Unbalanced but retaining his forward momentum toward the curved tunnel, Raine veered to the side. His legs burned and his knees roared in protest as he tried to correct without falling. Realizing he wasn’t going to make it, he threw his weight in the direction he was falling and jumped. His feet landed on the wall and he kept right on running, burning a point of Discipline with every step.
He blazed through the curved tunnel, and when it straightened before entering the larger cavern, he dropped back to the floor, his legs a blur. The tremoughts crashed and roared behind him, ripping the narrow walls apart and dealing significant damage to each other in a furious contest to get to him first. The pain fueled their berserk state, inspiring them to scramble harder.
Two sanguine suppers dropped from the ceiling, roused to a frenzy by the commotion. Raine could have used another smoke bomb, instead choosing to angle toward a different tunnel than the one leading out of the cave system. The bat-like creatures screeched and followed, exciting the quaglicks hiding in the walls. Their tongues lashed out but Raine wasn’t foolish enough to get within their range.
The tremoughts’ fleshy bodies erupted into the cavern like a burst dam. Raine burned another six points of Discipline to barely stay ahead. Checking his HUD, he discovered he was already down to fifty-nine. The suppers, normally faster than a lumbering tremought, were no match for the berserk beasts. They were snatched from the air for daring to intervene. Meaty fists crushed their bodies before they were hurled into the floor and wall.
Raine ate a Stremph Berry, the boost to Potency now minor enough to barely make a difference. The addition of ten Discipline was a godsend. He made it to the next tunnel, a crashing wave of pure fury right on his heels. The tremoughts were once again slowed in the tighter space and he took full advantage to gain a lead. The next cavern was similar to the last with multiple exits. He knew heading left would lead him out of the cave, but again chose to head further in. Even if he left, by the time everything inside calmed down, his buffs would have ended.
He dashed beneath three rousing suppers. Their eyes were drawn to the commotion in the tunnel he had just exited, barely missing him. They flapped their wings angrily, but wisely chose to stay where they were as the tremoughts barreled by. The suppers turned their heads to follow, finally spotting Raine. They launched from the ceiling to join the chase.
Raine took a gamble, not burning additional Discipline as he blazed toward the next tunnel. He could feel hot breath on his neck and he angled his torso forward, pumping his legs for all they were worth. The next chamber was the largest so far and only had one exit on the far end. Worse, another group of tremoughts crowded the center of the space, their tiny eyes expanding with desire as he charged right toward them. When he glimpsed a blue metallic surface between their legs, his own gaze shifted to match theirs.
Raine’s arm swept in an arc and three smoke bombs flew through the air. They exploded, completely engulfing the center of the large cavern in cloudy darkness. He slowed and angled to the side, listening carefully to make sure the new group took the bait. Sure enough, they raced toward his last location, which took them right into the waiting arms of the berserk beasts on his tail.
Meaty thuds and furious roars shook rubble from the ceiling as Raine desperately searched for the chest he’d spotted. Each second that ticked by felt like the blade of a guillotine inching toward his neck. The frantic, blind melee drew closer. Shockwaves buffeted his body, thankfully not dispersing the stubborn smoke. With only five left before his bombs dissipated, he found the chest and desperately spammed where he knew the ‘open’ option would appear in his HUD.
The loading bar ticked up, by far the slowest one he’d ever seen in either life. Just before it finished, the smoke vanished and eight sets of enraged eyes swiveled toward him. At the same moment, the chest popped open. Its fanfare of glistening light heralded the second set of tremoughts shaking with rage as they went completely Berserk.
His hands were a blur as he desperately grabbed the three items inside. The first tremought reached him as he picked up the last. He had just enough time to jump backward with Discipline coursing through every limb.
Powerful shoulder muscles contracted—Raine's only warning before a clawed fist flashed forward containing more than enough brute force to end him. Raine swung as well, not caring what weapon appeared. He felt his skill tugging at his flesh and slightly redirected his arm to unleash a point blank Rupture. At the same moment, his hand was enveloped in light. The dinky, dull trash wand that appeared met the unstoppable force of tremought knuckles and instantly shattered as its durability was reduced to zero.
All the intermixing forces threw Raine backward in an explosion that wrapped around his body. The skin of his extended hand blackened and peeled away, the rest of him faring slightly better. [-196]
He bit back a scream through grit teeth as his health plummeted to a quarter. Turning midair by flexing with all his might and lashing out with one leg, he landed in a stumbling sprint. The use of his maneuvers and skill burned sixteen Discipline, and he had to draw on another fifteen to barely make it to the next tunnel before the stampede of tremoughts caught him.
He had only regenerated two since the chase began, leaving him at a mere forty. The number was far from comforting and he was seriously doubting his life choices as he darted into the next chamber. It was much smaller than the previous while having two exits. One was a curved tunnel leading back the way he came, and the last was straight ahead. He recognized it and knew his destination lay in that direction.
Considering he found two Lustrous Blue chests already, the chances of their being a third, or even fourth was quite high. This was clearly a special instance with rewards designed to tempt foolish players. And tempted he was. Raine shook his head sadly. Knowing what was coming, and how much Discipline it would require, he cut his losses for now and sped toward the end.
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Thankfully, the room's only occupants were a host of stealthy quaglicks. They not only hid in the walls, but the ceiling and floor as well. He jumped over the few directly in his way, the approaching rumble of sure death quickly catching up once more.
Quick as he could, he passed through the next tunnel, a soothing balm of healing aspect tingling his spine but fixing little else. [+45] The second to last chamber had five exits, and he was mostly certain which was the correct one. He angled left toward the second tunnel, a group of six suppers detaching from the ceiling to give chase.
Regretfully, he threw another smoke bomb, not at all confident the tremoughts burrowing through the tunnel behind him would reach the bats in time. He rushed through the obscuring cloud, whooshing out the far side and into what was hopefully the last tunnel.
There were two additional purposes for using the bomb. If he was wrong about the tunnel, the tremoughts not knowing his direction would give him a chance to double back. The final reason became apparent the moment he burst into the last cavern—the most massive by far.
At its center, a ginormous tremought was happily snoozing away. Raine shook his head at the ridiculousness of sleeping through all the commotion they'd made so far.
[Tremought Hierarch - Level 32 - ???/???]
Seeing only three question marks above its head, Raine was all the more sure how this quest was supposed to be completed. After 99,999 the health display shifted to 100k increments, meaning this creature had somewhere between one hundred thousand, and one million health—an amount he could never hope to overcome at his level.
Raine dipped forward, fueling his silent sprint with Discipline. He wasn't about to give his luck a chance to turn sour by hesitating.
Rounding the heavily snoring form, he found exactly what he expected to see—another Lustrous Blue treasure chest tucked against the far wall. He dove for it, not bothering to drop one of his few remaining bombs. The moment his fingers graced its smooth lid and he activated the opening sequence, the boss jerked awake.
It huffed once, sending a billowing cloud of dust roiling across the floor. Eyes as large as Raine swiveled to pierce him with a petrifying gaze. Its pupils contracted and its breath froze. Muscles across its huge body quivered as hysterical wrath flooded through its blood. All at once, four long limbs scrambled, filling the cavern with a horrendous screeching of claw gouging rock.
It blasted forward, covering the distance in mere moments. From his crouched position atop the chest, Raine waited, his heart racing with the excitement he craved more than life itself. At the last possible second, he jumped to the side using all four limbs soaked in Discipline.
The boss flailed and missed, not expecting the sudden burst of speed. It tried to correct but its mass and momentum were too great. Long, thick nails dug into the floor, the stone giving way like soft putty. Its bulk crashed into the wall.
The solid surface shattered and the boss tumbled into a hidden cavern beyond. The new space was thick with azure-hued gas. Upon contact, the hierarch’s skin began to melt and slough away to bubble on the floor. The beast roared, bucking wildly in sudden panic.
It tried to pull itself free but the walls and floor were long-since decayed by the gas and it could only thrash helplessly as it was eaten alive. A deep inhalation flooded its lungs with an abundance of the gas. It released a choking gurgle, twitched a final time, and collapsed.
Just as I thought. The previous chests were hints on how to complete the quest.
Raine had already returned to the chest while the hierarch was dying. The lid sprang open and a dark golden hue shot forth. It was many times more luminescent than previous chests, blindingly filling the large chamber and likely the next closest ones as well.
There was always a minuscule chance for a chest to contain an item of a higher grade. When that happened, there would only ever be a single item. Raine couldn't believe his luck. Not only did he get such a rare occurrence, but it wasn't a single grade higher, it was two!
After Lustrous Blue was Marvelous Gold which was considered the pinnacle of equipment for standard players. The next tier usually only dropped from raid bosses and at the very end of particularly arduous chain quests—Chaotic Gold.
Raine’s fingers trembled as they approached the orb oscillating between blackest night and glistening gold. He touched it and the lightshow immediately winked out.
[Chaotic Gold Key: Opens a Chaotic Gold chest]
An explosive sigh turned his muscles to jelly. He slumped, disappointed but not overly surprised. Getting Chaotic Gold equipment at his level was laughable. The lowest level requirement for them was fifty, so even if he got one he was a long way from equipping it.
This isn't a bad reward at all. Those chests are always locked. I won't have to trust someone to unlock it for me when I eventually find one.
There were a plethora of additional messages and loot notifications awaiting his perusal, the only one worth confirming was right on top.
[Chain Quest: Melacor’s Melancholy updated]
[You have successfully located the krotanium deposit inside the abandoned mine. Return to Gazmo and relay the good news]
[Rewards: Variable]
A low thrum, like electric static outside the discernible wavelengths, washed through Raine. His teeth ached and his eyes strained as the walls danced so imperceptibly that a wave of vertigo upset his balance. Crumbling stones fell and his head jerked in their direction. At first, it was only a twitch. Then an entire arm. Without further warning, the dead boss jerked to a stand as though its limbs were controlled by an outside force.
Its head snapped toward Raine who was already running for all he was worth. Eyes glowing crimson, brimming with hatred for the living slammed into his back. His hairs stood on end and he nearly stumbled from the overwhelming bloodlust bearing down on him.
Raine didn't need to see to know the creature had activated a Berserk skill; the roar that crashed into his back, throwing him forward and taking the little health his aspect had restored was telling enough. [-107]
image [https://i.imgur.com/8okO42v.jpg]