“I swear i heard something just ahead through the rocks!” Ikari pointed onward, having directed this trip for half an hour, through twists and turns, Kayd was starting to doubt whether she even knew where they were going. Surely her hearing won’t be this good right?”
“Sounds like a bunch of ants on their daily work!” Ikari added with a wide smile.
“You can hear that?” Kayd raised an eyebrow.
“Of course not, just a funny quip us forest folk like using.’’ She laughed, the faint noise of something moving through the rocks around them pierced the loud digging of Pip. They weren’t alone, and it was a matter of time before they would be caught, in the meantime it was best to lay low.”
A lone torch illuminated a quarter of the platform, just enough to see each other and the ocean of rock and dust surrounding them. Kayd took a glance at his wrist. He was running out of that ability to use, he can only use it a handful of times now.
Best to reserve these for the big leaders rather than the next big armored guy we meet. Just two left.
He looked at his sheathe, held on the other hand just next to his blade. It was solid, far more durable, made from a mix of metal, wood, and wool to ensure that the sword has the best protection, from the elements and any impact. This one though was custom, having many insignias and writings engraved into it. He tapped it a few times, hearing the hard thuds of metal respond back.
We did have a technique of using the sheathe as a dual weapon, always preferred cutting through foes so haven’t utilized such a technique as much. Never liked the messy style of the technique, but it beats having to find every weakspot every time.
A quick glance at everyone brought a smile to his face, but seeing Lia’s lifeless gaze towards the front turned the joy into a stab into his heart, replacing the joy with guilt.
Either i have a word with Quellin or just try keeping that part of her there, I’ll do both if I have the chance.
—----
A few minutes passed before Pip noticeably slowed its digging, now methodically punching through the rock while causing less noise and slowly crawling forward. The destination is close.
It slowly clawed at the rock, grinding it piece by piece with precision and being as silent as possible.
“Didn’t know Pip was capable of being silent like a jaguar.” Ikari teased.
“Aye, this mighty beast is capable of many things. Can even fish or hunt without my help or make a home, one can say that Pip has a scholar’s soul!” Ishmael laughed.
“Can she write though?” Ikari’s sarcastic question got another laugh from Ishmael.
“That’d be a sight to behold but I haven’t seen it yet, we just need to get em a large quill and a bunch of ink!” The two chuckled.
Pip’s methodical digging came to a halt, lowering its body to let everyone jump down. Looking back, Kayd only saw a tunnel of pitch black with the faint whistle of air flowing through. The single torch was their main source of light, and Mono grabbed it before dismounting.
While admiring the craftsmanship of his weapon, he glanced at his forearm and noticed something stuck to it.
“Ew” He pulled his arm away from his face, dangling white strands that flew with the weak wind stuck to his forearm. It resembled the web of a spider but was oddly large, and pulling them odd only made it break off, not detach from his arm.
“What the hell made this kind of web? And why is it so visible and large?” He asked himself.
“Kayd, quit proselytizing and get down here!” Ikari urged.
Hastily hopping down, ignoring the web for now, they approached the rock in front of Pip. Piles of dust and rocks of different sizes forming a pathway towards it.
“I could hear a whole bunch of clamoring beyond that thing, must be what we were searching for.” Ikari eagerly reported with an ear to the rock wall.
“Thanks, Ikari. Your ears are indispensable. Now for the next step of our plan.” Everyone stood back as Ishmael approached the rock. Gripping her hatchet, she smacked the butt end against the rock, a few strikes and it began to crack, revealing a piercing light. She smacked the area around the hole, revealing more of that light and soon what was hidden behind the rock.
Kayd neared the hole, and as his eyes adjusted to the light, a surprising sight lay before him.
A massive ravine beneath the ground, with structures built on the edges connected to one another with bridges, many of these large structures were built on different levels of the ravine. Elevators connected the large upper buildings to the smaller but more numerous lower structures. Shouts, yells, and cheers filled the air, hundreds if not thousands of bandits and captured settlers walked around. Moving across bridges, entering cave entrances on the ravine, or taking elevators strewn across the place. Each one with a cart of precious gemstones or pickaxes. Rats popped in and out from the sides of the ravine, creating new areas to mine.
The massive underground operation gave off a soothing golden glow that gave off an odd feeling of wanting to go nearer to it. Kayd and the others found themselves moving closer to the light before restraining themselves.
Although weak, whatever was pulling them in was apparent.
‘’I haven’t seen a mine this large and this busy before.’’ Kayd muttered, unable to look away at the sight. An odd feeling forced their faces to not look away, and their minds were bombarded by thoughts of gold, of holding it, of swimming and being surrounded by it, all were alluring to the team. But Ishmael snapped her fingers, stopping the trance and getting them back to focusing.
‘’The leader should be around there somewhere, for now it’d be best to wait and see anyone of importance strolling around.’’ After she spoke, a noticeable loud but muffled digging could be heard, dust fell from the ceiling and the influence that kept giving thoughts of gold suddenly vanished, replaced by unexplainable dread.
The ground vibrated violently, enough for those in the ravine to feel it as well. Everyone had felt it, the intensity only grew with each second. The dread felt worse, enough to make Kayd put a hand to his chest, the others looked around trying to find the source of it.
A loud crash from the outside knocked them to the floor. Kayd rushed to see what caused it and felt his body turn cold and spine chill.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
A massive black spider breached through the ravine, its many sharp appendages dug into the structures like large knives and the once jovial crowd below raised their weapons up, screaming terror or anger.
“They’re saying it's the beast, the rat eater, the cave lurker.” Ikari coldly explained. Its eyes were bright red, shining like rubies, its skin reflective the shine of yellow and had a smooth texture.
Opening its mouth revealed a maw of sharp needles, hidden behind four fangs.
It dug its legs into bandits, rats, settlers alike, releasing screams of pain into the air with each jab into the ground below by its legs. Those on the ground were about to flee, but stopped in their tracks as a woman stood in front of them. A golden aura surrounded her, clad in a dress of lavishness and wealth, from purple dye to gold linings.
“I think that’s our target.” Ishmael eyed her down. The woman raised up her hand, and the bandits along with settlers stood back up, not to run, but to charge back and try to attack the spider’s legs with anything they had. They shouted in anger, swinging pickaxes and other weapons at the legs, doing little damage to it but they didn’t seem to care, even as their comrades were being stabbed and pulled upwards like fish on a hook.
Kayd noticed their eyes seemed to glow. Soon the woman yelled out a slew of words in that unknown dialect, anyone within earshot immediately stopped and turned towards the foul beast with the same glow in their eyes and bravery as they rushed towards it. Even rats weren’t safe, attacking the spider and even trying to dig towards it rather than cower away, with that same yellow shine in their eyes.
Arrows, explosives, swords, and claws struck the spider, but it simply continued eating, jabbing its legs into any unfortunate victims and promptly tossing them into its jaw like appetizers and devouring each one with a single bite with blood gushing out its time its teeth opened and closed to throw more victims into the teeth filled maw.
In the chaos, the woman moved forward, Kayd’s eyes had a hard time turning away from her as if tempted to keep looking at her, but something else managed to make him look away. She ran towards the elevator, ascending towards the giant with no fear, a sword and explosive stick in both hands. She stuck out like a sore thumb, not at all armored like the rest but obviously outranking them. Her head was covered by a modified knight helmet, made to still be protective but have more gold and beauty put into it, a white veil with two holes. A golden crown lay on top of the helmet, bolted and bound with chain and nail.
The spider’s twenty eyes gazed at the approaching woman, concealing its mouth with its fangs and gazing at her with disdain, raising its legs up, ceasing the slaughter and aiming each one at the woman. Kayd looked on, already expecting her to just meet a comedic but quick death, another brave fool.
As swift as wind, the legs shot forth, stabbing into the elevator halting its ascent and destroying the structure itself. The woman didn’t cower nor try to escape, jumping onto one of its legs and running towards the spider with full speed. It tried to move back but its legs remained stuck to the rock. Once close, it opened its mouth, hoping it could bite her, but at the last moment the woman jumped. Her hand glowed a bright yellow, and the single explosive stick turned to dozens, now flying into the mouth of the beast.
A bright light followed by the deafening bang and powerful shockwave shook the ravine, knocking even the team to the ground, with pieces of the hollow wall falling off to give a better view of the battle. With a guttural roar of pain, the beast finally got its legs out of the rock but not without leaving a waterfall of dark blue blood splashing to the lowest level, and a few legs. The woman emerged from the explosion and landed on a nearby building, unscathed. Beaten, it took the remaining corpses with whatever legs it had left and retreated, sealing the hole in a dense layer of web.
‘’That’s definitely our target.’’ Ikari muttered in shock.
We're supposed to fight her!? That’s our new target!? Shouldn’t be that bad i guess, i faced giant beast killers and the random enemies of this world anyway. How could she be any different from them?
The remaining bandits all cheered for her, the glow still in their eyes, celebrating her valiant fight against the beast, carrying her away inside the structure while the settlers cleaned up the destruction and began repairing the damages.
‘’She’s’ brave, that’s how I should be right?’’ Lia asked, Quellin nodded his head, speaking something to Mono, possibly about bravery as well. Kayd neared her, wanting to say something but Ishmael cleared her throat to give the next order.
‘’Alright then, that’s definitely our target. And by the looks of it, she seems to harbor magic abilities.’’ Ishmael explained.
Just like us huh? never seen that type of magic before. Does she also have the cards or the ability to pierce armor?
‘’Plan is simple lads,’’ She turned to everyone with crossed arms, the shine from the hole illuminating her face. ‘’There’s a high amount of them lurking in this place, they have armor and even explosives. Best bet to survive is to remain in the shadows and kill when necessary. Apart from freeing the settlers, we need to find an escape route, where that woman stays, and where the explosives they’re using are stashed.’’ She explained. Everyone nodded in agreement. With her harpoon she knocked chunks out of the rock, making a hole large enough to stand through. The gleam was even more intense now, blinding their eyes.
Ishmael peeked her head out, scoping out where they could go, ‘’Hope all of you are good climbers, because we need to climb towards one of these buildings. Pip will stay here.’’ Pip moved away from the bright light, trying to stay in the shadows.
‘’Are you sure it’ll be fine here?’’ Kayd asked, Ishmael smiled back.
‘’Pip managed to hide in worse places. This is small fry to Pip.’’ With everything said, they lined up to start climbing the rocky walls of the ravine. Looking down Kayd realized just how deep this ravine was, and how high up they were, the bottom was blurry, but the light of structures and explosions, as bandits and settlers continued their operations, showed that life was still down there.
As he slowly moved along the walls, trying his best to not think of the drop down, he turned to his side, seeing something once blocked off by the limited view of the hole.
A massive statue stood in the middle of the ravine, giving off bright light towards every corner of the ravine made of gold and adorned with numerous beautiful gemstones for eyes. It was a woman wearing a lavish dress unknown to Kayd, obviously not the woman who they met. She wore a tophat and monocle with a wide smile. As he looked further, his eyes remained locked at the woman, unable to turn.
‘’Kayd move, what’s the hold up?’’ Ikari patted his shoulder, but no response.
Looking at it, he caught faint but still visible glimpses, glimpses of gold, of titles, of weapons, books, piles upon piles of them, each image only appearing for a split second but each one became ingrained in his memory. He felt content, desire, happiness, jealousy all at once, extending a hand out trying to reach the statue.
As he reached further, something forced his head away, breaking the trance just in time to realize he lost his grip, feeling that familiar chill and weightlessness. Ikari immediately grabbed his hand and planted it on the rock. She kept holding onto it until Kayd grabbed onto the rocks firmly and calmed down.
The heck was that? Felt like something just went into my mind and controlled it…
‘’Kayd, are you alright.’’ Ikari leaned her head near Kayd, eyeing him for anything wrong.
‘’Yeah, I’m fine. It’s best to not look at the statue there for long.’’ He replied, pointing at the statue but this time not looking.
‘’Tsk, even new climbers know that you have to focus on the climb rather than anything else.’’ Ikari laughed. Regaining his bearings, he returned to climbing, already having stalled the rest of the team with his sudden pause.
Bandits and settlers alike walked around below them, oblivious to their presence, only focused on getting more gold. Explosions, shouts, and pickaxes striking against stone muffled their climb.
—---
Mono was the last to get on the platform, tables, sacks, and crates filled to the brim with riches and mining tools were plastered around the platform, with a small home built in the middle.
Looks like a pretty decent small home to live in, if these runts didn’t own it.
‘’Alright, well done mates. Now our next step is clearing that building to find anything useful, and finding that woman, hopefully coming across anything that looks like a storage building-’’ She stopped and gave a confused look, ‘’Where’s Lia.’’
Turning around, they saw Lia standing near the ledge, looking at the statue with a foot already off the edge and an arm extended forward.