image [https://imgur.com/4JH9KCE.png]
It was painful being so far up, but too few ventured into the depths. It had slowly slowly crawled and squeezed its way through cracks, under doors, past sentries. More than hunger or compulsions it was motivated by boredom. It craved the moment of passion, the need to use its intelligence to overcome a problem, the thrill of a successful HUNT. Methodically over years it had closed the other paths down, and although this place constantly repaired itself, it had been diligent in keeping those passageways closed. This plan had borne fruit dozens of times now, and it could hear the distant tremors of approaching feet.
There were sounds of squealing and fighting nearby. It waited patiently. Several of its long slick arms were held at the ready around the door. Each was tipped with a long glasslike thorn, and in each of those thorns was potent paralyzing venom. The first moments were the most important. Paralyze the prey, retreat, then when they had succumbed, return. Sometimes the weaker prey died from the potent venom, but they would be tasty either way.
They approached. It heard voices. “Luka, let’s check this door before we continue. The book shows it has one of the paths downwards.” It couldn’t understand the meaning, in spite of how much it felt it should, but it could understand the tone. It heard a low response of confirmation. The door latch was pushed, and the door swung cautiously inwards. It did not move. An armored figure entered into the room slowly, sword at the ready. He noticed the chest and the tunnel on the far wall and his blade lowered just a bit, as two more figures joined the first. “Let’s be careful with that chest as-”
It moved. The thorns stabbed down, aiming for cracks in the armor, necks, faces. It immediately got the two relatively unarmored ones, and they collapsed to the ground. The armored figure moved with shocking speed, the blade whipping up and slicing off three of the arms. It focused its full concentration, each thorn stabbing in and out, moving in complex patterns. The armored figure in turn used skills and magic, defense and offensive abilities creating a difficult hunt.
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But It chose the ceiling for a reason. As the figure lopped off another arm it belched out a cloud of suffocating gasses downwards. The figure gasped and choked, the movements of the sword growing less sure. The thorns found the mark. Again and again it stabbed, the figure still struggling, fighting. It grabbed the two other figures and pulled them back, content to let the venom work. Slowly.
It hadn’t hunted for a bit, so it let itself indulge and crunched down into the sweet and savory top part of one of the figures. Deli-
It waited patiently. Several of its long slick arms were held at the ready around the door. Each was tipped with a long glasslike thorn, and in each of those thorns was potent paralyzing venom. The first moments were the most important. Paralyze the prey, retreat, then when they had succumbed, return. Sometimes the weaker prey died from the potent venom, but they would be tasty either way.
They approached. It heard voices. “Luka, let’s-” A thudding sound. “Died died died do NOT open that door!!” It tensed. The second voice had interrupted the first, and sounded upset. Odd. But still, it waited. It heard more low sounds, and then the sounds went off down the corridor. It waited. Time went by, but not a vast amount of time, and then it heard the much quieter sounds of returning feet. Yes, this was the only path forward. Very low sounds it could not make out. It felt a little nervous, but also excited. Did they know it was there? No… that seemed unlikely. It had never been detected before. It craved this hunt too much to retreat. The thorns readied themselves.
Suddenly the door slammed open, and it struck down… into nothing. “[MULTI-BLADE]!!” Pain erupted as wounds opened up on its many arms. Another sound rang out and arcing electricity flashed and burned. Its whole body seized up for just a moment, and it fell from the ceiling smashing into the ground. No! The ceiling protected the soft parts, it needed to- “[MULTI-BLADE]!!” It felt itself being torn apart. So suddenly. It tried to move, but its limbs were gone. It couldn’t. It.
“Can you understand me?” It rolled an eye towards the clear voice. A figure was standing there. It could speak true language? How…?
“Y…yes… how…” The figures eyes widened. “I see. Too bad. I don’t think you will last much longer.”
It sighed out, deflating further. “Sent by Gods…? Freedom from prison…?”
The figure crouched down. “You serve the Gods as well? I thought only the Heroes did?”
“Not fake ones. Not parasites… true…” It couldn’t think much more. “Deep.”
The figure smiled and it suddenly had the most awful feeling, even as the last of its life faded.
That it had somehow shared a secret with an enemy.