Chapter 39: Smokey business

“So that has been going on above? That’s quite dire,” Cobalt says, “Regrettably, I am the bearer of more bad news. As you two know, I left for the Depths, wanting to delve to the last trek of the first floor Dusk. Things became strange down there. What I assumed to be Dusk turned into the first trek of the second layer. However, all my skills told me that I should be in the last trek of the first layer.”

Sairal’s forehead wrinkles in confusion. “I don’t follow. There should be Valeroal moss that is thinning out in that trek. Are you saying that…” he trails off.

Cobalt nods, “Dusk has turned to Night, Dryad Sairal. And it is the Cave crawlers that are causing this,” she shivers, “In the spreading darkness, I saw things. Monsters that shouldn’t exist, Cave crawlers too large for the caves of the first layer, digging their way up. They are coming. The Cave crawlers from the World Heart are coming.”

Sairal curses. “They are destroying the treks. The tunnels they dig will turn into speedways. If things are as bad as I think, We will have monsters from the second layer and beyond wandering the forest soon.”

Having been left out of the conversation, I spot the chance to ask questions, “What is the second layer like?”

Cobalt turns to Sairal and motions for him to explain. He gives her a weak glare. “It’s a mixed bag. The usual three treks: Night, Traveller’s road, and Sunrise. It’s the first two treks that are problematic. Night mainly has ambush predators that can grow rapidly if they make it into the forest. The monsters from Traveller’s road, on the other hand, are tremendously large.”

I lay down on the carpet, careful to not touch the many mushrooms that stick out from it. “So we have human armies at the borders while the Cave crawlers are digging beneath our feet. That’s bad.”

Cobalt clicks her mandibles together in anger while she watches me with distaste for my lack of decorum. “Mandrake Green. Calling it ‘bad’ is a severe understatement.”

“But the plan doesn’t change,” I reply.

Sairal speaks up before her, “It doesn’t. However, it is becoming more difficult to achieve. We need to set it in motion now. One more level and we can begin.”

He stands up and pulls a backpack with glass vials and jars out of the air. “You two will need to travel together. It’s too dangerous for Green with everything happening this fast.”

I can almost hear Cobalt, object to it. To my surprise, though, she sighs and nods. “To survive we must sacrifice. I shall abstain from my own grand adventures and accompany Mandrake Green,” she says solemnly.

Slightly irked I change the subject, “What are the jars for?” I point at the backpack.

“I need all the spores we can get our hands on. My mana regeneration will be the limiting factor of how many guardians I can keep active. With that said, and as much as I hate to say it, we need disposable pawns.”

He grabs his bow and checks over all the vials strapped to his belt and in his pocket space.

“Can’t you grow mushrooms for spores?’ I ask while looking down at all the glowing mushrooms around us.

“That is beyond me for the moment. I can’t create pockets of mana dense enough.” He stuffs his bow back into the spatial pocket and pulls out a quiver, counting the arrows.

With a last look and a smile, he blurs away once again.

“So that leaves the two of us,” I state, looking at Cobalt.

“Indeed,” she confirms.

“Wanna smash some bugs? I bet we can take out a camp together.”

“…that would be plausible. I made an error before. Perhaps working together with you will be practical. You can occupy the weaklings while I fight the worthy ones,” she muses.

I feel like I got the short end of the stick here. Deciding not to comment on it, we head out. Looking for evil bugs to slay.

***

A few kilometres away from Sairal’s tree we spot one of the camps. This one is bigger than the one I used to kill the scouting groups from. I can’t even count the (H) and (I) grades that there are skittering over the ground, dragging the biomass back to the nests in the Depths.

Near the artificial cave, there stand a dozen or so (G) grades and a single Cave crawler that seems to be on an entirely different scale. The monster must be as big as a damned elephant.

“Ah,” Cobalt speaks, “That one will do. A pebble on my road of revenge.”

“Revenge? Do you know it?”

“Not necessarily. Nevertheless, it looks like the one that killed me in my previous life.”

Without any further comment, she moves forwards in a burst of speed. A loud chittering cry erupts from her. As if she is a magnet and they are metal, the Cave crawlers turn to her.

They rush towards us like a flood of limbs and mandibles. Above the din, Cobalt bellows out a laugh like she’s on the edge of sanity.

“Aura of Frost!” she screams. A faint blue mist emanates from her. Whatever the mist touches freezes. One weak Cave crawler tries to bite her leg. The monster’s mandibles move into the mist and it reels back, mandibles frozen solid.

All around her, the same thing happens. Anything too close to her freezes. The weaker ones retreat, limbs frozen, cracks running through them. The stronger Cave crawlers are less affected by it but still shy away from the freezing mist. The frost still coats their carapaces but moves slower as if their Constitution is protecting them.

Not wanting to be left behind in the dust, I charge forwards and meet the literal wall of insect bodies. Skills snap on and my melody sings true.

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Bindweed grows out of the ground, creating small defences and weapons I can use. Stamina pools in my claws, sharpening them like knives.

The first one to go down is a weak (I) grade. I barely notice it as my claws cut through it as if the monster isn’t even solid.

The bindweed grows alive, strangling, dismembering, and killing anything they can get its vines around. Together, the vines create enough space for me to move in.

An (H) grade fires a spray of scalding water at me. In return, several vines snake up its body, thorns popping out and the monster falls apart in pieces.

Another one tries to jump on me from above. I step to the side. The monster lands and slams into the ground. It tries to regain itself and is rewarded with an elbow slammed into its back hard enough to break through the carapace. It collapses and I move on, already forgetting the encounter.

They are endless. Whenever I kill one, another shows up. Dozens fall around me. Bodies pile up and puddles of green ichor form on the ground. The air is absolutely rancid, smelling of insect guts and half-digested biomass. The System drones in the back of my mind and I shut it off.

I pierce the face of a Cave crawler and customise my HUD, so the event point counter is in the right bottom corner of my vision.

Far in the distance, Cobalt yells her battle cry. Copying her, I activate Mandrake Scream and let it build in my throat.

It takes five Cave crawlers for the skill to build up fully and push itself past my lips. The insects shiver and collapse clawing at their own skulls as my scream rattles their brain.

In the short reprieve I draw a deep breath and fill my lungs with air. Another eight Cave crawlers fall before the skill ends and the world moves again.

My hand reaches and grasps around the neck of a Cave crawler. I twist and the monster falls to the ground, head severed.

Mandibles cut bindweed. Bindweed tears apart limbs. It goes on in an endless circle. Stamina flows out of me when the vines need to be replaced. They are effective at keeping the weakest away but are targets for the stronger ones.

I try to look over the mass of bodies trapping me. Cobalt is nowhere to be seen. I don’t even feel the edges of her aura or hear her warcry.

A Cave crawler scratches me before it is killed. I’m getting whittled down by the tide of monsters. One scratch, one small bite, it doesn’t hurt me. A thousand though? Death.

I need to get out. Get free. Find Cobalt. Or kill them all.

Just as I start to back away from the encampment, smoke fills the air. It begins thin around me like faint wisps that can barely be seen in the light. Seconds later, the air is thick with it, the world hazy and difficult it’s to breathe.

Mandrake Scream roars out of me, freezing the world. Even the smoke.

My thoughts halt. The smoke shouldn’t be affected unless it's a living thing.

Bindweed grows taller around me, vines spilling over the ground and slashing at the air. Bit by bit the smoke disperses.

You won’t get me. I rip through the still-stunned Cave crawlers, tracking back to where the trees still haven’t been cut down by the insects.

Resource pools empty faster as I push my skills to the limit. As many green vines as I can control whirl around me, dismembering anything too close.

Smoke clots in the air and a shape springs forth from it, blocking my way.

[Smoke veiled Cave crawler] lvl 7/20 (G)

As soon as the monster grows solid, all the vines around me converge on it.

The monster stares at the attack, the smoke around growing dense, obscuring the world around us. The first vine wraps around the monster, thorns grow, scratching against carapace. It cuts the insect and smoke bleeds out of it.

Finally, it looks down onto the limb the first vine is wrapped around. Almost lovingly, it cuts apart the vine with its face-hands with ease. It looks at me again and literally evaporates

The cloud of smoke that remains rushes towards me, faster than a car. Right before it hits me, a set of mandibles materialise out of the cloud, grabbing onto my arm. They snap shut like a beartrap and searing pain blossoms in my mind.

I pull my arm back, pulling the Cave crawler out of the smokey cloud. With my other hand, I stab it, barely making it through the carapace.

It tries to snap my hand off, unwilling to let go, as it receives blow after blow. The other Cave crawlers swarm around me in a storm of bites and scratches.

Giving up on clawing it to death, I smash the monster into the ground. With a pained screech, it finally lets go and disappears into smoke again, giving me a small reprieve to deal with the ordinary insects that cling to me like loving children.

I return the love, tough love, that it is.

The Smokey one tries to sneak up on me. In the corner of my eye, I see pincers form out of the cloud. Before it attacks, I grab onto them and heave. The cloud gradually vanishes as I pull and pull on the monster, making it appear bit by bit.

When it is finally out, it curls up in a ball and stabs me with the pincers on its butt. I smack the monster to the ground again and jump on top of it. Other Cave crawlers seize the chance and before I know it, I am in the middle of a massive insect pile that’s tearing each other to bits.

The weird Cave crawler melts into smoke and wraps around me. My skin tingles like acid is getting poured over me. A grin appears on my face. It is getting desperate. I hold onto its face, making it stay in the physical realm. I order all the bindweed that has been trying to keep most of the Cave crawlers away, into the pile.

Things cut at me from above, from the sides, from everywhere, as I hold onto the grey one, not wanting to let it go. It turns its head enough and wraps its mandibles around my arm. I can feel it focus on me, a new hatred burning in its eyes.

I push harder into its body, choking the life out of it.

Slowly the bindweed digs into the pile, killing all the insects that are focused on me. One by one they are torn away until only I and the smokey one remain.

The vines wrap around it. Thorns appear. A leg is cut off.

All my stamina flows into my claws, enough to make the bindweed start to bleed the golden sap from the pressure.

My hand swings down like an executioner's blade and enters a cloud of smoke.

I stare at it, hatred in my eyes.

Although the cloud doesn’t have eyes, I feel the same radiate off it.

Then without a warning it flies away, leaving me alone with the small fry, that numbers close to the endless.

With it out of the way, I am finally able to make my much-needed retreat.

Both of my arms are damaged, there are two holes in my stomach, and worst of all, I am almost out of stamina.

The further I move away from the encampment, the fewer Cave crawlers pursue me.

When I am more than a kilometre away, I turn and finish off the persistent few.

I climb into a tree, looking for Cobalt.

Far away there is a flash of blue. In the encampment, there is a literal pile of bodies that is moving around. Weak insects fly up into the air as Cobalt trades attacks with the (G) grades. The Large (G) grade is pushing through its kin like a bulldozer, probably killing more in a few moments than I did the entire fight.

Cobalt doesn’t seem to be bothered by it. She jumps up in the air and slams against the mandibles of the monstrous Cave crawler.

Just how much of that is actual skill? Not skills granted by the system. I didn’t believe her when she said that she took on something like that back in her universe.

Seeing her fight amongst them as if she had done this a thousand times before, shows me what true skill is.

I thought I had it too. Each evolution I’ve had was great. It more than doubled the stats I gained each level. But seeing her fight… that are skills the system can’t give.

You only become so talented when you have been fighting your whole life.

Once again, I feel outmatched. A dryad that grows guardians and is a perfect shot with his bow, and a Cobalt coleoptera that fights like a trained warrior.

I am outmatched.

That needs to change.