On the fifth day after they left Gneiss Glen they came over a ridge and saw the ruins of an old wall meandering along the hillside. The stone barrier ran north and south, creating a border between the Rock Leaf Forest and the Silent Plains to the east. Even from this distance Terran could tell the wall was crumbling and wouldn't keep out much of anything these days, but he imagined in its prime the structure would have been daunting to all but the largest armies.
The wall seemed to have been five feet thick and at least fifteen feet tall. Now rocks had tumbled out of place and fallen in piles along both sides of the structure, making it look like a giant had just squashed parts of the wall, flattening it to the ground as the rocks oozed out from under the pressure of the weight.
Terran opened his map and zoomed in to see if they needed to go north or south along the wall to find the ruined watchtower Lhoris had marked. "Looks like we need to go north from here a few more miles," he reported.
As they reached the wall and turned north, the hairs on the back of Terran's neck rose. Zara must have felt it too as she pulled the axe off her back and held it in both hands while they walked. Luna's ears twitched, turning in every direction, and she no longer scouted ahead as they made their way closer to the abandoned watchtower. Terran didn't see any traces of activity, but his sense of unease worsened with each step they took.
The air seemed to become thicker as the outline of the watchtower appeared in their vision. The sun was past the midpoint, making its way towards the western horizon, and it illuminated the dust particles in the air. Despite there being no evidence of disease anywhere around, Terran kept thinking about their encounter with the rot fiend. He knew there was no way the three of them could take out one of those on their own. He just hoped whatever had set them on edge wasn't as dangerous.
After about ten minutes of walking Terran thought his nerves were just getting the best of him and there was no reason to be concerned, so he loosened his grip on his staff. His knuckles had turned white from clenching the piece of petrified wood inset with the azure crystal so tightly, but there were no signs of any hostile creatures. The forest around them was still alive with the sounds of daily life—birds chirping, insects buzzing, and small rodents skittering through the undergrowth searching for a meal.
As they neared the watchtower Terran could tell the roof had caved in long ago and the wall on the western side had crumbled away, leaving a pile of debris on the ground. Feeling the need to be prepared for anything as they approached the tower, he used his earth sense skill to scan the ground looking for any bedrock.
[You have increased the skill Earth Sense]
Skill: Earth Sense 5 (END)This seems better for your taste buds than licking rocks to identify them.
He didn't find any bedrock nearby, but he did see a strange patch of something he'd never seen before about one hundred feet in front of them. He didn't have time to analyze anything as Zara streaked past him, axe held high above her head, bellowing in rage. Terran turned to see what she was running towards as a giant beetle emerged from behind a tree to their left.
The sun reflected off the beetle's iridescent carapace as it twitched its antennae scanning the air around it. It must have sensed Zara running towards it because it turned and ran north, moving faster than Terran thought possible on its six legs. Zara quickly changed course and followed after the bug, ready to bring her axe down on it when she got within range.
Terran noticed a moment too late what his earth sense had been trying to tell him about the ground in front of them. As soon as Zara's foot landed on the strange patch, the ground opened up and she collapsed into a cavernous hole and disappeared. Swarms of tiny beetles erupted out of the hole, skittering every direction as the sounds of Zara's rage and surprise echoed out of the ground.
Chapter Seven
Luna bounded forward, crunching tiny beetles under her paws as she made her way to the hole that had opened up in the ground and swallowed Zara. For each bug she smashed ten more scampered up her legs. She shook furiously, trying to fling them off her, but there were just too many of them. As Terran watched Luna's health bar, they didn't seem to be doing much damage, but they would not be able to gain much ground if they couldn't find an efficient way to destroy the swarm.
Unsure of how to help, Terran aimed his staff at Luna and sang his signature note, using Vocal Slam to try to get the bugs off the lynx. The concussive force of the sound waves blasted the bugs in every direction, but it also did some damage to Luna.
"Hey! Watch where you aim that thing," the lynx growled at Terran as she picked herself back up and ran to the hole.
Terran could hear Zara screaming in a rage from somewhere below. The ground in front of the hole seemed to be moving as swarms of the beetles continued to spew forth, blocking access to the hole. Luna backed up a few steps then took a running leap towards Zara's screams. She looked like a professional long jumper soaring through the air over the swarm of bugs, leaving Terran alone up top.
Like a heat-seeking tick, the bugs reoriented towards Terran once Luna was gone. He sang another note into the crystal on his staff, sending a mass of the bugs flying backwards. Without having to worry about Luna taking damage, he was quickly able to clear a path to the hole despite being a little off key.
Terran ran to the opening and dropped the six feet down next to Luna. They appeared to be in a burrow made by the beetles. Sunlight filtered in through the newly created opening, revealing a kidney-shaped space twenty feet at its widest strewn with pebbles and stragglers from the escaping swarm. The air was heavy as the dust from the collapse hung seemingly weightless around them, and the smell of decay filled their noses.
Passages dug in the dirt wound in various directions off the central space, creating a spider web of tunnels. The ground above must have been too thin to hold Zara's weight, causing the collapse.
It seemed like most of the tiny swarming bugs had made their way out of the burrow, and the few remaining stragglers retreated. When the ground shook below Terran he jumped out of the way, thinking more of the tiny insects were coming.
Zara screamed, running to the spot Terran had just been, and swung her axe in a wide arc. Terran realized the tiny bugs must have been babies as the front half of a giant beetle, much bigger than the one Zara had chased above, emerged from the ground. The protective chitin shell absorbed the axe blow without even creating a scratch on the bug.
"I can't damage this thing with its shell," Zara screamed.
Terran used his skill to analyze the giant black bug with red markings across its back.
Necrophorus Beetle (Queen) - level 15
It's never a good idea to piss off these parents.
Luna lunged, mouth open, at one of the front legs. But before she could bite down, she was kicked backwards by one of the other legs. In true catlike fashion she somehow managed to land on her feet. The ground in front of her trembled and a smaller beetle tunneled out while the larger one receded back into the ground.
Luna tried to bite off the antenna that emerged next to her, but its movements were too erratic and she ended up just snapping at the air. As the beetle rose fully from the ground, Zara turned with her axe in both hands above her head, face red from rage and her normally blue eyes black lumps of coal. Terran worried that the change in her eyes had something to do with the demon arm, but he couldn't focus on that as she brought the axe down as hard as she could on the bug's neck, severing its head in one stroke. Ichor-like blood spewed from the neck, coating Luna in a green ooze.
The lynx howled like a cat being thrown into a bathtub. There was no time for her to clean her fur as a third bug, just as big as the first, burrowed out of the ground next to Terran. He quickly used his analyze skill.
Necrophorus Beetle (King) - level 15
We warned you that they come in pairs.
He took a deep breath and aimed his staff at the bug, singing his signature note. His pitch was completely off, his voice warbled, and the spell failed
. The beetle hissed as it spit at Terran in response. The translucent snot-like liquid landed, smoking inches from his feet.
Roaring and with sweat dripping from her brow, Zara swung her axe at the giant bug. Again it bounced harmlessly off the chitin shell. She tried to swing a second time, this time aiming for the bug's neck, but it skittered out of the way as she brought her axe fiercely down. The blade stuck harmlessly in the ground from the force of her swing. Furiously, she rocked the handle back and forth, trying to free it.
Terran heard the hissing sound of the beetle spitting, then Zara's scream as the liquid landed on her demon arm. The powerful poison knocked off twenty-eight percent of her health. Somehow the berserker seemed even more unhinged as she ripped the axe out of the ground in one grunting move. Blisters had already formed on her arm where the spittle had landed. She looked possessed with her wild red hair plastered to her sweaty face and teeth clenched in anger as she hefted her axe over her shoulder, preparing to swing again.
Before she could attack, the giant beetle burrowed into the ground, leaving Zara to stand, chest heaving from exertion.
"Come out and fight, you coward," she screamed at the hole in the ground.
Terran thought Zara was going to dive into the hole to chase the king, but instead she raced down a tunnel to the right, where a small line of bugs was marching. Terran tried to follow her, but he could barely keep up the pace. She kept running from room to room, aggroing dozens of bugs at a time until she was surrounded by countless small insects nipping at her ankles, each taking a small bite of her hit points. When the bugs were gathered all around her, she spun in a furious whirlwind, mowing down everything until all of the bugs were dead.
In a frantic rush she continued down the tunnels, collecting more and more enemies until even Terran and Luna were overwhelmed by the numbers. The small beetles were clamoring all over the walls and floor to attack the intruders.
"Zara, stop! We can't keep this up. Luna and I are losing hp too fast and we don't have a healer," he yelled to the berserker.
He couldn't tell if she was ignoring him or didn't hear him, but she continued to the next tunnel. Filled with frustration and with a quickly dropping health bar, Terran summoned a stone wall in front of Zara, forcing her to skid to a stop. Her eyes were black as she roared in rage and spun in circles, whirlwinding the enemies that had been trailing her like she was some kind of entomophilous parade leader.
The air filled up like a cyclone of tiny insect parts when she spun. Droplets of the green ichor-like blood splattered the walls like a dog shaking off water, but at least the infant beetles didn't have the ability to spit poison yet. Even after all his breath training, Terran was struggling to fill his lungs enough to use his sonic blast, and the normally agile lynx tripped over her own paw swiping at the swarm of bugs.
Terran noticed that the more bugs surrounded Zara, the fewer spins it took to kill them all. This didn't make sense to him until he realized she must have a skill that increased the damage she dealt with each mob that surrounded her. If he and Luna could somehow funnel everything towards her, they might survive the tumble into the beetle nest.
"Luna, bring the beetles to Zara. I'm going to try to build stone walls to funnel them her direction. The more mobs around her, the more damage she seems to do," Terran shouted over the din of clamoring bugs and the spinning berserker.
Luna took a lap around the room, gathering as many stray bugs as she could, then cautiously made her way towards Zara. She managed to narrowly avoid the spinning berserker's deadly axe by leaping out of the way just in time.
As more bugs ran into the room Terran erected stone walls that funneled them to Zara. In a few seconds Zara had managed to destroy the entire swarm. She stood covered in green blood, chest heaving as she leaned on her axe catching her breath and steadying herself after all the spinning.
There was little time to rest before the ground at their feet shook and a mound of dirt rose next to Terran. Dirt piled up and then collapsed inward as the bug's antenna twitched, searching for its prey.
"Wait for it to come all the way out," Terran screamed at Zara when he saw her readying her axe. "Control your rage so we can kill it once it fully emerges."
The veins on Zara's arm and her neck pulsed as she fought to control the rage. "I'm trying," she said through gritted teeth. Her eyes flashed between her brilliant blue and the liquid, demon black as she bounced on the balls of her feet, but she didn't rush forward.
"Try to knock its feet out from under it," Terran yelled as the bug fully emerged from the ground.
Zara sprang into action. This time instead of bringing her axe down in an overhead swing she dropped to one knee, flattened the blade parallel to the ground, and swept at the bug's legs. Three of the legs were amputated in the swing and the bug fell forward onto the ground with nothing to stabilize itself.
Terran aimed his staff at the ground directly beneath the king beetle and sang a perfect clear note. The ground exploded, debris flying everywhere, and the beetle flew into the air. Not waiting for it to land on its back, Zara swung at the exposed underside sailing over her head. The beetle screamed as its life force spewed onto Zara's head from the gash in its abdomen.
"It's going to take a week of bathing to get all that out," Luna said and wrinkled her nose.
In her rage Zara didn't seem to even notice the green blood dripping off her. She was focused on the ground that was moving a few inches in front of her as she anticipated the queen making her appearance.
"That worked great. Let's do it again. Keep doing whatever you're doing to control that rage," Terran said, watching the moving ground intently.
The queen came out of the ground spitting. Terran heard the hissing sound just before her head broke through the dirt. Luna was ready, leaping from her spot, but not before a small bit of the poison splashed onto her tail. The lynx shrieked as she landed on the other side of the room.
Zara wasted no time repeating the maneuvers that had just taken out the king. Seeing his companion injured, Terran sang his note louder and clearer than ever before. An eruption of dirt and beetle limbs filled the small cavern as the bug flipped into the air. Terran wasn't sure how Zara could see anything through the mess, but she crashed down on the beetle as soon as it landed on its hardened shell. She swung so hard that her axe managed to crack the underside of the shell after slicing through the body.
You have increased the skill Battle Song.
Skill: Battle Song 12 (CHA)
You could front a death metal band with that scream
The skill improvement flashed across Terran's vision as soon as his lungs emptied of air and he stopped the note. He quickly swiped the notification away and ran to Luna, who was licking at the burnt spot on her tail. She only had a sliver of health left and the poison was still ticking away at her hit points. Terran grabbed the last healing potion from his bag and poured it down her throat. The final tick of the poison left Luna with only twenty-five hit points.
"Thank you," she said to Terran. Her sandpaper tongue licked the back of his hand in gratitude.
"I'm going to need to find some water to bathe in soon. This slime is gross," Zara said, trying to wipe the beetle blood off her face.
"Let's find a way out of this burrow," Terran said, heading back the way they'd come.
Like some demented Hansel and Gretel, the three of them found their way back to the hole Zara had created by following the dead bugs that littered the cavern floor. Luna leapt to the sunlight overhead in a single bound. Zara found handholds in the earthen wall and quickly climbed to the top. Although it took Terran a bit longer, he managed to finally pull himself up out of the burrow.
"I really hate bugs," he said to no one in particular as he lay sprawled in the grass recovering from the short climb.
"Can we please find some water before I have to start using my own spit to clean this off?" Zara begged.
With their hit points almost fully recovered due to the game's regen,
Luna led them to a nearby stream. Zara ran splashing into the water. She lay down in the stream, letting the water rush over her and clean off all the ooze. Terran gasped as his foot touched the frigid water.
"This is freezing, Zara! How are you just lying there?" Terran shivered as he washed off his face and arms.
"The cold feels better than this crap all over me," she answered, finally standing up. Her teeth chattered as she walked back to the bank. "But yeah, it's cold now."
After cleaning themselves off they headed to the watchtower that Lhoris had marked on the map. The top level of the tower had long since collapsed and there was a gaping hole in the west side that had been created when a tree grew next to the wall, its roots destabilizing the deteriorating wall. Rocks and a few beetle parts were strewn across the floor. In the far corner there was a rotting wooden desk, a bedframe, and a hole that Terran assumed led to the beetles' burrow.
The tree provided shade and a pleasant aura to the area now that there was no twitching from below. Terran could see why someone would choose this place for a rest and a bite to eat if they didn't know the beetles were there. Light filtered through the boughs of the tree creating a speckled pattern on the ground, and the rustle of the leaves in the breeze offered a sense of relaxation. Though there were some patches of weeds that had worked their way through cracks in the stone floor, most of the area somehow remained tidy.
"Let's find the brooch and get out of here," Terran said, bending down to search the ground around the tree trunk.
It wasn't long before Zara, crawling on the ground on her hands and knees, discovered a brooch the size of her palm on the ground in front of her. "Found it. This is really beautiful," she exclaimed, turning the brooch over in her hand before handing it to Terran.
You have completed the quest "Retrieve Ara's family brooch."
The Ghost Tower: A LitRPG Adventure Page 5
