Another dead end. Balrem shook his head and shuffled backwards, his large frame scraping against the cramped tunnel walls. No wonder the beastkin kid had forgotten the path. Checking the next route from the intersection, it was beginning to feel like just finding the thing, before he ran out of mana for the glowstone, was going to be a challenge. One way or another, he’d make it work. Not only was it too good an opportunity for him to upgrade his regular [guard] class, but Jenny had been put in charge, and he wasn’t about to hold her back.
Hearing a skittering behind him, he shot out a kick and felt a solid impact before a cracking rattle echoed within the claustrophobic space. A satisfied grin stretched across his face; he finally got the second rodent. Hopefully that meant he was close…
A few minutes and several wrong turns later, he saw the disk ahead of him. He took a deep breath and grabbed it. Time to see if their preparations were enough. Even as the first spurt of sand hit the tunnel, he was already half way to the next intersection. Deeply glad for the rope slackening behind him, he invested a little time at the intersection getting turned around to face the right way. The stream of sand reaching him as he awkwardly maneuvered, making his rapidly beating heart pound harder and faster. As he rushed down the passage, ignoring the burning abrasion on his elbows and knees as he tried to get ahead of the tide of sand, he felt a familiar rush coming over him. The leading edge kept just out of reach as he felt more and more sand building up behind and rushing past him. An unstoppable foe, surging adrenaline, real mounting danger, he was feeling the rush of battle like only an orc or half-orc could. His body pouring on energy and ignoring pain. He refused to lose.
As another intersection came into his small shaking orb of light as he pushed himself ever onward, sand was piling up against the rope he followed from another branch. The rope, his lifeline, showed the route he took, not the shortest path! He tried to push further, faster but adrenaline was already at full flow. His elbows and knees already ripped and slick with blood and sand. Suddenly the rope was pulled taut. He felt a jerk around his waist and swore before he was dragged forwards on his chest at a pace even faster than before. All he could do was keep his arms up to protect his head as he was dragged ever onwards by the rope prepared before. Awful grating filled the tunnel as his mail scraped against the hard ground, with the odd flash of a spark in the murk, slamming into the walls as he hit each intersection, until suddenly, light!
“Hey Balrem you good?” Jenny asked between pants as she let go of the rope.
Giving her a cocky grin he held up the disk, belatedly glad the sand hid the worst of the damage to his elbow, “Piece of cake.”
----------------------------------------
Lydia paused before the well; she wasn’t supposed to interfere, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a quick word with the recruit watching her back. It was veering into unprofessionalism, limiting Jenny's chances of getting a leadership skill, but she couldn’t afford to be distracted. Her last experience with overconfident recruits was too fresh in her mind. As she glanced back though, she was surprised to see Vidan leaning in beside him, whispering something that caused the colour to drain from the recruit’s face. She gave him a nod of thanks which caused the recruit to visibly shudder before climbing into the well.
Thankfully the water level was abnormally high, above the floor level even. Pouring mana into a lightstone she dove beneath the surface, pale lattices of something that seemed like bone loomed at the periphery of the light, casting ominous jagged shadows. She had no doubt some kind of unpleasant surprise was lurking in their tenebrous depths.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
As much as she wished to be cautious, with the spells she had prepared speed would serve her well here. Focusing on the invigorating feeling of water surrounding her, she silently cast [streaming locomotion]. A slippery sensation spilt across her skin and she instinctively began to undulate sending her body jetting through the water many times faster than she could normally swim.
She was through the lattice-lined tunnel and before the token on the ground almost before she could think. Not stopping she grabbed it and pushed up off the ground. Crashing down from above her a huge skeleton burst forth, fragments and powder from the lattice swirling in the water. The creature was barely slowed by submersion, a colossal fist rushing towards her, but she was much swifter. She slipped below the swing and past the creature, a quick burst of [crushing depths] in its direction her only attempt at damaging it as she jetted back towards the entrance. She didn’t need to kill anything, simply escape with the token.
Whether her fears of further enemies were unfounded, or she was just too fast she wasn’t sure, but with only a few scratches from the coral in her haste, she sprung forth from the well moments later.
----------------------------------------
Jenny was breathing heavily as she stowed her axe once more, quickly taking stock of her companions and pleased to see a lack of injuries despite the large skeleton reanimating in their midst. When they were fresh, and everyone was prepared, it wasn’t a real challenge; but the constant threat that it might suddenly appear on its feet again, was wearing them down in a way she hadn’t anticipated. Both Balrem and Lydia had completed their trials and Vidan appeared close to his goal, though that had been the case a few times before to his frustration. She could only hope he’d complete it before the reset.
Gerrard appeared sufficiently diligent despite his earlier overenthusiasm, but perhaps it was time to explore the fire trial before the hour long reset. Jeremy, for all his promise, was unlikely to make it far in the air trial that had pushed Trafin so hard, but the fire trial was a relative unknown. The beastkin had apparently commented on an explosion of some sort though…
Jenny shook her head to clear it, she was in charge, she needed to make a decision.
“Gerrard, Farad, any injuries?”
“No boss.”
“Nope, good to go. This spear is better than I expected.”
“I know it’s not your element Farad, but do you feel like checking out the fire trial as a pair? Don’t try and force a clear, just scout it out.”
To her surprise Gerrard seemed to turn a shade of puce, sputtering but failing to discernibly answer aside from a nod. Perhaps he was struggling to know how enthusiastic to seem about getting what he argued for earlier.
“Sure thing, looks like you’re getting your big chance after all.” Farad wrapped an arm around the stocky recruit and dragged him towards the flame-marked door.
Farad’s seriousness returned when in front of it, as much as he could be a goofball, he was serious when the job required it, and flung open the door sending motes of dust spiralling outwards. Just as he was about to step forward Gerrard slammed an arm on out to stop him.
“Wait!” Gerrard seemed to reach out and try to grasp some of the dust before pulling it close to his now white face as all eyes turned to him; rubbing the motes between his fingers. “This… It isn’t flour. It smells woody…”
Seeing the former baker trailing off Jenny prompted him, “What are you thinking?”
“Do you remember 3 years ago when that new bakery exploded? In a bakery you have to be careful with flames because of the flour in the air. This isn’t flour but it might be sawdust, I think this trial might be about avoiding fire.”
Jenny looked past the frightened former baker towards the spiral staircase where suddenly ominous dust drifted down, deeply thankful for the range of backgrounds of the guard recruits. “Are you telling me a flame might cause all that to explode?”
“Yes.”
“OK, everyone is going to back up to the corridor towards the saferoom and one lucky volunteer is going to huck a torch in, then we’ll see where we stand.”