she finds minute holds and gaps in the stone to haul herself up. She still takes longer than I do, walking up a wall is only somewhat harder for me than walking on the ground, but I have natural advantages.
After ten minutes of silent, tense climbing, we finally reached the top.
Just before we poked our heads over the edge, Morrelia and I turned to look at each other as possibly the worlds' first 'Good luck, hope we don't die' look was exchanged between human and monster. Then we took the final step and lifted our heads above the edge.
....
That's a big ass Croc.
-x-X-x-
The city was in ruins. Forget about a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster, this level of destruction was far beyond that. It looked as if a meteor hand landed on the city, or if a god had stamped down with its heavenly foot. If the latter had occurred then that god had supremely flat arches because the city was just gone.
It looked as if no two bricks still stood one atop the other. Every building had been flattened, the open spaces were strewn with rubble and the once proud, cobbled roads were broken and cracked. In the distance, the hill on which the castle had once stood, with its inner wall and high towers, there was only a ruin.
This city had been built up over two hundred years of effort and endeavour, and now it was gone. If anyone wanted to try and recreate the city, establish the kingdom of Liria once again, they would need to do so from scratch. Heck, even the job of cleaning up this mess would take a monumental effort.
Although, just because the buildings had ceased to be, didn't mean the space inside the walls was empty. Oh no, it was full to bursting. With Monsters.
Across every surface, on top of every stone, they stood, stock still. As if mesmerized by an illusion, monsters of every type from the first strata stood rooted to the ground and stared in one direction, unmoving and still. The site sickened me to my core for reasons I couldn't explain. It was unnatural for monsters to act this way, as if they were mindless drones with no will of their own. These were creatures born of the Dungeon! They should fight, struggle and battle!
Silent and still they appeared weak, like slaves to a greater will than their own. Bears, frogs, centipedes, hounds, slugs, bats, apes, lizards, even a few shadow beasts were in the mix, each doing the exact same thing, staring in the same direction, even the sightless monsters, as if they were receiving the light of the sun from their god.
Or goddess, in this case.
She sat above the Dungeon entrance inside the city. When I lay on eyes of the beast it felt as if her aura that dominated the air around me grew stronger, threatening to knock me off the wall. This was supposed to be a weakened monster?! Are you kidding me?!
I'm not sure what I expected Garralosh to look like, her offspring seemed to gain limbs, heads and tails as they evolved, following a strict 'more is more' policy, but the big momma Croc did not seem to follow in that pattern. Of all of her different offspring mutations she most resembled a Titan Croc. Long reptilian body, powerful front and back legs that supported her when she lay flat and would allow her to walk when she stood., with a second pair of arms below the first to help support her more heavily massed upper body.
Rather than two heads, three heads, or the over and under jaws of the Commanders, Garralosh simply had the one Crocodile head. It was difficult to make out the smaller details at this distance, but I think she did have more than just the two eyes, I'd have to closer to be sure, something that wasn't going to happen!
One muscular croc tail extended from the back of her body, lazily sweeping back and forth as she rested.
Long ridges extended down her back, almost long enough to be called spines, from her head all the way to the tip of her tail. They were dark in colour, and gleamed like obsidian in the light. Her scales were a deep, dark green and even at this range I got the sense that they would be as thick as steel plates.
There was nothing exceptionally remarkable about Garralosh in monster terms, so long as you discounted her size.
She was huge. It defied physical reality for a crocodile to be this large. What is this, the cretaceous period?! Someone get this frickin' dinosaur out of here! My mind boggled to even look at her. She was to a Croca Beast what a megaladon was to gummi shark.
It was hard to say exactly how large she was, but from nose to tip of the tail I estimated her to be over twenty metres. She was like a semi-trailer truck, in mass as well as length, since she wasn't just long, she was built. Her neck, shoulders and body were thick with muscle, not to mention her enormous jaws which looked as if they could shatter a building with one snap. This was ridiculous! Did you pour every ounce of your evolutionary potential into getting massive?! Were you a gym junkie in a previous life? Are you the monster equivalent of a steroid addict?!
I was so bewildered by the sheer size of the monster that I failed to focus on what was happening around her until I heard Morrelia mutter something under her breath.
[What is it?] I sent over our mind bridge.
[Who is that? What are they doing?] she asked, her mind strained with focused intent.
Who is who? Are you seeing this freakin' crocodile?!
I turned my attention back to the area occupied by the enormous crocodile and tried to divert my focus away from gawking at Garralosh to take in what was happening in the monsters' surroundings. From the distance we were, it was hard to make out the small details, but what I saw was enough to throw me into confusion.
There were humanoids down there. Something told me that they weren't human, they were too tall and too slender, though their physique was difficult to make out, given that they were covered in long robes with hoods. Basketball playing monks? What the heck is going on down there?
Not for the first time I cursed my poor ant eyesight. I'd taken huge strides in improving my vision but long distance viewing still remained my weakness. In the Dungeon it didn't matter so much but it was really biting my thorax right now.
Now that I took a clearer look, the area around Garralosh did look weird. She lay, brooding and massive in what looked like a crude basin of some kind. The odd robed figures were positioned around her in a loose formation, each of them wielding a staff tipped by a glowing core.
Something about their positioning tickles my brain and when I try to connect the vague shape in my mind it suddenly snaps into place that they are forming a spell matrix using their bodies as part of the construct! What the heck kind of magic are they trying to cast?!
I can't squint due to my lack of eyelids but I still strain as hard as I can to get a glimpse of what is happening in the distance. I can get a vague impression that the robed figures are drawing something up through openings in the earth below them and it seems as if it's draining down into the basin where Garralosh is resting.
[Are they... condensing mana for Garralosh?]
-x-X-x-
I can't be exactly sure but the shape of the basin and the terrain around the robed figures' feet gives the impression of liquid being brought up from below ground and running downhill to be collected. If they are bringing a liquid up from the Dungeon, what could the liquid be but mana? I mean, I've never seen liquid mana, but unless they are bringing up some sweet natural spring water in order to give the biggest Crocodile in all the worlds a soothing bath, perhaps followed by an exfoliating scale scrub, revealing skins' freshest layer, then what does the Croc need that can be found in the Dungeon?
Mana.
I know it can be condensed, I have the freakin' skill to do it! Perhaps I've never seen something like this, but that doesn't mean it can't be done!
[They're feeding Garralosh mana! Using some sort of voodoo technique to compress the mana in the Dungeon and letting her absorb it! That's how she's able to hang about on the surface!]
My minds race, connecting the dots now that I have this information.
[This is why she isn't dead!] I exclaim to Morrelia, [she was never starving of mana. Whoever these people are, they've been supporting Garralosh within the Dungeon and keeping her alive, feeding her mana, controlling her.]
Oh snap! If these guys and gals can regulate the flow of mana to Garralosh then she is dependent on them, completely at their mercy. If they decide to turn the tap off then big momma croc has no choice except to fade slowly away as her core bleeds dry.
[This is insane] Morrelia ground out, her eyes burning with rage, [who the hell are they?!]
That is the question of the hour. The two of us remain with our heads poked over the top of the city wall, straining to make out any details.
Just then, something new caught my eye. Movement to one side of the basin as something that had buried itself beneath the dirt rose up, shaking itself free of the loose soil which cascaded from the large creature and onto the ground. What the heck is this now? Another monster?
When the dirt finally fell away what was revealed was not a hideous monster or another deformed Croca Beast variant, but a large lizard that appeared to be draped in what I can only describe as luxurious robes and golden jewellery.
This lizard was large. Although it was dwarfed next to Garralosh it was still a hefty ten metres long from nose to tail, but not nearly as bulky. Something about the creature, perhaps its dull scale colour or wrinkly skin, seemed to speak of incredible age. I got the feeling that this lizard had been around the block a few times.
I could almost feel the weight of its gaze and it stared at me.
Wait a sec.
[Morrelia? Is that giant lizard staring at us?]
[Kaarmodo!] she hissed and jumped from the wall.
What the heck?! We're like eight metres up!
[Hurry up!] she hollered at me across our mental link and I watched stunned as she neatly rolled on landing and began sprinting away from the city.
[I'm not up to speed here? Why are you running?] I asked as I hesitated at the top of the wall.
Then I noticed something. Inside the wall, not only was the lizard looking at me, but Garralosh herself had turned to face me.
And so had every monster inside the walls.
I leaped from the wall, legs flailing in the air as I attempted to flap my way to freedom. Why the hell didn't I give myself wings?! I know I live underground 99% of the time, but still, wings!
THUD.
I smacked into the ground with a dull thump, the impact sending shockwaves through my carapace. Thankfully my sturdy exoskeleton and its inner plating managed to absorb the force without cracking, since I didn't trust my legs to do the job. Not wanting to break any limbs at this critical juncture, I'd wisely tucked them up so my body would hit the ground first. Repairing a broken leg right now would be a little awkward to say the least.
[RUN!] I shouted at my two pets as they watched from a distance away from the wall, [let's gogogogogogogogoooooo!]
The moment I had my legs under me I was dashing, holding nothing back in my desperation to get away. Morrelia was way ahead of me, not pausing in the slightest when she realised I hadn't moved as quickly as she had. That's cold! Sensible, but cold!
[What the heck is that giant lizard?] I wailed at her.
[It's a Kaarmodo! They are not monsters, they're a sapient surface race, like humans!]
[How in the heck is a giant lizard like a human?]
[Listen] she growled back at me as we sprinted, [they are one of the elder races that existed on Pangera before the Dungeon opened. They are powerful mages and live for a very long time. Those robed figures we saw are it's Setsulah, bonded servants.]
[And why is it helping a giant Crocodile Monster slaughter a heap of humans?]
[I have no idea! Would you please focus on running for your life?!]
Good advice!
HUUUAAAARRRRRRR!!!!
The sound of thousands of monsters bellowing in rage at once rattled against my ears and the ground beneath my feet began to rattle like a snare drum. It became apparent why not long after as monsters began to flood out of the gates and over the wall as a tide of death.
[Move those fancy feet, Tiny! Do NOT stop to fight, do NOT turn and do battle. This is NOT the time to fire up! We are a Jamaican Bobsled team, keep cool and run!] I bellowed at my most wilful pet and with me keeping up the flow of constant orders and reprimands, for once, he wasn't able to turn fight against impossible odds as he so wished.
[Where are we running to?] I gasped at Morrelia, the strain of constant dashing already starting to catch up with me. I am taking care of this problem when I evolve next, no doubt about that!
[I don't know] she rasped, the usually unflappable warrior looked a fair bit flapped as she ran, [any bright ideas?]
[I think so! This way!]
As if the demon hordes of hades were on our tail, which they sort of were, we ran with all our strength, feet growing leaden and weighed down the further we got. Across fields, around fences and down roads we ran with the constant rumble of monsters feet shaking the ground behind us. I didn't even want to look behind but my stupid eyes with their near three-sixty degree vision granted me tantalising glimpses of a monster horde greater than any I had ever seen by far. No way I was going to turn and fight this, even ten Gravity Bombs wouldn't be enough to swallow the entire horde, we had to get to safety.
Fortunately, it didn't take too long before it came into sight.
On a hill in the distance I could see a small church building, still standing somehow when so much of the buildings around here had been flattened. The church was a centre point of a modest town that I had visited before, and I happened to know that I path into the Dungeon could be found in that church!
[Let's go to church!] I bellowed at my companions.
-x-X-x-
As if the hounds of hell were on our tail, or perhaps the crocodiles of the damned, we fled until my poor ant legs ached with the strain and my antennae drooped low from exhaustion. Into the village, up into the church and then down in the still open Dungeon entrance the colony had opened what seemed like a lifetime ago.
Due the wave still ongoing, the tunnel was packed full of monsters and we were forced to pummel and slice our way through them in order to penetrate into the Dungeon below. The battle was endless but we were careful not to finish off the monsters that we fought, knocking them out of the way, slowing them with gravity magic, even Tiny just bopping them on the head until we were past, anything to create more of a road block for the zombie monster horde following behind us.
Down we fought, charging through the escape Tunnel that the colony had painstakingly dug until we reached the point where it connected to another Dungeon path via a narrow connection. I'd dug that connection myself in order to go hunting for the colony during our escape and hopefully it would serve us now! Tiny, Crinis, Morrelia and I piled through the narrow connection, widening it in some places to get Tiny through, before collapsing and filling it in behind us.
A simple ruse, but possibly enough to divert the mindless horde of monsters that pursued us. Damn I wish I knew how the Crocs were able to mind control monsters the way they did. Was it a form of magic? A skill? An aura mutation? I hadn't seen anything like it in the menu so far, but that could just mean I hadn't 'unlocked' it through whatever esoteric means the System used to conceal options until it was happy you'd jumped through the right hoop.
Could it be something to do with core strength even? Perhaps once I upgrade my core to a rare core, I'll be able to influence monsters in a similar way? I just don't know, and it's frustrating the heck out of me.
Not content to wait so close to the escape tunnel, we battled further into this side path before I told the others to cover me whilst I dug out a new chamber, blessedly free from the influence of the mana veins and therefore clear of constant mana spawns. At least until the mana veins extend into here we will have a little chance to rest.
Exhausted we all collapse. Tiny is asleep before he even hits the ground, Crinis not far behind, though she preserves her dignity by lowering herself down to the ground with her tentacles before retracting them and growing still.
Morrelia leans back against the dirt wall and slides down, uncaring how the soil trickles down into her hair, until she's sitting with her arms resting on her knees. I'm desperate for a bit of torpor in order to recuperate but first I have to know more about what we saw.
My minds move wearily to reconstruct the mind bridge, sheesh I'm getting a lot of practice with this construct these days, how the heck did I ever get by without it?
[Any chance you can explain to me a little about what we saw up there? The big lizard thing? The fancy spell work? Who are they and why would they want to keep Garralosh alive?]
Morrelia sat with her head bowed for a time and I resisted the urge to pester her with questions. I can tell she's still a tad angry about we saw up there, to put it mildly, and I don't want to be the one to set off a Berserker explosion.
[I don't know why they'd keep that beast alive. I've no idea. To think that they would have to have been supporting her for decades in order to prevent her from weakening. Why? It makes no damn sense.]
[Who is 'they'? You said something about a Koomodo?]
[Kaarmodo] she corrected me. [The giant lizard you saw is called a Kaarmodo. They're an ancient race, older even than humans. They live for hundreds of years and are always accompanied by their Setsulah servants. I don't know too much about it but from what I understand, the Setsulah were a race conquered thousands of years ago and pressed into slavery by the Kaarmodo. They are bound in some fashion, tied by bonds of magic to their masters.]
Magically bonded slave race? That got real dark, real quick.
[So I take it that these Kaarmodo aren't considered friendly then? Evil race of salamanders?]
Morrelia waved her hand in frustration. [Not really. The Kaarmodo are just another sapient race on the surface. We even trade with them here in Liria. Their empire is in the mountains to the northeast, we share a narrow border with them. I still don't see why they would support Garralosh. Why would they use that creature to attack Liria? Their empire is thousands of years old! They have everything they could possibly want! What is here for them?]
Morrelia was visibly angered by her inability to find a reasonable answer. The destruction was on such a broad scale and so indiscriminate, there had to be a good reason!
I didn't necessarily agree with her. Who knows why giant lizards with magic slaves make decisions? I sure don't.
[Could it be land?] I asked. [Perhaps they want to exterminate the minor kingdoms here and move in without anyone thinking they were behind it?]
She shook her head, rejecting my suggestion outright. [What would be the point? They could walk in and stomp the minor kingdoms with almost no effort anyway. And who would care if they did? The only reason these lands were settled in the first place is because nobody wanted them!]
[Okay, well the next suggestion is a little worse. Weapons testing?]
Morrelia froze. [What do you mean?]
My inability to shrug really gets me down sometimes. There is an equivalent antennae movement that we ants use, but nobody else seems to understand it.
[Well, you've managed to tame a big bad monster, something that is too strong for the first strata and possibly stronger than most things on the second. Presumably, if you keep growing the monster, helping it to evolve and manage the mana that you give it, you could control it forever. Might be a bit of work, but it would sure be a heck of a lot less resource intensive than raising a pet to be as strong as Garralosh.]
[And the testing?]
[Well, if you've got this creature under your control, why not see how well it works? They've put decades worth of effort into it, may as well see if the project is going to be worth further investment.]
Morrelia turned to face me, her expression a mask of horror.
[You really think they'd destroy entire kingdoms filled with people just for that?]
I shrugged again. Antennae are the best.
[I'm not a giant lizard with hundreds of years of life behind me. You tell me. Does that sounds like something they'd do?]
Reluctantly, the Berserker nodded.
[The Kaarmodo aren't without rivals. They compete for resources in the Dungeon with numerous groups and empires. I still can't believe that they would go this far...]
I stepped over to the visibly emotional Morrelia and patted her on the shoulder with an antenna.
[People, lizards. They all suck. This is why I'm happy I'm an ant.]
Smooth.