Chapter 21 Part 5 of 6 (Patreon)

“Reloading!” Rugrat yelled.

Gilly turned her neck letting out a yell, brown waves shot into the tunnel, the ceiling collapsed around the mites. Then time seemed to reverse as the tunnel reformed with the tunnel using the mites as building materials.

“Back in!” Rugrat fired at the mites.

Erik moved to Gilly’s side, firing into her tunnel, the mites ran into her spikes, one had already died from the poison.

Focus on your area first! Help others only if you can!

Gilly hung her head lower but kept using Earth attacks.

Erik checked his tunnel there were more mites around the metal needle again.

He let his rifle hang from his sling and pulled out a grenade launcher.

“Fire in the hole!”

The explosion tore through the mites.

Erik dropped the grenade launched into his storage ring. No movement.

He smacked the side of his magazine.

Half full.

He scanned Gilly’s area she’d crushed or slammed the mites into the walls and spikes in the tunnel. George was looking at his tunnel with more of the fire crystals. Stone was dripping from the floor of his tunnel as mites collapsed.

Rugrat’s rifle was silent as he scanned as well.

“Stand ready,” Erik said.

They watched the tunnels but nothing else rushed towards them.

==========

Capture Area 2

==========

100/100

==========

==========

Capture Area 3

==========

0/100

==========

“I guess we must have scared them off. What was that, thirty or forty of them? I’m reloading,” Rugrat pulled out his magazine and put in a fresh one.

“I think it was closer to fifty. The needle worked by the way. When they got close to it, they opened their exoskeletons, easy targets. Have to make sure they don’t get close or else they’ll strip the elements right out of us.”

“What happens if they do that?”

“Think of it like a slowing spell, we get slower, weaker and our resistances weaken. In this place if we don’t have a high resistance we’ll die.”

“Back in. So they’re working with their environment against us.”

“Yeah. Reloading.”

Erik changed out his mag for a fresh one in his storage ring.

“Back in.”

“This experience gain is sweet as,” Rugrat said.

“They’re a higher level plus nearly body like Sky Iron. Yeah they’re going to be an experience jackpot.”

==========

83,395,078/217,100,000 EXP till you reach Level 64

==========

“Lets go find pillar three.”

“More mana in that way,” Rugrat pointed down a tunnel.

“Let me grab my needle first and we’ll head out.” Covered by Rugrat, Erik used an earth moving spell to grab the needle and throw it in the air. He grabbed it with mana manipulation and returned it to his hand.

“Damn, nearly drained it.” Erik looked at the pillar. “If I can draw in the element as well, would that reduce it overall and the creatures wouldn’t charge as much?”

Erik put the needle away.

“Lets get moving.” He lead the way again, lowering the spikes in the tunnel.

“We can used this as a fall back position if we need to. There isn’t anything said about us falling back will fail,” Rugrat said.

“Good call.”

It was a longer path to the third area.

“Ah shit.” Erik entered the cavern, he scanned around. There were five paths leading to the middle of the room. With a bottomless dark pit between the paths.

“That doesn’t look like it would be a fun drop.”

The paths were big enough for Gilly to grow to her full height and walked across comfortably.

The area in the middle of the paths held a ruin with some skeletal ribs showing, metal and earth attribute plants has grown between the stones. In the middle of the ruin stood the pillar they were looking for.

Motes of light drifted through the area. Moss lay among the ruins and on the ceiling, making it brighter than the other rooms.

The tunnels and paths leading in showed veins of rare metal and stone. Some giving off light, others reflecting it.

“I never really got interior design, but dungeon design is stranger still. Want to spike the paths leading in? I was thinking of laying mines but don’t want to break these bridges.”

“You think they reach all the way down or are just arches?” Erik asked.

“You want me to answer that?”

Erik glanced at the darkness at the edge of the path.

“Nah, I’m good.”

Erik Gilly and George got to work while Rugrat patrolled the ruin he moved the stone blocks outside the capture area, creating defensive positions.

“Spikes are set,” Erik finished poisoning them all and had laid down a few metal attribute needles.

“Okay I’ll take those two paths. They split up to take the others,” Rugrat said.

“Got it. Shall we?”

They all entered the capture area.

==========

Capture Area 3

==========

1/100

==========

Rugrat took a position in some broken rubble, he pushed rocks and crap away to get comfortable.

Erik used a broken wall to support his forward arm. Gilly and George hid among the piles of debris, looking at the paths leading to the ruins.

Rugrat fired first, dust shifting around him.

Erik double tapped the first mite that appeared. George went with his fire crystals, hurling them into the entrance of the tunnel.

Against earth and Metal he’s got one hell of an advantage.

Gilly created brown gems that dropped from the sky, they struck the groun, turning into stone spikes.

Erik’s penetrating shots cut through the mites.

Erik drew in the Earth and metal elements of the surrounding area. He was like a vaccum. The rate of mites showing up slowed.

“The hell is that noise?” Rugrat asked.

Erik listened, it was coming from the pits. “I dunno, sounds like, bones hitting one another?”

Suddenly a centipede looking creature shot out from the pit, it shook its body letting out a shuddering roar as its exoskeleton clacked together. The top half of its body leaned forward, crashing into the ground. It was over ten meters long.

Three rapid fire rounds went through its teeth filled mouth and into its body, detonating at different points. Splaying ichor and exo-skeleton everywhere.

Another one came out of the pit with its battle cry.

Erik fired on the creature, his rounds cut through its body but didn’t hit anything vital.

“Blunt shot!”

His attacks did more damage as the creature dropped, a spike grew out of the ground to meet it.

It must have not seen the spike as it landed on it, the spike driving through its body.

The stone pillar exploded in the middle of the beast.

Erik fired on the mites that were getting closer, excited by the earth and metal elements released by the dead centipedes.

Erik fired on his own paths and on Gilly’s as she took care of the centipedes.

“Need some support here!” Rugrat said. Erik drew in fire mana.

“Fire storm coming in on your paths Rugrat!”

A spell formation appeared on the paths, the air twisted faster and faster, bursting into flames they ran down the paths, burning and throwing mites off and into the pits, stopping before the tunnels.

Rugrat got to his knee, turning and shooting the head of a ‘pede’ that crawled up from the pit. He swiveled like he had eyes in the back of his head. A penetrating shot took two mites out as George created a fire rain that tore through three centipedes.

Erik fired on Gilly’s path and switched to his own.

Gilly let out a roar, Earth spears stabbed through two centipedes and exploded.

Erik scanned the area but there was nothing, he forced out a breath, his eyes flickering across the area.

==========

Capture Area 3

==========

100/100

==========

“Ah shit,” Erik let out a breath.

“I fucking hate worms. Reloading.” Rugrat muttered. And slid down behind his cover.

“Got you. You mean centipedes?”

“Anything long round and with lots of teeth!”

“Makes me think of the sand worms.”

“Fuck those damn worms. Nearly died with that shit.”

“I got the damn one step in the grave a second time with that shit.” Erik tapped his magazine. I should reload.

“Back in.”

“Reloading.” Erik checked his notifications.

==========

You have reached Level 64

==========

When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by: 10 points.

==========

==========

132,701,878/273,500,000 EXP till you reach Level 65

==========