Chương 33: [LD-1] 32. Feeding Pit

XXXII Feeding Pit A void yawned beneath the bridge, which made my stomach whirl. There was a lower floor, but the drop was at least twice as high as the jump up here. My legs would not survive that. The bridge wobbled as Douglas crossed. He was the first of our party to. Alexa went together with Emily, Evans, and Shota. Char and I brought up the rear. Our makeshift formation crawled along the stretch of unstable footing, shaking like a flag in a storm.

'I really hate heights.' Are you afraid of heights, Master? Absolutely not— Groaning wood above me made me look up. There was another bridge passing directly overhead. My lips pursed.

'Feels like I'm being watched.' Though there wasn't a single sign of a beast anywhere. Should I make sure, Master? I considered that.

'No. Stay near the ground where Char can reach you. I'm blind if I lose you.' There were torches strewn throughout the chamber, but the space was so large they were a bucket in a sea of darkness. Douglas reached the platform and lowered into a crouch while he waited for the rest of us to arrive. I flicked a glance at my mana. Mana: 150/180 (+ 50; -30 reserved) That's ten death bolts or ancient bone shells. My brows depressed. But I'd promised not to use my abilities. Alexa and the other three arrived, too.

Shota's technos spread took on a wing formation. Their nozzles turned to a bridge above them. The Sarakawa heir leaned forward.

"Oy, I think I see something." We followed his gaze— Air whistled. Something thudded onto the bridge in front of me and sent the entire structure tumbling like a damned attraction park ride. My hand shot out for the railing.

'I said I hated rollercoasters!' I whipped to the front to find out what'd caused this. The atmosphere shimmered. Warped light had surrounded a figure in a bubble that blocked them from view, but the bubble collapsed. Eight legs jabbed the bridge. The beast reached to about my waist. Two segments made up its body, and eyes lined the circumference of each, giving it three-hundred-sixty degrees of vision. If that had been all, I would've been fine with it—I actually liked spiders—but the creature had a saddle.

A goblin sitting on top knocked an arrow. [Cavern Tamer - lvl. 12]'Level twelve…' that thing looked like a regular grunt. Was its level being combined?

"Joy!" Alexa yelled.

"Get to the platform!" Because I was bringing up the rear, I was at least ten steps away from reaching the column. Char taunted the rider. The arrow sailed wide. I wanted to jump ahead and slaughter the beast, but worry kept me from rushing. My footing was poor. But more importantly, the eyes on the spider's torso glowed red like blood. Its body bulged, and a white blob blurred out of its mouth. The missile exploded into a wide web that covered the entire width of the bridge.

The crystalis rushed to get in front of me, but Kil stopped him. I swept my arm. Cull rend the space, splitting the web in two. Mana pumped into my legs. My legs smashed into the bridge. I was going to clear this in three jumps! Spider and rider jerked at my acceleration. The arachnid tried to lunge off to the side, but the bridge was narrow and Cull's arc wide. Legs on the right half of its body separated, and the lost balance saw both mount and rider tumble off the mount into the darkness below.

I stared at the platform. Shota's three mobile units circled along the circumference of an invisible sphere. Flashes of electricity hurled between the technos. They released a single, big burst three times thicker than their regular attacks. It punched through a hob's forehead. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"Nice one!" Alexa yelled. She rushed for a cavern tamer. Her form flickered as she struck, and a single slash turned into two. Both rider and mount toppled.

'They're doing well.' Douglas wasn't sweating and mostly looked bored. Shadows poured from the sky like raindrops. More rushed across the bridges and headed for the platform.

'You just couldn't stay quiet.'

"We should retreat!" I yelled, clearing the final few steps towards the column. Our tank must've realised the truth of it. Douglas was already retreating— Laughter rippled from above. The shadow was too quick for me to make out and smashed through the bridge. My stomach bubbled in that way I hated most. Then, suddenly, the void was speeding towards me. By the time my mind caught up to the events, I was already halfway down.

'Fu—fuck!' I swung Cull and tried to dig the blade into the base of the column, but the scythe's tip missed by an inch. Now my throat locked up.

'Shit, shit, shit.' I needed to form a shield to break the fall! We've got you, Master, Kil roared. I lurched sideways an instant before slamming into the earth. Char shoulder tackled the ground, flipped, and raked his claw across the ground to grind us to a halt. I could hear my lungs beating in my chest after we skirted to a stop. My heart skipped and crashed back into rhythm.

'That… was too close.' Kil, who'd hidden in the bulky summon's clothing, floated from behind Char's shoulder. The fight isn't over, Master! Beams flew over the edge of the pillar, a signal that the battle upstairs was still ongoing. But my attention fell on the eight-legged beasts skittering down the pillar or lowering themselves on webbings from the bridges like they were descending on their prey. Which was, I supposed, exactly what they were doing. Something moved in the corner of my vision.

Char snatched the javelin out of the air and crushed the stick in his grip. The thrower, a hobgoblin, stomped its feet and yelled at another goblin coming out of a tunnel entrance, who handed it another spear. There were entrances and piles of bones all over, which ranged in size from that of a dog to that of a cart.

'This is their feeding ground,' I realised.

'I'd dropped into their feeding pit.'

"Joy!" a scream came. It was Alexa. The President peeked out over the edge, but dodged out of view when an arrow tried to take her in the back of the skull.

"I'm alive!" I yelled back, hoping she could hear me.

"Don't worry about me! I'll find my way back up. Get out of here!" That was all the attention I could spare her.

'Kil, how long can you keep up your Black Sight?' Indefinitely, Master.

'Good.' Cull swept out in an arc around me. Six of the cavern tamers jumped off the walls and circled me. Grunts and hobs from the nearby entrances joined their number. All together, there were almost twenty enemies at my position. Strangely enough, they did not rush me. My scythe's tip caressed the ground as it rose, and the goblins followed its movement closely. They were afraid. Of the blade. Could they hear it? The humming. The indistinct murmurs emanating from the weapon.

'There it is again.' My first instinct had been that the voice appeared whenever my life was in danger. But that wasn't quite it. Like Alexa had said, it paid to be specific. I closed my eyes and listened to the whisper.

'It's excited.' For the death it was about to sow. The flesh about to split on its edge— Shivers passed through the goblins. —a wide beam carved out a chunk of the column. Debris hurled down like a meteorite. The ground shook, and piles of bones broke beneath the rock's weight. White clouds kicked up and shrouded the area between me and the goblins. I exhaled.

"I know I said no abilities, but these odds are a bit much." I held out my hand, palm facing down. Mana drained out of my core, then dripped from my skin like water. The fluid was murky and viscous, like honey. It snapped into the shape of a humanoid as tall as myself and solidified into a bent, twisted shape. Most of the ghoul's flesh had rotted away, exposing a fair amount of bone covered in tattered cloth. A yellow layer of grim also lived beneath its nails, which were longer than my fingers.

The most disturbing feature, I thought, was the fact that it had hair fastened into a topknot, making the ghoul appear like an actual human being. Though a deceased one.

'Was this a real corpse…' I discarded the question before I got caught up in it. My eyelids narrowed, and blobs of black, moving energy took form in the cloud.

'Excitement,' I thought. Freezing temperatures crawled up the Cull's handle as my palm rotated into the shaft. Char summon loomed over me, his claws prepared to snatch the attention of whichever creature tried to so much as lay a hand on me. A volley of arrows burrowed through the mist. I didn't waste time dodging. Char ballooned and his enlarged torso surrounded me like a cocoon. He did not catch every arrow, so the ghoul jumped in front of me, too.

Five arrowheads burst through its face and chest and got stuck on the way out. If the ghoul felt anything at all, its expression didn't show it. It didn't even flinch or jerk before leaping through the fog at the shadow closest to it. I'll make sure it selects the best targets, Master! A small smile tugged on my lips.

'No matter what anyone says, you're my best summon, Kil.' Of course! he huffed. Letting the ghoul rush in by itself was a good way for it to get killed off early. So, I darted out of the mist. Screams rippled through the company of goblins. Spiders rubbed their legs, producing a scraping sound that shot into my bones. The cacophony didn't get past Cull's buzzing in my ears. As the scythe carved through the first hobgoblin rushing to meet me, the song deepened. A little. So little it could've been my imagination.

A spider lunged, and its rider strung an arrow mid-flight. Char burst forth and clawed the grunt's head off. Cull was right behind. The mount followed its tamer into the afterlife. Now, the change was more noticeable. Emerald blood spilled, splattered onto the floor. Part of it seeped into the scythe, but there was another colour mixed within the green.

'I see. So that's what it is—' A shadow bigger than all the others rushed into view. Or rolled, I should say. The object that'd smashed through the bridge had been a bouncer. The fat creature barrelled towards me, threatening to squash me beneath its weight. —I'd always wondered how Cull stole the life force from my enemies. Through blood or something else. The fat goblin bounced and flew over its clanmates. Had there been light to darken, its great silhouette would've consumed all of it and cast me in shadow.

I grabbed Cull lower on the shaft. A solid step saw me pass underneath the bouncer. Cull came down after me. A line appeared along the circumference of the bouncer's belly. It made a sound that conveyed surprise, then fell in two. [Goblin Bouncer - lvl. 13] x 1 slain! Extra experience awarded for… Blood rained, soiled my clothes and hair.

"Souls," I mumbled, looking up into the wide eyes of a grunt. Souls were the key to Cull's voice. And there were enough to go around.