by Dante King
“Quite impressive!” Bao the Cultivator looked pleased to see us. “You were able to cross a small distance without difficulty, young man. If you can keep that level of energy up all the way to the mine, you may be able to match Bao the Cultivator, indeed!”
I had no illusions. Bao wouldn’t be much help outside of maybe telling us where the break in the mine shaft was that let these creatures into the town in the first place. But we needed to get him there alive—otherwise, we’d never figure it out.
“That’s great, Bao,” I said, plastering a big fake smile on my face. My fingers tensed around Lyra’s hilt, preparing the snake spear for another assault. “Just remember to stay between me and Anna, and everything will be—”
An ox roared behind us.
The Rust Beetles had evidently decided the carts had been ruined enough. The creatures swarmed Lyra’s oxen, their tiny jaws cutting through flesh and bone. The poor oxen struggled in their yokes, unable to break free as they were torn apart like a swimmer in a stream full of piranha. Looks of utter horror filled Hazel and Regina’s faces, and I knew they were reflected by my own expression.
“They can do that?” I asked, picking my jaw up off the floor.
Bao the Cultivator sucked a tooth, watching the Rust Beetles devour the oxen with a clinical expression. “Once they realize there’s no more metal to corrode, they must decide it’s time to feast,” he said, shaking his head back and forth. “Oh dear. Oh dear…”
Panic flared through me. “Hazel, Regina! Get to that rooftop!”
The cart had already begun to lurch sickeningly as the oxen collapsed. Now the whole thing tilted to the side, groaning as the last few sinews holding the frame together began to crack. Hazel didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Regina and took a flying leap over the side of the cart as it tipped over, jumping from the highest point to the nearby rooftop.
At the apex of her jump, she tossed Regina forward. The brunette landed on the tiles with a thump, rolled to the side and caught herself. She’d made it! She reached out her hands for Hazel.
The blonde warrior hadn’t been so lucky. Tossing Regina had robbed her own leap of much needed momentum. What should have catapulted her onto the tiles instead slammed her into the edge of the rooftop, the crest smacking her between chin and collarbone. Hazel let out an urk of shock as she toppled, flailing out wildly—and at the last moment, Regina grabbed her hand. For an instant I was sure both girls would fall into the carpet of devouring Rust Beetles, but there was a hidden reserve of strength within Regina. Grunting and backing up, she pulled Hazel inch by inch onto the roof, until the warrior could lift her lower half onto the tiles.
Both women panted, recovering, then turned to us on the roof of the well and shot us a thumb’s up. “We’re okay!” Regina said, nodding over at the two-story tavern across the street. “We’ll try to get over there with the others!”
“Great!” I yelled back. “Are you ready, Bao?
“I was born ready,” the cultivator informed me imperiously. “Let’s save this town, young man!”
As one, the three of us leapt from the roof of the well. As I dropped, I pulled another trick out of my sleeve. The snake spear twisted in my hands, pointing not at the carpet of Rust Beetles beneath us but inside of the well itself. With my expanded senses I could feel the churning water far below us, could sense the potential energy in the massive reservoir of fluid stored by the town for drinking and bathing.
Channeling energy through Lyra and the snake spear, I sent my own cultivation into the well. As we landed in front of the wave of Rust Beetles, the ground began to rumble.
“Get ready to run!” I yelled. “Surf’s up!”
The well exploded. A geyser of water shot from its stones, tearing the rooftop platform away and spraying into the air like someone had just struck oil. The well itself disintegrated as a wall of water pushed outward, the deep reservoir of liquid provoked into motion by my cultivation. Anna and I ran, the wave lapping at our heels as we rushed into the nearest row of beetles.
It was almost like surfing—though I was pretty sure no human being had ever gone surfing like this before. The water tossed the front row of beetles off their feet, carrying them away on the current—and turning them into makeshift surfboards for me, Anna and Bao. We hung on for dear life as the wave rocked through the main thoroughfare, sending beetles scattering like watermelon seeds before a garden hose. Despite the danger, a scream of pure delight left me as the wave reached high enough to let us see over the rooftops.
If we get eaten by beetles, this’ll still be a hell of a way to die, I thought, locking eyes with Anna from her side of the wave.
“Oh, you’re not going to die!” That was Lyra, who’s smooth voice was even lustier inside my skull coming from the snake spear. “Get ready, Eric! That wasn’t the only well in town—we’re coming up on another one now!”
As soon as she said it, I saw what she meant. Another well sat in the shade of what appeared to be a school building. The windows had been broken out by Rust Beetles, whose projectiles had destroyed the glass while they attempted to corrode the metal frames holding the panes in place. We were heading right for the well—and it was already beginning to rumble, water spouting from between the cracks in its design.
“Brace yourselves!” I yelled over the roar of the wave. “We’re gonna be changing direction in a hurry!”
The second well erupted, shooting the entire thing into the air like a cannon. Another plume of water filled the intersection, sending Rust Beetles flowing down alleyways and into the first floors of buildings. Either way, the path was clear!
“Are there enough of these wells to carry us all the way to the mine?” I asked Lyra. The thought filled me with hope—we could just ride our way to the mine entrance, collapse whatever tunnel Bao needed us to hit, and stop the infestation in its tracks. Put that way, it sounded almost easy.
Lyra’s voice in my head was grave. “I’m afraid not, Eric. There’s only one more that I can see. After that, it’ll be a few blocks at least.”
A few blocks of fighting thousands of angry Rust Beetles. It was hopeless. As soon as they switched from corroding things to feasting, they turned into an unstoppable force. What had happened to Lyra’s oxen would happen to me, Anna, and Bao. Unless we could somehow fight our way all the way through to the mine…
Or unless they never start feasting, I thought, glancing around as I rode the wave. We need to give them metal to corrode! Enough that they don’t think to attack us.
“Anna!” I yelled, leaning toward my girlfriend. “Transform!”
Her brows furrowed, but she got the gist of what I was saying. Anna jumped from her platform to mine, her body shimmering in mid-air. The scythe dropped into my open hand, landing like it was a part of my own body. Now there were two voices in my head—and to my surprise, they could hear each other.
“What’s the plan?” Anna sounded like she was about to slam herself on the biggest, thickest cock she’d ever seen. “Feed these fuckers Bao and make a run for it?”
“Don’t even think about it!” Lyra chided my girlfriend. “I’m sure Eric has a better plan than that!”
I did. “We have to get to a rooftop,” I said, having no time to explain beyond that. “You two stay in weapon form, and I’ll make sure none of these fuckers sink their teeth into Bao. I’ve got a plan to get us to the mine, but you’re going to have to do what I say!”
“We always do what you say, sir,” Anna purred in my brain, sending the sensation of a finger running down my shaft along with the words. “Your wish is our command!”
“Hell yeah,” I grunted, glancing at the nearby rooftop as we passed. “Those shingles are just what I need!”
Grabbing hold of Bao, I shoved the man onto the roof the way Hazel had done to Regina. He let out a surprised cry as he hit the side, rolling so hard I worried he’d tumble into the street and be consumed. I joined him a moment later, hopping on just as the wave passed us by.
> “Why did you do that!?” Bao wanted to know. “The wave was taking us to the mine!”
“It wouldn’t take us all the way,” I explained, putting the snake spear on my back as I sized up the condition of the shingles. “These are made of the same metal from the mines, right?”
Bao stared at me flatly. “Yes, of course. They’re the village’s chief export. A lucky thing indeed the Rust Beetles can’t reach them, otherwise they’d corrode them into flakes…”
A quick slash with the scythe freed one of the shingles. I tossed into the street, my heart in my throat.
”What? What are you doing!?” Bao looked at me as if I’d gone mad. “That’s a perfectly good roof…”
“Look,” I said, pointing. “Watch!”
As the shingle hit the ground, the Rust Beetles on the street swarmed. They crowded around the shingle, each of them competing to be the one who vomited corrosive dirt on the metallic plate and finally dissolved it. As more and more of them piled in, the space around them grew empty—clearing a path nearly half a block behind the creatures.
“They’re attracted to the metal,” I explained, gathering up more of the shingles. “They’ll completely ignore us in order to destroy it.”
Bao’s mind worked feverishly as he watched the Rust Beetles spit all over the shingle. “But this is not honorable,” he protested, glaring down at the display. “It’s beneath a cultivator such as myself!”
“Yes, but not me,” I said, thinking fast. “I need tactics like this in order to reach the mine. You won’t tell anyone, will you?
A sly smile spread across Bao the Cultivator’s face. “Of course not, young man,” he said magnanimously. “Your secret will remain safe with me!”
With a grin, I bent over and began collecting more shingles. Doing so required shifting the snake spear behind the same arm I’d been using to hold Anna in her scythe form. As I moved it, I felt confusion ripple through both of my women. They expected bloodshed and carnage — what was this strategy?
I felt the thrum of their bloodlust in my own veins, and held it back with a force of will. These girls didn’t rule me; I was their commander, their leader. Their man. They’d do what I wanted. If that meant finding ways to sneak to the mine instead of having to fight our way through tens of thousands of Rust Beetles, then they’d just have to get with the program.
“Hold as many as you can,” I instructed Bao, showing him how to cup the hem of his robe to form a makeshift basket. The man stared at the growing pile of shingles with a bemused expression, his fingers tightening around the fabric as what he carried grew heavier and heavier. “We just need enough to make it to the mine.”
“Young man,” Bao said, with the air of a teacher correcting a student. “If I carry these, I won’t be able to protect you with my cultivation!”
Your cultivation’s not worth much, anyway, I thought. “It’s alright, Bao,” I told the man with a smile. If I need you, I’ll let you know. Then you can just drop the shingles and burn those Rust Beetles away!”
This explanation seemed to satisfy the man. Thinking quickly, I took another three shingles from the roof and tossed them down the street — one underhand and close by, the other two harder and with increasing distance. Rust Beetles clustered around them, clearing enough space for Bao and I to run.
“Hold on tight,” I told Anna and Lyra. “I need you to be ready to unleash your best spells at a moment’s notice!”
“Don’t worry about us,” Lyra cooed, sounding only slightly less horny for murder than her much younger harem companion. “We’ve got this!”
“Alright,” I said, speaking to both my human and my weapon companions. “Bao, let’s go!”
The two of us jumped down from the roof, landing in a spot vacated by the Rust Beetles as they chowed down on a nearby shingle. I hit the dirt smoothly, slashing outward with the scythe to clear a path for Bao to land. The red-robed cultivator flashed in front of me, landed hard—and dropped half the shingles in his makeshift bag, scattering them like marbles across the street.
Damn it.
For the Rust Beetles, each of whom clustered a hundred to one around the tiny morsels of the thrown shingles, this was like having a whole banquet cart overturned in their faces. A mass of the things ran right for us, the air filled with the pop-pop sound of mandibles opening and closing as the horde bore down on us.
“Shit!” I yelled, switching to the snake spear. “Bao, get ready to run!”
I pointed the Spear directly at the approaching mass of Beetles, aimed with one eye closed, and channelled.
Eric Casts Hydro Blast!
The stored cultivation within my body erupted through Lyra, sending a geyser of pure, blue water spilling from the mouth of the snake spear. The wall of Rust Beetles hit it and were thrown back, tossed by the current down the street as the wave crested. Foam pushed the shingles remaining on the street down alleyways, sending more Beetles after them in their insatiable hunger.
For a moment, the road up the mountain was clear, if soggy. “Run!” I yelled, gesturing for Bao to follow. “Get to the mine!”
I felt like Moses crossing the Red Sea. Either side of the street hosted a wall of Rust Beetles with a narrow path in the middle where my water spell had cleared the way. For the moment the shingles along the path contained the flood—but as soon as those bits of metal disintegrated, the Beetles would be on us.
My feet thudded against the muddy soil, sinking in with every step. Bao, lighter on his feet, raced ahead, the hem of his robe held out before him like a makeshift landing pad for someone jumping from one of the building’s windows. The shingles he held swayed alarmingly from side to side, on the verge of tipping out into the street.
That gave me an idea.
Racing faster to catch up with Bao, I reached into the makeshift sack he’d turned his robes into and seized out a shingle. The two walls of Rust Beetles narrowed in an ersatz ‘V’ in the path ahead; within a stone’s throw or more, there would be no more room for us to run. With a grunt, I chucked the shingle down a nearby alleyway, the impact against a brick wall filling the air with a ping barely audible over the sounds of the creature’s wet limbs.
As if on cue, the wall ahead of us began to move. A stream of Rust Beetles carted madly into the alley, stuffing their fellows between the narrow walls to get at the metal. Thick projectiles of dirt filled the air, slapping the walls as Bao and I pushed through the narrow opening.
“We’re doing it!” I roared, slashing an errant Rust Beetle out of my path with the scythe. “We just have to keep this up all the way to the mine, and those things won’t be able to touch us…!”
We had approached the edge of the village. Here the path wound sharply upward, heading into the hills. A weathered sign announced Jingshu Mine: 2500 chi. Someone had crossed through the legend with red paint, writing the characters for BEWARE along the bottom of that banal measuring stick.
I froze in my tracks. The path wound back and forth, in switchbacks so narrow they could have cut glass. Tilting my head back to look up, I could see the first outbuildings of the mine—while it was a hell of a climb, nearly all of it was visible from here. All we had left to do was take the path almost straight up.
The problem was the Rust Beetles.
Here, the creatures clung even more thickly to the hillside than they had between the buildings. In the village, everything from buildings to food stalls to overturned carts provided islands where one could rest from the monsters—here, no such shelter waited. It was a straight run all the way to the mine, with dozens of Rust Beetles to defeat every step of the way.
I took one look at it and my heart sank into my stomach. “We’ll never make that,” I said, turning to Bao. “We’d need an entire wheelbarrow full of those shingles to distract that many Beetles! We’re going to have to turn back around—”
But we no longer could. The Rust Beetles, having ripped the shingles we’d used as decoys down to flakes of rust, were already regroupi
ng at the mouth of the road leading into town. A veritable wall of them swarmed less than a stone’s throw away from Bao, their feelers twitching as they sensed fresh meat on the wind. I remembered how quickly they transformed into those vicious, piranha-like creatures and fear filled my heart.
Bao the Cultivator laughed. “Those!? Those beasts are no match for a trained cultivator! Observe, young man!”
The cultivator cracked his knuckles, preparing a spell—and the whole mass of shingles he still had tucked in his robes fell to the ground. Little plinks reached my ear at the sound of metal on metal, the shingles rubbing against each other in the dirt as they landed. At the entrance to the mine path, dozens of Rust Beetles froze, turning as if they’d just been told there was a gorgeous, naked Rust Beetle Supermodel hanging out right behind them.
“Bao, no!” I reached down to scoop up the shingles, dropping my scythe as I did so. It shimmered, and suddenly I was looking at Anna in demonic form, her eyes wide with shock as she watched a wall of writhing, colossal insects heading toward our position. “You have to get them off the ground! They’re going to destroy us—”
“So fearful you are, child,” Bao said placidly. He lifted one foot into the air and cocked it, closing a fist in one palm as he entered a meditative stance. “Remember: all is one. These creatures are a part of the Eternal Dao, as are all of us.”
Fire flowed from his fingertips, and I groaned. “They’re metal-based monsters,” I cried, twirling the snake spear in my hands. “Fire will just bounce right off them!”
“The elements are putty in the hands of a true cultivator!” Bao’s voice rose with an unearthly distortion, a fireball blazing to life in the man’s outstretched palm. “Behold, young Eric! The true fruit of the tree of the Eternal Dao!”
I brought a hand to my forehead. Bao was about to get us all killed.
