The guards bid farewell to the mining crew at the entrance of the cave. Their heavy armor restricted them from following in too deep. Furthermore, they would be dead weight given their lack of experience in spelunking. It had been decided for them to stand watch at the entrance of the cave and every other known entrance into the labyrinth. The idea was to prevent monsters from making in their way into the labyrinth and adding to the existing number of obstacles the crew had to deal with. Weed wondered if such a plan would work, it would be more effective in his opinion to take the soldiers with them however Sarkaan played leader. Weed had no voice in the matter.
“Now before we begin, I just wanted to explain everyone the hand signs to everyone.” Sarkaan said. “Speaking loudly is strictly forbidden and once I start using my hands to communicate, it means no talking whatsoever.”
“…”
“Now, an open palm up in the air is halt. Closed fist, is a sign for huddling close. ……” Sarkaan spent a few minutes lecturing Weed about the signs before setting in any deeper. “I have only one motto at work: heroism best kept in the closet, we work in a team and thus live as a team.”
-x-x-x—x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
*Drip* *Drip* *Drip*
Water plopped to the ground from the stalactites in the dank earthy mine. The crew ventured cautiously in the dark tunnel. The darkness grew blotting out everything but the inky golden glow of the lamps. Weed’s pearly luminosity became more defined as the darkness developed. Weed was wearing full sleeves and wrapped up like a gift in his cloak. Yet, his skins glow managed to find its way to escape out into the open. The crew let out astonished exclamations as Weed grew brighter by the minute.
“Just who is he?” muttered the dwarves amongst themselves. Feelings of distrust and fear started to emerge as the dwarves realized that they knew nothing of his background. Dwarves were passionate creatures, there existed unspoken bonds of trust and loyalty amongst their kind. Elves on the other hand, were wise and rationale. Unless they promised you something, you could never really trust their words. Even after getting them to promise, you would have to tread cautiously as elves were known for habitually playing around with words. What might appear to be a promise of help would often be a conditional promise for help if the circumstances favored the elves. Too many times did the dwarves depend on the elves and too many times were their trust betrayed. It was bound to happen that this would culminate towards hostile feelings.
“Is it really okay to trust him Sarkaan? I mean we can just take the map and read it just fine.” Tinaquarrier asked as he suspiciously looked at Weed.
Weed could very well hear Tinaquarrier and was in a good mood to turn around and smack him.
“Hey Weed, can’t you turn it down a little? You’re like a flaming torch calling monsters for an all-you-can-eat buffet. You got Tinaquarrier here in jitters. He just can’t handle those bugs and worms.” said Sarkaan while trying to lighten the atmosphere. Sarkaan’s words worked, Tinaquarrier decided to shut up and not complain anymore.
Weed realized the truth in their words and remarked, “My apologies but I can’t… I’ve tried.” He also realized that losing his cool here would not get him anywhere, he just had to focus on beating one quest at a time.
Disconcerted, the crew chose to remain more vigilant as they progressed deeper into the mines when suddenly the path forked in two directions. The crew uncertainly grappled with whether to proceed left or right. Their choice could very well lead to their demise. As per the map, both paths would lead towards the last known position of the black diamond. However, the map gave no indication which path was riskier. After a bit of scouting Masin quickly came back to report; there was no visible danger on either side. Based on that, Sarkaan decided to proceed right and the crew followed him cautiously. In the darkness, the crew’s movement slowed terribly. The temperatures dropped as mist filled the cave. Now even with lanterns and a glowing elf it became harder to see ahead. The crew stumbled as they followed the path and came upon another forked road. This time there were four directions they could progress: go straight, left, right or through a smaller side tunnel.
Once again Masin was requested to scout the passages before a decision could be made. Weed sighed at the slow progress. This would take forever.
“Why don’t we split and scout” Weed casually suggested.
All the dwarves looked at Weed in horror.
“We never split, elf.” Sarkaan replied.
“But this will take forever!” Weed complained. “We just walked about hundred meters we are no more than a mile into the labyrinth and it’s been over 3 hours. We are crawling not walking.”
“Remember the rules, elf?” Sarkaan asked with a strong tone. He didn’t like his authority being undermined. “Listen to the senior and ambitions to be kept at home. I have done over 300 mining expeditions in my life and am ranked as a veteran foresman.”
“…”
“Someone with less than 5% chance of losing a crew member during an expedition.” Tasha added with a sigh.
“Sometimes the slowest way is the surest ways in life elf. Patience is virtue you must possess as a miner.” Sarkaan added.
After a few hours Masin, returned. “All clear.”
“Let’s try going right again,” Sarkaan said to the crew.
“Aye.” the crew replied in unision.
The mist grew thicker and the temperature dropped even lower as they descended. Sarkaan raised his hand, motioning the group to stop. Tasha armed himself with a short sword. Masin moved to the end of the group; ready to run back. Weed strained his ears to hear but could hear nothing. Even with eavesdropping he could not hear anything. He was absolutely sure Sarkaan was pointlessly stopping for no reason. Stupid NPC.
“Ok lets go.” Sarkaan said.
After another hundred meters or so they stopped again. Then continued and stopped again. Weed could only lament in regret for taking up the offer. And so they continued through the mine in this fashion until Masin shouted out, “I smell it!”
“I smell the black diamond!” He said excitedly.
Weed frowned, according to the map they were still very far away from the last known position of the diamond.
‘Sniff. Sniff. Sniff.’ Masin was on all fours as he sniffed the floor of the cave carefully. Weed could not help but think that Masin was some sort of dwarf dog. Masin slowly lead the way while Weed marked their position on the map.
“We are getting closer.” Masin said as he sniffed the ground carefully. Masin suddenly stopped. “Me think’s me nose is gone bad.” Masin said as he stood up and blew his nose.
“Whats the matter?” Sarkaan asked.
“Me smell the diamond moving towards us?”
“…Must be your nose….” Tasha said. Weed could not help but think there was something suspicious about what Tasha said, almost like he was lying. His trembling voice was a dead give away. As they continued, Masin started to hiss. Weed noticed this and grew tense; were his apprehensions coming true?
‘Though why is he hissing? Is he some animal?’
“What’s wrong Masin?” he asked when suddenly Sarkaan turned around and shouted, “RUN!”
Before the crew had any chance of reacting, the cavern floor trembled as a roar reverberated through the tunnel. The crew cursed as the floor started shaking.
“Holy Mother ****! WTF IS THAT Screech!!!” Weed asked with his hands against his ears. The loudness and echo, left a ringing sensation in his head, much like the time Snappy used Lion’s roar on him.
“The floor is giving way!!” Yaluk screamed.
“Everyone grab onto to the ropes! Don’t let go no matter what. Stick together!” Sarlaan screamed as they slowly made their way back through the passage. Moving while the ground shook was considerably difficult. Add to that they had to dodge falling rocks from the ceiling and skip over the floor that gave away. All this when covered in mist. The mining crew’s woes did not end there, as the ceiling gave way, some sticky substance started oozing out down. Yaluk sadly accidently stepped on it and could not move. He had to remove his boot and make a run for it. As they made their way back parts of the cavern floor behind them began to crumble and dropped into the newly created abyss.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Weed who was now at the end of the crew was terrified. The crumbling ground was catching up to him. If he didn’t pick up pace he would be the next one to fall in. None of the passive skills Weed had could help him in this pickle. Tasha was cursing as he noticed the elf fall behind; the elf was a complete novice at spelunking. He went back and picked up Weed and ran back.
“What the hell are you doing? ‘ave you never ran for your life before?” Tasha asked Weed who was plopping up and down on his shoulder.
“But the sticky stuff…”
Tasha dropped Weed off his shoulder and tailed behind Masin. “A little tar won’t ever kill you.” He shouted back.
Weed got up and ran with everything he had. He decided to ignore the falling rocks, the cracks on the ground and the gooey tar. Run Forest Run. That was all Weed thought about, a classic movie he saw at school. With his fairly high running speed and high AGI Weed soon caught up with Tasha.
“What the..” Tasha could only say just that as Weed crossed him. Just a moment ago was Weed struggling to maintain pace and now he was running past him like it was no big deal.
Tasha wasn’t the only one surprised within a matter of seconds Weed was by Sarkaan’s side. All the other dwarves couldn’t believe that elves could move so quickly. It was known that elves were swift as the wind, but only in their natural open surrounding. To be running in a cave which was collapsing was another story altogether. Only experienced dwarves could move as quickly as Sarkaan. But even Sarkaan seemed to find it difficult to maintain the pace. It was a matter of time, before Weed was leading the crew, however that did not last too long as they made it back to safe ground. All the crew members quickly climbed up on to a ledge as the cave behind them collapsed. Now only rocks and boulders rubble lay behind them.
“That was close!” said Yaluk as he put on a new boot.
“I think we left it behind.” Sarkaan said. He spoke too soon.
*Click* *Click* *Click*
“Left what behind?” Weed asked apprehensively as the clicking sound grew louder.
The dwarves began shouting and cursing instantaneously as they heard the clicking sound.
“Be ready.” Sarkaan shouted as the all huddled next to each other with their backs facing each other.
Wondering where the the sound was coming from, they all looked towards the source and stopped talking. Only the clicking sound and water dropping could be heard now. The earth trembled a little and stopped. So did the clicking sound. Weed could hear only his hard breathing. With temperatures so low, he could even see his own breath condensing in front of him. The mist here was lighter but it was still extremely dark. The flamed torches flickered and crackled as everyone stood still.
*BOOM*
The earth in front of them erupted into the air as a massive monster black monster crawled out during the commotion. It had a long black armored body and four massive pincer arms. As it crawled up the ceiling, Weed got a better view of it; it was a giant black scorpion. It was several meters long and double Weed’s height or four times Sarkaans height or eight times Masins.
“Black Arachnid Scorpio!” Sarkaan shouted, as he raised his shield up in the air and aimed his spear.
Weed drew out the harbinger, he had no shield so positioned himself ready to dodge an attack from the ceiling. The scorpion let go of the ceiling and did a free fall where the crew huddled.
“What the…” Weed could say as they split. That was the most unusually fighting tactic he had ever seen in his gaming life. He always imagined the scorpion to be using it’s pincers to attack…not it’s entire body like a ring wrestler.
The dwarves were quick to react; they scattered in different directions. The scorpion flipped in mid air and landed on it’s eight legs. Acrobatic Scorpion? Weed wondered.
Dol’arc, Yaluk and Narre who had hammers equipped ran back at it. Narre leapt into the air and landed the first blow. Her ridiculous jump could only be attributed to her air affinity. She bounced straight off the monsters body. Yaluk and Dol’arc went at it next, however, the scorpion was quicker to react. It swung one of its four arms throwing the two dwarves over 30 feet away. It was an instant KO. The dwarves didn’t stand a chance facing it head on, they turned grey in color and dissolved into dust.
“YAAALLUUK!!” Screamed Narre as she jumped into the air and to deliver another blow.
“STOPPP!” Sarkaan screamed however he was too late. Narre was already flying through the air hurling her hammer at the monster. The scorpion noticed her and caught her with it’s pincers; her body was brutally snapped in two. Despite all the armor she wore, the scorpion’s pincers were like scissors cutting through paper. Narre instantly turned into grey ash and disappeared.
Weed hid behind a boulder with his sword drawn out. ‘There is no way I can fight that thing. WTF! It just took out three dwarves without taking any damage.
“Tasha?” Sarkan shouted.
“Here.”
“Masin?”
“Here.” Came a whimper.
“Weed?”
“…”
“Weed?”
“Here.” Came a soft voice.
“Lad speak up, the monster got no ears.”
“ HERE!” Weed screamed back.
The scorpion turned around in circles trying to find the source of the small vibrations it felt.
“Tinaquarrier?”
“Here.”
“Ok listen well, lads. There is absolutely no chance of us defeating that monster.” Sarkaan added coldly. “I repeated umpteen times that don’t play hero. But see what happens when you don’t listen?”
“…”
“May their souls rest in peace.”
‘and pieces.’
“Now stay still and put. Let’s see if we can lose it’s interest by making our presence disappear.”
“Whats the level of that monster?” Weed asked.
“At least E/500.” Tasha replied.
“…”
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Authors Note:
1. Will be edited soon.
2. Thank you so much Nithink for volunteering to co-author.
3. Thank you V4lkyr13 for doing a zing check on it.
4. Who ever suggested the waiting thing was an idiot, authors are pressed like readers to post more.
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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