Chương 29: The Earthsnare

Fixing Thomas's barn took them over an hour, and it was more of a slap-on fix than a proper repair, but the farmer called it "good enough" and handed them their 150 mana stone reward for cleaning out the Ashbugs. After wolfing down a quick lunch, cheese sandwiches and a Mari fruit for each of them, they were back on the road, on their way to the Celestial ruins mentioned in the Earthsnare notice. To get there, they quickly were forced to leave the safety of the road and head into the forest.

They encountered a couple of weak rank 1 monsters during their trek through the woods, including a rabbit-like creature with a long, spiky tail and fangs, and the exploding caterpillars Evan had fought in the forest near Silvercreek. Every time they encountered a monster, no matter how small, they stopped to kill it for some much-needed mana stones and experience points. The loot per kill was lackluster, but it added up.

After a few hours, they'd made almost as much as the Ashbug contract had brought in, and Oliver was inching closer and closer to rank 3. The downside was that by the time the Celestial ruins appeared between the dense trees, the sun was already low in the sky. Hopefully there'd be enough daylight left to fight the Earthsnare without resorting to their glow orbs, but they'd definitely have to camp here for the night. Oliver had said Celestial ruins were high mana places, and somehow Evan could feel he was right.

It wasn't a sensation he couldn't put into words, but it was there. Just a little tingle deep down in his core. He wondered how he would perceive the world and the magic residing in it once he reached as high a rank as Alex. Swords in hand, they slowly approached the half-crumbled walls. It was the same type of stone the ruins Evan had woken up in had been built from, but this structure was significantly smaller. There were walls, arranged in a ring, and something that might once have been a gate.

Behind the gate, a large, round building with tall windows dominated the area. Several smaller round buildings were attached to the large one, but the large one was the only one with a mostly intact roof. Both the stone dome roof and the walls were covered in moss and climbing plants.

"I guess we should check in there first, right?" Evan asked. Oliver nodded.

"But be careful. The Earthsnare has an ability similar to my iron root. It can send tentacle-like offshoots through the ground, so make sure you keep your distance so you can use your comet shot on it without getting strangled by the offshoots."

"Have you fought an Earthsnare before?"

"No, I haven't fought one, but we had one near Silvercreek a few years back, and I heard the monster hunters' story afterward in the inn."

"Alright, we do proper team tactics then. You go in first, doing your tank thing, and I stay in the back and try to hit it with my long-range attack." They nodded at each other and entered the building. Orange-tinted sunlight shone through the broken, ornate windows, casting beautiful shapes on the stone floor.

The floor must have had a beautiful tile pattern when these buildings had been in their prime, but now moss covered large parts of it, and the rest had been worn down by rain and wind coming in through the cracks and holes in the domed roof. From the outside, it had looked like a multistory building, but once inside, they realized it was just one large hall. Their boot steps echoed loudly off the tall walls as they slowly moved forward. The Earthsnare wasn't hard to find.

The middle of the hall had a large round platform, about two feet high, with stairs surrounding the entire circle. The monster sat smack-dab in the middle of it. A large, bulbous body, about the size of a minivan, colored muddled brown with blotches of green and yellow. The countless tentacles wiggling and sliding around made it look more like a cancerous growth than a plant.

It must've heard them approaching—or at least felt the vibrations of their steps, because Evan couldn't spot anything resembling ears on the green blob—because its tentacles started shivering and slowly slithered in their direction, as if the creature was trying to locate the intruders with them. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Evan glanced at his interface. [Earthsnare - Rank 4]"It's a rank 4, Oliver. Do you still want to do this?"

"We've killed rank 4 monsters before," he answered without taking his eyes off the undulating tentacles.

"We can do it ag—" Before he had a chance to finish the sentence, several tentacles burst through the ground just a few feet away from Oliver, spraying him with dirt and debris. Oliver went to work. He distracted one of the monster's offshoots with [Gravel Burst], then whirled around and started hacking at the other. When his sword sliced through the veiny green tentacle, as thick as a man's leg, the whole monster shivered as if in pain while a bit of its health bar ticked away.

Evan used the moment to prepare his [Comet Shot]. Golden light collected in his outstretched palm. He swung his arm forward and propelled the comet shot toward the Earthsnare's main body. It struck true, and the entire monster writhed and flailed, including the tentacle Oliver was currently fighting off. He made good use of the opportunity, managing to cut it off, close to the ground. Meanwhile, Evan prepared another [Comet Shot] and sent it toward the monster. Another hit, another big chunk of health bar gone.

Unfortunately, his mana bar was nearly depleted. Comet Shot was so expensive, even his super fast mana regen couldn't keep up. He considered staying back and waiting for his mana to refill until he could send another [Comet Shot], but leaving Oliver fending off the tentacles on his own seemed wrong. Evan had a sword, and he would use it. Sword raised, he dashed forward, joining Oliver's side just in time to slice apart a tentacle that had burst out of the ground right behind his companion and was about to lash out.

Back to back, they fought the Earthsnare's offshoots, striking and slicing. Evan knew he was still far from being a sword-fighting expert, but since he'd started training with Alex, he felt a lot more confident using the weapon. He wasn't just aimlessly hitting things with a sharp metal stick now. This was proper sword fighting. Grunting from exertion, he slashed a deep gash into another tentacle, making it recoil in pain. He lunged forward, trying to finish the job, but something held him back.

The Earthsnare had wrapped a tentacle around his ankle, and before Evan could do anything to get it off him, he felt a sharp yank. His legs were pulled out under him and he crashed to the floor, landing flat on his back, head slamming painfully into the stone tiles. He tried to hack at the tentacle that had ensnared him, but quickly realized the angle was all wrong to do any damage. He fumbled for his knife, while a tentacle dragged him across the floor toward the monster's body.

Thankfully, he had a solution for that problem in his arsenal. Evan activated [Teleport] and blinked out of the Earthsnare's grasp. He ended up a short distance away, still on his back. Scrambling back to his feet, he tried to reorient himself. Oliver was in front of him, fending off the off-shoots, but Evan could tell he was getting winded and more and more tentacles emerged from the ground, making it harder to keep them all at bay.

They needed to stop messing with the off-shoots and attack the heart of the monster. Evan sent another [Comet Shot] toward the Earthsnare. It landed and showered the monster with sparks filled with celestial magic. Its health bar was dwindling, but not fast enough. Taking a deep breath, he analyzed the situation. [Comet Shot] seemed to do a decent amount of damage, but they needed a critical hit if they wanted to kill the monster before they both got strangled to death by its tentacle off-shoots.

An idea crossed his mind.

"Oliver," he shouted across the hall.

"Can you get to the body?" Momentarily distracted by Evan calling out to him, Oliver got slapped in the face by a tentacle. He cut it off with a strike of his sword and looked at the monster's main body on the platform.

"I think so, but I'm not sure how much my sword will do to it. It's massive." He slapped away another off-shoot that had crawled up his arm.

"Try to slice its skin. A gash is enough. I just need a weak spot to exploit with my Comet Shot." Oliver gave Evan a determined nod. With a half-pirouette, he moved away from the tentacles that surrounded him and sprinted toward the platform. More off-shoots burst from the ground, right in the middle of his path, but Oliver dodged them all. Two big steps and he was up the stairs. With an angry shout, he lunged at the Earthsnare's body, slashing into the thick, veiny outer layer with a powerful overhead strike.

It burst open like an overripe fruit, and the tentacles went wild, writhing around in pain. The gash Oliver had cut was only a few inches deep and wide, but it was an opening. Evan glanced at his mana bar. Almost depleted. He had one more Comet Shot in him before he needed to take a breather, so he needed to make it count. Holding out his palm, he filled it with magical energy, stuffing every last drop of mana he had left into the projectile collecting in his hand.

A steadying breath, then he took aim and flung the [Comet Shot] through the hall. It whizzed past Oliver's head, forcing his friend to duck, and slammed right into the open wound on the monster's body. The celestial magic seemed to sear into the creature's flesh as it exploded into a shower of sparks. Its health bar dropped fast. More erratic wiggling from the tentacles, then the off-shoots rolled up, and the monster went still.

[You killed 1 Earthsnare] [You have earned 48 experience points] [You have looted 1 Earth Affinity Crystal Shard] [You have looted 137 mana stones] A chime called Evan's attention to the quest notification. [Quest Kill the Earthsnare completed.] [You received 40 experience points] [You received 200 mana stones] Oliver pumped his fist.

"Woohoo!" Evan sheathed his sword and walked toward him, grinning from ear to ear.

"Pretty nice loot, huh?"

"Huh? Loot? Oh, I didn't check."

"We got another affinity shard!" Evan said. Oliver made a dismissive hand gesture.

"Yes, that's great, but Evan… I broke into rank 3."

"You did? Hell yes! Congratulations, man!" He grabbed Oliver by the shoulder and pulled him into a rough hug, clapping him on the back. Oliver's face was flushed and his eyes shone bright with happiness when Evan let him go again.

"We need to seriously start thinking about which gem we're going to buy for you now," Evan said.