Chloe laid on her stomach and log-rolled into the crevice until she could no longer move. Her heart raced as she saw several of the insects’ sets of legs from her hollow.
“Great plan, genius,” KieraFreya said dryly. “Now what?”
Chloe’s brows furrowed. “Y’know what? How about instead of berating me, you help me? Remember that thing you did for me in the dungeon with the skellies? Helping me cast Deic Light? How about you help me know with something like that? Acidic Rain or something that might actually help us out of this situation.”
“Chloe, Chloe, Chloe…” KieraFreya sighed. “That’s not how it works. If I got you out of every jam you found yourself in, you’d never grow and develop as a person. These situations build character. And, besides, think of it this way: if you die, you’ll be transported miles away from here.”
“Oh. My. God,” Chloe said.
“What?”
“You don’t know how you did it, do you?”
The mantis screeched, swiping and missing by nearly a meter as it struggled to manipulate its massive body to reach her.
“Of course I do,” KieraFreya snapped.
“No. No, you don’t! If you knew, you’d help. The last thing you want is for me to die and slow down our mission. I think that when I get hurt, you get hurt, too.” She brought her hands to her cheeks. “It all makes so much sense now. We’re tied in mind and body. You can feel physical pain, and I’m guessing you didn’t feel that as a goddess.”
The ground shook as the stag beetle reared and dropped. A dung beetle started bashing its head into the floor. A long fibrous leg reached down and touched the floor from above.
“Shut up,” KieraFreya snapped.
“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!” Chloe cried triumphantly. She celebrated her win until she thought back to something KieraFreya had said. “Hold on. How come when I found your bracers I was transported away from the quest zone, and this time I’m stuck here? Surely I should have transported again?”
“This world isn’t built on linear premises,” KieraFreya replied, happy to once again have the intellectual upper hand. “With the last quest, the danger and challenge were in reaching the item at the end of the dungeon. In case you didn’t notice, this time around, there was nothing stopping us grabbing the greaves. The challenge came after the item was acquired.”
“So you’re saying all we have to do is defeat these and we’ll be transported?”
“Not at all. What I’m saying is—”
“Let’s do this, then!” Chloe shouted, drowning out KieraFreya’s warnings.
Chloe rolled out of her hollow, deciding to try a new tack with her spells. She lowered her head, sprinting toward the stag beetle until she was directly under it. She fell to her knees, skidded some distance, and lay on her back, then summoned several ice shards, which appeared in the air between her palms. One by one, she fired them off, managing to pierce the stag beetle’s hide. Black ichor dripped on her.
The beetle roared in pain, stamping its feet. Chloe got to her feet, diving out of range just before the creature collapsed to the floor.
“One down!” Chloe laughed maniacally, checking her MP and stopped short when she saw that she’d spent almost two-thirds of her overall amount. “It’s a shame the Battle Mage class doesn’t include faster regeneration.”
Chloe whirled, seeing the humblebee directly above her, lining up its stinger. She steeled herself, growing two fireballs in her hand and flinging them directly up. The first missed, but the second caught the bee’s wing, and the beast began to spiral to the ground, wing smoking.
Chloe tore across the floor toward the bee, aware of the other insects speeding toward her. She summoned one more Ice Shard and managed to penetrate the bee’s body where she imagined the heart would be.
As the bee took with its final breaths, Chloe jumped and landed near the base of the stinger, balancing precariously as she bent down, grabbed the point, and managed to break off what remained of the weapon.
Later, Chloe would read the notification of her new weapon acquisition with sick glee.
You have found a new weapon: Humblebee Stinger (Giant)
Is there anything you can’t attack someone with? The humblebee is one of the last noble bugs of the ancient world. Filled with a poison so deadly that one sting can kill a man in six seconds. Use this to inflict great pain on your enemies, but make sure you hold the correct end.
Damage: 28 (slashing), +poison debuff
Durability: 4/5
The stinger felt strange in her hand, smooth to the touch. It was almost difficult to grip, as if it refused to be used for anything other than its intended purpose.
Chloe played with the stinger in her hand for a mere second before she heard the tinnitus hum of wings again as the mantis leaped for her, swiping its scythe-like claws at her but missing by a fraction of an inch and tearing into the bee’s body.
With grim determination, Chloe punched into the mantis, driving the stinger into its chest. Strange purple bubbles floated into the air around the area of damage, presumably indicating that the creature had been poisoned.
Thousands of hours of development to make this game as realistic as possible, and they add in a poison bubble effect like a 1980s Looney Tunes cartoon?
But the mantis wasn’t done. More clicks of its mandibles and another swipe of its claws and the insect caught Chloe’s thigh, tearing a large gash in the flesh.
Chloe groaned in pain and tried to get to her feet. Every step hurt, but she got the hollow back in her sights and ran as fast as she could back to the safety of her hideaway. She had poisoned the mantis; that was enough for now, surely? Soon it would die, and there would be one less critter to worry about.
Chloe flashed up her health, noticing a bleeding debuff that sapped away at the bar surprisingly quickly. She fled, teeth gritted against the pain, only a few meters before she paused in her tracks.
In front of her was a spider larger than any she had ever seen. It had spindly legs and a body that was tiny in comparison. Chloe had seen its smaller brethren before. “Daddy long legs” was what her brothers had called them, teasing her with the creatures cupped in their hands.
Daddy indeed, Chloe though. If they were the daddies, this would surely be their great-great-great-great-great-great—
Quit stalling and run! KieraFreya shouted in her head.
When Chloe turned around, the mantis was limping toward her. It moved considerably slower. The dung beetle staggered her way from the right, its hefty bulk clearly its own disadvantage. The spider loomed above, and to her left she could see a millipede appearing over the roots, with a gigantic housefly hovering above, waiting for its turn to attack.
Chloe stared at the hollow forlornly, then straightened. Her MP had regenerated some in the attack of the humblebee so she cast Healing Hands on herself, watching as the body attempted to knit the skin of her thigh back together.
“Any bright ideas?” KieraFreya asked.
“One,” Chloe replied. “But it’s going to be risky as hell.”
She centered herself, finding her focus in a heartbeat. With a sudden burst of speed, she put all her faith in her new strength and dexterity increases, feeling her muscles respond as she stepped off the root and jumped into the air.
Her hands found purchase on the spider, and she panicked as its body lurched forward under her weight. The spider pulled its leg toward its face, a thick, dark liquid bubbling in its mouth that Chloe could only assume she didn’t want to find out about the hard way.
Swinging her legs, she released from one hold and grabbed another, scaling the spider like a rope. Another swing and she was near the back of the spider’s body. The spider jabbed at her with its other leg, but Chloe had already let go. She ducked, hugging the top of the root as the millipede came from nowhere, darting into the spider and pushing it back.
Chloe heard them crash and could just make out their tangled shapes in the darkness.
�
��That’s one way to kill two birds with one stone,” Chloe said, struggling for breath.
Not wasting another second, Chloe spun a half-circle and jumped at the fly, her fingers managing to grab its legs. She scrambled and pulled, the fly bobbing around in all directions as Chloe shifted her weight, eventually managing to drag a leg over and climb on top.
Below her, the mantis snapped its mandibles, emitting a horrific screech as the poison finally brought about its death. It folded over and lay still.
“Okay, Silver. Hi-ho, away!” Chloe said, booting the fly in the side as she clung to its greasy fur. The fly buzzed in alarm, speeding in random directions around the room, and at one point smashing Chloe and itself into the ceiling.
Below them, the spider, apparently not giving up, sprinted across the roots, shooting silky strings from its backend and climbing into the air.
“Oh, crap,” Chloe said, trying to find a way to control the fly’s direction. Another swerve, and the fly barely missed a length of the web that now crossed from the floor to the ceiling. Pretty soon, the spider had made substantial strides in creating the foundations of a web.
Chloe wracked her brain for any ideas. She had come this far, and the last thing she wanted to do was send herself into oblivion by messing up now.
And then it struck her. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try.
Closing her eyes, Chloe gripped tightly with her knees, allowing her hands to twirl and dance around each other as a glow took shape. The glow traveled from Chloe to the fly, calming it. She knew she would only have a split second for this to work, but it was worth a try.
The fly calmed, its plethora of eyes closed. Chloe took over, using her Telekinesis spell and guiding the fly forward.
The spell lasted for less than a second before the fly awoke and begun confusedly buzzing in all directions. The mana cost was far too high for Chloe to manage right now.
But it had been enough. Chloe had managed to guide the fly in just the right direction, soaring high above the roots and aiming for the small entryway she had come through from the abandoned cell.
The fly ducked and rolled and went up and down, twirling like a plane about to crash. At the last possible moment, Chloe drove the humblebee stinger into the fly’s back and leaped off, falling a couple dozen feet through the air.
“Brace yourself for landing!” she shouted, preparing herself mentally for the pain.
She was not disappointed. As her feet connected with the ground, she tried for a saving roll but instead smashed forward on her face in a style not dissimilar to ‘the worm’ she had watched guys perform in the clubs.
She tasted copper. Her vision was blurry and her HP was low, but she was alive.
Chloe began to laugh maniacally, blood dripping from her nose. “Man, this place is such a dive.”
“Enough silliness, girly. It’s not over,” KieraFreya said.
Chloe turned her head, able now to see the looming shape of the spider fast approaching. The millipede scuttled toward her from the other direction. The fly beside her twitched, its wings vibrating a final time before falling still.
“Run!” KieraFreya urged.
Chloe tried to stand, realizing as a jolt of pain coursed through her that something was broken. She pushed with her arms, but it was all too much.
“I can’t,” she mumbled, spitting out a mouthful of drool and blood. “I can’t.”
“The hell you can’t,” KieraFreya said with grim determination. “We haven’t come this far to fail.”
Chloe cried out in pain as her wrists and legs acted of their own accord. Her body rose as if she were a puppet at the end of a giant’s strings. Her right leg swung forward with pain so blinding that white flowers bloomed in her vision.
Another step.
More pain.
More pain than Chloe had never felt before, repetitive bursts of something so indescribable that her mind went blank. She saw nothing but white.
She waited it out, expecting to see the little desk and the phone as her mind forgot the pain, but she could only see the light.
Chapter Fifty-Two
When Chloe came to, it was with a disturbing sense of familiarity and déjà vu. Through bleary eyes, she peered at the earthen ceiling overhead, and a minute tilt of her head showed her prison bars on a cell door.
Oh, no. It was all a dream, was her first thought as consciousness slowly spilled back into her. That was, until she tried to move her leg and felt a stab of pain surge up her body.
“You wish it was a dream,” KieraFreya said, her voice a strange companion in the dark. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
Chloe tried raising her head, but every movement led to pain. “I’m welcome? For what?”
“For getting you out of there, idiot. If it hadn’t have been for me, you’d be insect chow right now, inside some creature’s stomach.”
“You...saved me?”
“Oh, don’t get all gooey about it. I can be kind sometimes, y’know. You did get these delicious greaves back for me, after all.” Chloe felt her good leg rise and shake around. “Now cast your magic and heal yourself. You’re in an awful state, and I can’t keep dragging a mannequin around. Even I’ve got limits.”
Of course, Chloe thought, opening her stats and feeling a flutter of excitement when she saw that the vast majority of her MP had regenerated while she had been unconscious.
Chloe cast Healing Hands, grimacing as the effect took hold. While it healed her body, it didn’t erase the discomfort as bones snapped back together and muscle fibers knitted into place.
When she was almost healed, she had to stop and wait a while for her mana to regenerate so she could complete the last of the healing process. Maybe she could have gone on as she was, but after her recent attacks by the bugs, the last thing she wanted was to encounter a new danger and not be 100% in shape.
In the interim, she actually managed to have a decent talk with KieraFreya. The goddess seemed to be in high spirits after having united with another piece of herself. They joked about the critters they’d just defeated, celebrating Chloe’s notifications regarding experience gained from the insects and additional bonuses acquired.
Monster defeated: Stag Beetle - Mutant (Lv 19)
+1,180 exp
Monster defeated: Humblebee - Mutant (Lv 18)
+1,020 exp
Monster defeated: Mantis - Mutant (Lv 23)
+1,450 exp
You’ve unlocked a new skill: Saddler (Lv 1)
You’ve tamed your first creature, riding on its back in a glorious display of skill. There are hundreds of rideable creatures in Obsidian. Tame the wildest for boosts to experience and open up an entire world of faster travel.
Requirements: Take a creature for a ride
Bonuses: +1 dexterity
BONUS
Skill increase: Saddler (Lv 5)
You’ve tamed the impossible, finding a way to ride a legendary beast and make it your bitch. Additional experience has been added to this skill to reward your bravery and boost you further on your way as you tame and ride the creatures of Obsidian.
Bonuses: +5 dexterity
Skill increased: Reckless (Lv 5)
Riding giant bugs, throwing yourself at mutant spiders. I mean, what?
Bonuses: +14 strength, +8 endurance
(NOTE: Increases in skill override any previous bonuses gained from the skill).
Monster defeated: Housefly - Mutant (Lv 15)
+670 exp
Chloe showed off her character sheet, sharing a laugh with KieraFreya as they discussed the types of creatures that could likely be tamed in Obsidian.
After Chloe’s MP regenerated enough to heal the rest of her health, she rose carefully from the bed, discovering that she was still in the abandoned section of the Nauriel Tree.
A spider crawled across the floor.
Chloe jumped back. “You don’t think the mama summoned the babies, do you?”
KieraFreya chuckled. “No
t unless they’ve told the babies to run away from us. Look, it’s not even worried that we’re here.”
Chloe’s cheeks flushed. She lowered her head and walked back the way they had come.
It felt as though they had been walking for ages before they heard voices coming from down the tunnel. They stopped talking, advancing slowly, Chloe squinting into the darkness to make out the outline of several Nauriel guards walking cautiously through the tunnels, led by…
“Jesepiah?” Chloe said in disbelief, unable to hold herself back.
Jesepiah craned her neck forward, hand over her eyes as if blocking the sun on a summer day. “Chloe?”
The guards began to chatter in alarm and ran in front of Jesepiah, weapons raised.
Chloe suddenly realized what was happening. They were coming for her, but they could not see a thing, and they were going to recapture her whether she came willingly or not.
Chloe put her hands in the air, calling, “It’s okay. I surrender.”
The guards slowed down, confusion on their faces.
“Look, it is me,” Chloe said, conjuring a small fireball in her hand and illuminating her face.
“She’s casting a spell! Attack!” one of the guards cried.
Chloe’s eyes widened as they rushed at her again. She allowed the fireball to go out, but not before she saw the look of regret on Jesepiah’s face.
Chloe felt the blinding pain return as silver weapons drove into her body from all angles. She regretted healing herself, thinking that maybe she could have spared herself some of the pain as her health dropped to zero.
The little white room with the tiny little desk came into view.
“Son of a—” beep!
Chloe threw her hands in the air in frustration, irritated that even in the white room, the censorship function was in action.
She placed her hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the phone to ring. It took a few seconds, but it didn’t ring for long, Chloe snatching the receiver before it could cause too much fuss.
“You need to sort out the dynamics of your game,” Chloe snapped. “I’ve just been murdered by the guards. I surrendered! I wasn’t even going to harm them.”
Collecting The Goddess (Chronicles Of KieraFreya Book 1) Page 37