Mahina could not see the entire city from her vantage point. She could see clearly for 300 meters. After about a kilometer, it was significantly dimmer. After 2 kilometers, it was black. Her HUD could show her the contours of the ceiling and the walls of the caverns. The walls were made of hexagons of different widths, thicknesses, and depths in how far they jutted from the wall. The ceiling had a similar topography with hexagonal stalactites hanging from the ceiling in seemingly random patterns. Some stalactites reached all the way down and were essentially posts although they were wider at the top. She could make out another stairwell rising through the wall some distance to her right. She couldn’t see it, but it was apparent from the contour map.
She examined the general shape of the cavern and realized it was one big hexagon. Each side measured 3.83km. At least that was the interior measurement. She suspected the surface she was seeing on the walls wasn’t just a facade. Given the interior lengths of the walls, and assuming this was a true hexagon, that meant it was a little over 7.5km to the far side. And it was about 22 square km. The average ceiling height was about 200 meters above the average ground surface height. The stairs led below the surface of the city in front of her. That likely meant that it wasn’t simply a 1 or 2 level structure. Mahina was suddenly reminded of a megacity but built inside of a cavern instead of freestanding on the surface.
She moved down the stairs. Just like the handrail, these were a little too tall for human sensibilities.
Everything seemed so monolithic. Black stone constituted every surface around her. Although, she suspected it wasn’t made of stone. It was smooth and hard. It was almost like formed concrete. She took out her machete. Holding the handle in her right hand and the back of the blade in the other, she tried to shave off a corner. She managed to separate a couple splinters off a corner and placed them in a sample jar. She only had a couple more jars that survived the boulder.
No lights. No fixtures. No sounds. No Furniture or remnants. No cloth. No metal pots or pans. This felt more like a labyrinth than a city. She considered that this was not a living space. But She suspected that there were sections she was not able to access. Perhaps all of the area she was seeing was just public space.
Everything was open. There were no doors or windows. There were tunnels that ended in dead ends. The more she searched the less sure she was about what she was looking at.
Then, there was a red blip indicating some type of life nearby. Mahina headed in that direction as she checked her grip on the machete.
As she turned the corner, she saw the boots. The boots were attached to a form slumped against the wall. The clothing seemed to be mostly leather and perhaps more. It was hard to make out the details. The rumpled form was in an advanced state of decay.
The red blip indicating a life sign was coming from the head rather than center mass. Rather than try and get too close, she pulled on one boot to slide the corpse from the wall and hoped it would lay out flat. This probably won’t work. It has probably settled into a solid mass over time or the whole leg will come off.
Yet it did work. The body fell flat on its back looking straight up. Mahina noted the desiccated face and eye socket right as the body moved.
Mahina reeled and jumped back. Frozen in shock. Her mind wanted to insist it was a figment of her imagination. She looked on in horror as the body sat up and the head turned toward her. The right eye socket was empty. In the left eye socket, something slithered.
Still retreating, she could see more of the body now. Even emaciated, it was shorter than a human and wider. It had a metal open-faced helmet. The body looked to be wearing chainmail with a leather overcoat. The leather was just as desiccated as the body and was breaking apart as it moved to stand.
She knew what she had to do. Although, as she swiped her machete to cleave through the head of the creature right at the level of the eye socket, she wondered. This thing can’t still be alive, can it?
Top of the head popped off as the old and rusted helmet did nothing to stop the monomolecular blade. The wriggling worm squealed as it died. Death did nothing to stop the pieces of the worm from twitching.
Mahina stared for a moment. Surely this can’t be what awaits us on this planet. This is madness. She stood over the body for a moment. She didn’t want to break her self-imposed radio silence. This was too much. She uploaded all the data and video she had collected. She looked at the pieces of worm. She gritted her teeth and collected that as well.
She checked the body. She didn’t see a bag or pockets. Disappointing. Certainly, the fact that there were no pockets indicated that there must be a bag or pack somewhere.
----------------------------------------
Congratulations!
You defeated a Wraithwasp Thrallspawn. (level 6).
Irragen points awarded!
----------------------------------------
A noise sounded to her left from further down the hall. A red blip was moving. Probably toward her. A quick sweep of her head revealed there were half a dozen moving around. Time to go.
The hall to the left only showed one blip. She went that way.
Moving down the hall about 10 meters there was a doorway to a hall on the right. Approaching the corner, she peeked around the edge and almost choked as she ducked back before the scaled shadowcat saw her. Looking back at the way she came from the blips were closing in on the room.
That last worm was only level 6. I suspect the hosts aren’t as strong as they would be if they were alive. She slowly peaked around the corner again. This shadowcat was missing an eye as well. Although it had 4 to start with. It seemed smaller overall than the one that attacked the lander. It was moving slowly as if stalking.
Also, this blip wasn’t focused in the head. Maybe the worm moved to other parts. Or sometimes the host doesn’t die right away. Still, if that shadowcat could turn invisible, it’s strange that it isn’t.
She had 14 pistol shots left. She couldn’t shoot through the scales. Eyes are the windows to the soul and the brain.
She shifted her pistol and made sure it was set to subsonic single. She held the pistol out and looked round the corner again. The double snap of 2 shots being fired were followed by twin whines of the acceleration hardware.
----------------------------------------
Congratulations!
You defeated a Wraithwasp Thrallspawn. (level 6).
You defeated a Scaled Shadowcat. (Tier 2 level 15).
Irragen points awarded!
----------------------------------------
The Scaled Shadowcat had been alive, but it certainly didn’t seem to be operating like a normal Shadowcat would. They must be puppets. And puppets of low leveled perhaps simple creatures.
Mahina put her pistol away and pulled out her machete again. More blips were now closing in ahead of her. She looked back at the blips closing in. I wonder.
She slowly moved to the previous room, being as quiet as she possibly could. There was a creature hunched over the dead body she had left behind. It was short and lithe to the point that it could be called gangly. It must have been no more than a meter tall and covered in brown fur. Mahina slowly moved closer to it trying to do so without alarming it.
With its head bent down trying to examine the dead body, she could see a wound on the back of its head. A puncture right through the skull. As she moved closer her foot scuffed on the floor.
Its head shot up and it screamed. Its eyes were milky white and with its mouth wide open she could see at least 2 rows of teeth. Not hesitating, the tactical shield activated on her left arm moving forward and covering her knuckles she punched forward and the head exploded.
“Ugh.” She instinctively checked that outside air was closed off so she wouldn’t smell that.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Another scream caught her attention. Another brown furred creature rushed her. She swiped her machete at the head dividing it in 2. And then they came.
She barely had time to even see them. There was something with a spider for a head. Punch. Move. More fur clad creatures. Slash, dodge, slash, turn, punch. She was hit on the side of the head. She lashed out with the blade as she careened to the left. There was a huge snake with legs. Cut through the neck. Stomp on the head. A 2-meter-tall kiwi bird except it didn’t have feathers and it had ears. Punch in the neck and the blade comes down on the head splitting it in two. Something hits her in the back pushing her toward the hall. She ran from the quickly filling room. Screeches followed her.
She ran and turned down the hall with the dead shadow cat. There were several stuttering roars to her left. It was time to move off the beaten path. She scanned ahead and found the perfect spot.
She leapt up on a ledge. Without stopping she leapt across the path to another roof and leapt to another roof further ahead. She kept running and figured she was about clear. The blip from above slowed up too late for her to dodge. A spike slammed into her helmet’s face plate, and it cracked. The good news is that it stopped the spike. Mahina swiped at the creature with her machete. She thought she missed but a second later something hit the ground to her right.
It was a huge, black wasp. She had clipped a wing, and it couldn’t fly. She looked up again. No more blips but this one was going to die. It was still on its side when she divided it in 2.
Mahina looked around for pursuers. They didn’t seem to have figured out where she went. She caught sight of another red blip up above. It wasn’t heading toward her now. Why take chances?
She pulled out her pistol and took aim. Supersonic would be better, but she didn’t want to draw any more attention than she had to. She aimed. It was moving slowly. She fired and missed. Her targeting system was too basic. It couldn’t account for moving targets or bullet-drop. But now it was heading right for here. That should be a stable enough target. She aimed just a little high and fired again. Snap!
The target exploded like a firework. The big red blip exploded into a bunch of smaller red blips. That was weird. What’s with the smaller blips? Then, it occurred to her. She looked down and jumped back. Worms were pouring out of the lower half of the wasp and her feet and were trying to crawl up her.
“Ugh.” She shuddered and stomped her feet shaking loose the ones climbing her and smashing the ones on the ground in a grisly Riverdance. She brushed her hands all over herself and took off her pack and generally freaked out checking all over.
When she was satisfied the worms were all dead. She shuddered again, put her pack back on and scanned again. Nothing in the air. Nothing on the ground.
----------------------------------------
Congratulations!
You defeated a Wraithwasp Thrallspawn. (level 6) x28
You defeated a Wraithwasp Infester. (Tier 2 level 8)
You defeated a Wraithwasp Infester. (Tier 2 level 34)
You defeated a Giant Skritterfeeder. (level 33)
You defeated a Jungle Ambusher. (level 29)
You defeated cavern scavenger. (Level 12)
Irragen points awarded!
----------------------------------------
You have acquired sufficient irragen to increase your level!
You are now Tier 1 Level 11.
You have 1 attribute point to distribute.
This continued for 3 more levels.
You are now Tier 1 Level 14.
You have 1 attribute point to distribute.
----------------------------------------
You have earned an Honormark!
-You alone defeated more than 30 enemies with an average level at or above your level at once. The Riot Control Honormark increases your stats by 1% (minimum of 1) for every enemy that is targeting you when more than 5 are doing so. It increases to 2% if you are alone. Stats revert to normal after combat ends.
Do you accept these changes? Y/N
----------------------------------------
Mahina assented still wondering why it asked for acceptance. Light slowly enveloped her body. And a moment later the light faded, and she could see once again. This was immediately followed by stuttering roars.
“Uh oh, I guess I didn’t think that through. Now I know why it gives you a choice.” Mahina muttered to herself.
She turned to see 3 stalkers charging at her. They were some distance off. She pulled her pistol out. She set to supersonic single since maximum power was needed but she didn’t have bullets to spare for a burst.
She fired at the lead stalker. Aim for eyes. CRACK! The sound echoed through the cavern. This might have been a mistake. It stumbled for a moment but kept coming. This really might have been a mistake. CRACK! It dropped and rolled, but it was still moving.
She changed targets to the one on the left. CRACK! It missed a step but kept coming. CRACK! CRACK! It fell but like the other it still was alive. The last one was almost on her.
She holstered the pistol away and pulled out her machete. As it closed in, she extended the blade on the tactical shield. It leapt at her, and she engaged OVERDRIVE. She suspected she was underestimating what she could do. She was right.
The claws came at her, but it felt like the stalker was moving in slow motion. She moved to the right. It wasn’t enough to completely avoid the leap, but she brought up her tactical shield and tried to brush the claw she couldn’t avoid to the left of her. Strength is one thing. Mass and momentum are another. She didn’t have the leverage to move the whole stalker, but she did move the leg and when her tactical shield blade came up and pushed to the left, it sliced the leg off. The stalker’s shoulder pushed her back as it passed.
She recovered as the stalker fell to the ground and screeched in surprise as it had no left foreleg to land on. It crashed smearing blood and sliding across the floor. Mahina followed and leapt on it. Before it could recover, she jammed the blade of the tac shield in the skull of the stalker and sliced the top off with the machete. She saw the worm, or at least part of it, fly off with the top of the skull.
She didn’t stop to rest on her laurels and rolled off the stalker to her feet. She turned and dashed to the nearest stalker but the first one she downed would intercept her. It leapt at her, she dropped and slid under it dragging her tac shield blade through its chest and belly. She rolled back to her feet and kept going after the second stalker. The second one looked up right as she jammed the machete in its missing left eye cut to the right. It dropped dead.
Mahina turned to look at the last stalker. It was...a mess.
“Wow.” Mahina was shocked.
The creature was trying to stand but it was slipping on its own organs and guts. Every time the legs spread out from under it, the body spread out too since it was only connected at the spine. It was gross.
She went around the back. It was no longer really watching her because it was so intent on trying to get back on its feet. She leapt on the back. Jammed the tac shield blade into the skull and sliced off the top.
----------------------------------------
Congratulations!
You defeated a Gorgonclaw Stalker. (Level 33) x 3
Irragen points awarded!
----------------------------------------
Mahina retracted the blade on the tactical shield and carefully extricated herself from the stalker and the mess it had made. She cast a glance around to try and ensure no more enemies were coming at her. As loud as the gunshots were, surely, they would have attracted more attention. Yet nothing came. Perhaps she was in an area that was difficult for most creatures to access.
She walked back to the Wraithwasp she had bisected. The bodies the smash worms surrounded it. She thought since it was a Tier 2 creature, perhaps it had a core.
The creature was beautiful in way. That is if one could get past the awful worms that filled its abdomen. It was an iridescent black all over. Even the four wings had the same coloring. There was a fine white ring where the abdomen and the thorax met and another where the neck attached to the thorax. Mahina was uncertain of the terminology for a wasp neck. The legs had barbs on the inside that pointed upward toward the body. It looked as if it could land on something and hold on. She shuddered at the mental image of it holding on as the stinger pierced the eye or skull of a creature and injected its brood. Nope.
The abdomen was empty and flattened. Mahina pulled out the machete and split the thorax from head to abdomen. She wasn’t certain, but it seemed like there should be some entrails somewhere. The wasp had a mouth, right? She looked. It did not. How did it eat?
She shuffled the innards of the thorax around and saw it. There was a bright, red sphere. She pushed it out of the organs with the tip of the machete and scooped it up with a sample bottle.
----------------------------------------
Congratulations!
Variety is the Spice – Retrieve Irragenic Beast core with a different aspect. (repeatable)
Quest completed. An Irragenic beast core with a different aspect has been acquired.
Irragen points awarded!
----------------------------------------
Mahina decided to find the other core as well. She checked the 3 Stalkers. None of them had cores. The Quillback Brute likely had one, but it was as unretrievable as her other weapons. It seemed something had to be above tier 2 to have a core.
She made her way over to the other Wraithwasp since it had landed on top of a set of structures and thus, out of the way of any roaming hordes. It was still surrounded by a few surviving worms which she killed with a step and grind of her boot. She received notifications for the kills even though they were fairly simple. They didn’t appear to have much ability to move without being attached to a living thing. She retrieved the core without incident, but she still felt a bit of tension. Wasps normally did just have a couple of them around. There might be a hive with many. Again, that's a nope.
She made her way to the staircase that she had seen earlier. Her helmet visor was still cracked. She was all but out of ammo and down to one pistol. It was time to return and report back what she had seen and found.