Chapter 26 The Last Talk

Elysia prodded the man on his shoulder. A blur of motion in the dark caused her to flinch backward, but before she could escape, she found a combat knife pressed against her throat. She raised her hands in surrender.

His eyes flicked from her amethyst eyes to the almost glowing snow white hair peeking out from under her helmet. “Who are you?”

She nervously swallowed before speaking. “Elysia.”

Refusing to let up, the man questioned, “What is a Changed doing here? Did they finally send us back our Changed?”

Before Elysia could answer, he frowned as he commented, “why would they send a level 28? They promised our Changed would be a minimum of level 50 when they returned.”

Elysia’s eyes flashed with annoyance, causing electricity to spark on the blade less than a centimeter from her neck. Her hand flashed down on the man’s wrist as she jumped back. The knife slid along the cave floor only for another knife to replace it from his vest. This time, Elysia watched the man like a hawk, refusing to let him get the jump on her again.

The man moved to attack again, but a coughing fit stalled his momentum. He wiped away blood from his mouth, eyes locked on Elysia.

While keeping her hands in front of her, ready to defend herself, she spoke. “Look, I’m not here to attack you. I found your squad, then followed a trail leading me here. At least I’m assuming it was your squad. Is your name Jake Russell?”

He fell back against the cave wall before speaking in a much weaker tone. “Yes, we got ambushed. I only escaped because I was foraging for food. Only for those damn vines to catch me.” His knife wielding left hand fell to his lap, clattering the knife on the cave floor.

Elysia stared at the man, unsure of what to do, prompting the man to speak again, now barely audible. “Don’t bother. I’m going to join my brothers and sister soon. No matter what, don’t let those vines hit you, they are poisoned. If you escape from here, please tell my wife I love her and I am sorry I failed.”

Realization flashed, causing Elysia to grab the radio, flipping it on before speaking into it. “Hello is anyone there?”

A moment later, a feminine familiar voice spoke. “Yes Lara, any updates?”

Elysia’s eyes gravitated toward the man, now barely conscious. She shook his shoulder, causing his head to raise before bringing the radio to his mouth.

Worried from the silence, the voice spoke again. “Lara, are you there?”

Upon hearing the voice, the man’s eyes widened, latching onto the radio with his trembling hands. “Isabel my love!”

Elysia stood up and exited the cave to give them some alone time, knowing she could do nothing to save him.

After the voices silenced a five minutes later, Elysia reentered the cave, finding the man slumped over with the radio on the floor below his limp right arm. She checked his pulse, releasing a shuttered breath. With tears brimming in her eyes, she grabbed the radio, bringing it to her mouth before pressing the button. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save him.”

The sound of sniffling played through the speakers before Isabel spoke. “No, thank you. Your gift means more than you know. We knew this mission could be his last, but still he volunteered.”

Unsure of what to say, Elysia remained silent as she stood up, grabbing her spear before leaving the cave. While scanning the forest, Elysia spoke into the radio again. “How many teams are trapped in here?”

“Two teams of four all missing for the last three days.” answered Isabel.

Elysia nodded her head with a determined expression. “If I find the other team, I’ll try to contact you. Their families deserve closure.”

“Thank you, Elysia.” replied Isabel before cutting the line on her end, causing Elysia to freeze.

Well crap, so much for being anonymous. Though to be fair, I doubt it took much on her end to figure out who I am.

She released a sigh before trekking back down the trail toward the vines, spear at the ready. As she approached where the vines attacked her, she slowed to a near silent trot, eyes scanning the bushes and trees surrounding her.

The moment she stepped onto the trampled fern clearing, vines shot out, but unlike last time, they lacked their sharp tip, instead leaking green goo from the severed ends. The vine on her right tried to snake around her leg but received an electrified slice severing another meter off as she spun to intercept the other vine, again slicing off a section.

-18 Charge.

Both vines reared back for a moment before striking out again at the same time. Now much slower than before, Elysia easily hopped back, dodging the feeble attempt before bringing her spear down on the right one yet again, chopping off more. On cue, the other vine met the same fate, losing even more of its length.

-18 Charge.

Sick of chopping off little sections, Elysia turned her attention to the length of vine curled around the tree trunk to her left and the bush to her right. Her spear flashed out, dicing up the vine on the right eliciting a long-awaited notification in her vision, which she ignored it in favor of sending its partner on its way.

-72 Charge.

Killed level 35 Poisoned Spear Vine x2.

Level up! Level 29 Channeler.

Novice spear proficiency level 8.

When the warmth faded, Elysia’s spear lowered as her trembling arms gave out. She fell to her knees, tears running down her cheeks. After taking a moment, she shook her head and stood up, using her spear for support. Her gaze wandered down the trail in the cave’s direction before turning back the way she came. He made his peace with his death, just like I made my peace with facing death. I need to grow stronger. I can’t let others force my actions. They are mine and mine alone.

With renewed determination, she marched down the trail past the clearing with the rest of his squad. Fog descended, obscuring her vision, but she trekked on, stepping over needle and moss covered ground, head on a swivel. Something yellow caught her eye on a tree to her left. Really? A massive banana slug? What’s the point of enlarging something so harmless?

Just in case, Elysia electrified her spear, slicing through the watermelon sized yellow slug before it could move, not like it would move fast enough.

-9 Charge.

Killed Level 27 Banana Slug.

Why did I get a warning about this dungeon being too dangerous? Sure, the usual near-death issues happen, but not anymore than the other dungeons I’ve dealt with.

Elysia shivered at the thought as she continued on slicing through two more slugs, not gaining a level. She took a left while making sure her path remained visible to backtrack. Through the thick fog, a massive black and yellow centipede became visible on the ground. Her steps faltered, eyes widened in terror. Upon finding the meter long centipede didn’t notice her yet, Elysia released a sign of relief as she electrified her spear and tiptoeing forward.

With a mad gleam in her eyes, she chopped downward as if dicing vegetables, spraying green blood on her legs and ground.

-27 Charge.

Killed level 28 Centipede.

After passing the diced centipede, her nose picked up an intense stink. Her expression turned sorrowful as she circled around the next tree, only to freeze as her gaze landed on a dozen stink bugs perched on several tree trunks surrounding two bodies with eyes wide open, mouth agape, hands grasping their throats.

Unwilling to approach, she set her spear against the tree trunk and grasped two throwing knives. She flung them at the two nearest stink bugs, missing both, but a shot of electric current arced off the knives, frying the stink bugs.

-60 Charge.

Killed level 29 Stink Bug x2

Charge 25.

Elysia swayed on her feet, resting her hand on the tree trunk as she backed up, hiding behind the trunk watching the stink bugs mobilize. A yellowish cloud shot out of every stink bug, causing Elysia to choke from the stench beyond rotten eggs. Unable to take any longer, she backed up, eyes watering, but as luck would have it, she stepped on a twig drawing the attention of the stink bugs. Several stink bugs spread their wings flying in her direction, forcing her to grab her spear, electrifying it before thrusting it forward. However, unlike her previous opponents, the bugs proved too agile, easily avoiding her stabs as they unloaded their payload of yellow gas.

Her nose burned as her throat closed. Elysia turned blue, but with a force of will, she dashed the way she came, dropping her spear in her haste. In desperation, she chucked an electrified throwing knife behind her, somehow scoring a kill.

-9 Charge.

Killed Level 29 Stink Bug.

Level up! Level 30 Channeler.

A warmth spread through her body, opening her throat, allowing gasping breaths through. Without looking back, she pumped her arms as fast as she could, sprinting down her path past the diced centipede and slug bodies into the clearing with the dead squad. Elysia didn’t stop until she reached the cave, falling to her knees hyperventilating.

She fell sideways, curling into a ball wracked with sobs. Her sobs hiccupped, sputtering out several minutes later as she reined in her emotions. Refusing to let the stinkbugs get the better of her, she forced her stiff body upright, chugging down water from her canteen until it emptied. The disgustingly bitter taste washed away with the water, but not the smell as a yellow residue coated her armor. Unable to take it any longer, she stripped off the armor, tossing it outside the cave, leaving herself naked.

Elysia released a relieved breath as her eyes finally stopped watering, but frowned a moment later. Despite her nose screaming at her, she trotted outside, fetching the radio and the nine remaining throwing knives before retreating into the cave.

She turned her attention to the backpack digging through the largest pocket, finding camo cargo pants and a long-sleeved shirt also camo. After slipping them on finding, to her surprise, they fit near perfect, Elysia dropped to the log. Did they expect the armor to fail? Or is this standard issue? Every soldier I found wore this and not the armor. Who am I to question it? At least I don’t have to run around the forest naked. Though with my track record. It may come to that. She glanced down at her stained boots and shook her head.

Now decent, she returned her attention to the backpack, rummaging through the largest pocket to find a machete, rope, a med kit, a sewing kit, and a small handheld shovel. She grabbed the sewing kit and machete before dragging her feet to her pile of discarded armor. With the Machete, she sliced off the sheaths to the knives sown into the armor before returning inside as quick as she could. She stripped off her shirt, sowing six sheaths to the back, then slipping it back on, testing the fit, finding it to be acceptable. Following her success, she did the same to her pants, having three sheaths on each thigh despite only having nine total knives left in case she retrieved her over three. Elysia slipped her knives into their homes while leaving her right leg empty, allowing her to strap the machete to it.

Feeling a little better with weapons, she left her cave sneaking through the forest back to the stinkbugs. As she neared, she slowed to a silent creep, eyes zeroing in on her spear laying in ferns. Her eyes flicked up to the stinkbugs back on their trees surrounding their poor victims. Against her will, her eyes gravitated to the two soldier’s bodies. That could have been me if I didn’t level up from a lucky throw. What a horrible way to go.

Elysia glanced at the knives laying on moss just past the clearing before shaking her head. No way will I survive another encounter with them until I have a way to wipe them all out at once. I wish I had fire powers. I could just explode them all. Oh well, lightning is pretty too.

She gave the remaining nine stink bugs a glare before backing away as silently as she could, this time avoiding any sticks on the ground. Once she crept a dozen meters away, she turned and sprinted back to the clearing with the dead beta team. Her nose scrunched at the worsening stench as she stood at the trail intersection between the clearing the trail to the cave and toward the stink bugs. After a moment, she turned toward the one direction she didn’t venture, using her spear to chop her way through some vines to turn the intersection into a four way.

Sweat formed as the tense forest fought her for every meter, fortunately without anything jumping out at her. Finally, after twenty minutes of constant chopping, switching to her machete halfway through, a clearing emerged. Instead of walking right in, she paused, scanning the clearing, but found it empty. Still before she entered, she threw a stick near a bunch of vines, but they didn’t react. Satisfied with her testing, she pushed through a bush, entering the clearing.

Upon finding the clearing veered around a tree, she tiptoed further in, rounding the corner before skidding to a stop in front of a cave entrance. She peered inside, but the darkness obscured the interior, forcing her to tiptoe closer only to jump back, spotting movement in the darkness.