Chapter 124
The Downhill Adventure (Part 2)
Brega’s lift, which was the core of his business, was made up of two parts. First was the platform that was located at the edge of the cliff. This served as a waiting area for customers and housed the engine that operated the machine itself. The second part was the lift, which looked like a larger version of an elevator.
The lift operated by a winch that would lower it down to the pit through the use of strong wires. While one would assume that strong winds would make this a dangerous method of travel, there was a system placed that countered that. On the side of the lift that was facing the cliff, there were several strong magnets placed on it that reacted to the minerals within the bedrock it faced. This helped stabilize it and make traveling a lot safer.
However, despite all of these features that the lift had, Erin and her friends weren’t exactly convinced that they were in safe hands. The reason for this was simply the state the lift was in. Much like Brega’s shop, it wasn’t in a good condition at all and showed clear signs of neglect in the form of grime and rust covering the whole things. There were even graffiti in various places that Brega hadn’t bothered to even try to get rid of. The machine looked like it belonged in a garbage dump and not in actual use.
“Hey, Brega? Are you certain that this thing is operable?” Lexton asked as he inspected the lift. “I think that it has seen its best days years ago.”
“What are you talking about? It’s in perfect shape!” the orc said happily. “I’ll be the first to admit that the graffiti needs to be taken care of, but that’s only there because I haven’t had the time to come here and properly clean it, but you can always ignore that!”
“...Are you actually shitting me right now!?” the kobold asked angrily. “The graffiti might be the most visible issue, but it’s also the least of your problems! Do you see all the rust covering this hunk of junk!? I’ll be amazed if it can move even an inch!”
“My good sir, rust is just a common thing in this business and I can assure you that any other entrepreneur in this line of work will have it as well,” Brega tried to explain. “Instead of looking down on it as a lack of quality, you should see it as a sign of a business that has been operating for a long time!”
“Yeah, I kind of have take this guy’s side, Lex,” Ryle said, surprising everybody. “I saw what you’ve used to make our weapons out of. It’s pretty much rusty trash metal you bought from a garbage dump. I don’t see how you can criticize him over doing that.”
“Because I remove the rust, you dumb bastard! That’s the big difference!” The fact that this whole machine is covered in it tells me that he is either too lazy to do basic maintenance or he doesn’t care about his business at all!”
“How can you say such a thing about me!? Do you know how hard I’ve worked my whole life in order to keep this running!?” Brega said in a shocked tone as a couple of tears escaped from his eyes. “Do you have any idea of the long hours I’ve spent struggling, trying to find ways to stay in business!? All just so I can keep my children fed!? Look at them! Do you really think I wouldn’t do my absolute to give them the life they deserve!?”
The orc was once again showing the picture of his children with tears in his eyes, hoping to earn some level of sympathy from his customers. However, Erin and her friends weren’t the only ones who heard this sob story, as there were other lift operators that were listening to their talk.
“Since when did Brega have kids?” one of the listeners whispered to a colleague. “I’ve seen him trying to approach women at the bar, but he would always get rejected!”
“Who knows? Maybe they’re from a previous marriage that he messed up or something!” another whispered back. “Anyways, have you seen the picture of my kids anywhere? I lost it a few days ago and would like to get it back.”
Back with Erin’s group, the mood had gotten very awkward over Brega seemingly in tears as he begged them to trust him. Some of the members, like Erin, Ryle, Arkay and Durge, were feeling sympathy towards the lift operator, as they didn’t want his children to face hardships because of them, while Lexton and Zeldana were more annoyed by the blatant manipulation.
“Oh, would you get up already and stop it with the fake tears!?” Lexton said angrily, having grown tired of Brega’s act. “You honestly look pathetic and I am tired of it!”
“Woah, Lex! Calm down a bit!” Durge said, shocked by what the kobold had just said. “I get that his business doesn’t seem to be all high quality, but that’s no reason for us to not show him any sympathy, especially when it comes to his family!”
“Well, let me shed a tear for the poor bastard here! He’s such a tragedy that even gods would weep!” Lexton ranted sarcastically. “So what if he has issues and is struggling to feed his family!? It’s not our problem, is it!? How can we bother to worry about him, when we are struggling to take care of ourselves as it is!?”
“Hey, now you’re going a bit too far!” Erin said, angry at how cold the kobold was being towards Brega’s predicament. “I get that we have our own issues to deal with, but we can’t just start abandoning people in the need of help, can we!?”
“Yes. We. CAN!” Lexton shouted angrily. “Like I said earlier, how can we expect to take care of someone else, when we struggle to take care of ourselves!? GO AHEAD AND ANSWER THAT!”
“...Well, I might not have the answer you’re looking for, but let me tell you that I will NEVER start abandoning those in the need of help that I can help!” the redhead said as she glared at the kobold. “The thing is that I will never let go of my humanity and become some cruel monster that no longer cares about others! And that just might be the difference between the two of us.”
“I’d say that the difference between us is that I actually use my brains when making my decisions, but you can look at it however you want,” Lexton said, before throwing up his hands in surrender, knowing that there was no way for him to convince the others. “But whatever, I suppose! Guess we are just going to get uselessly emotional and let people manipulate us! I’d say that it just might end up working for us, but I unfortunately know better!”
A part of Erin wanted to continue the argument, but she knew better than to do so in their situation. She decided that it was better to simply get going on with what they needed to do for now. Discussions about morals and such could be left for a later time.
“Excuse me?” Brega called out awkwardly, getting the redhead’s attention. “Does this mean that we are going to continue with our descent to the pit? I get that you might have issues within your group, but it will take me some time to get things prepared for us to start moving, so I’d like to confirm if we are still moving forward.”
“Oh! Sorry about that!” Erin said, realizing that they had been stalling their trip down with their arguing. “We are ready to go as soon as possible!”
Despite some of them being reluctant to do so, the redhead’s friends all entered the lift and waited for Brega to start operating it. After the orc was done with checking on the machine, he quickly rushed over to the group and joined them inside. He had a controller with him that he used to close the door, before turning to face his customers with a big toothy smile.
“Is everybody ready?” Brega asked in a voice that tried to awaken excitement in others.
“We sure are!” Erin said, forcing herself to smile and give out an excited tone. “Aren’t we, guys?”
“There’s not much room here,” Durge complained as he fidgeted uncomfortably, not liking the lack of space.
“This somehow looks even worse on the inside,” Lexton said, as he inspected the insides of the lift with a critical eye, not liking what he saw.
“There’s a weird smell!” Ryle whined. “Which one of you guys farted!?”
“Oh, for the love of… Whatever. This is as good as it’s going to get anyways,” Erin muttered as she pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “Can you just start this thing already!?”
Stolen story; please report.
“R-Right away!” Brega said with an awkward smile.
Pressing a couple of buttons on his controller, the orc started up the motor of the lift. The machine let out loud noises, as its systems were activated and lights began to turn on, giving the group much needed visibility. Once the machinery had been started up properly, Brega started the descending process, moving them towards the darkness below.
“And we’re on the move!” the orc declared happily. “Hope you guys enjoy the scenery outside, as this is going to take a while! So-”
“Just shut up and operate the damn thing,” Lexton said as he glared at Brega, who quickly stopped talking.
Erin was about to reprimand the kobold over the way he talked to Brega, only to stop upon feeling a very cold breeze hit the back of her neck. She turned around to inspect the window behind her and found a very large crack on it.
“Uhh… The window doesn’t seem to be holding up all that well,” the redhead said while pointing at the crack she had just found. “Is that going to be an issue?”
“That? Oh, not at all!” Brega nonchalantly dismissed Erin’s worries. “It might just get a bit colder, but that’s about it! Unless you have an issue with that, you should be just fine!”
“Really? Just fine, huh?” Lexton asked, not believing the orc for a second. “Then mind explaining to us why the other lifts seem to have full armored plating covering them?”
True to the kobold’s words, they could see some of the other lifts moving down on either side of theirs. Unlike their lift, they didn’t have windows and were instead fully covered in armor, like they were expecting to get attacked by something.
“That’s nothing to worry about! Honest!” Brega tried to once again dismiss the worries of his customers, although one could see nervous sweat starting to drip down the side of his face. “It’s just a slight precaution some people like to take for a very unlikely event, but we don’t need to think about it! It’s so rare that it happening is about as likely as getting struck by lighting on a sunny day!”
“Oh? And just what might this “unlikely event” that you speak of be?” Lexton asked as his patience was starting to grow thin. “I would like to judge it for myself whether there is a reason for us to worry or not!”
Well… There have been cases where… some of the less than friendly residents of this area have kind of… attacked lifts. And sometimes broken in and eaten every passenger,” the lift operator explained awkwardly while trying to look at anything else other than his customers. “But I assure you that these are only very rare cases, so we should be completely fine! And there has never been undeniable proof that having clear windows, like we do, somehow lead to these types of attacks! Even the union stated that in public!”
“Really? Then I’m guessing those things are just going to pass us peacefully?” Lexton said in a deadpan tone while pointing at something outside. “And they are not going to come here to devour us like the hungry animals they are?”
Everybody turned their eyes towards what the kobold was pointing at. Just as he had said, there were monsters flying towards them. From what Erin could tell, these were known as Cave Bats and like their name suggested they were often found deep within caves and other dark areas. For the most part, they resembled regular bats from Erin’s world, except they had sharp spines running down their backs and a long thin tail, making them look like imps. Their bodies also didn’t have any fur, unlike the normal bats the redhead was familiar with. To make these creatures even more horrifying to look at, their mouths were full of sharp fangs, they had pointy ears and red eyes that glowed in the dark. To make them a truly nightmarish beings, they were around the size of large dogs.
image [https://i.ibb.co/10kkhxF/Ch-124-Pic-1.jpg]
Five Cave Bats were flying towards their lift, screeching demonically as they were approaching their new prey. Erin and her friends instinctively grabbed their weapons, only to notice a very big issue. There was nowhere near enough room for them to swing their weaponry, as they were all crammed within the very small lift, like tuna inside a can.
“Goddammit! Would you guys make some room!?” Ryle yelled angrily as she tried to take out her whip in order to prepare for the fight ahead of them. “I can’t really kick any ass while I’ve got all of you grinding against me!”
“You say that like you’re the only one with that issue!” Durge said, finding it very hard to pull out his hammer, as his back was against the wall, trapping his weapon. “We’re all just as squished over here as you are! There’s barely any room to breathe, let alone move!”
“Dammit, Brega! You were disappointed by how small our group was and this stupid thing can hardly fit us in it!” Erin shouted at the lift operator. “Why the hell would you even dream of getting a bigger group!?”
“Well, if we simply squeezed in some more, we could fit at least two or three more people easily!” Brega tried to defend himself. “Besides, it’s not just my fault that we’re in such a tight situation! I’m sure if some of you were to lose some mass, then-”
The orc immediately shut his mouth as he felt cold glares stab him in the back from his customers, who hadn’t taken his comment kindly. Brega was starting to sweat as he did his best not to turn around, as he feared a single look from the group could annihilate him.
“You either rephrase that comment of yours or you keep your damn mouth shut,” Erin said in a cold tone that sent shivers down Brega’s spine. “If you don’t, I can’t guarantee that you’ll be safer here or out there with those things.”
Brega wisely kept quiet and simply nodded in response.
There was a sudden bang on the window, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen and bringing everybody’s attention back to the issue at hand. The Cave Bats had made their way to the lift and were now trying their best to get in. The creatures were hitting their heads and scratching their claws at the windows, trying to get inside to reach their prey.
“Brega, you better tell me that this glass is made out of some strong stuff right now!” Lexton yelled as he kept his eyes on the bats. “If not, then I can assure you that we will feed YOU to those things!”
“No worries! No worries! That glass is more than strong enough to-!” the lift operator began to say, only for one of the bats immediately break through the glass. “On second thought, maybe I should have gotten the glass from a better place than a garbage dump…”
The bat that had gotten through stuck its head inside, screeching as it tried to reach one of the people inside in order to sink its fangs into them. Erin and her friends all backed away on instinct, doing their best to keep away from the bloodthirsty beast. While there was enough space between them and the creature, the bat was slowly squeezing its body through the hole it had made.
“Shit! That thing’s getting in!” Ryle cursed as she leaned back as much as possible to avoid the bat’s fangs. “We need to do something or-!”
Almost as if on command, Durge reached his hand from the back of the group and grabbed the Cave Bat by the neck. The creature began to furiously claw at the orc’s arm in order to break free, but his grip was unbreakable. Squeezing as hard as he could, Durge soon broke the bat’s neck, killing the beast instantly.
“That’s one down,” the orc said, as he left the dead Cave Bat in the hole it had tried to come through, thus blocking the way so that the others couldn’t use it. “I would appreciate that I won’t have to do that for all of them, though.”
“Sounds fair enough to me!” Lexton said as he pulled out his pistol and shot one of the bats in the head. “Might as well do what we do best to kill these damn things, since we can’t trust the company we hired to do its damn job properly!”
“Hey, that was uncalled for!” Brega complained. “I’ll have you know that I have fulfilled all of the minimum requirements in order to operate a business like this!”
“I bet you have!” the kobold said as he shot another bat that was in the process of breaking through. “And I’m sure whenever any of your customers died, you’ve never considered even for a second to do at least a bit better to avoid it happening again!”
“I’ll have you know that I have always considered upgrading my services!” the lift operator claimed. “It’s just that the cost to do so isn’t cheap…”
“Oh really!? It isn’t cheap!? Do you know what else isn’t cheap!?” Lexton asked angrily. “HAVING ALL OF YOUR CUSTOMERS KILLED! YOU EVER THINK OF THAT, YOU ASSHOLE!?”
“ALRIGHT! ENOUGH!” Erin shouted as she pulled out a knife and stabbed it through the head of a bat that managed to break through the window. “How about we instead of arguing among ourselves, we focus on surviving this nightmare!? Things are about to get even worse once we get down there!”
“FINE!” both Lexton and Brega shouted at the same time.
Just as the whole group seemed to have finally stopped arguing, the remaining Cave Bat got through into the lift. Before anyone could do anything to get rid of the beast, it jumped down on top of Arkay. The cat boy fell down to the floor with the monster bringing its jaws towards his throat. Arkay managed to prevent the bat from getting to his throat by bringing up his arm in front of the creature. But while he had managed to protect his more vital area from the fangs of the bat, the beast was now digging deep into his forearm. Blood fell from the place that was bitten as he screamed from pain.
image [https://i.ibb.co/crRDgZP/Ch-124-Pic-2.jpg]
“GET THE HELL OF HIM, YOU PRICK!” Ryle screamed in fury as she grabbed the Cave Bat by the neck and tried to pull it away from the cat boy. However, the monster was not willing to let go and kept its jaws closed on Arkay’s arm. “I SAID GET OFF, YOU ASSHOLE!”
“Don’t pull it, Ryle!” Lexton suddenly shouted. “With its jaws locked on him, his arm is going to be damaged even worse by you pulling on it!”
“But then what the hell am I supposed to do!?” the blonde asked, panicking over the cat boy’s plight.
“Let me handle this!” Durge said before leaning forward and grasping the bat’s head with his hand. By focusing his ki on his hand, he was able to crush the top of the monster’s head like it was a grape, killing it. “There. Now we can focus on getting that thing off him.”
Ryle was able to pry the jaws of the bat off Arkay’s arm, although it wasn’t easy. The blonde had to use ki to reinforce her strength in order to get the jaws open enough to pull them off, as the Cave Bats had a very strong bite, which made them dangerous predators. Once the beast’s remains had been removed, Lexton was able to give the cat boy a potion to fix his wounds.
“Arnie, are you doing okay?” Erin asked, worried that the cat boy might have been hurt too badly to continue. “If you want, we can call it quits right now.”
“No need for that. I’m fine,” Arkay said as he got up, still shaken up by what he had gone through. “Besides, we don’t have time, remember? We have to do this now or we’re in trouble.”
“...You’re right, Arnie. Thanks,” the redhead said, grateful that her young friend was still willing to continue, but sad that she had to put him through such a painful and horrible ordeal. “Just… Just tell us if you have any problems, okay? And stay in the back for now. No need to put you through something like this again…”
“But I-” Arkay began to say, only for Lexton to stop him with a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at the kobold to see that he had a small smile on his face.
“Just let it be for her sake,” Lexton whispered to the cat boy. “Her ego was hurt by allowing you to get hurt like this, so just do as she wishes for now. It’ll make her feel better.”
Arkay nodded in response and decided to let the whole thing go. Having another argument wouldn’t help them at all.
A sudden cough from Brega caught the attention of the whole group.
“I’m sorry to stop this heartfelt moment between you guys, but we’re here,” the lift operator said as he pointed outside the lift.
Erin and her friends looked through the windows and saw that they had arrived at the bottom of the pit. Looking around, they saw that some of the other lifts had also come there and passengers from those were already getting out.
“Would you… Would you guys like to have a moment in private or would you like to step outside?” Brega asked. “I’m fine either way.”
“I would like to have a private moment!” Ryle suddenly exclaimed, putting an arm around Arkay’s shoulders. “Specifically, I’d like to have a moment with him!”
“Shut up, Ryle!” Erin shouted angrily at the blonde. “We’re getting out now. We’ve got work to do.”
Erin and the others stepped out of the lift, starting their hunt for the Reaper Maggot.