Chương 12: Technical Advice

Agatha disappeared into another room, Evan assumed her bedroom, leaving Oliver and Evan behind. Evan looked at Oliver questioningly, but his new friend just shrugged. He wasn't sure what weapons an old lady like Agatha might possess, but then again, Oliver had said she'd been a powerhouse in her youth. After a few moments, Agatha returned carrying a long object wrapped in brown cloth.

"Here you go. It served me well for many years." She handed the package to Evan, who immediately unwrapped it, revealing a sword. Oliver's mouth fell open.

"Wow!" Agatha smiled proudly.

"It's a beauty, isn't it? Moonsteel with a fire crystal core." Evan was no expert on swords, but even he could tell this weapon was a lot more valuable than the one he'd gotten from his quest reward or the sword they'd found with the skeleton in the Celestial ruins. The shiny blade reflected the sunlight falling through the dirty windows. Runes were carved into the silvery metal, close to the hilt, and the entire blade glittered with tiny orange specks.

The edge was so sharp he could slice gourmet sushi with it and the hilt was artfully designed and felt comfortable in his hand. Excited, Evan tried a few swings and stabs. It felt surprisingly light, but sturdy and powerful at the same time. Agatha watched him try out the sword for a moment before a mocking laugh escaped her.

"Let me guess. You don't have swords in your world?" Feeling his cheeks redden, Evan stopped playing around with the weapon.

"We do, but they haven't really been in use for a few centuries. I've never used one."

"Yes, I can tell," Agatha said, grinning. Oliver glared at her.

"He'll learn quickly. And the best way to learn is learning-by-doing, right?" Agatha's sword was a little longer and wider than the one he had before, but it still fit into the leather scabbard he'd gotten from his quest reward pretty well. After the old woman had given them some last instructions on where to find the Scrapmaw queen's burrow, they were on their way. The sun was already high in the sky, warming their skin. In the distance, Evan could see a rock formation jutting out from the forest. Snaketooth Rock.

That's where they were heading. To keep their nerves at bay, Oliver kept them both busy by telling Evan about his many family members, especially his many siblings.

"The next oldest is Maya. She started an apprenticeship with Luther last year."

"The blacksmith?" Evan asked.

"Your sister wants to be a blacksmith?"

"Actually she wants to be a proper mana crafter, but I guess an apprenticeship with Luther is the next best thing."

"My sister is older than me," Evan said.

"She's a system administrator."

"What's that?"

"Uh… man, I have no idea how to explain it to you. Not important anyway." Evan realized the chance that Oliver would ever meet his sister was about zero point zero.

"Tell me more about your family." Oliver shrugged.

"The next in line is Felix. He just turned sixteen. A good kid. He loves animals and plants. He would love to take over the farm one day, but my father insists it has to be me because I'm the oldest son and—" He got distracted by half a dozen Scrapmaws disappearing into the thick underbrush. Evan watched them scurry away, wondering why they fled instead of attacking them.

"Those looked smaller than the ones we found in Agatha's cellar." Oliver nodded, drawing his sword.

"They're definitely juveniles. We must be getting closer to the burrow. Usually they don't venture very far from it until they're fully grown." They left the path and followed the young Scrapmaws deeper into the bushes. Just a few minutes later, they found a large hole in the ground between the trees. It had a diameter large enough to drive a car through. The surrounding earth looked freshly dug up, and more Scrapmaws were scuttling around in its near vicinity. Evan stared at the burrow's entrance.

"Oliver, how big exactly is a Scrapmaw queen?"

"You'd better draw your sword now." Evan didn't have to be told twice. He pulled Agatha's sword from the sheath on his back and instantly felt a bit more confident. A few of the Scrapmaws looked up at him with their beady little eyes, but surprisingly none of them attacked, making him wonder if the babies were less aggressive than their fully grown counterparts. Oliver made a tentative step forward, and a few of the smaller Scrapmaws fled into the burrow, disappearing into the darkness.

"What do we do now?" Evan asked.

"Do we lure the queen out or something?" If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Oliver scratched the back of his head.

"I'm not sure. I thought she would just show up if we got close to her burrow. Maybe she'll come out if we make some noise?"

"Worth a try," Evan said with a shrug. Oliver made another step toward the burrow's opening.

"Hey ugly queen!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"We're here to kill you! We killed a bunch of your children, and now we're here to kill you too. Come out and fight! Come out, you ugly monster!" A few more Scrapmaws ran off, startled by Oliver's tirade. Oliver and Evan waited at the entrance, swords raised, but nothing happened. No sign of the Scrapmaw queen. Evan let out a long sigh.

"We'll have to go in there, don't we?" Oliver slowly nodded, looking just as unenthusiastic as he.

"I think we have to, yeah."

"Alright then. Let's get it over with." They entered the burrow. The entry was large enough the could walk through comfortable, but the terrain sloped downward steeply, and after just a few steps, it was so dark Evan had to take out his light orb. He pushed a mana stone in, and it lit up the tunnel ahead. To his relief, it remained about the same size as the entrance, which meant they could walk upright instead of crawling on their hands and feet.

There were smaller side tunnels branching off left and right, but Evan assumed they would find the queen at the end of this main tunnel. If she was large enough to dig out this big of a burrow, she wouldn't fit into the smaller side tunnels. The air was damp and musky, but didn't smell nearly as bad as Evan had been afraid. Juvenile Scrapmaws were all over the tunnel, but they harmlessly weaved between their legs, not bothering them as they walked deeper and deeper into the burrow.

Evan was almost starting to get bored when the first sign of trouble appeared. The tunnel curved to the right, and behind that curve, four larger Scrapmaws waited. They weren't just larger than the juveniles; they were also significantly larger than the ones they'd found in Agatha's cellar. His HUD provided a name for them. [Scrapmaw Soldier - Rank 1]. The Scrapmaw Soldiers were almost knee-height, and they were equipped with long claws and larger teeth than the normal variant.

As soon as Evan and Oliver appeared, all four turned around, gave off a high. pitched squeaking sound and started sprinting toward them, claws clicking on the rocky ground. Oliver charged ahead, sword swinging, and slashed at the first one. His sword cut a deep gash into the Scrapmaw's chest, but that only seemed to enrage it. It jumped up, teeth snapping at Oliver's throat. Oliver stumbled backward, barely able to jerk his sword up in time to defend against the Scrapmaw's attack.

He struck it, but only with the blunt side. The Scrapmaw dropped to the ground, but a second one was already approaching. Evan used [Teleport] to come to his aid, teleporting right next to him and swinging his sword just in time to slice apart the second soldier mid-jump.

"Hell, this sword is sharp," Evan said, looking at the blade, now bloodied with green-tinted Scrapmaw blood, in marvel.

"Watch out!" Oliver yelled. Evan looked back up just in time to see another Scrapmaw flying toward him. He reacted too late. The monster crashed into him, sinking its teeth into his shoulder and throwing him to the ground. He landed flat on his back and yelled in pain as the sharp teeth dug into his flesh. His light orb was floating around aimlessly above him, casting erratic shadows on the tunnel walls. His sword had slipped from his grasp and was lying on the ground, out of reach.

Oliver tried to get to him, to help, but was promptly attacked by the fourth Scrapmaw Soldier. Desperate to stop the teeth from tearing more of his flesh apart, Evan used [Teleport] again. He reappeared a few feet away, in the same position he'd activated his skill: flat on his back. The bad news was that the Scrapmaw had teleported with him. The good news was that the sudden change of scenery confused it enough that it let go and dropped to the ground, snout smeared with Evan's blood.

His sword was several feet away from him now, so Evan pulled out Oliver's kitchen knife and rammed it straight into the monster's skull. Oliver, who'd just stabbed the last soldier to death, rushed to his side.

"Are you okay?" Evan got to his knees and looked down at himself. The front of his T-shirt was torn to shreds, and the skin below didn't look much better. Blood had already drenched most of his shirt, and he was feeling dizzy. He noticed an alert in the corner of his vision. [Status condition: Bleeding.]"Yeah, I can tell," Evan muttered. His health bar was draining, slowly but steadily, dropping a point every few seconds. He needed to stop the bleeding, but he had nothing to dress the wound with.

Now was probably a good time to use the health potion he'd gained from the golem quest's bonus objective. If he didn't heal this wound, he would probably bleed out by the time they found the queen. Blinking to clear his vision, he accessed his inventory and chose his healing potion. It materialized in his hand, and he downed it with a few big gulps. It tasted surprisingly good, a bit like pineapple juice. He'd expected a more bitter, medicine-like taste.

Just a moment later, he felt warmth spreading through his shoulder. It tingled pleasantly, and then his torn flesh magically knitted together. The pain was gone, and his health bar was almost completely full again. Feeling better, he took the time to check his other notifications.

[+1 Speed] [Your party killed 4 Scrapmaw Soldiers] [You have earned 14 experience points] [You have looted 42 mana stones] Evan checked his progress bar too, but to his disappointment, he was still missing quite a few experience points to reach rank 2. Maybe defeating the queen would push him over the edge? Oliver picked up the sword Evan had dropped during his struggle with the Scrapmaw and returned it to him.

"I know I said sword fighting is learning-by-doing, but considering how things just went down, I think I do have some… technical advice for you."

"Yes?" Oliver grinned from ear to ear.

"Don't drop your sword next time." Evan couldn't help but laugh at the good-natured jab.

"I have a lot to learn, don't I?" He had somehow hoped he might be a born fighter, some kind of great natural talent who picked up fighting skills and magical abilities instinctively. He had thought maybe that was the reason why those Celestials had saved him from being smushed into a fleshy pulp and placed him in this world.

That maybe he really was some kind of chosen-one hero type and his special powers would reveal themselves later, but considering how the first couple of fights had gone for him, that probably wasn't the case. Here he was, with almost unlimited mana and a fancy magical sword, and he still had stumbled and fumbled his way through a fight with a bunch of overgrown rats. But that could change. He had a rare affinity crystal and an incredibly strong mana regen ability.

Combined, they would allow him to become very powerful if he put in the work. And now that he had his first taste of superhuman abilities, he wanted more of that. He wanted to become stronger, better, more powerful, and he was willing to do what was necessary to get there, even if it was hard. And scary.

"I'll take that advice to heart," he said with a smile.

"Do you think those soldier Scrapmaws mean we're getting closer to the queen?" Oliver stared into the tunnel, lips pressed tightly together. The tunnel itself ended a few feet away from them, but Oliver pointed at a hole in the tunnel wall Evan hadn't spotted yet. It was only a few feet in diameter. Comfortable for Scrapmaws, even the larger soldier types, but Evan and Oliver would barely be able to squeeze through.

"Look at that. I'm no expert on Scrapmaw burrow layouts, but I bet that leads to the breeding chamber."