The Orange Faction seemed to have been removed from the Game quite a while ago. Even here, in a dry, sunless hall, the wood had already rotted and turned to dust. I found myself thinking that it had been a long time since I had heard the strange noise. It seemed to have disappeared unnoticed. I wasn’t aware of its absence until I found myself in the absolute silence of the abandoned base.
The roaring flames of our torches illuminated a large stalactite, on which a drop of water was slowly forming, hanging above a rather large pool.
“So that’s how they got their water,” Spider said. “I’m more interested in how they managed to dig out such smooth tunnels and caves. I mean, it’d take us several months of non-stop work to achieve something like this... I doubt that this was how they found the place when they came here.”
“Could’ve been one of two things,” Tail said, holding back Rex who was ready to charge forward. “Either they had technology unavailable to you or they had mobs to help them. Loki said that you found the skeleton of some giant mole at our base...”
Everyone turned to look at him, then looked at Fang.
“What?” He chuckled, toying with his broadsword. “Tail’s a Goblin of few words, but when he speaks, he knows what he’s talking about.”
In the end, we weren’t destined to find out the Orange Faction’s secrets: the base was empty. Even the remains of the players were gone, which was strange. Our base was littered with corpses when we discovered it.
Maybe it’s for the best... It’ll be easier to explore like this...
***
Fifteen minutes later, Valkyrie’s muffled voice came over the comm channel.
“I found the Development Tree. There’s nothing near it.”
I clicked my tongue in annoyance and spat. Artifacts would be of great use to us now, especially if we could find whatever technology they had used to process stone as if it were wood and not, well, stone.
The common room was a small area with a strange elevator in the center — a stone parallelepiped. In addition to it, there was a small recess with stagnant water covered with something green, and a vent above the door. All but one small room were similarly furnished. It was in this room that we found Valkyrie, studying the collapsed wall with the still visible outlines of the Tree.
The room was on the opposite side of the tunnel we had come out of, next to three other passageways. It was either the assembly hall or their leader’s room. There were several “elevators” and niches with stale water, as well as storage rooms with spoiled food. The strange thing was that some of the wooden crates were broken and had dried blood on them, while others were intact, although they were closer to the entrance.
“Someone has beaten us to it...” Spider chuckled, casually turning over a box of rotten vegetables. “The meat’s gone... but the vegetables are untouched.”
There was nothing else to do or see in the hall since the Tree was destroyed and the artifacts probably looted. There was also no use exploring the base further so we decided to move on. The fragment was even deeper down, probably below the level of the hills surrounding the mountain.
In addition to our tunnel, three other passages led from the base: the first went up, the second deeper down, and the third... The third one was odd. Unlike the rest of the tunnels, it was uneven, with sharp protruding stones that made it difficult to navigate. Not to mention that it was huge: about thirty feet high and twenty feet wide.
“Fang, Tail, see where it leads,” I ordered the Goblins.
The two, holding on to the saddles with one hand and holding the torches with the other, disappeared into the passageway that seemed to go up sharply. After half a minute, Fang contacted us over the comm channel.
“The path’s blocked, we can’t go any further.”
Blocked? I thought. “Wait. But we saw a passage almost as big as this one outside our mountain. Could it be just one tunnel? Seems we’re at the level of the surrounding hills...”
Judging by what we had seen so far, this tunnel was made from outside. The smooth walls of the caves didn’t match the rough ones of this passage. Who could’ve created it then? The Oranges? I doubted it. Perhaps it was another faction then? Maybe their enemies? That’d make sense. Instead of fighting with them in the tunnels, they decided to drill their way through the mountain directly to the enemy’s base. That’d explain the lack of artifacts and food. But why would they block the passage if the base was empty? It made no sense.
“Probably a landslide,” Spider suggested.
Perhaps he was right. But it was still strange... What did they lure into the enemy base if they needed to dig a tunnel this big?
***
The noise was back.
This time, it came from somewhere above us. It was so loud that I winced and rubbed my ears. We seemed to have ended up back in the big cave that smelled of rot. Initially, we planned to search for the fragment by going through the second tunnel, the one that led down, but we didn’t feel comfortable leaving whatever was making these noises behind us.
“Okay, you stay here. Rat and I’ll check what’s making this noise.”
The pet snorted in displeasure, showing just how little he liked my decision to investigate the source of this howling. But he had no other option other than to agree. Leaving a cloth bag with additional torches for my allies, the two of us moved cautiously up the first tunnel.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to do. If I didn’t put out the torch, I’d give myself away, and if I put it out, I wouldn’t be able to see a damn thing even with my night vision. After some pondering, I chose to put out the torch and rely on my ears.
***
When I reached the next bend, I froze and immediately glued myself to the floor.
Dim light was pouring in from the cave but it was enough for me to see the entire hall ahead. What confused me even more was that the source of this light... were worms.
Stone-eating Worm
Level 43
Stone-eating Worm
Level 12
...
The Worms looked like half-eaten maggots: whitish, secreting sticky mucus. And their faces... I shivered. I had only seen them in biology books and even then I didn’t like them. And now there were about forty of them in front of me. Forty smelly big worms. Well, at least we now knew who was making the tunnels.
In the center of their lair was their biggest representative — a level-eighty Stone-eating Worm. It gave off the brightest glow and was so big that it could easily get stuck in some of the particularly narrow tunnels.
More importantly, there was movement in the lair. The Worms crawled on the perfectly smooth stone, and then disappeared through holes in the floor that I couldn’t see from where I was standing.
A high-pitched scream reached me.
I turned in the direction of the noise — the large Worm screeched, twisting its disgusting face. This time, I gave it a closer look and froze in horror. A black cloud of insects was circling it. They worked like a single organism, biting into the Worm’s whitish skin. And when the mob began to randomly twitch in an attempt to crush them, they suddenly rose into the air, remaining at a safe distance.
The Worm, having had enough of it, decided to hide in its hole. In my opinion, it should’ve done it much sooner. It was weakened, covered with numerous wounds, and probably full of poison. Noticing that their victim was trying to escape, the swarm swooped down on the Worm in a single wave and latched themselves onto its skin.
Within half a minute, the Worm went limp, but the bugs were in no hurry to eat their dinner. Hundreds of insects flapped their wings with a barely audible hum, lifting the carcass off the stone floor. With difficulty, of course, but they did it! Ignoring the squeals of the smaller Worms, they slowly dragged the body toward one of the tunnels and soon disappeared in the darkness.
***
“A bunch of insects killed a giant worm and dragged off its body?” Spider asked, raising his eyebrow.
“Tha
t’s right.”
I was aware that my explanation sounded strange at best, and made up at worst. But I knew what I saw. The insects moved like a single organism. But what I didn’t know was why they wanted to kill such a big mob? One of the smaller Worms would’ve been more than enough to feed the swarm.
“I’m more interested in what the Worms eat,” Ronin said. “Do they really eat rocks? But they have no nutritional value...”
“Game logic,” Spider sighed. “These Worms create organic matter from inorganic matter. We should put them under our base, let them eat the ground to their heart’s content, and then kill the fattest one... And voila! A steady, secure flow of food.”
“Spider! The fuck’s wrong with you?” Ronin asked, fighting the urge to vomit.
“What?” Fang asked with a grin. “Meat’s meat.”
Ronin swung angrily at the Goblin but missed. I couldn’t help but smile: sometimes, he got on my nerves, but for moments like these it was worth keeping him around. Ronin, on the other hand, hadn’t been feeling well since we had smelled the rot. Who would’ve thought that someone so stoic and level-headed would be so squeamish? I could only imagine how difficult it must’ve been for him to eat remains of unicellular organisms or raw meat.
I had to admit that Spider’s idea was good. But first we needed to deal with the key, which was now very close.
The tunnel curved smoothly and connected to a branching tunnel that connected it to the entire underground network of the mountain. It was stuffy here, and the dry, stagnant air hadn’t stirred in what must’ve been decades. The torches illuminated the arches of the next corridor, which was lost in the darkness of the next and the last cave. We could hear faint rustling and humming ahead.
***
It didn’t make much sense to put out the torches. The bugs (midges, as Spider later explained to me) could see in the dark, so we just shared a glance and entered the cave.
The scene in front of us made us freeze in amazement.
Lord of the Gnats
Level 76
Burgundy Faction
Hundreds of insects swirled around the player, creating a funnel that went up to the ceiling of the medium-sized cave. The place reeked of rot and decomposing corpses, and the sweet smell that tickled our nostrils was nauseating. Ronin covered his nose with the hide and stared at the player in disgust. The rest of us were shocked, to say the least.
Lord resembled a fat fly and was even bigger than Ivan. He didn’t seem to notice us. His faceted eyes were focused on his dinner, the pieces of which he was tearing off with his long legs. I wondered how he had managed to survive this long. We killed all of the Burgundies. How did he manage to escape?
While I pondered, Lord opened his mouth, and boomed in fluent Russian:
“We’ve got guests! Ahaha! Sit down, sit down... Have a bite. Mature Worms taste the best.”
Unable to hold it any longer, Ronin finally threw up.
“Now, now, that isn’t polite,” Lord said. “I keep the house neat, as you may have noticed.”
With that, he cut off the Worm’s head, pouring what looked like blood onto his hairy legs. He licked it off with his long, thin tongue.
***
I activated Third Eye in hope that I’d see just how dangerous he really was and frowned upon seeing the name floating above his head. I recognized the strange symbols from before.
•••
Level 153
Violet Faction
My heart sank to my heels, and a shiver ran down my spine.
“Rosh... Rosh Ze Rol?” I asked, horrified.
“Why, hello there, Loki. Remember me?”
The sneer in his voice and the grin on his face didn’t bode well. I immediately remembered how he tried to take over my body back in the Primordial Waters.
Chapter 6
LORD OF THE FLIES
I felt like someone had plucked my brain out of my skull and tossed it away. Oh, what I’d give for a cool head right now.
My allies moved their blank gazes from Rosh to me. They had no clue what was going on. “Lord” was in no hurry to attack but he did seem like he wanted to gloat, certain in his victory over six players and five mobs.
“What’s the matter, Loki? Cat got your tongue? I understand... But did you really think that you’d be able to kill me, Rosh Ze Rol, that easily?! AHAHAHA!” His tone almost immediately changed to a calmer one, which had a hint of doubt. “I’ll admit... You tricked me. Or rather, tricked me before I could trick you... Ah, but it’s not that simple, no... Yes?” he asked, turning his head to someone hidden in the depths of the cave. Or perhaps he was just talking to himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was. “Yes... It’s not that simple...”
I finally snapped out of it. And while Rosh, apparently out of his fucking mind, continued his tirade, I quickly brought my friends up to speed via Mental Transmission.
“What should we do?” Valkyrie asked, glancing at the sputtering Rosh.
“Attack and strangle him,” Ivan suggested, looking around the cave.
“That’s not a good idea...” Spider chuckled. “Look up. See that? Those are insects... Hundreds of them... We’ll never be able to get that cockroach.”
“Fly. Not cockroach,” Ronin corrected him.
“A bug’s a bug. All these names and nicknames confuse me... It’s a big fat bug that controls other smaller bugs.”
Meanwhile, Rosh suddenly began to tell his invisible friend the story about his rescue. Interested, I listened in.
Seeing me, he grinned, showing off his drooling jaws. I had to be careful about what I said. A single wrong word could trigger him and light the fuse of his madness, and then we’d be gonners.
“You want to know how I survived?” He leaned his back against the stone wall and popped another lump of slimy worm meat into his mouth.
“I... Yes.”
“I wasn’t just poking around your head, no... Reading minds is great, don’t get me wrong... But it’s much more interesting to manipulate people...” Rosh was already shaking with pleasure, seemingly recalling his numerous attempts of doing just what he was describing. “Ah, but I couldn’t fool you, no... I’m not a mentalist... I did some digging into your profile and found something interesting! Really interesting! We all have plenty of our own unique skills, right?” He seemed to be addressing the other Grays. He either didn’t notice the Goblins or was ignoring them. “That’s right... Evacuation is the most powerful weapon in your arsenal. I’m sure you didn’t even think about it, just picked it up by accident... You couldn’t have known that that’s probably the strongest skill in the Game. Pity that it’s a one-time use one.”
I smiled and shook my head.
“Let me guess... You can steal abilities? No... You can copy them.”
“Oho, how perceptive of you...” Rosh stared straight into my eyes with his swollen ones. Even their color was disgusting — they were piss yellow. “Exactly! I can copy them! Fun, isn’t it?! Haha! This skill allows me to get any skill from any player’s profile...” He suddenly changed the subject, and, giggling, gradually switched to talking nonsense. “No one to talk to... I don’t want to talk to bugs... We had such a nice chat... And you, you freak, wanted to kill me! What if I didn’t have the time to copy your skill, huh? What then? I would’ve been dead for good! Kicked the bucket! Gone! Kaput!”
“You wanted to kill me. Or did you forget that part?” I asked, looking warily at him. He was growing more annoyed by the second.
“YES! DAMN YOU!!! YES! Ahahaha!” Rosh let out a high-pitched laugh, almost falling to the floor, but then he calmed down and slowly got up. “It was hard... You have no idea how hard... I found this Burgundy bloke... Lured him to the same cave as before with visions... And then... Well, you know. But what you don’t know is how hard it is to hypnotize someone while being in the body of a virus! It isn’t meant for that! Luckily, the Burgundy bloke was as dumb as a brick.” Rosh coughed, spitting out a piece of undigested s
kin. “He and his group spotted me almost immediately... But spotting me, ROSH, isn’t enough! And then, then we reached land... The System was as oblivious, as were his teammates... And then, the Virus skill changed to Peddler and I gathered myself an army of insects... Lord of the Gnats! It’s like he knew what was coming...”
I didn’t like his attitude. If last time he was arrogant and calculated, then now he was insane and aggressive. I doubted that he’d let us go. He had nothing to lose. He had long lost interest in living and playing this Game.
“Well, it’s time to settle the score. What do you say, hm? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? Thank you, by the way, Ivan, for making your thoughts so easy to read. But what if instead of two eyes... I take twelve?”
A menacing buzz came from above us as a cloud of midges swooped down. Rosh had no intention of protecting the swarm — if he died, he’d make sure to take us down with him. But still, to send a bunch of weak mobs at a mentalist mage? Please.
I smiled and stepped in front of my cowering allies.
“Mental Attack!”
You cannot tame Poisonous Mosquito #23.
Number of units: 134
Host [•••, Violet Faction] has more Mental Strength.
The mosquitoes were getting closer, and my allies, seeing that nothing was happening, slowly began to retreat.
“Get out!” I shouted into the comm channel, randomly striking the ceiling with lightning bolts. It did nothing. The swarm covered several cubic meters.
“One-one, Loki.” Rosh grinned before we were driven out by a cloud of stinging midges and disappeared into the dark passage.
Oh, we’ll see about that, you freak!
***
There were nine more days left before the Pied Piper skill could be used again. And even with it, I wasn’t sure if I could successfully tame an entire swarm. It’d be better if we went up against them in a fairly narrow corridor where they’d have less room to maneuver. But would that be enough?
Reborn: Evolution: A LitRPG Series (Warlock Chronicles Book 3) Page 6
