[NR] Blood Mosquito - Chapter 556

As the ritual plays out, a noxious haze emits from the undead abomination’s remains. That haze swirls and twists up into the air, constrained by the set boundaries. All the while a black velvet mold spreads out of the bones and piles up in front of Courtney, only the ritual’s barrier keeping her from being subsumed within the horrors of decay distilled.

Off to the side, Jason waits as a last line of defense. If the ritual breaks, whether from a mistake or the abomination containing a power most unexpected, he will grab Courtney and run. Further back, Rosha holds Lily, ready to run for it as well.

In theory, it should work. While the bone abomination had more power than usual so as to keep the disparate parts together. It shouldn’t be enough to actually break out. In fact, even if it did contain even fifty percent more power, that would simply mean Courtney would need to continue the ritual until everything cleared up. Jason wasn’t worried about the actual power used in creating the monster, but that whoever made this art project included some deadly defense.

Which they did, it just wasn’t meant for this kind of ritual. From within the smallest bone of the monster, rose up a mosquito made entirely of living blood that immediately tried to attack Courtney. That did not work as the ritual had been designed to keep impure powers in and, despite the strange body, it was mostly just a mosquito.

Jason shakes his head, “I guess whoever made this doesn’t care if someone purifies the thing, they just don’t want competitors getting a look at their work. That bug wouldn’t have been stopped by another necromancer’s shield. Especially if they were trying to analyze the abomination.”

Rosha shrugs, “Maybe they’re just from somewhere without a ritual like this. Such a fancy design doesn’t come from some lone genius.”

Jason, “It could. Though I will admit that most in that situation would make sure their creations were more able to defend themselves. You can’t be out in the middle of nowhere without defenses. Though if we include the other undead monsters we fought today, all signs point towards there being at least one undead empire in the Deep Wilds, if not more.”

Rosha nods, “That mosquito could either be to defend against rivals or hide secrets from another group. We aren’t exactly sure how much oomph it had in it.”

Jason shakes his head, “Knowing if it simply gave you an ugly rash or causes your blood to literally explode would mean nothing. Societies based on necromancy tend to have a warped sense of proportionality. This is especially true if being a sapient undead is a respected choice for those who have died. To some, embarrassment might actually be worse than death. Now let’s hope whoever made this thing didn’t decide to go for both angles.”

And that hope was answered as nothing else popped up during the ritual. Not even the ground showed signs of having anything bubble up, which set their minds to ease. Well, as much as possible, given the circumstances. So, gathered around the campfire, they watched the arrival of night.

Courtney, “Anyone want to guess at what we’ll be facing tomorrow?”

Rosha moved over and sat next to her. She looked up, put her arm over Courtney’s shoulder, and gestured with her hand at the sky. “The options number more than the stars in the sky.”

Courtney rolls her eyes, “While true, I assume there is some pattern. Maybe if the Deep Wilds was an actual entity, it might pull off four random encounters without a theme. However, it isn’t and these fights are being pulled from somewhere. Honestly, just the fact that each day has had a theme is odd in and of itself.”

Jason laughs, “I’m fifty fifty on whether tomorrow will introduce us to some sapients to fight. Maybe not humanoid sapients, but a monster with a soul wouldn’t be too out of place.”

Courtney leans into Rosha and sighs, “I doubt it. Sapients have free will after all. While I’m sure there are more than enough people in here that are willing to fight us, the chance of them just not fighting is too high. Besides, they could use such movement by the Deep Wilds as a way to escape.”

Jason nods, “You don’t just escape a place like this once you’re a part of it. There is either a death defying struggle, multiple ordeals, or someone stronger is taking you. Though that last one shouldn’t really count as I’m sure that unless you’ve since paid what was due, if you get free you’ll end right back in the wilds.”

Rosha, “If that’s the case, there definitely won’t be sapients involved.”

Jason shrugs, “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

So they did. Well, they went to sleep and all, but there wasn’t exactly time to prepare anything else. And so, after much anticipation, the first wave of the last day arrives.

Goblins! And they only have two eyes so no, the Deep Wilds didn’t call in any sapients to fight them. Though these goblins differ greatly from the usual ones that you see back in NeoRealm proper.

Their weapons and armor, while still crude, was made of metal and properly fitted. That meant they either had someone to make gear for them or they came from a large enough gathering of non-sapient goblins. Because the more goblins in a group, the more varied their roles and it took at least a city’s worth of the mobs to start developing actual metalworkers.

Of course, this is the Deep Wilds. There could and probably are entire empires of them hidden within. The only thing is, going by NeoRealm’s history, anytime you get such a large gathering of goblins, they tend to get taken over by the three-eyed variant and rocket into sapience.

At that concentration, you just need someone sapient to guide things or else everything will collapse. Without someone who acts on more than instinct, such a large group of goblins will inevitably crumble from internal and external pressures. Except this is the Deep Wilds, so the usual pressures such as lack of land and food aren’t really going to bog them down.