Chapter 70 – Blood in the water
“What do you think they are doing down there?” Matt asked as they watched a group of strange, 6 legged lizards turning up the soil in the small valley below them. Their scales were all shades of brown and red, favoring brighter color toward their bellies.
Teran Monitor. Level 30
“Why do you think I understand the motives of beasts?” Van asked.
Matt laughed. “I definitely don’t know. I can barely figure out people sometimes.” He returned to observing the lizards for a while. He didn’t bother with trying to hunt them, the levels were far too low for it to be worthwhile. Instead, he watched for a few minutes as they dug in the earth, using their middle set of legs for some reason.
Occasionally a couple would bump into one another, and a small altercation would ensue. Both monsters would ‘stand’, lifting their front legs off the ground and rush each other like a sumo wrestler. They would then slowly push the other around until they reached some sort of agreement and they disengaged and went back to ignoring each other.
“Welp, let’s keep on keeping on.” Matt said as he closed the hatch and sat back down. They had just placed the 14th repeater and Matt wanted to make it to the tree island ahead of them before the sun set. It had been a couple days since he last properly slept and was planning on setting up camp for the night but didn’t want to be completely in the open.
They had only one more encounter with wyverns, but it was a short one. Matt had managed to drop one as they closed and the other 3 decided it was best to find something else to fight after getting peppered by plasma imbued shrapnel.
He also had an encounter with what he could only describe as a land octopus. It was low level, only 28 and had stopped to watch him for a while. Oddly, when Matt was feeling a bit silly and waved at the creature, it raised one of its 12 arms and waved back, replicating the gesture.
Other than a couple rather territorial bison like creatures, it had been pretty quiet for the past few hundred kilometers. They had shifted course slightly when Matt spotted some hills forming to the south and decided to push in that direction. He hoped that there would be a good vantage point along the way to generate some more useful map data.
Half an hour later, they entered the perimeter of one of the tree islands. Matt was really enjoying his travel skill, thankful that he wouldn’t actually be taking every step on this journey. Now that he had some practice with the skill, he was adapting to the distortion that occurred. It wasn’t bad when there was nothing around, but any objects or points of interest looked like they were at the edge of a glass lens, just slightly warped and out of focus .
Matt held perfectly still after crouching in the brush that grew at the edge of the grass land. He was waiting for the threat detection field to sweep the area a few times before he pushed farther in. In one of the previous Islands, he had been startled when a heard of deer ran out as he approached. Apparently, they hadn’t yet registered with the detection field or had some other means of evading it.
“Looks all clear. Let’s push in a bit.” Matt said, both to Van and Echo as he took a few tentative steps forward. “We can explore a little before setting up for the night.”
Van rumbled a little in his mind. “It’s also good to check out what kind of neighbors we will have for the night.”
“Ha! Property values are probably gonna plumet with us around.”
“I have literally no idea what that means.”
They pushed on for a few hundred meters, taking their time exploring their way to the center of this larger patch of woods. Matt crept forward slowly, keeping an eye on his threat detection field. He began to notice something off after a couple hundred meters of nothing.
Normally, there were minor contacts all over the place. Smaller beasts and even some lower-level ones that just loitered around, would show up. This time, they weren’t getting anything in the field or viewable with the naked eye.
“Echo, push out. See if you can see anything. Any animals at all.” Matt ordered. Echo vanished from his right and he got the distinct impression that the drake was now pacing him from a few hundred meters away.
Matt activated the camouflage on the mech, immediately blending in with the woods around him as they slowly pushed in. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or if there was something off about this place. He felt like the air was charged with something and he didn’t know if he should be cautious or curious.
An image flashed in his mind. Echo sent him the impression of a clearing with something in it. Matt corrected course and started creeping toward the drake. He was scanning his surroundings with every other step, waiting for an ambush of some sort. There wasn’t an ambush, instead there was the edge of a clearing.
Inside the grassy area was a small pond and a stone obelisk at its bank. It looked like the dividing point between land and water, a marker of the boundary set by some sort of natural force. The pilar itself was only 2 and a half meters tall and was perfectly formed into a point at the top, getting a little more abstract toward the base.
Matt examined the stone from the safeish position of the wood line. “Does something seem… off?”
“It does. At the same time, everything feels normal, like a little bubble of some sort.” Van said. “Its origins must be the pillar.”
“Wait, look there.” Matt sent the image of the base of the pillar. There was some moss and lichen starting to grow on it, but he noticed the growth started several centimeters up the base. There was a ring of uncovered, fresh stone at the bottom, where one would expect to see the most growth.
Echo began stalking forward at that moment. He kept low, staying nearly invisible as he approached. Matt decided that it was time to use identify. Tori had cautioned him on relying on the skill since it could be fooled or misinterpreted in many cases.
Territorial Obelisk (Unclaimed)
A territorial obelisk is a marker that emits the aura of its owner, projecting it over a given area. The density and coverage will grow as the obelisk grows to match the aura of its owner. The effect of each obelisk depends on its owner’s will. The owner does not need to be within its aura. Obelisk can be claimed by any being with enough active willpower. Claimed obelisks can be obtained by killing its current owner.
“Oh yeah, we are taking this.” Matt said. He popped the hatch and walked forward to where Echo was sniffing at the ground a good distance from the pillar. “Smell something?” he asked after the drake started a low rumbling growl.
Images of many different animals flashed into Matts mind, then the images of drag marks. Looking down, he saw that the banks around the pool of water had drag marks on them. After taking a closer look, he saw that the grass only turned to dirt as it approached the pilar with grass around all the other parts.
Matt stopped and thought for a minute. “Echo, can you get up one of those trees? See if you can get a look into the water.” The pond was only 25 meters across, taking up around a quarter of the clearing but the muddy part of the bank extended another 5 meters out from the water.
Echo scrambled up a near by tree, gaining a couple dozen meters in elevation before finding a limb to stretch out on, overlooking the pond. He stayed still for a few moments before sending Matt an image.
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There, in the bottom of the pond, was a large reptilian head. It was wider than it was long and had several feelers that extended out around it. He couldn’t tell how big it was precisely due to the refraction of the water but estimated that the head was at least a couple meters across. If he had to compare it to something, it looked like an axolotl mixed with a crocodile.
“This is clearly an ambush predator. A smart one too, given it hasn’t claimed the pillar and instead uses it to lure prey.” Van said.
“Yeah, any ideas on how to bait it out into a trap? Or even how big it is? Matt asked looking at the terrain and trying to figure out how to get the obelisk without getting eaten.
Echo was still watching the creature from his branch, not taking his eyes off it while Matt and Van debated how to handle the situation. Eventually he decided to climb back down and circle around to one of the trees across the pond from the pillar. Climbing back up, he found a similar spot, this time overlooking the pond from a better angle.
“How about this, you can approach the obelisk, messer and tomahawk in hand. I will be at an angle here in the brush with the Carl-G.” Matt began.
Van laughed. “Betting it can’t drag multiple tons of construct in easily?”
Matt didn’t think so. In fact, he expected the monster to clamp onto the leg of the mech and struggle, exposed above the water long enough for him to get a delayed fuse rocket off. He told Van as much, getting no better ideas from the core and they moved off to their positions.
Matt readied the launcher and sent Van the signal to move out. The mech took a few tentative steps forward, not getting to close to the water and trying to approach directly opposite the pond, from the other side of the obelisk. Nothing happened as he neared the muddy dirt. Nothing happened as he closed with the stone monument. Nothing happened as he stood right next to it.
“Reach out and touch it.” Matt said mentally.
Van extended his hand and touched the monument with the back of his knuckles, still holding the tomahawk and ready for the attack. Echo sent them both an image a moment later, just before the water exploded outward and the 10-meter-long monster came to the surface. Matt finally got a good look and used identify as he pressed the trigger.
Ripple Back Salamander. Level 52
It was blue and black in color, with a light blue belly. The tail was like a crocodile, long and oar like but without the spine like protrusions, instead having a long fin like appendage running the full length of its spine. The legs were short and heavily muscled, ending in blunt claws.
Just as expected, the Salamander had clamped down on the mech’s leg. Just as expected, the rocket impacted its side, penetrated, and detonated. Completely unexpected, was the gout of blood that sprayed out of the wound, leaving a fine mist in the air. Also unexpected was the death roll the creature immediately started.
Van didn’t hesitate as he lashed out first with the tomahawk then the messer. The axe was buried into its bony snout while the blade stabbed forward and pierced the fleshy part under its lower jaw. The roll ripped the tomahawk out of Vans grasp and batted the messer aside. Unfortunately, things only got more complicated from there.
As Matt was just beginning to reload, a black shape fell from the sky and impacted the salamander just behind its shoulder blades. Echo hit the beast, dug in his claws and bit the back of its thick neck, right at the base of its skull.
The salamander, likely not appreciating the counter ambush, did the only logical thing and retreated back to its domain. It dropped Vans leg and pivoted on its front legs, swatting Van with its tail before it disappeared back under the water with Echo still attached.
“Van! Open up!” Matt yelled as he teleported forward and launched himself into the barely opened cockpit. “What’s our crush depth?” he asked as he took control back.
“No idea.”
“Fuck it, we go.” Matt said and jumped in, sinking rapidly on the trail of the salamander.
Funny thing about water, or at least water of any substantial volume. Thermal cameras don’t really work within it. Another not so humorous fact about lakes and ponds is that they have a lot of silt at the bottom.
Matt hit the bottom of the pond after a few seconds of ‘free fall’ and kicked up a massive amount of silt and debris. He noticed it was rather dark and quickly activated his night vision filter, finally able to see the top arch of a cave entrance. He couldn’t see much more because of the thrashing movements coming from right in front of him.
He saw the flash of a large, oar shaped tail, its colors muted by the depth of the water. He readied the messer and tried to launch himself forward but only managed a very long and slow step. Now thoroughly annoyed, he tried the teleport, aiming for a spot only 10 meters closer. Thankfully, it was only 10 meters since the teleport cost nearly 15 times as much mana as normal.
Still, the little extra was enough and he reached forward, nearly blind and grasping with his left hand. He felt it connect with what he thought was one of the creatures short, muscular legs. He pulled himself forward, trying to get a good look at the limb in his hand. It was the salamanders.
Matt straightened out the arm that held the leg and then held the messer like a dagger, point out with the pommel against his ‘stomach’. Using his left arm as a guide, he shoved forward with the blade, burring the point in the space between tail and thigh. Shoving until the cross guard stopped the forward movement.
The salamander jerked, then thrashed and kicked, batting at Matt with its tail. He held on, one hand now crushing and grinding the flesh while the other began to channel mana into the messer. Matt got the feeling that the creature was inflating but couldn’t see it to confirm. Suddenly there was a muted whomp and he was hit with a pressure wave that first knocked him away then pulled him forward.
The thrashing stopped and he felt like the creature was drifting his way until he moved the hand holding its leg and found that there was nothing attached to it. He then reached out mentally and found Echo had finally let go and was swimming his way through the water toward Matt. He sighed as he received the kill notification and managed to fumble his way forward to the body of the creature, following the blood that was wafting from the front half of its corpse.
Matt had just stored the body when Echo latched on to the shoulders of the mech and sent him the impression that he wanted to go into the cave. “Van, how are we doing down here?”
“Fine. Given the data I have just gotten, I would estimate we are watertight up to a hundred meters, maybe more.”
Looking up, Matt estimated that they were only 15 to 20 meters under at the moment. He then began to slowly plod along the ground into the cave. His night vision was able to pick up the refracted light well enough to see but he turned on his infrared light just to be sure.
The inside of the cave went in for a few dozen meters before sloping up and leading to an air pocket. Within that air pocket was rather open space with a strange rock that was radiating a type of mana that Matt hadn’t seen before. There wasn’t anything else in the cavern, so Matt refocused on the rough textured stone.
Essence Stone: Water
The essence stones are natural treasures, elemental deposits that can have a variety of uses for the evolution of beasts. Crafters greatly value them as a concentrated form of elemental energy for enchanting.
“Huh, another one.” Matt said as he reached forward to claim the stone. He then retreated back into the water and made his way out of the cave. After coming back into the pond, he was faced with another problem.
The walls of the pond were steep, unnaturally steep and he got the impression that the mech wasn’t the best at swimming.
“You really didn’t think this one through.” Van said as they both stared at the rocky walls that surrounded them.
“Not a bit.”
“And you are now wondering how to get out?”
“Yup.”
“But we have no easy means of extraction.”
“That, ah… that would be accurate. Mhm.”
An idea suddenly struck Matt and he sent a mental image to Echo, asking him to retrieve the tomahawk that had been sent flying. The drake lazily let go and floated up to the surface, like a log that had been stuck under water and was suddenly freed.
A few minutes later, they heard a splash and looked up to see that Echo had thrown the weapon back in the water and was now sitting on the edge of the pond and staring at them. Matt watched the tomahawk sinking toward them and with surprising skill, reached his hand out just in time to miss it completely and watch it hit the bottom.
“Ohhh, good thing nobody was here to see that.” Van said, laughing as Matt bent down to pick it up.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Matt said as he retrieved the tomahawk and moved over to the wall. The surface was rough, not like corral rough but not super smooth which would help with his plan to get out. He found a spot just within his reach and drove the butt spike into the rock, wiggling it around until it felt secure and then hoisted himself up.
He then used the feet of the mech to create a little step by grinding the toe against the stone, wearing it away rather easily. He repeated this process until his head broke the surface and the water streamed over his eye lenses. One last stab of the tomahawk into the ground at the edge of the pond and he was able to drag and roll his way out of the water and back onto land once more.
Matt quickly got back to his feet and secured the obelisk in his storage. “Well, that was entertaining.” He commented, noticing he had gained another level after the fight with the salamander.
“I would like to think we learned something today.” Van said, sounding a little smug.
Matt laughed as he crouched, opened the hatch and began to climb out. “Yeah, but now, we get to see if you rust.”
“Wait, what?”
Laughing, Matt began to set up camp as Echo circled around. He planned to make dinner and have a mostly peaceful evening. The System only knew what he would find tomorrow and after 4 days of travel, he needed to recharge a little before dealing with any more surprises.