CHAPTER 9: FINALE!
A SADISTIC SMILE
The Broodling was shuffling side to side expectantly. He consciously focused on a sense of gratitude for the gift, allowing it to shine through his Aura. He got a beam of happiness in return, and his spidery child curled up next to him in a little bundle of legs. It seemed like it was trying to figure out what Lucas wanted. He was clearly unusual as far as Broodlords go. The little creature's unreserved affection for him struck a strange nerve, and he felt a strong desire to protect it. Maybe he had just been alone too long, but a warm happiness glowed inside him as he drifted off to sleep with it snuggled next to him.
He woke several times during his sleep, anxious that he might miss the point at which Mana was full. He even made himself eat the rat, bones and all, knowing that he needed to be well fed for his Mana to regenerate properly. Raw rat would have been a grim prospect a week ago, but it was a definite step up from spider meat. While he was slurping its intestines like spaghetti, he noticed that his Mana finally hit 3.
His Broodling was gone, presumably hunting again. He brought out the Brood Nexus and an egg, immediately hatching his second tiny Arach. After a moment of investigating its strange parent, it paused and looked to him expectantly. He let his feelings show honestly though his Aura and the Broodling understood immediately. He wanted power. It scampered down the rockface from his alcove, disappearing into the darkness.
By the time his Mana regenerated again, his Broodlings had been on several hunting trips. Laid before him, in the darkness of his alcove, was; one possum, two rats, and a salamander, all with dull paralysed Auras. Lucas brought out his Brood Nexus and an egg, then delved his consciousness into the Nexus trance to access the customisation features. He withdrew the function that had been used to shrink the Arachs, and the Mana cost returned to 4. He then used his dagger to sacrifice the little creatures.
It took two rats and a possum to cumulatively produce 1 Mana. He then flooded his own 3 Mana through the Nexus into the egg, hatching the Arach. The egg grew much larger before hatching, about the size of a basketball. Out of it crawled a spider the size of a house cat. In his old world that would have sent anyone running for the hills, but Lucas’s standards for spider size had changed. Just as before, the fresh little mind took a moment to inspect its Broodlord, then waited at attention to see if Lucas wanted anything specific. He sent it to hunt with the others, hoping it could bring back something more formidable.
The next few days revolved around Lucas waiting for his Mana to regenerate. At first his large new Broodling returned with nothing but sadness and regret dripping from its Aura, while the mini-broodlings continued to bring in a steady supply of little creatures. On the second cycle, after hatching his second ‘cat-sized’ Broodling, he found out what was going wrong.
His two cat sized Broodlings teamed up to take down a deer the following cycle. They had managed to drag it most of the way to Lucas’ alcove but, to his immense disappointment, one of the Cave Arachs came by and took the deer for itself. It left the Broodlings alone, who crawled back despondently. The remorse and shame in the Broodlings' Aura, at their failure, quickly stopped Lucas from dwelling on it. His frustration would show in his own Aura, and he didn't want to make them feel worse.
The cat sized Broodlings figured out on their own that anything larger than a rat would get stolen by the Cave Arachs, so instead they ran relays with small prey at a rapid pace. After his third Broodling was hatched it became clear he was getting diminishing returns. The local area was quickly getting depopulated of any prey small enough to avoid the Cave Arach's attention. The first two mini-broodlings he had hatched died of ‘old age’. Despite having known from the start how soon they would die, Lucas couldn't help the pang of grief that welled up as their tiny Auras dissipated. Feeling sad about it still didn't stop him from harvesting their life force. After hatching his fourth proper sized Broodling the local wildlife dried up altogether.
Lucas checked his Spirit stat, and was shocked to see that it had gone from 6% to 68%. Using the Brood Nexus was pushing his Spirit development very quickly. It could be that working with far more Mana than he could naturally produce was artificially accelerating it.
His Arachs were not bringing in any more prey, so he was forced to act earlier than he would have liked. Lucas took stock of all of his tools and weapons as he planned his next move. He had not Analysed the Regeneration Bracer yet, so he brought it out.
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‘wow.’ He would need to see it in practice to get an idea of its true capabilities, but it sounded unbelievably useful.
As his Broodlings returned, he tried to instruct them to stay with him. At first they had trouble understanding what he wanted, until Lucas realised he was being too ‘human’ about it. Instead of thinking about what actions he wanted them to take, he reverted to the motivation at the core of his intentions. The thought flashed in his mind ‘Enemies!’ ‘Protect me!’ creating a pulse of feeling through his Aura. That was a sentiment they understood instantly, as their little Auras flashed with a fierce protective energy. They skittered around him in a flurry, boldly investigating little nooks and crannies in the rock for phantom enemies.
Now surrounded by his little army, Lucas pulled the rope out of his inventory. He started crossing and knotting a square-pattern into it to create a net. By the time the cavern below had emptied out completely of Cave Arachs, Lucas had recovered all 3 Mana and finished weaving his net. He climbed down and began to free run towards the place he had already chosen to make his stand. Muscle memory took over as he glided through the bends with a great sense of relief, having been cooped up for days. Looking back he saw his little broodlings trying to catch up, but he left them behind quickly. When he arrived at the large open cavern that provided his water, he began working his way around the room, planning out his strategy. The Broodlings caught up to him, their little Auras glowing with panic at being left behind and unable to protect him. He smiled at them as they formed a perimeter around him, taking positions at each of the entrances to the chamber.
Feeling sure now that he had what he needed, Lucas began laboriously rolling a large boulder up to the top of a smooth incline. One of the Cave Arachs entered the room at this point. He simply went into stealth. It completely ignored the Broodlings, who had gone into a panic looking for him, and promptly left the area. When he dropped his Stealth they all ran over, relief swelling in their little Auras. He sent waves of calming reassurance through to them then continued rolling the boulder to the top of the incline, wedging it in place. Then he sat, attempting to push down his growing anxiety and prepare himself for what came next.
In his state of meditation, he heard the next Arach approaching. He positioned himself just near the entrance the sound was coming from, flat against the wall so he couldn't be seen until it entered. He put on the Regeneration Bracer and activated it. Mana flowed into the Bracer, coming out tinted with a green glow. Having nothing to heal, the altered Mana slowly built up in his Aura. The pre-battle tension in his Aura was mimicked by his Broodlings; they tensed up, ready to act. As the skittering sound became imposingly close he hugged the wall, withdrew his Aura, and prepared to blind-side the Arach as it entered the chamber.
The Cave Arach came sprinting up the tunnel at top speed and burst into the cavern. Lucas lunged at its side with a Porcupine Quill, trying to mimic the stealth attack that had killed the last Arach. The Quill grazed off its carapace, finding no gap in the hard exoskeleton. But his strike did trip up the Arach’s left set of legs, sending it tumbling into the cavern.
Lucas’s broodlings leapt to the attack immediately, their little Auras flashing wrathfully as they landed on the Cave Arach. It barely seemed to notice, turning its attention to Lucas. Its Aura shifted and took on a deadly ‘readiness’, presumably as it entered its Four-Scythe combat stance. It then rushed at Lucas full of killing intent. Lucas had already pulled out the net he’d made from rope. He tossed it into the air between them and ran for the incline with the positioned boulder. The rope net seemed to confuse the Arach. He could hear its Scythes cutting through rope, like the snipping of huge scissors. Its movements still seemed staggered and awkward when he turned to see it chasing him up the incline. He reached the top and hauled the rock over the edge just before the Arach reached him. It rolled towards the Arach, which was still struggling with the rope net.
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The Arach attempted to dodge. It managed to avoid a direct hit but, with so many limbs tangled in the net, it ended up on its side as the rock rolled over several of its legs. The Aura spasmed violently as a thick crunching sound echoed through the cavern, giving Lucas a sadistic smile. Seeing an opportunity, he launched himself down the incline with his Quill. A slashing sound cut the air and his quill got snapped off at the tip. In the same moment he felt a piercing pain as a Scythe slashed into his abdomen below the ribs. He let the momentum of the incline carry him and bowled past the Arach. Another Scythe wooshed through his hair as they passed. The Arach was having trouble turning around, otherwise that would have taken his head off.
Lucas tried to stagger down the incline and keep his balance but the jarring pain in his belly made him flinch and he went tumbling across the cavern floor. As he skidded to a halt the Arach was struggling to get the remaining net off itself. The fierce Auras of his Broodlings hung off it like little nuggets of burning wrath. He went into Stealth where he lay without moving a muscle.
The Bracer of Regeneration had already sucked up a Mana point before the fight, which immediately started healing him. It took another second for the Arach to free itself from the net and it began sweeping randomly across the cavern looking for him. It was moving sluggishly as it criss-crossed the open area.
The way it was sweeping the area made it impossible to hide for long. The creature was stumbling as if drunk when it finally reached him. Lucus lay prone in wait. Once the Arach got close enough, he thrust upwards with his knife. The Arach reacted sluggishly and the dagger made contact with its face, piercing into what might have been its mouth.
The pain came raining down; a rapid series of stabs from four huge Scythes punctured Lucas’s chest, stomach, and shoulder, slamming straight through to hit the rock beneath with a series of thuds. The Scythes retracted and Lucas scrambled in panic. He was slipping, madly floundering, but the rock was slick with his blood. He tumbled over, slamming his face on the rock. He was going to die in that second, he was certain of it. But the follow up attack never came. A moment passed and Lucas gathered his wits from the brink of oblivion, blood still flowing freely as he looked back.
The Arach was standing in the same spot, swaying woozily side to side, occasionally hitting the rock where Lucas had been. Then it simply collapsed. The Auras of Lucas’s Broodlings beamed with triumph as they climbed off it. It was paralysed... The little guys had been pumping it with venom this whole time.
Lucas crawled back to the Arach and pulled out his Brood Nexus and a handful of eggs. He plunged his knife into the thing's abdomen and ripped it open. As it died, a massive swell of energy flowed over him. The energy flew out in all directions but couldn't pass through solid rock, this resulted in it echoing around within the chamber and Lucas pulled more and more of it into the Nexus. 8 Mana in total flowed into the eggs, Hatching two more Broodlings. He had a proper swarm of six broodlings now.
Lucas collapsed on the rock. He was sure his wounds were fatal. There was just too much bleeding. It was thick on the rock all around him and still pumping out of his belly at a lethal rate. He tried to make himself think calmly but couldn't catch his breath, the pulse of gushing blood drummed at him like the beat of death. He felt the wounds on his chest, one great puncture had gone right through his lung. Air was being pulled through the hole when he tried to breath, sucking blood from the wound into his lungs. He turned to the side to stop blood draining into it, then put his hand over the wound. Lucas held his hand tight over the hole and gasped a deep breath that filled his lungs and cleared his head.
Lucas focused on his Mana, remembering having seen the internal structure of his body so clearly when working with the Brood Nexus. His consciousness spread along with his Mana as it coursed through his body. He had many injuries but golden-green Mana flooded out of his Regeneration Bracer to concentrate over those places. It was working so fast that he could sense the tissue growing to close his wounds. Most of his injuries were non-lethal, but one puncture in his stomach had hit a massive artery near his spine that was draining his blood very quickly. The Mana from Regeneration Bracer was concentrating over this wound, a clear signal that it was the most threatening. The structure of the ripped artery was clear in his Mana sight. The pressure of blood pumping out was preventing the ripped tissue from making contact in a way that would allow the Regeneration Bracer to bind it.
Barely thinking about what he was doing, he forced his hand into the wound in his belly, screaming with pain and sending his Broodlings scattering in fright. He had to pause as the pain threatened to make him faint, then sunk his hand even deeper with a primal shout. It would surely have been impossible without his enchanted Bracer helping with the pain.
By feel from his hand he couldn't distinguish one thing from another amongst the biomass of his torso. But his Mana sight was clear and precise. He angled his hand to press three fingers across the artery. It wasn't stopping the blood, but it brought the sides of the artery in contact so the golden Mana from the could knit them together. Infused Mana flooded to the spot as Lucas held his hand in place.
At the worst possible time, he heard the sound he had been dreading. Another Arach was approaching. He was in no position to move and his blood was everywhere, making it impossible to hide. His Broodlings heard it too and sensed his reaction, tensing up ready to attack.
The Bracer had closed the hole in his artery but his body was still an absolute wreck. The Regeneration was knitting his flesh and bone but not yet replacing lost blood. Lucas had only 1 Mana remaining, and just before the sound of the Arach burst into the cavern he spent it on Stealth.
The Cave Arach immediately began skittering around the room, which reeked of blood. The Broodlings leapt to attack. The Arach didn't recognise the threat until they had all landed and sought out its vulnerable rear abdomen, the only place their fangs could pierce. The Arach spun around in circles but couldn't dislodge its tiny assailants. The powerful Scythes were useless against small, close attackers.
As Lucas looked on in stealth, the Regeneration Bracer completely consumed the Mana it had been fed before the fight started. He was forced to break Stealth and take it off. The Bracer would soon attempt to drag Mana from him that he didn't have. His popups had warned him that spending Mana that he didn't have could drain the Mana that ran his body, possibly killing him.
With six Broodlings pumping paralytic poison into the Arach, it was too disoriented to notice Lucas leaving Stealth. It spun drunkenly in circles, Scythes whipping through the air harmlessly. It collapsed a moment later, but Lucas couldn't get up to finish it off. He flared out his Aura with killing intent. The Broodlings understood and began hacking at the paralysed Arach with their little Scythes. It took them a while, but eventually they dug a deep enough wound into the creature's leathery abdomen to cause some critical damage and its Aura exploded. Lucas already had the Nexus and a handful of eggs out. He hatched two more Broodlings, bringing him up to eight.
With the artery closed Lucas pulled his hand out of his stomach with a wet sucking sound and a shuddering breath. His Broodlings clustered around him, clearly fretting. With no other way to help their Broodlord they tried to sooth him with gentle scratching from their little Scythes. He had just started trying to crawl out of sight, when another Cave Arach burst into the room. The smell of blood must have travelled up the cave network, drawing them in.
His Broodlings swarmed it immediately, their Auras burning with bloodlust. Like the other Cave Arachs, it didn't recognise the Broodlings as a threat until too late. They crawled all over it, jockeying for places to insert fangs. The panicked thrashing of the Cave Arach failed to kill any of them, the angle impossible to reach for its great Scythes. This one didn't even last a minute, and was too panicked to notice Lucas.
Soon it was dead also and two new Broodlings joined the ranks. By the time the next encounter happened Lucas had recovered a Mana point and reactivated the Regeneration Bracer. Two Cave Arachs in quick succession came barreling into the cavern. Lucas watched from the opposite end of the cavern as his Broodlings swarmed over both Arachs.
He winced as one of the Broodlings got cut down. The Arachs did not help each other at all, but in their mad thrashing one had accidentally cut a Broodling off the others back. Over the course of several hours Lucas transformed the lifeforce of eight more enemy Arachs into his Nexus, his swarm of Broodlings reaching twenty four, but that was only the start. Not a single Cave Arach was going to make it back to the nest.