CHAPTER 231

The reaction to Everlyn’s innocent hello was immediate. All conversation from the group in the tunnel ceased instantly. Even the low clink of armour and shifting of feet disappeared. Tom wasn’t sure if that last was because they had all frozen or some sort of Spell had been used to hide them. Given the total absence of sound he suspected the second.

There was silence for a minute.

“Hello,” Everlyn tried again.

“Who is it?” Selena’s voice called out, cautiously.

“Tom’s team.” Everlyn yelled back.

“Rodger, we’ll be right out.”

There was a shift, and suddenly he could hear them again. The Spell had been dispelled, but despite that they were noticeably quieter than they had been. Tom wasn’t surprised. That knee jerk reaction to become quieter was what everyone did. Himself included, whether it was a bird exploding into the air from the grass beside him or a type of rodent dashing across the path his response had always been to deepen his stealth.

The other team emerged, and Tom automatically counted them. He was relieved to see that they hadn’t lost anyone. Like they had done upstairs they grouped together in disciplined lines. Weapons not drawn but body’s alert and ready to grab them at a moment’s notice. He forced himself to look beyond the ready state at their equipment. He examined it carefully, knowing it was a skill he needed to get better at. These guys might be acquaintance and potential friends, but he knew eventually they would be interacting with armed sapients who weren’t.

Selena’s team had no noticeable scratches or dints in their armour. None of it was as pristine as it had been immediately after entering the trial, but there was no significant damage or missing bits that might have suggested they had been in a fight that pushed them.

They were also spotless, unlike his group that despite the continual use of Clean, not all the gunk from the fights had been stripped away. Their two groups assessed each other across the cave filled with bone piles and dead goblin bodies

“How are you so clean?” Toni blurted out.

Selena who had been scowling smiled at that question. “It’s a secret.”

“What? No, please tell me.”

“There’s a Repel Blood Clean available. That’s what’s doing the heavy lifting. It’s worth the purchase because, from level one, despite the name, it does more than just blood. Any bodily fluid on you is repelled. It bubbles and slides right off you.”

“Not just liquid. It does brain splatter as well,” her body guard volunteered.

Selena smirked. “Yes, it’s a good spell.”

“How did you find it?” Toni asked in excitement.

“Luck. Most of us only every used Clean in the tutorial. As you know, after five years, it’s not a bad spell. It does the job against everything.” She wrinkled her nose. “But, here in Existentia where it has been reverted to level one. Well, honestly it’s kind of lack lustre. But there was one guy who used the Repel in conjunction with Clean during the tutorial. He was a clean freak. He told us and we decided it was worth mandating for everyone in a squad. Now.” Her tone changed abruptly. “Why are you here?”

“By accident,” Everlyn answered. “We cleared a group on the surface and came down and we were surprised to find out you were already here.”

“That’s sort of what I figured.”

“We’re happy to go.” Everlyn looked uncertain to him, the way she bit her lip ever so slightly. He doubted anyone else could read it. Especially not from twenty metres away. “Or maybe…” she continued. “We could clear it together?”

“Why would we share? Stop.” Selena said hurriedly. Thrusting a hand up to forestall Everlyn’s response. “I didn’t mean it like that. What’s the benefit of combining? Won’t we just lower our experience?”

“That’s only relevant if you’re strong enough to clear it.”

Selena’s bodyguard stepped forward, looking angry. Tom thought it looked faked. Something else was happening here. “We’re more than capable of slaughtering pathetic goblins by ourselves.” The bodyguard spat with over the top anger.

“I didn’t suggest otherwise.” Everlyn said smoothly. “It’s just that this seems like it will be harder than the two lairs we cleared before this, and I reasoned you might appreciate some help.”

“Two?” Selena said.

“It’s not like we haven’t.” The bodyguard muttered.

“Yes. But the second one was a step up from the first,” Everlyn continued, ignoring the bodyguard. “And we had to use some tricks to kill the boss. This one is one or two-step ups again.”

Selena licked her lips and glanced nervously towards the largest tunnel, where the chief was almost certain to be. They might be unwilling to admit it, but her team was worried about the boss fight as well.

“There’s also Phil and the sprites to worry about.” Everlyn continued. “I’m concerned about what will happen to the zone once his quest completes.”

“You think it’s prudent to combine our forces to clear things faster?”

Everlyn nodded. “He has killed three generals. There is almost certainly a fourth and after that there might only be the leader. He could easily defeat those last two within an hour.”

“If we join,” Selena said carefully. “I assume you’ll be willing to clear all the breeder warrens.”

“Absolutely fucking no!”

“Yes!” Everlyn agreed. Sending an annoyed look at Toni.

“We should split them at least.” Toni protested. “We can do the first.”

“Done.” Selena agreed immediately. “I’m still not sure we will want to work with you longer term, as I don’t think your unstructured approach can mesh with our discipline. But for this lair, I’m willing to be allies.” She seemed pleased with herself.

“We’re stronger than what we were earlier.” Everlyn informed her. “A number of us have functioning chaos bolts.”

“Is that how you cheated to kill the second boss?”

“No.” Everlyn answered. “I used five fate, and that was it. We dropped the roof on him.”

Internally, Tom raised an eyebrow at that admission. He hadn’t realised that she had used fate. It must have been to stop the chief from escaping.

Selena arched an eyebrow at that comment. “You collapsed the ceiling?” Her eyes went to Tom and then to Keikain. “That’s clever.”

“We thought so.”

Selena clapped her hands and dropped her visor. “There’s no point standing here chatting when we’re on a timer. We should get going. There are three warrens, which means you’ve volunteered for two.”

Toni groaned.

“I know.” Everlyn answered.

“Then it makes sense to split it down the middle. You do those three tunnels.” Selena pointed. “We’ll do the others. See if you can beat us.”

Without any further discussion, her entire team pivoted neatly and disappeared down one cave on their side. Their coordination was impressive, and Tom suspected they had a skill similar to Everlyn’s party chat in use.

“We’re splitting up.” Everlyn said immediately turning to face them. “Tom, Toni, Harry and Michael in one team. The rest of us in the other. We’re doing the breeder warrens. Which ever team finishes first waits before we clear the final passage together.”

Tom and his assigned team quickly went down the indicated tunnel. The stink got worse and worse as they got closer. It was as bad as he imagined, pus, goo, mucus like membranes everywhere and lots of goblins. There was no need for his tanking skills and so Tom stood back and allowed the bulk of the kills to be taken by Toni’s air blades and his elemental. Michael was also active. He religiously used the Chaos Bolt spell whenever they saw the goblins massed against him. Usually, the bolt failed and barely even hurt its target, but on one memorable occasion the attack split into dozens of small blue dancing flames that looked similar to an ice wisp. They spread out through the room with a crackling sound.

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Then they exploded.

The heat from the blast had caused them all to stumble backwards, and the room looked like professional cleaners using blow torches had spent a few hours in there.

The goblin’s body and their waste had been vaporised.

“Dangerous.”

“Yep,” Michael chuckled. “One of the safety instructions is never to target anything closer than about six metres to you. I was wondering why.” He laughed. “I don’t need to wonder anymore.”

They finished the final room and retreated to the feast hall. Three minutes later the others turned up. Everyone’s face in Everlyn’s team was grim. They were also splattered with muck that a clean spell had failed to clear.

Without words, they jumped into the questionably clean pool of water in the corner and scrubbed the mess away. It was not about cleanliness; it was more that the smell that covered them would be a liability when sneaking down the next tunnel.

Less than two minutes later they headed down the last passage. It started the same as every other tunnel, but then its characteristics changed. The rock shifted from the dirty sandstone to a heavier, more solid black rock. The walls were still irregular and looked like they had been created by the same natural process as the rest of the system, but the stone itself was different and it also had more permanency to it.

Keikain and he exchanged concerned glances.

“Anyone recognise this?” Everlyn asked quietly. The natural look of the tunnel was being replaced with a more polished feel.

“It’s an Armoury.” Clare answered immediately. “It shouldn’t be as challenging as the boss’ room, but I would expect it to be far harder than any of other sections. There will be specialists, at the very least.”

Everlyn paused, clearly considering what to do. “Wait where you are.”

They waited in silence for almost ten minutes.

“I’ve got what I need.” Everlyn said over party chat, making them all jump. “I’ll be there in two.” She returned and quickly explained what they were facing. There was an empty central cave with six passages exiting from it. It was not at all symmetric with one exit being on the roof. Each of those tunnels had about thirty metres of rock along with multiple tight turns and led to a door guarded by between 4 and 8 specialists.

“Seems simple enough.” Michael summarised.

Everlyn grimaced. “The only question is if we engage in one tunnel will the specialists from the other five come and attack us from behind.”

“They won’t leave. They’re at assigned positions.” Clare said definitely. “What? You know I was stuck in the underground. One of the monster groups I fought for half a year was goblins. Armoury guards… they’re not being drawn away for anything. They’ll stay.”

“Are we going to find treasures?” Everlyn asked.

Clare shrugged. “The rooms will have stuff in it. Some of it will probably even be useful. But I doubt it’ll be better than the lair clear rewards. And given we’re doing this with another team…”

“The loot is irrelevant.” Everlyn concluded. “We’ll try to clear each tunnel individually. But I want to be careful. We’re going to go full stealth. Tom will pick one where he can selectively collapse the entrance. Safely of course. I’ve got no desire to be trapped. But if you can find somewhere where we can knock down part of the corridor to partially block it.” She gave him a hopeful smile and a thumbs up. “A partial rockfall that will give us a bottleneck to defend and maybe kill some attackers. That would be great.”

Tom nodded. “If it’s possible, I’ll find it.”

“Myself and Keikain will then stand guard on the exit. I’m there in case we need to delay any attackers. If the other squads come for us, Keikain will do his thing and then together we’ll hold them at the narrower section where their numbers won’t matter. If they don’t react?” She nodded at Clare. “We’ll clear the other tunnels with the same setup. I don’t want to risk being ambushed from behind.”

“Conservative.” Michael suggested. “In my experience, if they don’t come straight away, then they won’t come, for the later tunnel clears.”

“Probably,” Everlyn, agreed. “But no. We’re not making assumptions. Our job is dangerous enough. We shouldn’t compound that by taking chances.”

With the plan decided, they proceeded to the central room. It was pleasant travelling in wider and higher corridors with smooth footing. It was a relief not to have to concentrate on every step. What little sound they made Everlyn dampened. The moment he reached the focal cave Tom’s Earth Sense gave him in depth information about the structural stability of the entire room and the start of each of the tunnels. “That’s the best prospect.” He pointed. “Two metres in there’s a good place to collapse the tunnel. It’s almost custom built for what we want. We can bring the ceiling down without impacting wider structural stability. And that tunnel,” he thrust a finger at one closer to the roof. “Has a similar arrangement but at its entrance. That’s the ceiling that is half in the cave and half out. You trigger it and it will fall. You’ll kill attackers, scatter stones all over this floor and…” he squinted at the passage. “reduce the gap by about half.” Tom didn’t need to clarify further. These passages were wide and halving them still meant two goblins could pass the gap simultaneously. It was a bottleneck, but not a great one.

Keikain went over to check the first tunnel he had pointed out. After about a minute, he nodded in appreciation. “That skill you’ve got is incredible in these situations.”

Tom didn’t know how to respond to the praise. Part of him wanted to point out that it was self developed spell craft. The other more modest piece of him sought to disappear into nothing. That second part won out.

They got into battle formation and the team, minus Everlyn and Keikain proceeded the passage which now looked artificially engineered. The guards they faced consisted of two spear gobs, a sword gob, a shaman and a healer.

Tom did not bother issuing instructions. Everyone knew what to do. He charged in while throwing a stone at a healer. Lightning Enrage was lethal in these tight confines and forced all five of them to focus on him. Before he engaged them, his Thrown Rock smashed into his target and cracked its magical shield, which started to fall to bits. Then his elemental ducked through one of the created gaps and its electricity caressed the goblin healer. Its body convulsed, and it was unable to form the concentration to restore its shield.

A moment later, multiple air blades smacked down on the stunned creature and ripped it to shreds. The most dangerous of the enemy specialist died before the battle started properly. His elemental and Toni switched their focus to the shaman while he dealt with the other three physical fighters.

The first fifteen seconds were, as usual hectic. Then the sword gob was taken down by a group effort and after that it became incredibly easy to avoid the two spear gobs.

Harry killed one and when Tom turned to take out the last one, Michael struck it with a green bolt that caused a plant to grow straight out of its chest. It was clear the roots have said flower had destroyed the heart. Tom felt a surge of anger.

The shaman died under a blow from Thor.

Tom remembered only to well the chaos bolt that had melted stone, so he rounded angrily on Michael. “What happened to six metres!”

“It wasn’t a chaos bolt. It was a plant summons. Works similar but without the same downsides.”

“You have two variable magical attacks?” Thor asked in surprise.

“Chaos bolt is a bit restrictive. I’m hoping this fills the niche of a variable spell I can use in combat.” Michael looked critically at the dead goblin. “The power version of the spell didn’t trigger. I think it only got the kill because it was already injured. Here, let me share the spell.”

Tom checked the text quickly.

Spell: Wild Growth Bolt—Tier 2

This is a single target spell that when it strikes inserts a seed into the target and then causes it to grow.

Outcomes vary from a Tier 1 to 3 impact.

Cost: 25 mana per bolt.

“It has less variability than a Chaos Bolt.” Tom observed.

“Yes, but has the advantage. I’ll be able to use it more and can fire it without worrying about killing one of you by accident.”

With the battle completed they hurried back to see if Everlyn and Keikain needed reinforcement without checking what the goblins were guarding. While he was curious, he was worried that he would find something like a useable piece of chest armour or an upgrade to his spear. If they found a useful item and he wanted to keep it, then it would cause severe issues when they had to decide how to treat the lair.

With Selena’s team involved, Tom didn’t want the complications.

The other two were not in need of reinforcements. So, while maintaining operational silence they switched tunnels and deployed the same tactic. Tom tanked, and the others killed. The mix of specialists changed as they cleared each subsequent passage, but the difficulty was the same and there was no combination of skills that troubles them.

As Tom fought, he pondered on how strange it was to have a role where he would create an opening for another of the team to exploit.

With the armoury cleared, they hurried back to the feast hall to discover that Selena’s group was waiting for them.

“What took you so long?”

Everlyn rolled her eyes. “It was an armoury with over thirty specialist units.”

Selena winced at that description. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have… that sounded hard.”

She waved the apology aside. “It wasn’t we just needed to take it careful and not rush.”

“Nevertheless Sorry. I’m tense. I think it’s because Phil got another general.”

“Yes, we saw that.” Everlyn said grimly. “Do you mind if I scout? I know you guys use some sort of far sight but if I can get eyes on the boss, my class skills pretty much give me a map of how to beat it.”

“Definitely check it out. The room is only a hundred metres away.”

Tom was surprised by that admission. He hadn’t realised the enemies were so close. Thankfully, the goblins were slaves to their instincts and the scenario construction. If they were real goblins in the wild, with the sort of noise clearing the feast hall must have created, then they would have investigated the disturbance in force.

Everlyn disappeared down the tunnel.

“Do you think the next fight is going to be hard?” Tom asked Selena.

The leader of the soldiers nodded, but did not look interested in having a conversation.

Everlyn returned. She did not look happy and walked straight over to Selena. The body guard moved forward half a step but both Everlyn and Selena ignored her.

“Do you know what we’re facing?”

Selena nodded.

“Did you know before we argued to join?”

“Of course.”

Everlyn snorted. “If we had tried to leave you would have attempted to convince us to stay. Wouldn’t you?”

Selena licked her lips. “You know the answer.”

“Your whole pretense around sharing the experience. That was about the warrens wasn’t it.”

A genuine smile split Selena’s face, which was confirmation enough.

“Wait. The enemy, what are we facing?” Michael demanded.

“It’s a war lord.” Selena answered quietly. “That has to be the goblin’s equivalent to the sprite generals.”