The Land: Catacombs (Chaos Seeds Book 4) (42 page)

Despite the effectiveness of the party’s new gear and efficient fighting tactics, spiders continued to pour into the room.  They pushed mindlessly through Richter’s AoE spells.  A few were knocked down by the claws, but more and more were making it into the room having suffered only minor to moderate wounds.  Richter drew his sword, prepared to rush forward.  If he could get close enough, he could light the grease on fire.  At the very least, it would give his party some breathing room.  Before he could step a foot forward, though, a mass of spiders swarmed the saproling.  It went down under their weight.  Richter held back because he could see the same thing happening to him.  The spiders continued to grow in number, uncaring that the war party needed a respite.

Alma fired a lightning bolt at one of the spiders on top of the saproling, and it fell to the ground, twitching.  Seeing her use of magic reminded Richter that he wasn’t using his full capabilities.  He sent a mental order to Alma, who immediately looped in the air and began flying towards the tunnel.  One spider jumped to strike at her, but the lithe dragonling avoided the attack and quickly crossed the distance between the war party and the storm of swirling claws. 

Richter extended a hand, his fingers moving in a precise pattern.  He finished the one-second casting, but instead of channeling the energy through his hands, he reached for a recently unlocked portion of his mind and directed the Power there.  Alma glowed red for a split second before flames shot out from her body in a five-foot jet.  She strafed the ground for a few feet before the fire finally touched the grease.  Flames shot up in a circular inferno, and the spiders finally made a noise besides their incessant clicking.  A high-pitched keening began, and those caught in the AoE scrambled and lashed out in confusion, some even fighting each other as they burned to death.

*
Keep soul trapping
them!
* he thought to Alma.  Then Richter turned his attention to the spiders that were already attacking his party.  The triangle formation was slowly moving forward, now striking at the spiders with impunity.  They all recognized that they had a small window to kill the spiders that had made it into the cave.  Another zombie spider had joined the first and struck its fellows with its spiked legs.  Krom had taken a wound to the shoulder, but he had already healed himself and was still in the fight.  Jean continued to fire dark bolts from the wand and Sion and Ulinde showed no signs of stopping their distanced death dealing.  His war party was doing well, so Richter focused on trying to save his summoned creature.

With one hand, he cast
Slow Heal I
and with the other swung his elementum blade in an overhand chop.  His mind easily compartmentalized, and he was able to finish the spell form while smoothly executing the sword form
Setting Sun.
His blade almost effortlessly swept through three of his target’s legs and, in the same motion, the tip of the sword split open the assengai’s side.  The spider toppled over and then rolled onto its back, pincers clicking madly.  He cast
Soul Trap
with his left hand while he swept his sword through the spider’s head, shearing it in two.  Another ribbon of light spiraled around him.

As his war party pushed forward, hacking and stabbing, rainbow swirls of light began to come from all sides.  Alma, mana nearly depleted, flew back to his side.  Richter took a step back from the fighting, happy to see that his saproling was still biting and clawing against the five spiders attacking it.  He reached into his Bag and uncorked a mana potion and gave it to his familiar.  She drank it down in one fast gulp, the blue solution restoring one hundred fifty-eight mana over the next nineteen seconds. 

She took off into the air and fired a lightning bolt at a spider attacking Terrod.  It collapsed to the ground stunned.  With a gleeful shout, Sedrin’s white spear stabbed it through the abdomen while Terrod skewered it with his dusky grey cobalt blade.  A ribbon of light rose from its body thanks to Krom’s quick thinking.  The party continued to surge forward, desperate to kill the assengai in the room before Richter’s grease fire burned itself out. 

Meanwhile, Richter knew one thing.  When the saproling finally succumbed, those spiders were going to be on him and his men.  Thrusting his short sword into the ground, his hands wove in a dual casting.  Pressure built in his throat for the next three seconds.  With a shout that seemed to stretch out longer than should be possible, rings of weaponized sound energy shot from his throat and washed over both the spiders and his saproling. 

The attack traveled at Mach 1 and overwhelmed the spiders’ senses.  His ears rang, but the spiders were far enough away that the feedback didn’t immediately deafen him this time.  Three fell to the ground, legs lashing out blindly, while the other two ran aimlessly in a desperate bid to escape Richter’s attack.  One was able to leave the cone-shaped AoE of the sonic assault, but the other circled and tripped over the body of another spider.  It stabbed its legs into its brethren again and again, maddened by the pain of Richter’s attack.  The one which got away suddenly collapsed, Alma’s sharp claws latched onto its back.  The poor intellect of the spear spider was no match for her level six
Brain Drain. 

Krom ran past Richter, and with a savage yell, swung his ebony hammer in a 270-degree windmill.  The dense black metal impacted against a spider’s hardened carapace.  The spider’s natural armor was quite good at resisting tooth, nail, and even the glancing blow of a blade, but it could nothing to stop the raw blunt force trauma of the dwarf’s attack.  The spider’s body burst as its insides were compressed past its exoskeleton’s ability to contain them. 

Green gore sprayed everywhere including Richter’s face and open mouth.  He spit in disgust, but neither the taste nor Krom’s manic laugh deterred him from swinging his sword.  One!  Two!  Three!  Each sword stroke laid open the belly of another spider, not killing them, but doing massive damage before they could fully recover from his sound attack.  He cast
Soul Trap
on each as Caulder, Terrod, and Sedrin rushed forward to finish them off.  Richter turned to kill the last spider, but two arrows shot forth from behind him, taking it in each eye.  With a last
click
of its mandibles it fell silent.

Everyone gathered together in the chamber.  Beyan’s zombies had been taken apart, but everyone else had made it through the fight with only minor damage.  They were all breathing heavily, and to a man, they were looking at the slowly dying fire in front of the exit and listening to the ever present clicking of the spiders waiting on the other side.  The spiders in the next chamber shared every creature’s fear of fire, which was the only reason why the war party had found a respite.  The entire war party knew that battle would recommence once the fire died.  Richter looked around at his people, struggling to take a deep breath.  The air had begun to grow thin as the fire continued to burn in the confined space.

“You always take me to the nicest places,” Sion said.

“Let’s not forget that it was your idea to lure that skeeling out,” Richter quipped back. 

“My lord, do we stay and fight or do we retreat?” Terrod asked, a pained look on his face. 

Seven pairs of eyes looked at him, awaiting his command.  Richter looked behind them to the entrance to the surface and then back at the doorway that led deeper into the caves.  Before he started speaking, he took Jean’s wand and recharged it with several of the weak and poor soul stones the hunters had provided.  After he had handed it back, he looked at each of them one by one.  “I don’t want to be here either.  I didn’t expect to find a nest like this, but we are here and we did find it.  I can’t leave this den behind to grow stronger.  To one day spawn more of these things that can attack our friends and loved ones.  Can you?”

Each and every member of the war party met his eyes and shook their heads slightly.   Their jaws were firm and they turned to the dying fire and spiders that waited beyond.  Richter spoke up again. “Well I don’t see any reason to wait for them to come to us, do you, Sion?”

“No reason at all, Richter my friend.”  With a grim and bloodthirsty smile, he nocked an arrow, and blue light flickered into existence.  Beyan started chanting, Ulinde prepared to fire and Jean raised his wand. 

Richter started to dual cast
Rending Talon I
again,
only too happy to teach these monsters that he was the true master of these lands.

CHAPTER 26
 

They fought off three more waves of spiders.  Richter was able to halt the influx of enemies each time with a grease fire, preventing them from being overwhelmed.  They went through most of their restore health and stamina potions, Beyan suffered a dislocated shoulder, and they all suffered flesh wounds, but otherwise they made it through unscathed.  After finishing the last spider, Richter looked around and with weariness in his voice said, “Let’s finish this.”

It had taken more than an hour of fighting, but they made their way into the next chamber.  As they proceeded, Richter burned away any webbing he could see.  Once it was gone, they found several blind end caves that were offshoots from the one they were standing in.  There was also a tunnel entrance leading downward at the far end.  They systematically cleared each cave, but there were no more enemies remaining.  Richter assigned Caulder, Terrod, Sedrin, and Ulinde to guard the tunnel entrance, and everyone else just searched around.  Each cave turned out to just have a mixture of bones and small eggs sacs.  Beyan had called Richter over when he found the first one.

You have found:
Assengai Spider Drone Egg
.  Durability 1/1.  Item Class: Uncommon.  Weight: 0.01 kg.  If kept in a dry place this will hatch an assengai spider drone.  Your Beast Bonding skill lets you know that this egg will probably hatch in 3-4 weeks.  You also have a feeling that this could be used to create a cure poison potion and the jelly of the egg could be used to slow decay.

Richter’s first impulse was to burn all of the golf-ball-sized eggs.  Each had a transparent skin and he could see the developing spider within.  It filled him with a sense of revulsion.  There were hundreds of eggs, though, and if they were a source of making cure poison potions, it was a resource he would be foolish to squander.  He also reasoned that he could just put them in his Bag.  The spatial folds that comprised the inside of the storage device had shown to be incompatible with any higher form of life, but the Bag would keep the eggs fresh until they could be stored in the Dragon’s Cauldron.  Basically, he could be sure that he wouldn’t wake up one morning covered in baby spiders with insanely sharp legs.  The thought of it made his skin crawl.  Richter physically shivered, but when Beyan asked him what was the matter, he just gave a manly, “I’m good!  What’s wrong with
you
?”

He tried picking an egg up, but it immediately popped in his hand.  The fragile skin of the egg clung to his fingers, making them burn and tingle at the same time.  The jelly inside the egg coated his hand and the scent of old rotting fish filled his nose.  The warm sensation of the goo felt like someone had just blown their nose on his hand.  The sound Richter let loose could never have been willfully repeated. “Blehaguh!”  He vigorously wiped his hand back and forth on the cave wall until it had mostly been cleaned off, though he could still feel a bit under his fingernails.  Beyan was looking at him with a barely held in laugh, but Richter held up a finger and said, “Not one word, Beyan!”  The gnome shrugged innocently, but his lips were still suspiciously and tensely pressed together like he was struggling to keep something in.

Not wanting to repeat the experience, Richter unshouldered his Bag.  Holding the opening wide, he scooped the eggs in.  Going through each of the five small caverns, he was able to collect more than a hundred eggs.  He didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if this nest had gone unfound for another month or two.  Hisako had told him that as he awakened his Place of Power the monsters around his village would become stronger and more numerous.  He had assumed that she had meant just higher-level monsters that he would have to challenge and fight.  This was something else though.  If the number of eggs he was seeing was any indication of how quickly these spiders normally bred, they posed a very serious danger to his people.  Five hundred of these bastards would be enough to kill every man, woman, and child in the village!  He had to start exploring his territory more seriously. 

He also had to seriously consider if he was ready to unlock another Power.  Having 30% better loot from his Dark
Hidden Treasures
ability or having a 30% reduction in his spell costs from the Water
Tranquil Soul
ability sounded great.  If the trade-off meant increased danger for his people, though, he might have to wait until his village was better prepared.  The simple fact that his war party was better equipped during this expedition drastically improved both their ability to deal damage and protect themselves.  Richter nodded to himself.  He had to think like a leader, not some selfish prick that was only out for himself.  If that meant having to wait a bit, then so be it. 

Once he was sure there was nothing else of value in the caves, the party gathered in front of the tunnel entrance.  The lights he had cast in the cavern they were in barely penetrated the darkness, so Richter extended his hand and cast
Far Light I
again.  The ball of white light shot forward, showing that the tunnel remained at roughly a thirty-degree slope.  It struck the floor when the tunnel leveled out, shining like a flare dropped down a well.  The tunnel continued forward out of sight.  Richter had Futen turn invisible and scout ahead again.  The remnant went to the end of his tether before returning. 

“There is a wide cavern with high ceilings forty yards down the tunnel.  Several large cocoons are either hanging from the ceiling or lying on the floor.  There are several large piles of eggs, and eight spiders are moving around the floor.  They are quite a bit larger than the ones that you just fought, Lord Richter.”

Richter gritted his teeth in annoyance. “How much larger?”

“Twice as large, Lord Richter,” came the monotone reply. 

“Futen!  If you’re going to tell me that I’m going to fight a spider the size of a horse, maybe you could put some fucking inflection on it?  Like the high likelihood of us being eaten is a bad thing, maybe?”

“Yes, Lord Richter.  That would be very bad.”  There was no change in the remnant’s voice.

“We’re going to be eaten?” Jean asked in a small voice.

Richter made eye contact with the Air mage and shook his head reassuringly.  Then he turned back to the remnant. “Did you see anything else?”  It was a big assumption of course, but the spiders they had fought had been “drones.”  The large ones below sounded like soldiers guarding a nest or larder.  That posed the question, where was the queen?

“I did not, my lord, but there are large stalactites and stalagmites throughout the cavern.  It is possible there were other monsters hiding that I did not see.”

Richter took the information and made a command decision.  “We just don’t know enough.  I won’t risk our lives on incomplete info.  That’s why I’m scouting ahead.  The rest of you wait here.”

“My lord, no!  It is too much of a risk,” Terrod protested in a hushed voice.

“I agree, Lord Richter.  Let one of us do this,” Caulder added. 

“I am quite skilled at scouting and have an apprentice level stealth skill, Lord Richter,” Ulinde said.  “I can undertake this mission.”

Jean, Krom, and Sion expressed their displeasure with the plan too.  Everyone looked at Beyan, who was the only one who hadn’t spoken up.  When he saw their attention, he raised both hands to ward off their gazes. “What! 
I’m
not going to be the one that goes down to play with the giant spiders,” he whispered harshly.  “Best of luck, my lord!”

Richter chuckled to himself. “I hear all of your objections, well, almost all of your objections,” he amended, eyeballing Beyan.  The gnome looked back with a perfect “honey badger don’t care” glare.  “This isn’t just about recon though.  Ulinde, you may be able to stealth, but I doubt you have experience with traps.  My Traps, Trap Disarm, and Pierce the Veil skills are all above twenty.  I am going, and that is the end of the matter.  Futen will go with me.  If things go sideways, he will make the brightest light and loudest sound he can to distract them.  I’ll escape in the chaos.  All of you wait here.  If I give you the signal, run like hell for the surface.”

“What will the signal be, yer lordship?” Krom asked.

“Something like me running my ass off shouting, ‘Run, you sons of bitches, run.’”

“I’ll make sure to watch out for that,” Sion said dryly.

Richter nodded to him and started walking off, but the sprite grabbed his hand. “Be careful.  I don’t want you to go on… vacation again.”  Richter’s ability to be reborn was still a loosely kept secret, and Sion understood the wisdom of keeping it that way.  The sprite clasped wrists with his Companion for a second, then Richter moved off.  Alma protested for a moment, but he explained that he might need to move quickly.  In the end, she agreed to stay behind. 

He cast
Haste I
and
Barkskin I
on himself, then loaded his Ring of Spell Storage with
Paralysis Beam I. 
After taking a deep breath, he lifted the cowl of his hood and activated
Stealth. 
To his fellow war party members, it looked like he faded into the stone.  There was a rustle of fabric, then Richter was moving down the tunnel.  He flexed a mental muscle and extinguished the ball of
Far Light I
at the bottom of the slope.  His eyes slowly acclimatized to the new ambient light level.  One of his hands twisted and he muttered a word of Power.  Black energy surrounded his hand for just a moment, practically invisible in the low light.  His world became a contrast of green and black.  Richter reached the bottom of the slope and started walking forwards, the floor now irregular stone. 

The tunnel was ten feet across.  Thirty yards ahead, it opened into the large cavern Futen had described.  Richter walked forward carefully, making sure not to slip in the loose scree.  It never entered his mind that the monsters in the room ahead hadn’t heard the sounds of battle, but they were clearly protecting something so had held back from the initial fight.  That still didn’t mean that he wanted them to know exactly where he was though. 

He crossed into the cavern and saw that it was indeed about the size of a large amphitheater.  Monstrous spiders that were six feet tall were stationed around the room.  They were motionless except for a slight up and down movement as they tensed and relaxed their legs.  They looked like larger versions of the drones except for their front legs.  As opposed to simple poniard-like extremities, their front two legs were in the form of heavy doubled-edged blades.  Though Richter didn’t dare get too close, from where he stood the edges of their legs looked wickedly sharp.  As he crept through the room, the only sound was the off-tempo clicking of their various pincers.  He
Analyzed
one of them. 

Richter continued to skirt around the outside of the cavern and he counted eight of the large spiders, all between levels eighteen and twenty-three.  He didn’t see the queen though, so he kept edging around.  Then he saw a telltale flash of red.

He had gone more than halfway around the room.  As he inched closer, he saw more red spots appear on the floor, more than ten when he stopped moving.  Barely breathing, he looked up, and his heart dropped.  Suspended twenty feet above him and thirty feet to the side, was a monster of a spider.  Twelve feet long, it had to weigh hundreds of pounds.  Its forelegs looked like double-sided war axes.  Unlike the cutters and drones, it had a bulbous body, and Richter could see an egg sac upon its back.  He used
Analyze,
praying that it hadn’t seen him.