A Soldier's Life - 403 - Trouble Emerges (edited 6-6-25 +150 words)

Chapter 403: Trouble Emerges

As we walked into the woods, Kyrenic followed behind me, with Blaze trailing behind him. Neptune’s tear was bright tonight, and my companions didn’t need the ambient light of wisps to see. In a soft voice, Kyrenic asked, “Fortuna’s Chosen? Isn’t that the Telhian god of luck?”

“Goddess,” Blaze said from behind. “Eryk has more luck than any one man, so we have a bet that he is actually Fortuna’s son and just hope his luck rubs off on us.”

“Really? What has he done that you think he has divine blood?” Kyrenic asked, interested.

“Not the time, Blaze,” I hissed, as I pointed to a hole in an oak tree. Kyrenic looked confused, so I tramped up to it and jammed magebane down into it. My aggressive action hopefully informed Blaze that I didn’t want to talk about my past. A curdling yelp from the gremlin surprised Kyrenic.

I was irritated the gremlin was so deep into the tree and thought about cutting it down with my spatial ability. Kyrenic distracted me with a question, “Do you have a life sense ability? Or did you see it poke its head out?”

“Something like that,” I replied indifferently. I didn’t want to bottom out my aether on the tree so I left the gremlin.

“Which one was it?” Kyrenic asked since I didn’t answer him. “You trusted me with the knowledge of the collector, but now you are secretive?”

“Give him about a year to open up. Once he does, the secrets never stop coming,” Blaze quipped from behind. I eyed him to let him know he was not helping, but attributed his loose tongue to Kyrenic’s aura.

I gestured toward the wisp in the sky to get us on task, and Blaze stepped forward. It took only a single shot to attract the orange, pulsing light. It was a large one, and I grimaced as the artificed urn appeared in my hands. The smell of cooked meat filled the air as I sealed the wisp’s prison. I placed the urn on the ground and the collector as I slowly healed my hands.

When the blue aetheric smoke began pooling on the collector with a dizzying array of sparks, I could see Kyrenic enthralled. “First time?” I asked as I took the minor aether pool essence and tossed it to Blaze. I had decided it would be his only essence for the night.

“First time I have seen the sparks during a collection. Is your collector damaged?” He asked. My collector may have looked a little abused, but I didn’t think it appeared damaged.

“No. I think it’s because the wisp was alive when I harvested it. The sparks are its attempts to resist,” I said, standing with the urn.

“Fascinating. Do you harvest live creatures often?” Kyrenic asked innocently.

That sounded like a trap question. Without looking at the knight, I answered him. “No, this is how the bestiary described the only way to harvest wisps. Hence the artificed urn.” I tapped on the steel artifact under my arm. “We should keep moving.” I led us further into the woods.

Kyrenic mostly observed as we moved from clearing to clearing, harvesting a total of seven wisps. “Are there colors of the wisps indicative of anything?” he eventually asked.

“I do not believe so. The larger ones yield an aether pool essence, while the smaller ones yield an energy essence.” I stood and pocketed the lesser energy essence from our most recent victim. That made three lesser energy and three aether pool, plus the aether pool I gave Blaze earlier.

“Do wisps always yield an essence with your method? In the Twilight Warrior dungeon, only the most dangerous creatures yield an essence reliably,” Kyrenic said conversationally while eyeing the collector.

“Live creatures have a better chance of yielding an essence,” I replied nonchalantly, not wanting to reveal my collector was dungeon artificed. If we were in the light of day, Kyrenic would probably be able to tell. I tried to turn his inquisition back on him. “Are you wearing mithril chain?”

When he was silent, I looked up at him, and he answered. “Good eye, it is. Forged by the elves for a great human hero millennia ago. When I was named Queen Adelin’s champion, she gifted it to me from her vault.”

“Is the Heptarchy of Tegairosia all human?” Blaze asked, helping me team up on distracting the knight.

“No, there are two Elven and one Dwarven kingdoms in the Heptarchy. But the other four kingdoms are human. The Heptarchy was formed to defend against the growing power of the Telhian Empire. The defense pact has endured centuries, and our peoples openly cross borders,” Kyrenic explained proudly.

“I heard good things about your goat cheese.” I said to keep the conversation off the collector as we moved.

There was a hint of excitement as Kyrenic spoke. “The Elven Tegairosian goats are famous around the world. They live extended lives, like their Elven shepherds, and produce the most divine milk, cheese, and butter. They do need to graze on the grasses that grow over powerful ley lines. Unfortunately, they are also foul-tempered and can only be controlled by King Belanor’s shepherds, who are all druids. If you’re interested, I can take you to King Belanor’s Court to sample the best he has to offer. The King owes me a favor or two.” I grunted, as of course, kings were beholden to the knight.

“Perhaps in the future. Right now, I am going to scout the stronghold alone to get a count on the bugbear numbers.” I replied. Blaze still had a dozen arrows, but the knight’s presence and questions were making me uncomfortable.

“Alone?” Kyrenic asked dubiously.

“He likes to think he is invincible,” Blaze said, and by his stance, I could tell he planned to follow. Kyrenic didn’t look like he was going to let me scout alone either. Not wanting to argue, I led them to the two large pines where Blaze waited for me the prior night.

“There is no haze of light from the walls,” I said, confused. “Maybe they had used all the dungeon oil to burn the walls last night.” I had to point out the shadows of the stronghold wall in the moonlight.

“Do you think the dungeon didn’t release any creatures today?” Kyrenic asked hopefully. “Maybe the dungeon has regained control?”

“Only one way to find out. Stay here, and I am not asking,” I warned the pair. I crouched and moved silently through the trees, gliding toward the walls while pulsing earth speak. It was a good sign that the trees were barren of harpies. I didn’t sense any creatures as I reached the wall. The stronghold seemed abandoned.

As I moved along the wall, I began to get disturbed by the dead bodies scattered behind the gate, and I found that a portion of the wall was destroyed since my last visit. I assumed the earth elemental was responsible for the damage, and quickly counted nine mutilated bugbears within the range of my earth speak, along with six crushed gremlins. The metallic scent of blood filled the air, and flies buzzed around the corpses, indicating this had all happened recently.

Not wanting to risk a fight with multiple elementals, I began to retreat, but paused when I noticed a creature moving beneath the earth toward me. A soft rumble echoed in the air and grew louder. It was not an elemental, but I was familiar with this creature.

This was the hulking armored cockroach that had killed my mount, Rusty. Rusty had tried to warn me before it erupted from the ground. It was a dangerous foe, and I had not found any references to it in the bestiaries. I exchanged magebane for Heartseeker as I backpedaled deeper into the woods, hoping the roots would slow it. The black spear had been effective against the smaller version of this creature.

The creature clearly tracked me as it changed direction and accelerated toward me, the tree roots being no hindrance as they snapped underground. The ground collapsed and then exploded upward as the creature emerged, but I had already dashed out of the area. As dirt cascaded off the creature, massive, faceted bug eyes focused on me, and I felt my mind fortress spell form brush off a mental attack. At over sixteen feet in height, it towered over me. Its facial mandibles snapped together in challenge.

The metallic scent of blood on the creature indicated it was the one who had massacred the bugbears, but this thing was definitely not a resident of the dungeon. It swung its massive clawed hand, and I deflected it with difficulty, taking off only the small tip off. The creature slowly raised the clawed appendage to its eyes to study the damage, apparently in disbelief. If I could read bug body language, I would say it was pissed off.

The ground thudded as it charged. I dodged and slashed, the black spear deflecting off the chitinous leg and leaving a gouge mark. I needed to target the joint, but the creature began to go into a frenzy with a series of wild, wide, arcing attacks. One swing struck a tree, shattering it and causing it to crash into others, resulting in a rain of branches, leaves, and pine needles.

I was faster than the abomination, which was my only advantage. I soon found my blindness pellets had no effect on its bug-like eyes, and I think it laughed at my attempt to blind it. I frustrated it with air shields, and I kept trying to target its joints with Heartseeker, but even when a blow landed, the rubbery transition between the plates was barely damaged.

An arrow shattered on the carapace, and it didn’t even seem to notice Blaze’s attack. “Don’t engage! Stay back!” I warned Kyrenic, who was trying to get behind the creature. He was smart enough not to reply and draw attention to himself at least. He looked reluctant to watch me fight alone, but didn’t retreat.

As the battle developed, I could tell this beast was old. The history of dozens of battles marred its tough chitin armor, and its combat tactics were slowly adapting as the fight was prolonged, showing intelligence. I was on the defensive and didn’t plan to risk getting closer than needed. Eventually, I hoped to compromise one of its leg joints.

It was not as patient as I was and decided to go after easier prey. When it turned on Blaze after another arrow shattered around its maw, I had no choice but to act, rushing into the creature’s path.

I took the entire head of the creature, almost a yard across. The resistance was strong, and I felt an inkling of backlash, but as my dimensional space collapsed, it took the massive head with it. Orange and blue fluids gushed out of the opening, but it continued its rush forward. Where the hell was the brain of these things? Blaze moved diagonally out of the charge at a run. I sucked down an aether restorative to replenish my core as I prepared to engage again.

The creature ran into a large tree, thicker than Ginger’s girth, rebounding from it. The tree roots popped and snapped but held as the creature started to pinball among the other trees on a chaotic path. Some other trees are not able to withstand the mass of the creature and were knocked over.

“Gather on me!” I yelled as we watched the creature try to search us out with no eyes. Kyrenic looked awed and confused as he joined me. “Do you know what that is?”

“A deep burrower, but I have only seen pictures,” he said numbly. “One of the most dangerous creatures in the Endless Dark, and feared by most of the other denizens. They rarely come to the surface.” The creature was trailing viscous blue blood and orange ichor. To its credit, it lasted a few minutes before exhausting its internal fluids and collapsing. Even without sensory organs, it had impressively fought on blindly.

I approached the deep burrower’s prone body and tested its condition by removing a claw. It offered no resistance, and I relaxed, confirming its death. However, I was still hesitant to approach and use the collector, as each arm sported claws and appendages that could snap me in half. Under Blaze and Kyrenic’s watch, I gathered my mettle and used the collector. Thick, substantial aetheric smoke pooled on the collector in a swirl as they were pulled into the center. I already knew it was an apex essence, and like its predecessor, an earth essence resulted.

Kyrenic eyed the body and then me. He was trying to figure out what I did. “You have void magic,” he finally said.

“Yes, I do,” I replied without hesitation. He nodded slowly at the truthful but inaccurate response. He started walking around the deep burrower, studying the old and new damage to its armor plating. His eyes drifted to Heartseeker a few times as well.

“Impressive, but where did this come from?” Kyrenic muttered.

We returned to the stronghold, and I was able to follow the creature’s path above and below ground to its origin. The creature’s path of destruction led me to the dungeon entrance, set in a shallow cave on the cliff. I cursed as I realized what had happened. “The dungeon has been compromised, and there is an open path to the Endless Dark. Creatures from the Endless Dark are entering the dungeon and using it to escape to the surface.”

The oily black surface of the dungeon entrance started to stretch as something else started to emerge…

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