Chapter 268: Bloody Mess (1/2)
The barrier it turned out, was just a layer of stone without any enchantments or further tricks or traps. Just a separation between the apparent third layer they had crossed and the fourth laying beyond. Whoever had built this had just felt the need to decorate the entryway in the dark tunnel. “To think they had an escape route straight to the second layer.” Austin commented while Baron prepared the drill head for one of his arms.
Compared to Terok he needed quite a while to switch it out. At least he had a storage item of sorts to keep the massive thing. The ranger had looked at him a little too long when he had summoned the jagged extension. “Why did you help us?” Seath suddenly asked Ilea, the two of them leaning on the wall to give the dwarf space.
Ilea looked her way and back to the dwarf who seemed to have difficulties screwing on the bit, cursing about roaches and incapable smiths. She shrugged, smiling when the dwarf started to smash the wall, trying to just force it on. “I guess I didn’t want to see people eaten by roaches.”
“We’re more dangerous to you alive…,” Seath added.
Finally getting the extension on, Baron laughed as it whirled to life. Ilea couldn’t help but notice the thing wasn’t exactly fitted evenly but with the size and quickly increasing torque it would hardly be an issue, “I survived worse, even if you suddenly decide to jump me.” Ilea simply said, thinking it a little bizarre that the woman told her as much. “Are you a danger to me?”
A sly grin, “I doubt it. It’s just rare you know… to find someone willing to help without anything promised in return.”
Lack of sleepless nights over your screaming as you’re eaten alive by huge insects is return enough. Ilea thought, not voicing it as the sound of the drill hitting stone started to reverberate around them. Her hearing was reduced to the lowest she could go. She wondered how long her search for a way down would have taken without the help of these three. Probably not much longer but the third layer was supposedly full of water and she’d be thankful for skipping that one any day.
Stone cracked, pieces of debris flying off to the side. One chunk of rock was caught by Ilea before it could smash into the healer next to her. Forming a wall of ash, she heard Austin complain before he jumped on top of the dwarf’s machine, blood dripping down from his forehead where a pebble had hit it. A loud rumble after a couple minutes of boring made Ilea spread her wings, ashen limbs holding on to the healer before the ground collapsed entirely, the dwarf laughing loudly before he smashed his arms into the walls. Austin grinned, holding onto the mech’s head.
“Down we go.” Ilea said, falling past the dwarf before stopping a couple dozen meters farther down. Dim lights illuminated the hallways around them, her wings fading away a moment later before the two stepped a couple meters to the side. Baron landed on the stone, cracks forming where his heavy weight pushed into the floor. Austin hopped off and looked around expectantly. Ilea threw him the map, the thing hitting his shoulder and dropping to the ground. The man whirled around and fumbled for his bow, Ilea squinting at him while Baron literally snickered.
Ilea just shook her head with a smile as the man took the map, looking at Baron with a bit of embarrassment showing on his face. “This is the fourth layer, we should keep as quiet as possible.” Seath said.
“Probably traps all around too.” Baron said, cracking his metal knuckles. There was no crack of course.
Maybe with another ten thousand points in Strength. Ilea thought as she took in the surroundings. Compared to the natural look the first layer had, the hallway looked similar to the city below Hallowfort. Of course that was technically the first layer of the Descent, it simply wasn’t considered that. Ilea wondered, “Hey, do you guys think the city above the first layer was always a dungeon?”
It was Austin who replied, “Who cares, city, dungeon. Treasure’s around and monsters as well.”
Ilea rolled her eyes. “Why build a city in a dungeon? Probably turned into one after it was abandoned or its peoplekilled.” Baron suggested.
Just seems kind of similar to Tremor. City turned dungeon. Maybe I’ll find another live king and queen here. She grinned. The light illuminating parts of the hallways was magical, cold and flickering in places. The walls and floor were simple stone, nothing extraordinary like the marble in the palace of Tremor or the white stone Taleen dungeons usually seemed to have. A worn carpet in a dark red color lay in the middle of one of the hallways. Ilea’s senses in her sphere were sharpened now instead of reduced. A familiar scent was immediately picked up. “Blood.” She said simply.
Austin nodded absentmindedly as he studied the parchment, “Of course there’s blood.” He murmured, “Fucking rookies, coming to the fourth layer and complaining about blood.” The man went on before he walked off.
Baron shrugged, the movement rather spacious with his massive suit but he followed Austin, his flashlight checking through the corridors. Seath checked as well, closing her eyes as she likely tried to hear if anything was nearby. Ilea walked next to her, all senses checking their surroundings, “What’s in the fourth layer then?”
“A bunch of nasty things.” Seath replied, talking in a whisper, “Pure Blooded, disgusting creatures that look like deformed humans. They’re pretty fast and venomous, usually around…,” Her voice froze as she stared forward.
Ilea followed her gaze and found Austin with a drawn bow, waiting. Baron’s light shined on a creature around fifty meters further down their way. About as tall as Seath but hunched over, a face that looked like it had melted and two arms propping it up, both ending in nasty spiked bone. Ilea appeared a little behind Austin to not get into his line of fire. The beast seemed uninterested so far. Being a little closer up, Ilea could see that its skin was torn, only bits and pieces remaining of what it had to have been at some point. A human, or at least a creature with an anatomy close enough. Blood dripped from its body, primarily comprised of muscle and bone.
Kinda looks like demon spawn. Ilea thought. She wondered if it was a coincidence or if someone summoned them here, maybe an experiment with demon magic or the runes Weavy liked to use. Her thought process was interrupted when the beast suddenly opened whatever was left of its mouth, a gurgling noise coming out before it tensed up and rushed towards the four of them. Before the beast could even take two steps, Austin’s arrow smashed into its waist, blue light flashing up before the thing smashed down into the ground.
It tried getting up but another pulse of lightning went through it, limbs spasming before a simple steel arrow smashed into its shoulder, cutting deep into its body. Austin held up three fingers, counting down. When his last finger came down, a dull noise resounded, some shrapnel digging into the stone floor. The man winced when one of the pieces cut into his leather coat. Ilea looked at him sideways and raised her eyebrows. Not bad. A bit like Philipp’s arrows. Maybe he’s an enchanter as well. The man’s arrows had even gutted her pretty badly. She wondered if Austin could live up to that. Level wise he was a little behind but not by much.
The man sighed, notching another arrow before that one entered near the other shoulder. Another dull sound. Austin gave a thumbs up after that and continued onward. “What was it’s level?” Ilea asked.
He had another arrow ready to be fired, “Two eighty. They’re powerful but fucking stupid.” He added.
“Why don’t you farm them then until you reach that level?” Ilea asked. She was also wondering why Austin was the one walking in front and not Baron who was quite literally the closest to an actual tank she had seen so far in Elos.
Austin smiled, “Because one, I’m not fucking retarded. Two, I just said they’re powerful. Do you want to see what they can do once they reach you? Well I don’t.”
I kinda do. Ilea thought, interested how their attacks differed from the demons. Spawn usually had clawed hands and these seemed to just have a single bladed arm. “Maybe we’ll find out soon what they can do.” Ilea said, hearing the noise coming from further down the hallway. Austin seemed to notice a moment later and lost a bit of the color on his face.