Their group moved though the tunnels, path lit by crystal-powered lanterns. There were no lights embedded in the tunnels this far down. Reid had almost gotten used to the constantly-on illumination, and being farther in, with the prospective of true darkness was unsettling in ways he didn't expect.
As they walked, Reid expanded his cube-map to show their path. Win - unaware of Reid's ability - had tablets she was scraping and etching into with a fingernail every time they came upon forks or bends. Reid liked his mapmaking better.
He pulled a train of five crystal carts behind himself, and Lycra rode in one. His toe was technically healed now, but Reid didn't want him walking on it. Lycra was slowly zipping and unzipping the smallest pocket on his backpack, which was loaded with rations and supplies.
Others had wanted to come with them - including a very eager Jim. But they'd managed to keep the others at camp, and Win was certain they weren't followed. Stopping to check for tails also had the benefit of giving them time to mine more crystal for the lanterns - Reid definitely didn't want to be here in the pitch dark.
There were more untouched deposits down here, and filling every cart they'd taken with them wouldn't be too difficult. Once they finished with their conversations, they'd mine on the way back, and have a nice three or four day round trip in the books. Getting to where they were now had taken about 14 hours, if Reid was counting correctly. The overhead lights had disappeared after the first six. That was the first sign they were in dangerous territory, but Win told them to press on anyway. She had the most experience down here - and she knew where she was going.
Win stopped when they came upon a new area. The tunnel walls stretched out to one side, so far the lantern couldn't reach the edges. She twisted a knob, and the light focused itself into a small, powerful beam that swept in and over the area.
The cavern it lit up was nearly half the size of the main camp. Its floor and lower walls were covered in the seashell-looking patterns where mole claws had dug down and out. The floor of the space was uneven, and flecks of reflective material glittered as the beam swept over the area. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all full of crystal.
"Damn." Reid mused. "We won't even need pickaxes for most of these."
He didn't know how right he was.
#
"So, why here?"
Win dusted off the top of a rock jutting out of the ground, and took a seat.
"This used to be a staging site, a long way back. We had more of the tunnels to ourselves, then. Fewer moles. There are some benches and tables somewhere in here, carved out of rock. Beds, too. It was the gateway to the deep tunnels. We were so giddy, we didn't even take everything out of the walls. Saved it like a rainy day fund. But noise and heavy machinery - the vibration, I think - attracts the moles. When they did attack, the moles came in a group, and they came quick. It gets dark from there. Suffice it to say no one comes here anymore."
"And we're here because...?"
"Well, first off, you're the one that said you wanted to talk this time. Why don't we start there?"
Reid took a seat, and produced the vial from his pocket.
"How did you know how to make these, what's in them, and were you always going to give them to me?"
"I'm something of an apothecary, you wouldn't know the names of the ingredients if I told you, and yes. But it is what I said it is. It'll make you look more like what you're pretending to be. Your skin will change in hue, and it'll make a few other minor changes that should fool a casual observer."
Reid took in a breath, twisted open the vial, threw one of the pills into his mouth, and swallowed. He was here to build trust. The pink ball tasted like fake strawberry flavoring.
"Why did you make these for me?"
Win shook her head. "Nope, my turn. Question for question. Answer as vague as you want, but answer. When you get out of here, will you still be running from whatever's got you hiding?"
Reid considered it. "Until I get strong enough to face it, yeah."
She nodded. "So you plan to fight. Good." Her eyes were strong and determined - but Reid sensed some hesitation.
"You know the most about this place, and you've been here a long time. I see how much crystal you earn. Why are you still here?"
Win's eyes went to the top of the cavern. "There isn't really an out, for me. At this point, I think DenDura owes me money instead of the other way around."
Reid's confusion was visible. "You mean DenWu?"
Win's eyes flashed. "Right, right. The nephew took over. Sorry. My turn. Do you think you can take on more of those beasts - the moles? Could you wipe them out of an area if you had a talented medic" She pointed to herself "-to help nurse you back healthy when you got hurt?"
"Absolutely."
Win pulled an older plate from her pack, and handed it to Reid. "The moles have a nest, and I think it's down this path. This is where we sent a team of scouts, right before the moles destroyed this base camp. I expect there will be plenty more of the things down there. Enough for you to earn your way out of here. And you're the only one I think I trust to take it on."
"I thought there was a rule on sharing information?"
Her head titled, and teeth flashed. "Who do you think made those rules?"
Lycra had been out of his mine cart for a while, walking in circles to get the stiffness out of his legs. He went to sit on what looked like a rock protrusion, and fell backwards when it gave way under his weight. The smell that came out of the mound was awful in ways it was hard to describe – like the time he’d had to clean out his grandmother’s broken garbage disposal. Reid’s nose and eyes burned, but he forced himself forward to offer a gagging Lycra help out of what was now very obviously a dung pile.
As Lycra came free, Reid heard the scraping rattle of crystal.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Size mattered. Most of the crystals they got out of the walls were, at most, the size of Reid's forearm. The smaller ones were worth about five times less than the normal sized ones, and in the rare cases where Reid and Lycra had found something larger than his forearm, that individual crystal had been worth much more than the others.
So when dung fell away to reveal multiple crystalline pieces, each larger than Reid's bicep, he gasped. Win stood next to him and Lycra, eyes fixed on the wealth sitting in excrement.
“Win. Do moles eat crystals?”
“Unintentionally maybe, but they can’t process them, so -“ Her voice faded, and she snatched her lantern to sweep it over the cavern floor. Every few dozen or hundred feet, clumps of dung mounds interrupted the landscape. “Holy shit.”
Reid's eyes lit up at the potential windfall they faced. It reminded him of old videos he'd watched of workers pumping out septic tanks. He did a deep inhale through his nose, then coughed and gagged. The inhale was a terrible idea. He still got the line out.
“Smells like money.”
Lycra gave him an incredulous look. "Why did you do that?"
Reid was still having trouble suppressing a gag. "Plumbers, people that dealt with waste back on… my planet said that like a catchphrase.”
Lycra's look didn't falter. "No. Why did you sniff?"
#
It was dirty and disgusting work, but these were easy credits. Easier, even, than killing another mole. They didn't stop digging through the filth until the carts were just about overflowing with massive crystal gems. Lycra initially offered to do the digging for all three of them as he was already covered in dung, but neither Reid nor Win entertained that idea.
"I need about seven showers." Win said, eyes on her hands. "But I can keep the clinic stocked for months on this haul alone. This find is incredible. I should have come back here sooner."
"You sure about that?" Reid hooked the carts back together as he spoke. "You said there were moles down here. I mean, we haven't seen any, but that doesn't mean they're gone."
Lycra and Win both paused their work to turn and look at Reid.
A low growl rolled in from the front of the cavern, followed by the sound of scraping claws dragging along the ground.
Win grabbed a pickaxe. "I swear to the all-god, if I die covered in shit because you jinxed us, I'll haunt you."
Reid cracked his neck.
"It's fine. Both of you just stay back. I've got this."
Lycra and Win flitted their lights over the area, revealing three moles. One was a head taller than the other two, and sported a scarred snout marked by puncture wounds.
Bits of dirt flew into the air as Reid charged. The moles were about a football field away, and Reid put himself on a looping path instead of going straight after them - intending to direct their attention away from his friend. Friends. He wasn't as close to Win as he was to Lycra, but she was good.
The arc worked, and the big mole screeched as the two smaller ones both came after him at the same time.
They seemed far more mobile in an open space than the level 17 had been in the tunnel. If Reid was going to be fighting more of these things, he needed to better understand them. He resolved himself to take the fight slow, and pay attention to how his enemies acted.
One was circling around him as the other reared up and raised a recliner-sized hand. It towered over Reid, balanced on its feet as it tried to crush him. Reid was quicker. The pickaxe penetrated through the mole's right arm just above the wrist. Blood geysered from the wound, but Reid had already jumped up towards its head and sent a swing towards its throat. The flat edge scraped a channel into the mole's neck, and blood and bits of cut off fur flowed out and down its chest. The wound bubbled as it tried to breathe, and it collapsed before the second mole even reached him.
As the first mole heaved and gurgled its final breaths, the second mole showed him a different fight. This one kept its head and strikes low to the ground. It meant Reid was always closer to its claws at any given moment, and more than once the creature tried to use its weight and proximity to body slam him. When he felt he had figured out what the beast was trying for with the odd stance, he plunged the pointed end of the pickaxe into its sides until it, too, was heaving its breaths. He ended the mole with a swing into its spine. Not having to go for the head every time made fighting a hell of a lot more enjoyable.
You have defeated Escaped Deep Mole - lvl 12. (+30,000 xp)
You have defeated Escaped Deep Mole - lvl 12. (+30,000 xp)
That made sense. The fight had gone on longer in the open space, but only because he wanted it to.
The final mole was charging him now, at least twice as fast as the smaller ones had been. Teeth larger than Reid's head lined its mouth, and it let out a deafening, foamy-spittle-spewing screech.
Reid gave a manic smile and roared. “GIVE ME A REAL FIGHT! COME ON!”
When it was thirty feet from him, the mole slowed and effortlessly flicked one hand to send chest-sized chunks of rock hurtling Reid's way.
Fast enough that he couldn't dodge.
A rock hit him in the left shoulder, and Reid spun 180 degrees before he could plant his feet. He was facing back towards Lycra and Win when claws took him in the side and launched him towards the cavern wall. He hit the ground and rolled for a good ten feet before he stopped the momentum. His side was a bit tingly, but Reid was barely cut. He just hadn't had enough mass - nor good footing - to stop himself from getting pushed around.
The mole had written Reid off, and was already going after his friends. They were both wide eyed, and Lycra's lantern visibly shook - along with the rest of his body. Win had moved herself forward, between Lycra and the beast.
Reid roared in an attempt to get the mole's attention, and pushed power into his legs. The mole slowed, and turned its head towards him. It let out another foaming screech, made a swiping motion towards Lycra and Win, and charged to meet Reid.
As they met, the thing lifted off the ground onto its hind legs, going for a crushing blow. His pickaxe had been lost when Reid was sent flying, and he needed a new weapon. He planted his feet, raised a fist, and concentrated. A long ivory protrusion poked out from his wrist and grew straight upwards at rapid speed. It pulled hard at his energy as a simple spear formed to meet the mole.
The fresh spear pierced straight through the mole's paw, and Reid flexed his arms to turn the weapon - and the mole's arm - back towards its chest. The ivory spear plunged into it, pinning the arm. Thick rivulets of blood welled from the wounds and matted its fur. It heaved and panted as Reid twisted the spear in its chest like he was stirring cream into coffee.
You have defeated Escaped Elder Deep Mole - lvl 19. (+60,000 xp)
Experience: 155,234,200 -> 155,354,200 / 209,715,200 (+120,000 xp total)
Reid caught his breath, and walked back towards Win and Lycra. Light was shining directly at him, and put spots in his vision.
"Hey, can you move the lantern? It's kind of blinding."
When he didn't get a response, Reid broke into a run.
Behind the lights, he found his friends - bleeding and partially crushed.
Reid lifted rocks off of them, and tossed the things aside. The mole had gotten an attack off at the two of them after all, and it had done a great deal of damage.
Win had an arm and part of her chest crushed badly, and she wheezed in her breaths. She seemed to be barely holding on to consciousness.
Lycra... was worse. His eyes were closed, and a baseball-sized section of his skull curved the wrong way. It bled into the dirt.
As he took in the scene, Reid realized Win's injuries were defensive. Lycra had been gravely wounded - but the rock that caved in Win's chest would've killed Lycra in an instant if she hadn't put herself in front of the attack. She'd saved his life - and put her own on the line.
Win gestured Reid to her, and he moved. They were 14 hours' walk from the clinic. How fast could he get them both there if he sprinted the whole way?
"Give... your... name."
Win's words were labored, but clear.
"I'm going to get help. Just stay awake, and I'll tell you when you're better." He scooped Lycra off the ground, and went to grab Win, but she held out a hand. If she resisted being carried, it would be an even longer run back. Despite her slow words, Win's eyes blazed with conviction.
"Don't... run. I... save. Trust... full... name."
Oh, fuck it.
"It's Reid. Reid Oliver Calderwall. Now let me carry-"
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NOTICE: You have been granted a Title - [Honorary Knight]
NOTICE!
Prerequisite Conditions Met - Possess One Title
Accolade Type: Titles - Unlocked!
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Reid was speechless.
Then Win's entire body flashed with green, healing light.