#### Author's Note ####
Merry Christmas everyone!
If you want to give me a gift, go check the definitive edition of my first story!
MAZE - Definitive Edition
I relaunched my 1000+ chapter story, in 2 weeks I almost got to 200 followers and have over 4 thousand views!
I'll give you the full blurb in a second, but let me hit you with the things I personally love about the story the most.
A dungeon world with actual civilizations inside. From modern living ones to ancient and forgotten ones.
A very weird cast of characters. It starts off. Normal enough. But in chapter 1000 we have two versions of humanoid snakes, a blacksmithing kangaroo, a talking green apple, a pink magical girl slime, a cloud sheep, a harpy queen, two snake mages, a humanoid griffon, a 3 meter tall half dragon that can crush you with her pinky, and Mr. Beetle.
That's not even all of them.
An extremely free form skill system: basically, anything can be a skill, and any skill can be created. There are rules, of course, but even those can be pushed by the right skill.
Lastly, and this is very personal, but even as the author, it's been an absolute joy to see, Hera, the main character, growing.
She went from this shy and meek girl to one of the most influential forces in the entire MAZE. She still hates the attention, but well... can't blame her lol.
Now. I'll hit you with the Blurb:
MAZE by Perizou
The world shattered her dreams. Yet, destiny had other plans.
Hera Kingsley failed even before her adventure began. The MAZE, a different realm full of magic, monster, and civilizations was her only goal. But when she applied to enter, the Guild rejected her. Just as she gave up hope, a strange woman offered her the opportunity of a lifetime.
However, the MAZE hides deep and dangerous secrets. Following her heart, Hera is faced with a brutal gauntlet of challenges, forging her into a hero she never meant to be.
Will she learn that Heroes are not born, but made, or will the weight of two worlds make her crumble under the pressure?
MAZE is a fantasy Litrpg series set in the modern day. If you like a slow burn story, focused on character growth and people who step up when problems arise, then you came to the right place.
Read it for free exclusively on Royal Road.
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The swarm of small creatures was already on top of us. We didn't even have a moment to gather our bearings or understand our surroundings. Each of those bugs or critters was about the size of a watermelon. Small for Eaters, but big for insects or something like that.
They were very different from anything we expected to see here. The large spider-like legs were nowhere to be seen. Instead, they were replaced by dozens, if not hundreds, of tiny bug legs, smaller and closer to their bodies. They also had a strange carapace of sorts that very much looked like molten rock when it cooled down. In between each crack were rows of tiny teeth, revealing several mouths in various parts of their bodies.
While that structure was nothing like the Eaters that we had ever seen, there were a couple of things that made it obvious it was also one of those creatures. The lack of any eyes or ears, for instance, the tiny tentacles that were on top of its body wriggling around and trying to grab anything they could, and the relentless nature of those monsters.
So much so that even when a few rocks started to fall down from the ceiling, likely the remnants of the hole that caused our fall, those creatures continued to push through. The ones crushed be the stones were not ignored, instead those around them stopped to rip them apart with their tiny mouths.
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Cleaner Eater - Tier 1
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Seeing their rough strength, I couldn't help but be surprised. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that a group of creatures like this was already a Tier 1. To me, they looked more like Tier 0 monsters. This was only proof that the Eaters were vastly more complicated than we ever imagined. Maybe the ones that we were seeing outside are just the tip of the iceberg, and the rest of them were hidden underground.
If that wasn't enough of a problem, the Tunneler Eater was still around. The fall seemed to hurt it somewhat, and it was struggling to move, but it didn't stop. The one bright light at the end of the tunnel was that the larger creature seemed to be attacked by the Cleaners. The beasts would devour anything and everything that was here and was not part of that swarm.
"I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this!" Michael started to fire arrow after arrow, letting the silk from his projectiles explode and trap many of the Cleaners as they quickly approached.
"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!" Riley was having a similar reaction, tossing their Spell Stones in the area. Some would just create an explosion of silk that trapped them in a web, but others were more aggressive. Small explosions of fire, ice, and even lightning could be seen where the rocks landed. Each blast carved away at a large chunk of the swarm. This time, we were sure they were being killed, as their particles were trickling towards us. Yet, every hole that they revealed thanks to their attacks was quickly covered by another wave of those tiny beasts.
The Tunneler Eater, instead of coming after us, started rushing towards the side and quickly creating a new tunnel. All the while, Astrid, Rex, and I were taking care of the Cleaners that started to approach us. The Huskcarver needed only a single swing of her axe to kill those Eaters. A single swing of my staff had a similar result. The problem was the fact that there were just too many of them. Our attacks were not wide enough to kill any significant number of those creatures, and they continued to push forward, forcing us to step further and further back.
Worst of all, we were somewhat close to the Tunneler Eater, meaning that at any moment, that creature could spin around and attack us. Our only saving grace was Rex, as the Rodenti Mage was able to create waves of sharp rock that carved a path for us to pass. In addition, every time we started to get too close to being swarmed, he would slam his foot on the ground, and a ring of spiky rocks would shoot out from around us, clearing the perimeter for a brief moment.
I knew that one option was having Astrid use {Emerging Glacier}, or have me using {Clash Of Nature}, but we were being attacked from all directions. If we were to use those skills, we would end up only clearing a small patch, and it didn't feel like the best option right now.
In just a few moments, I saw the Tunneler Eater moving in. Walking deeper into the tunnel it had just created through its efforts, the Cleaner Eaters stopped bothering it. As a matter of fact, they were not even trying to chase the creature. I couldn't be completely sure of what that meant, but my gut told me that these Cleaner Eaters only cared about things that were on their path. Maybe even their own movement was predetermined. The moment we left the territory, we wouldn't be in trouble anymore.
But the tunnel was too shallow still. Even if we tried to get there right now, it wouldn't work, as we would only see the Tunneler Eater, and it wouldn't allow us to get closer. With a quick glance at my companions, I realized that I was the only one who noticed that. Everybody else was more concerned with killing the Cleaner Eaters that kept rushing towards us.
Even so, I didn't want to leave them without the knowledge that I had an idea. "Keep going. Don't let them get through. We just need to hold on a bit more."
"What? Why?" Riley asked.
"Trust me. I have a plan." Hearing that, they all seemed to be a bit more confident that we could survive. So far, it was a bit of a gamble, and I wasn't going to let that go to waste. I redoubled my efforts, slamming my staff against every small Cleaner Eater that I could see, trying to be sure to kill as many of them as I could, while at the same time, slowly pushing the group towards the tunnel that was being created.
In a matter of maybe a minute, the Tunneler Eater managed to push forward enough so that it was maybe 5 meters [16.4 ft] deep into its tunnel. It was wild to consider how fast it was able to do something like that. Maybe if we hadn't interrupted it earlier, we would have seen it creating a new passage inside the nest. But now, it didn't matter anymore. Even if it was going to be a tight fit, the Tunneler Eater had already spread open enough of a passage for all of us to survive the onslaught of the Cleaners.
"That's when I shouted, "There's a tunnel to our left! Go!"
Following my command, everybody rushed towards the tunnel.
"Since when that thing was there?" Michael asked with a puzzled look, but even then, he didn't stop moving.
"Somebody just made it," I quickly replied as everybody was entering the tunnel.
Some of the Cleaners seemed to be slowly approaching, which wasn't exactly what we hoped, as they were supposed to just ignore it completely. But instead, Astrid went for an upward swing and activated {Emerging Glacier}, creating a large shard of ice on the ground that completely blocked the entrance to this tunnel.
"I think we are safe now." Michael turned around, and his voice slowed down once he realized what had created the tunnel.
Not leaving it a chance to respond, I thrust myself forward, quickly combining water and the ice that Astrid had just created as I had scraped the bottom of my staff on the Glacier, and slammed the Tunneler Eater in the middle of its body before its tentacles could be in our way. {Clash of Nature} combined the water and ice creating another giant ice block that crushed part of the Eater's body. But even then, it still was alive.
However, the sudden change in temperature made some of its body more brittle, allowing Rex to make a large shard of stone from the ceiling crash down on top of it, finally killing it. We felt the particles rush into our bodies. I quickly glanced back, worried that the Cleaners might be trying to enter, but as far as we could see through the ice, they had lost their interest in us and were not continuing to do whatever they were doing. Only then did I let myself relax a bit as it seemed we were truly safe for the moment.
"Fuck. This was a Tier 1?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, it was sturdier than I was expecting. Maybe it has something to do with the kind of job it was doing? I mean, it needs to be somewhat resilient."
"Yeah, especially if it's not using a skill like Rex does. If it's actually physically digging the tunnel, its body needs to be able to withstand some damage," I said as I slumped onto the ground to catch my breath for a moment.
"Sorry." I looked at the body of the Eater. Some of that milky white blood was dripping from the rocks that Rex used to kill it.
"Maybe drink? Eater blood," Astrid suggested.
"That one's on the ground, and I really don't trust the type of bacteria that an Eater nest, might have. If you need more Energy, just use the waterskins," Riley replied, taking a sip of their own.
"I'm glad that we are no longer being attacked by those Cleaners, but what do we do now?" Michael asked.
In all honesty, I really didn't have an answer. My objective was just to escape and not have to deal with that swarm again. Anything beyond that was not something that crossed my mind just yet. They all stared at me for a moment, but my silence was enough for them to understand that I had no plans. Instead, they started to look around.
"Maybe we can wait until the Cleaners are gone," Riley suggested while trying to see if the swarm was still moving on the other side of the ice wall.
"Rex can help," our Rodenti companion then spoke up. We all turned to him, and he continued, "Tunneler Eater making tunnel. Rex make one."
"Right, you can make tunnels," I frowned, remembering how we first met. Back then it was a really narrow passage, but he was stronger now.
"Yes, yes." Rex nodded with a small smile. "Have done before. Can do again. Much easier now."
"If that's the case, then by all means," I said with a smile and stepped away from the Eater that was on the path.
Unlike what I was expecting, the body of the Eater wasn't decomposing just yet. Maybe this was the reason why the Cleaners existed here. Any Eater that died on the nest wouldn't have that skill that made it rapidly vanish into nature.
So much so that Michael protested, "Hang on, we don't know where we need to go. And we don't know how long this tunnel needs to be. How are we going to just start digging in a random direction?"
Turning to Rex, the Rodenti said, "Aiming to go back. Where we first saw Tunneler. Have skills that show what's around. Even through stone. If find anything, let you know. If not, just go back and we follow tunnel."
Even if Michael or any of us wanted to argue against that idea, we didn't really have any other plans. Our options were either follow Rex and hope that his bold plan would work, or go back and deal with the Cleaners. Of the two, we all unanimously agreed that trusting our Rodenti companion was better. Not that the Cleaners were particularly strong, but they were just so many of them that they would eventually wear us out.
During that fight, those countless legs and mouths hurt us all. Although no one looked hurt, for we all had activated {Body Regeneration} to help us recover from the wounds caused by those tiny creatures. Not to mention that Riley cast quite a number of Spell Stones at them. Their ammo was running dry again. It wouldn't be as easy to make more of those stones while we were in the middle of the nest.
With Rex taking the lead, we all started to follow him as a new tunnel was being slowly created on the Eater's nest, hoping that we would reach the Hatchling or the core of this nest so we could end this.