Junfa April: Chapters 16-20 (Patreon)

Chapter 16

Junfa April was nice enough to help Grant shove as many of the monsters and monster parts as possible in his storage bag.  He noticed an increase in the weight, but the Greenlock were much lighter than the Grasstopus.  Grant also ran back to the wagon to grab the ballista off its post once the chariot crews had it back on four wheels.  Since it wasn’t mounted, he wouldn’t be able to reload it, but the one shot it could provide was better than nothing.  It went in the storage pouch, along with the six bolts he could find.  They could serve as short spears for the people they rescued.  Just as he turned to rejoin Junfa April, Sarge stopped him.

<Grant, check the edge of the ravine.>  He walked over to inspect where the Greenlock had gone over the edge, but he didn’t see anything at first.  <There is something just over the edge.  I can sense it.>

Reaching over the side, Grant felt something wet hanging from the edge of a hidden shelf of rock.  He grabbed it and pulled whatever it was out into the light.  He almost wished he hadn’t.

<You don’t know who’s blood that is.>  Grant was holding Reimaria’s mace, covered in the red blood of a human.  <There is still a chance she is alive.  Don’t lose hope.>  Sarge didn’t sound very hopeful to Grant’s ears.  It didn’t matter.  Grant wouldn’t let those corrupted spider freaks eat his friend, whether she was alive or dead.

“Are you ready?”  Junfa April was checking over her tigers when he walked up, making sure they didn’t have any injuries.  “Time grows short.”

“I’m ready.”  Grant was sore, exhausted, covered in blood and filth, and he wasn’t sure what day it was anymore, but he did know it was time to crush some bugs.  There was a blood-covered mace in his pouch that demanded it.

“Let’s go.”  Junfa April’s tigers led the way toward the web-covered town, and Grant followed quickly behind.  The border of the white webbing with the ground was a sharp, jagged line.  To Grant, it marked the edge of the world.  A point of no return, with the promise of death on one side, and dishonor on the other.  It was an easy choice.  Junfa April pointed to the center of the town.  “The mine entrance is there, past the ring of buildings.”  Grant wouldn’t have called them ‘buildings’, since it was mostly just the occasional wall and pile of rubble, but he saw what she meant.  They would have to travel between them, through wisps of webbing like a dense fog that served as the walls of their spidery fortress.

“I don’t see anything.”  Grant felt like he was covered in phantom spiders, their itchy legs crawling all over him.  He knew it was all in his head, but it bothered him anyway.  “They were crawling all over the place before, but now I don’t see a thing.”  There was the occasional skittering sound from somewhere farther in the ruins, but they hadn’t seen a Greenlock since crossing into their domain.  “Where did they all go?”

“We killed far more than the old ones must have expected.  They are most likely consolidating their strength underground, in the hopes that we will go away.”  Junfa April gave two sharp hand signals to her tigers, and they split to either side.  “Clams and Scallops will scout around for us.  I don’t like how quiet it is either.”

“Should we be worried about the webs in front of us?”  Grant motioned to the haze of webs in front of them.  “You said this stuff can make you go numb.”

“Webs?”  She unfurled a whip from her hip and snapped forward, the resulting shockwave blasting a clear space wide enough for them to drive one of the wagons through.  “What webs, mate?”

“I guess that answers that question.  Although, now they certainly know we are coming.”  Grant had heard a tumble of stones from the rubble on his side of their path.  The shadows were lengthening as the sun got closer to the horizon, making it harder for him to see if there was something hiding just out of sight.  “If they didn’t know already.”

“Oh,they know.  I can feel their eyes.”  She gave a sharp whistle, and both of her tigers came bounding toward them.  The lead one walked with a slight limp, and had the blue blood of a Greelock running down its side.  Junfa April took a knee and held her tiger’s head in her hands, the two of them locking eyes for almost a minute.  She gave it a pat, and the big cat took off running for the edge of the town.  The process was repeated for the second tiger, and finally she stood up, careful not to touch any of the webbing with uncovered skin.

“What was that?”  It looked to Grant like she had just mentally communicated with her tigers.  He had no idea that was even possible.  “Did you just mentally speak to your tigers?”

“I can’t speak to them like you and I do.  Their minds don’t work like ours.”  Junfa April watched them disappear back the way they had come, and turned back around to continue deeper into the town with Grant.  “Instead, I get a sense of what they have seen, and what they are feeling.  Both of them are starting to go numb from contact with the webbing, so I sent them on their way.  They will be waiting to help us leave once we come back out of the mine.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”  Grant noticed she didn’t mention how many monsters they had seen, or where they were located.  It didn’t really matter, anyway.  They were too deep in to do anything but retreat, and that wasn’t an option.  He would go himself if necessary.

The two Wielders continued deeper into the remains of Eggerton, both of them focused on covering their side of the path through the webs.  Junfa April had to clear out the webs in front of them twice more before they finally made it to the ring of rubble that marked the center of town.  By now, the shadows were long, and the places for the Greenlock to hide were only growing.  It had been over an hour since Team Three and the Fanatics had been taken, and Grant was feeling the weight of time pressing down on his shoulders heavier than the storage bag on his hip.

“It will be dark soon.  When that happens, the whole nest can come outside.  We need to be clear by then.”  Junfa April unlimbered both of her whips, rolling her wrists to send them twirling along the ground.  Their faint glow burned away the webs underfoot like they were made of fire instead of supple leather.  Or, Grant thought, whatever they were made from.  “I’ll lead, and you watch my back.  This is a sprint, not a marathon.  Kill whatever comes within reach with as much shock and awe as you can.  We make a speed run to wherever they have their ‘larder’, free our people, and come out the same way we came in.  Are you ready?”  Grant gave her a sharp nod.  He was as prepared as he could be.  This was for all the marbles.  “Okay then.  Keep up.”  She took off at a dead sprint, and he was hot on her heels.

<You have faced death many times this day, and come out the other side.  Like a true warrior, go into battle fully expecting to die, and death will pass you by.  Try to live, and you will surely be killed.  Go to your death, Grant Monday, and I will train you when you march out of this trial in one piece.>  The hilt of February Twenty Nine thrummed with energy in his hand, Sarge’s approval providing an intangible support that Grant deeply appreciated.  <Save your friends, or avenge them, but balance the scales.>

Grant gave a grunt of agreement.  He agreed with everything Sarge just said.  Except for the marching out of the trial part.  Grant didn’t know how to march.

Chapter 17

They didn’t encounter any resistance until they made it inside the mine.  The entrance might have once been impressive, but now it was just a web-covered hole in the ground surrounded by the remains of a once-grand edifice.  The moment Junfa April’s boot crossed into the dark interior, the onslaught began.

For Grant, the journey was a nightmare straight from his memories of the fourteen-tongued Vivian Spider and assassin-like Gleam Fangs.  The Greenlock would certainly be placed front-and-center of his phobia after their mad dash through the initial defenses the old ones must have ordered in place.

Junfa April led the way, her whips a perfect orb of destruction.  They cut through Greenlock and webbing without any sign of resistance, and their faint glow was the only source of illumination.  The maze of tunnels would have been impassable without her.  Since neither of them knew where to go, Junfa April chose whichever tunnel angled deeper into the ground.  It was as good a choice as any, and Grant followed without objecting.

Grant couldn’t stand within her range of destruction, or he would create a deadly gap in her defenses.  Instead, he stayed as close as possible, and spent the entire time fending off attacks from the numerous side tunnels they passed.  Grant didn’t bother pausing to kill the Greenlock that tried their best to ambush him as they ran.  He just removed whatever limbs came within range, using his Kenjutsu bonus of perfect aim to hit the joints where they were weakest.

The trail of dismembered monsters left behind by Junfa April sometimes reached his knees, making his footing precarious.  More than once he had to scramble to avoid a crushing claw, or the occasional strand of web fired at him like the streams of water the Warden had used to train him.  It was easy to use Floating Lotus Chop now, considering his entire concentration was focused on staying alive.  The new skill saved Grant’s life more times than he could count.

After twenty minutes of hard running and fighting, both of them had started to slow down.  They had already passed through three distinct defensive stands - not to mention the almost constant trickle that seemed to find them - and had just killed the last of the fourth strongpoint of bugs when they paused for the first time.  Junfa April was taking great gasping breaths, and she only had one whip at a time lit in the faint blue glow.  It made visibility even worse, allowing the occasional hit to get through Grant’s guard.  He was bleeding from a gash along his forehead that dripped blood in his left eye, and a deep cut along the back of his upper right arm made his attacks to the left slower than Grant would like.  His arms and shoulders ached from swinging his sword, and he could feel his grip getting looser as the repeated heavy impacts made his hands go numb.

<It isn’t just the repeated impacts doing that.  You got some of their venom on your hands, and it is slowly making them fall asleep.>  Grant gritted his teeth in determination.  It didn’t matter.  The spiders had grown larger the deeper they went, and  this last defensive stand had been the biggest yet.  Any larger, and the Greenlock wouldn’t be able to make it through the tunnels.  His friends had to be somewhere nearby.

“I think we are getting closer to their larder.  They probably keep their food close to their hatching grounds.  The big ones guard their young, and these are definitely big.”  Grant risked a glance over Junfa April’s shoulder and saw three massive Greenlock waiting for them.  They had reached the entrance to a large underground chamber, with a steadily-flowing stream running through the middle of it.  The water came from a small waterfall along the left-hand chamber wall, where it pooled in a small depression before running back underground along the right-hand wall.  There were several tunnels on the other side of the dark water, and one of them had to lead to Team Three and the Fanatics.  A small runnel of water branched off of the stream, traveling through the tunnel in the middle.  It would be the first place Grant checked, once they got there.  “All we have to do is get past these three, and we can reach our people.”

“One second.”  Grant had to dart back the way they had come and execute another Floating Lotus Chop on a Greenlock the size of a horse.  He was practiced enough with this enemy that all it took was one strike between the fangs and it was dead.  Grant flicked his sword by reflex to clean the blood off of it, and almost lost his sword in the process.  Sarge was right.  He was going to lose feeling soon.  The dead Greenlock curled up on itself as it died, blocking the tunnel.  “That will stop them for as long as it takes the ones behind to chew their way through.”  He turned back to Junfa April, who handed him a water skin.  Grant fumbled his sword into its sheath, the first time he had done that since Sarge had started his training.  He rinsed his hands off as best as he could, and drank greedily from the remainder before handing it back.  “Okay.  Now I’m ready.”

“You do credit to your titles, Earl Spring.”  Junfa April turned to face the cavern, where the three Greenlock waited.  “These are some of the old ones.  Only a Greenlock who has lived a long time could grow to that size.”  She rolled her wrists, sending both whips dancing off to either side.  The blue glow came back on both of them, flickering for a moment before finally brightening to a new level of intensity.  “This is the big fight.  The one that counts.”  She set her jaw, cracked her whips, and stepped into the cavern.  “You take the one on the left.  I will deal with the other two.”

“Gladly.”  Grant knew he should feel intimidated and afraid at the thought of fighting a monster bigger than the water wagons, but he was so far past the point of exhaustion that the only feeling he could muster was a simmering rage that made his chest feel tight.  “I have something to discuss with these monsters, and I prefer to speak with my blade.”  Junfa April laughed, the sound echoing around the cavern.

“Oh yes, I like the way you approach inter-species language, mate.”  The mighty Wielder stepped forward fearlessly, moving to the right to create some separation between her and Grant.  She raised her voice, and shouted at the Greenlock arrayed against them.  “Bugs, I also wish to discuss how you treat travelers.  But first, I am going to try an experiment, as our people did before monsters like you infested our lands.  Namely, I would like to see if your children still have the guts to kill my people after I crush you under my boots like the cockroaches you really are.”

“Meat no talk.  Meat feeds small Greenlock.  Strong meat make small Greenlock even stronger.”  Both Grant and Junfa April paused at the grinding voice that came from the center tunnel - the one Grant suspected they needed to go if they wanted to rescue any survivors - on the other side of the cavern.  It sounded big.  Much bigger than even the already grotesquely oversized spiders they faced.  Too big to fit through the tunnel entrances that lined the cavern’s far side.  “Kill meat.  Give half to small ones, half to me.”  The voice rattled Grant’s bones, and the simmering rage in his chest was in danger of being snuffed out.

<I wonder, does it mean give one of you to it, and one to their young, or tear each of you in half first, and divy up the parts?>  Grant frowned, determined not to end up in the belly of any spider.  Which, Grant knew, was Sarge’s goal.  <Yes, that was the point.  Now go kill that thing, before reinforcements come.>

Grant unsheathed his sword, which the Greenlock took as a sign to attack.  The one in the center tried to rush him as well as the one on the left, but Junfa April’s whip cracked against its leading leg, causing it to break near the base of the limb.  The attack enraged the monster, and it changed directions, skittering around to try and get behind her.

Junfa April sprinted toward the wall of the cavern, trying to put the solid rock to her back.  It was immediately clear that both of the Wielders had underestimated the speed of the larger creatures.  Somehow, their larger size didn’t mean they were slower than the dog-sized versions they faced on the surface.  If anything, they were faster.

The Greenlock on the right intercepted Junfa April before she could get there, and she ended up trapped between the two.  They hovered just outside the range of her whips, dancing back and forth as they searched for an opening.  She was forced to keep her defensive circle of destruction going, or their questing claws would find her flesh faster than she could dodge.  The longer they kept moving, the dimmer the light they emitted became.  It was only a matter of time until she tired too much, and they would be plunged into darkness.  Unfortunately, Grant couldn’t do anything to help.  He had his own problems.

When Grant had unsheathed his sword, the left-hand Greenlock had rushed him like an angry bull looking to trample Grant underfoot.  The larger size of the lobster-spider hybrid was the only thing that saved him in the first moment of their battle.  Grant dove under its legs, rolling to his feet as it thundered past, his sword bouncing ineffectively off the comparatively weaker underside.  He felt the cut along the back of his arm tear wider, and he lost all feeling in his right hand.  It still obeyed his commands, but Grant knew he couldn’t trust it.

The spider seemed confused, trying to understand why it hadn’t felt its victim being crushed under its legs.  Grant couldn’t help the feeling of hopelessness that tried to take over.  The Greenlock hadn’t even noticed him trying to hurt it.  Finally, the monster realized Grant was standing behind it, and it spun to face him once more.

<I don’t think this one is as smart as the other two.  Try to take out a few legs to level the field.>  Sarge highlighted the joints of the giant spider's limbs in the familiar orange glow of their training program.  Grant couldn’t chop through the thicker armor, so his only chance was being precise with every blow.  <Time for some training.  I can’t help you in battle, but I can offer you a chance to practice your Flowing Lotus Chop using only your left hand.  I think I have selected some suitable targets for you.>

“Thanks, Sarge.”  Grant didn’t understand the system that limited his sword spirit, but he did know there were consequences if he broke the rules.  He was walking a fine line of what Grant knew to be acceptable, and he appreciated the risk his friend was taking to help.  “I better take this training seriously.”

Allowing his right arm to dangle, Grant bent his knees and waited for the Greenlock to rush him again.  His left hand was tingling from the paralyzing venom, but he forced it to grip the sword hard enough his Uchigatana was shaking.  Grant grit his teeth, his determination fueled by the fires of his anger and hatred for all things with an excessive number of legs and eyes.  When the spider rushed him, the shaking stopped.

“Floating Lotus Chop!”  Grant sidestepped the rushing insect, and his sword came down on the leading leg like an axe splitting wood.  The limb went flying off into the dark corners of the cavern, and Grant felt a brief moment of satisfaction.  He had made a clean strike, and his skill made all the difference.  Then the spider spun in place, and Grant was blasted off his feet by a lobster claw the size of his torso.

Chapter 18

Junfa April saw Grant hit the small pool of water like a rock being skipped over a pond, and winced in sympathy as he disappeared down one of the tunnels.  She was still trapped between the two Greenlock in the center of the cavern, and could offer no help.  One of them was now missing half a claw, and the one she had first injured was now missing the end of another leg.  Both of them were steadily leaking blue blood, and their stalemate had turned into a test of endurance.  Either she would tire first, the light would go out, and both her and Grant would die, or at least one of the two Greenlock would get slow enough from blood loss that she could kill them.  The resolute look in her eyes said it was a test she was determined to pass.

Grant being knocked across the cavern had actually saved his life.  The Greenlock he had injured went into a rage, slamming its claws into the ground hard enough to send rock chips flying.  If he had still been standing there, they would have ended up feeding the young Greenlock his remains as a paste.

As he sat up with a groan from the monstrous hit, Grant was disgusted by the new snot-like coating of filth he was now covered in.  It was too dark to actually see what had stopped his skipping bounce across the cavern, but he could put two and two together.  Instead of slamming into a wall and breaking his neck, Grant had been stopped by a pile of spider eggs.

<You broke your right collarbone, two ribs, and your right forearm.>  Grant gritted his teeth as he climbed back to his feet.  He had lost his sword somewhere in the room, but it was too dark for him to see where it had landed.  As he limped toward the faint blue light coming through the opening into the small room he was in, Sarge gave a grunt of concern.  <The femur of your right leg has a slight crack an inch above your knee.  If you try to run, or do anything strenuous with your footwork, it will break.>  The news caused Grant to stop.  He went to reach for a healing potion, but stopped before he pulled one out.  The mix of slime and water dripping off of him reminded Grant of another fight that almost did him in.  There was another way to win this.

“It’s okay.  I have an idea.”  He turned around, trying to ignore the pain from walking.  And moving.  Oh, and breathing.  “I hate that pain boost I got.  It only makes my life worse.”

<You really should know better by now.>

Strength is Change!

Skill tier increase:  Bodily Awareness (2/3)

Tier one effect:  Your mind has learned what is real, and what is not. Now you will always know for sure. The pain of all real damage taken is increased by 10%.

Tier two effect:  Pain is your body’s message to your brain that something is wrong.  Perfect understanding of what injuries you have sustained allows that communication to be more effective.  Generalized pain is now sharpened to the exact location of any damage.

<Told you.>  Grant had to hold back a scream as every injury he had sustained since entering the mines blasted his mind, demanding attention.  He took a few deep breaths through his nose, trying to force himself to continue going.  <Honestly, I’m surprised that skill hasn’t leveled sooner.  You have been injured a lot lately.  Also, you need to hurry.  That third Greenlock isn’t going to wait long before attacking Junfa April.  You could just let it kill her, and collect April’s title afterward.>

“Time is Space.”  Grant definitely didn’t want to become Lord of April that way.  Junfa April’s people depended on her, and he wouldn’t deprive them of their leader.  That, and she had saved his life on more than one occasion.  As his Uchigata materialized in his hand, the light the spell cast illuminated the room for a brief moment.  It was clear to Grant this had been a storage room when the mine had been in operation, and now the Greenlock used it to hold their eggs.  And boy, was there a lot of those.  Grant could see where he had landed, the crushed pile of crunchy shells and slime stretching almost all the way to the rear wall.  There were still plenty of the head-sized eggs on either side for his purposes.

As he limped slowly out of the former storage room, Grant saw the third Greenlock closing in on Junfa April.  She had been winning against the first two, but neither were out of the fight yet.  They were clearly waiting for their third member to join them, and had backed up far enough that she didn’t have to keep her whips spinning.  Instead, she was rocking back and forth, rolling her wrists and shoulders to keep them from stiffening up after the abuse she had subjected them to.

“Hey, ugly!”  Grant held up the egg in his hand, the pain from the bones grinding in the opposite shoulder causing him to stumble.  Which also hurt.  “Are these yours?  Sorry I broke a few of them.”  He tilted his hand, dropping the egg onto the ground.  It made a loud splat that caused all three of the Greenlock to look at him.  If bugs could show emotion on their faces, Grant was sure they would look angry.  “Did that make you mad?”  Grant limped forward, trying to close some of the distance between them.  “Well, if you’re mad about that one, this is really going to piss you off.”  Grant spun on one leg to avoid breaking the bone in his leg the rest of the way, and used Iaijutsu to whip his sword out of its sheath.  “Thundering Step!”

The offensive form of his lightning spell used to be limited to only a five foot radius around wherever Grant was standing, but since his Dao Seed of Change had morphed it into Thundering Step II, Grant could now control the halo of lightning that erupted from his Uchigatana.  At first, the spell didn’t want to obey his mental commands.  Then, Grant thought of the bloody mace in his pouch, and what it represented.  He didn’t have a problem controlling it after that.

Instead of the normal ring of electricity, a cone of destructive power shot across the ground toward the room holding the future of the Greenlock nest.  The lightning did a nice job of illuminating the room as it danced between the carefully placed piles of eggs, where it burst the shells with a cacophony of popping sounds.  For some reason, Grant suddenly wanted popcorn.  Then, the smell of the cooking spider eggs hit his nose, and he wasn’t hungry anymore.

The effect on the Greenlock was instant.  All three of them screamed in rage, their mandibles grinding against one another with the urge to rip Grant apart.  That was nothing compared to the roar that came from the center tunnel.  It caused the ground to tremble, and dust to fall from the roof of the cavern.  The three near Junfa April rushed for Grant, trailing blue blood as they skittered across the ground.

“I don’t think so!”  Her whips cracked against the back of the trailing Greenlock, splitting its thick carapace and sending blood splattering across the cavern.  “We aren’t done!”

The other two were already out of reach, and Grant spun back around to face them.  Just as he did, the ground shook once more, and cracks shot out of the stone surrounding the central tunnel.  Since Grant was balancing on one leg, the localized earthquake caused him to fall.  He landed on his tailbone, sending another lance of pain into his brain.

<Now!>  Sarge’s shout brought him back.  He was lost to a haze of pain, still not used to how intense the feelings were.  Grant looked up just in time to see the two injured Greenlock splashing across the pool of water, both of them deciding to come straight for him instead of walking all the way around.

“Thundering Step!”  This time, he leaned forward far enough to dip the tip of his sword directly into the water.  He didn’t even need to direct it.

It was almost as if the lightning was hungry, and the two giant spiders were the spell’s favorite meal.  The two insects stiffened into statues while the electricity crawled over them, the full five seconds stretching out even longer as sparks danced between them.  Finally, they collapsed, both Greenlock smoking as they died.  Another roar of anger echoed out from where the trickle of water ran into the central tunnel, this time with a hint of pain laced in with the rage.

<Whatever is in there must have gotten a little shock from your spell.  I wonder if it is going to try so hard to get in here now?>  Grant nodded in silent agreement of Sarge’s sarcasm.  The Greenlock trapped in that chamber didn’t try to break out this last time.

“That was some trick.”  Junfa April walked up to see Grant laying on his side, taking small breaths so he didn’t irritate his collarbone and ribs.  “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Oh, I picked it up when I had to fight a murderously insane clown dressed in plate armor and his pet bull that had the head of a man.”  Grant shrugged his left shoulder.  “It worked on them, so I thought I would try to do it again.  And if you think that was impressive, you should see what I can do with a torch and a bag of flour.”

“Okay, mate, you don’t have to tell me.  Keep your secrets.”  Junfa April eyed him like he was crazy.  After saying it out loud, he had to wonder if she might be right.

Chapter 19

“It won’t be long before every Greenlock in this place is down on our heads.”  Junfa April looked exhausted, and her leathers and clothing were spattered with blood.  It was the first time Grant had seen her as anything but immaculately clean.  “You rest here, and I will look for the others.”

Grant gave her a silent nod and laid down.  He closed his eyes and activated his absorbed ability, Live by the Sword, and replayed the events of the last ten minutes.  The ability didn’t heal what had happened in the speed run through the tunnels, but it did heal some of the damage he had received during the battle inside the cavern.  One minute later, he was feeling a little better.  His right arm still wouldn’t listen, but that was now his worst injury.

Health: 224/680 -> 496/680. Skeletal damage extensive. Bone repaired to 40%. Organs repaired to 90%. Poison effects diminished by 40%.

“Six hundred and eighty health?”  Grant was shocked to see the number.  “What happened?”

<You haven’t looked at your stats sheet in a long time.  You hit level twenty six when you killed those eggs.>  Sarge went quiet, as if he was checking something.  <The number of monster kills is a lot smaller than the actual number of eggs, so I think you are only getting credit for any eggs close to hatching.  Either way, it would be a good idea to destroy any other nests that might be in the other rooms.  Another level up might heal your femur enough to let you run.>  The faint sounds of scrabbling coming from the tunnel they had entered through reached Grant’s ears.  They were coming.  <And I think running might be a good idea.>

“I found them!”  Grant sat up and looked over to the far right tunnel, where Junfa April was standing. The light from her whips brightened, and Grant could see another storage room.  It was lined with cocoons of webbing stacked like cordwood.  “Come help me get them free!”

Grant sprang to his feet, ignoring the pain from moving.  He might have been healed to over seventy percent of his health, but the upgraded pain sensation still made it feel worse than he was expecting.

Ignoring the pain, Grant ran over to help Junfa April cut everyone free.  His heart was in his throat, afraid of what he might find.  Grant’s imagination ran wild with the horrors covered by the webbing, but as Junfa April’s whips burned away the webbing on the cocoon closest to the entrance, he was relieved to see one of the Anti-Flame fanatics staring wide-eyed at the two Wielders in the dim lighting.  He looked to be in one piece, just paralized from the poison of the Greenlock venom.

“I’ll drag them to the stream to try and wash off as much of the venom as possible, you just get them free of the webs.”  Grant didn’t normally give orders, but this one made the most sense.  He could only use his left arm properly, and he didn’t want any accidents while cutting people free.  Junfa April didn’t seem to mind him taking charge for the moment, and started gently laying her whips along the trapped caravaners.  The glow from her Wielded Weapons ate away at the webbing, and sometimes the clothing directly underneath, but it didn’t hurt anyone.

Grant grabbed the first uncovered prisoner by the collar and drug him into the stream.  It wasn’t as clean as before, considering the two giant dead spiders polluting the pool the water came from, but beggars couldn’t be choosy.  After a few minutes of shuffling people into the flowing water, they started to recover.  The Fanatics took over for the injured Grant, shuffling people into the stream.  When their leader, the Warden, finally walked out of the stream, he came and sat down heavily next to Grant, who was leaning against the wall next to the opening where the sounds of scrabbling claws on stone were coming from.  Gant was unconsciously tapping his storage pouch, where a blood-covered mace sat heavier than everything else combined.

“Thank you, mate.”  Grant only nodded at his thanks, instead keeping guard while trying not to look back at the latest person to stand up out of the stream.  He was afraid to find out the members of Team Three weren’t among them.  “You didn’t have to come down here to save us.  We’re all practically strangers to you.”

“We have fought fang and flame together, Warden.  That means we are more than strangers.”  Grant turned to look at him.  “Did… did you see what happened to my team?”

I’m sorry to say, the last thing I saw from on top of my wagon was them fighting back-to-back, killing as many as anyone.”  The Warden motioned to the bodies laid in a row in the stream where more Fanatics were making sure their faces stayed above water.  “They surely are in there somewhere.  We just have to wait for them to wake up.”  It was far too dark in the chamber to see much more than outlines of people with Junfa April still inside the storage room.  The light from her whips had only gotten brighter as more of her people were found still alive, but the darkness in the room was oppressive.  “Why don’t you go rest, mate.  I’m recovered enough to stand guard for a bit of time.”

“Actually, I have something else I need to do.”  Grant pulled out one of the ballista bolts and handed it over to the Warden to use as a spear.  “I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Grant walked over to the opening next to where people were pulling out more caravaners, and unsheathed his sword.  He pointed it inside and activated Thundering Step II.  The cone of destruction he aimed inside resulted in another explosion of eggshells and spider slime.  A heartbeat later the old one, who had been quiet, roared in fury.  Grant ignored it and moved to the next opening.

Each time he activated his spell, Grant expected to feel the mace resting in his pouch to get lighter.  It didn’t.  All he managed to do was anger the old one more, and it slammed against the stone trapping it again, causing everyone to freeze as dust fell from the cavern ceiling.  He had to pause occasionally to let his mana recharge, but Grant was determined to kill as many of the Greenlock as he could before they killed someone else.  Finally, Grant came to the storage room he had already hit with lightning.

<What are you doing?  You already hit this one.>  Grant ignored Sarge, lifting his Uchigatana once again.  <You are just wasting mana.>

“No, I’m just being thorough.”  Grant activated the spell, and the smell of cooked spider slime assaulted his nose.  “I wasn’t very close the first time I hit this one.”

Grant was rewarded for doing his due diligence.  The notification of another level up flashed across his vision.  He still didn’t have time to check, because his last spell seemed to enrage the old one enough that now it was finally willing to risk the pain of another shock to see him dead.  It slammed against the tunnel, causing a starburst of cracks to shoot across the ceiling.

“That thing is going to bring the whole mine down!”  The Watcher had traded off his place guarding the entrance with another of the Fanatics, and was helping rinse the venom off of people at the stream.  Grant watched as he used his control over water to wash the dust from the latest hit from the face of a prone caravaner.  “We need to do something, otherwise this place will become our tomb!”

“Mates, I’m gonna need some help over here!”  The Fanatic guarding the entrance was backing away from the tunnel, and the spidery legs of the Greenlock on the other side were finally punching through the dead carcass Grant had positioned as a blockage.  “They’re comin’ through!”

“It doesn’t look good.  Grant, you hold them back at the tunnel, and I’ll handle the old one.”  Junfa April had finished releasing everyone from the cocoons, but not all of them were on their feet.  Grant also hadn’t seen a single member of Team Three yet.  “We need to buy time for everyone to get back on their feet.”  She put her right-hand whip on her belt, and reached out to shake Grant’s hand.  “In case this is the end, just know it has been an honor to know you, Earl Spring.”

“Wait.”  Grant looked over to the Warden, and counted all the Fanatics up and on their feet.  “Don’t write us off yet.  I have an idea.”  He started running for the stream, dragging Junfa April behind him.  “If you can hold the tunnel long enough for the Fanatics to redirect the stream, I might be able to give the old one more than just a little shock.”

“It’s better than a poke in the eye.”  Junfa April whistled for the Warden, and he moved closer to their position by the pool.  "I have to hold the line.  Do as he asks, and we might make it out of this death trap."  The Warden raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue.  They both watched as she pulled her whips free, and the light from her whips flickered before brightening again. They were all exhausted.

"Can you redirect the main stream to follow the trickle going into the tunnel where the old one is?"  Grant brought them back on task as the cavern shuddered once more.  The cracks in the ceiling certainly weren't getting any smaller.  "The more water, the better."

"I think we can give you one good burst, mate, but redirecting it?"  The Warden shook his head.  "None of us are up to holding a spell long enough to do anything like that."

"It will have to be good enough."  Grant turned to go.  He wanted to be as close as possible to the tunnel entrance to maximize the power of the spell.  Another shudder went through the cavern.  "Wait for me to get in position, then give it all you got."  The Warden gave a sharp nod in reply, and Grant shuffled for the central opening.

<That last level up gave you enough of a health boost that it should be okay for you to run.>  A twinge of pain shot from his knee as Grant tried to go from a shuffle to a run.  <It definitely won't hold up to you getting hit there, so make sure you are careful.>

As Grant approached the hole that held the old one, he noticed the smell of rot coming from the other side.  None of Junfa April's light made it into the tunnel, but Grant could imagine the piles of fetid bones and decayed flesh left from the meals of the ancient monster, trapped by its excessive size in a tomb of its own making.

"Mmeeeaatt."  Grant shuddered when the old one spoke, the gravelly voice making his hair raise up on end.  "Crush you.  Break you.  Kill you.  Eat you."

A leg the size of a thick wagon axle reached out for him, and Grant had to stumble backward to avoid being smashed.  The Greenlock leader's chitin carapace was scarred and cracked with age, but that only made it more intimidating.  It was like the hoary bark of an ancient tree, strong as steel and petrified with age.  As it pulled the leg back into the shadowy tunnel, Grant could see a single eye the size of a round heater shield glinting in the faint blue light, staring at him.  Grant had been wrong.  Insects definitely could show emotion in their gaze, and this one was feeling angry.

"Now!"  The shout from the Warden was poorly timed.  It should have come a few seconds sooner.  Grant slipped on the slippery stone floor as he tried to move out of the way of a wall of water that rushed toward the tunnel faster than a horse could gallop.  It swept him along as it crashed through the narrow opening, and Grant looked up as a pair of gleaming fangs larger than a greatsword descended for him.

"Thundering Step Thundering Step Thundering Step!"  Using the spell three times at once was more than Grant could handle, and he once again hurt himself, this time his whole body going numb as his brain was overloaded. There was no chance of him directing the spells, the pain too much for him to even try.

*Zaaaaap*

It wasn’t necessary.  If the ancient Greenlock hadn’t been striking for Grant’s chest with its fangs leading, the wall of water would have been too short to do anything but brush up against the bottom of the spider’s thorax.  Instead, it washed over the giant bug’s head, frying its brain in one long moment of electric death.  Grant saw it all happen in slow motion, his mind barely holding together under the onslaught of too much mana leaving his system all at once.  Then, the giant dead bug collapsed on top of him.

Chapter 20

“He’s under here!”  Grant gasped, the weight of the old one sitting on top of him causing his ribs and sternum to groan in warning.  He must have passed out when the Greenlock fell on top of him, because the blood covering him had already started to turn sticky.  It was too dark to see if it was his blood or the old one’s, but right now that didn’t matter.  His chest was going to give way if he couldn’t get the weight off of him.

“Move out of the way!”  A familiar voice shouted at the person who had found him.  As the large boots of Sokkur came into view, Grant felt some of the rage that had settled in his chest cool.  Either that, or a rib just cracked.  “On three!  One, two, three!”  The weight pushing down on him shifted, allowing Grant to suck in a full breath.  It hurt, but this time he was okay with the pain.  “Drag him out.  And be quick about it, this thing is heavy.”

Rough hands drug Grant free, his battered and stained armor scraping along the stone floor with a squeal of protest.  He looked up into the face of Skor, and suddenly Grant had to fight back against the tears that tried to come from his sense of relief.  It wouldn’t be good to cry in front of everyone.  Grant might ruin his image as the hero.

<Look at yourself.  You don’t need tears to ruin that image.  You look like you got run over by a stampede of Meatballs.>  Grant snorted at Sarge’s comment.  He wasn’t wrong.

“It’s good to see you made it, mate.”  Skor lifted Grant to his feet.  “When you took off like a… well, like a bolt of lightning, it had us thinking you were a goner.”

“That’s what I thought about you.”  Grant’s smile dropped as he looked around.  Sokkur and Skor were here, but someone was missing.  His hand brushed against the storage pouch on his hip, and the heavy weight of the world seemed to land on his shoulders.  Grant reached inside and pulled out the blood-encrusted mace he had placed there hours before, holding it out for the leader of Team Three to take.  Grant figured he would know what to do with it.  “Skor, I -”

“Ah, glad you found that.  Reimaria would have been upset if we managed to keep our weapons, but her Wielder had to remake one for her.”  Skor took the mace from a dumbfounded Grant.  “She might need a smaller one, though.  At least until she gets used to dealing with what she lost.”

“Reimaria is alive?  But, I found the mace, and there was all this blood on it, and I didn’t see any of you when they were rinsing people off, and then -”  Grant was interrupted by Sokkur, who was holding out an open hand.

“She lost a good bit of her hand when one of the beasties tore away our weapons.  Reimaria’s a fighter, and wouldn’t give up until the venom made her stop.”  Sokkur motioned to his open hand.  “Now, give me your storage pouch, so we can put this thing inside.  It’s the least we can do after you saved us.”

“Yeah, mate.  This honker will go a long way to proving your worth at the Conclave.”  Skor poked at the dead old one.  “No one would believe your tale if you didn’t bring it as proof.  This thing is a bigger booger than anyone has seen in a long time.”

“Thank you.”  Grant winced at the thought of how heavy his pouch was about to get.  Then, he finally realized that he could see everyone standing nearby.  It would only be this bright if Junfa April wasn’t fighting at the cavern entrance anymore.  He whirled to look out the narrow entrance he had recently used as a water slide, trying to see what had happened to Junfa April.  He let loose a sigh of relief.  She was clearly exhausted, sitting in the center of the cavern next to the stream, being looked after by the Warden.  He had somehow found some bandages from somewhere, and he was wrapping them around her left foot.  Grant was about to join her when Skor’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Give her a minute.  She’s had a rough go of things.”  Grant raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question.  Skor took a deep breath of the fetid air before elaborating.  “After you did your lightning trick and killed their leader, the Greenlock went bonkers.  They gave up any sense of self-protection and rushed her in an unending wave.  She was only one person, so the only thing she could do was collapse our only way out, trapping us down here.  It was either that, or we all get ripped apart.  That was hours ago.  We have tried looking everywhere for another way out, but there isn’t anything.  The Warden says we will probably run out of air before we starve to death, unless the Greenlock find some other way to get in here.”

“We will figure out something.”  Grant shrugged his shoulders, and instantly regretted it.  His collarbone felt like it might have been broken again.  “Even if we have to rest long enough to allow Junfa April to get back to full strength, her whips can blast a way back to the surface.”

“Nah, mate.”  Skor pointed to the ceiling.  “You can’t see it in this room, but the cavern is already about to drop on us.  If she tries that, it all comes down on our heads, and that’s all she wrote.”

Grant contemplated what they could do next while Sokkur got the old one in his storage pouch.  It took three people to manage it, but they eventually got the job done.  When he handed it back to Grant, the extra weight on his hip made his femur twinge in protest.  He ignored it.  It didn’t matter if his leg broke now, they didn’t need to run anywhere.

They eventually made their way back into the main cavern.  The den of the old one had smelled even worse after getting flooded with a mixture of water and blood.  Some of the dessicated scraps had been rehydrated, causing a miasma that made their eyes water.  Grant decided to sit directly under the waterfall, allowing the spray of water to rinse off the worst of the filth he was covered in.

<Now would be the perfect time for you to look over the changes of your level ups.  Hitting Mid Summer in your cultivation base has drastically increased your damage.>  Intrigued, Grant finally pulled up his stat sheet.

Name: Grant Monday (Options: Grant Monday, Earl Spring)

Rank: Earl Spring  (Lord of The Month for January, February, and March)

Class: Foundation Cultivator

Cultivation Achievement Level: 27

Cultivation Stage: Mid Autumn

Inherent Abilities: Swirling Seasons Cultivation

Health: 519/725

Mana: 32/32

Dao Achievements:  Dao Seed of Change

Effects:

-20% requirements of gaining a skill

+20% speed of increasing a skill

+20% chance for skill to mutate upon ranking up

Physical: 450

Mental: 128

Armor Proficiency: 213

Weapon Proficiency: 237

Late Spring Medium Ornate Banded Mail armor. Full set: Head, Torso, Legs.

Total Physical Damage Decrease per set item (Includes Cultivation bonus): 85

Total Magical Damage Decrease per set item (Includes Cultivation bonus): 85

February Twenty Nine (Considered as a Late Spring Medium weapon due to Weapon/Armor synergy)

Total Damage increase: 94. (Base weapon increase: 14. Weapon Cultivation increase: 80.)

Critical hit maximum damage: 141

Weapon Inherent abilities:

1) Weapon Absorption: This sword has the ability to absorb another Wielded Weapon’s power, taking its ability into itself. Restriction: Only one weapon per Monthly series.

2) Weapon/Armor Synergy: When the Wielder is equipped with armor, this sword increases in potency and gains power. Increase is capped at the Welder's cultivation stage, or average armor stage, whichever is lower. February 29 is currently considered a Mid Spring Light’ sword. Current maximum damage is: 94 (80 from weapon cultivation, 14 from base weapon weapon stage damage, rounded up.) Damage type is ‘piercing’, ‘slashing’, or ‘blunt’ depending on how February 29 is used.

3) Time is Space: you now have access to any of the powers of February Twenty Nine, no matter where the Weapon is. You may also call your Weapon to you so long as you touch upon a place in the world where it once was while bound to you. Cost: 25% of mana pool.

4) Locked

Weapon Absorbed abilities:

1) Sword Grandmastery: Imbue your weapon with a Sword Spirit that creates a model that allows for enhanced physical, mental, and weapon cultivation. Restriction: the training plan must be followed, else the ability locks for 24 hours. There is only one warning given per day.

2) Live by the Sword: Pause and meditate on the failures of your combat ability, healing up to 40% of all damage taken within the last 10 minutes, over one full minute. This ability will increase with physical cultivation.

3) Mind over Matter: Set a binding rule, as well as the punishment for breaking that rule. The harsher the requirements of the rule, the harsher the punishment may be.

Skills:

Plant Insight(1/5) Skill tier 1: It is 10% easier to spot plants with medicinal effects within a ten-yard radius.

Kenjutsu (2/10) Skill tier 1: All damage dealt when wielding a sword is increased by 10%.

Skill tier 2: your sword will never betray you. When a sword is wielded by you, the blade will always land exactly where you intend.

Iaijutsu (2/5) Skill tier 1: When prepared to attack, sword instantly leaves a sheath and slashes or penetrates target, increasing on-hit damage by 10%.

Skill tier 2: Perfect Aim. If you can use any sense to see something coming for you, your sword will be there.

Reflective Skin (1/10) Knowing your enemy is half the battle, and you’ve found a way to make it harder for other people to understand you! As this skill is self-created, it will increase significantly faster than other skills.

Lightning Attunement (2/10)

Tier one effect:  Increases damage of all lightning-attuned spells by 10%.

Tier two effect:  Ride the Lightning!  Your ability to direct lightning-based spells and abilities is now perfect.  Halo effects can now be aimed.

Bodily Awareness (2/3)

Tier one effect:  Your mind has learned what is real, and what is not. Now you will always know for sure. The pain of all real damage taken is increased by 10%.

Tier two effect:  Pain is your body’s message to your brain that something is wrong.  Perfect understanding of what injuries you have sustained allows that communication to be more effective.  Generalized pain is now sharpened to the exact location of any damage.

Floating Lotus Chop (1/3). This skill is designed for slicing through your enemies, no matter what stands in your way. You have shown initial mastery! Congratulations!

Tier one effect: When properly focused, sword slices through four times its own thickness in material, increasing target penetration by 10%.

Spells:

Elemental Spell: Thundering Step II

Prerequisites: 100 Mind. Two feet. Metal weapon.

Active Mode: Create a static field in a five foot radius around you that damages others when they move through the area. Does not move from the point it was set. Lasts five seconds.

Mana cost: 10 per use.

Damage(Self): 0% Mental cultivation.

Damage(Other): 100% Mental cultivation per second.

Training Mode: Increase movement speed by 50% while out of combat. Combat is defined as not dealing or taking damage from an opponent for five seconds.

Mana cost: 10% per second. Mana regen halved while active.

May stack spells at double the Mana cost.  No limits.

Utility Spell: Apprentice Repair

Prerequisites: 80 Mind. Two hands. The ability to see or sense the targeted object.

Active Mode: Improve, combine, or repair the object or objects targeted by the spell.  More complicated items require a higher-tier spell.

Mana cost: 7 per use.

Training Mode: If used when disassembling, reassembling, or cleaning an item, 50% chance of the user gaining a deeper understanding of how an item works.

Mana cost: 7 per use.

“The thing holding me back right now is my armor synergy.  If my armor matched my cultivation level, my Uchigatana would do far more damage.”  Grant’s sword was still doing the same damage as a Mid Spring quality weapon, meaning he needed the ten percent boosts from his skills to even the field against the beasts in District April.  “Once I get that upgrade, it won’t be so hard to get through the natural armor the beasts get just from being in the Summer Districts.”

<Or, you could just focus on your weapon cultivation when we get out of here, and the Dao Seed of the Uchigata will make up the difference.>  Grant snorted, and got out from under the waterfall.  He looked around at the people he had come here to save, and it was immediately apparent that most of them had given up hope.  After walking around a bit, Grant finally saw Reimaria sitting off by herself, hunched over near the entrance to the old one’s stinking cavern.  <I think she is sitting there because the smell coming from the tunnel is keeping everyone away from her.>

“It looks like it.  She definitely wants to be alone right now.  Anyone trying to talk to her while she is sitting there would clearly be intruding.”  Grant changed direction, headed right for Reimaria.  “I’m going to go talk to her.”