Instead of dodging, Milo sprinted at the first lurker emerging from the ground and leaped high. He bounced off its head, leaped at the next one, and then was behind them both and running. "Keep a look out, Georgie, and warn me if they're getting close."

Rather than skirt around the broken walls and large boulders covering the cave floor, Milo bounced from one to the next as much as possible, hoping that he made a tougher target to any lurker moving through the ground. This worked for a few minutes, and then as he leaped to a rocky outcrop, he was surprised as he landed on a monster as it rose from the ground. The only thing that saved him was the lurker being equally surprised to find its quarry and a small lizard clinging to its face.

Enraged Gneiss-Lurker Hive Guard

Level 10 Elite creature

Temporary boost to speed and damage while enraged.

Able to track their prey through solid stone of less than Tier 3.

Milo leaped as the Gneiss-lurker struck at him with both hands, hitting itself in the face and cracking its own skull rather than crushing the annoying rat it was chasing. Milo wondered how long they would stay mad but suspected it was a very long time, probably forever. He angled his path, aiming for the small, thin staircase that was a much nearer target than the way home. He hoped the lurkers would climb slower than they swam through stone; otherwise, this would be a short and painful race. He wouldn't be so worried if he were alone, but he didn't know if Georgie could resurrect with him. "How about it, buddy? Can you go back to where ever you go to?." The lizard shook his head no, and glanced nervously to their rear.

Behind him came the horde of enraged monsters, anxious to revenge their broken nest by stomping the soft thing into a smear on the ground. Milo could feel the ground shaking as they pounded behind him, their enraged sprint not much slower than him and their stone swimming much faster. Individuals would dive into the rock, only to emerge near him, forcing him to roll and dodge, slowing him down and letting the horde catch up. Based on the rumble of the ground, he thought they were catching up, but a quick glance showed the runners still a hundred yards behind. As a horrible thought hit him, he turned and cut left, changing his course by 90 degrees. The ground was rumbling hard, and then the spot where he would have been exploded as a very large and angry Lurker came out of the ground, screaming to its children.

Enraged Gneiss Lurker Queen

Level 15 Elite creature

Doubled speed and damage while enraged.

Able to track their prey through solid stone of less than Tier 4.

"Sorry for doubting you, Georgie! So very sorry!" The lizard licked his ear, accepted the apology, and hissed at the queen.

He reached the stair and started to climb, his feet pounding up the spiral staircase, his heart pounding. Never again would he begrudge the conditioning that Gilad put him through. Without the daily fighting and exercise, he'd never have been able to make the climb.

The first of the Lurkers reached the staircase and started up considerably slower than Milo. The queen lumbered up and made her own contribution by grabbing a Lurker and throwing it up to the 50 ft level, where it caught the edge of the stairs and began its climb with a head start. Milo didn't think that was sporting at all. He considered throwing a spell to slow them up, but any spell that would hurt these monsters might also damage the stairs, and he had a long way to climb. Lurker after Lurker started up after him, only the queen remaining at the bottom, too large to climb. The staircase was wobbling a little now as the weight of many tons of Gneiss Lurkers pounded on the steps as they chased Milo. But if he could keep up the pace, he could make it to the top and escape.

The queen must have done her own calculations and agreed with him. She struck a hard blow to the base of the staircase, sending a shockwave up it. Milo almost fell as he looked down, and she hit it again. Chunks of stone were flying. He looked at the 250 feet of stairway he had to climb. He wasn't going to make it. The queen was going to sacrifice her minions to make sure he was dead. "Hold on tight, Georgie. This may hurt."

Milo concentrated on the rune of force, and a directional vector made with two engineering runes, controlling them with his tail alone. If it hadn't been a simple application of force he wouldn't have been able to hold it. He stepped into the center hole, holding on with one claw and one toe, making sure of his orientation and pointing his tail straight down. When he was confident of his bearing, he let go and triggered the rune of force. The power of the basic spell lashed out in a line, clipping the shoulder of one Lurker and impacting on the queen's head, striking a hard blow. No Void Rune absorbed the reaction as Milo recreated the experiment when he had tried to cast a spell using Keppler's arm. Milo didn't know what a mule was, but he'd heard the expression 'Kicks like a Missouri Mule' and made a note to himself to look it up as the reaction grabbed hold of him and kicked him straight up with an equal amount of force.

The queen saw her prey escaping, grabbed the stairs with large claws, and braced her legs. Her head hurt, her babies were dead, and she was going to smash a rat! The lowest level of the staircase crumbled, and for an instant, the rest of the construction hung in space before starting to fall. Far above, Milo hadn't reached the top but was slowing. He panicked and recast the spell using Faster Casting. The mule kicked him with both hooves this time. Georgie cried out and held onto Milo tightly. Rungs of the stone staircase flew by in a blur as they passed the point where it met the ceiling. Milo saw horizontal mineshafts go by in the darkness as he kept flying. Below, the spell hit the the Gneiss Lurker Queen, stunning her and thwarting her attempt to move into the ground beneath her to avoid being crushed.

Finally, he emerged into a cavern, rebounded off the ceiling and a large stalactite before hitting a wall and falling into a heap on the cavern floor. He was aching and sore, with less than half his health, but he was alive. Georgie did not look good. The watch lizard wasn't moving, and his tongue was out of his mouth. Milo quickly poured a healing potion over his pet and thumped on his chest. Could you do CPR on a lizard? He was going to find out.

The room shook as 500 feet of stone spiral staircase fell, but that wasn't all. The stairs that made their way up the crevice another 200 feet to where Milo had landed also fell. Gneiss-Lurkers and stones tumbled down. Milo started calculating the kinetic energy released but abandoned the calculation as messages scrolled across his eyes.

You have slain Enraged Gneiss Lurker Hive Guard, gaining 2 CSP

You have gained 250 Experience in Trap Making

You have gained 250 Experience in INT

You have slain Enraged Gneiss Lurker Hive Guard, gaining 2 CSP

You have gained 250 Experience in Trap Making

You have gained 250 Experience in INT

.

.

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You have slain Enraged Gneiss Lurker Queen, gaining 26 CSP

You have gained 2500 Experience in Trap Making

You have gained 2500 Experience in INT

Total gains: 47 CSP, 7500 Experience in Trap Making, and 7500 Experience in INT.

You have successfully completed the quest: Catch that Lizard! Because Georgie survived, he has earned a share of your experience.

Georgie shimmered and began to grow. He rolled over and stood up. His scales were darker green, and his claws seemed to have outpaced his other growth increases.

Georgie has purchased the ability: Guardian Pet 2.

Georgie has purchased +3 Perception.

Georgie has purchased Blessing of Hekate: Canine Speech.

Georgie has purchased Rending Claws

Georgie has purchased Gator Bite!

Milo scratched his ear, and Georgie looked at him and said, "Woof." Then he bounded off to check the cave for anything menacing. Milo stared after him, many questions in his head. Then he shrugged and found some lunch for himself and something to eat for his much bigger pet. He must weigh at least a hundred pounds now. And he could talk to dogs?

Milo considered his own points. He had made a mistake before of saving them as if they were a resource to hoard, like spare parts. There were things he'd had to skip at the end of Tier 2; he should rectify that. He bought Under Linguist, Grunt and Throw Hands, another level of Shadow Skulking, Skilled Provider, and Smugglers Summoning. That left 20 points. He could purchase more mana or health, increase the size of his stash, or gain a better regeneration rate. He considered his day of exploring and then purchased Robust Regeneration. He could now regenerate health 16x faster than normal. That would cut down on his recovery time while out exploring. And maybe keep him alive if one of his impromptu traps backfired. He expected that he was going to need it. The next level of Regeneration appeared on his list:

Near-Fiendish Regeneration Cost: 40 points.

Grants increased, (x24), health recovery. An hour's rest is equal to a day for anyone else. Regenerate scar tissue, and small missing body parts in 1 day. (Helpful when you blow your fingers off with spells or explosives. Good choice! ) A steady diet of cheese speeds the process. Simple wounds will be wiped away in a period of 1 hour, restoring all health. Health regen is slower if regen must deal with healing more complex wounds. (bleeding, missing parts, burns, broken bones, etc.)

Expensive...but coming back from injuries nearly as fast as Larry was a huge increase.

Georgie came running back, excited. In his mouth was a snail at least three times the size of the snails they'd found in the small cavern on their way down. He sat back, waiting for Milo to cook it.

"OK, we'll have a long lunch, but then we have to find a way through these mines to the right staircase. You can show me the snails so that I can mark them on my map. But no more snacks until we get to the Hollow. We'll see if you like puff cakes and syrup."