Chapter 21
[https://i.imgur.com/VRneryF.png]
A wave of heat and compressed air hit them in the back, causing them to shoot through the tunnel at a dangerous speed. The tunnel led downward at a sharp angle, and they were pushed through it with the pressure of air behind them. Mad Dogs couldn’t possibly stay on their legs as they were pushed forward by the air pressure and they rolled down through the narrow, descending tunnel in the flesh of Fallen Eldritch Forebear. They rolled down one after another.
The tunnel was equipped with magical blue shining glyphs on walls with great intervals between them, but they shoot through the tunnel so fast lights blurred together in long blue lines. They were rattling and bouncing off the walls as they were pushed forwards, but luckily for Mad Dogs, the tunnel walls were unnaturally smooth.
Their body parts didn’t get caught on some sharp edge, and all they got were painful bruises under their armor. The longer they were pushed through the tunnel, the more bruises formed.
After a long and painful descent, they were finally spat out of the tunnel into a wider space. A few more rolls and all four of them stopped rolling and laid out on the cavern floor.
Their weapons and bags flew into the cavern right after them. At least what was left of their bags. Their expensive and durable traveling bags were fully destroyed and laid on the floor in pitiful remains. Their supplies were smashed and damaged.
A spear bounced off the floor with a gust of air and landed an inch from Linus' head, piercing the hard ground under them.
Linus turned his head in confusion. Upon realizing how close to his helmet the spear had pierced the ground, Linus shouted in shock and rolled sideways.
Jack was the only one who instantly stood up and checked their surroundings. His high Constitution made their bumpy descent only a slight annoyance for him. For him, it was not a life-threatening descent like it was for the rest of them.
Jack scouted the room around him with a piercing gaze. They weren’t in a cave. They were in a large study room, with tables and cabinets filled with runic texts and books from blackish leather instead of paper. The room was illuminated by many blue lamps hanging from the ceiling and walls. Those were the same magical lamps that were built in the tunnel into which they just descended down. His eyes stopped on a particular spot in the room, and his posture became aggressive and ready for action.
“Up!” he called to his teammates without breaking eye contact with that particular spot in front of him.
Orla, Linus, and Zaun were just trying to get their bearing and fight through the waves of the pain their bruised bodies sent to their brains, but Jack's call made them shoot up and ignore the chilling pain running through them.
In front of Mad Dogs stood four small blobs of eyes and arms. They were cuddled together, and in their many eyes, dogs could see very human expressions. There was an expression of fear and confusion in the small blobs of flesh.
Fallen Eldritch Priest – Lvl 40
Fallen Eldritch Priest – Lvl 40
Fallen Eldritch Priest – Lvl 40
Fallen Eldritch Priest – Lvl 40
Jack moved.
He rushed forward and in the run grabbed Zaun’s axe from the ground in one swift fluid movement. At the next moment, he was already on the small blobs in front of him.
“Jack, stop!” Orla shouted.
‘Shrhrhrhha’ mental scream of fear escaped the small Eldritch Priests in front of them.
Jack didn’t listen to Orla and swung the axe in a downward swing aiming for the head of the closest creature. Blobs of flesh turned to run still screaming and Jack's target was just barely fast enough to dodge the swing and run after his other siblings. They ran off and hid under the table, just as small children would do.
Jack followed right behind, not letting Eldritch create a distance. As his target fled under the table, he got in the stance to swing his axe under it, when Orla reached him from behind and grabbed his axe-wielding hand stopping it in the middle of the motion.
Her muscles bulged under her armor and her Strength stat worked overtime just to slow down Jack's arms. But she managed to do so even if barely so. Jack turned his head and looked at Orla with dark, violent eyes. His look froze Orla for a second.
Jack radiated violence and anger, this time not against some monstrous enemy, but against her. She had never seen the old man quite like that. She knew he didn’t have everything alright up in his house, but that was why they choose to take him with them. But only now, when she stopped his fun at slaying Eldritch and Jack looked at her with his dreadful eyes, she for the first time felt any real danger from this wrinkled old geezer.
Yet Orla didn’t shy away from him and just held his gaze with one of her own. Their expressions were hidden behind the helmets, but their eyes told more than enough.
“They are just kids. Don’t you see?”
“What in the hell are you talking about? They are high-level Eldritch, we came out here to kill them, didn’t we?”
“We came out here to fight monsters. Those kids are not monsters. Levels don’t matter. All eldritch are born with high levels and they progress by feeding on mana,” Orla looked at the small blobs hiding in plain view under the table trying to look even smaller than they already are, “They are children. They are sapient. And you are scaring them.”
She pushed past him and dropped to her knees before the Eldritch blobs under the table. Jack simply stood there and watched Orla stretch out her hand and speak in a soft voice to the Eldritch monsters in front of them. Zaun and Linus also were silently watching the girl, only they were not surprised by her antics.
“It is alright. Don’t be afraid. We will not hurt you,” she said slowly inching closer to the table under which small blobs found their protection.
Small blobs stopped their telepathic crying and watched her with suspicion.
The bravest of four blobs reached one of his hands towards the Orla. They slowly got closer to one another until finally, their fingers touched. Eldritch's fingers touched the humans. Small Eldritch didn’t pull back but grabbed her metal gauntlet in curiosity. His finger slid over her metal skin, and 6 of his other hands joined in his task to inspect this metal creature in front of him.
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Others blobs silently watched their contact, and when they saw no danger from the girl they also crawled out of the table and started touching her arms and armor.
“See?” she said to Jack, “They are harmless. Children don’t have to die for the sins of their parents.”
Jack watched her with an unreadable expression in his eyes and face hidden, but Orla was sure her words reached him. They must have.
Orla took off her helmet and her hair fell down over her shoulders in long black waves. Exhaustion was overwhelming, but there was no respite here. She took a deep breath and air went through her cut-off nose with a wheezing sound. Her nose stump was slowly healing, but her beautiful face was gone, and it would never come back. But for her, it didn’t matter.
She stepped on the path of a warrior, on the path of a spearman. Her beauty will not do any good on the battlefield.
Orla looked into the curious eyes of the Eldritch kids in front of her and showed a bright smile to them. It was sobering to find pure innocence even in such an alien place as the Eldritch plane. It was always told that Eldritch on the western borders of the Empire were mindless man-eating abominations. Monsters with only single emotion leading them, hatred for humankind. But now she began to question the truth told to her all her life.
Eldritch Priests on the surface were clearly completing some religious ceremony and down here they didn’t see caves with bones and corpses. It was an underground dwelling of a sapient creature. Furniture, writing, magical lamps, and decorations on the walls all were signs of civilization and highly developed at that.
If Mad Dogs were to invade their world and kill their children, then they must ask the question, who are the real monsters here?
She concentrated her will and a blue screen appeared in front of her with her personal information.
a
Status Class: Spearman Lvl: 11 Xp: 13% Mana: 7/7
_ Race talent: Scourge Tier I talent: Hands of Spearman
_ CON 11 END 0 STR 11 PER 0 INT 0 WIS 0 _ Perks:
* Warrior’s conditioning II
Race talent – Scourge – ???
Her race talent was hidden behind the question marks and nobody she knew didn’t know what human race talent does. When she was young her father told her that question marks symbolize knowledge you have no right to know. And no one she knew couldn’t tell what the menacing talent name stands for.
When you inspect a creature 100 levels higher than you, a creature’s level is shrouded in question marks. Orla had a hypothesis that if she would level high enough, she would find out the meaning behind the race talent. Are humans really the innocent ones? How could a race, that only defends their homes and loved ones, have such a dreadful talent?
The small Eldritch in front of Orla gently touched her face with one of its many hands, showing curiosity towards her lips and the remains of her nose. Orla felt the warm touch of the Eldritch and did not shy away.
Then a tall shadow fell over her.
“I disagree on that, darling,” Jack said with a cold emotionless voice.
Axe came down and split young Eldritch in the half.
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 40 Fallen Eldritch Priest!
Blood splashed on her face as Eldritch in front of her fell limp. A blue notification flashed in front of her eyes, but she didn’t see it. Her mind and body felt numb and blood dripped down her face. Red blood, not purple. Reality only now slowly sank into her mind.
“You killed him,” Orla stated the obvious.
Three brothers of the small blob started screaming in their own telepathic way. They turned around to run back under the table, but Jack didn’t allow them to. With two swift swings, he killed two more of the small blobs
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 40 Fallen Eldritch Priest!
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 40 Fallen Eldritch Priest!
Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 12!
+1 CON, +1 STR
Jack stepped on the last survivor, pushing the small Fallen Eldritch Priest down under his foot. He pulled his hand back to land the last killing blow when Orla smashed into his side.
They both went down tumbling and Orla landed on the top. She reached for the axe, which Jack was still holding in his grip, but he pushed her off him with ease. She tried to get up quickly, but Jack was first to stand up.
Iron gauntlet smashed into the face of Orla opening her nose wound anew. Blood gushed out and her vision blurred under the strike. She tried to cover up, but his fist fell down on her repeatedly like a hammer. Jack didn’t need any Strength stats to completely overpower the girl in a brawl.
“Stop!” Linus said and pointed his spear right under Jack’s helmet.
Jack stopped his punches and slowly turned his head to look at Linus. Linus' spear was pressed on Jack’s neck between his armor plates, and now only thin chainmail separated the spearhead from his skin.
“That is what I like to see, Linus,” Jack said half mockingly, “Defend your friends against guaranteed death. You took my earlier words to the heart, I see. Do you also agree with her?”
“No, we don’t agree with her,” Linus said and waved to Zaun.
Zaun picked up the last of Eldritch and smashed Jack’s mace against it. Fallen Eldritch Priests despite their levels were very fragile. Their bodies were so soft either because they were natural-born mages or because these Eldritch were so young. Either way last Eldritch popped with ease and blood pooled under the Zaun’s legs.
Congratulations! Your party has slain Lvl 40 Fallen Eldritch Priest!
“Orla is wrong. Even if they are sapient, they are also our enemies. Doesn’t matter if they don’t understand it yet,” Linus said, "But you better get off her right fucking now."
Orla laid on her back with her head sideways. She looked at the corpses of young Eldritch on the floor. On her cheeks tears mixed with the blood.
“We are the scourge,” Orla said.
“No, we are Mad Dogs of Rosmorre,” Linus said and pulled his spear back, ”And we will do whatever it takes us to get out of here. Together. Is it right, Jack?”
Jack stayed still for a second. After a moment he stood up and lightly threw Zaun’s axe to him with no spin to it. Zaun caught it in mid-flight and in response threw Jack’s mace to him.
“You are right, boy,” Jack said and caught his mace, “No matter what.”
Now all three of them looked at Orla.