Chapter 15: Caves and Crawlers
The Cave crawler lunges towards to me, mandibles open to snap me in half.
I Jump backwards out of the way as the mandibles snap shut right in front of me. With one hand I grab onto it, ignoring the barbs that cut through the skin of my roots, it will heal eventually anyway.
With my other hand, I claw over its face, rewarded by a painful chitter as I make contact with one of its compound eyes.
I let go of the mandibles, finding that holding onto the barbs actually hurts more than I expected. The Cave crawler backs away, wary. It circles me and I do the same. We both wait for an opening, anything.
The monster seems to be content with waiting. Getting bored of it, I dash forwards straight towards its mandibles. The insect sees an opening and lunges forwards once again. I roll to the side, only getting scraped by the mandibles as they snap shut again.
I roll over the ground from the force and heave myself up the momentum carrying over as I run. I activate my newest skill, Claw Slash, and shiver as Stamina trickles into my claws. Before it can build up, I push the tips of my fingers into the carapace of the monster and rake it along its entire body.
The pincer on its back, which I forgot about, raises like a scorpion’s stinger. they shoot forwards aiming for my middle.
I duck towards the ground and manage to dodge by a stroke of luck. The monster has some trouble turning around, clearly not being made for open terrain. It gives me a few seconds to inspect the damage it has done and check on my health. Both are not too shabby, only a few scrapes on my knees and some punctured roots on my right hand. Though, my side is worse for wear with entire roots torn away. It surprises me since I feel like I only got scraped by those mandibles. This monster must have some strong skill or high stats.
We end up circling again. Having learned from my previous mistake, I’m content to wait while I figure out the most optimal way to take the monster down. It has a high offence but its chitin is weak. Or my claws have grown a lot stronger. I really need to find one of those snails to test my new skills against as a benchmark.
I focus on Claw Slash again, feeling Stamina trickle into my claws. This feels just as alien as reshaping my body. It’s like boundless energy pulsing through my veins. So much so that I can’t help but flex my claws as they itch to cut something apart.
I push more stamina into my claws, deciding to finish it with the next attack.
My thoughts are interrupted as the Cave crawler lances forward with its mandibles. I push them to the side and move past it again and cut into the carapace as if I’m keying someone’s car. Only this car bleeds green blood and lets out angry chittering noises.
I smile with glee, as I grab onto the pincers that are aimed at my neck.
The monster freezes with surprise and confusion. Then it tries to get free by writing on the ground. The cuts to its side have worn it down enough that it doesn’t do much.
It tries to shake me off, making me feel like I’m in a rodeo. I struggle with keeping the pincers away as they push me closer to its face where a set of mandibles that can cut me apart waits.
I push the pincers back, some of the force accidentally pulling them further apart. The Cave crawler makes painful noises as the pincers move further apart than they are meant to.
Meanwhile, the grin on my face only grows larger.
Instead of pushing them away, I pull the pincers further apart until I’m rewarded with a snap of something breaking in the insect’s body. I don’t end there. I heave and put all my points of Strength to the test. It isn’t enough for what I want so I throw two of my unspent stat points into the stat bringing it to 8.
The difference is noticeable as the Cave crawler chitters in pain as its body tenses. With a painful rip, the creature tears apart in the middle. I keep pulling until I receive the notification.
*Congratulations. You have slain [Cave crawler Wood biter] lvl 3/10 (H).
*Congratulations. You have gained a level. You are now level 2.
+6 HP +3 SP +1 Strength +2 Constitution +3 Free stat points.
*Claw slash (B) lvl 1/20 -> Claw slash (B) lvl 3/20.
Level! Low-Rarity skills are something else when it comes to levelling them. I barely used it once and didn’t even push the skill to the limits though by some miracle it gained two skill levels from just that. If I continue like this I’ll have it capped in no time.
I look at the mangled corpse of the Cave crawler. I, uuhm, made a bit of a mess. Quickly, I scurry away searching for something else before the day is over.
Not that long later I find a pack of Segriad snails. Sairal told me to kill these things because they can grow into real, dangerous threats. I just can’t see that happening. They are so weak.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I make short work of them as I use my new Strength and Claw Slash in tandem. Their shells might as well be paper. Truly, life is already easier than when I came here.
I decide to circle this area since there are monsters here by some kind of miracle. It’s strange that these snails somehow managed to survive the tsunami, let alone that Cave crawler since it is on the slow side, clearly having a low Agility.
A few minutes later, I find yet another pack of snails, this time five of them. They took a bit more work to take down, especially when two of them used some kind of speed skill I’ve never seen before. So, I take a short break as I shake the acid off my claws.
What really confuses me is why there are so many of these snails here and in such large numbers. They are the only thing I have encountered besides the Cave crawler. Wait a minute. Cave crawler…cave. There must be one nearby. Sairal said something about those caves. I replay that fragment of the conversation in my mind.
Strong monsters are in the caves don’t go in them before you evolved.
I sharpen my claws with excess Stamina since the acid makes them a bit dull. As I wait, I mull over the caves. It might be useful to know where one is. I can pick off all the monsters that seem to be streaming out of it. The forest is just too empty for me to wander around and find anything. Besides, I can always retreat back to the surface. There is no possible way that some (G) grade monster lies in wait in the darkness of the cave waiting for curious mandrakes that take a look around.
I stretch out my claws, activating Claw Slash again slowly getting more familiar with the trickle of Stamina and how it feels. My brother and the neighbour’s kid would love this. I bet they would make different builds from all the skills I currently can pick from the skill window.
My little brother would jump at the chance to learn magic. Well, from what Sairal said, he will enter this when he dies. In fact, everyone that dies back on Earth will end up here.
Maybe I can survive long enough in this world to meet my parents again if mandrakes live that long. Now that I think about it, won’t it be possible for anyone in my family who has died to be alive in this world?
My heart begins to pound in my throat and I have to force myself to calm down. Okay, Green, think. Who is the most likely to survive in this world? Grandma Grace probably not. She would be the first to go, except if her body comes with inbuilt sewing needles. Who else that I know has died? Grandpa might be here, but he died so long ago. Wait, Aunt Maggie. I bet she’s around.
Like Grandpa she too died quite a while ago. Twelve years ago, I think. So, I don’t know her that well since I was quite young but my family loved to tell stories about her. She was, according to them, was an absolute beast. My mum said that Maggie found the UK too boring so she considered moving to Australia to fight with the snakes and roaches. However, in the end, she decided to move to Florida.
A bear began to roam around her neighbourhood after she settled in. One night it was looking around on her porch…and she scared it off. Too bad she got eaten by an alligator while swimming in a lake a few years later.
I kind of miss her. I bet she would love to take that Wolf-blooded alligator down a peg or two. That monster must still be alive since it is half-alligator.
I wait for a bit longer to top off my Stamina and search around for the cave. It has to be at least big enough for the Cave crawler to pass through it. Beyond, that it might as well be a mystery. Will it be a big ravine that scars the land and lets the depths of this world bleed out onto the surface? Or will it just be a small, almost hidden rabbit hole that leads to Wonderland? Guess there is only one way to find out.
***
Over the next hours, I encounter another few groups of snails, promising me that I’m on the right track, or at least searching in the right area. As I kill each group with more efficiency, more of the secrets of the system are revealed. In most cases, the difference between a peak grade and a being that hasn’t gained a single level in the next grade is only a single skill. I thought it was weird giving so much weight to one skill. But now after seeing and feeling what Body of Roots can do and how much more I’m able to sharpen my claws, it can change the tide of battle. Thinking about it, it might serve me well to plan ahead for the possible options I will get when I use Pursua’s hammer in my next evolution.
I cut through another group of snails, barely using any skills and just relying on my stats.
With each group I come across, I head in the direction they came from. Soon enough, I find the cave. It isn’t a ravine nor the tiniest rabbit hole. Instead, it is a small cave opening that will let two humans fit through side by side, if a bit cramped.
No tides of monsters currently flow out of the mouth of the cave. In all honesty, it’s quite a calm place. Which is strange since there are lots of snails about and I don’t believe for a second that I was lucky enough to stumble across the only Cave crawler that managed to find its way to the surface.
I look back to the sun. It’s already past midday. I should have enough time for a quick peek around. I won’t go that far into the caves, heeding Sairal’s warning. But the mentions of the Depths has me at the edge of my seat. Especially since he said that the depths keep trying to rise to the surface.
Though, before that, it might be wise to allocate all my stat points. I pull up my menu and look at it.
Mandrake of nature lvl 2/10 (H)
HP: 36/37
SP: 19/21
Strength: 9
Agility: 3
Perception: 3
Constitution: 10
Endurance: 5
Mind: 2
Unallocated stat points: 4
Skill points: 2
It’s quite an improvement.
I have some sort of idea of what each stat does, however, the details are a bit hazy to me. Sure, Constitution makes me tougher and makes my body stronger but doesn’t Endurance do that too?
I throw the question into the new pile forming in the back of my mind for when Sairal returns.
I don’t want to throw my free points into Strength or Constitution since I’ll get those from gaining more levels. No, I need to escape if I ever encounter something dangerous. I don’t know exactly what the Mind stat does, though it just feels a bit weird to have it so low compared to my other stats.
With a shrug, I throw three of my free points into Agility, bringing it up to 6. The last one goes into Mind, bringing that stat up to 3. Then I head into the cave; into the Depths below.