Underworld - Through the Belly of the Beast: A LitRPG Series

by Apollos Thorne

  “Well, I trust you now. I just wanted you to know that I have your back as you had ours.”

  “Thanks, man. That means a lot. More than I ever thought it would.”

  “I know, right? Can you imagine a random gamer you met online risking their life for yours?”

  “Never. Maybe mocking me as I died.”

  We shared a laugh.

  After that, we left the frying pan in the middle of the path with the bag of mushrooms so that the others would quickly see it when they passed by. This would mark the cave as well so that they could take some time to check it out in case there was something I had missed. Then we started again, this time moving at a speed that I would have once considered a full out sprint. With Travis’s 1,000 Dexterity came more than just an increase in speed. It seemed every skill he possessed was based on the stat.

  ***

  To keep myself busy, I tried to focus on figuring out Canine’s Sense of Smell, but it was just too unnatural for me to pick up quickly. Only experience would help me grow accustomed to it, so I kept it activated, but with only a quarter of the mana it required to run at full strength.

  We ran for hours more. Only once in the first trek did Travis ask me to heal him to restore his Endurance. It wasn’t because he was in danger of running out either, but, as he explained it, the more exhausted he grew, the harder it was to keep his mind focused. Now that was something I understood.

  It was about an hour after the were-rat cave that we ran into our first trap. I wasn’t sure which of us spotted it first. Even though it had a slight red glow as Travis’s traps had the few times I had experienced them, I was also able to see it thanks to Mana Sight. It had a dense white glow made pink thanks to the help of my items.

  I turned off Mana Sight to test my ring’s ability as Travis approached it. The world turned black. The trap became the only thing I saw in the darkness. It shone like fire in the night.

  With Mana Sight reapplied, I stepped up as Travis knelt down to inspect it.

  “Is it something you can disable, or possibly take?” I asked in a whisper, not entirely sure why I felt it was necessary to keep my voice down.

  “It is built into the stone, so I probably can’t take the entire trap, but I can take pieces of it to use in making my own. It’s pretty simple really. There is a spring under this floor plate holding the plate up. If anything with enough weight steps on top, it will lower the plate and press a trigger button.” He spoke as he worked.

  I soaked up every word of it. Not only did I want to know because it might save me later, but the idea of random machines like this scattered about the world was fascinating. Who knew how many different kinds there might be.

  “I see a glow through Mana Sight, but it sounds like this trap isn’t magic in nature,” I observed.

  “At least the trigger isn’t. We won’t know what the trap is designed to do until I get this plate off. Or possibly, not unless we set the trap off to know for sure,” he replied.

  Travis removed some interesting hooked utensils from his inventory and slipped one underneath one side near the corner. A second one he slipped under the same corner perpendicular to it. Getting down on his belly, I couldn’t imagine he saw much of anything, but within moments I heard a click.

  One corner of the plate was no longer attached. He quickly released the other wires holding the plate down against the spring. There was one hook near each corner of the plate. The spring he retrieved was the size of my fist, which he placed in his inventory with the wired hooks. The plate he looked at for a moment before he added it to his collection.

  With the plate removed, there was now a small square trench in the floor about two feet squared that only went down about three inches. In the center of the hole was a raised button about the size of my thumb.

  “Can we remove it?” I asked.

  “It looks like this part is built into the stone. I don’t think I can remove it without trying to excavate around it. It would take too long to be worth it,” he said with a shrug.

  “How do we make sure it’s safe for the others then?”

  “We destroy it.”

  “Mind if I give it a shot?” I asked.

  “Not at all. Just make sure you destroy the trigger in the process. It’s likely the kind of trap that is designed to be used repeatedly. That’s why the face plate was so easy to remove. It was designed to be maintained.”

  “Sounds good. Stand back.”

  We both backed up about twenty feet until we were pretty sure we were out of range of whatever the trap might be designed to do.

  Since I had no earth magic, I let Alpha Bolt charge overhead. It possessed impressive force naturally, so I would take advantage of that characteristic of the magic.

  When Alpha reached the size of a were-rat, I let it rise slowly in the air until it was a good twenty feet up before I released its pent-up energy. For a moment, it looked down upon us like a purple moon.

  Travis was looking back and forth between me and the spell with a look of concern.

  Turning from my spell, I gave him a sinister grin.

  It shot toward the hole in the ground like a humongous marble released from a slingshot.

  The Alpha Bolt didn’t explode on impact but rammed into it. We both felt a quiver in the ground beneath our feet.

  “Isn’t that overdoing it a little?” he chided.

  There was a sudden explosion overhead and a dozen stalactites fell in the near vicinity of the trap. The stone spikes were easily the length of a man and would have likely killed most normal creatures on impact.

  We both stared at the effects of the trap.

  “That was a lot more dangerous than what I would have expected…” I said in awe.

  “Yeah. And to think we were below that mess just moments ago,” he replied with an uncomfortable chuckle.

  “Well, I’m glad you know what you’re doing.”

  “I hope.”

  I looked to him and he gave me a shrug. “We’ll figure it out,” he offered but turned before meeting my eye.

  ***

  It was a long day. The traps became more constant as we neared the Belly. The only creatures we saw were were-rats, but never in the same concentration that we had seen at the cave. They were mostly in groups of around ten and seemed to be busy doing rat stuff.

  Before we reached the Belly, even a mile from our destination, the cavern started to lighten up, not with the light that would illuminate the world to my human eyes, but the light that was only visible with Mana Sight. The air possessed a larger amount of mana than normal. Not only would the Belly be huge, but as we were about to find out, it was full of life.

  When we were about a quarter mile away, even Travis slowed to a jog. Exactly how sight worked for him and his other senses I wasn’t sure, but he obviously felt something even if the entrance wasn’t yet visible to us.

  As we rounded the final corner, it was like opening my eyes for the first time. If we had been traveling by a waning moon up until now, we had been flung into the heat of the day with the sun high overhead.

  I had to decrease the mana funneling into my eyes in order to get used to the intensity of it all. My human eyes were able to take over in part because there was a failing light coming from the Belly’s entrance.

  Travis stood still as could be as he took it all in. I realized I was also frozen at the sight.

  When his eyes found mine, I motioned for us to both to retreat for now. And we did.

  Without the intensity of the Belly distracting us, we continued away from the entrance about a half mile before contacting the others.

  “We have reached the Belly. There is light, so you won’t have to worry as much about being able to see, but there is also a lot of life. It is far more dangerous than anything we have faced so far,” I informed them.

  “Yes,” Zorik replied. “The Belly is filled with creatures, both dangerous and delicious. If we make it past there, then we might actually make it.”

/>   “Since you have made it and cleared the path, we are going to up the pace,” Aeris said. “Were there any other surprises we might run into?”

  “Not that we are aware of,” I replied, looking to Travis for approval.

  “Right,” he replied. “Every trap we ran across has been disabled or destroyed.”

  “Okay, we will see you soon then,” Aeris said.

  “See you soon,” I agreed, bidding her farewell.

  ***

  After my time with Travis, I had grown more confident in my ability to spot and take care of any traps I ran across. Both my rings and Mana Sight had picked up every one of them. It seemed that I was even able to see those that didn’t possess magic because most of them depended upon tension. It was this stored up kinetic energy that Mana Sight picked up on and why its color was white for general, or neutral, energy instead of the color of an element.

  “Travis. I have a favor to ask you,” I said.

  He crossed his arms as if to object, but then I noticed the smirk he was trying to hide.

  “Oh?” he replied.

  “I’m going to go scout. I want you to stay here.”

  “There is one problem. Aeris will probably kill you for going off and kill me for not stopping you.”

  “I know. And I’m…”

  He interrupted me, brushing off what I was going to say. “Then Olivia will join her, probably tying me up with some man-eating plant because Olivia always has Aeris’s back. Then Audrey will step in to help because she will agree with Olivia that it was a boneheaded move and Clarissa will automatically join Audrey. Do you see what you are doing to me, man? You are putting me in a position where I will never get a date, ever again.”

  “What about Lydia?” I teased.

  “You and I both know that Chris already has an in with her,” he said, sighing deeply.

  He was serious…

  “So, what you are trying to say is that if you let me go you’ll want me to help you get a date?” I asked.

  “No! I mean, if you could talk Aeris into helping, that would probably work.”

  I shook my head back and forth, bewildered by what he was asking. It shouldn’t have surprised me really. What did I expect? We were still just a bunch of geeky high school kids. Weren’t we?

  “Um, sure. I’ll ask her. Although, you probably could have just asked me, and I would have talked to her,” I responded.

  “I know. I just wanted to give you a hard time.” He laughed. “But you still gotta ask her.”

  Pounding the fist he offered me, our deal was struck.

  I rolled my eyes at the absurdity of it all, grinning as I headed back toward the entrance to the Belly.

  Chapter 16 – The Belly

  I didn’t know what I had been expecting, but as I stepped into the Belly for the first time, the true size of the Underworld struck me. It was immense. Despite the stalagmite towers, great mounds and porous mazes carved through the rock which rose up all around me, with the help of Mana Sight I could see a mile or more in every direction. The ceiling had to be at least a mile up where an eerie light hung like green clouds covering the sky. This was only a fraction, or a single vein, of the Dungeon Level, just one of the levels of the Underworld.

  Looking past the size, there was the promise of new Blue Magic and creatures to be drained, but also sure death if I got too comfortable. Fear was present, but it was dwarfed by my curiosity. Even the books I had studied only gave me clues about the scope of what was possible here. The unknown made it dangerous, but also utterly fantastic.

  From where I stood, there were hundreds of creatures I could pinpoint. Their mana shone through the crags or was burrowed in the cracks of boulders. Mana Sight gave me the ability to see beyond what was possible with normal sight. I could see through the sparse mana of the rocks to see a mob’s dense energy behind it or within, even if it was dimmed by the matter between us.

  The densest patches of mana were no doubt more powerful beings, which I would stay away from for now. Getting easy levels by killing low-level creatures I had never faced before to get the bonus experience would be the wisest course to take. I had hours before the others caught up with us, so I planned on taking full advantage of this opportunity. Still, I hadn’t forgotten the Hell Hound and the lesson its jaws had taught me.

  Equipping my shield, I reinforced the Skeletal Armor that had taken the place of my missing counter and vambrace. Skeleton Warrior’s Shield coated my kite shield in bone as Skeleton Warrior’s Sword did the same to my scepter. With my helmet replacing Skeleton General’s Defense, I took my first step.

  The way forward was a twisting path between two outcroppings of rock. It was only one of many paths I could take. I ignored the direct route and turned left, skirting against the wall of the Belly, which was made of jagged stone. The ground slanted upward and wouldn’t require me to place myself with rocks surrounding me on both sides, so I took that path.

  As I neared the top of the slope, I saw a large creature that looked to possess only a small amount of mana hiding within the wall itself. There was a pink glow coming from the stone in front of it, so I expected it to be a trap of some kind. This must be one of the monster-made traps that Zorik had spoken of.

  Removing my Golem from my inventory, I commanded it to continue walking up the path. When it was only a few steps away, still nothing had happened.

  Like a man-sized George Forman grill, the wall slammed down on my Golem the moment it took a step directly in front of the glowing wall.

  I poured more mana into my eyes to max out my perception of time.

  A giant spider lunged out of the trap door, and scurried about, reaching below the slab of rock in hope of getting ahold of its prey. The leftover rubble of what remained of my Golem was brushed aside by the disappointed giant arachnid.

  You have learned the Blue Magic Necrotoxin!

  This spell allows the user to apply a flesh-eating toxin to a weapon or to spray it at your victim.

  Note: Creatures without flesh are immune.

  That was easy. I was using enough mana via Mana Sight that I didn’t have to use Force Learn on these lower level creatures.

  Before attacking it, I examined the creature.

  Trapdoor Spider

  Level 131

  HP: 1,153

  Strength: 104

  Dexterity:297

  Constitution: 37

  Intelligence: 75

  Wisdom: 17

  It was rather weak. Its mana glowed a deep brown, meaning it was of the Earth Element. It looked like I had already stolen its primary offensive ability, the toxin. Although there was no denying its trap making ability was extremely powerful, unfortunately there was no Blue Magic trap making ability to steal from it. My Golem had been one hundred levels higher than this spider and had been crushed by him in one go.

  I decided to forgo Wail of the Banshee since I didn’t want to attract more attention than necessary. Instead, I let three compressed Alpha Bullets fly.

  As the spider was lifting its trapdoor from the floor, the bullets pierced deep into its exoskeleton, about a foot from its head. The first two bullets finished it before the third one connected. It plopped to the floor dead.

  Level Up!

  Without wasting time, I cast Vampire’s Might and drained it quickly. The forest green blood that seeped from its body gave me +2 to Dexterity and +1 to Intelligence.

  Instead of moving away, I stood perfectly still and waited to see if anything might come.

  A minute later, something did. My old scavenger friends, the were-rats, had arrived.

  I finished all three of them with a health bullet each. When I drained them, I didn’t receive any more stats. I had reached my limit with were-rats.

  After killing them, I waited another few minutes. This time I had to step back against the wall to not get run over by the next creature that approached.

  A cockroach the size of a large SUV scampered toward the dead were-rats from the way I
had come.

  I half expected to steal some Blue Magic from the giant roach that would follow along the lines of Grossness or Irrational Fear Induction. Instead, I didn’t receive any Blue Magic at all.

  Tank Roach

  Level 370

  HP: 27,695

  Strength: 193

  Dexterity:124

  Constitution: 1,487

  Interesting. It was a high enough level to provide me with some decent experience, even beyond the first kill bonus. The only question, would it be worth taking the time to kill it. With 27k HP, it was enough that it might take me a few powerful spells, which would cost more mana than I was comfortable spending.

  My strategy of staying still turned out to be wiser than I had imagined.

  As the roach grabbed up the first were-rat in its feelers to bring it to its mouth, swift movement drew my eyes upward where I saw a cloaked figure glowing in dark energy. It possessed the face of a man and wielded two scythes drawn in close to its body.

  It fell upon the roach, driving both of its long blades into its back until they fully disappeared beneath the giant bug’s outer shell. Tearing the blades out as it drove up with its legs, it pried a large chuck out of the exoskeleton in the process. As it stood, I saw that it wasn’t a man wielding two scythes, but a giant mantis that had rid itself of most of its mantis shape in exchange for something that resembled a cloaked rogue.

  You have begun to understand a Pillar of Blue Magic - Shapeshifting.

  I nearly lost my window to attack due to my excitement in seeing that shapeshifting was something that could actually be learned. What did it mean by “Pillar” though? It was the first time I had seen that as part of a notification.

  I smiled greedily as I cast Creature Observation on it.

  Dark Mantis

  Level 519

  HP: 12,777

  Strength: 1,000

  Dexterity: 1,509

  Constitution: 200