Chapter 54 An Awful Idea.
“Why do we need to fight them?” Esk put forth a very valid question. Tunnel Horrors were only a problem if someone did something to draw their attention. There was a reason most Innerworld residents went their entire lives without so much as hearing one.
Isaac tried to come up with a valid reason a few times before stopping himself each time. Eventually he found one: “Our whole battle strategy revolves around excessive mana use. How are we going to deal with the flesh monster without mid level fire spells?” He asked back.
“Oil.” Esk replied. “We could just go back and stock up. When we get back we could just kill them all together and then spread a bunch of oil around and drop a match.”
“This is conventional adventurer tactics.” Fable explained.
The sorceress looked at Isaac and Lenna incredulously. “Have you just been solving every problem by throwing mana at it?” She questioned. “I’m a sorceress and even I know that that only works most of the time.”
“We’ve used different tactics before.” Isaac replied defensively. “Like when…” He was struggling to find an example. “We’ve had to do plenty of spy work recently and I have abused my ability to teleport and go invisible in the past.”
“How did you survive to get to platinum?” The sorceress questioned incredulously.
“I learned to go invisible at level two.” Isaac told her honestly. “I can heal from any injury.” He lied. He knew that he could only heal from most injuries. He was completely sure that getting completely disintegrated was something that he would never be able to come back from by himself. He also doubted if he’d survive getting beheaded while unconscious, or while he was conscious for that matter. “We haven’t exactly come across anything that can’t just be cut or burned to death.”
“No one can go invisible at level two.” The sorceress replied. “And, even if you could heal from any injury, what does it cost? How are you regenerating so much mana, really? Are you actually human?” Her barrage of questions caught everyone, including her teammates, off guard. She was generally a more reserved person. No one, that actually knew her, would call her quiet but she was rarely that talkative.
“I don’t feel like explaining.” Isaac replied and waved her off. “Also, set up in the cavern we were just in because I am going to lure them. There is no reason to let a monster like that run free according to our local double platinum hero of the people.” Isaac said in an increasingly sarcastic tone. In truth, Isaac just wanted to fight them because he really liked fighting. It was a hobby that he got to do for a job. He really had no reason to pass up a good brawl with a legendary monster let alone two at once. He was not however going to tell the rest of the team that and decided to throw all of the blame on Fable.
Fable scowled at Isaac but complied. The Flame Ravens started grumbling but realized that Isaac was probably going to draw out the Tunnel Horrors regardless of their input. Lenna glanced at Isaac and shook her head almost imperceptibly. “Battle junkie.” She whispered.
Isaac chuckled. “You aren’t trying to stop me.” Isaac commented with a grin.
“Could I?” Lenna questioned.
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Isaac faced her properly and gave her a semi-serious look, there was still a hint of his recent playfulness but it was clear to Lenna that what he was about to say was not to be taken as a joke. “Yes.” He told her. “With one word. If you said no then I wouldn’t and I know that you would tell me if you thought that it was actually an awful idea.”
Lenna looked away. She was glad that her visor was closed so Isaac couldn’t see her cheeks. His pure and total trust was worth more than any amount of pretty words to her. She felt her neck and face heat up and she was pretty sure that she was blushing slightly. She reached over to him and pulled his hood down over his eyes. “Don’t say stuff like that with other people around.” She told him. The entire team had stopped a bit inside of a mostly empty cavern. There was plenty of dried blood and the scent of iron and burnt flesh was overpowering but they would make due. If any of the team had noticed their side conversation they pretended not to notice.
Isaac chuckled as he shook his head. He fixed his hood and eyed the party. “Mark, what weapons do you have on you?” Isaac questioned.
“Four spears including this one, two shortswords, four grappling hooks with iron chains, a spare tower, and a round shield.” Mark replied. The fact that he had added the shields to his list of weapons meant that he was more than confident in using them as such.
“Are they all enchanted?” Isaac questioned further.
Mark nodded. “Normal low level enhancements only.” He explained. That meant that the most Isaac could hope for was hardening and sharpening enchantments; he doubted if they would be enough for the Tunnel Horrors.
“Do you think you could wrestle a Tunnel Horror with me?” Isaac continued questioning. For the first time Isaac actually noticed genuine shock and bewilderment on the warrior’s face. “Do you think your spears will survive getting stuck halfway through them when they try to burrow?”
“No.” Mark replied. “To both.” He glanced at Lenna and then met Isaac’s gaze again. “She might be able to but I know I’m not strong enough.” He shook his head. “The haft on my spears would get crushed as soon as they tried to burrow, enchantments or not, they are made of wood.”
“Should we just try to pop the first one and then beat the second one to death like last time?” Isaac asked Lenna.
She shook her head. “We can bleed them out like the drider.” She told him.
“Tunnel Horrors are smart enough to run though aren’t they? The first two didn’t have much of a chance and the third one probably didn’t realize it was dying to internal injuries until it fell over.” Isaac countered.
Fable sighed. “Tunnel Horrors are weak to cold.” He explained. “When their blood freezes, their organs burst.”
Isaac looked at Fable like he had grown a second head. “So what, are you going to kill them yourself while I keep them busy?” He questioned the older adventurer. “In case you forgot, you are here with a paladin who can only use fire magic, a fire sorceress, and a magic knight who exclusively uses a flaming sword. I don’t think there are very many ice casters around.”
“I know an ice spell.” Esk cut in.
“I do too.” The sorceress added.
“Which one?” Isaac questioned like he already knew the answer.
“Ice arrow.” They both said in tandem.
Isaac sighed. “See, you’d be doing it yourself.”
Fable nodded. “That’s fine. My mana pool is full and it will be easy if I don’t have to dodge them.”
“What spell are you going to use?” Isaac questioned. He really didn’t want to have to use the Tunnel Horrors as cover so his ‘teammate’ wouldn’t turn him into an ice sculpture.
“Final Frost.” Fable replied.
“You’ll catch Isaac in it.” Lenna argued immediately after the words had left Fable’s mouth.
“He can heal from anything, right?” Fable countered. He was starting to get an accurate idea of how to counter Isaac. Granted, he still wasn’t confident in surviving a duel to the death with him but he definitely now had an idea on how to make sure Isaac didn’t win. In fact he was almost certain that the duel would end in both of them dead if he played his cards right, not a preferable outcome but worth considering.
“He’s right.” Isaac replied. “I’ll be fine.” He assured Lenna. If Fable wanted to play games then Isaac would play them. Isaac just had to make sure he was better at said games than the old bastard whose name was literally Fable. “Give me the Ocean in a Bottle. I’ll douse them in water while I keep them busy. It should make this go faster.” The fact that Isaac called Fable’s call of Isaac’s bluff and then raised it actually took the old warrior by surprise.
“Good idea.” Fable replied after a moment.
Lenna looked hesitant but gave Isaac the Ocean in a Bottle anyway. She tried to play off her worry with a joke: “Just yell if you want me to Fireball you.” She told him. Isaac just smirked in reply and gave her a wink.
“Okay, give me some space. I’m going to call them over and then we can get started.” Isaac instructed the team. “I need at least twenty feet in each direction and make sure you are all behind me.” He sat cross legged facing where he had felt the Tunnel Horrors. ‘This is actually an awful idea.’ Isaac thought to himself. ‘I know I put on a brave face for Lenna but I really don’t want to lose a limb because it got frozen solid, or worse.’ He rolled his shoulders as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Here goes nothing.’