“Behind us, brothers!” Three-Spears shouted. “The cowardly enemies attack our backs!”

“You do know they weren’t intentionally ambushing us, right?” I planted my Totems in front of the hole to delay the stream of the Blighted, allowing the Miners to retreat to the line of Hunter-Warriors. “Don’t think these zombies are capable of planning.”

Three-Spears ignored my comment, same as most other NPCs whenever I made snide remarks not connected to the story or were immersion-breaking. He sheathed his sword and, at long last, grabbed one of the spears on his back. The spear’s intricately curving blade, which made it look more like a decoration than a weapon, burst into swirls of flames

“Hurry! Waste them!” I cast [Healing Touch] as my life bar plummeted from planting one Totem after the next. My stats were out of balance to maintain Totem Juggling—health too high from more Vigor and new gear, regeneration horribly failing to catch up.

A stream of fire, the piss of an angry dragon, arced over the Miners, lighting up the tunnel and showering the Blighted I had bunched up with my Totems. Reddish crystal shards emerged out of the roaring flames and zoomed back to Three-Spears’ hand, reforming his spear. More Blighted emerged, clambering over their dying buddies, and got Burned as they passed the flames on the ground.

Another bombastic clash between Mardukryons and zombies ensued, less epic than the previous one. A cavalry charge would always be more exhilarating than holding a defensive line, especially if it were bull centaurs doing it. Here we go again with the battle cries.

“Courage! Not one hoof step back!”

“The ancestors gaze from beyond the veil! No fear, no retreat!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

That last Hunter-Warrior wasn’t as eloquent as the others. I tried joining in if I could top their lines. “Eat our hooves!” I roared, stomping on a Blighted Borple. Less impressive. Needed more oomph with a poetic flair. Probably more ancestor talk—that was the missing ingredient. “Eat my ancestors! That doesn’t sound right. Ingest the hooves of my ancestors!” I timed my awesome war cry as I delivered the coup de grâce to my opponent.

[ Increased: Player Level to 18! ]

Same as my previous level up, the free attribute points went to Vigor and another LSP to [Greater Pyro Shell], bringing it to level seven.

Lvl. 7 Greater Pyro Shell: Glorious blessings of the ancestors coat you with a formidable barrier of protective flames that boosts your defenses and absorbs (71% of incoming damage) up to the amount of Ancestral Shroud/Energy spent to summon it added by (28% of Armor). When the barrier expires or is depleted, the damage it has absorbed is dealt to nearby enemies.

Grants: +275 Armor, +9% Armor

Cost: 26% of Max Ancestral Shroud for Mardukryon; 20% of Max Energy for other Races

Duration: 22 Seconds

Cooldown: 6 Seconds

“Come out here, all of you!” I threw poison bottles into the opening on the wall of rocks like lobbing a grenade into an enemy bunker. “Come out so we can proceed to the next part of the quest.”

The hole vomited another batch of Blighted, then another, and another. I did get what I asked for. Just a coincidence, but I’d like to think the MCO system was listening to me because I was the Herald Stone, the Great War Crier!

[ Quest Completed: Scraping for Samples I]

“That was already two hundred Toxic Goops?” I said, laughing with surprised relief. One less pending quest—I did love scratching items off lists.

We had killed dozens and dozens of the Blighted, could be hundred by now, that I completed Bawu’s quest on the side notwithstanding the level penalty gap and division of the loot. Another two birds, one stone situation. Though more hazardous waste-gathering was in my future, the quest’s name indicated a series of tasks.

“Job well done,” I said as Three-Spears squished the last Blighted enemy. “To me.” I held a thumbs up in front of my face, then I turned to the Mardukryon NPCs and gave them a thumbs up as well. “And, yes, before I forget, also to you. It’s your honor to work with me.”

“Didn’t know it was this dangerous here,” a Miner said. “We might get sick from the noxious liquid these diseased creatures spewed.”

“What do we do now?” a Hunter-Warrior asked Three-Spears.

I began to say, “With that taken care of, let’s continue with the digging and—”

“Everyone will return to the village!” Three-Spears declared. “Safety is our priority!”

“We can’t just leave,” I protested. “What about my quest? Erm, rephrasing—shouldn’t we find the cause of this blockage and the cursed monsters that shouldn’t be here?”

“Don’t be hasty, youngling.” Three-Spears trotted over to me, looming with an intimidating aura like a bouncer by the entrance to the club. “I know Brother Sharulrath acknowledged your potential,” he said, referring to the [Carved Totem Fang] I received as a reward for the Craggy Crabore quest, “but you should learn that prudence and preparation are key to becoming a renowned Hunter-Warrior.”

“I apologize that we couldn’t finish the task,” the leader of the Miners chimed in. “But I can’t risk the lives of my men. If we had more Hunter-Warriors, then perhaps…”

“Back to the village we go,” Three-Spears said. “We wait for the higher Spears’ return from their hunt. They’ll want to consult the Chief about this matter. An expedition to clear these tunnels of the mysterious infestation is in order.”

I sighed, shaking my head. “Sounds logical, but also not what I want to hear.” This should’ve been routine work for the Miners, excavating this place with no zombies trying to bite them. It was supposed to be straightforward past this point—follow the path to a large cavern to fight the boss quest, was what Kezo told me. But everything was now an unexpected turn because of Bawu’s escaped experiments.

“Don’t be disheartened, youngling. We will return to reclaim the tunnels!” Three-Spears raised his spear. The other Hunters-Warriors cheered with him. Then he pointed down the way we came. “All in due time. For now, we retreat and prepare.”

“This a bit anticlimactic,” I said, looking over my shoulder at the hole the Miners had dug. I bet I can fit through there.

Talking to the Chief? An expedition of Hunter-Warriors? That’d take too much time and might progress the story in ways I didn’t want. If this storyline continued, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bawu was found and arrested—my fault for delaying cleaning up her tracks. But if I didn’t return to the village with these guys, this thread wouldn’t advance, like lonely Yusa, just hanging out at the western gate for the Peely fruit I promised her.

“Move along, youngling,” said a Hunter-Warrior. “Danger lurks if we tarry.”

“We’ll return and dig through those rocks eventually,” a Miner assured me.

As if sensing my thoughts, the NPCs did their favorite trick of encircling me and forcing me along with them. With the drumming of the hooves as background music, I considered my options. Perhaps it was possible to give them the slip in a more open area, maybe I could wiggle out of this situation when we returned to the village, or I could go along and try misdirecting them about Bawu.

But I didn’t want to wait. Get to the other side for the Great Hunt and return to poison brewing with the ice monkeys—that was what I wanted to do. Spare me any plot developments; some other time for that.

Since I couldn’t escape the herd as they herded me back to the village, there was only one thing left to try.

Enacting my well-crafted plan to escape the Hunter-Warriors and Miners that my ultimate brain formulated on the spot, I logged out of the game…

“Can’t believe that worked. They’re really gone.” I popped back into Mother Core Online after a quick bathroom break, now standing alone in the tunnel. The NPCs must’ve continued on their way. Would’ve been weird if they stayed until I returned. Similar to Yusa, they should be at the village, waiting for me to continue their story where I left it.

I headed to the blocked tunnel—well, it wasn’t completely blocked now.

“This is going to be really dumb if I got stuck here,” I said, poking my [Heavy Spear] through the hole to see how long it was. Quite some distance.

If I got trapped in this cramped space like the unfortunate caving accident on the news last year, how would I escape? Logging out and back in would leave me in the same spot, wouldn’t it? No? If nothing else, I’d remove my gear and chug [Morabodry] to kill myself and respawn at the village.

To light my way, I cast [Healing Touch]—my [Greater Pyro Shell] might explode if rocks pressed against it. With green light pulsing from each healing tick, I folded my legs, bent my upper body, and squirmed into the opening. My upper body was almost in line with my bull half; I didn't realize this was anatomically possible for a Mardukryon. If I did this while standing, I'd tip over.

The earth hugged my bulky lower body. But since the tunnel was wide enough for my bull part, my humanoid torso had enough room to maneuver. Coincidence, or did the tunnel’s size adjust to the player’s? Was this an actual alternative path?

I dragged my body forward with my hands, grabbing rocks and pulling my heavy ass, making small kicks with my hind legs to help.

“Dammit! I’m not moving at all.” My Might was too low to pull my body. I unequipped all my gear, sending them to my inventory where they didn’t add to my weight because of game logic—otherwise, I’d weigh around a ton from the Swineling meat alone, not to mention my other items.

And that did the trick.

Every inch was hard fought. Jagged rocks dug into my flanks, slight static indicating damage. [Healing Touch] took care of it. I wasn’t sure how long I spent crawling—a snail would’ve beaten me—but with no actual fatigue in the game, I kept at it until I emerged on the other side of the caved-in portion of the tunnel.

“Herald Stone, the Crawler of the Century,” I announced, reequipping my armor in case of danger. I half-expected a hidden achievement for passing through the hole, but none came. Some appreciation for my hard work would be appreciated. “No one even saw me do it… only these corpses.”

Galloping through the tunnel, I came across dead monsters, both normal and Blighted. Several were flattened and barely recognizable, involuntarily integrated into the ground by a giant creature I was yet to encounter—the quest boss.

“This must be the place.” I slowed as I turned into a cavern about the same size as the place where my village guards buddies and I fought Bawu and her Carrion Golem.

Some parts had collapsed, loose rocks and dirt covering several flesh patties that used to be monsters. But that wasn’t the cause of their deaths. From all the corpses, this seemed to be the site of a large battle among the Blighted.

And amid the carnage was the sole winner—a humungous pile of earth, enough to bury five of me, giving off an eerie green glow. It looked like a giant scoop of chocolate ice cream mixed with diarrhea, not a sight for the faint of heart or stomach. Slowly melting, its muddy fringes spread across the floor.

A guttural groan accompanied the shifting of the muddy heap.

Instead of tumbling down, the earth flowed upward, taking a humanoid form. The name [Lvl 36 Blighted Mud Golem] appeared along with a health bar longer than my… Mine’s longer. The other thing. Not the health bar.

Patience.

I had very long patience, which was why I could crawl through the hole. And I might need that long patience again to fight this guy.