Chapter 14:

The tunnel I’d dug must have reached at least two or three miles, perhaps longer as I’d been digging for more than two hours—there were about 15 minutes left until I reached Rank 1. I was about halfway back when I heard the quiet echoes of trouble in the distance. Despite the distance, once I was past the rubble and could run while boosted—if a bit awkwardly—I made it back down in minutes.

I didn’t have a chance to appreciate my superhuman feat, however, as I was met by chaos.

Ming Lin and Shui Jianfeng were both up and fighting. They were closer to the mossy caverns, probably so they could have more room to fight. From what I could see, there were three—no two, no four spirit beasts?

It was hard to tell, as one might be dead, and the rest seemed to dip into the earth around us and disappear randomly. From what I could see of them when they fully emerged, they looked like some kind of horned lizard. They were tall enough on all fours to reach my waist.

One might have been larger than the rest, but I only saw its bigger head poking out of the walls and ground before it would disappear again. Unlike the others, it never fully emerged. That didn’t make it harmless, however. Each time it appeared, it would launch several spears of rock from the ground next to it. The spears were about as long as a human arm and rocketed through the air toward Ming Lin and Shui Jianfeng.

Shui Jianfeng did his best to dodge and deflect these spears, but it was Ming Ling who did most of the work for the two of them. She lashed out with her pick, rapidly swatting away a majority of the attacks. But despite her efforts, it was clearly not enough.

Not when the other lizards also attacked from all directions. Sometimes, they appeared from under them and tried to take a bite of their legs. Other times, they appeared at odd angles, leaping out of the ground and trying to overwhelm them in a rush.

And while most of these attempts were fended off, the new wounds on Ming Lin’s arms and legs showed that they were slowly gaining ground.

I cursed after I took this all in and did the only thing I could do. Reaching out to the walls, I activated Rock Claws. I quickly reshaped them as best as I could to emulate two swords. I’d gotten better at reshaping after fighting so many moles, and I had even more Qi to spare now as well as more room to fight, allowing me to try something new. They were rough and crude, and still attached to my hands a bit awkwardly, but they should be enough to make use of my Swordsmanship skill.

I would have gone for a sword and shield combo, but insight from my Skill told me that that kind of fighting was not included with my skill. Odd, but not something I was going to question at the moment. So dual-wielding it was. Even if my inability to adjust my grip on the swords further complicated things.

With my weapons done, I took a deep breath and then charged to join the fight. I aimed for the nearest of the lizards. It seemed to sense me and turn its scaly head towards me for a second, locking onto me with its slitted eyes. Then it sank into the ground like it was a thick liquid, disappearing from sight.

I tensed and stopped for a moment, wary of where it might strike from. But then I felt it. Once it got within my range, I felt part of the earth shift strangely in a way that didn’t quite make sense. At the same time, I could sense the Qi emanating from it, making it obvious where it was.

I tensed further as it moved towards me, though I couldn’t help but be surprised at its speed. It wasn’t slow, but it certainly wasn’t fast. Not as fast as the lizards when they popped out of the ground and rushed to attack. Which made it really easy for me to be ready for it. When it was near my feat, I stared at the spot I knew it would come from.

The earth bulged as it appeared and gave way like liquid. Its mouth was wide open, and it snapped out like a cobra. But I was more than ready and met it with my long sword. I stabbed at it with all my strength. Unfortunately, all my strength wasn’t enough. My blade went into its mouth, carving up the soft flesh there. But when it snapped its mouth closed, it tore right through my stone blade, stopping me from doing any real damage.

Right… These were reshaped digging tools. Not weapons.

I cursed and lashed out with my other shorter sword, drawing a hiss from the creature as it sunk back into the ground. I glared at it and stabbed again out of reflex, hoping my blade would still reach it before it got away fully.

With its slowed speed wading through the earth, I just managed to reach it with my short sword that split the earth with ease. I felt the thing recoil in pain, then it rushed out of my range. Still not very fast, but too fast for me to go after it by just digging.

I grinned a bit at having injured it, even if a bit. Maybe next time if it tried again, I could kill it before it surfaced, if it was dumb enough not to learn from its—

“Watch out!”

I jolted at the sudden shout and turned to the source. Then I realized my mistake as I saw something moving in my peripheral vision. Instinctively, I swung what was left of my right sword to knock it out of the air. I somehow managed to intercept it, but the spear of stone broke into many pieces which peppered me, cutting at my skin. One piece even nearly got me in the eye, instead just cutting into my brow.

Fuck!

“Pay attention to your surroundings!’ Ming Lin shouted as she and Shui Jianfeng continued to defend themselves against the three other lizards harassing them. They were boxed in by the constant harassment, and it didn’t help that neither were in any shape to disengage.

I glared at the sight and kept my gaze focused on the larger lizard that must have sent that spear at me. As if sensing my gaze, it turned to look and then launched another spear in my direction. This time, I was much more prepared and managed to sidestep it. Then, I took a second to touch my broken blade to the ground and reshape it. Instead of just fixing it, I made it longer as an idea came to me.

I didn’t take my eyes away from the general direction of the big lizard, though, keeping an eye on it whenever it appeared. It was the only way I could anticipate its attacks, and it was a good thing that it couldn’t fire them from underground. Even when I felt the other lizard return, I kept a lookout for the spear launcher.

When the lizard in the ground moved to just behind me, I quickly lept back over it and stabbed down. Before it could even start to emerge, my longer stone blade was already stabbing into it, without me having to bend over.

It let out a piercing screech of pain as the liquid earth fell off of it. I’d managed to get my sword buried in one of its eyes, and it flailed around frantically, trying to get away. Something I wasn’t going to let happen.

I forced my sword down hard, causing another shriek and some more violent twitching. Then I pulled back to avoid another spear of earth sent at me, accompanied by a shrieking roar of anger. The big lizard was not happy about what I just did, it seemed.

Still, I grinned as I saw the lizard I’d stab stop twitching, and a blue halo appeared around it.

“One down,” I said as I turned my attention back to the big lizard and saw it sink back into the ground. When it didn’t resurface moments later, I tensed, ready for the coming attack.

At the same time, the other two lizards were still snapping away at both Ming Lin and Shui Jianfeng. But, without the constant barrage of rock spears, the two of them were given a much-needed reprieve. Enough so that the next lizard that tried to take a bite out of Ming Lin’s leg was stomped into the ground with her foot. Then it was almost killed as Shui Jianfeng brought his pick down on its head. Unfortunately, it still managed to sink into the earth right before the finishing blow.

And that was all that I saw before I had to refocus on my own fight. I felt the big lizard get within the range of my Earth Sense. Right off the bat, I could tell it was faster than the last one. It was also larger, and its Qi greater as well. I wasn’t sure if this was a Mid-Stage Rank 1 or just a strong Early Stage, but regardless it was definitely more dangerous than the one I’d killed.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I only had a moment to consider what to do before it was already under me. It appeared from the ground faster than the other lizard, and its mouth was ready to take a bite out of my leg. I pulled back before it could and stabbed down. Unfortunately, all I managed to do was stab it in the tongue before it bit down and cut my sword in half again.

I really needed to stop aiming for their mouths. However, that was easier said than done when they always charged at me mouth first.

I leaped back, then was forced to dodge again as two earth spears shot out of the ground back to back. They moved incredibly fast, and I only managed to avoid the first. The second grazed my shoulder, cutting through cloth and skin. Then the lizard sank into the ground before I could do anything else.

It repeated this attack pattern a moment later, but this time, I couldn’t even counterattack. It didn’t give me enough time to fix my blade, and my other one was too short to really stab at it before I had to retreat. I was completely on the defensive. Still, I managed to react in time thanks to my constant awareness of its location underground. I avoided both spears, and the lizard sunk away once more.

It charged me from below again a moment later. I avoided an attempt to bite my leg, then was forced to divert a spear with my good sword while dodging another. This time, the spear barely missed my head, grazing my cheek and forcing me back. I needed to change things up, or I was going to stop getting lucky and get skewered.

I looked around for a second as it went back into the ground. Then I saw the still glowing corpse of the lizard I’d killed. I was tempted for a second, but I didn’t think trying to beat the lizards at their own game would work. Instead, I had a better idea.

I put my hands together and started reshaping. I fused the rock in both hands together to form a big, dense mass. Right when I was done, the lizard appeared again and forced me to dodge another bite. Then the spears came again. One I dodge. The other one, I tried to block with my mass of rock, hoping it would be enough.

My arms jerked hard at taking the spear head-on, and the harder Earth Spear pierced through. Thankfully, it stopped before it actually reached me, but it was a close call. Yet the fact that it was in my shield now was a good thing. Extra mass.

Reshaping again, I fused the rock spear into my shield and made it bigger and thicker. It was draining my Qi a lot faster to hold so much rock with my Skill, but I shouldn’t need to keep it up for too long, so I ignored it.

When the lizard attacked again, I was even more ready this time with my thicker shield. I diverted one spear away and caught the other. It pierced through even less this time, and I integrated that mass into my shield.

Then I reshaped again. This time, though, I aimed to alter the shape, making it a shield with an extended sharp bottom. It took a moment, and the lizard managed to attack again from under me once more before I finished. But because I maintained the shield shape, I just diverted the earth spears sent at me without issue.

And once I was ready, I steadied myself and waited. A moment later, I felt the lizard come up from the ground. This time, treating the bottom of my shield as a much wider and longer blade, I drove it deep into the earth.

It easily cut through the stone, and my large makeshift blade sank into the flesh of the lizard. I felt it spasm wildly, and then something weird happened. The earth around it stopped feeling strange to my senses, and then the ground started to tremble as it thrashed within the earth. Rock was sent flying, and I leaped back, pulling my sword-shield out.

I could see a thick coating of red blood on the bottom of my blade, and I grinned. Excellent. Despite being bigger, this thing was just as vulnerable to the blade made from my Skill. I’d worried that it might be too tough, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.

However, despite the damage I did, the lizard continued thrashing. A hole opened up in the ground, revealing its whole body and the damage I did. Most of its lower jaw had been torn apart, yet it wasn’t out of it just yet, if how violently it moved around was any indication. It might still recover.

So I rushed back towards the hole and leaped down, shield-blade first. I drove the big blade at the lizard’s neck with a loud shout. My rock blade-shield, which was a lot sturdier than my swords, cut through scales, flesh, and bone, decapitating the beast.

The body continued to twitch for another moment before finally falling still.

I stood over the body for a couple of seconds, breathing heavily. My stomach and chest felt very warm. Then an angry shout reminded me that things weren’t over yet. So I leaped out of the rough hole I was in, ready to help finish off the other two lizards.

I didn’t get a chance to do that, though, as when I got out, I saw Ming Lin bury her pick in the head of the last lizard. Another lizard’s head was half out of the ground with a similar wound in its head.

I stared, panting for a second, and then relaxed, letting the stone shield-blade drop from my hands as I ended my Skill.

“Don’t let your guard down!” Ming Lin shouted, making me tense up again and look around.

I didn’t see anything, or feel anything, but I kept my eyes peeled and moved to form another shield blade. Yet, as more time passed and nothing happened, I started to feel confused.

“What’s left?” I asked, looking back and forth.

“Nothing as far as I know,” Ming Lin said, moving to catch Shui Jianfeng who almost stumbled as his pick fell from his hand. He was really pale now and sweating profusely. “But you should never just relax immediately after a fight. That’s how you get killed by the danger you didn’t see coming.”

“Oh, okay,” I said, trying to not be annoyed at that. It was probably good advice since I really did just want to take a moment to breathe—my chest was starting to feel a bit strange. But with so many ambushing things down here, that was probably a bad idea. “Is he going to be…”

I started to ask, but Shui Jianfeng stumbled again and collapsed into Ming Ling’s arms. His eyes were droopy, and his sweat was leaving streaks in the dirt and dust that covered his face from the fighting.

“How far along is the tunnel?” Ming Lin asked grimly.

“I’m not sure,” I said with a wince, rubbing at my chest absently. “I can only sense 5 yards around me, so I don’t know how much I have left to dig. I’ve been digging as fast as I can.”

Ming Lin sighed and nodded at that. “Well, hopefully, we can leave soon.”

“Yeah,” I said, taking a moment to look around at all the corpses. Then I winced when I looked further towards the mossy caverns and saw even more of them. They must have killed several before I got here. “Maybe you two should hide in the tunnel with me. I can dig out a place for you to rest, so you can be closer to the exit when we get out, and not have to deal with so many attacks.”

It would make it more dangerous for me when I pushed out the excess earth I dug up. But if we were lucky, maybe we were close enough to the surface that that wouldn’t be much of an issue.

Ming Lin thought about it for a moment before she nodded and started dragging Shui Jianfeng over to the escape tunnel. “That’s probably for the best. We can’t hold this spot much longer.”

I moved to follow, but then I remembered the two lizards I’d killed. So, instead, I rushed over to the hole where the big lizard was and focused on the blue halo.

I sped-read the Skills available, and then I started to rush over to the other one I killed. Just so I knew all my options and what I could take. As I did, the rush of power I had from the boost from Spirit Stone Devouring ran out. The sudden loss of energy made me wobble for a second as the stone shield drained my much smaller reserves. I reshaped them to get rid of the excess mass while I steadied myself.

But even after that, I still felt off balance, and my chest felt really hot. Almost uncomfortably so, as if all my Qi was gathering there. Was this because I was about to rank up? Hopefully so, but I didn’t have time to think about it too much. I wanted to get away from all these corpses as fast as I could.

So once I was okay, I moved over to the small lizard and checked what was available there as well. As I read, I dropped the claws off of one hand, so I could pop some more spirit stones in my mouth if I needed to. I held off on actually eating one, as the heat in my chest continued to grow, and I wasn’t sure if the two effects would interact.

When I went over everything, I made my decisions quickly. I took a Skill called Earth Wader from the smaller lizard and then Earth Spear from the larger one. After that, I started back towards the escape tunnel, but something moved out of the corner of my eye.

I jumped in fright and slashed at the air with my remaining claw.

But there was nothing there. Instead, it was one of the lizard corpses. The one that I had thought was already dead when I appeared. It was twitching, barely clinging on to life. I stared at it for a second before I realized what I had to do.

I ran over to it and quickly brought down my claw onto the beast’s head, killing it. To my relief, another blue halo appeared, and I quickly focused on it. And when I saw what Skill was available, I felt just a little more hope that things might turn out okay.

I quickly selected the Skill, Burrow Creation, before rushing back over to the tunnel. Ming Lin was already ahead, and I moved to catch up. I wasn’t sure if the Skill would do exactly what I wanted, but I was hopeful.

“He—” I started to say as I got close before I felt something strange happen. All that energy gathering in my chest pulsed, and then the rest of the Qi in my body seemed to rush there. My feet gave out from under me, and I crashed into the ground.

Then I felt a burning pain in my chest as the wild energy there pulsed again and again. Things only got worse from there, and I started to scream.