Kara and I burst into action, grabbing as many Gas bombs as we can, including one of the ones that we couldn’t fill all the way. It might just be the feather that broke the horse's back after all.
“Lead the way, ” I say as I see Kara grab the last one. I am struggling to keep the gas bombs in my arms but my tendrils manage to keep them somewhat steady even when being semi-ethereal.
Balthazar quickly leads us down the tunnels, weaving through the stalagmites and critters. We do not encounter any Dunecrawler worth mentioning but catch a glimpse of two rushing through a side tunnel.
I mostly focus on not dropping any of the bombs as he sets a rapid pace, vaulting over the rocks with a surprising amount of dexterity for someone of his age. Just another advantage of the System, Dexterity is very useful.
We arrive in a huge hall, roughly in the shape of a torus, filled with an obscene amount of webbing with only a few rocks showing between without a single gem in sight. Strands of silk crisscross around and connect the walls, displaying a surprising amount of thought put into how it was woven.
There are tunnels, planes and even a few balls of web spread throughout. I can already see a few clearly defined pathways where a spider could crawl through to get to the middle part. Do Dunecrawlers have a storage area or is that just a coincidence?
Dunecrawler logistics aside, there are thin strands spun across the entrances, connected to other strands by a very complex arrangement, a trap or some sort of alarm. Their ingenuity does surprise me a bit but it won’t help them much against gas bombs, not a lot will help them once we spread them in their home.
Something that will help them is the abundance of Dunecrawlers skittering over the webs and swarming towards three of the other entrances.
"The Ganoderma Assecula is attacking from three directions and acting like a coordinated swarm itself, more coordinated than the Dunecrawlers," Balthazar says, frantically attaching the gas bombs to the nets.
I mimic him and start tossing them into the room, spacing them out while scanning over the swarm of Dunecrawlers, using [Identify].
They must be the elite, levels reaching from 30 to 45 with [Webslingers] stationed around the middle part of the cave, reinforcing webs and trapping the attackers to support the main forces.
I disable kill notifications, resolving to comb through them after the combat to keep me from getting distracted.
A few stragglers make their way towards us and I whip out one revolver, fill it with six hollow-points and shoot the two closest ones, using [Reap Shot] on the higher levelled one.
[Oblivion: A percentage of the target's highest stat (Mana Capacity) has been added to yours. +2 MC]
They fall into the webs below and instantly get tangled, out of the fight even if they would have survived.
I wrap two tendrils around the chamber of my revolver, just to be safe. Disabling notifications for [Oblivion], I shoot four other Spiders and reap one soul.
The main force of the Dunecrawlers must have noticed us as the number of Spiders coming our way increases steadily, forcing me to abandon the priming of the bombs to draw my second revolver and fully focus on defending.
A small wave of Dunecrawlers makes their way towards us but Balthazar waves his hand, creating a net of shadows that cuts through the webbing and a dozen Dunecrawlers as it shoots through them.
"Thanks," I tell Balthazar, checking up on the two.
Kara is kneeling next to me and gets the primed bombs handed to her by Balthazar. She throws them deep into the structure with an impressive amount of speed and accuracy.
The moment of inattention is enough for a [Dunecrawler Scout - lvl 42] to jump at me and bite into my arm.
I try to shake it off but it clings on tight, digging its mandibles and legs into my arm, pumping venom into me.
I raise my revolver to shoot it off but Kara snaps her hand out and crushes the Dunecrawler in the palm of her hand before going back to tossing bombs, not a single word exchanged.
I check my mana, 39.
Rubble rains down on us as a brown worm bursts out of the tunnel and right into the webs. It thrashes and tears down walls of webs, covering itself completely in them, dozens of Dunecrawlers jumping onto it and trying to take it down.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
A Swarm of Scorpions pours out of the newly widened tunnel, crawling down the walls to slaughter the Dunecrawlers with their superior strength. They have three stingers each and blue glowing claws that melt the nets they come into contact with.
Goblins and some humanoid lizards jump down from the tunnel, using sharpened stones and ill-maintained gear as weapons to take Dunecrawlers down while screaming incoherently, trading forces.
My Mana is still increasing, slower than normal but still increasing. I have 47 Mana at this point. That little bite would have eliminated me as a threat some months ago.
"It looks like every single Sporestruck is here or do you think it's fighting somewhere else as well?" I ask aloud, shooting Dunecrawler after Dunecrawler and letting them deal with the Worm.
We surely appear like a lesser threat than the Horde pouring in, being just three measly humans, but they still send a token effort to deal with us.
Balthazar sends another wave of shadow nets into a cluster of Dunecrawlers, turning them into minced meat as he answers "No, she wouldn't do that."
"She?" Kara and I ask, picking up on his choice of words.
The Brown Worm stops struggling, succumbing to the Venom and numerous wounds.
"Let's go, we need to take care of the Sporestruck and not the Dunecrawlers, " Balthazar says, completely disregarding our question.
He runs away, forcing us to follow him or be left alone.
We run after him, pelting the Dunecrawlers with projectiles and leaving the screaming behind. The Dunecrawlers screech in pain as the Sporestruck advance with bloodthirsty roars.
We take a turn to the right, gaining height. I fiddle with my notebook but almost drop it as the pace Balthazar sets is blistering.
[Grant: Vona, can you note down these turns?]
[Vona: You'll have to send me the descriptions, lifting them from your mind would be too mana intensive and inaccurate.]
[Grant: Alright, turning left at the…]
Sending the descriptions to Vona as I struggle to reload while running strains my attention but my Vitality aids enough with my reflexes and perception to make it work. I drop three rounds but manage to reload both of my revolvers.
A few rapid twists and turns later, we find ourselves on the other side of the conflict. Goblins, humanoid lizards and another swarm of scorpions are all pushing and shoving to fit into the tunnel, thirsting for blood.
Instead of surging forwards and attacking us as I expected, the goblins start to cheer in goblin. At least I recognise it as cheering but my grasp on goblin is more than shaky.
One of the goblins nearest to us struts over and looks at Balthazar, completely disregarding Kara and me. It raises the sheath it is using as a weapon in a greeting.
Balthazar jerks his hand to the side, conjuring a blade of shadows and cleanly cutting through the goblin's neck.
Even though his movement was dead quiet, every single Sporestruck in the cavern slowly turns around to face us and holds their weapon at the ready.
One of the Goblins shouts one of the few words I know in goblin as the rest moves closer. "Traitor!"
I keep my revolvers at the ready but refrain from shooting, for now, Balthazar isn't attacking and neither is Kara.
"[Maximise Magic], [Shadowstrike]" Balthazar says with a flourish of his hands, invoking his Skills.
Two dozen small Shadow streaks appear spaced around the room, decapitating twenty goblins and one scorpion in one strike.
Another goblin screeches in pain as a mushroom pops out of its mouth and begins to rapidly spread over its entire body, engulfing it and gaining in height.
"Fathe-"
The goblin, if it can still be called that, abruptly gets cut off as another blade of shadow cuts it in half vertically.
I shoot into the horde, not bothering to aim extensively and counting on the high body count to work for me.
Two other Goblins go through the same transformation, mushrooms rapidly spreading and reforming them into something else but they similarly get cut in half by Balthazar.
"Father, why?" An alien voice asks from around a bend, just outside the cavern. It vibrates oddly, like someone artificially generating a voice instead of using theirs, an abstract attempt at humanity.
Balthazar tenses up, interrupting his barrage of Skills to search for the source. "No, stay away!"
A misshapen figure emerges from the tunnel, weirdly human with a weird amount of curves due to the mushrooms jutting out and badly mimicking the human body. They are taller than anyone I've met with a weirdly bloated chest. They have a staggered step like they are being dragged along on strings, but there is no doubt that their attention is on us with their gaze not faltering.
Balthazar is shaking, eyes darting everywhere but the new figure that's now towering over the horde. He is sweating bullets and starting to twitch madly. Something is definitely wrong.
The figure's mouth does not move as she speaks. "Why do you hate me?"
"What the fuck, Balthazar?" Kara asks, nervously fingering her knife.
"You shouldn't exist, " Balthazar says, shakingly raising a finger at them.
Kara and I exchange a glance but don't intervene yet.
I charge my current round with Earth and Air, figuring that a healthy balance of the two wouldn't be able to detonate the fire gems in the mine as long as I hit the Sporestruck.
They raise their hand and cause all of the gathered Sporestruck to march towards the Dunecrawler nest before saying "And yet you made me… made the impossible… and you can make it again."