They erupted from the ground like geysers, flinging dirt as a dozen of them shot out at speed from every direction. Their deadly claws flashed before her eyes, as half of them quickly converged on her, slicing away her air shield with ease. She danced backwards out of the way and narrowly avoided losing a leg to an errant swipe from one of them.
Utilizing the available medium, she used her Earth affinity to create her own deadly spikes of hardened dirt, thrusting them up and out of the ground towards her attackers. Apparently, they were made of stronger stuff than she was used to, because instead of them being impaled, they only received large gouges in their hard, scaly exterior. Granted, the impact was forceful enough to fling them away nearly a dozen feet, but they weren’t hurt in the slightest.
She looked behind her, where she saw Moxwell holding his own against six others – actually, five now – and he had much more luck with his sword and enhanced strength compared to her hardened dirt spikes. He had just sliced his way through his second beast when she turned back to her own attackers – but they were gone.
She found them easily enough with her detection field, fortunately. After being flung away by her dirt spikes, they had immediately tunneled underground, as they seemed to move faster through the dirt for some reason. She kept an eye on them as she helped her husband, sending spikes through the remaining four he was facing, flinging three of them away. The fourth, however, unluckily (for it) received the spike through a small gap in it scales; the hardened dirt pierced completely through it, only to be stopped by the scales on its back. She expected it to die right then, but as the spike had missed any vital organs, it was stuck, impaled without being able to detach itself.
It didn’t have long to experience too much pain, as Moxwell helped to end its suffering with a quick stab of his sword through its head. He quickly extricated his weapon and braced for any other attacks – which never came. Instead, Rosewyn felt the remaining beasts tunneling toward the end of the room, joining the larger heat signature she detected and remained there.
She was expecting some sort of trick or trap – at least, based on her experience so far in this place, it seemed likely – so she was surprised and speechless when she instead heard a voice.
“Hi! How are you! I see that you’re enjoying Milton’s little dungeon so far, and I really enjoy watching, but…well, you see – we have a bit of a problem. He’s way too shy to ask himself—”
There was a pause as Rosewyn and Moxwell looked at each other in confusion. Who is talking and where—.
“Sorry, he wanted me to reiterate that he is not shy, he just felt that it might not startle you as much if I talked. Aaaanyway, Milton would like to request that you stop killing his Combat Units and perhaps you’d be willing to negotiate? He apologizes for trying to kill you, but at the time you were the biggest threat to his – and, I guess, my – existence. However, that’s all changed. It’s great, isn’t it? You know, that he doesn’t want you dead anymore?”
She didn’t know how to respond. This girl sounded like a perkier version of someone she grew up with. Gwendellus wasn’t all that smart, but everyone loved her because she was always so happy. Later, Rosewyn found out that after puberty hit her, she got an ability that somehow calmed the nerves of anyone she was talking to. Although this wasn’t exactly the same, a smile still threatened to break out on her face as she heard the voice speak.
However, that smile vanished entirely as the girl said something about a bigger threat. She didn’t like to brag, but she was probably the most powerful person on the continent, if not the entire world. If there was something that could be considered more of a concern than her – and Moxwell, of course – she wanted to know about it.
“What bigger threat are you talking about? Wait, wait – first, who are you and what is this…dungeon…you speak of?”
“As much as I’d like to tell you everything you want to know, we may not have the time. I’ll give you a shortened version, however.
“My name is ALANNA and I am an AI guide to the Station Core named Milton Frederick – he’s so awesome! Did you know he’s over 4,000 years old? Sorry, getting off track.
“Anyway, you’re standing in the dungeon he and his friends built to protect against any threats from the Cordpower Company. Which, you apparently qualify as. Why do you work for those mean people? You seem like such a great couple, I really like it when you guys kiss! I just wish Whisp and Brint would……sorry, wasn’t supposed to mention them.
“Milton just reminded me to get to the point – the bigger threat. So, long story short, Brint went to go mine in the mountains to the east, fought off a Quizard army, found a tunnel leading to someplace bad, was attacked by a giant…what do you call it…oh, yes – Bearilla – on the way out.
“His ‘Raid Group’,”
Rosewyn could hear the obvious quotes around the phrase, as she continued to listen with dawning horror,
“was completely destroyed by the 20ish-foot monstrosity, and he fled back to the dungeon, where he scampered through the backdoor…sorry, something else I shouldn’t have mentioned…and we all thought we were safe. Unfortunately, the…Bearilla – Milton, you really aren’t good at naming things, you know that? Anyway, the Bearilla found the entrance to the dungeon and is on his way through it to your location now.
“I think he picked up your scent or something, because he keeps smelling the air. Do you guys smell good? I can’t smell like you because I’m just a conglomeration of advanced nanites, but I can analyze the surrounding air and pinpoint different concentration of odors. Not quite the same though, right?”
So many questions went through her head at that moment that she didn’t know where to start. That was a lot of new, confusing, and conflicting information they had just received, and it was going to take a while to properly address it all. However, they understood threats from beasts well enough that she could focus on the biggest issue.
“How close is this Bearilla you speak of and what does it look like?”
Chapter 39 – It’s here
ALANNA, whoever or whatever she was, didn’t answer. Instead, they turned to the rooms’ exit as they heard something approach. They braced themselves as they saw another beast emerge, larger than anything they had seen so far in this place. It was over 6 feet tall, had wicked-looking claws and teeth in its mouth, and moved with a measured pace that belied the speed at which it looked to be able to achieve. She was reminded a little of her husband and how he looked before he brought all his abilities into play. She would still put him ahead of this giant lizard, of course.
It was only after she tore her gaze away from the lizard that she realized that there was someone riding on the back of it. The young Proctan looked weary, his clothes were torn in places, and she saw dried blood dotting his skin. She couldn’t tell if it was his or not, though he didn’t look injured – just exhausted and with a haunted look in his eyes.
He was obviously in pain when he tumbled from the back of his “mount”, though Rosewyn thought it was probably because of the not-so-comfortable seat he had on the back of the giant lizard. It was all hard and bumpy – not something she would like to ride for more than a few moments if she could help it.
When he picked himself up off the dirt floor, he attempted a smile in their direction – but it looked forced. When he approached, Moxwell tightened his grip on his sword and adjusted his stance, but Rosewyn wasn’t worried. She doubted he could do them any harm and didn’t look up to it anyway.
Despite his exhaustion, he still appeared wary as he spoke, “Uh, hello. I’m Brint, and The Milton asked me to tell you what we’re up against. He’s hoping that you’ll forget your work with Cordpower,” he practically spit the name of their current employer, and anger suffused his face before lapsing into weariness again, “and help defend against this monkey-bear creature. Whisp told me that she recognizes your names as those who have kept the most dangerous beasts away from the general population.
“Fr
ankly, I don’t care, and I don’t trust you. If you’re working with,” she could tell he didn’t want to say it again when he visibly calmed himself, “that company, then you’re my enemy. They killed the one I lo—I mean, they almost killed my friend, and only for trying to compete with them,” he corrected, visibly flustered for some reason, “and if we didn’t need your help, I’d kill you right now,” he stated, with no doubt in his voice.
He abruptly cocked his head to the side, as if he was hearing something. He sighed, before continuing, “The Milton told me to play nice, because we have to work together to kill this thing. I’ll play nice if you play nice; however, once this is over – all bets are off.”
Rosewyn listened to him describe what they were up against without interrupting, staring at him the entire time. She didn’t care for the way he had talked to them, although she didn’t think he had any way to back up his threats. The giant lizard standing docilely in the background was a different matter, however. Moxwell felt the same way, she could tell, because he still hadn’t loosened his grip on his sword.
She recognized his name, and Whisp’s, from what ALANNA had said earlier. This Brint, supposedly the one standing in front of them, had been accused of killing his “friend” and hiding her body somewhere in the forest. If that was true, then perhaps this was where he stashed the body and was delusional – he must think she is still alive in some sort of fantasy world of his. She wouldn’t be surprised; everything that she had experienced in this “dungeon” made her feel a little delusional as well. Perhaps she had hit her head somewhere and this was all a dream.
She still didn’t know what to think, but if there was a real threat to everyone, then they needed to take care of it. If this monkey-bear – or Bearilla as someone named Milton named it – actually existed, they couldn’t allow it to get away and attack the general population. From what they were told (she still had her doubts as to its veracity), it could wipe everyone out in the nearby village in a matter of minutes. Their responsibility to the Guardian Guild far outweighed any extra-income jobs they took, even if it meant abandoning their current endeavor.
Then again, if this was all an elaborate ploy to get them to leave – or worse yet, another attempt to kill them – she and her husband wouldn’t hesitate to take this place apart block-by-block. Well, once she learned how to manipulate the strange stone, of course.
* * *
They didn’t have long to wait, as the monkey-bear was making steady progress through the dungeon. Brint retreated to the edge of the room, where he sat down and put his head on his knees, exhaustion taking over as he closed his eyes and connected to the sensor orbs scattered around the various rooms.
The Bearilla – strange name – was currently in the third room, where it had a momentary hang-up when it was confronted by the rotating blades of stone. Brint was hoping that it would try to go through one of them and get sliced in half, but the huge monkey-bear was smarter than that – which didn’t bode well for their upcoming confrontation. It found an errant piece of Weightonite on the floor about 3 feet long; it appeared to be part of one of the rotating blades.
With great difficulty and visible strain, the Bearilla stuck the piece of stone on the floor where the blade passed through the wall, effectively stopping it from moving any further. There wasn’t any catastrophic failure of the blades – like what looked like happened with the first one at some point. Instead, it just went *thunk* and stopped in place.
This allowed the massive monkey-bear to pass by without harm and move down the hallway. When it encountered another blade, it ran back and dislodged the stone it used before, ramming it into the next, and then the next, until it made it to the exit without taking any wrong turns.
Brint thought it must be tracking the path the two agents of Cordpower took to get through the dungeon. He looked over at the ones working for that damn company and envisioned killing them like he wanted to kill everyone else responsible for killing his Whisp. He didn’t care if they were just contracted to do the job – if they took money from those psychopathic assholes, they deserved to die.
He buried those feelings for the moment, as he realized The Milton was right – they needed their help to survive. He had seen firsthand how dangerous and deadly the gigantic monkey-bear could be, and he knew that there was very little that the dungeon could currently provide that would stop it.
As much as it pained him to arm their enemies, Brint had given them both five vials of The Milton’s special Power Potion. They immediately drank one of them, and Brint felt a little bit of pride at how they exclaimed over its strength and concentration. He had been the first one to discover its properties, so it was almost like it was his creation that they were gushing over. Then he remembered who they were, and his mood darkened immediately.
He was momentarily elated, however, when he saw the Bearilla get launched off the wooden wall into the spikes across from it. Unfortunately, its size and weight were so great that the spring-loaded section of the wall only caused fly a little way back, before it barely brushed up against the stone spikes. He could see a few spots of blood on its back where the tips penetrated, but it wasn’t enough to even slow it down.
Instead of climbing using the handholds, it stretched up to its full height and was able to reach the top of the wall. Although it ended up springing another portion of the wall out, it was able to hold on and pull itself over without much trouble. The rest of the room was anticlimactic as it rushed through the bowl and jumped down to the clear area in front of the exit.
He was disgusted as the Bearilla ran through the fifth room, where it stopped for the barest moment to pick up the still-wrestling Wienerpups and shoved them into his mouth, crunching them up and swallowing them within seconds. Even he wasn’t immune to their increased Charisma – they were even harder to look away from than his Birdalopes.
They were lucky that the rope bridge in room six wasn’t repaired yet, otherwise it would’ve been across even faster than it did. Although the pit was 100 feet across to the exit, the distance didn’t seem to scare the Bearilla. It stood at the edge of the platform that originally led to the bridges and stared around at the room, looking for a way across. It started to growl, angry at its escaped prey, before Brint saw it focus its attention on the giant clock hanging from the middle of the room.
Before he could even guess at what it was planning, the monkey-bear ran back up the tunnel leading from the previous room, before it turned around and paused. Abruptly, the Bearilla took off, faster than he had seen it move before as it ran for the edge of the entrance platform. Brint thought he was just going to run into the pit and end it all for some reason, but precisely on the edge of the platform the massive monkey jumped.
Time seemed to run slowly as he watched the Bearilla careening through the air, arms and legs outstretched as if it was trying to fly. The arc of its flight began its descent, and just when Brint thought it would miss, it grabbed the bottom part of the clock with its powerful fingers. The clock was immobile, held in place by a strong bar of Weightonite, and when the powerful monkey-bear started to swing back in forth, gaining momentum – it didn’t budge. I guess that’s one drawback from having superior construction materials.
After it had gained enough momentum, the Bearilla launched itself towards the exit platform, arcing high, but without enough distance to reach safely. Or so he thought.
At the last moment, the monkey-bear twisted in the air and stretched its arms out to their fullest…and caught the edge of the platform with two fingers.
It slammed up against the wall underneath the exit, eliciting a grunt of pain from the humongous monkey, before it pulled itself up and over the edge. Brint felt a pain in his chest and he realized that he had held his breath through the entire thing, hoping that their problem would end up at the bottom of the pit. After he forced himself to breathe, he concentrated on the feed again, only belatedly realizing that it was now in the same room as them.
Fortunate
ly, reinforcements arrived at the same time from the opposite doorway. Brint looked up as he felt a familiar presence in the room. Coming through the exit was another Quank, another Qwizard, and a D-Ranged Monkey armed with extra throwing spears. It was only when he reached out to them that he detected another Quassassin as well, hidden with its active camouflage as it slunk through the opening.
“Sorry, this is all I was able to create. They were originally to replace what you previously lost, but it will have to do for now. I have another Qwizard near the end of the process, but it won’t be done in time. I also have some other…help incoming, but I’m not sure how much good they will do. They’ll be there shortly, so just hang on a little longer.”
Brint thanked him and lightly connected to all his replacements. They were all at level 1, so they weren’t quite as powerful as his old ones, but they would have to do.
It was only when he paid attention to the rest of the room that he realized that the two members of the Guardian Guild were staring at the new arrivals with suspicion and a slight bit of nervousness. That’s right, this is my team.
He smiled at them confidently, to assure them that everything was okay, “Don’t worry – they’re with me. Just stay away from them and you’ll be fine. Oh, by the way, its here.”
Brint got a little satisfaction from seeing them look strangely at his group, but they turned away as they heard the same thing he did. He didn’t have to watch the Bearilla through the sensor orbs to know that it was making its way over the sandstone columns, not bothering with going slow to ensure they didn’t fall. Crashing stone could be heard, along with the sound of panting and growling.
The Quizard Mountains: A Dungeon Core Epic (Station Cores Book 2) Page 27