From there on, the time in between drone groups shrunk and left me with little to no time to pursue other things. Although I still managed to squeeze some mana control training in there, since it was nothing other than pre-battle preparation. The constant fighting was also not that bad, since the drones all were level 15 or below and so posed no significant threat. They were basically free experience.
However, what struck me as strange was that drones would gather in groups of five and just do nothing in this tunnel. I felt like there should be a purpose in them being here, but I could not make out any kind of plan or reason behind their presence here. It was too weird to just be a natural occurrence, but even if there was some plan behind it, there was nothing I could do beside mowing them down. And dead, they wouldn’t be able to pull anything funny either way.
Following four encounters with different groups, each made of five drones each, my class levels up to 20, while my species also got a—nowadays rare—level up. This time, I split the stat points between Willpower, Intelligence and Strength. Before, didn’t need to worry about carrying anything, but now that I was in possession of clothes and a bag, who knew what else I would acquire, so it would be better if I was not as weak as I currently was.
As for the tunnel, it was the longest one yet, and even after all this time, there was no end to it in sight and I was not sure if that was a good or a bad thing, after all, I was getting quite a few levels in here.
This kind of situation would have been worrisome if my mana expenses were higher, since there wasn’t really a safe space for mediation, but with how things were currently going, I spent only a bit of mana at each encounter for Shadow Cloak and Telekinesis. Even now, I was still above nine hundred mana, without having meditated once.
Approaching another group of drones, I cloaked myself in shadows as usual and swiftly moved towards the closest of them. The first mandible dug into its head, killing it in an instant. Instead of retrieving the mandible, I switched to the second one and killed the drone closest to the one I had just killed. It died as fast and silent as the first one.
Two of the remaining three reacted unusually quick to their brethren's death. It was strange, but not that concerning, however, when I checked the last drone, it was not coming my way and instead turned around, moving in the opposite direction. It was running away.
What? They never run!
Caught off guard, I lost focus for a second and did not notice one of the other drones coming in close. I was too late to react and the drone bumped right into me. And of course, it did not leave me alone after that.
“Shit,” I clicked my tongue, forging an arrow of mana and grabbing it tightly. Swinging my arms down, I slammed it into the drone's head, who was trying to grab me with its mandibles.
You have slain [Exapoda Drone | Lvl. 15]. Experience will be awarded.
Releasing my mana and reabsorbing it, I reached for one of my mandibles still lodged into a drone’s corpse and with a swift motion, pulled it out, dispatching the fourth drone before it could react. However, by the time the two drones were dead, the last drone had already gotten away and was nowhere to be seen. I could still hear it, but that would not for long be the case.
Frustrated, I kicked the ground, nearly tripping over my own cloak and stumbling, but managing to stay upright. Right, I had clothes now. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I tried to let go of this irrational anger.
They never ran before, they wouldn’t even show hesitation or fear, despite others dying around them. They were cannibals, after all, so me killing their friends just meant more food for them. I had assumed that was because they were driven by instinct, but this assumption of mine was now proven wrong. Or was it? That sudden behavioral change was too weird. Maybe there was something else, but I was painfully I aware that it was currently not in my capability to find out more about it.
The only thing I could possibly do was find the drone and the place it ran to, which meant to just continue doing what I was already doing. Still, I couldn’t help but worry about just what consequences its successful escape could have.
The next group consisted of only five drones, suggesting that the runaway drone had not come here to aid them and instead ran past them. Or, although unlikely, the group was only four drones strong before and the escapee had joined them.
But, let’s be realistic, the likelihood of the latter being the case was quite slim. The drones didn’t even seem the slightest bit agitated and I would expect them to be if the one who ran was among them.
Growing slightly impatient and restless, I tried to kill these drones as fast as possible. I tore into the first and quickly tried to move on to the second with the same mandible, but that turned out to be a mistake. The mandible had already shown slight signs of wear and my rash and rough attacks pushed it over the edge and it broke, shattered into three pieces and became utterly useless.
With only one remaining, I was reminded that even if they cut the drones before me with ease, they were not indestructible. I would have to be a little more careful with the remaining one.
For the last three drones, I managed to keep the last mandible intact, although it chipped slightly and I was suspecting it would break sooner or later. There were always the mandibles of the drones I killed that I could fetch, but I wanted to test other ways of extermination anyway.
[Novice Witch] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 1 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Novice Witch] is now Level 21.
Losing one of my weapons had at least set my head straight, and I moved on with newfound calm and another stat increase in Willpower.
Being down one weapon and with the strange behavior of the drone, I decided to use the next encounter for a few tests.
To begin with, I refrained from using Shadow Cloak on myself and put no effort into remaining undetected. When they found me, none showed any signs of fear nor an intention to flee. It became apparent that drones were not afraid of me specifically, not that I expected that to be the case. Maybe I had misjudged the drone’s intentions and it wasn’t fleeing to save its life, and maybe running away was to achieve something else entirely. Well, for now, I had very energetic drones to deal with.
The first one that charged at me, I planted my remaining mandible in its head and left it there.
The second followed, I conjured a mana arrow and waited for it to come into range. Once it was roughly twenty feet away, I fired. The arrow streaked forward, but the arrow broke halfway and the mana it was built from dissipated.
Clicking my tongue, I began shaping another arrow, but the drone was almost at my throat, and forced me to dodge. Agility was not the best of my stats, but it still grew a lot, so these reacting in time was no problem.
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Mid-turn, I grabbed the new arrow and stabbed it into the drone’s side. Since it was still mid-charge, the arrow sliced through its entire side, cutting off the occasional leg. Once I had reached the last quarter of its body, the kill notification appeared.
You have slain [Exapoda Drone | Lvl. 15]. Experience will be awarded.
Three drones remained, but only two of them were currently close enough to be called a threat, so I ignored the one behind for now. I sprinted toward the nearest one and once again used the very same mana arrow to impale its head. After it breathed its last, I quickly took a few steps back and prepared for the next drone to attack me.
The next drone died in a similar manner, which left me alone with the last drone, which had finally reached me. For this one though, I had another thing I wanted to test out.
Now that my level had increased a few times and I put all of my stat points into Willpower and Intelligence, I should be able to lift heavier things with my Telekinesis and I wanted to try out how well the skill did with living beings.
I was running short of weapons to wield, but that wouldn’t matter if instead of weapons, I could fling around the very opponent without even touching it. And a single drone without any assistance was the perfect test subject.
I reached out and activated Telekinesis on the approaching bug. Since it was not really an attack, the drone couldn’t do much to resist or avoid it and quickly ended up enveloped by my skill. When its body weighed down on my arm, it was confirmed that my skill was working.
As for the weight, I hadn’t expected it to be light, but it was actually lighter than expected. About the same as the big tooth, maybe even a bit lighter. It was hard to find a comparison, because it was the first time I lifted anything this heavy. It put a significant strain on my mind, but things should work out like I wanted them to.
With my telekinetic grip firm, I lifted the drone off the ground. I clenched my teeth and felt its weight weighing down on the entirety of my body. It actually felt like my legs might give out before my arms, but I persisted.
When the drone’s legs no longer touched the ground and it was rising into the air, it started thrashing around and screeching in a frenzy, shaking my control and my concentration. This was definitely not something I could endure for much longer.
Raising both my arms high, the drone shot upwards and slammed back first into the ceiling, cracking not only the bark, but also its exoskeleton. Blue blood started dripping from freshly created cracks in its defenses and its resistance stopped—the impact probably knocked it out, but according to the system it was still alive.
I could have taken the extra effort and smashed it back into the ground full force, but for now, I let gravity do its thing and deactivated Telekinesis.
The drone fell helplessly and crashed into the ground, its body not withstanding impact and practically bursting. Blood, flesh and other pieces of its body splattered everywhere, even onto myself.
You have slain [Exapoda Drone | Lvl. 15]. Experience will be awarded.
[Unregistered] has leveled up! Stat points have been allocated! 1 Free Stat Point acquired!
[Unregistered] is now Level 19.
Satisfied with the result, I spat out some blood that had gotten into my mouth and wiped a few drops out of my face.
I was unsure if this would work like I imagined it to, but I was not disappointed. Quite on the contrary, it convinced me that it had been a good decision to invest into Telekinesis by focusing my stat points on Willpower. And as such, my newly acquire point vanished into the very stat that allowed me this kill.
After all of this, I was left with 789 mana. I thought about meditating, but if things were to continue like now, I saw no reason to at the moment.
With the drones dead, I went to get the mandible. I had taken it a bit too far and buried the mandible inside the corpse, so I couldn’t see it and therefore was unable to grab it with Telekinesis, so I had to grab it in person.
Unfortunately, the ground around it was covered in blood and gore, and I learned to appreciate boots. Of course the sogginess was unpleasant, but it was a hundred times better than walking through this mess barefoot.
It was while I was digging around in the corpse that I heard a noise, a distant vibrations that traveled through the entire tunnel like a whisper. I tried focusing my ears on it, but it was too intelligible, too distant.
Still, for some reason, it made me feel uneasy. I hastened to retrieve the mandible and removed it from the corpse, then I quickly left the scene. I could not pinpoint the origin of the noise, but it would only make sense to come from somewhere further into the tunnel.
But strangely enough, even without me moving significant distances, the noise gradually grew louder. Hesitation started to cling to me, slowing my steps. My heart quickened, which was bad since the noise of my heartbeat kept me from focusing on the other noise, but the noise soon overtook my heartbeat.
The noise grew and grew, until I finally pinpointed the location of its origin, which was behind the wall on my right.
The instant I realized it, the very wall I was looking at burst open with a deafening crash. I stumbled backwards, my eyes wide in shock as I watched a giant of a centipede force its way through the hole. Its countless legs scuttled and clawed at the ground, creating a cacophony of scraping and scratching.
Its segmented body was a sickly shade of gray-ish brown and its four mandibles clacked menacingly. They were covered in yellow bristles, ones that I recognized. This was the same type of Exapoda which I had found back in the skeleton chamber.
My heart was pounding; I instantly covered myself in shadows and identified the new arrival, while preparing my escape.
[Exapoda Soldier - Lvl. 44]
My heart sank when I saw its level. Not only was it a new type of Exapoda, three times as big as a drone, but now even twenty level above me. There was no fighting it, I would be rushing to my death. The only sensible thing to do, was to hope it couldn’t see me and focus everything on my escape.
As silently as possible, I pivoted and began to distance myself from the soldier. However, I did not get far, as it let out an ear-piercing scream. And I meant that literally. Even after covering my ears, warm liquid touched my palms and the sharp pain in my ears made me realized that my eardrums had ruptured.
The worst, this was just a scream, so even if I healed my ears now, they would just end up burst again if the soldier did it again, so until I got away, I would have to make do without my ability to hear.
With my ears out of the game, I had to rely on my eyes again, but when I turned around, the soldier was already advancing my way and I started running with all I had left. I ran as fast as I could, but neither was I the fastest nor did I have a stamina pool to support this kind of running for long.
The soldier was not catching up to me, but it would the moment I slowed down even a little, and I realized that only a miracle could save me now, but I never believed in miracles.
It did not take long for my stamina to run out, my legs to grow numb, my lungs to burn and my throat to dry. This was the end of the line, I had nowhere to go, no chance to escape. But I was not willing to give up on my life and there was only one thing I could do, even if it turned out to be utterly useless. I could still fight.
Just as I resolved myself, to not go down without a fight, something crashed into my back and knocked me off my feet, sending me flying. I covered my head as I hit the ground. I tumbled and rolled, until I eventually came to a halt, my entire body hurting, my left arm broken, and a few ribs probably, too.
Groaning, I tried to get to my feet, when I saw the soldier rush at me. Panicked, I looked around, and luckily, I had managed to run back to where I killed the drones. Raising my remaining arm, I grabbed one of the corpses nearby, and tossed it at the soldier. Iron Will probably supported me, or else I might have broken down already.
The soldier, however, caught the corpse midair and crushed it between its mandibles, before pushing it inside its mouth, as it chewed, I already threw another corpse, but the soldier simply moved aside and avoided it.
Now back on my feet, I walked backwards, but I only had to more corpses and the soldier only required minimal effort to deal with them. After all the corpses were used up, I tossed the mandible I was carrying at it, but that did not even graze it.
The soldier charged at me, and in a panic, my hands dove into one of my pouches. It didn’t matter what, I just needed something, anything. Grasping whatever was inside, I yanked it out and realized it was the glass container with the strange liquid.
The soldier was inches away, its bristled mandibles snapping at me. With no other choices left, I unscrewed the cork.
“Fuck it,” I said and hurled the vial towards the soldier. It shattered against its armored skeleton, the foul-smelling liquid splashing all over its head. And nothing happened.
“And fuck you,” I said weakly, unsure wether I was speaking to the soldier or the liquid.
The mandibles wrapped around my body, the yellow bristles brushing against my skin, when suddenly, the bug writhed and recoiled. The soldier’s exoskeleton was melting away, and the liquid was slowly digging into it. It looked like it was screeching, so I was quite glad I had decided against restoring my eardrums.
Seizing the opportunity, I turned and with the remaining of my strength and energy, I ran away.