I and Moonwash descended ever deeper down the abyss of the dwarven mines. The ring of metal striking earth echoed endlessly beyond our ears. The shadows stretched in the corners where the light enchantments didn’t reach. The harpies raised and trained more docile monsters like horned rabbits to give mana for food, much like with Moonwash and her pet lizekto, hence their source of other mana types. The resulting products just weren’t as bright as those in the cities, because those used sunlight magic, which relied on the sparser population of sundertops in this continent.
I glanced at the dwarves packed along the sides of the large tunnel I was walking through. They were clearly hard at work, breaking apart earth, and piling the extracted ores high behind them. And yet, I found that there was still more than enough space for me to strut around despite the additional four lanes of railcarts being pulled by their burydile pets. The ceiling was high enough for me to fly without bumping into everything.
Yet still I felt a bit constricted despite the ample space. I knew it was as safe as it could be, because of supports built along the structure, made of packed earth as tough as steel, or actual steel in some places. But having a mountain on top of my head was still concerning. It was easier to feel that here, than when I was in the city-sized Dwarven caverns.
Our guide led us deeper past many of the winding tunnels, until we eventually left even the hardworking miners behind.
The sound of their pickaxes still echoed behind us, but now our ears were assaulted by a much worse sound. A vibrating noise, thick in the air and grating at my senses. Like a thousand ill-made metal chimes crashing into each other nearly all at once, constantly. The largest source of this noise came from the much sleeker tunnel ahead, for all the walls were packed and reinforced without the need to leave space for actual mining.
The following path was filled not with miners, but with well-armed and well-trained soldiers. They didn’t even mind all the noise.
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“We don’t usually see anyone else down here.”
“Are they even allowed to be here?”
“Of course they are. I’ve just been upside, and that’s the great crafter Moonwash!”
“Oh yeah. I heard that she worked directly with the Steelballs.”
“Lucky…”
“But who’s that other woman with her? I don’t even know what she is.”
“Oh, some queen from the west. She’s Moonwash’s girlfriend.”
“Whoa. She got lucky.”
“Yeah…”
My narrowed, but then I shrugged and even smiled. “Yes, I am lucky. I’m the Demon Queen Haell Zharignan, but you can just call me Haell. I prefer that to just queen because it makes me sound like someone super annoying.”
“Okay, Haell.”
“Hi.”
“Nice to meet you.”
A dwarven commander walked to the front of the gathered soldiers.
“I’ve heard about you two,” he glanced at our guide, Bigquake, and then back to us. “Are you sure you want to go in there?”
I gave a feral grin. “I’m counting on it.”
~~~
“We make sure to extend a long web of tunnels past our mines in order to act as bait and probe for monster attacks,” our guide Bigquake explained once we were let through. I soon found that the soldiers weren’t just stationed at the entrance, but they were present at every turn, unwilling to leave a single tunnel unguarded.
“How does that work?” I asked. “Your enemies here are typically digging-type monsters, right? Couldn’t they just circle around your perimeter?”
“Sometimes they do, and we’re prepared to repel them or evacuate if necessary from anywhere. But that doesn’t often happen,” he gestured ahead. “You hear that?”
“How could I not?” I retorted back. The vibrating sound had only gotten worse. I could almost feel it in my hooves.
Bigquake didn’t answer. Instead, he took one more turn and we followed to see a large cavern that was home to an extensive inverted fortification. It was a kill-zone of its own, like a colosseum where the audience was out to fucking kill you, and we entered from the very top of the stands. Those stands were full of dwarven soldiers, more numerous here than anywhere else, though they still didn’t nearly fill the place to capacity. And at the ‘center stage’ was one heavily enchanted bronze-silver-colored rod buried deep into the Earth. A dwarven woman struck it over and over with a metal bat. She had some massive headgear on her to protect her ears. The same went for a lot of the dwarves here so close to one of the epicenters of the sound.
I put an arm on Moonwash’s shoulder and cycled her some healing, just in case.
“That’s the bait,” Bigquake explained. “Our operations are often felt by the creatures of the beneath, but this is felt even more.” He grimaced. “It’s really unpleasant.”
It wasn’t just the sound. I knew the dwarves had tremorsense, hence why they often bared their feet. It was covered in fur or hair, like the rest of their body and face.
A wave passed among the dwarves, and as one, their postures tensed as their eyes locked onto the ‘stage.’
“ATTACK INCOMING!”
“OVER THERE!” They pointed in the general area in front of me.
“Level 20 estimate!”
“Level 20 estimate!”
“Level 40 estimate!”
“Level 20!”
“Level 20!”
“Giganmole!”
“Ganderpig!”
“Level 20 estimate!”
“Level 20!”
“20!”
“Ganderpig!”
“20!”
“40!”
“Digging mantis!”
“20!”
“Soil worms!”
“Ganderpig!”
“Ganderpig!”
“20!”
“It’s a Level 20 ganderpig!” the nearest commander decided, and a few of the dwarves began to take position. The fortifications weren’t entirely like a colosseum, as plenty of good defensible structures were built into it. From firing ports, to crossbows, ballistae, and whole massive piles of compressed stone of varying sizes for them to use their magic on. They weren’t all too tense as they prepared to fire on the oncoming invader.
I jumped down to the stage and readied myself for battle. The dwarf previously banging on the rod had already retreated, but I found that there were a lot of dwarves around me here too, ready to face the oncoming threat in melee. Their formation moved a little as the approaching threat drew closer, and I kept my attention on where they thought it was about to surface.
Sure enough, a metallic grey mole surfaced near where they thought it would be, and it was immediately bombarded by rocks and pebbles! That was all from the ground troops, as those on the firing ports above didn’t even bother to shoot. They were just here for insurance.
The mole creature shrieked from the instant barrage of mortal wounds, and tried to fall back into its hole with the last vestiges of its life, but I was there and crashing into it before it could!
The ganderpig succumbed to its wounds, very shortly after I tossed it halfway across the room. Why is it called a ganderpig when it’s clearly a mole of some kind!!
The dwarves wasted no time, and went right back to their business. The extra hands who went to the firing ports left. The ground troops scattered back to their barracks nearby. A few separated to take care of the still-warm monster corpse. Others went to the hole it’d dug to patch it up. The same dwarf as earlier pulled out the dislodged metal rod and marched off to a different spot on the stage to plant it there instead, where she would continue her grim work of annoying the shit out of everyone with her ‘music.’
Bigquake approached us and asked. “You participated in the kill. Do you want to claim a part of the monster?”
I looked at Moonwash. She had, of course, already worked with the creature as there was plenty of its material to go around, but this was the result of our first hunt here!
I produced my pouch of coins and asked how much for the entire thing to be given to us.
~~~
Thus our days in the tunnels began. We spent most of that time in the periphery outposts, garrisoned by predominantly soldiers and most likely to be attacked. Here, I found out just how common those ganderpigs actually were. They regularly surface around the luring rods, which there were quite a lot of. They concentrated the surrounding monsters into ready-made killzones.
Moonwash got very interested in those lures. Apparently, it was made from an alloy that included the remains of some Level 80 creatures. The rod used earth and sound enchantments together in a beautiful and harmonic display to send vibrations deep into the earth. The irritating sounds we could hear were just the small part that didn’t get redirected into the ground. It was an even more uncomfortable experience for the dwarves, with their tremorsense and all, but they had learned to adapt.
We saw more of the dwarven tactics at play. There wasn't much to say about fantastreel-rank creatures or below, they were just bombarded to death without exception. Even I would be outright dead if I got hit by everything the dwarves had in store, and those Level 20 creatures required only a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of them to participate. It was only due to caution and thoroughness that so many dwarves reacted at all, instead of sending at most a handful of their number to deal with the threat.
After the Level 20 enemies came the mythril-rank equivalents. I first encountered the beetleshove, which was a beetle adapted for living underground, with considerable bulk and defenses. They even had a long spiky horn meant for digging their way through the earth. Their more limited mobility made them easy prey for the dwarves, however, as they were kited around and bombarded to their deaths. My inclusion only accelerated their demise. Really, my participation was a mercy.
And then I encountered the fenrols. They were wolf-like creatures but heavily adapted for underground living. Their instincts were so strong that they often ducked back immediately after surfacing from their tunnels, saving them from the initial barrage of the dwarves. The dwarves would then try to crush them with the very earth around them, but this rarely ever worked. The fenrols were just too fast and agile even underground, especially in terrain they’d already wrought. And in the few times they decided to stay and fight for some reason, they almost always managed to take at least a few dwarves down with them as they darted and weaved around their tight formations.
They would not be able to pull off any of that with me. I was fast enough to catch them in that split instant that they surfaced, especially with the right forewarning. A single decent hit was all it took to kill or incapacitate them. Infuriatingly, they were still able to escape me sometimes, but rarely unscathed. I was often able to at least injure them enough to slow them down. That allowed the dwarves the opportunity to burrow down and catch up to their prey. And the dwarves were evidently good at digging, given that it was them who made this sprawling complex web of interconnected tunnels.
The injured fenrols were promptly caught, and then butchered for their parts.
That was another reason for this whole system of militarized tunnels. It proved to be a safer and more efficient way to lure monsters and gather their Materials. Thus, the dwarves were very thankful for me getting a lot more fenrol parts into circulation, and we negotiated for who got what share.
Thankfully, the dwarves preferred to deal with me and Moonwash themselves, rather than us having to negotiate with their harpy allies. Otherwise, I would’ve had to teleport back home and haul Granuel’s ass all the way back here.
We settled on a semi-fixed and complete fair rate of exchange, without either party trying to cheat the other.
Granuel would be so annoyed if I told him about it. I must regale him in detail later.
~~~
“Hey.”
“Hello.”
“Good day.”
I and Moonwash walked through the tunnels in a straight path. We got the occassional greeting from the miners, which we returned.
I was pretty sure I knew where I was going. My brain being Level 65 wasn’t for nothing.
The easy smile suddenly disappeared from my face, to be replaced by a more murderous one.
There, inside the wall, was a patch of space that felt different.
My instincts buzzed in my head that this was a potential threat, and I listened.
I smashed Devilcalibur into the tunnel wall, and pieces of stone exploded out. Black ichor stained my blade, for I managed to hit the face of a digging mantis. It was more a weird alien grasshopper with scythe limbs, really; I grabbed the Level 40 creature by the face before it could scurry back, and then outright yanked it out wholesale.
The digging mantis shrieked. It jumped. It died.
I executed it cleanly, by a proper beheading.
I preferred to be as thorough with my kills, but I’d been learning to preserve my catches a bit better since traveling here. Moonwash often reminded me, but now I was also constantly surrounded by dwarves who cared way too much about that. Don’t blame me if you get killed trying to kill your enemy without damaging them!
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Mountain cursed,” one dwarf walked over, and then the rest followed.
“That was stalking us all along?”
“I couldn’t feel it at all.”
“I’m scared!”
“Can I have some of that chitin?”
“No,” Moonwash answered instantly, and I burst out laughing.
We accepted their thanks, before moving on.
~~~
Try #46.
Blood flowed from my savaged wrist. I would’ve just cut it cleanly, but the wound kept healing on its own even if I didn’t want it to. My regen heart was still present and constantly helping me in my day-to-day life.
Steelballs crouched in front of me and retrieved the jar the blood was collecting in. He replaced it immediately without letting a single drop fall through. The powerful dwarven man got back to drawing the ritual circle with Moonwash now that he had his paint. My girlfriend ran out next, after a time, and did the same thing by replacing the jar under me with another.
This was a new thing we’d discovered with rituals made of my blood. They could be further enhanced depending on how ‘fresh’ the harvest was. This already happened with my mini-rituals, or the ones I drew mid battle. Now I had to control the mana in me for a prolonged time, to ensure that only my curse was present in the blood I bled. I wanted the vengeance magic to be especially present and active in it, something that would’ve faded in time had it been stored in a bag.
Finally, after several hours of work, the ritual was done. Of a dragon that died and came to an end. Of children born of that flesh, only to perish. We sought the information of the sleeping cursetacean in the middle.
I did not hesitate once I saw the shift in posture from the two.
“Understand The Final Curse.”
The blood evaporated into thick cursed mist. It swirled around like so many snakes, before stiffening, and then rushing all at once at the cursetacean. The creature suddenly awoke, but it was far too late. It would not survive the process, as its body rapidly decayed, even the carapace. But it had at least served its purpose, for with a pulse, I got notification.
__________________
Angel’s Demise.
__________________
Just that. It did not specify anything else.
It made sense, for the last gift of Cursifix the Curse Dragon.
I coughed blood, from the backlash the Angel’s Demise gave us upon its death.
I wondered if the angels knew that’s what their cursetaceans were called.
~~~
Moonwash worked the grill as I made the sandwiches and skewered the barbeques like they were still alive and begging to be killed. The friends we’d made here were with us, in this oasis among mines. A cavern filled with plants and animals that sometimes glowed, and a lake in the middle that was as bright as it was deadly. The Dargon dwarves found it back when they’d first settled this place, and they naturally sought to preserve it as a wonderful leisure spot. The place was isolated from the rest of dwarven society by sound and air enchantments, and there were even a fair number of harpies flying through the refreshing cavern air.
I actively snacked while we made the food. I and Moonwash eventually switched with Lora and Steelballs to work the grill. I carefully chose which sandwiches I ate, perhaps a little too obviously, but the dwarves just had a far different palate from me.
We shared many stories, from the adventures I’d had, to the kinds of monster incursions they’d had to repel on the surface of the mountain. They shared what they thought of the influx of tourists, which weren’t always kind, but they knew that they could get a lot of good trades because of how good the dwarves generally were at crafting. It was a status quo that had changed many times over the past century, with the invasion of Edengar, and then the subsequent founding of New Grandera. Even the elves had stirred, and passed through the mountain range more commonly.
A dwarf spoke to Steelballs, before the Creator Smith then turned to me.
“It’s time. You wanted to see it, right?”
“Yes,” I answered and got up.
~~~
The whole mineshaft ahead of us shook. The ceiling collapsed and buried part of the wide tunnel. The dwarves who did it moved back, and then did again. They cracked the foundations wide open with both magic and might. Warhammers slammed into the foundations, and a long stretch of mines were slowly destroyed over the course of hours.
I sipped on my drink and leaned into Moonwash, as we both watched the exciting event take place. We were not under attack, but rather this was a regular thing. The metal along this stretch of tunnels had already been mined dry. But by burying the area again in earth, especially in a place as magical as the Impenetrable Barrier Range, then some of the rocks would one day regrow into new ores, and the process could begin anew!
“Wooooo!” I gave a lazy cheer as another part of the complex collapsed. No one answered, because most of the dwarves didn’t really find this work to be all that fun, but it was still necessary. It was incredibly interesting to see how the mines in this world could periodically be refilled.
~~~
“Haell! HAELL!”
“Hm?” I turned to the approaching dwarf. I and Moonwash were just on our way to go hang out and assist in one of the fortifications.
“There. Right over there!” the soldier pointed at the branching side tunnel she came from. “I think there’s a big fight going on. Our captain sent me to come fetch you if you’re willing in case you can help prevent deaths. The enemy is likely to be herokane-rank one though, so you don’t have to if you’re not up for–”
“I am up for it,” I interrupted, already clamping down on my indignation upon being belittled so blatantly.
I was running before she could respond. I focused on my hearing, and did my best to follow the faint sounds of battle amid the ring of the rods. I reached the decorated entrance that signified a fortification awaited inside, and immediately jumped right in.
The sounds of battle grew instantly louder. I got to see the full might of the inverted fortress fully brought to bear. Dwarves in light armor lined the firing ports, and rained down stones and boulders upon the staging ground. Crossbow bolts periodically filled the air, and the twang of ballistae rang distinct among the cacophony of war. The power of those things could reach the herokane-rank if cranked all the way by a bunch of Level 40s.
Their enemy could dodge the worst of it and endure the rest. It was an enemy I was very familiar with. An alien looking body; Slick, spiky, and dark-purple; A face filled with small holes and one massive maw; Several long spiky tongues that could shoot out. Two massive front claws that could act as both sword and shield!
I’d encountered its kind before while I was relaxedly killing some things on some mountain! It ran away when it realized it could not beat me! I didn’t know its name back then, but the dwarves here knew of it.
The monster was known as the zargii, and it would not escape me a second time.
The battle continued as I made my way down in a flash. A good handful of mythril-ranked dwarves held the creature back, along with a tight formation of their weaker kin. The few harpies who existed this far down harassed the creature from above, but one of them got impaled by its tongue to be dragged down to its maw.
I landed with a crack and charged at the zargii from behind. There was no way it could have missed my presence, but the walls of earth suddenly rose to delay it. The dwarven elites risked life and limb to slam the creature into inaction. I did not miss the opportunity they gave me and smashed Devilcalibur deep into the monster’s already cut and bruised skin!
The confluence of my wrath exploded inside it, and the monster shrieked in horror as it was destroyed from the inside. It immediately clawed at the ground to do a repeat of our last meeting and escape, but the Dwarves were ready!
The floor of this colosseum was already so heavily packed to begin with. They further reinforced it with their Earth magic. The zargii was still a hero-ranker, so it would punch through in time–very quickly, even–but even that was time it didn’t have. Just one more slash ended its life for good, and the zargii slumped.
Perhaps it would have lasted longer had it not decided to ignore me.
~~~
“The… THE nokotush!” one guard captain suddenly shouted, his eyes locked onto the ground. The miners around us reacted, panicking at first, then somewhat orderly making their way up to escape in a rush.
My memory core reminded me of what the nokotush was. A herokane-rank worm that sometimes surfaced from the depths. It defining characteristic was its size and vitality; and especially its powerful ability and propensity to fucking dig. It would make a mess of the tunnels, create new ones, and collapse the dwarven architecture.
The fortifications were not enough to hold it back. Not when it didn’t stay long.
“Move!” I shouted, and then outright carried Moonwash. She held onto me tight as I flew at speed towards the big Dargo City. That place was well defended, from how it was an artwork in itself that reached the threshold to naturally make the whole cavern structure noticeably more durable, to how the surrounding tunnels and outposts were built to protect the pride and joy of the dwarves. That was without mentioning the massive army garrisoned within the city itself, and its citizens who had all been drafted at least once, if only for a short time.
I bumped and crashed through tunnels as I flew, but I ignored all the damage I took, only making sure I took the impacts instead of Moonwash. My tail swished back and forth, and my hooves kicked out, until I got the hang of using the walls as a platform to propel myself faster.
“What?”
“Hey!”
“STOP!”
“NO, YOU FOOL! There’s a nokotush coming. They’re evacuating too!”
I gave them a nod, and continued. Without being stopped by the patrols, I soon made it to the city and deposited Moonwash down.
“Are you going back?” she asked just before I left.
“Of course. Gotta help our new friends. And see some action.”
“What about me? I can helped.”
I shook my head. “And I do include you, normally. But this one is very particular and dangerous. In a particularly dangerous place. I can escape the inevitable cave-ins by sheer power and speed, but you might have no recourse.”
“I have magic.”
“Not enough. I’m… not actually sure if you can survive that, but it will just kill you while you’re stuck.”
She thought for a few seconds. “Alright. Be safe.”
“I’m always safe.”
“Bring me back that nokotush.”
“Okay!”
With that, I left her.
I flew through the tunnels of fleeing dwarves for a short while, until I found a tunnel collapsed.
I landed beside the nearest group of dwarves I could find. They were digging out their friends and allies who had been buried under the massive piles of rock. There was one harpy with them who could heal, but I moved to help the wounded with my blood magic anyway while I asked my questions.
“Where did it go?”
They looked at each other.
“What?”
“Who?”
“The nokotush!” I clarified, unable to keep the annoyance entirely out of my voice.
“Why do you wanna know?” someone asked dumbly.
“Around there,” another person pointed somewhere.
“Thank you!” I shouted and returned to my chase.
I passed by a few more clumps of dwarven stragglers, and helped them only a little before getting better and better directions.
Finally, after killing a whole bunch of weaker monsters, I found the nokotush. Its bulk filled half the tunnel’s width as it climbed through the floor and out the ceiling above. Its long flesh-pink undulating body endlessly poured through as rocks and boulders rained around the part of its body I could see.
I charged without hesitation. My Resentment was already active, and my body was breaking as the terrain around me too cracked from my power. I swung Devilcalibur with the confluence of my wrath, but with a different flavor. The monster’s flesh rippled and jerked, as its insides were ravaged by the curse. Yet the worm kept going upwards, and I knew why it was so confident. Its massive size and equally massive power of regeneration granted it unmatched survivability, but let’s see how fucking difficult it would be to heal with my curse sticking into every part of your body!
I slashed again. The passage of flesh in front of me had still yet to stop. I ignored the rain of rocks that fell all around me. I lashed out with my greatsword and magic both. I drew with my blood on the ground around us and chanted.
“Curseflame Wave.”
The black fire rushed across my enemy’s body, and it undulated harder. The collapse of the tunnel I was in hasted as my enemy thrashed in pain. I jumped and flew away, just before it all came crashing down.
The nokotush was gone by the time I looked back. But in its place came a whole procession of other creatures that clambered over the piles of rock. Monsters in a sort-of symbiotic relationship with the worm, who were here to change the ecosystem in a way that both suited them and the nokotush. From the hunger badgers who were typically the strongest among them, to the slitherthroats that could remain hidden and deadly within the tunnels for months to come. Some of them weren’t even alive, as their dead bodies were being piloted by the zhrooms growing out of them and seeking a new home to take root in.
I only threw a few waves of magic at them, but largely ignored the monsters. I had a big worm to catch!
~~~
I went up the tunnels, and found the worm again after asking some dwarves. This encounter did not end any better for it, as I was given free reign to carve all the chunks I wanted out of its body. Yet it still managed to escape through the wall, followed by the fastest of its entourage of losers.
So I circled around some tunnels, and found it again. This time, I was able to track it down on my own to some narrower side tunnel. The nokotush was burrowing into the floor, and I took Devilcalibur out for another violent spin.
And another.
And another.
The nokotush was savaged as it was left helpless. Its wild wiggling could not hope to stop me. I poured all of my magic and my very blood into this endeavor. I drank of its demise, consuming the worm’s red blood for my own designs. Rituals drew themselves along the walls as the monster dug further down. The pain of the curse and hellfire was making it react more and more erratically.
The nokotush had turned around and was now digging up! The tail end of its body was still right here in front of me, going down; but I could feel the space occupied by the rest of its body, and it was on the way back!
My eyes narrowed in annoyance, but I did the sensible ball thing and ran. I did not want to be trapped between two segments of its noodle body. I’d be better served trying to break through the walls.
The nokotush’s head surfaced, and I finally got a good look at its face. A mouth full of several endless rows of serrated teeth. Holes and beads at the side that I assumed to be eyes or ears. It swiveled its head around, and then roared just as terribly as those luring rods at the very sight of me.
“Rude,” I commented.
The monster continued to be rude by dragging itself across the floor and charging right for me!
I flew and fell back to an intersection where I had more room to dodge. I slammed the monster’s head in passing with my sword. I was barely able to redirect its momentum, but the monster did not escape unscatched either as Devilcalibur sliced through the monster’s face and broke so many of its countless teeth!
Blood flowed generously from the wound, carrying with it the sharp and almost metallic shards.
The nokotush dove back down. I continued my grim work of butchery. My magic cooked it alive as it went. The confluence of my wrath ravaged through all the muscles inside, surely slowing it down.
The stone around me cracked like thunder. Dust fell from all ceilings. And then, like a bomb just went off, the massive body of the beast suddenly dropped as the floor underneath outright collapsed!
I jumped and flew back, before the ground I was standing on could fall from under me too. The massive display of destruction continued on as walls fell like boulders, and more and more of the mineshaft was swallowed by the abyss. The sounds of the worm’s struggling dissipated, and I could tell that it had burrowed further down. Weird underground octupi climbed the walls along with many others as the nokotush’s lackeys came spreading out after the destruction it had wrought.
I ran back down the tunnels to find where the fucker had escaped to this time.
I was so close to killing it. I could feel it!
~~~
The next time I managed to encounter to nokotush, we were already in the military tunnels. That meant that we were in the very edges of dwarven territory. The monster was making a fucking run for it!
“OH NO YOU DON’T!”
I shouted in fury. I would not allow my prey to escape. I would never allow them peace. You had already decided to make of yourself my enemy. You will suffer the consequences if it’s the last thing I do!!
Devilcalibur swung as I raged. Blood magic bled the stupid ugly thing for all it was worth. The long body was still marred by our previous clashes, but even pouring anti-healing curses down every wound proved insufficient. Not that it didn’t work, but this stupid thing could just keep going despite all these injuries. Its incessant thrashing collapsed the tunnel system faster, but this time I did not run from the collapse. I felt the weight of a mountain press down on me, but I kept going. I trusted in my blood magic to keep my body together under the pressure. My muscles strained with magic and swam through rock to carve a part through this fucker’s flesh. Nihilistic magic turned the rocks around me looser, and even my hellfire made the surrounding environment softer, granting me more freedom to move.
Yet even that wasn't enough. I quickly ran out of worm to butcher. The rocks around me all came crashing down into the abyss that just opened, and I flew right in the middle of it.
A spike of earth flew right for my face. I slapped it out of the air. I glare at the slugtor with a crystalline wand inside its slime. It collapsed, as did many of the monsters now making their way down the newly dug tunnel. The hunger badgers almost did not care at all; maybe only the newly born level 10 ones did. They fearlessly jumped at me from the walls, but I was already gone.
I caught up to the nokotush and slammed Devilcalibur into it from behind! I did not stop as it desperately buried itself further down! Its ‘subordinates’ followed us deeper in, but they were easily kept out or outright killed by my magic. The tunnels this worm creature dug were a lot less stable than the dwarves, so they quickly began to collapse as the winding path of its thrashing was further revealed. I was swallowed by the soil, but I pumped more magic through my muscles to keep following my prey. I surfaced around another stretch of open tunnel, staring down the monster’s behind.
I took a deep breath, and resolved myself to enact my most terrible idea.
I carved the worm monster a new asshole, and entered it. My world became that of putrid red smells and pulsing flesh. The nokotush’s muscles instantly constricted to crush me, but the hellfire and the curse were enough to keep them at bay from its literal insides.
I marched forward and sliced up everything in sight as my host reeled from the invasion. Here, I was protected from further cave-ins by the monster’s very own flesh. I felt its cries vibrate around the muscles around me, but I showed no mercy. I only dragged the nokotush deeper down my abyss of death, thought guts and waste, acid and nerves, until finally it stilled.
I slammed Devilcalibur down. Again and again. Even now, I did not stop. I could still feel its body pulsing, the rhythm of life!
You will not fool me. I hosed myself down with a savaged artery. Your death is my prize.
…
…
…
“Now…” I could not breathe. I didn’t need to. “How the fuck do I get out of here?”
Phew! I hope that was worth the fucking wait. A whole ecosystem! Aaaaaaaahhh!
It’s late. You can tell me what you think in comments. I still have to edit this some more.
Today:
Please consider supporting me over on , and read 30 chapters ahead! You can also support me by say recommending my somewhere.
As you know, my Amazon launch was an unmitigated disaster, so I'm just trying to make the money for the covers of the following books. I plan to split Book 2 in half btw, so it'll become Volume 2 and 3 for the series. Plenty of reasons for this, but I was really not paying attention back then, and the whole of Book 2 is actually just shy of 300K words ahahahha. That'd be several hundred pages over a thousand on Amazon.
That's all. Thank you for reading. Have a nice day!
