Chapter 26 - The Monarch.

The Engorged Hordelings had seized the initiative before Neeka and the others could make a plan of attack, but the larger than normal size of the Hordelings gave Neeka an idea. Søren recognized the motion of her head popping up slightly like a light bulb going off.

"Fall back! Defend the exit!" she shouted, holding her spear two handed in front of her. The point weaving a small pattern in the air despite the sightless creatures they faced. She fell back with the others, bottling up the exit from the funerary chamber. Hari stood shoulder to shoulder with her. Strik waited just behind them, ready to step in should either Neeka or Hari falter. He could also stab between them with the reach of his spear when opportunities presented themselves. Sehro and Søren a half-dozen paces behind them with arrows nocked and bows drawn.

"Wait for body shake, then loose. Aim for mouth," Sehro said quietly. Søren acknowledged him with a cough and nodded out of habit. The others had taken to nodding as well. It was an infectious gesture. He pulled the bowstring back, touching it to his cheek. The movements felt natural and unfamiliar at the same time. The skills gave him the knowledge of how to use the bow properly, but not the muscle memory to do it instinctively. Søren had almost missed it, a subtle shake of the hordeling's bodies right before they would screech.

Sehro loosed his arrow a half second before Søren let his arrow fly. Both aimed at the larger than normal Engorged Hordeling on the right that was screeching an angry sound at Hari as it shoved the bulk of its body forward on a dozen powerful legs. Both arrows vanished into the toothy maw of the Engorged Hordeling. Sehro's earlier shot had allowed him to pierce the roof of the creature's mouth, dealing a critical hit for -68 piercing damage. Søren's slightly slower shot struck the hordeling in the oozing flesh that held the triangular shards of bone and chitin that served as teeth for these monstrosities. The damage wasn't as much as it could have been, but -24 damage wasn't something to ignore either.

The Engorged Hordeling didn't think so as well. It stumbled in its charge, giving Hari an opening to lunge forward with his longer than usual reach thanks to his size and jabbed the sharpened tip of his axe-spear into the hordeling's featureless face. The strength of the attack, -54, combined with a Horde Breaker skill blunted the creature's charge even further with a powerful shockwave that emanated from the end of Hari's weapon. The Hordeling Spawn that followed behind the two larger hordelings was sent tumbling end over end. Hari grimaced in pain as his wounds threatened to split open. His footwork carried him back in line with Neeka as she took the full force of the other Engorged Hordeling's adrenaline fueled rush.

Neeka stepped forward to get inside the reach of the oversized talons on the Engorged Hordeling, allowing the strikes to whistle past her shoulders. She jammed her spear forwards in both hands and held vertical in front of her. The hordeling's maw couldn't open wide enough to swallow the entire spear and slammed into it instead. The point of the spear lodged itself in the underside of the chitin shell that stuck out slightly from its body. The haft of the spear slammed into its bottom jaw. Neeka dug her toe-claws into the stone.

Her body was forced backwards and her claws left gouges in the stone beneath her feet. Neeka maintained her footing however and shoved the creature backwards. She took a moment to Inspect the Engorged Hordeling. A worthy foe. For a change, she thought to herself. The creature was revealed to be an [Engorged Hordeling (Copper VIII)]. Two full ranks above Neeka. She inspected the other and saw that it was a Copper V and close to half-dead already. These hordelings grow in size and strength far more quickly than expected. Should have been easy task. It is only half day after the Monarch started nesting. Something else at play here.

Neeka kicked out with her right leg, leading with the largest, hooked claw on her foot. The claw caught the edge of the hordelings lower jaw and stuck fast. Neeka shoved upwards with her spear at the same time she shoved down towards the cavern floor with her leg. Her spearpoint ground into the chitin shell, but did little damage. The toe-claw ripped through the flesh of the lower jaw and tore off a segment of the chitin armor of the hordeling's underbelly. White sinew and dark purple muscle rippled in the exposed hole in the creature's chitin armor. A -72 flew upwards and vanished into the ceiling.

She withdrew her spear from holding the creature up and tried to stab into the exposed innards of the hordeling. It was too fast for her however and lurched backward, dragging its talons towards its mouth. Neeka aborted her strike and rolled to the left, away from Hari. The edge of the talon still scraped along her side, bruising her ribs, and ripping a patch of scales free. The glancing blow still reduced her health bar by a fourth. The pain reawakened old hunting instincts within her that conflicted with the reckless desire to test herself against foes stronger than her.

This be what I did in that station, during the Tutorial. Why does it now feel right? Neeka shrugged off her moment of contemplation and parried a talon striking down at her body as she rolled to her feet. The momentum of the talon shoving against her spear was transferred into her arms and body. She used that momentum to further reposition herself to the left, drawing the creature's focus after her. Strik dashed in, striking between several of the smaller side legs of the hordeling and pierced into the sinew and muscle exposed by Neeka's attack.

The hordeling scrabbled sideways to get away from the sudden pain and drew in its legs to guard that area, nearly ripping Strik's spear from his claws. The damage notification, -88 (flanking strike), floated upwards unnoticed by everyone as they worked to avoid the flurry of strikes from the enraged Engorged Hordeling or focused on the other.

Søren sent arrow after arrow at the Engorged Hordeling on the right side of the chamber, most deflected by the chitin armor, but a few finding a gap between the segments of the creature's shell. Sehro next to him was far more successful, whittling down the hordeling's health bar bit by bit as Hari kept it away from the ranged attackers. Søren risked a moment to glance over at the fight between Neeka, Strik, and the other Engorged Hordeling. The two spear users had wounded it significantly with two deadly strikes, causing it to take a more defensive posture.

He noticed Neeka's focus was entirely on the hordeling in front of her and she failed to see the spawn stalking along the patch of creep, as Neeka had called it, growing from the Monarch's mound in the center of the chamber. Creeping and inching outward to cover the floors, walls, and ceiling of the area.

"Neeka! Watch out!" he shouted as he took aim. The Hordeling Spawn launched itself into the air, descending towards Neeka's back. His arrow vanished into the toothy maw opened wide. The strike did little damage, -24, but was enough to cause its attack to falter. Neeka stepped back under the outstretched talons. Her spear spun around and pointed towards the Hordeling Spawn. She shoved upwards with both hands on the haft of the spear and skewered the spawn with the blade.

Søren's eyes went wide as she used the spawn's momentum and pushed it up and over her into the maw of the Engorged Hordeling that was lunging towards her with its jaws wide. The massive hordeling's maw snapped shut when it felt the spawn touch its tongue. The triangular shaped protrusions of bone and chitin tore into the Hordeling Spawn's body with a gnashing and tearing sound. Its body popped, spraying Neeka with a splash of blue blood and white ichor. She gagged and fell back a few steps.

"Augh! My mouth was open," Neeka spat out, disgusted and angry. Søren chuckled lightly and turned his attention back to Hari's fight with the other large hordeling. Sehro had kept up his attacks against the creature and was running low on arrows. Søren started to raise his bow to make an attack, but lowered it a moment later. I'll save these arrows for Sehro. He's actually useful with them. The wayward Traveler from Earth pulled the quiver free from the strap tied around his waist to carry it and set it on the ground next to Sehro.

Søren reached for the dagger that he had grown used to carrying and had a moment of panic before he recalled handing it off to Ihza to help guide her way back to the surface. He reached for the plasma pistol next, but Neeka had warned him earlier to save the weapon for the Monarch itself.

He winced as the Engorged Hordeling between Neeka and Strik chewed on the Hordeling Spawn that Neeka had fed to it like a piece of meat on a skewer. It slashed at the two Fuerven with its talons to keep them at bay while it swallowed chunks of the smaller hordeling. It's lower jaw worked back and forth, ripping and tearing into the hordeling. More blood and ichor from the spawn splattered onto the floor around the Engorged Hordeling.

*ding* 13 / 14 Hordeling Spawn slain

Strik called out loudly, "Doan feed dem. Make dem get bettah! Biggah!" He pointed his spear at the exposed patch of muscle and sinew. A foam-like substance was being extruded from the scales around it and started hardening into a seal over that wound. Søren saw the health bar on the larger of the two hordelings increase visibly, as did its physical size. It had grown to almost eight feet tall and eight feet wide and half again as much long. The other stood around six feet tall and ten feet long.

Neeka cursed loudly. Something about the Devourer. Søren had trouble making it out over the cacophony of the two Engorged Hordelings and the mewling of the recently ejected Hordeling Spawn still chewing on the caul it had been born from. It's talons were still folded up beneath its body, making it look like a monstrous dog-sized mottled brown pill bug. The chitin looked disturbingly soft, like a boneless chicken breast.

Not a threat, not yet at least, he thought, moving on to check on Hari and Sehro. Blood was seeping through Hari's bandages, but the Hordeling was looking worse for wear. Hari must have landed a few heavy strikes and cleaved a section of the chitin armor off. A patch of purple muscle and white sinew stood out against the mottle brown chitin shell of the hordeling. Sehro had taken advantage and was circling around the chamber to the right, sending arrow after arrow into the opening. The hordeling was turning on the spot, trying to keep Sehro's arrows from finding their mark.

Hari had kept pace with the rotating hordeling, in order to harry the beast. His axe-spear came down in a powerful overhand strike that cleaved through the left talon of the Engorged Hordeling, severing it in a single strike. A jet of hot blood slashed across Hari's face and body. He fell back in surprise before the gout of blood was cinched off by tendons inside the hollow chitin of the creature's talon.

Sehro used the distraction and nocked a pair of arrows on the bowstring. He loosed both into the opening in the hordeling's shell dealing a heavy amount of damage to the creature. Bright red and bold, -94 (critical hit, double strike) floated upwards. The Engorged Hordeling staggered from the loss of health and looked to be near death. Hari rubbed the blood from his eyes and lunged forward, madness in his eyes. The dark blue blood sizzled on his scales, bubbling slightly. Søren could see a stream of small amounts of damage periodically rising from Hari into the shadows above.

Hari's muscles bulged beneath the thin woven armor the Fuerven wore. He swung the axe-spear in his hands in a diagonal slash from right shoulder to left foot, cutting through chitin and flesh alike, flaying open the hordelings eyeless faceplate. -104 (raging strike) The haft of the axe-spear broke in two when the blade got stuck in the lower jaw. Hari flung the section of the haft still in his hands to the side and jumped onto the hordeling with the claws on his hands extended and spread wide.

He dug his claws beneath the edge of the hordeling's chitin armor and pulled. It popped free with a ripping sound like soggy velcro being torn apart. He steadied himself with one clawed hand latched onto the edge of the next segment of chitin as the hordeling screeched and tried to dislodge the Fuerven on top of it. Hari's other hand plunged into the open wound repeatedly, pulling chunks of purple muscle free. Blood welled inside the wound and continued to splatter onto Hari's scales, sizzling and smoking. Heedless of the injuries he was accruing, Hari drove his clawed hand deep into the hordeling, up to his shoulder and yanked hard. A dark purple pulsating, blue veined sac was held aloft by Hari.

*ding* 5 / 6 Hordeling slain.

Sehro and Søren both watched slack jawed as Hari chomped down on the sac, chewed, and swallowed part of it. Unseen by either of them, a portion of the creep behind Sehro shifted sideways. A thick vine-like tendril of flesh snaked left and right in a sinuous pattern towards Sehro. Søren moved down the ramp into the room to try and calm Hari down, but his attention was drawn away from the raging Fuerven still eating what Søren assumed was the creature's heart. The vine of vein-covered flesh tendril had struck silently, wrapping the end around Sehro's thigh. A curved barb extruded from the very tip jammed itself in the meat of Sehro's thigh.

Sehro's screams drowned out the squelching sound coming from direction of the dead hordeling. Søren charged past Hari and leapt for Sehro, snagging Sehro's arms in his hands. He and Sehro were both dragged half the distance between them and the mound before Søren was able to get his feet under him and jam them into the creep to stop their momentum forward.

"HARI! HARI! Help us!" Søren shouted several times. The barb cut deeper into Sehro's thigh as the tendril of flesh dragged them both closer inch by inch. Søren's feet were leaving a furrow in the creep. His shouts and Sehro's pained screams finally broke Hari's single minded rage. Despite the acidic blood soaking him, he seemed to be doing ok. His health bar had stabilized around a fifth left. He stumbled to his feet, tripped, and fell off the side of the dead hordeling he had been kneeling on. He scrambled forward on all four limbs for a moment before getting his feet beneath him. Hari lunged past Søren and Sehro and dug his claws deep into the flesh of the creep tendril.

Søren felt the tension lessen immediately in his arms. The barbed tip of the tendril dug in deeper into Sehro's thigh and coiled tighter. He heard a muted crack and Sehro went limp from the pain. His health bar was rapidly dropping. Alive, but unconscious. Small blessing, Søren thought quickly. He let go of Sehro and shouted at Hari.

"Hold on!" Søren scrambled to his feet and ran for the broken haft of the axe-spear still jammed into the lower jaw of the dead Engorged Hordeling. He tried yanking on the haft, but it was wedged in deep. Søren glanced over his shoulder and saw that Hari was losing the battle with the tendril. It had dragged him and the insensate Sehro within ten feet of the mound. He looked over at Neeka. She had been cornered against the wall and a column of stone by the partially healed hordeling. Strik was trying to drive it away from her, but it was content to ignore him for the moment.

Søren forced his attention back on breaking the axe-spear free from the iron grasp of the hordeling's dead flesh. Hari shouted with rage as he and Sehro were pulled another five feet closer. Deep furrows in the creep marked the strength of Hari's resistance.

"FUCK!" Søren shouted, having no luck getting Hari's weapon free. He turned away from the dead hordeling and drew his pulse plasma pistol as he moved past Sehro and Hari. He took aim at the base of the mound where the tendril originated from and fired, trying to sever the tendril from the mound. When he could see again after the blinding flash of the plasma, he saw a blackened scorch mark on the flesh of the mound to the left of the tendril.

The Monarch's mound quivered in pain, dozens and dozens of tiny orifices opened all at once across the surface of the convulsing mound. A horrid screeching noise erupted from the Monarch suddenly, echoing in the large chamber. The piercing sound drove a spike of pain into his mind and he dropped the pistol.

Hari shouted in pain as well and clapped his hands over the holes on the side of his head that let the Fuerven hear. He lost his hold on Sehro and the unconscious Fuerven archer was lifted into the air and flung into the largest opening at the top. Sehro's health bar dropped to zero and the icon changed from a Copper IV to an icon in the shape of a Fuerven skull.

Søren shouted, his face contorted in an open mouthed rage to match Hari's, though it went unheard over the keening wails of the Monarch. He snatched up the pulse plasma pistol and emptied the rest of the battery pack into the mound, silencing it permanently. A soft chime sounded inside his mind.

*ding* 1 / 1 Hordeling Monarch slain.