Monster

by Sergey Belsky

  “I’d started to think you were now a statue. You just froze up, without speaking,” he said and then answered. “More than twenty times, some thirty.”

  “I see,” I sighed.

  A group of these parasites stood here and waited until the gravediggers were resurrected to kill them all over again. They were purposefully using up their rebirths. But why?

  I thought that only the rippers did that. It turned out that, to get rid of the spikers, you had to do something similar to them. The centipedes wouldn’t work, in that case. I’d never get them back here, even if I did somehow manage to avoid them.

  Too dangerous and pointless. The rippers aren’t so simple either, they might not follow me, and I cannot deal with them because I don’t know their language.

  Only the traps remained. I can’t drag them here, and I can’t make the spikers go there, because their size would prevent them from slipping through. In principle, it would be possible to try and clear the debris so that the spikers could crawl through and then lead them toward the traps. Yes, it would be very cool, but I’d need to explore the ruins first. Next, I would need to map them out and make sure my levels were high enough to implement my plan.

  Something strange happened, after which I lost consciousness. The first thing I saw upon waking up was the already painfully familiar… Warnings.

  Your brain cannot sustain the workload created by your mind!

  Be careful, this can lead to your death!

  The second thing I saw was the gravedigger’s troubled face, as he didn’t know what to do next, eat me before I recover or wait. And judging by the fact that I didn’t wake up near the graves of my relatives, he’d chosen the latter. This is good, it means he can be reasoned with.

  “What happened to you? You died for no reason.”

  “Thinking happened,” I grunted in reply. It seemed to me that there was some humor in his words. “I need to think less. Hmm... gravediggers eat corpses, and access to the spatial pocket is impossible after that. But when the rippers killed me, they were able to access it and steal some of my stock.

  Based on this, we can assume that the spikers also collect things in a similar way, and the gravediggers prevent them from doing so. That’s the only reason I can come up with for why they killed your family. What do you do with what remains of the ones you eat?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “What do you do with what was in the spatial pockets?” I rephrased the question.

  “Nothing, we only eat the fallen.”

  “Is it possible to access the spatial pocket after you have eaten the deceased?”

  “No.”

  So, my guess had been true, and for the time being, I would consider it the most likely reason for the destruction of the gravediggers. My head started to hurt again. Alright, alright, I’ll stop thinking hard.

  “Now we need to get a lot stronger before we fight the spikers. Are you with me?” I asked, carefully looking at the beetle.

  Chapter 13

  The exploration of the ruins. The enemy. The two-legged.

  “Yeah,” he answered uncertainly.

  “Hmm... what’s your name?” I had almost forgotten that I hadn’t seen his name before.

  “I don’t know,” the beetle fell into a stupor again.

  “Okay, I’ll call you... Skal, until you remember your name.” For some reason, I felt that this name suited the gravedigger.

  “So be it,” he agreed.

  “Our next stop is a tunnel that leads into a huge city and I’ll tell you what we’re doing next when we get there,” I said and headed for the passage in the piled up rocks.

  It was somehow strange to walk through the cave with someone else. Apparently, I was already used to being alone. Thinking about it, I didn’t notice we were already near the collapse.

  We immediately found the passage, but Skal froze up for a while because he was afraid to climb through the stones, as his relatives had said that you shouldn’t go in there under any circumstances.

  I had to spend 15 minutes persuading him that it was okay. We went through the passage very quickly and approached the traps.

  “Listen to me carefully,” I said, my voice stern. “Take some pebbles and follow me. Step exactly where I do and don’t stray from the path, otherwise you will die. If that happens, go back to the tunnel entrance. I’ll meet you there, and then we’ll continue on.”

  Skal turned out to be extremely quick-witted and died only three times before we were finally able to get into the city. The only downside was that I spent a lot of time waiting for him after each of his deaths. He became more animated among the ruins of the city. However, he was still suspicious of everything around us. I fully supported him in this.

  “Avoid any trees with yellowish-orange leaves. Don’t go near any frozen water, either.” I warned him, causing him to blink and look around in confusion.

  “What trees?”

  “Do you see that one, over there?” I pointed at the tree in the distance.

  “Yes.”

  “Stay as far away from those as possible, otherwise they’ll rip you to pieces faster than any spiker. We need to explore this city thoroughly to understand how it could be useful to us and whether there’s anything here besides the traps that we can use.

  Don’t forget, we need to get stronger and fight the spikers. If you find anything unusual, immediately put it in your spatial pocket because doing that could save your life. I know this because the ball that I threw into my pocket didn’t explode. We will meet back up near that building over there. If you die, get back to the entrance of the tunnel and pass through it, but don’t go any farther. Wait there and I’ll come back for you.

  Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Do you know how to use energy and what it’s used for?” I asked Skal because Khha hadn’t managed to tell me anything.

  “Of course I do. You don’t?” He asked in surprise.

  “Presume I don’t,” I responded dryly.

  “Energy is spent on the use and maintenance of certain abilities. Gravediggers use energy to process the dead faster. I have no other abilities,” Skal answered.

  “Can you teach me?” I asked, eager to learn. That sounded like it could be useful in a battle, provided I found a way to dissolve foes with it.

  “No,” he replied. “I don’t know how to teach, you need to be much stronger to do that.”

  “Dammit. Alright, let’s start exploring the city,” I said, and we went our separate ways.

  I had been walking for quite a long time and there was nothing that stood out. Only the trees and bushes with their yellowish-orange leaves added a bit of color to the otherwise dreary walls, stones, and occasional columns.

  I came across a deep hole that had a solid layer of ice along its walls and bottom. Even approaching it was painful due to the cold it emanated, so I avoided it.

  As I got farther into this area, I saw more signs of extreme cold. I spotted a giant icicle that was almost as large as one of the towering columns. Patterned crystals covered one of the walls with a solid, white curtain and the stones appeared to be made of frozen water.

  And all of these strange objects radiated extreme cold, which aggressively depleted my health whenever I tried to come closer.

  I had no idea what had happened here, but it must have been something truly bizarre. After a while, I met a beetle that was standing next to one of the houses. It was similar to what my family had been like, only it was at least three times taller than they’d been.

  Its powerful, beautiful shell was streamlined, as was its head. Long, sharp legs supported a powerful body.

  On his head, he wore... a helmet. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but the knowledge had just popped into my head. For some reason, it was similar to the ones the two-legged wore, only it was larger and of a different color. And instead of forelegs acting as hands, he had two very long metal spikes. Maybe those spikes had special grips or joints on them for flexibility.

&n
bsp; The whole body of the beetle was covered in ice, which radiated colder than anything I’d felt on my way here. His posture indicated that he was defending himself from something he would be attacking later.

  I continued onward after admiring the ancient warrior for a bit, and soon a great number of ice statues began to appear along the path. I also saw many menacing metal shells that looked truly... impressive!

  I was amazed by all the gear I saw. The ancient soldiers had had spears, swords, axes, and staffs, all of various shapes and sizes. I wondered who they’d fought against.

  I kept going, and this time I came across something unusual. The wind carried the yellow leaves, forming a strange silhouette-something resembling a small tornado. Instead of hands, it had a couple more tornadoes. Two small eyes shone in the center of this inexplicable creature.

  Small Autumn Elemental, Level 5

  What kind of elemental is this and what is it used for? While I was looking at it, it just hung in the air and hovered between the various ice sculptures. I should’ve been more careful. It ended up noticing me and was now headed in my direction, happily blowing dust around. Can I even fight it?

  After a few seconds, its yellow leaves began to beat on my shell, and my health started slowly going down. I dealt a few powerful blows with the claws of the spiker, but they did nothing.

  Could physical attacks even hit it? Wait, it also consists of leaves, so maybe I should try to attack them? It turned out to be quite difficult, but I succeeded, and its health decreased slightly.

  I wonder how long I will have to spend hitting this thing. There must be a more efficient way. In the meantime, I think I need to run away from this elemental, otherwise, it will kill me even though my level is higher.

  I ran for quite a long time. As I did, I noticed that it periodically shied away from all the ice, and immediately had an idea. I began to run slower so that the elemental could catch up to me, and then ran into the icy aura of the statues.

  The creature didn’t have time to react, and the icy cold froze the leaves, causing them to crumble to the ground along with the ice sculptures, which broke into thousands of fragments as they made contact with the marble paving stones.

  The elemental’s health began to decline gradually, its movements slowing. Finally, I decided to approach the statue. After all, I had a cold-resistant shell, so I let the two percent of protection shield me because the elemental didn’t seem to have such a defense.

  No sooner had it gotten into the range of the icy aura than all the leaves that made up its torso had frozen and crumbled, and the elemental itself, uttering a pitiful groan, was scattered by the frosty wind.

  I instantly ran out of there. Half my health was gone, and the cold seemed to be creeping through my shell, gnawing at my insides. My jaws knocked against each other. It felt like forever before I bounced back and managed to warm up.

  Received 70 points of experience!

  Not bad, not bad. But I must learn to handle this cold somehow. I wonder if I can use energy to heat my body… It was a pity that there was no one there to answer my question.

  I really wanted to know if this elemental had had a spatial pocket and what was in it, but unfortunately, I didn’t know how to open the spatial pockets of others, and couldn’t even begin to imagine how it was done.

  However, I put three of the icy leaves in mine. Even if I’d only explored a little bit of the ruins, I decided that it was time for me to return to the meeting place. But then I noticed a building that was relatively close by, or rather what was left of it. However, that wasn’t what had attracted my attention.

  In the middle of the ruins, on a low pedestal, stood a two-legged.

  Chapter 14

  The Talk. The Task. The Problems

  I walked closer in order to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. There was a low pedestal in front of me, around which... flowers grew. It seemed to me like I had already seen these flowers before, or something similar to them.

  The drooping, snow-white flowers contrasted strongly with the gray space surrounding them. They pierced through the stone and seemed to cling to the pedestal, water dripping from them like tears, almost soundlessly splashing against the stone.

  I was enthralled by this image, but I hadn’t come over here for them. A statue of a two-legged stood on the pedestal. However, she was nothing like the statues of the rippers in their metal shells.

  She didn’t have any sharp claws or anything else dangerous, in my opinion. Instead, she only had a light... dress? The word popped into my mind again. It was as if it had been turned to stone, along with the girl herself. It all seemed so real, so lifelike.

  The slender figure didn’t look like the rippers at all. There was something about her that drew the eye. I was excited by this strange sensation that had come over me. The girl’s hands were pressed to her face, but small droplets still escaped and fell to the ground. I felt uneasy when I looked at her like something odd was tormenting my soul.

  “Go away...” I heard a sad voice resounding in my head. “Leave me alone.”

  “Who are you? Where are you?” I began to look around because I couldn’t see whoever this quiet, barely perceptible voice belonged to. The person speaking seemed to be crying, as their words kept being interrupted by it.

  “Why are you tormenting me?” The owner of the voice asked plaintively. “What did I do to you to make you hate me so much, Sel Nur?”

  “What’s Sel Nur? And I’m not tormenting anyone.”

  “Leave me be! Don’t touch me, otherwise, the curse of the sister will kill you, Sel Nur,” said the voice. “I no longer want to see all those deaths and hear the cry of thousands of dying people asking for my help. I was so… powerless,” the words were interrupted by sobs again and more tears began to fall past the hands that covered the statue’s face.

  I had to wait until the voice’s owner calmed down. I now understood that the voice belonged to the statue. I didn’t really know how this was possible because it didn’t seem to be alive. On the other hand, this city was full of oddities: the trees, the flowers, all the dangerous ice, the elementals… Everything was weird.

  “Why are you still here?”

  “I want to know how you’re able to talk to me.”

  “I have a little energy left that I can use to talk,” the statue answered. “It’s enough energy to keep me alive for many years, but it isn’t enough to help me overcome the curse or to significantly affect the world... not nearly enough.”

  “Can I help you in any way?” I asked, the word “energy” making me very interested, and at the same time, I wondered whether this two-legged could help me.

  “What can you do?” the voice asked as it wept again, the sorrow and despair in its tone clearly heard. “You’re still so small, but the forces that you would have to face won’t care about that. They will kill you like they killed everyone else in the city.”

  “I’ll manage somehow, you just need to tell me how I can help you,” I said confidently, although I was far from it. I felt that I had to take advantage of this opportunity, because, according to Khha, I had to learn the language of the two-legged. This statue could probably teach me since she knew my language already and spoke to me without even opening her mouth.

  She lapsed into silence for a minute and then finally told me what I could do.

  “My energy is low right now, and my form is too unstable, so I would ask you to find Efilioll’s crystals for me.”

  $ * & # @% offers you the task “Crystal Search”!

  Task: Find Efilioll’s crystals to help the unknown entity replenish part of her strength. The more crystals you find, the better.

  Accept: Yes / No?

  I accepted the task and heard her let out a sigh of relief. It must’ve been hard on her, being stuck here... No, focus! I still have questions I have to ask.

  “What do these crystals look like?”

  “They are transparent, like diamonds, and as clear as water from
a spring, with white stars inside that shine with weak and dim light. Look for them and they will beckon you. You will find my strength inside them, and with it, you will tear my curse apart.” And that’s all the voice would tell me.

  After that, the statue stopped responding to me and continued to cry, exuding an aura of grief and despair around itself. I left right away since the aura was making me feel awful.

  I could feel my own powerlessness all too clearly, and the terrible memories of my family being killed resurfaced once again. Shaking my head a couple of times to dispel these crushing thoughts, I went over to the meeting place, where Skal had to be waiting for me.

  I was rather late. However, when I arrived, I didn’t see anyone. Something had definitely happened to the gravedigger. I hope he at least managed to get past the rocks safely. No such luck, it would seem, because when I got to the tunnel entrance, I didn’t see anyone.

  I let loose with some truly inspired profanity that I could be proud of. It was clear to me that something had happened to Skal. Most likely, it had been the spikers. What can I do? I should do everything in my power to help an ally, so let’s try to determine what happened to him, first...

  Chapter 15

  The Spikers. The useful trap. Coming back

  Your brain did not manage to cope with the workload created by your mind, which led to your death!

  I was once again near the graves of my relatives, the message flashing before my eyes. Well, okay, at least I didn’t have to walk back. I sighed and had already decided to get up when I heard a pair of voices that made me freeze. I tried to remain unnoticed and listened carefully.

  “I thought we’d killed all the gravediggers recently and brought the young ones back to our lair,” one of the spikers said thoughtfully.

  I peeked over the stone to see what type the spikers were and what their levels were. Only a part of my head and two very curious eyes stuck out from behind the stone.

  A spiker, level 35

  A spiker, level 29