Chapter Two Hundred and Eleven – 211"Strength of Many!"
Bodie's arms and shoulders swelled, ballooning with muscle in a way that was almost obscene. His empowered mace crashed into the Ghoul's leading leg, and the thing's kneecap literally exploded into red paste. It tried to scream in pain, but Cal appeared at it's shoulder, and her blades tore it's scaled throat out. All that escaped was a harsh gurgle, and the monster fell dead to the ground.
Territorial Quest Alert!
You Have Gained Extra Contribution!
The revelation of Evie's proximity had spurred Cal forward, and she had braved the traps with a recklessness that was only matched by her skill. Catapulting herself from the falling corpse, Cal soared through the air and directly into the grasping arms of the second Ghoul. Felix was seconds from leaping into the fray himself, but the woman slipped between the brute's talons like a piece of soap. She shot upward and to the left, impacting the Ghoul's shoulder blades first and tore a jagged line across its impossibly muscled collarbone.
"She's got this," Harn said from his side, and Felix nodded though he remained worried. He had taken a bite out of the ambient Primordial Essence in the air, topping off his reserves for the umpteenth time that hour, but it barely halted the spawns' ability to rapidly reknit flesh. The only tactics they'd found was to surround and overwhelm the Ghouls, peppering them with enough attacks that they couldn't cope or use Essence directly and circumvent their regeneration.
Cal's blades moved at a speed even Felix's Perception found hard to track, blurring in and out of the Ghoul's throat so fast it looked like it had just decided to take off its own head. Cal flipped backward off its toppling corpse, and the Ghoul crashed to the ground just like it's friend.
Damn, Felix thought. Pit trilled in agreement.
"She is...She is a force, is she not?" Elder Regis said from his left. She and Elder Holt had mostly held back during their journey, so he didn't exactly know their capabilities. They still felt weakened, however, as before. Injured. "Perhaps she was closer to Gold than we assumed."
"Damn right," Harn said.
"Keep moving," Cal barked.
One final corner and they reached the end of the tunnel. A pointed trefoil archway let in a bright, almost neon red light. The thing was thirty feet across and double that in height, and the carmine light damn near blinded most of them. Cal swept the area, as did Atar and Harn, but none of them found traps in the last few yards. That was a relief to Felix.
The relief, he was sore to find, did not last.
The archway led into an absolutely massive chamber that was filled with that same red miasma, like smog. At a guess, it was probably five hundred feet in diameter, distinctly circular, with winding pathways down into lower levels. Three massive statues of a human-seeming man and two women loomed from within the banks of crimson fog. They were depicted in that interesting combination of armor and robes Felix had seen before, and their heads were surmounted by thin circlets that were covered in three pointed stars. Their arms reached out along the vaulted ceiling, until all three hands touched at the center.
Exploration is level 37!
Exploration is level 38!
"Is that a gemstone?" Harn asked, amazed. The thing held at the very center of the gargantuan stone hands was an immense, faceted stone. It looked a deep purple in the flood of red light.
Voracious Eye!
Name: Belais Crystal
Type: Mineral
Lore: Mana responsive mineral useful as a medium for enchantments.
"Crystal," Cal corrected, eyeing it. "Belais Crystal. Biggest damn one I've ever seen."
"Used for enchantments? So are these giant statues" Felix started.
"Don't tempt fate, Felix," Cal said. "I'll not put anythin' past the Nym, but I draw the line at fightin' golems the size of the Eyrie tower."
"Are those Nymeans?" Vess asked in a low voice. "They look so"
"So Human," the Hand said. His voice was level, but Felix sensed tremors of a haunting melody. Was it wonder? It flickered and shut down after only a moment, though.
Vess signed at Felix.
Felix managed, his stilted handsign even harder to do covertly.
"Yes, those are Nymeans. I've seen them before," Felix said, instead of answering Vess. Then he realized how he'd phrased it. "In ruins. Murals in the Foglands."
"Fascinating," Elder Regis said. "I'd like very much to hear about these ruins. We've long held an interest in that Lost Race," she continued with a sour look up at the looming statues. "Haarwatch was founded by them, after all."
"What?" Felix asked.
"Who do you think built the Wall?" Elder Holt asked him. "Who built all this?"
"And what was it used for?" Bodie asked. "Buried underground and filled with tunnels. What's the point?"
"Nym ruins don't make a lick of sense," Cal said. "Traps, always. Treasure? At times. Danger always, but not a lick of sense."
"The air feels like fire," Atar hissed. "Can't you all feel it? Why aren't you more worried? Can't you sense what's below us?"
That thick miasma of red vapor was visible to all of them, apparently, as they couldn't see the bottom of the chamber either. But Felix felt Revenants closer than ever, their collective connecting tugging at him with an almost physical pressure. As they watched, the shifting miasma parted enough to make out a massive, writhing creature far below. Around it were hundreds of oval objects that seemed Human-sized. They watched as it discharged several more of them.
"That's disgusting," Cal whispered in clear horror. "Eggs."
"How many're down there?" Harn asked with annoyance. "I can't see anythin' with this fog."
It was way too far for any of their Perceptions to clear either. They'd have to send a scout or...or Felix could have to try something. It was risky, but so was sending Cal ahead all alone.
Felix put his hand out into the coil vapor, thicker than ever before, and sent his Will and Intent coursing along it's connected parts.
Mine. But not all of you. Just. You.
Ravenous Tithe!
A storm of Essence and Mana thundered through his channels, but as before, he fed it directly into his endless abyss at the center of his core ring. It took all of the Essence and Mana without complaint, only the soreness of his channels witnesses to its passage. The blob of crimson liquid above his core seemed just a touch bigger.
"Look!" Bodie murmured. "The fog is shifting!"
The lot of them craned their heads carefully over the edge of the narrow platform to peer below again, Felix included. The red miasma had indeed thinned, though it still clung heavily around the edges of the chamber. The writhing thing was almost exactly what Felix feared.
Name: Larval Broodmother
Type: Primordial-Spawn
Level: 23
HP: 8473/8473
SP: 233/286