131 Expectation or surprise ? (1/2)
Marching forward, a little girl was not feeling heat or cold in the dark environment. The clothes fabricated by Master Agnil were custom made after all and were not just pretty. Couple with the natural, or should some say modified, resistance of her body, it was hardly possible for her to catch a cold. Counting in her head the distance from the entrance and where she was, she felt that it will be soon that she will reach where her skeletons were destroyed.
KROK
Raising her foot, she saw a piece of bones under it. A bit further, more were laying on the ground, the last remnant of the undead that died. Grabbing what should probably be a finger, she inspected it but found no problem. If that was the case, the white silhouette she saw only wanted the mana necessary for the summons to be able to move. But if that was the case, it still returned to the same question. ”Why doesn't he go to that cave above filled with mana?”
As she descended, she could see the concentration of mana gems getting lower and lower. The most probable explication was the monster monopolizing the flow, disrupting the natural appearance of those crystals. Even where she stood, the surface of the walls was as barren as the ones where her shadows absorbed everything. But shortly after thinking this, she felt the thin mana around her concentrating in one location.
Seeing the appearance of a mana gem under her very eyes, she was not in a hurry to grab it. At this point, only one was like a drop in an ocean for her. She was far more interested to see who or what will try to take it first. Like that, she concealed herself nearby, patiently waiting for prey to come. After what she felt was an hour or so, something a bit too noisy arrived. Without even needing to see it, she could feel its presence, lurking on the ceiling of the tunnel.
From afar, it looked like a spider hanging downward. With its completely black body, it could fool even some races capable of seeing in the dark. For some reason, she felt that she had heard about this creature.
(Davion and Meridiana met it in the cave we used to create the tunnel linking our base to Archet. They said it was scared of them and had one massive eye in the middle of its body. But it only opened it after sensing light.)
The Viscount quickly brought the information she wanted. Now that it was close enough to be visible, it did seemed to be what the orodil and the succubus saw. Also, the moment he arrived so close to the mana gem that the blue light touched its body, an eye was slowly opening, barely visible. Soon, Leilade could appreciate the spectacle of the monster sucking dry the mana from the stone. When it had finished eating, the gem fell on the ground and break in many pieces.
Because of this, the eye of that creature fully opened itself, looking left and right. He turned in all directions, before stopping when he was looking where a little girl was hiding. She had barely concealed her presence, not even using a spell for that. But with her little body, the lack of light and the distance between the two, it was still hard to spot her. However, the monster seemed to have at least see something unusual.
Now silently planting its legs on the ceiling, the one-eyed monster closed its eye. Without that clue, its body was almost invisible as it was slowly approaching Leilade. When only 30 meters separated the two, a sound came from the left tunnel. It did not take long for the approaching predator to choose to flee, letting its prey for the moment. Whatever was coming was clearly a danger for it.
But when she saw what it was, it almost made her laugh. Even if it was extremely big, it was just a terrifying earthworm. Its skin was looking like metal, and even the sound produced between the ground and that was similar. But after thinking that, Leilade realized something else. The monster she just saw before the reports of the men from the Organization and finally this. Deformed monsters, but very close to commonly found animals.
(If a Hero had been killed her, and also a Dark God, it is possible that they were just normal insects in the first place. But, if they entered in contact with the blood of one of the two or even both, the result could be what we are seeing. Fascinating.)
Even if it was just a theory, it was not impossible. Even her own blood could provoke unforeseen consequences. Of course, since it will be immediately contaminated by the darkness inside her body, any living being in contact would die. But the blood of someone else, like the Akûl Ymir, would produce with almost certainty mutation to the one absorbing it. With that in mind, the monstrous earthworm became energy for Leilade. As for the spider, it had escaped her for the time being.
Creating some skeletons to scout every tunnel, the undead all ended up destroyed in a matter of minutes. It was not just one living being that was tainted by the power of whoever they sucked the blood, but a myriad of them. The entire underground maze was filled with annoying insects, reptiles and small mammals. All stranger than their original form. But then, two categories were quickly formed for Leilade. The dumbs and the cowards.
Half of the mutated monsters had sufficient strength and sturdiness that they could fight head on, and that's what they did. But opposing flesh and matter to the shadows without shape that were surrounding Leilade was just suicide. As for the more agile monsters, those that relied on their instincts to escape danger, the moment they noticed her was the moment they fled in panic. But even as she slaughtered more and more, she was having a hard time finding the two corpses.
SKLIK