It was within the coldness of a dark and damp alcove that Ren and Cella had attempted to sleep. Though badgered by vermin, insects, and an abyssal monster, the worst part of it all was the lack of any good shut-eye.
Ren’s body could continue for a long time without rest. However, his body had gone through a great deal of damage recently, so he desperately needed time for his body to recuperate. Cella, being far weaker than him, just needed to sleep to keep herself from falling over. Her stamina and mana pools had run quite low by now.
With great caution, they had sought out a good place to hide while taking turns on watch. Hardly an hour had passed before tragedy struck. Several large insects resembling centipedes, large enough to kill a horse, had come down upon them.
Cave Crawler Lvl 8
Cave Crawler Lvl 13
Abyss Crawler Lvl 16
Ren made the first move, four eldritch shots went off, three in the middling crawler, and one in the weakest. He allowed the corruption to slowly seep into them as he drew them away from Cella who was in no condition to fight. Neither was Ren, though regardless he had no choice.
The two he had attacked seemed to only be slightly slowed down. He had expected the corruption to destroy them quickly, though it appeared to hardly be affecting them.
The ascendant crawler continued chasing after Ren as he passed into a side tunnel, the two slower insects fell behind. I have no choice, they’ll seek her out if I get distracted too long with the big guy.
Ren stopped, an idea had been playing in his mind, a new attack. Flame burst alive in his hands as a swirling mass of flames. It was condensed and burned with a scorching heat. The interior of the flame was a mass of mana ready to burst.
Allowing the ascendant crawler to reach him, he dodged around it, waiting for the slower two. Once they began to catch up, Ren stopped dodging, venomous pincers slicing into his arm. He felt his body start to react as his arm burned horrifically.
The great ball of flames leaped from his palms and landed between the two oncoming crawlers and their leader. The mass of burning mana exploded violently and sent the weakest of them scattering in pieces. The middling crawler was half destroyed with its rear half scorched to a crisp. The crawler whose pincers dripped with venom in his arm had its back end blown up, leaving its body flailing. The insect let go of his arm and reeled its head back in a silent scream.
Ren replied by shoving his revolver in its it’s maw. Two eldritch-empowered shots went off, muffled by the creature’s mouth. The first increased the backlash against him, and the second purged that corruption and massively increased the deadly corruption.
Though burning, and its head shot twice with the ruination of the eldritch corruption, no black veins spread across its chitinous form. No rot and ruin came to it. Instead, it charged at Ren again.
The pincers pierced into his chest, and one stopped by his sternum which was now cracked. More of the insect’s venom was unloading into him. The vile toxin burned at him. Ren panicked and summoned forth the swirling purple energy before him. At a point-blank range, the violet lightning struck into the creature. With long moments of waiting the two of them stared into each other. The crawler was overwhelmed as purple cracks began to seep across its chitinous outer shell. Slowly, it died.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Ren lay on the earth, his breath came heavy and labored. The venom within him was not something he had experienced before. His corruption, what he had resistance to now, was nothing like true poison. It ate away at the very lifeforce of beings, even damaging the soul. This was true poison flowing through his veins.
If the creature had resistance to him, which should have been impossible, should he not have resistance to this venom now in him? How is it possible? The question did him no good, at least if he did not purge the toxins.
With an irrational idea, Ren stabbed himself. In his arm, where the venom had first entered, a pulse of eldritch touch began to rot away. The venom within his blood was destroyed, while his flesh was only slightly damaged by it. He continued.
-
Cella had followed the crawlers, waiting to see if she could help in any way. It was not fair that she got to sleep, rest, and rejuvenate after using him as a shield earlier. He had abandoned being the Lord of an entire people for the tragedy that had befallen her and her people. She could not stand idly by and let him fight every battle alone.
Too late, the devastation had already been sown, the beasts dead. She came upon the ruined corpses of the creatures that had been blown apart, and in their midst, she saw Ren.
His blade was pierced into his chest, and his blood was scattered across the stone beneath him. His black eyes were fluttering half-lidded.
Cella came to him, the green light coming to life between her hands. She pressed it onto him, her mana was still quite low, and her mind was still fogged. Yet, she had a duty.
With a long minute of anxious anticipation, she watched as his attention focused, and he regained full consciousness.
“It resisted my power…” Ren whispered to her.
Cella's heart fell, imagining him being torn apart while his own strength failed him. “I am sorry, I was, no. I have always been only a burden.” She whispered back to him.
“A lie, I would never have found my way this far without you. We’ll live. I might just need to rest.” He spoke, his eyes fluttering.
Cella mustered the strength to pull him up to his feet. She slowly moved him back towards the place where she had slept while he watched over her. It was moments before turning the bend, their little spot coming back into sight when the sounds came.
It was as though a small creature was being rendered into a hundred small pieces. At first, it was inhuman shrieking and screaming. Then, it became the tearing, all while the screams began to grow erratic and more like that of shattering glass and chalk on slate. The sounds pierced her ears and caused Ren to wobble his head in a half-unconscious haze.
She moved as fast as she could while trying to remain silent. She did not have the mana to keep releasing her pulses of man to watch where she was going. Instead, she called upon life in tiny spores and muck, bringing forth a glowing mushroom that gave off a weak green hue of light.
It was with the tiny green light that she guided them through the marked and twisting passages. First she had come to a great open maw that bared stalagmites and stalactites like great white fangs. Covered in a shallow crystalline shine, they reflect the green glow back onto her pale face.
Behind the formations were dozens of patches of dark crimson-red mosses. They lurked around great sulfur pools that bubbled and burped foul-smelling gas. Though she knew the dangers of it, she brought him into the jaws of death alongside her.
She left him in a corner where the moss made a great natural bed for him to rest. She scouted through the sulfur pools and thick mosses for what she needed.
Within a half hour, she had found it. It was nestled between two great clumps of crimson moss and stank horribly of the sulfur pools. The red mushroom was spotted by yellow patches. The smell made her gag and yet she forced herself to eat it regardless. She thought of how he had tried to save her people. Nobody had ever wanted to save them before. She thought of how at least a memory of her people was better than nothing at all. Maybe they could be remembered.
She fought the urge to vomit as the disgusting mushroom made its slick and slimy way down into her stomach. It stank of death and sent her to her knees as she vommited again and again. She forced herself to keep swallowing as it returned to her mouth.
She sat beside Ren while the fungus began to digest and the warmth permeated her. It felt good, it was quite euphoric. The experience was nice, and she felt herself begin to feel dreamlike. It is time.