Chapter 211

Everlyn let them through a very narrow and twisty tunnel with numerous steep sections. It was so bad that in spots the floor was almost vertical. It was obvious why she had seen this as an excellent campsite. Very few monsters would travel along its confines especially when at one point he had to climb over two metres straight up. That would be a difficult barrier for a lot of the monsters that travelled through the circular bio. A couple of people on top of that natural barrier could hold off something with the physical capabilities of the decay antelopes, and Tom knew how effectively they could jump.

While they travelled, Tom planned how he would defend the place against different monster types. Larger monsters didn’t need to be considered, as they wouldn’t fit. The issue would therefore be smaller swarm like creatures. If they were ground based, then they would use the advantage of height to hold them. Everything else, he would retreat to one of the narrow pathways and stop them there.

“We’re here.” Everlyn announced. She had stopped and the tunnel they were in constricted further ahead of them. It looked a lot like a wombat den. “You can wriggle through.”

She got onto her belly, and commando crawled through the tight space. Tom followed and emerged into a cave that had a floor area larger than most family homes, even those that would be considered to be mansions. It was ten times the size of what they needed. He glanced at the hole he had just pushed himself through.

If any enemy came, then this is where they would be defending. Three of them could fit around the entrance, and it felt like they could defend against an army.

“Nice choice,” Rahmat said with a whistle. He, too, was admiring the gap they had squeezed through.

Everlyn was beaming.

Tom studied the area in more detail. A stream ran through the middle. It entered from a waterfall that emerged three metres up the wall, right near the roof. A thick fountain of water that two cupped hands could stop momentarily, but then, of course your hands would fill up almost immediately. It splashed down into a small pool and then a metre wide stream snaked across the room before gathering in the far corner. He couldn’t see it from this angle, but there had to have been a similar exit to the entry point that acted to drain that secondary pond.

The floor was mostly rock, though there were patches of dirt. The lighting here was too low to support life, let alone the abundance in the canyon. There was nothing growing, not even one of the hardier versions of lichen that seemed to be able to flourish anywhere. The place leant weight to Everlyn’s theory that they were in a dead zone.

The only other notable feature was another exit on the far wall. Tom immediately pointed at it.

Everlyn shrugged in response. “We might want to block that one.”

Tom went over to check it out. The linking tunnel between the two rooms was short, barely a metre long, and after a single step a second cave was revealed. It was similar in size to the previous one, but instead of being roughly round it was oblong. The far wall was almost sixty metres away. But unlike where he had come from there was no roof a convenient three metres above them.

Tom looked up curiously.

Light crystals, weak ones, were embedded regularly in the walls as they soared above him. It made it both easier to see and harder because lots of areas were obscured by the glare of the lights below them. The roof was almost eighty metres above his head. The room was significantly higher than it was long.

Tom frowned.

The whole perfect resting spot grading he had assigned went out the window. This much space in the underground was problematic. It only took a single crevice leading to a lair and they would be exposed. If those monsters sniffed them or heard them, they could gather unseen in the heights of this room and then attack en masse. The high ceilings were a massive liability. He was now carefully examining the place searching for any hints of movement. While the visible wall was smooth, Tom did not know whether that same arrangement would hold further up and a single entrance was all that would be required to cause problems.

He retreated into the main cave. “We worried about that?” He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.

Everlyn shrugged. “Not really. It hasn’t been disturbed for almost three months. I examined it and I couldn’t see any off shoots. Can’t be certain, but I think it’s a mostly closed system.”

“Mostly?”

“Well, there’s airflow, so it’s not fully shut. My guess is that it’s just cracks. Don’t look like that Tom. There aren’t any significant drafts, so it doesn’t link to another cave system. I can guarantee that.”

“How are you so certain?”

She pointed the way they had come. “Over there is hot and humid air. If this place is linked to another bio system, there would be a wind. The fact there isn’t. It means we’re safe.”

“It means it doesn’t link to a separate part of the underground. The lack of breeze doesn’t rule out a lair or multiple lairs.”

“It doesn’t.” She agreed.

“Does that mean you want Keikain and I to block the entrance?” Tom asked.

Again Everlyn looked anything but concerned. “We probably should. But we’ll wait for Jingyi. He can scout the other cave accurately and confirm if there is actually a problem. Come on, Tom, show some faith. He’ll be here within ten minutes and be able to determine our true exposure far more accurately. You can sit in there and watch for threats in the meantime if you want.”

“If you’re confident, it’s safe…”

“I am. As I said, nothing has disturbed this area for months.”

The rest of the party accepted Everlyn’s views and immediately unpacked for the night. Rahmat wandered over to the other room to clearly keep watch, which made Tom smile. With a shrug, he setup his bedroll to prepare for sleep. He was feeling exhausted.

Jingyi returned to them and after warning everyone that he was coming he pulled himself through the narrow entrance to the cave. Thor who was on guard duty mimed whacking him on his head with his club. The scout ignored it and agilely leapt to his feet before pausing to examine the room carefully. He caught Everlyn’s eye. “Through there?” he asked and pointed at the second exit.

She nodded. “If you can confirm there’s no threats that would be helpful.”

“Easy.” Jingyi did not go to check the cave. Instead, he settled down near the entrance Thor was guarding. “Give me five.” The change that went over the scout was immediate. It was like stepping into the system room but nowhere near as extreme. Still, it was obvious that the scout’s consciousness was no longer in his body. He was clearly sharing the senses of his spirit bird and was probably even now exploring the mysterious room beyond their current one in more detail.

Keikain brought food over to him.

Tom raised an eyebrow at the offering. “Bread?”

“I didn’t buy it.” Keikain said flatly. “But it’s here, so I might as well use it.”

Tom took the offered sandwich dubiously and flipped it open. It was a thick slab of meat between two pieces of bread. No salad, no butter or sauces, but a small amount of steam rose from the meat. The smell was also intoxicating, a cross between pork and beef. “Very rustic. Meat between two slabs of bread.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Bah. The meat’s fatty enough as it is. It doesn’t need condiments and I’m not going to waste money buying butter.”

“Good call.” Tom agreed and bit down on the meal not expecting to enjoy what felt like cheap rations.

The moment he bit into the large meat roll, he froze. The taste of bread woke something in him that he hadn’t even realised had gone dormant. The instant it touched his tongue he could almost feel the carbs getting into his bloodstream. There was an anticipation in his body that elevated the taste of the food.

It was incredible.

He had totally forgotten how much he had loved bread. “This is great.”

Keikain smiled at the compliment. “The bread or the meat.”

“Both… but…”

“Mainly the bread.”

“I haven’t had it for forty years. It’s…” Tom was well aware of the tear running down his face. So many memories of his childhood that he thought were forgotten were crowding in.

“Well, I’m glad it meets your standards and now courtesy of your reaction I need to go cook for everyone before they riot.”

“I promise not to riot if I get the next one.” Michael quipped instantly.

“No, I’m already in line.”

“I call dibs, Michael’s not the type to riot.” Thor said. “Me, on the other hand.” He took a body building pose that would have shown his huge muscles. It was kind of ruined by the fact that he was dressed in full armour.

There were a couple of chuckles, anyway.

Everyone was eyeing his meal enviously. Tom took another bite, revelling in the taste. He was hungry, but he slowed down to make sure that he savoured every mouthful. He forced himself to chew things properly and watched Jingyi to distract himself.

He might have been focused elsewhere, but unlike with the system room emotions came through. He saw the raised eyebrows, then the biting of the lower lip. The level of concern on his face grew.

Tom stood abruptly in response. His battle instincts flaring. That look signified danger.

There was no threat that was immediately apparent, so with one hand on his spear he kept eating. He was ready to toss dinner and explode into battle at a moment’s notice. Subtly, he began to stretch his legs.

He might have been the first to stand, but everyone else followed. They, too, were on their feet with weapons out and ready. Even Keikain responded by shifting the grill away from the fire and then hurrying over to the entrance to the next room. Then the earth mage dropped to his knees and put both hands and his forehead onto the ground like he was prostrating in front of a king. He was clearly trying to prepare the hard and yielding underground rock to be receptive to his magic. Tom, having watched the process, knew he wasn’t going to be successful. If a threat was on the way, the earth mage had begun to late to meet it.

Jingyi’s eyes snapped open.

“What?” Everlyn demanded immediately. She had her bow out at three quarters draw and was prepared to respond to anything.

“A problem.” The scout looked around at their readiness. “Nothing urgent. No one needs to be battle ready.”

Tom sat down once more and Everlyn released the tension on her bow. All the others, excluding Thor, shuffled their weapons into less aggressive postures.

“The cave is not a dead zone or abandoned like we thought. There are multiple crevices near the ceiling. Filled with eggs.”

“We should leave.” Clare said immediately.

“Viable?” Everlyn asked, ignoring the leave suggestion.

“Presumably.” Jingyi answered after a moment. “It’s not just one batch of them. There’s evidence the crevices have been used for years, potentially decades.”

The look on Everlyn’s face changed suddenly. She was no longer quite as relaxed as when they first entered the cave. “You’re telling us that this is a hatching ground.”

Jingyi nodded.

“I missed it.” The bow vanished from her fingers and she slapped her thigh in frustration. “All the caves are the same. Could you tell if all the eggs are set to hatch at the same time?”

This time, the scout shook his head.

“They will,” Everlyn stated confidently. “This cave was last disturbed three months ago. The other ones had different timings. What ever the creature is they have multiple clutches going at once.”

“Probably,” Jingyi agreed.

“What’s the monster type?”

The scout shrugged. “There are a couple of bodies up there. All juveniles and from past clutches, so they were decomposed significantly.”

“What are they?” Everlyn demanded.

“Some form of draconic lizard.”

“The adults are small,” Tom concluded for all of them. “Have to be tiny to get through to here? Do they have wings?”

“Of course.” Jingyi answered. “How else would they fly up to lay their eggs.”

“Big wings like creatures that are mostly aerial or smaller wings like gliders have.”

“The second.”

“Thanks,” Tom said with a grateful nod. Having a better idea of what they were facing was always prudent. The smaller wing span meant the lizards could be as large as a small crocodile but if they of possessed the larger wings, then the threat would have been reduced to a small dog size.

“Do you have an estimate of size?” Everlyn asked clearly understanding why he had been asking those questions.

Jingyi spread his hands like he was holding a basketball. “This thick but long.” He stretched his arms out to their full length.

“Really two metres long?” she sounded sceptical.

The other scout shrugged. “That’s my best guess. They might end up being half that size, but I doubt it. At the very least, there were crevices that would have been perfect but they didn’t enter, so I’m confident on width… as for length…” He shrugged. “That was based on scaling up the young.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Everlyn said, sounding annoyed at the conversation. “Size doesn’t equate to power. From the other presumed hatching grounds I explored, I’m guessing the eggs have a six-month incubation.”

“How confident of that are you?” Jingyi asked.

“Not particularly. I only have data from like eight caves, but it’s irrelevant.” Everlyn said after a moment’s thought. “Even if the young hatch while we are here, they’ll be easy to kill.”

“No one is worried about the babies.” Tom agreed with a laugh. “The question is whether the parents are roaming bosses’ packs or critters.”

“Worst case is that they are a boss monster.” Everlyn mused thoughtfully. “So that’s what we assume. Even then, we’re only at risk under some pretty specific circumstances. That pack has to be passing this area in the eight hours that we’re here. How long did you say the circular was Tom?”

“Twenty days or so.”

“That means there is only a five percent per day of them…” She hesitated and flicked her thumb toward the outside. “Actually, being present. To be conservative, we’ll round that up to two percent. But even if they pass outside, they still might not investigate this. There were a number of caves that had been untouched for more than three months, so I don’t believe they tend their eggs in between laying and them hatching. Basically we’re safe and even if the parents come, we should be able to hold the entranceway.”

“There are a lot of ifs in there.” Michael observed.

“The key one being we’re only at risk if they pass by us in the next eight hours. Then it’s only a problem if they are boss monster and they investigate this cave where the evidence suggests they lay their eggs and then forget about them.”

Michael raised his hands. “If your judgement says it’s safe, then I’ll accept that.”

“It is.” She said simply. “But we’re going to assume that the draconic lizards notice us and the whole pack investigates. Keikain I want you to create something to help block the entrance. Tom no triggering dreams today, instead you need to have a lesser elemental but not a lightning type summoned at all times. I want diversity, to maximise our chance of exploiting their vulnerabilities. Thor, buy some shields we can use to block that entrance. Jingyi get your bird positioned to provide as much warning as possible. Harry.”

“Yes, I’ll put down the appropriate rituals.”

“Do you have anything to suppress flight?”

Harry shook his head at Everlyn’s question. “No, of course not. But I’ll prime a fire blast ritual in the entrance. They might be immune but…”

“Great,” Everlyn said. “Did you hear that? Tom. No fire or lightning elementals. Choose something else. We also sleep in battle order.”

“And if the babies behind us wake up?” Jingyi asked.

“We’ll block that entrance and deal with it if it happens. But our focus is outside, as that is the only direction a genuine threat will come from. Everyone move, Clare take, over the cooking. Tom, do your summons in the head off to sleep.”

Tom did not argue. He didn’t want to spend half an hour after summoning the elemental so he limited himself only to his personal pool.

Before doing anything, he prepared a contract and initiated his spell, relying on his title Friend of Elementals to push his spell up a tier. Then he punched through with all he had, but didn’t let his consciousness cross the boundary. His probe was instantly mobbed by three different lesser elementals. Tom had no desire to check personality type. With how he was planning on using the elemental, the bias’s of the creature was irrelevant. He would take the one that offered the longest contract. At the speed of thought, various bids were submitted, revised and increased and after a few moments of frenzy betting a number of ninety-seven minutes was locked in.

Tom sighed and there was a crackle of energy as the elemental appeared before him.

It hung uninterested, waiting for instructions. With previous elementals, he had sought to build a relationship, but he felt no desire to do so with a water version. Earth and lightning were worth cultivating for the future, but he didn’t need a water elemental friend. It was not a type he planned on using regularly.

Because of both its attitude and his own bias’s Tom did not communicate. Instead, he grabbed the broken prison from his inventory. The orders he sent were simple. Rest in here, do nothing. If we are attacked, I will instruct you how to fight back.

With a sigh, he laid down and with a thought was asleep. His skills woke him up ninety-three minutes later, and he summoned a replacement elemental using the same process as previously. It appeared got told what he wanted and then he flopped back onto his sleeping mat and was instantly asleep.

His internal alarm clock triggered again, and he was wide awake. He repeated his previous actions. A fresh elemental popped into existence with an agreement to stay for a hundred and four minutes.

He fell asleep again.

“There coming, get ready to fight.” Jingyi yelled.

Tom woke up with a curse. His weapon appeared in his hands and he leapt up prepared instantly to fight. He prayed it was only against the babies.