Chương 42: Back on Track (2)

Rowan marched through the tunnels, smiling to himself. His internal map had been messed up after his detour and the days spent incapacitated, but he knew he was close. He'd just confirmed it, after all. When he'd realized he'd lost track of where he was, he'd returned to the broodmother's chamber. It hadn't been hard. Practically every tunnel led to the huge bloodspawn, after all.

Once he'd found a tunnel looking into the massive cavern—though the tunnel was a bit too close to the ground, and in turn, the hordes of bloodspawn, for comfort—he searched for the tunnel that he'd seen the hunting parties return from. It took him a while, but eventually, he spotted it. He'd made sure to memorize what it looked like when he first saw it, so it had taken a surprisingly long time to find. That was because of how close it was.

Rowan had severely underestimated the distance he'd traveled and had spent most of the time looking at the tunnels that were on the opposite side of the cavern, entirely unaware that what he was looking for was just a few hundred feet to the side. As he walked, Rowan continued cycling mana. The insights he'd gleaned from the presence were truly beginning to show their worth as he moved two types of mana at once with relative ease. Well, he called them two different types, but he wasn't sure if they were.

They were both compressed, but one was with his old method, meaning that when he released it from his body, it would try to explode outward instantly. The other kind of mana was what he'd just learned to do not so long ago and would act as a sort of time bomb or grenade when released. They were both essentially the same when it came to actually moving them around within him, but the real challenge came from something else. That was keeping track of which was which.

While they felt very different, it would still be easy to get confused if he were attacked and unable to take the time to identify what kind he was using. He didn't want to release mana, expecting it to explode outwards and destroy his opponent, only for him to discover that he'd used the wrong kind and now had to wait fifteen seconds for it to happen.

He was still trying to figure out what the optimal order to cycle the two types of mana was, and for now, he was just switching through different ones, seeing which worked best for him. Right now, he was doing an alternating pattern, with a small amount of one kind followed by a small amount of the other. It had both its ups and downs.

While it allowed him to always have a choice of either one of the energies, no matter where he wanted it to release from his body, it was also harder to maintain and meant he couldn't release quite as much at once. Still, with some modifications, Rowan thought that it might be the best choice if he could improve his control. The other option was just having two large collections of mana within him, one of each type. They would swirl around, one following the other.

And while it would be easy to maintain and he would be able to use pretty much all of either type of mana at once, it also had a very obvious downside: if he were attacked from one side but the type of mana he wanted was on the other, he would have no choice but to either release it on the wrong side of his body or to divert his attention to speeding up the cycling so he could get it to the right side.

Rowan thought that while they both worked alright individually, if he could merge them together, they would be far more effective. There was one final option, though. To simply cycle only uncompressed mana. That meant that he would just have to squeeze the energy down as and where he needed it, rather than having to wait for the pre-prepared mana to arrive where it was needed. But that was beyond him—for now.

Until his mastery had reached those levels, he would have to settle for something between the first two techniques. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. He was shaken out of his thoughts as he realized he'd arrived at approximately the area where he thought the surface was. Now, it was time to execute his plan. And his plan was to wait. Walking over to an intersection between several different tunnels, Rowan stood.

It was a bit risky, since if he looked down the largest of the caves, he could see the horde of bloodspawn in the broodmother's chamber just a hundred yards away. Normally, he observed them from above, only going near the huge cavern when he would be high enough up that the creatures wouldn't be able to notice or even do anything about him if they did. It was both nerve-wracking and exciting to be so close to a collection of so many bloodspawn, but Rowan forced himself to stay calm. His plan was simple.

Since he didn't know how often the hunting parties came and went, he would simply wait until he saw them. Then, he would do his best to follow without being noticed and have them lead him to the surface. Until then, though, he would have to be patient. — Rowan yawned. It was quite boring just sitting and waiting for the hunting parties to come.

Every time he heard the scuffling and screeching of bloodspawn growing near, he would grow excited, only to be disappointed to find it to just be a lone creature wandering about. And it wasn't like he could just lie down and sleep, either. So close to the broodmother, he had to remain vigilant, and the occasional bloodspawn that passed by forced him to relocate to avoid being spotted. Normally, in times like these, he would simply snack. That was what he'd been doing since he'd been stuck in the caves.

But now, he couldn't; he no longer had enough rations to justify eating for comfort or even stress relief. And so, with a huff, he continued waiting. — Finally, after what seemed like ages, Rowan heard the sounds of a large group of bloodspawn coming. Smiling, he looked towards the broodmother's chamber, only to find that the group wasn't coming from there. His smile faded, but he still listened, figuring out which tunnel they were coming from before stepping out of the way.

A minute later, a group of six of the humanoids arrived, working together to carry a particularly large bear. The creature seemed to have plates and spikes of stone acting as armor, but that wasn't what Rowan paid attention to. The only thing he noticed was that they were coming back from a hunting trip, not about to start one. He cursed, but tried not to get too dejected. He could just wait for the next one, after all.

With a frustrated sigh, he leaned against a wall and waited, watching from a distance and waiting for more bloodspawn to come by. If he couldn't follow them to their next trip just yet, he figured he'd pass the time by seeing what kind of creatures they'd gotten this time. But, just like before, the parties were relatively spaced out. After a dozen more seconds, the next group arrived, carrying another of the strange, four-eyed deer. The next squad returned with yet another deer. And the one after that did as well.

With a yawn, Rowan kept watching. He'd already seen these creatures several times, but it wasn't like he had anything else to do. When the next party came, he began to pay more attention. At first, it looked just like another of the deer, but it was larger, with fewer antlers and eyes. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it somewhat resembled a moose. But it wasn't anything too interesting.

As one group after another came and went, Rowan began focusing less on the creatures they were carrying and more on the bloodspawn themselves. The vast majority of the creatures were the regular humanoids, although he did spot a few armored ones and even a single brute helping to carry a particularly large bear. Sometimes, the parties would return with several hounds as well, but they were just too small to help bear the weight of whatever prey they'd found.

He hadn't noticed it before, but now that he was paying more attention, Rowan realized that most of the bloodspawn were injured in one way or another. Most of them were flesh wounds, but a few had injuries that might've even been fatal. As he watched, he saw a humanoid with an entire arm missing. Its movements were sluggish as blood leaked from the open wound, but it helped hold up its group's prey nonetheless. Tired of watching them, Rowan stretched and prepared to move to a safer distance so he could rest.

But he decided to wait for and watch one more hunting party to see if they'd brought anything. And when it came, he froze. For, rather than carrying just another creature, the creatures were carrying a human body. The woman in their arms was wearing tattered jeans and a dirty, pink top, but he didn't pay her clothes much heed. Instead, he looked at what had killed her. The woman's neck and stomach split wide open as the necrotic poison from the bloodspawn's claws continued to eat away at her flesh.

As he continued to stare, he began to hear the sounds of battle in the distance. Ignoring the screeching of bloodspawn and steel, he focused on one thing: the screams. Human screams.