Chapter 83 – The Isolist Tribe

The two ventured further, assisting one another, throughout this death march of them, throughout this cavern system where they had no choice but to cooperate.

They have been walking for days and even though their will were strong. Their stomach was not. They had to eat food. They had to replenish their energy.

The cave system had a strange ecosystem. There were small vermins and animals. The floras around the area were blue and not a single one was familiar to the two of them.

Silo had knowledge of herbs and eatable ingredients. But he was unfamiliar with their nature. They could not hunt so they had to result in using the flint-lock pistol that Joshua had.

Joshua could not aim with his condition. Silo did the shot and they were able to kill this red-eyed bunny with a bluish fur. The rabbit had only one eye. Behind its neck was a triangle shaped horn.

Silo didn’t have any knife on him. So he had to use a sharpened rock to cut the rabbit’s stomach open. But Silo was surprised when he saw that the color of the rabbit’s organs was blue-spotted. It made Silo wonder if they can eat it.

So he had to make a gamble. He lit a flint and made a fire. He cooked the meat and tasted it. The taste of the odd rabbit’s meat was a combination of meat and fish mixed with a soggy mushroom taste.

It was a new taste. The two really didn’t have a choice so they ate the meat and continued on their journey. The meat was quite something. The only thing that the meat did to them made their tongues had blue spots. But it was a good meal. Too bad that they didn’t catch anything and had to eat these sweet blue barks that Silo discovered when he was dozing around while resting.

The cave system had these blue trees that usually sat on a small hill. The blue trees are always facing small lakes that had small aqueducts on the side where the water came from. These aqueducts actually gave the two a way to follow. After all, wherever there was water. There would be life. Or so they thought.

So they followed where the water was flowing. It was hard to track the water path but they managed by being persistent. They would listen to the flowing water. They would follow the minimal wildlife that could be found and follow them.

Particularly, they followed this strange bug that had this mushroom growing on its back. This bug was using the mushroom as its food source and it was a peculiar scene. To Silo, it acted like the one you would find on a farm. But the difference was that this creature was using the mushroom on its back to sustain itself by using its crooked limb to slice the mushroom

If the creature didn’t have this huge two protruding jaws, Silo would have been tempted to shot the creature and taste the mushroom that was growing on its back. But they can’t afford to fight anything or waste ammunition so they only followed the creature to its burrow only found something that made them both feel scared and amazed.

In a giant cavern, they found a settlement of humanoid creatures that were about four feet tall. Each of these creatures had blue skin, their eyes slit, and the back of their skulls was oblong shaped. They have thin arms. They only have three long toes and four fingers. They wear strange clothes and they live in bowl-shaped houses that have mushrooms growing on it.

Their numbers were alarming. Silo and Joshua didn’t want to find out if they were friendly or not. They hid in the tall bushes and observed from the distance.

These ‘creatures’ are the Isolist tribes. They are cave-dwelling beings that have retreated to the cavern systems to avoid the dire monsters that have polluted the upper world. They are a relatively weak and pacifistic tribe so there were only a few of them that remains. Their main sources of food are the mushrooms that they have grown to cultivate. The mushrooms are pore-based mushrooms. They are easy to grown and are native foods of these beings.

Of course, there was no way for the two to know these. To them what they were seeing are potential enemies. So they didn’t budge an inch despite their seemingly peaceful look and actions. The two stayed still and watch the creatures. They scanned the area for potential exits and they were able to find something that the Isolist beings seemed to come and go.

Either that or through this passage where the beings carry projectile weapons made of materials that the two could not recognize. It looked like a rifle but it was made of blue wood and plant. There were strings on the weapons and each of them had this baggy container where the ammo was put at. It was a peculiar design and the mouth of the weapons seemed like they were that of a flower.

The two did not know what that weapon can do. They do not have any wanting to find out what it will do so they decided that going towards that passage was a bad idea. They choose the exit where the normal Isolist creatures were going. There were two guards watching the path.

It was worrying how they would get passed them. Silo brainstormed and he thought of throwing the empty container that was once filled with food for the creatures to investigate. He threw the container and when the guards heard the noise. They looked at it and investigated while making squishy sounds.

The two hurriedly walked while trying to keep quiet as possible. It didn’t work obviously but the guards that saw them had a strange reaction. Their faces twitched as if they smelled something bad. The guard didn’t give chase and they covered their noses while keeping away from the two.

The guards didn’t like the smell of blood on Joshua. To them, it was a repugnant and smelly, something that they could not stand. Not to mention that the two humans were strange beings that held this dangerous weapon. The guards could tell that they wanted only entry. They were not stupid and their pacifistic nature made them stop their tracks and let the two go.

This was their mercy for the two beings that seemed like they were cornered. And the two Isolist guards had lived long enough to know that cornered animals are hard to bring down.