Much to my surprise, the void stone—egg—in my pocket pulsed as we passed the krawler’s corpses. The creatures appeared to have absorbed the mana we shot at them as attacks. The specimens that showed traces of frost and lightning mana appeared to have gained more fur, muscle mass or even a rocky armour. Now, the mana that radiated from them flowed straight into the smooth, black stone. With every bit of mana that it absorbed, the pulses got stronger and more frequent.

My suspicions regarding it being alive got stronger with every passing minute. I had no evidence to prove my hypothesis, but I could feel it. The stone had to be an egg, a container, or an organism beyond the system’s understanding. Whatever it was, I knew I needed to keep it out of the Seekers’ hands. After reading about Oth, I was sure that letting him into Arena Disk would be a bad idea. My Charisma would likely not work on a Lovecraftian Entity—or Forgotten God, as the literature called it.

Our wary delve took us out of the tall-ceiling tunnels and opened up into a cavern so large we couldn’t see the ceiling or the floor. Instead, we found ourselves standing on a long bridge with intricate carvings covering the railings. Dark moss and fungus covered them and we heard running water in the distance. The temperature experienced a sudden rise as well. It wasn’t sweltering, but I felt the increased humidity and heat in my lungs.

Riding has progressed to Apprentice Rank 4!

Doctor Whoo stiffened under me. She rose on to her hind legs, and head moved to track something on the other side bridge—wherever it ended. When her head rotated one-hundred-and-eighty degrees to face me, Doctor Whoo’s giant golden lights had enlarged to the size of saucers.

“Doctor Whoo is nervous,” I said. “She sees something on the other side and doesn’t like it one bit.”

“That’s probably your target,” Mina whispered. “Queens like water and warmth for their nests. It’s better for spawning krawlers. The younglings aren’t too big a challenge. It’ll be the drones. There’ll be matured krawlers and the elites—nasty ancient bastards who failed to make it as a king or queen. I just hope there won’t be many since we’re still far from the dungeon, and we took down quite a few drones.”

“You can stay out of this, Mina,” Hruk said. “We hired you as our guide, and you’ve done your job excellently. We’ll need you to get back out of this labyrinth.”

“That’s appreciated.” Mina sighed, sounding relieved. “I’ll stay in the back providing ranged support.” She opened her pack, revealing two more glass artillery shells, and several harpoon-like projectiles. “My range isn’t the best, but as long as you keep the elites away, I can contribute.”

A distant screech silenced us. Initially, we had relied on the glow from Hruk’s lightning sphere and Mina’s weapon to light our way. Now that we knew only krawlers dominated our vicinity, we forsook the precaution. Hruk and I withdrew a half dozen light spheres out of our pockets and threw them into the air. They lit up at varying distances from us before freezing in place. As we walked, the spheres moved with us, following using immaterial, invisible tethers.

Hruk cast an altered version of his newest spell, conjuring several pea-sized lightning spheres. When he threw them, they didn’t stop after a set distance but carried on along the sides of the bridge. We gained much needed visibility and my heart jumped into my throat. Over a dozen monstrous krawlers sped towards us. Deep scars marked the bridge. It was the first time the krawlers had raced across the structure.

Elite Krawler

Elite krawlers aren’t born of mating king-and-queen pairs. Instead, they’re the unfortunate fallen few the dungeon transformed. As a result, they’re significantly more dangerous than the drones.

Physiological changes born of absorbing mana don’t completely fade and gain some permanence. However, most dangerous of all is perhaps their ability to learn and coordinate the drones. Be wary, they’re smarter than the others.

“Those are elites in the lead,” I said. “Careful.”

“They don’t look like it,” Hruk commented. “Bit small.”

“Don’t let size fool you.”

Both Hruk and Mina raised their weapons, but before either of them could fire, the krawlers skidded to a halt. The elites growled to one another. They retreated a couple of steps before the following drones caught up to them. The creatures didn’t stop and charged into the elite’s rear and barrelled over them. We didn’t have to wait long to learn their hesitation. Black, brown, and grey hands reached over the sides of the bridge and grabbed two krawlers at a time and pulled them over the side.

“What the hell!” An ice bauble burst from Hruk’s launcher and flew wide of the hands and krawlers. It exploded near a lightning sphere and a hand shot towards it too.

“Grabbies.” Mina hissed.

Grabber Shrooms

Bridge trolls often suffer the blame for grabber shroom attacks. The strange fungus grows under dark bridges and hunt by sensing mana signatures. Giant colonies of the mushrooms develop outside and within subterranean dungeons. Monsters with no inherent mana or missing mana signatures often build their nests near said colonies.

The symbiotic relation provides one party with protection against magical beasts and adventurers and the other with nourishment.

Identify has progressed to Novice Rank 5!

Loreseeker has progressed to Apprentice Rank 1!

“Fill the space with mana,” I said, unhooking the Mage Hand from my waist. “Use the grabbers against the krawlers.”

Mina’s weapon didn’t rely on mana to attack. So Hruk and I worked together to use the krawlers’ defences against them. While Hruk bombarded them with frost fire baubles, I urged Doctor Whoo forwards and sent the Mage Hand speeding towards the elites. The grabbies swiped at it, but the fist-sized magic tool slipped between their fingers. On reaching an elite, I grabbed a fistful of its mane and let the mage hand stay in place.

A grin spread across my lips when several grabbies wrapped around the beast at once. They pulled on the torso and limbs while its allies sliced at the fungus with their monstrous claws. The krawlers got swarmed. When the first elite lost its grip and went over the side, I had the mage hand move onto another specimen. My tactics took out three elites before one especially large fungus took the elite and mage hand together. The runes on my bracer dimmed once the tool was out of range and the recall function failed to call it back.

The krawlers didn’t remain victims for long; they scurried over the bridge’s sides and attacked the grabbies. Claws and fangs ripped them to pieces. Once we were sure the two sides were thoroughly engaged with one another, we charged.

Mina and Hruk road Booger together. The brorc sprayed the krawlers and offending fungi with his flaming mucus. Both parties recoiled. The grabbies withered, and the krawlers went over the side. One elite got in our way, but Doctor Whoo cleaved through it with her wind-mana enhanced claws. After that, it was smooth sailing to the queen.

Her horrifying visage didn’t compare to the elites. Unlike them, she wasn’t just bigger than the regular krawler but had no fur. Instead, pale white skin stretched over her bulbous body. The queen’s mouth dominated most of her face as well and resembled a leech’s with concentric rings of sharp, jagged teeth.

The monster didn’t pose a challenge for my companions. It screeched loud enough to shake the entire structure. However, after the last encounter, everyone had stuffed fluff into their ears to muffle the sound of Doctor Whoo’s paralysing cry. I guessed she relied on stunning her foes so the elites and drones could swarm them or crush them with her incredible mass.

We were too quick atop our mounts. Doctor Whoo and Booger zipped around the queen, burning, goring, slicing, and ripping her hide and flesh. Mina unloaded her weapon into the monster, too, while Hruk swiped occasionally with his stone gauntlet arm. We didn’t dare use our artificed weapons or magically empowered attacks in fear of her using the mana to power up. It took a while, but we whittled her down before claiming her magic core and returning to the surface.

Riding has progressed to Apprentice Rank 6!

Mina thanked us for the adventure. It had boosted her masteries significantly, getting her close to the requirements for an upgrade in her guild ranking. She took down information regarding where we were staying and left with promises of singing praises of Hruk’s inventions.