He broke through his fear enough to clear his head a little – enough to issue commands to his already-moving Combat Units. The two remaining Quanks approached the massive monkey-bear as his pair of Qwizards spat out their flammable saliva. Unfortunately, their target moved so quickly that it was able to avoid both gobs of spit, dodging out of the way while it picked up his unbreakable-skinned defenders. Brint could see him dodge another round of the Qwizards’ projectiles as it squeezed his now-defenseless Quanks, causing them to crumple under the pressure. They were then tossed aside as if they were worthless trash.
It took less than a second for them to go from near-unkillable powerhouses to discarded wrecks with their insides leaking out their mouths and eye sockets. The sheer strength it would take to do that boggled Brint’s mind, leaving him to witness the destruction of the rest of his small army in shock.
His Quassassin jumped on its leg and climbed to the top of its back, where it proceeded to try to stab it in its neck. It got a single slash in (which did very minimal damage) before it was plucked off by the monkey-bear and thrown against the wall, joining the Quank in a heap of broken bones.
The D-Ranged Monkeys took advantage of this momentary distraction to launch a full volley of spears. Unfortunately, their target was perceptive and fast enough to see the incoming projectiles and jumped straight up into the air, avoiding all but two of the forcibly thrown objects which hit it in the left leg. When the monkey-bear landed, Brint could see that they had penetrated the skin, but they hung loosely as if they had only gone far enough in to scratch the surface.
Then the monkey-bear did something that surprised Brint, enough that it spurred him to action. It plucked the offending spears from its leg and immediately threw them back at his D-Ranged Monkeys, skewering two of them in the process.
His fears had been confirmed – they were no match for even one of these beasts, let alone the hundreds or thousands he saw in the massive cavern underground. He called his favorite Qwizard over and immediately jumped on its back, intent on retreat. He ordered the remaining Qwizard, D-Ranged Monkey, and even the Quartermaster to cover his escape. He felt a little bit of a coward for running away, but he knew when they were outfought and the time to leave was now.
Luckily, even with his weight on its back, his mount was faster than the monkey-bear. It was able to dodge a quick swipe from the behemoth, hopping to the side to avoid a fatal impact. Brint braced for a follow-up attack from behind, but that was when his last Units attacked in unison.
Even though he was looking away from his saviors, he could sense what happened through their connection with them. His range-attacking Monkey had picked up another load of Weightonite-tipped spears and launched them in a coordinated strike with the Qwizard harassing it from up close. Four of the thrown projectiles hit it in the stomach, eliciting a growl of pain as they punched through its softer underbelly. Unfortunately, they didn’t go in that far, instead stopping as if they had hit a rock after about two inches or so.
Following up its previous strategy, the monkey-bear ripped them out and returned them back to his own Monkey, who was prepared for it and dodged out of the way of three of the spears. It wasn’t as lucky on the fourth, as it had fallen to the ground in its attempts to avoid the barrage and was pinned to the floor with the remaining projectile.
Again, taking advantage of the distraction, the Qwizard spit out two gobs of flammable saliva in quick succession from point-blank range. Despite how close it was, the monkey-bear still was able to dodge one of them but was hit by the second. The flash that occurred from the impact of the spit against its fur was instantly expanded until half the gargantuan monkey hybrid was engulfed in flames.
Incensed at this attack, he swept out quickly and unexpectedly with both arms, managing to catch the super-fast Qwizard with its backswing. The impact alone broke most of the bones in its body, and when it landed 20 feet away the rest the unbroken ones went with it as it perished.
All that was left was the Quartermaster, who bit the back leg of the still-on-fire monkey-bear and managed to finally wound it more than just superficially. Brint’s elation didn’t last long, as the giant Tricerabeetle-Snappy Turtle was picked up and thrown like a discus across the room.
Almost too late, Brint realized that his retreating form was the target of his thrown Quartermaster. Immediately ordering his Qwizard to slide forward on its belly, he ducked down as far as he could. Although he was nearly pressed against the floor, he could still feel the wind of his former transports’ body pass by overhead and saw as it crashed into the wall, popping apart like a burst bubble.
Rather than lament the loss of his entire Group, he had his current mount pick itself up and resume their escape. He looked behind him as they exited the room; the monkey-bear was quickly gaining on them, but he could also see that was slowed slightly by the wound the Quartermaster had managed to inflict at the last moment.
Charging through the hallway, they quickly came to the smaller entrance the drones had inadvertently made in the wall of the previous cavern. They ducked inside and Brint was relieved that he had gotten away. They stopped in the middle of the room and turned around toward the hole in the wall they had passed through.
Phew! That was close. At least there’s no way it could fit thr—
The portal in the rocks appeared to explode inward as the monkey-bear literally punched its way through the small opening, expanding it to fit its much larger frame. Brint and the Qwizard he was riding were lucky that the flying stone debris didn’t hit them; as soon as he saw another fist flying at the rock still blocking it from coming through, they sprinted for the entrance of the cave complex, narrowly missing being beheaded by another chunk of rock that flew over their heads.
As they ran through the ever-widening tunnels, Brint was relieved when he saw the light of day coming from the entrance. After another large explosion of rock that he heard a couple of moments before, it had been silent as the Qwizard ran for their lives. He didn’t dare hope that it had given up; he figured the silence must’ve meant that it had gotten through and was on their heels.
It was only when he passed the threshold that he looked back, hoping against hope that they would be able to escape without issue. The sight of the monkey-bear’s enormous shape emerging from the darkened tunnel put to rest any of that dubious expectation.
Then he realized that he should probably tell the Station Core about all…this.
“Hey, uh…The Milton? I’ve got a small, tiny, little problem…”
Chapter 36 – 10 minutes
Rosewyn and Moxwell had just finished the sixth room and were catching their breath after the run across all those rope bridges. The room had appeared innocuous enough, with rope and wooden-planked bridges tied together in a hectic maze leading toward the exit. Simple enough, right?
That was before they had both stepped on the first bridge and a clock hanging in the air above their heads started to tick down from 10. She assumed it meant 10 minutes, because the timer wasn’t moving fast enough to mean 10 seconds. They paused at once, not sure what it was supposed to signify. That was when she looked around at the perimeter of the room.
Suspended over a very deep pit filled with – no surprise there – more stone spikes, the entire rope bridge system was supported by four large, braided rope cables: one on each side of the room near the ceiling. As the time ticked away, she could see four, exceedingly sharp pendulum blades rocking back-and-forth above the cables, dropping lower with every tick.
Looking behind them, the pathway back was still open; however, if they wanted to move deeper and figure out the mystery behind this place, they needed to press on.
“Go, let’s go! Time’s ticking away!” she yelled toward Mox, slightly breathless from the excitement. She followed her own advice as they ran across the first bridge, only to quickly find that the way forward was split between three different paths. One led to the right, one left, and the other led upwards into the jungle of branch
ing pathways. From their vantage point, they couldn’t see where any of them ended up; from what she could see near the exit, though, there seemed to be only one correct path.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on what she could feel through her detection field; she started to trace each pathway, but it was taking entirely too long. Already, while she was standing there trying to figure out the correct direction to take, a minute had ticked away on the clock.
“I can’t tell – it’s too confusing. Let’s split up and if we find the right way we’ll meet back here. Since you’re faster, you take the left and right paths and I’ll take the one that goes up. Stay safe, love,” she told her husband before rushing up the rope bridge, leaving no time for objections.
The upward path led to a mess of rope and wood, leading in contrary directions and further branching paths. She kept a mental map in her head of all the turns she made, which was good because she needed to backtrack when she came to three separate dead ends. It wasn’t hard, but she quickly became out of breath from all the frantic running.
Finally, she seemed to be on the right path and was near the top of the rope structure when she looked over at the clock hanging in the middle of the room. Already 5 minutes had passed, and she was no closer to finding the way across. She wasn’t sure where Moxwell was, but she thought she heard him fighting far below her. She tried to peer through the tangle of rope and wood to locate the source, and that was when she was grabbed by her arms during her momentary distraction.
Although the talons she saw wrapped around her shoulders didn’t actually touch her due to her air shield, they were large enough around to grab ahold of everything and lift her off the rope bridge she was standing on. Surprise made her freeze for a precious second, so she was unprepared to fight off her attacker while she was still safely over a rope bridge. By the time she recovered, she was directly over a clear path between bridges, with nothing but open air between her and what appeared to be 6-foot long stone spikes at the bottom of the pit below.
She looked up and was surprised at what she saw – a bird with four legs. All black with white spots, her flying, multi-limbed attacker had wicked-sharp looking talons on each of its appendages, a massive wingspan, and a strength that easily lifted her without much strain. When she looked around, she could see more of the birds flying around and it was only because of their coloring that she had missed seeing them. She hadn’t even been looking for attackers before because she was too focused on finding a way through the maze of ropes. That was a mistake she wasn’t going to make again.
With a thought, she expanded her air shield until it was ten times its previous size, causing her abductor to lose control of her. She didn’t panic as she started free-falling toward her death; she was a master of the Air affinity and there was very little she couldn’t do if she had enough power.
Rosewyn created a strong gust of wind underneath her feet, propelling her towards the nearest rope bridge she could realistically reach. She managed to grab the rope with one hand before she fell again, and as she hung on for her life she looked back up at the bird that had dropped her. It was diving in her direction, aiming to lift her back up – but she was done playing around.
She split her attention in two directions: first, she created a small step of hardened air under her feet which allowed her to step up and over the edge of the bridge, and second, she flung a slice of sharpened air at the birds’ head. Amazingly, the bird was able to sense the air heading in its direction and dodged its head out of the way – but the attack still ended up taking off its left wing.
Without a viable method of lifting itself into the air, it took a nosedive and plummeted into the pit below, spinning uncontrollably along the way. She didn’t watch as it hit, but she could hear the impact even from her position. Instead, she reoriented her focus and started running.
She wasn’t sure where she ended up along the tangle of bridges and she didn’t care. She was going to finish this maze and she was going to do it her way. She had been reserving her power for a while now – it was time to use some of it.
While she was running, she focused on the sounds of battle she had heard before. Reaching out with her Fire affinity, she found the heat signature she would know anywhere – her husband. He was surrounded by nearly a dozen of the black and white-spotted birds who were circling around and distracting him from his purpose. They were too far away to hit, but every time he tried to move away they were there to get in his way. Far below, she could see the cooling bodies of five more, which meant that some had apparently gotten a little too close.
Rosewyn didn’t bother to follow the bridges – she followed her own straight path to her objective. Using her Air affinity, she conservatively used her power to maintain her momentum, flying over ropes with extra bursts of speed, only to land on a nearby rope or wood plank before she launched herself again. There wasn’t anything that would stop her, not even an inconvenient bridge that got in the way which she cut in half with a large slice of air.
Within fifteen seconds, she was near enough to fling out multiple sharpened darts of air toward the unsuspecting birds assaulting her husband. She wasn’t messing around, so even though three of the quick birds avoided the first one she flung out, they were unable to dodge the second or even the third. Once they were down, she landed lightly next to Moxwell, who thanked her with a nod of his head. She smiled in return, and then put her game face back on.
“This way, I’ve got a plan,” she told him, before going back the way she came.
She was heading for the direction of the exit and didn’t care if she picked the correct way – whatever direction she was heading was the right way. She glanced up at the clock and saw that they had less than a minute left; just then, the entire structure jerked as the pendulum sliced into a portion of the rope cables. When they got their balance, she assisted Moxwell with leaping over bridges – which he did admirably – and swinging from rope-to-rope in the direction they needed.
One last obstacle stood between them and the exit: a 30-foot drop to the bridge leading out. She knew she would be able to cushion her own fall, but if Moxwell was to drop on the bridge from that height it was entirely possible he would break the entire thing and fall. She stood still and alternately looked at the large opening almost 40 feet away from their position and her husband.
“C’mon, we’re almost out of time and we’re so close. We just need to get down there and—”
“Shh,” she held a finger to his lips, before taking it away and kissing him deeply, “I love you, but this is going to hurt a little…sorry.”
“What are y—,”
The rest of what he was going to say was lost as, whatever it was, turned into a girlish scream as a powerful blast of air hit him from behind, launching him through the air like an arrow toward the exit. She watched him land safely inside the tunnel leading toward what she figured was another room.
Rosewyn climbed over the rope nearest to the bridge and stepped off, landing on the bridge below leading toward the exit, softening her fall with a cushion of air. Less than a second after landing, the entire structure shuddered under her feet. She fell to her knees and as she looked up she saw that she had less than 10 seconds left to travel 30 feet to the exit.
Running for all she was worth, she was less than 5 feet from the edge when the bridge fell away under her feet. With a last burst of air, she flung herself upward and forward, landing face down on the edge of the tunnel. Crawling on her hands and knees, she settled next to Moxwell, breathing hard and ignoring his thunderous expression.
“What? We made it didn’t we?”
“I should’ve let you fall into that pit with the puppies,” he mumbled under his breath.
Room five. She didn’t want to think about that room, although it started innocently enough.
After making their way from the connecting tunnel, they had entered the small room, the sides of which were filled with beautiful trees stretching up to the ceiling. Al
ong the floor, short blue grass created a fabulous carpet dotted here and there by white and red flowers. Bright light shone down from the ceiling, illuminating what appeared to be a small piece of paradise that was somehow located in that place of death and destruction.
She noticed that the exit was only about 40 feet away on the other side of the room, but her attention wandered as she saw a pile of about a dozen playfully-romping puppies rough-housing together in the middle of the room. She knew what they were, based upon stories about dogs that used to be used as pets before the big change. They no longer existed in the same forms but were usually found in hybrids wandering the forests above.
They were different shades of grey, with large, floppy ears, big beautiful eyes, and oversized feet. She couldn’t help but approach the writhing group of cute animals, kneeling at their side as she stroked the back of one nearest her. Its fur was so soft, it almost felt like a cloud; the group of them also smelled wonderful – like a relaxing summer day.
The one she touched rolled over onto her lap and licked her face, before throwing itself back into the playful melee. She noticed that they all had blunted teeth and no nails to speak of – they were just big balls of fun.
“Yeah, they’re cute, but let’s go – the exit is right there,” her impatient husband told her.
“Hold on just a moment. I just want to visit for another minute and then we can go,” she told him.
“Did you ever think about why this room exists? There’s got to be a trap here somewhere,” he replied, as he walked around the room with his sword at the ready.
“Nonsense. This is probably just a nursery – how else did all these beasts get into these rooms. Are you sure you don’t want to pet one? They are super soft!”
Unbeknownst to them at the time, the puppies had been silently trapping her legs underneath a layer of braided grass, using some sort of ability they had to control it. Later, she would’ve sworn they had some sort of Nature Manipulation ability – but that would be impossible.
The Quizard Mountains: A Dungeon Core Epic (Station Cores Book 2) Page 25