Chapter 41

Ash moved cautiously down the narrow tunnel. It sloped noticeably downward, and the air grew colder with each step. The dry, stale scent of ancient stone and dust filled his nostrils, and the faint echoes of his party as they entered the Shadow Eel room exaggerated the tunnel’s silence. His senses remained on high alert, Lesser Ripple scanning the area like a magic radar, ensuring nothing dangerous waited for him in the torch-lit passage.

The tunnel finally widened into a huge circular chamber, two hundred feet across. Other tunnels, just like the one Ash stood in, opened haphazardly around the perimeter. He paused at the entrance, his eyes and chakras scanning the room.

The ceiling arched into a dome fifty feet overhead, and the walls curved around in a perfect circle. In the center, the floor sloped down, forming a basin from which several tunnels branched out, each a dark mouth eager to swallow him.

Old stone doorways, carved into the perimeter of the chamber, drew Ash’s attention. Each etched with ancient symbols, weathered and worn by time, exuding a sense of purpose and foreboding. He couldn’t decipher their meanings, but the mere sight of them sent a shiver down his spine. They looked like real doors, and each had five complex symbols down the center.

Hey Nomad, I’ve reached a large circular room. It has a bunch of old nerdy symbols everywhere. We’ll need Oracle and Wiki for sure, and maybe Babbel and Syntax.

Does the room feel safe?

Hard to tell over the general 'get the hell out of here' sensation this whole place gives off.

Roger that. Should I send them now?

Give me a minute to make sure the room is safe. There are a bunch of lower tunnels I need to peek into.

You want some backup?

Ash took the offer seriously. He’d done fine so far, though, and having someone else would distract him with worry for their safety. Negative. If I encounter anything, I’ll retreat back to your location.

Roger that.

Ash stepped further into the chamber, his bare feet leaving tracks in the thin layer of sand that covered the floor. The scratchy sound echoed eerily, bouncing off the stone walls and dome above. The chamber felt wrong—too silent, too empty. His Root chakra thrummed with a warning, a low hum of impending danger that made his skin prickle.

At the edge of Ash’s hearing, a faint clicking. He turned slowly as he tried to pinpoint the source. The clicking grew louder, more insistent, like a swarm of tiny claws skittering across the stone. The domed ceiling reflected the sound, echoing in the chamber, making it almost impossible to detect the source.

Ash stayed near the tunnel he’d entered from, prepared to make a hasty escape. In the center of the room, the shallow basin shifted, the stone floor twisting unnaturally like it had turned into roiling water.

Ash took a step back as thousands of black beetles emerged from cracks in the floor, their hard shells glinting in the torchlight. The beetles swarmed together, forming a writhing mass that spread across the chamber like a living carpet. He took another step back. Third Eye recognized the danger, but since the beetles remained on the basin floor, it didn’t warn him to move. His Root did want him to retreat, but not urgently.

A distant scream reached Ash.

Nomad?

Not one of us. Our guests have already reached the traps.

That wasn't good. They were stuck in this tunnel. Enemies had the way out blocked, and the way forward had a small lake of beetles. Ash concentrated on a single beetle until the popup appeared.

Name: Swarm Beetle

Type: Insect

Level: 1

Description: Small, black beetles with hard, segmented bodies and sharp mandibles.

Damage: 1-2 Physical per bite

Effect: Swarm Tactics - When attacking in groups, their damage output increases by 1% for every additional beetle attacking the same target.

Nomad spoke again. We might need to move soon. Status?

Remember that Mummy movie?

Which one?

It doesn’t matter. They all have those flesh-eating beetles. Well, I found a few thousand of them.

They aren’t attacking?

No, just roiling around like a lake of nightmares.

Exits?

There are tunnels at the same level, but I’m guessing they lead back to the surface. I think everything funnels to this room. There are also a bunch of weird stone doors. Maybe one of them hides a secret tunnel. The only other tunnels are on the lower level, through the flesh-eating beetles.

You have a preference? We probably have about ten minutes before those kill squads reach us.

Ash checked his chakras again, but they remained the same. I’m going to walk this outer perimeter and see if any of the other tunnels or those stone doors lower the threat level I’m feeling.

Roger that. Watch your six and keep me updated.

Ash didn’t hesitate, moving to his right and dragging a hand across the wall in case one of the doors was an illusion. He’d almost reached the far side from his original entry point when Third Eye warned him of impending danger and his Root urged retreat. Unfortunately, the tunnel with his team sat on the other side of the room.

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Ash sprinted, still trailing a hand along the wall and listening to his chakras for any change. He could probably complete the circle and make it back to his tunnel in another ten seconds.

The beetles converged, their tiny bodies clacking and chittering as they swarmed together, their numbers growing until they formed three distinct shapes. The writhing mass of insects took on humanoid forms. Ash watched, horrified, as the creatures assembled into monstrous beings.

Name: Scarab Guardian

Type: Construct

Level: 4

Description: A monstrous humanoid creature formed from thousands of swarm beetles. The Scarab Guardian stands over eight feet tall, its body a seething mass of beetles that constantly shift and rearrange themselves. Its limbs are long and jagged, ending in wickedly sharp claws made from hardened beetle shells.

Damage: 15-25 Physical per strike

Effect (Passive): Swarm Regeneration - The creature regenerates 5% of its health every second as long as beetles are present to replace the damaged ones.

Effect (Triggered): Swarm Surge - The creature can release a portion of its body as a swarm of beetles that attack and overwhelm enemies before returning to the main body, healing it for the damage dealt.

Ash’s breath hitched as he surveyed the fully formed Scarab Guardians, their hollow, insectoid eyes locking onto him with a predatory gaze. The chamber echoed with the sound of countless beetles, and the oppressive sense of danger reached a peak.

Ash touched the Decayed Fang duct-taped to his chest as an idea occurred to him. The amulet added one damage per attack and would stack twenty times. His Root didn’t get any hotter, which was all the permission he needed.

Sprinting down the sloped floor, Ash headed directly toward the three mobs. Instead of drawing upon the Bamboo Viper Steps, letting the perfect forms of his Step Clan guide his movements, Ash decided a more unrefined approach might work better.

The first Scarab Guardian lunged forward with alarming speed, its jagged claws slashing through the air toward Ash.

Running at top speed, Ash leaped over the Scarab Guardian’s attack, and right before he smashed into the creature, he spread his arms and legs wide and triggered Grave Diggers.

Belly-flopping into an unknown creature seemed foolish, but Ash trusted his chakras. When presented with his idea, he knew from experience that his Root chakra would warn him away from hurling himself into certain death, and it hadn’t.

Ash struck the head and torso of the lead Scarab Guardian, his body passing through the loosely formed beetle body. Decayed Fang triggered dozens of times as he plowed through all the beetles, each contact causing a point of necrotic damage.

The four skeletal hands of Grave Diggers smashed into the Scarab Guardians—two on the target Ash had attacked and one to each of the others. This would stop their regeneration for twenty seconds and give him a chance to kill all the beetles before their five percent regen kicked in.

Ash came out the other side of the Scarab Guardian and rolled to his feet. His skin crawled with beetles covering his body, each easily pinching through his cotton shirt and jeans. The dozens of bloody wounds dropped his Health bar by three percent.

Ignoring most of the beetles, Ash squished the ones hanging off his ears and face and smashed one that had made it up the inside of his jeans past his knee. Maybe running through them wasn’t the best idea.

Fifteen seconds remained until the Health Regeneration debuff from Grave Diggers finished.

The Scarab Guardian in front of Ash had almost completed reforming, and the other two closed in from the sides.

Ash summoned his backpack as he spun, using it as a giant club. It didn't do any damage, but the contact generated procs of the Decayed Fang.

The Scarab Guardians paused as Ash continued to swing his beetle-covered pack. The bugs still on his body scrambled for his exposed flesh. He pulled on Root and Solar Plexus energy to increase his combat abilities, the power saturating his body, healing his wounds, and filling him with energy.

Ash’s Third Eye urged him to the left, and he instantly stepped to the side, just as the Scarab Guardian in front of him released its Swarm Surge ability.

A dense mass of beetles exploded outward from the Scarab Guardian, moving like a living shotgun blast. Ash stuck his pack in front of the blast, which placed necrotic damage on all the bugs. The force spun him around, however, and he leaped into the air to avoid the same attack from another Scarab Guardian.

Ten seconds remained on the Health Regen debuff.

If only Ash could move the skeletal hands of Grave Diggers, he’d really have a chance. As the three Scarab Guardians adjusted their attack pattern to follow him, he continued to swing his pack at them.

Ash could only recast Grave Diggers another three times. Could he kill all these beetles in sixty seconds? As soon as the regen debuff expired, the Scarab Guardians would regenerate insanely fast—too fast for him to kill alone.

Ash really wished these skeletal hands moved. As he swung his pack at the closest Scarab Guardian, he imagined using the skeletal hand to slap the monster in the head, and his Mental Energy bar dropped a percent.

The skeletal hand covering the head of the Scarab Guardian swung back and slapped the creature’s face.

Both Ash and the Scarab Guardian stopped in shock, both staring at the skeletal hand, which had turned and slapped the Scarab Guardian on the other side of the head. Ash’s Mental Energy bar dropped another percent.

“Holy Sh–” Ash started before two Swarm Surges interrupted him. He jumped fifteen feet straight up and pulled his legs under him.

The Swarm Surges smashed into each other, creating a writhing mass of beetles.

The debuff timer reached five seconds.

Ash turned in the air, facing downward. Once again, he spread his arms and legs—and belly-flopped into the sea of beetles beneath him.

When Ash hit the ground, he used the fingers of his left hand to lift his body in a one-handed pushup and proceeded to turn himself rapidly. He held the pack out, pulling strength and endurance from his Root and Solar Plexus.

Ash became a living beetle blender.

When the debuff reached one second, Ash recast Grave Diggers, leaving him with only two charges left. With his new knowledge, he used his Willpower to direct the hands in four directions, like a compass. Then he proceeded to move them up and down as he spun.

Beetles crawled and attacked, biting Ash constantly. Learning his lesson from before, he crossed his legs to stop the beetles from making it to his crotch. Now he looked like an insane gymnast spinning in a sea of bugs.

The Scarab Guardians didn’t have a high enough Intelligence to understand what Ash had done and continued to launch Swarm Surges at him as he spun.

Ash cast Grave Diggers a third time. His Mental Energy had dropped to thirty-nine percent, and he’d been forced to move three times as the blood dripping from all his wounds made the stone dangerously slick for spinning on.

Thanks to Ash’s Root chakra, though, and the shallowness of the bites, his Health bar had only dropped to ninety percent. He used Solar Plexus energy to remove his dizziness from spinning so fast for almost a full minute.

With nothing better to do, Ash watched the beetles that bit him slowly die from necrotic damage. It appeared every time they ripped off a piece of flesh, his blood would act like an attack, causing a point of stacking damage. At level one, they didn’t have many hit points.

The only time Ash worried this might all fail spectacularly was when a beetle reached his eyes. He’d suffered half his bottom lip being torn away, and both his ears had been shredded multiple times as his Awakened Root chakra healed these small injuries in seconds.

The pain was unpleasant but bearable. Ash’s Bamboo Viper Step training had provided many painful lessons, and he’d learned to block it out. A broken bone was no excuse to stop fighting.

With five seconds left on the third cast of Grave Diggers, Ash leaned forward and pushed himself off the floor. He flipped through the air and landed gracefully on his bare feet.

The three Scarab Guardians now consisted of a small pile of beetles all glowing green with stacked necrotic damage.

Ash leaped toward the mound and smashed his pack into the pile. A satisfying crunch finished the last of the beetles, and a moment later, a surge of experience entered his body through his bloody feet.

It was far less than Ash had expected for such a fight. He’d gotten a stronger surge from killing the eel earlier.

A whispered murmur reached Ash, his heightened senses coupled with the dome’s acoustics making the words easy to understand. The voice sounded scared.

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

Ash turned, and the voice stopped.

Nineteen people stood in and around the tunnel exit.

From their expressions, Ash knew they’d seen at least part of the fight.