Chương 14: Into The Deep

Time until next Elemental Storm: 2 Days and 17 Hours The rain finally died out, and Ethan took that as a sign to get on the move. He opened Unimart, swiping to the flashlight section and purchasing the first one he could find. The flashlight materialized out of the air, and had a strap that he could wrap around his shoulder. He secured it there, tested the light, and was about to get a move on when he glimpsed something in the shop screen. [Lightweight Ironhide Armour Set (Price: 1000 Credits New Trial Sale! 500 Credits for a Limited Time Only!): An armour set consisting of gloves, chest plate, leggings and arm guards. All pieces are crafted from ethically sourced Ironhide Bulls. Manual included with product. Provided by: Tanny Smithworks] Is armour even worth it? Ethan had barely been able to lift his own backpack as a kid. He'd forgone armour for the fact that it would be too heavy on his frame. But the item in the shop didn't look that heavy to him. Shock-absorbant, and only ten pounds in weight?

It seemed too good to be true. But when he scanned the rest of the product details, he couldn't see the trick. A bad hit from a monster could completely knock me out. And I can't keep relying on my healing to pull me through either. He needed the armour if he was going to keep chancing the dangerous maneuvers he pulled. Ethan clicked the buy button, and the armour (with its provided manual, of course) appeared in front of his eyes. It made a clanging noise when it fell to the ground.

Ethan separated out the pieces, all of which were brown with a metallic sheen. They bent easily, but retained their shape, and were a good fit for him. He put on each piece according to the manual, strapping them where they needed strapping before rising up to his full height. Still heavy… He'd underestimated how much ten pounds would weigh, but he supposed it made for good strength training. He tried a few movements, and the metal bent where he needed to, but didn't crease.

Combined with his flashlight, he was almost looking the part of a real Trial Goer now. Now I just need a magic weapon to go along with the set. But that was a pipe dream for now. He'd seen the prices on the market for even the cheapest magical weaponry. He'd have to fight for days straight to even afford the most basic of items. Satisfied with his current equipment, Ethan grabbed his small duffel bag, brought out the sledgehammer, and headed outside.

He thankfully found a spiralling ramp leading to the ground on a nearby tree. And with his hammer braced for any surprise attacks, he started down it and into the depths of the dungeon. He didn't keep his life reinforcement on if he didn't need it. Not only to avoid the cost in life essence, but to avoid the other cost that Raphael had told him of. Talents and Skills didn't solely work off essence. They used something called soul stamina.

And the more one used, the more light their body would begin to feel, and a ghostly aching would spread across their being. Ethan had been pushing his Talent as far as he could without going overboard, making sure he could always make it to the next day without any lingering effects from overusing soul stamina. But he'd been eyeballing it at best. He reached the bottom of the ramp, where the pit of spikes began. For as far as Ethan could see, the entire floor of the shrine was covered in the spike pit.

All except the trees, which stood out as wide sentinels among them. The ground had cracked open beside the ramp, and formed into suspiciously well placed footholds leading down into the dark at a manageable angle. From here, he could see mostly darkness, with the hint of a light at the end of the abyss. But there's nothing but spikes around. How did this thing even form? He was asking a pointless question. He already knew the answer. The same way the entire forest reformed exactly as it was after every fruitfall.

The power of Ather, the God of the first realm. Ethan turned on his flashlight, and started climbing down the steps.

The further down he went, the more the light grew in size, until Ethan could finally tell that it was a glowing gem embedded into a wall. The stairs finally ended, and Ethan dropped down right beside the glowing gem. Along the wall, there were several more like it, glowing blue, red, yellow and a multitude of other colours. Two paths stood in front of Ethan, left or right. But before he chose, he brought out his map one last time. And found that it had updated to show him a network of tunnels underneath the earth.

Even though you hurt me, I love you, shrine map, more than any other thing in this stupid realm. The path to the closest seed wasn't a long one. But it did have something orange at the end. And underground, Ethan could only think of one thing that fit the bill. Lava. That wasn't going to be pleasant to cross, but Ethan buckled up and started towards it.

The first open room he came across turned out to be an ambush. A dozen golem ants popped out, but they were only the size of dogs, and rushed towards Ethan. Boost. He jumped towards a tall rock, and climbed on top. The ants followed along, and started scuttling upwards. Ethan applied death essence to his hammer, and with a Boost, hit the closest one off like a baseball. [+10 Credits] The tiny golem ants weren't smart enough to adjust their strategy, so Ethan easily smashed them to pieces.

[+100 Credits] Once the deed was done, he hopped off the rock and stepped over the ring of corpses surrounding it. Life essence flowed from the ants to his body, and he split off a portion of it for his Talent. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. While he was siphoning the essence, he noticed his hand shaking. Huh? Did I overdo it? He rolled the hand around its joints and tried to massage out the shakes, but they continued.

Life essence was the only thing that finally set the hand to rights. What's wrong with me? Is it hurting and I just don't notice it? He tried to put it out of his mind, and continued towards the first holy seed. After crossing a long tunnel and skipping over a river of lava, Ethan finally found the room where the seed was supposed to be. He popped out at the end of a wide and tall concave room, complete with its own lava waterfall running downwards and bisecting the place into two sections.

Along the walls, multiple small golem ants were sitting around, until they noticed Ethan. And not just them. As soon as the ants turned, something dug out of the walls. Moles, wide as he was and apparently unbothered by the lava flowing right by them. The worst part was that he'd already spotted the seed. It was on a pedestal beside the top of the waterfall, with a series of steps and thin platforms that he'd need to jump between to reach it.

Ethan quickly converted his death essence for what was about to be a tedious fight. The ants came first, swarming towards him. There had to be at least twenty of them, ranging from the size of a dog to a wolf. And all of them wanted to chew him up. High ground. I need high ground! But there was none where he was. Instead, he had to settle for the river instead. He turned his back to the river of lava at the bottom of the waterfall, and waited for the monsters to come to him. The first three ants were the biggest.

Boost. Ethan jumped over them and slammed the middle one with his hammer. It fell into the lava river and melted with a scream. [+20 Credits] The other two tried to rush him, but Ethan Boosted again, and jumped over them. Death essence coated his hammer again, and he slammed the ant on the left with it. [+20 Credits] The last ant caught his leg and tried to pull it away. Ethan hopped awkwardly on one leg as he tried to coat his hammer again.

Already, he could see the second wave coming, and he hit the ant sideways into them. [+20 Credits] He stepped back towards the river, but his leg suddenly fell into a ditch. Where the hell— A mole came out beside the ditch with its claws gleaming. Ethan hit it over the head, but its claws absorbed the blow. Shit, it's immune? The mole dug itself out of the groud, and so did Ethan. He hit it once again, but the monster kept blocking his blows. And the ants were almost on him.

"I don't have time for you!" Ethan shouted. With a Boosted sideways hit, he sent the mole flying to the other side of the river, buying himself some time. The ants were finally there, and these ones Ethan could handle. He smashed the three in front with his hammer, but missed on the fourth. [+30 Credits] The fourth ant tried to grab him, but he Boosted his legs and jumped backwards. The jump took him to a wall, where he hit his back and slid down slowly. When he came down, Ethan noticed the shaking had returned.

Damnit, fix yourself, Ethan, this is do or die! The ants walked over their allies' corpses to reach him, and Ethan hit them again with his hammer. But each blow went more off-course than the last, and Ethan kept getting his legs caught between the monsters. He finally had enough of it after a while, and sent a mass of life force through his legs. Boost. It took him to the other side of the river, where he recuperated.

The ants couldn't cross the river, so they'd have to walk all the way around the room to reach him. He looked at his shaky hands, but even clenching them wasn't working. It's the Boost, isn't it? My body can't handle it. Blowback from the technique was making his arms numb, and he had ignored the side effect until now. But that's not going to stop me. He had enough life force now. After every Boost, he could spare some to heal his arms and ready them for the next attack.

Learning to do it in the middle of the fight was hard, but Ethan didn't have another choice. The ants took the long road around the river, which left him to deal with three moles instead. He could see mounds shifting underneath the dirt, turning the fight into some twisted game of whack-a-mole. Sensing their life force underneath the ground wasn't much help either. It wasn't as if they were faking their movements. I can't even catch them with the hammer. It's time to switch.

He hadn't used the spear in a while, but he still remembered how to hold it. He pointed the tip downwards and waited. The first mole jumped out of the ground with its claws forward. Ethan dodged around it and watched where the monster landed. Before it dug back into the ground, he stabbed it in the back. DE Overlay. Death essence exploded inside the monster's back and paralyzed it. Ethan didn't want it running away, so he gave it a boosted kick into the lava.

[+30 Credits] The next two moles were baited the same way. They jumped out of the dirt, and Ethan pierced through their flesh with his spear. He left the last one's corpse out of the lava, favouring not to waste the essence within. [+60 Credits] By the time he was done, Ethan saw the ants approaching from the walls again. Somehow, the size of their host had enlarged, and Ethan wasn't going to waste his time in fighting. He took one hand off the spear and started up the steps leading to the seed.

The ants followed behind. Whenever they got close, he fired death essence onto their shells. It wouldn't kill them, but their flesh was much weaker than the giant golem ants, and that meant it would stop them for a while. His hand was dirtied by the time he reached the tall rocks. These ones were more treacherous than the steps, as he had to jump from each one to the other. With no time to spare, Ethan Boosted himself and jumped to the nearest one.

Two golem ants tried to grab onto his legs, but they just missed him. That didn't stop the rest of them from trying to jump too, but their legs weren't built for it, and they fell far down below. Some of the other ants started climbing the walls towards him while Ethan lined up his next jump. He hopped across, continuing the momentum with the next jumps, before he finally landed on solid ground once more.

The ants were fast approaching, so Ethan snagged the water seed out of the pedestal without much fanfare, and looked for a way out. Water Seed? Near a river of lava? Someone's got a sense of humor. He thought about just jumping into the lava and letting it break his fall, but there was no way it was liquid enough, nor could he heal fast enough to survive. Instead, Ethan found a hole leading out of the room near the lake of lava. It had been hidden from below, so he didn't see it before.

He didn't even consider how it would impact his route to the next seed, he just took it. The ants tried to follow him inside, but Ethan was faster than they ever could be, and he eventually lost them.

When he was sure that no one was around, Ethan finally opened the map again. He traced the tunnels he could take to the next seed, but there was only one, and it was far ahead. Should've just taken out the ants and climbed back down, Ethan thought. He chewed on another calorie bar and guzzled water as fast as he could. When he was done with the impromptu meal, he wiped the sweat from his brow and continued down the tunnel. After a while of walking, Ethan finally found an open room, but it wasn't part of his path.

The only reason he stopped there was because he found more life force writing on the walls. Even down here? Under the light of the gems, Ethan wrote down the words. Though they're enemies, their hearts are one. Be it amber or plant, the golems and treants are animated through this apparatus, and it serves as their power source, supplying life force to animate their limbs. It's stolen work, and shoddy at best, but isn't imitation the greatest form of flattery, friend?

I hope someday, we can work on a project like this together. When the note was written down, Ethan frowned. Something doesn't seem right here. But he didn't have the mind to place it. He tucked away his journal, leaving it for the future instead. After returning to the tunnel, it took a few hours more for him to finally reach the location of the last seed. It was placed in a room surrounded by spikes. Not just on the floors either.

There were spikes on the ceiling, spikes on the walls, small spikes and large, and spikes that were breaking apart and falling right in front of him. There were only a scant few spaces in between those spikes for him to step, but Ethan didn't care. The fruitfalls happened at around roughly the same time, and Ethan was approaching the deadline. Any more, and he'd be trapped underground with acid eating him alive. He wasn't going to let that happen. Boost.

Life essence flooded his legs, and he leapt towards the final seed.