by Pirateaba
They bade him farewell and turned past the city. Ceria got a map out and conferred with the other before beginning to march through the deep snow. They moved in silence for a while. Everyone was wondering what Yvlon had meant to say. No one brought it up. After an hour or two of walking, they reached the cave.
—-
“Look. Bear tracks.”
“That’s just snow fallen from the cave’s roof.”
“Oh. Are those bear tracks?”
“Nah, that’s…well, it might be. How should I know?”
“You’re the half-Elf.”
“So? That’s speciesism right there, Yvlon. You Humans think we half-Elves know everything about the wilderness just because we live closer to it. It’s all just snow to me.”
“I see fur by the entrance, Comrade Yvlon, Captain Ceria.”
“…That’s probably a good sign, Ksmvr. Does the fur tell you how many bears are inside?”
“The report said three.”
“The report was made by a [Hunter] who didn’t get within a hundred meters of the cave. We could be looking at only one very active bear. Or three.”
“Or six.”
“Six? Dead gods, Pisces, don’t joke!”
“It is a legitimate concern, Yvlon. If we are uncertain of our chances, we should take precautions. What do you think, Springwalker?”
“Well…I was thinking we could…”
“Yes? Develop a defensive wall of ice perhaps while Ksmvr takes up his bow and a superior vantage point? With my invisibility spell I could attack from the flanks while Yvlon engages them with her enchanted equipment. If I calculate the odds, I would assume—”
“Calculate? Odds? No, I was just thinking we’d charge in there and sort things out.”
“…”
“…Ceria?”
“What? That’s how Calruz did things. Okay, maybe he had a bit of a plan—”
“I will volunteer to be the first to charge in, Captain Ceria. You may assume from my cries for help or of encouragement whether the danger is—”
“Shush, Ksmvr. Okay, let’s just…go in. I don’t think using an invisibility spell would help in scouting, Pisces. Bears have a good sense of smell.”
“Agreed. I would not risk myself. Very well, but what about scaring the bears out with one of the devices we’ve received? That screaming monster lure?”
“Eh. I thought close quarters would be better, actually. Hear me out. I can freeze part of the cave and make it so only one person gets through. Yvlon uses her shield and pokes the bear with her sword—”
“Pokes?”
“You know. Do your warrior thing. I’m not an expert! She pokes, Pisces and I throw spells and keep the ice barriers up, and Ksmvr shoots at the bear and takes over if Yvlon needs to fall back.”
“One at a time. I like it. We box them in. I also have the enchanted ring with the [Shatterbolt] spell embedded in it—”
“Is that what it’s called? Just don’t hit us. Use it only if you have a clear shot. Okay, let’s do this. Yvlon in front, then Ksmvr and me, and Pisces at the rear.”
“Agreed.”
“Got it.”
“Please use my corpse as a tool if I should fall in battle, Comrade Pisces—”
Perhaps there were better ways to enter the cave, but at least the Horns of Hammerad moved in formation and no one was screaming. The cave system was fairly high overhead and wide enough for them to move all shoulder to shoulder if they chose. It was dark, and uncomfortably silent. The Horns of Hammerad moved as quietly as possible, hearing Yvlon’s armor shift quietly, Pisces’ robes brush against the floor, but nothing else.
They found the first bear halfway in. Yvlon knelt by the yellowed skull while Ksmvr kept a lookout with his bow.
“Looks fresh. And whatever ate the bear has sharp teeth. See the bite marks?”
“Cannibalism? The others bears turned on it?”
Ceria whispered. Pisces grunted as he knelt by the skull and shook his head.
“Too small for a bear. These aren’t teeth marks either. It looks like the flesh was…clawed from the bone.”
“You’re sure?”
“I am a [Necromancer].”
“What the hell are we looking at, then?”
They got their answer when they found the second bear’s skeleton. This one was only half-eaten. Ceria blanched as she saw the lower half, still partly intact.
“Dead gods.”
“Something’s feasting on it. This bear’s huge!”
Yvlon eyed the dark cavern ahead of them. Their only source of light were the [Light] spells both Ceria and Pisces had cast. Pisces wrinkled his nose at the smell of the dead bear’s flesh, but he still bent and even touched the half-frozen meat.
“Uh oh.”
Ceria could count the number of times Pisces had said that on one hand. She gripped the new wand in her hand tightly.
“What?”
Pisces looked up and around. He conjured another sphere of light into his hands and threw it deeper into the cave. The light illuminated a dark shape. The third bear. It was dead. And crawling on it, slowly carving away at the bear’s body were gelatinous shapes. Their innards glowed as the light passed by them and they slowly turned.
It was Ksmvr who said the word as he dropped his bow and drew both his shortswords.
“Crelers.”
“Back, back!”
Ceria hissed at Pisces. The [Necromancer] cancelled the light spell and the Horns of Hammerad tried to back up. Too late. The Crelers had noticed the light and movement and their fleshy larval forms were turning themselves inside-out, revealing sharp claws, too many sets of teeth—the first leapt towards Ceria as she shouted.
“Get back! [Ice Wall]!”
The Creler crashed into the sheet of ice, biting and tearing at it with pinchers and claws sharp enough to cut through steel. Pisces threw a ball of fire and drew his rapier as Yvlon raised her shield.
“Get behind me! Ceria! Seal off the tunnel!”
“I’m trying, but there are too many gaps!”
Ceria pointed and another wall of ice rose, covering part of the cave. But her mastery of the spell was only good enough to raise a wall eight feet high. Tall enough to block a bear, but not Crelers. They swarmed around the wall.
“[Ice Spike]!”
“[Lightning Jolt], [Flame Rapier]! Springwalker, get back!”
Pisces thrust Ceria back and disappeared in a blur. He stabbed through one of the Crelers as it leapt, catching it in a fleshy portion of its body. The skewered Creler screeched as Pisces’ flaming rapier impaled it, but it kept moving, trying to climb up the length of the blade and reach Pisces.
“Come. Die.”
Ksmvr was slashing at the Crelers as they swarmed around him, biting at his legs and three arms. Yvlon was cursing. The helmet she was wearing and her plate armor were keeping the Crelers at bay, but they were covering her. She tossed them to one side and split one of the jointed creatures with a slash of her blade. The enchanted sword cut through the Creler’s body with ease.
She was the only one having an easy time of it. Ceria aimed her [Ice Spike] spell and skewered a Creler, and missed another.
“I hate these things so much!”
“Get back! Retreat! Let Yvlon cut them down! Ksmvr!”
Pisces was shouting as a Creler buried itself onto Ksmvr’s shoulder and began to bite into the Antinium. Ksmvr tore the Creler off and tried to stomp it to death; it began trying to eat his foot.
“We took out a nest once! We can do it again! Get back! [Ice Wall]!”
This time the wall was low and wide, more of four foot-high barricade than anything else. It covered the cavern and Ceria saw Pisces leap over it, followed by Ksmvr. The Crelers followed, but they had to jump to get over, making them easy targets.
“Yvlon!”
The woman was slashing, cutting the baby Crelers to bits. Her force shield was shimmering in the air as it repelled Crelers leaping at her. She t
urned, froze.
“Adult!”
“What?”
Ceria’s blood ran cold. She saw something shoot out of the darkness of the cave, a huge, scuttling form four feet high and twice as long. It barreled into Yvlon and sent the armored woman crashing to the ground.
It looked like some kind of monstrous pill bug with too many legs, tearing claws, and a glowing, fleshy, transparent underbelly where its organs hung, glowing slightly. The rest of the Creler was biting jaws, claws, all of which lashed Yvlon as she tried to fight it off. But it must have weighed almost as much as a bear, and it was hammering at her breastplate.
And leaving marks. The enchanted metal could withstand the hammer blows, but the Creler’s main jaws opened—horizontally, two smaller maws opening and revealing spitting, gaping mouths, and bit onto Yvlon’s sword arm.
She cried out and Ceria saw her enchanted gauntlets begin to bend under the crushing strength. She raised her hand.
“[Ice Spike]!”
Three spikes of ice shot from her fingers, each one a pointed javelin. They all broke on the Creler’s back, doing no damage.
“Yvlon! Someone help her!”
“I will—”
Ksmvr leapt up, impossibly high thanks to his Ring of Jumping and then kicked himself off a wall. He smashed onto the Creler’s back and began hammering at it with his shortswords. The Creler reared up and fell backwards. It crushed Ksmvr and then rolled on top of him. Now the Antinium was the one being savaged.
“No!”
Yvlon got up and swung her sword. The enchanted weapon bit into the Creler’s armored back as Pisces and Ceria desperately blasted away the baby Crelers. The adult turned, not harmed so much as wary, and charged Yvlon again. This time it smashed into her force shield.
The impact made Yvlon brace herself, but the shield repelled the weight of the Creler flawlessly. Ksmvr got to his feet and slashed at the adult’s back as one of the Crelers landed on Ceria. It had crawled onto the ceiling and got onto her neck. She cried out, reached for it—
Two spikes of pain tore themselves out of her neck. She screamed, fell, convulsing, as agony shot through her entire body. Something was digging at her flesh, and there was burning.
“Ceria!”
A hand tore the burrowing Creler away. Pisces threw the Creler aside and stabbed two as they crawled towards him with his rapier. He picked up Ceria and blasted the ground with fire, keeping the Crelers away.
The half-Elf was shaking, throwing up and burning at the same time.
“You’re poisoned. Can you stand? We have to retreat.”
“Ice—Ice—”
A sheet of ice rose and melted. Ceria couldn’t concentrate. Pisces cursed as he pulled her back. The adult Creler was smashing into Yvlon’s shield, driving her back. The woman swung her sword and this time the Creler charged onto it. The blade was deflected by one of it’s claws and it ran onto Yvlon’s arm, pushing her forearm at a bad angle. Yvlon’s gauntlet resisted the weight and pressure, then bent—
Yvlon stumbled back, one of her arms clearly broken as Ksmvr swung his swords, knocking Crelers away. Pisces was towing Ceria towards the entrance.
“We must run.”
“No. They’ll catch—”
Crelers never gave up. Ceria struggled to her feet, trying to think past the pain and poison. She raised her hands. Pisces looked at the ground. The first bear was right there.
“Give me a moment.”
They both said it at the same time. Ceria raised her hands. Pisces pulled out his wand.
“Rise, rise, oh fallen bear. To rend and bite, to rend and tear!”
“[Ice Wall]! Yvlon, Ksmvr, move!”
This time two walls of ice rose up, one on each side of Ceria. She took a breath and pushed them forwards as baby Crelers surged at her. Ceria ran forwards as the small Crelers were shoved by the moving walls of the ice, forced towards the adult. Ksmvr leapt over the walls of ice, clinging to the ceiling and Yvlon raised her shield as Ceria maneuvered the ice wall around her.
“I’ve got them in a corner! Back up! I’m casting a fireball!”
Ceria felt sick. She threw up as she was casting the spell, as the Crelers were swarming around the barrier of ice. She raised the wand, tried to focus.
“F—[Fireball]!”
There was heat. Light. The explosion kicked Ceria off her feet and blasted Crelers apart. The ones who survived the blast were set alight. They moved, still trying to kill but overheating. Ksmvr slashed at them, leaping down from the ceiling and crushing the ones that moved.
The adult had caught the fireball’s blast too, but it just hunkered down and let the armor of its body shield its organs. It rose as Yvlon circled it and charged her, biting, tearing. Yvlon tried to hack at it with her sword, but her arm—
“Now. Charge!”
The adult turned and a huge paw of bone smashed into what might have been its head. It didn’t flinch and lashed out. Futilely, for once. The skeleton of the bear took no notice of the tearing claws and rammed into the Creler, forcing it back.
“From the other side!”
And a second undead bear stood. Both bears began to smash the Creler from each side, battering it, smashing it into the ground. The monstrosity weathered the blows, tearing bones from each undead, biting—
“It’s too tough! The bears aren’t hurting it!”
Someone was shouting. Ceria was lying on the ground. She felt Pisces picking her up, and saw Ksmvr trying to maneuver around the fighting undead bears and adult Creler. Yvlon had her sword. She was casting aside her shield.
“Pisces! Move the bears! I have to do it!”
“Half-sword. Use the half-sword technique!”
Pisces roared at Yvlon as the two bears backed away. Both were gripping parts of the Creler with their jaws, forcing its attention away from Yvlon. Ceria saw the woman curse and change her grip on the sword. Clumsily, using her broken right arm and left arm together, she gripped the sword by the blade, raising the pommel.
“Now!”
One of the bears was being destroyed as the Creler smashed it into the ground with its superior strength. Yvlon shouted as she ran forwards. The pommel of her blade descended. It was enchanted with the weight spell. It crashed into the adult’s back and went through. It tore open the black armor, deforming the shell under the weight of the blow.
Orange liquid gushed from the opening. The Creler reared up, turned. Pisces flicked his wrist and a bolt of magic shot from the ring on his finger. It pierced the Creler’s exposed underbelly and then fragmented, becoming a splinter of magical needles which tore the thing open.
More orange and red liquid gushed forth. The Creler’s insides burst and the insides deflated as its fluids broke. It kept moving, keening, crawling towards Yvlon. She bashed it several more times, and then backed up. Ksmvr helped pull Ceria away as the adult kept crawling towards them.
It took twenty minutes to die, even without any of its innards. When it was done, Ceria lay on the ground, shaking, the poison running through her.
“It wasn’t too much. You should be fine, but we have to get you to Octavia or a [Healer].”
Yvlon was kneeling by Ceria, watching out for stray Crelers. Ksmvr had her blade and was dicing up the remaining Crelers with Pisces and the undead bears. Ceria blinked at her.
“Your—arm.”
The woman blinked and Ceria looked at her bent right arm. It looked horrible, and blood was leaking around one of the gauntlets, but Yvlon only shrugged.
“Can’t feel it.”
“Why? What?”
Ceria stared at her friend. Yvlon smiled crookedly. She raised her arm broken and waggled it horribly. It shifted and Ceria saw Yvlon’s face change not one bit.
“I can’t feel a thing.”
—-
“I think we’re done.”
Pisces spoke after a while. He staggered back to the cave entrance where Ceria was sitting up with Yvlon. The half-Elf was feeling better. She’
d washed the spot where the Creler had dug into her neck with lots of water and some healing potion. The poison kept the wound from closing and it was horribly deep, but Ceria could think.
“You sure? We can’t leave a single egg behind.”
“Ksmvr was rather thorough. We have diced up every Creler we could find, save for the adult, and begun cremating the remains.”
“Did you get a count? We’ll need to testify under truth spell—”
Yvlon sat next to Ceria, wiping her gore-covered blade with snow.
“I counted eighteen small ones and one adult.”
“Eighteen? They felt like hundreds!”
“Only eighteen. Sorry. But you know what the bounty of Crelers is. We’ll earn a lot for each one. As for the adult, I hear it’s a two hundred gold coin prize for killing one!”
“Too bad that’s not an adult.”
“What?”
Pisces coughed.
“Ksmvr explained it to me. Ksmvr?”
He called and the Antinium walked over. Ksmvr was wounded in several places and there were pieces of chitin missing from his legs, one of his arms, and his shoulder. For all that, he appeared as unconcerned as Yvlon with his injuries.
“Yes, Comrade Pisces? I am attempting to destroy the junior Creler.”
“Junior? Oh come on. It’s got to be an adult! I’ve never seen one, but—junior?”
The Antinium nodded at Yvlon and Ceria’s shocked expressions.
“It is decidedly a juvenile example of the species. The ones we encountered en masse were hatchlings of course. But an adult is considerably larger. And it can fly. If we had encountered one such Creler, I doubt we would be alive. It takes many Soldiers to bring down a single adult.”
“Dead gods. No wonder the bounty on them is so high!”
“Indeed. On that note Captain, I am about to dismember and then destroy the juvenile Creler. I would ask that Comrade Pisces help me in incinerating the remains. I also caution you all to avoid eating any part of the Creler. Its eggs may incubate in your body and hatch if you eat it.”
The Antinium looked around in the sudden silence. He shrugged.
“The Antinium have learned this to our detriment. Crelers are not a valid food source for this reason.”