CHAPTER 10: PART 1 OF 3
Thirty three little Auras beamed in triumph as the last Cave Arachs slumped to the cavern floor, pumped full of paralytic venom. Lucas got up from his hiding spot and dragged the Cave Arachs over to join the rest. That made nineteen paralysed Cave Arachs, piled up in the corner. Once he had hatched thirty five Broodlings, he had started building a stockpile of his victims. Lucas paused to check his stats. Spirit was up to 89%! The anticipation of reaching 4 Spirit was extremely tantalising. He could probably force it by hatching more and more Broodlings, but despite having hundreds of eggs, he didn't have a way to find more.
The sounds of skittering throughout the caverns had gone completely silent, leaving only the distant echoes of trickling water to fill the darkness. If any Arachs remained he could handle them as he found them. It had taken a painfully long time, but 1 Mana point had regenerated so he could rely on Stealth if necessary. The first four Broodlings set themselves apart from the rest by climbing up and attaching themselves to his clothes when his intention to move became clear. The rest trailed after in a panic as he set off at a run, startled by his sudden departure. The four little Auras attached to his shirt lit up with joy as he ran, he could sense their admiration for his speed and grace.
After making a complete circuit of the areas he had mapped, Lucas felt certain he had wiped out the entire colony of Cave Arachs. When he returned, one of the paralised Arachs was twitching and another had dragged itself a couple metres. Of their own initiative, one of his Broodlings went to administer another dose of venom to the strugglers. That made him smile, so he picked that one up and placed it on the pile then backed away. When it realised it had been given a special job, its Aura flashed with pride at being singled out from the rest.‘I am the master of this place now?’ Lucas thought.
‘Almost… There is another species of Arach down here.’’
[https://i.imgur.com/RJjB81K.jpg]
It had been a while since the Quest System had triggered. Whatever an ‘Enchanted Armor’ was he absolutely had to have it. Invading the Deep Arachs head-on could be costly, their acid spit would melt a lot of Broodlings in a frontal assault. There was no need for that however, Lucas knew their weakness. He had already cut off one half of their ecosystem. They had no choice but to come looking for a new source of food.
Lucas set out for the part of the cave network that the Deep Arachs emerged from, dragging one of the paralysed Cave Arachs. He set it down in a shallow depression in the rock near the entrance to Deep Arach territory. He then crawled up to a vantage point where he could survey the room without exposing himself. In the deep quiet he listened, filtering out the sound of the water trickling and his Broodlings scuttering until he heard something new; Rapid thudding. He activated Stealth, begrudgingly using his last Mana point. The Broodlings had gotten used to seeing him meld into the darkness now and simply meandered around his position. Several of them tried to imitate him, their Auras shrinking as they hunkered down, but they didn't have a true ability for Stealth. Lucas mused to himself if it would be possible to give any of his abilities to his Broodlings.
The Brood Nexus worked by applying the Mana patterns which describe the modifications he wished to make to the embryonic spiders. His abilities were Mana patterns also, so it should be possible to pass on his powers. Having Broodlings with Stealth sounded great, but he would need to increase his Spirit to afford the customisation, or make his spiders ridiculously tiny again. What if he could give them dimensional magic? He could theoretically have each Broodling with its own inventory storage. He wasn't sure what use that would be, some kind of spider courier service maybe?
Lucas was still chuckling to himself, thinking about it, when he noticed a large Aura coming out of Deep Arach territory. It was a single Deep Arach, obviously nervous, but intently fixated on the paralised Cave Arach bait. The Broodlings tensed up and went still but didn't attack. They seemed to be waiting for a signal, similar to how he had used his Aura to broadcast violent intentions in the last battles. The Deep Arach crawled its way slowly into the shallow depression in the rock but didn't touch the paralysed Cave Arach. After a moment it turned around and left.
Lucas frowned but stayed where he was, he hadn’t expected it to show so much caution. Soon a massive cluster of Auras emerged, radiating hostility like a declaration of war. They were a tightly packed group, perhaps ten Deep Arachs, moving in unison like a military formation. Some were riding on the shoulders of others, making it hard to determine the exact number with their Auras overlapping. They covered each other with their Carapace Shields and waited for an attack, presumably from the Cave Arachs. The Broodlings, showing remarkable strategic acumen, began spreading out over the cavern walls, even crawling up to parts of the ceiling. Their little Auras shimmered with anticipation but they didn't go near the cluster of Deep Arachs. The Deep Arachs, just like the Cave Arachs, paid no attention to the Broodlings. They were obviously still waiting for the Cave Arach assault, which would have hit by now if they weren't all dead or paralised.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Lucas held his Stealth, waiting to see what they would do. The Deep Arachs waited in a clumped-up pile of silent tension, but when no attack came their formation began to loosen. One of them broke off from the group to investigate the paralysed Cave Arach, which seemed to trigger a general ‘at ease’ and they broke formation to start roaming around the cavern. Lucas dropped his Stealth, letting a flair of aggressive intention out of his Aura.
The Broodlings, thirty two little balls of fury, attacked immediately. They dropped off the ceiling and launched themselves from the walls in a sudden assault that caught the Deep Arachs completely by surprise. Rather than fighting independently, the Deep Arachs rushed to reform ranks. However, this time there were perhaps twenty five of his Broodlings inside the formation. The Broodlings that landed too late started skittering over the outside of the shield-wall, looking for a way in. Their Auras started bursting one by one, accompanied by a hissing sound and powerful acrid smell. The Broodling Auras inside the formation burned hot with wrath. The Deep Arachs simply held on to their formation, at a loss for how to handle an enemy inside the gates. Lucas watched the scene from a safe vantage. He was not in Stealth, but his Aura was withdrawn and the enemy paid no attention to him. The Deep Arachs had clearly evolved to fight very different opponents. Everything from their physique to their behaviour had been designed to fight one enemy, the Cave Arachs. That level of specialisation came with a total lack of flexibility.
The fight was over quickly. As the paralysis took hold the formation started breaking apart. Broodlings jumped off the paralysed Deep Arachs to hasten the fall of the remaining ones until all twelve Auras went dull and fuzzy, paralised on the cavern floor. Lucas hopped down from his perch and his Broodlings scuttled over to him, beaming with triumph. Feeling elated, and very proud of his little Brood, he let the feelings shine from his Aura. The praise gave them a case of the zoomies and they sprinted around him in circles at dizzying speed.
Four of the Deep Arachs were sacrificed to replenish the eight Broodlings lost in the battle; he then began dragging the Paralised Arachs out of sight of the entrance to Deep Arach territory. When only his Cave Arach bait was visible from the entrance he settled in for another ambush. It was a few hours till they showed themselves, but they came, another squad of Deep Arachs in a dense formation with a single scout ahead of the pack. The battle played out very similarly to the previous one. Soon Lucas had 22 paralysed Deep Arachs, along with the 29 Cave Arachs that went to check on after the battle. The little Broodling he had left behind had done a good job keeping all the Cave Arachs paralysed, earning a pat on the head.
It had been a while since he slept, but he had started this war now and had to finish it. Going to sleep with all these paralysed Arachs around was a very bad idea. So, despite his exhaustion, he began dragging all 29 paralysed Cave Arachs down the tunnels two at a time. He stashed them near the Deep Arachs, resulting in a section of cave almost completely clogged with his defeated enemies. Doing all that heavy dragging and lifting would have been impossible without the power he had earned taking his Strength to 4. It took hours of back and forth, but also gave his Mana time to recover. No more Deep Arachs squads appeared, so he set a second Broodling on guard duty and made his way into the unknown territory of the Deep Arachs.
Lucas’s Broodlings swarmed around him as he made his way down a single large cavern that descended steeply, not a single nook or cranny breaking off from the main tunnel. It felt artificial, not at all like the twisting, uneven caverns above. The idea spooked him a little, making his Broodlings tense up in response to the change in his Aura.
There was no sign of any Arachs. The Broodlings scouted ahead and worked their way over smooth tube-like walls. Watching their Auras as they skittered over every surface made it easy for Lucas to make out the structure of the tunnel without having to explore every inch with his own hands, though it didn't add any detail to his Map. That made him wonder, would it be possible to integrate his Broodlings into his Map so their exploration could help fill it out? If he could give them his Map skill it might work.
Ahead some of his Broodlings froze, their Auras lighting up with alarm. Lucas instantly stopped. More broodlings skittered ahead to see what the fuss was about, only to freeze as well. Soon there was a cluster of Broodling Auras frozen in place in a semi-circle along the cavern floor, radiating awe. Lucas crept forward to see for himself. The cavern floor suddenly dropped into a pit with a sharply sloped descent. Some ways down was a titanic Aura brimming with power. Lucas almost used Stealth on instinct, but it had already seen him and he didn't want to waste his recently recovered Mana. Its Aura flashed with hostility but it didn't move, seeming to share the defensive tendencies of the Deep Arachs. Lucas was perfectly happy to have a standoff while he considered the situation.
[https://i.imgur.com/jatfb7Y.jpg]
‘Terrifying.’
It was clearly responsible for this entire part of the cave structure, using its 14 Strength and Metal Carapace to crush and consume the rock like a monstrous, organic, demolition machine. Being scrunched up and backed into a corner like that, underneath tons of metal carapace, made it impossible to attack in any conventional way. There would be no way to escape that spray of acid gas in this smooth featureless tunnel. If the gas didn't get you, eight steel blades on a giant 14 Strength rock blender waited at the bottom.