Logan was initially excited to learn that Asthea carried alcohol in her spatial storage device, but not after he got a whiff of it. This ‘nonaonalic juice’ smelled like fermented cabbage mixed with vodka. After Errol gulped down two pints, he ran a hand through his hair, tugged on his waterlogged armour and released a huge sigh.
Two pints of straight up vodka would have had him down for the count, but Errol’s physiology must be completely different than Logan’s. Rather than acting drunk, he looked invigorated.
“Here goes nothing,” he said before rushing through the doorway.
As soon as the portal swallowed him whole, that same power surge clanged through the room, and the white walls transformed.
Logan didn’t recognize his surroundings and it took a second to get his bearings. Holy shit, feeling the wind on his face and glancing down at the bottom of a dirt-covered gorge was one thing, but standing in over a foot of water was another!
The swamp.
This viewing room was something else. Logan was engulfed in murky green water up to his lower thighs. Damn. Although he was still wearing his exoskeleton boots, he hadn’t figured out how to mold the armour while submerged. The boots would have to do.
Unlike last time, there were no cliffs, not even a hill. It was flat ground covered in swamp water, with the occasional tree breaching the surface, branches searching for non-existent sunlight. Duckweed plants and water lilies covered the water in patches, while debris and algae floated over the rest of the brackish water.
At first, he’d assumed the System had deposited Errol into the battlefield in the middle of the night, but then he realized that a dense layer of fog covered the terrain, fog so thick it was difficult to see more than thirty feet from either side. It would have been impossible without his perception attribute enhancements.
Next to him, Asthea and Thorin lifted their feet out of the water in vain, mouths twisted in distaste.
“Follow me,” said Arsen. “I got to know this terrain. If you back up a few feet….” Arsen strode up an incline. “Ah, here we go.”
They followed him and waded through the water, kicking up algae and mud. The ground rose up, the water ending at their ankles. On this incline, they could watch what was going on without being part of what was going on.
The swamp reeked like wet earth plus something extra special: skunk intermixed with decomposing flesh. It was so bad it made Logan flare his nostrils in disgust.
Errol didn’t seem surprised by any of it.
He waded through the water, struggling to walk smoothly, his mouth in a grim line. Over his shoulder, he’d swung his metal whip like a lasso, the barbed end knocking against his back as he moved.
He looked up at the sky and muttered, “See what I have to deal with?”
Arsen shifted next to Asthea. “I think I might have failed Errol. If he thinks the terrain is a detriment rather than an asset… well, I’m lost for words.”
But Errol might not have been referring to the swamp.
In front of him… something shifted underneath the water. Logan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, uncertainty eating away at his stomach. Even though they were standing in place, as soon as he wished it, he was right next to Errol; he might as well be Errol.
Far out. Even though he knew that he wasn’t technically in the swamp, it was difficult to tell his brain that. He could see Errol that clearly. The water rustled and splashed, as if a school of fish were fighting underneath the surface.
But this was no fish.
“I’m back,” said Errol in a resigned voice.
In the water, there was a flash. A flash of a long, shiny black body, there and gone.
Then another.
And another.
Something splashed directly in front of Errol, and a being… a thing….
A…
Holy shit! And Logan had thought the spider rats were bad!
The monster was half the size of the serpent queen, with a long body covered in black, glistening chitin. Instead of being smooth like a snake, segmented plates interconnected its body into a cohesive whole. It rose up out of the water and towered over Errol, the underside of its body covered in hundreds of pincer-like appendages that looked razor-sharp and dripped with a purple, glutinous material.
It looked like a humongous centipede. A jacked-up, mutated centipede. Take a centipede you’d find in the woods and multiply it by a hundred and you’d have this thing. But that’s where the resemblance to a centipede ended and a spider took its place.
At the top of its long body was a black spider that had to be the size of a rain barrel. Its many yellow eyes glinted as it peered down at Errol. At the top of the long body, the pincer-like appendages morphed into longer, spider-like legs.
Holy hell, this thing was on another level!
Logan scanned it with [Idiot’s Inspect].
[Chilopoda Arthropod Level 8. The captain of the arthropod army. Highest Stat: Agility.]
“Our little commander reeeeetuuuuurns,” purred a feminine voice. “Have you come to feed us? Where is the food, evilness? Where is the bounty?”
Around them, dozens upon dozens of centipedes rose out of the water like cobras getting ready to strike.
Errol sighed. “Like I told you before, Aranea, I’m here to lead you to victory, not to feed you.”
“Mmmm. And how do we know that we don’t have an imposter in our midst? Where is the proof, evilness. Show your loyalty, show your trueness.”
Errol ran his hand through his hair. He’d already managed to get his hand filthy with mud, which only worsened the state of his hedgehog mud-covered bangs. “Can’t we skip this? You recognize me, don’t you?”
The centipede’s eyes glinted in sadistic amusement. “Show your trueness,” she crooned. “Show your loyalty.”
“All right, all right. Let’s get it over with.”
The monstrous spider centipede hummed, her hundred appendages wiggling in delight. Surging forward, she latched onto Errol. But she wasn’t attacking him. Rather, she used her appendages to grip onto him while she swiped one of her long spider legs over his face and sliced his cheek.
Errol took it in stride, only scrunching his eyebrows in disgust.
Damn. Logan had dodged a major bullet. His strategy only worked due to subterfuge. These things were decidedly not subtle.
The centipede licked the blood from the tip of her leg, her face considering, her eyes glinting playfully. “Hmm, I’m not sure I got enough.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Aranea!” snapped Errol.
The centipede grinned before she released Errol and backed into the water. “It’s the evilness!” she said, twirling her long body around to face the swarm. “The evilness has come to feed us!”
“The evilness has come to feed us!” repeated the others, swiveling in the water like they were dancing, their appendages twitching like a dog who’d scratched an itch.
“Not to feed. To lead,” muttered Errol, as if he’d repeated the same words many times.
Next to Logan, Asthea shifted, her lips pressed into a tight grimace. “The System assigned him the evil option. I’m disappointed in Errol. I wouldn’t have thought he’d be the type to be selfish. Killing our people to save his own family? If this gets back to the clans, it won’t reflect well on him.”
Arsen let out a sigh. “I’m not surprised. The man loves Droplaug with a passion. A passion I haven’t seen in all my years. They’d travel beyond the Collective and out to the backward universe if it meant they could be together. But after this is over, I’ll talk to him. Emphasize that being one of your personal guards means more than duty. It means looking at the bigger picture.”
Asthea’s voice was quiet. “Don’t be too hard on him. Who am I to judge someone in love? A love that deep is rare.”
Logan awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.
He suspected that he’d only re-affirm their prejudice once they learned that the System had assigned him an ‘evil’ army. Oh well. It wasn’t like Logan was on a diplomatic mission to open relations between their worlds. He was here to win.
“What is he doing?” Thorin asked in confusion.
Errol was wading through the water and circling around a large tree. Its trunk was immense; so large it had to be a century old at least. Fastened to one of the tree limbs was a rope, the end trailing out into the water like a snake. Even with his increased perception, the fog was so thick that Logan couldn’t see what was on the other side.
With massive pulls of his arms, his biceps bulging, Errol pulled on the rope and reeled it in. On the other side he’d fastened a makeshift raft crafted with planks that looked similar to the ones the System had provided in Logan’s trial.
Logan recalled Asthea mentioning that Errol had an E Grade spatial storage device. He had a handicap right off the bat. He’d be limited to what the System provided and what he’d managed with the terrain alone.
“Aranea, did you finish the preparations?” asked Errol as he clambered onto the raft and grabbed a loose plank. He let the board sink to the bottom and then used it to maneuver the raft forward.
The centipede whipped her tail in delight. “All is ready, evilness. The hive has done as you commanded. We have many, many underwater barriers in place. Is it time to feed us?”
“No, we’re not…” Errol sighed. “Yes, it’s time to feed you. We’re going to war.”
The other centipedes made excited chitters as they whipped their long bodies, water flying as if a hundred dolphins had splashed their tails.
Logan had to wipe his face.
The viewing arena was that accurate and real. How was that even possible?
Asthea shifted next to Logan, using her fur cloak to shield herself from the falling water as she studied Errol’s raft. “I like this. I can see a way forward.”
Thorin shifted in confusion. “It looks like that thing could fall apart with one swing of those monster’s tails.” He sniffed. “I don’t see the strategy.”
Asthea gave Arsen a small smile.
***
Asthea ended up being right. Errol did have a strategy. It wasn’t a genius strategy, and it wouldn’t have been what Logan would choose, but at least it was better than Thorin’s non-existent, lost the plot plan.
As the ‘good’ centipede army came charging through the water, Logan grimaced. These ones didn’t have spider heads, but they might have something just as bad—a tail that curved over their backs that ended in a barbed stinger.
Logan was betting that it was venomous, just like the glutinous material that glistened from the appendages of Errol’s centipede army. Errol would need to be careful. If he managed to get stung and his constitution attribute wasn’t strong enough, he could end up finishing the trial before it had even begun.
“Now, evilness?” Aranea breathed, anticipation tight in her voice.
Errol nodded. “It’s time.” With a swing of their tails, Errol’s hundred centipedes ducked underneath the water and submerged.
Logan tried to will the System to follow, but it seemed there were limitations to his 360-degree view. He could see whatever he wanted if he stuck to Errol but if he tried to go anywhere else his view bounced back like an elastic band.
Logan considered.
He wanted to see what the swarm was doing.
Peering down, he swished the water with his boots and weighed his options. It was shallow where he was standing, but if he moved backwards, there was a distinct drop.
Logan eyed the others. They were in front of him, trying to peer through the murk. They weren’t paying attention.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, he backed up and then silently let himself drop into the water. It came up to his shoulders. With a last glance at the others, Logan crouched underneath the water and then let his body submerge, activating [Deepwater Explorer] for the first time in days.
Once he was underwater, his vision sharpened, and he could see through the brackish muck. Around him, Errol’s centipede army zoomed through the water, a school of them each surrounding… was that a wall?
Errol’s army had been busy. They’d worked the earth, tunnelled the muddy ground, and pushed the excess into a round, curved underwater wall. Intermixed in the mud were planks of wood and bundles of hay. On top of the barrier, the centipedes had layered camouflaging water lilies and aquatic plants, making it look like the wall was nothing more than clumped up foliage. That wouldn’t last long—but they only needed a few hours to win the day.
Up above, Errol used his plank to push the raft behind the first wall, and then began hitting the water, slapping the flat side of the board against the surface like a dinner bell. Underneath, it echoed, booming everywhere.
A lure.
Logan silently rose out of the water.
The others were still watching the battle and hadn’t paid him any attention.
“I suppose that could work,” Thorin grumbled. Then he brightened. “He’ll score better than Idiot for sure!”
As Errol banged his plank against the water, the enemy poured in like a swarm of sharks. Sighting Errol, they only increased their speed, their bodies rising out of the water like cobras. Just as they lunged for him, Errol strategically used his whip to lasso around the nearest tree and launched himself through the air.
Out of reach, the centipedes course corrected and lowered themselves into the water. They were going so fast there was no chance to stop, and they didn’t bother, since they assumed the underwater barrier was soft, bunched up plants.
Instead, they slammed headfirst into planks. Stunned, they flailed underwater, giving Errol’s army a chance to take advantage.
“Food! Food!” crooned the monsters as they surged underwater.
As the swamp turned red with blood, Errol had already swung back onto his raft and positioned it over the next targeted area.
“Come and get me, beasties!” Errol said, bashing his plank.
It was a basic strategy, but it just might work.
***
“Impressive!” boomed Thorin as Errol materialized in the viewing arena. He slapped him on the back and a deluge of water splashed to the white floor.
“Not half bad,” said Arsen with a proud grin.
Errol grinned, his mud-covered wolf ears standing straight up as he held his egg. It was blue and twice the size of a chicken egg. “Brothers, never again! The battle went as planned, but my army put me through the wringer! It’ll take days before these cuts heal!” Errol gestured to his face. “Droplaug will be cross with me.” His grin became saucy. “She likes my face.”
Thorin barked out a laugh.
“And you!” Errol said with a jab to Thorin’s side. “Somehow, I think you got the better deal! I know Arsen and Asthea will overtake me. That means you’ll end up with seven level increases and I’ll end up with one. One measly level!”
“Winning with a good strategy is its own reward,” said Arsen.
Asthea stomped her feet, and then shook her head like a dog as she tried to rid herself of the water. “Don’t keep us waiting. Let’s see how you did.”
Errol nodded, his face turning serious as he balanced the egg on his outstretched palm. “System, I’ve captured the egg.”
Ding!
[Calculating leaderboard score for user Errol Silverdagger!]
[Calculating…]
[…]
[..]
[….]
[Score calculated!]
[Leadership: 2000/ Tactical Innovation: 3500/Strategy: 2000/Victory: 1.]
[Leaderboard updated!]
Trial Leaderboard
1. Errol Silverdagger: 7501
2. Thorin Silverdagger: 1101
3. …
4. …
5. …
Frankly, Logan was surprised that Errol’s leadership score wasn’t higher. Those centipedes had been something else, and yet Errol had still managed to get them to follow his orders.
“Well done, Errol!” said Arsen.
Errol snorted. “Says the man who’s about to claw my score to pieces.”
Arsen’s grin became wicked. He raised one shoulder in a shrug. “Considering what you had to deal with, I don’t see how I could have done better.”
Arsen was next. Based on everything he’d learned about the man, Logan had high expectations.
“Good luck,” said Logan.
Arsen raised an eyebrow. “Tricky off-worlder, luck has nothing to do with it. If you rely on your luck stat, you’ll never get anywhere.”
The others rumbled in agreement.
Thorin crossed his arms, his meaty biceps bulging. “Show the trickster how it’s done, Arsen!”
Logan held back a sigh. At this point, he didn’t know why he bothered. His good nature kept getting the better of him. Being part of the group gave him a false sense of camaraderie. It was only as things hit him over the head with their despicableness that he remembered. Remembered things like boiled skill rings.
And that Asthea was the only one holding the guards back from murder.