Mig was worried as he watched two large mantis creatures enter the cavern. They were around 5 feet tall with spiky, winter blue carapaces. Each of them were scanning the room with four slanted red eyes, their fanged mandibles chittering. With cold calculation, they began hunting the grubs that had emerged in the room. The ends of their multi-jointed arms seemed to be as sharp as blades as they tore apart the grubs which squealed in response.
Mig heard Aj say something to him from behind him, but didn’t make it out because he was thinking up a battle plan. Aj wouldn’t be much help, he seemed out of his depth against the grubs and he was wounded. If it came to it he’d have to take care of these mantises himself. He was contemplating jumping down and ambushing them. If he could take out one with a clean cut then he’d have a much better chance against only one of them. While the thought of harvesting the mantises' heart shards did appeal to Mig, he thought better of it. It’d be too dangerous and likely to fail. He and Aj would stay put and hope they pass on without noticing them.
Mig felt a tug on his arm and turned to see Aj behind looking terrified. Mig began to whisper and tell Aj to hide.
“They might miss us if we stay closer t-” Mig was cut off by a blur of white and blue that crashed into Aj forcing him to the ground. Mig was stunned for a second as he had no idea where this mantis had come from. Aj screamed as one of the mantis’ four arms pierced right below his right shoulder, pinning him to the ground. Mig raised his sword to attack before noticing the two mantises on the ground springing into action towards them. His eyes flashed between Aj flailing against the mantis on the ledge and the two manties on the ground that were coming towards him.
Mig shifted his feet and lunged his sword towards the mantis’ head that was attacking Aj. It made the most sense to him to attack while it was trying to cut Aj in half and potentially distracted. The mantis brought its fangs down towards Aj, causing Mig’s attack to go high and scrape off its hardened back.
Crack* Crack* Mig heard the cracking sounds of the mantises beginning to scale the wall, the pointed tips of their many legs digging into the wall. He turned, one was climbing straight vertically towards them the way Mig and Aj had climbed up earlier. The other was climbing on the farther side of the ledge attempting to box the two of them in.
Mig channeled his cor, feeling his heart stutter and kick into gear. He felt cor flow from his heart to the tips of his entire body like a wave. When the sensation of the cor returned back from the edges of his body to his heart, his heart forced the cor back out again. This time sending the majority of it to his leg muscles arm muscles and hands. Empowered his muscles became steel bands of force. He waited for a full second waiting for an opportunity to assist Aj before turning to the other two.
Then it came! The mantis raised its two right arms at the same time attempting to pincer Aj once again to the ground. Mig struck in the blink of an eye, raising himself up to bring a downward strike on both of the mantis’ arms. There was a splurt of dark blue ichor as the mantis’s top arm was severed at the joint and a loud CLANG as Migs' sword was stopped by the carapace of the second lower arm. He had been trying to hit the joint on both, but the creature reacted to the damage faster than he expected, jerking its arm back. Mig pushed backwards away from the mantis and Aj, he had to at least delay the other two and try to take advantage of them separating. A one on one would be his best chance.
Mig ran to the edge of the ledge holding his sword out to his right. Without a second thought, he jumped off the ledge positioning himself above the climbing mantis which raised its front two bladed arms up towards him, its lower arms engaged in climbing. Mig internally laughed imagining how Trace would react to seeing him in this situation. Mig swung his sword downward as he fell CLANGING against the carapaced top arms of the Mantis. Before the mantis could counterattack, Mig’s left hand was already grasped around its left arm. Mig pulled, transitioning his downward momentum now into lateral force which he used to attempt to push his sword into the mantis’ side. With a wet and a slow ick the sword entered the creature's abdomen, even with his enhanced force and momentum he had barely pierced the creature's carapace. Mig let go of the mantis’ arm putting his whole weight now onto the sword which was currently inside the Mantis’ body. To his surprise, the blade barely moved. He quickly pulled his body up using the blade and spun his arms attempting the wiggle the blade as much as possible while it was inside the mantis.
Mig struggled to hold onto his blade as the mantis let go of the wall and twisted as it fell attempting to crush Mig beneath itself. Mig scrambled and after a few failed attempts managed to kick the mantis carapace pushing his sword and himself away from the mantis just a moment before hitting the ground. Mig hit the ground hard on his back and right shoulder. He had to baby his right shoulder as he raised himself up, he could barely move it. It was probably dislocated he thought, he tossed his sword over to his left hand. The mantis he had fallen with was lurched towards him, but it seemed to be having trouble balancing as it tipped over to the ground as Mig dodged.
Mig backed up, getting some distance from the fallen mantis, and looked up. The other mantis had decided to follow Mig to the ground instead of continuing to come from the farther side of the ledge towards Aj. It had just reached the ground and reared its four bladed arms towards Mig. Mig said a quick prayer and raised his sword in his left hand, his heart refocusing his cor to his arms and legs. With a burst of speed, Mig closed the distance to the Mantis and with a clang Mig’s sword met the mantis’ arms.
Mig started out strong, his left hand just as proficient as his right. He swung full force into the creature's neck only to clang off the creature's hard carapace. Continuing his momentum, he rang off multiple strikes aimed at the creature's head and arm joints, only to be blocked by the creature's four arms. Mig was faster than the mantis, the creature had quadruple the blades to work with. In a short time, the creature blocked Mig’s attacks and began counterattacking forcing Mig onto the defensive. Mig had no time to form a strategy, he blocked left and then right. He swung his body left to dodge a right-coming attack and reflexively counterattacked only to be blocked by an oncoming left arm.
As Mig dodged yet another arm strike, he looked back at the mantis he’d stabbed and saw that it was now fully standing up and closing the twenty-foot distance between them. He needed to think of something quick before they could gang up on him. He was becoming desperate. He considered focusing cor to his sword. He’d never successfully done it and each time he’d attempted it caused a rebound of cor that his heart couldn’t redistribute efficiently. Effectively causing him to have massive convulsions and tremors. In a fight like this failing would mean he’d probably die, but he was running out of options.
A flurry of sword and arm swings later and the fallen mantis had closed the distance. Mig pushed off the ground attempting to make it so that he wouldn't be pincered by the two mantises and prepared himself for their offensive. His left hand was numb from the death grip he had on his sword and multitude of hard hits against the bladed arms and carapace of the mantis. The mantises both raised their arms in unison to strike.
BOOM* An explosion rang throughout the cavern coming from the ledge where Aj and the mantis were. Both of the mantis’ hesitated and turned assessing for new threats. Mig seized the moment and focused his cor towards his sword, feeling his sword become an extension of himself as the wave of cor flowed over it. He remembered Trace’s advice and struck as the wave of cor was returning and still partially in the sword and his arms. He leapt forward and with little resistance sliced the healthy mantis’ head clean in half. Its body slumped to the ground twitching.
Mig had little time to celebrate as the other mantis refocused away from the explosion and back to him. He had to dodge back quickly as the mantis swiped down with both of its razor-sharp arms. He felt sluggish as he dodged, the after effects of focusing so much of his cor to one space. The mantis advanced on him moving backwards, erratically swiping with its four arms. He was tired, his right arm was dislocated, and his entire left arm and hand were numb, but he still felt like he had the upper hand. All it took was one erratic swing too far and he’d have an opening on one of the arm joints and start picking this thing apart. He smiled despite everything.
Mig’s smile was smacked off his face as the corpse of the mantis he’d killed shoved past the other mantis and crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. Mig rolled on the ground bringing up his arms to guard from the zombie mantis’s arms and legs which plowed over him. The zombie mantis continued moving over and crumbled to the ground, its body becoming slack. Mig crawled onto his stomach and struggled to his feet, his body aching from being stampeded over. He turned to face the other mantis which had been shoved to the side by the zombie mantis and found that it had recovered quicker than he’d hoped. It was currently swinging its arm at full speed towards Mig’s head. Mig moved his sword to block it but his left arm was too sluggish. Mig felt a tear building in his left eye as the blade got closer and closer to his neck. In those last moments, Mig thought of his mother and siblings and apologized to them for failing them. (or leaving them behind)
The strike never came though. Mig thought the swing getting slower and slower as it approached was him experiencing death, but it was actually getting slower and slower before it stopped to a halt right before touching his neck. Mig noticed the thick dark green vines that had grown all over the mantis restraining it.
“Can you……. finish it?” A thin-sounding voice asked coming from behind the mantis, Mig heard Aj pause and pant before finishing the question. Mig, learning from the zombie mantis, cut each of its four arms off at the joints before jamming the tip of his sword into its lower left eye and slashing it out at an angle.
“Hold it a little longer if you can,” Mig said, trying to stay on his feet. Aj nodded and the creature was kept restrained in the vines. It twitched and jerked trying to break free for around 30 seconds before its jerking stopped and it slumped in the vines’ grasp. Mig took a good look around the cavern assessing for more danger and saw none.
Wordlessly Mig pointed to the ledge they were on previously and Aj nodded in response. Mig limped his way to the wall, his left leg had crumpled awkwardly under the zombie mantis and he was now feeling the sprain in full. Mig put his sword in its sheath and struggled to climb the wall, his limbs numb from overexertion. Relative safety and the ability to rest were so close, just fifteen feet up this wall, but his limbs wouldn’t cooperate. As Mig began to wonder if he’d ever get up the wall he heard the thump of the rope slap into the wall next to him.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.