Chương 18: Bloodspawn (1)

Rowan watched in fascination and horror as dozens of soldier ants charged against their adversaries, ignoring the festering wounds adorning their bodies. And their enemies…he didn't even know how to describe them.

'Mushroom men' was the first thing that came to mind, but that just didn't fit. It made it sound like they were just friendly creatures in some fantasy book. No, they were abominations. Each one was an amalgamation of fungi and bloodied flesh mashed into something resembling a humanoid form. Pulsing red veins snaked across their splotchy, scarred skin, spewing crimson ichor wherever the ants struck. They had no eyes, no nose, only mouths. Too many mouths.

Each of the openings on their faces was lined with uneverving shards of bone. And from those openings came the very sounds that had drawn his attention to the cave. The screams. They were primal, guttural, unnatural. As if they sought to mimic human sound, but had only gotten halfway there. And then, Rowan realized not all of them were humanoid. As a soldier ant lunged forward, moving to attack one of the creatures, a crimson blur shot out from the side of the cavern, crashing into the insect.

The fungal creature looked like a dog. Almost. Perhaps a skinless, sickly, rotting dog. But the beast was vicious, tearing into the ant with reckless abandon. It was obvious that individually, the ant was far outmatched. But it wasn't alone. Two more soldiers appeared at its side, biting into and ripping the hound apart until it was but a pile of bloody scraps.

But the ant they had saved didn't escape unscathed; an entire plate of chitin was missing, and beneath it were countless wounds from the bony claws of the beast. And the wounds were festering. Rowan couldn't tell exactly what was happening from such a distance, but as he continued watching the ant's rotting flesh, he realized that he didn't want to know. As he finally recovered from the shock of wandering into a full-on war, he focused hard on an individual humanoid.

[Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 7] A few moments later, when another doglike creature made its appearance, Rowan focused on it as well. [Fungal Bloodspawn - Level 4] He frowned. That was strange. They were the same species? Worker and soldier ants were classified as different by the System despite all their similarities, and yet the two Bloodspawn, despite so many obvious differences, were the same? Rowan shook his head. It didn't matter. What did matter was his survival.

And if he entered the fray, his chances of that were all but zero. So he retreated, turning his attention back to his original target. The injured ant lay on the floor of the cave, its side scored with claw wounds, no doubt from the fungal Bloodspawn. Its condition had only deteriorated while Rowan had been been busy watching the battle. And now, up close, he could see what happened to wounds inflicted by the Bloodspawn.

The flesh and chitin were blackened and discolored, some kind of necrotic poison slowly eating away at the insect. After a few more moments of observation, he nearly vomited. Deciding to put the ant out of its misery, he drove his mace into its eye, and it barely resisted. [You have slain Soldier Ant - Level 5] [Level 5 → Level 6] After making sure there weren't any imminent threats—other than the raging battle—Rowan opened his status screen.

Name: Rowan Crowe Race: Human Class: Chained Lord (Inheritance) Level: 6 Stats: Strength: 12 Dexterity: 8 Toughness: 16 Vitality: 13 Mana: 11 Free Points: 1 Active Skills(2/10): Bind lvl 5 Mana Manipulation lvl 8 Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Passive Skills(0/10): Quests: Defeat the Guardian of the Forest or Defeat the Leviathan (Layer Quest) Defeat 20 Enemies (Complete) Reach Level 20 System Credits: 90 After a few seconds of consideration, Rowan put his free point into dexterity. The stat was beginning to lag behind, but so far, it hadn't been too big of an issue. He'd survived his encounter with the Ironclad ant, after all. Still, he couldn't neglect it forever.

He was in a hostile and unfamiliar environment, and from what he'd seen at the battlefield, the fungal Bloodspawn were powerful enough that he would likely have to flee from at some point in the near future. Whether because of their numbers or his mana running out, it didn't matter. What did matter was the utterly ridiculous speed of the smaller, doglike Bloodspawn; he didn't know if he could outrun that. With that out of the way, he opened his completed quest.

Quest: Defeat 20 Enemies (20/20, Complete) Rewards: Rations 20 System Credits He focused on claiming the rewards, and as the rations appeared before him, a new quest was issued. Quest: Defeat 30 Enemies (0/30) Rewards: Rations 25 System Credits Rowan smiled. It seemed that these quests would be a recurring thing. That meant he had a somewhat reliable method of gaining more rations. And while the number of enemies he needed to defeat continued to climb, that only meant that he would have to become stronger as well.

Closing the window, he looked at his newly delivered rations. Immediately, he grabbed the waterskin already attached to his belt, downing it in one gulp. With the new waterskins as a safety net, he could indulge, at least a little. But he didn't open the new ones, not just yet. Because if he started drinking, he wasn't sure he would be able to stop. That was why he'd grabbed the already mostly empty water instead of one of the full ones.

The constant feeling of thirst wasn't by any means pleasant, but he could live with it. But still, it was hard to stop drinking when you were so thirsty. Then, there was the problem of space. Sure, he could fit another three things on his belt, but it would make combat a nightmare. It was already hard enough to fight with just two waterskins and a bag of rations at his waist—and he usually put the rations on the floor before engaging anyway. He thought he could manage another waterskin, but another bag of food?

He didn't know about that. So, taking the mostly empty one, he stuffed the remaining rations into the new bag. It was difficult, courtesy of the System already filling the pouch nearly to the brim, but he managed, just barely. In the end, there was a single piece of jerky that wouldn't fit. Shrugging, he ate it; he was hungry. He grabbed a few more dried fruits before tying up the top of the bag and hanging it on his belt with the hook it came with. Then, he addressed the waterskins.

Two empty and two completely full. Obviously, he was going to keep the full ones, but it would also be good to have an empty waterskin or two incase he stumbled across a source of clean water. But he didn't want to keep all four of them and have too many items cluttering up his belt, so he would keep one of the empty waterskins. With a sigh, Rowan threw the empty waterskin and bulky pouch to the ground. Then, he started moving, following the screams of Bloodspawn back to the site of the battle.

It was risky, but he needed to learn more about these new creatures and also see how they were faring against the ants. When the battlefield finally came into view, he recoiled in horror. He'd thought the gore and death splattered across the cavern had been bad before, but now that the battle had progressed, it only got worse. There were dozens of bodies scattered about, and those were the ones that hadn't been crushed beyond recognition.

It was nearly impossible to see the grey stone of the cave floor beneath all the blood and ichor. And even still, the battle raged on, neither side caring for their fallen comrades. But the ants were winning. Individually, the fungal Bloodspawn were more powerful. Rowan watched as a single humanoid beast split a pair of soldier ants in twain, its foot-long claws of bone gleaming. Still, the ants were more numerous. At any given moment, there were a little less than a hundred beings within the chamber.

When Rowan had first stumbled across the battlefield, the ants and fungal Bloodspawn had been relatively even in number. But from the many, many side tunnels attached to the cavern, reinforcements poured out in groups of threes and fours, joining their brethren in forcing back the Bloodspawn. And, slowly but surely, the bloody amalgamations were dwindling beneath the relentless offence of the ants. The longer he watched the battle, the more sense everything made.

This was why there were so few worker ants; it was a warzone. Rowan had stumbled onto the frontline of a massive subterranean conflict. Even if it was safe for the worker ants, they had little purpose here. Their job was to tend to the luminescent moss. But there was barely any. After all, the ants and Bloodspawn weren't the only things at war; the vegetation was as well. Though it did make sense that he'd seen the occasional worker ant still doing its job.

If they continued planting more moss, it might slow down the fungal growth. But Rowan doubted it. He'd seen how wherever the two clashed, the moss was left desolate and blackened, while the mold continued to thrive. As he thought, the Bloodspawn fell, one at a time. And as the last of them retreated into a tunnel behind them, he decided it was time to leave. He turned, and then he froze." Fuck," he cursed, stumbling back from the four soldier ants that had snuck up on him.

He couldn't fight them all at once, and there was no way to isolate them. He held his mace before him as the patrol of ants continued their advance. But he couldn't let them force him into the cavern. No, he would have to try to fight his way through and escape. Then, three more ants arrived behind the quartet, and Rowan felt his stomach drop. This… how was he supposed to beat this? There was no way. And as they continued forcing him back, he realized there was only one option.

He couldn't fight through seven ants in a narrow tunnel. But he couldn't battle dozens at once either. Taking a shuddering breath, Rowan looked up at the fungi-infested tunnel that Bloodspawn had fled into.