Somewhere Someplace

Antica’s eyes remained with utter fixation upon her terminal device’s screen, having not withdrawn them even once.

Her surveillance automaton, Fly, had collected quite the data as it buzzed through the cavern, from which when relayed to Bee and thus to her was used by her terminal device’s own ‘Map and Coordinate System’ to generate a digital map of the cavern’s interior.

Contrary to her initial assumptions, this cavern was actually rather linear. There was seemingly only one path which, while curving about with a few dead-ends, ultimately led to one large central subterranean chamber. Though, since this path curved away from the entrance and went relatively deeper underground with respect to the surface, Fly had to utilize ultra lower frequency signals to retain its connection with Bee and her terminal device.

Obviously, she could not rule out that Fly’s survey data was…incomplete; there could be other routes, paths, and undiscovered divergences. Indeed, preliminary data of that center chamber suggested the existence of another wider path which led…somewhere.

Though, regardless, Fly had not been sent into that cave to survey rocks and cavern… No, not at all…

Indeed, denoted as three blue blips specially outlined in cyan…was Novea and those two Adventurers, Red and Blue. The adventurers were directly within that chamber, Novea being atop a…short ledge of sorts—directly below Fly’s present position, in fact, the automaton having gently affixed itself upside-down to the ceiling of that entry point; risky, though unnoticed.

And one thing was abundantly evident: those three were engaged in combat.

Such was likely the reason for why Fly’s sensory processing was presently experiencing some kind of…anomalous interference. Novea was likely using her strange shadow magic to obscure herself, and Fly was in close proximity—being literally right above her. Interesting, indeed, that such was even affecting Fly so… Whether such was a product of Fly’s computational existence or its…exotic nature…was difficult to know.

Nonetheless, Fly was still able collect enough data that, when corrected, she could understand what was happening.

That chamber, unsurprisingly, was utterly infested with chimeras—denoted as pink blips. Though, there were also…other contacts—denoted as grey blips outlined in denizen blue. Indeed, thus both infested and occupied.

From what was able to be assessed, there were initially thirty-two likely-denizen contacts, split between twenty likely-gobliniform contacts and…twelve heavy armored contacts that were bulkier and taller than even the denizens of this continent… Despite the interference, additional characteristics could be inferred, such as green pigmentation and pointy ears. They were all what the Remnant would technically classify as ‘quasi-humans’ or ‘quasi-adjacent’.

Though, there was also the presence of…

Quite frankly, neither she nor Bee had any the clue as to what…they could classify this…whatever as. It was simply denoted as a question mark.

Certainly, such was not helped by that ‘security lock’ enacted due to being without her trooper-ping, for she had no access to her terminal device’s copy of Remnant records for analysis and referencing. This restricted any analysis purely to data scanned, documented, and collected directly by her and her machinations.

Nevertheless, there was what appeared to be a…large humanoid; the apparent height of this…thing was rather peculiar, being unsustainable to the human body-plan without extensive modifications—the square-cube law and such… Something could not just be magically scaled up since the increase in volume, thus mass, exceeded the increase in surface area.

Yet that was hardly even the most peculiar characteristic; that privilege went to its…singular undivided eye-cavity, which could be an indication of…an unhemisphered…brain? Seriously, how was that thing even functioning? Let alone…alive? Truly, would that she were actually there so that she could use her communicator-scanner device to…well…scan it.

« Hmm… » Antica mumbled, eyes fixated… She was now monitoring Fly’s…admittedly choppy and hazy…direct visuals. Truly, she did not necessarily like what she could see of this situation…It was devolving into a total free-for-all, seemingly.

She was contemplating intervention, yet the presence of those…denizen-adjacent contacts complicated things greatly…

Suddenly: “Neigh.”

Antica sighed, turning her ignited eyes…to that ever-present unicorn… It was lingering behind her though at a distance…as if watching, observing. By now, Antica felt as though she was tuning its existence out… Staring at it, being around it, no longer had the same…effect.

The unicorn neighed equinely, tapping its hooves and shook its head, puffing.

« Quid oi síet? » Antica muttered, staring… So far, that…thing had been comparatively…silent—besides its usual noises and obsessive chewing. Yet now…it seemed more…energetic, its hooves unable to stand in place.

“Neigh. Neigh. Neigh.” it began to repeat over and over…those most…abhorrent of flat noises.

{N-T-CE!}

Her ear abruptly buzzed; she immediately evaluated her terminal device… Fly…was forced to withdraw. Movements… It was reporting lots of movement… Swiping the screen, she switched the tab to…her generated map…

« Ôh… » her breaths blurted… Ultimately, she did not need to directly check to know…what was descending upon her position, for that atrocious tide of emerging hoots and squeals…echoing forth from the cavern in front…provided the answer, growing louder and louder…

« Merda… »

She rapidly withdrew away, repositioning herself behind a conveniently located rock, mounting her modular small-arm upon it… Cyanic eyes fixated, brightening; finger on trigger, she readied herself for combat as that cold inhibiting focus took hold. And she made certain that it was set to automatic fire.

Interim

“AAGH! UFF MI! GHED DEM UFF MI! ID HORTS! ID HORTS!” the cyclops giant cried as it thrashed and smashed its club, feet, and hand all over and around, desperate; friends and foes were affected alike.

Clawing and gnawing away at the tumbling giant were dozens of ravenous monkey-bats.

“[EVERYWHERE! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! WE MUST FLEE!]” a goblin, panicking, shouted. It desperately stabbed its throwing spear into monkey-bat after monkey-bat, it along with the remaining ten goblins having been backed against a corner.

“[FLEE?! NO! WE MUST HOLD!]” an orc shouted in a voice most threatening. Of the twelve orcs, only five now remained—no thanks to the rampaging giant cyclops. Yet those still alive remained steadfast and stalwart, standing their ground in formation in front of the surviving goblins. Their heavy armor allowed them to ‘tank’ the monkey-bats’ attacks, so to speak.

“[SECOND GARRISON IS SOON TO ARRIVE! THEY WILL HEAR THE CARNAGE AND KNOW! COURAGE! COURAGE!]” another goblin shouted.

The shouts of these beleaguered few bounced in the background of such unrelenting hoots and squealing howls which squeezed the ears.

Indeed, so suddenly had these monkey-bats awoken from their once-induced hibernation. So suddenly had these monstrosities leaped and glided themselves down with such foaming mouths from the ceiling atop and the rocky walls around. They viciously gnawed and tore into everything and anything; not even growl-hounds were spared from their bloodlust, though they were putting up an equally vicious fight.

What was initially some kind of skirmish between the apparent forces of so-called ‘mankind’ and that of these so-called ‘lesser and wicked races’ had devolved into a fight for survival.

“GODS’ SACRED TOILET!!” Red, panting away, exclaimed out. Having dropped his alien polearm after being so tossed by that orc, he had not the choice but to utilize Blue’s backup dagger and the sheer strength of his fists.

His irises shined with that radiant outline of adventurer-green as he bludgeoned, stabbed, and sliced; the dagger’s blade wisped with such faint half-sleeping radiance, the weapon being as augmented as he himself.

Blue, panicking, was behind him; they remained firmly backed against the very ledge up which they were supposed to climb. Yet the ravenous monkey-bats, screeching away, were crawling all over the walls, including the one behind them. It was impossible to climb. And these monkey-bats, much like true bats, carried all kinds of horrid sicknesses and pestilences. They could not afford to be bitten.

Blue, not having the time to prime even her most basic spells, frantically stabbed at the monkey-bats above and behind with the sharpened pommel of her staff.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Cycle-firing shot after shot, Novea remained where she was, oblivious to the little insect gizmo directly above her. Her still-active shadow spell of inattention clouded her existence to both friend and foe, including—to her surprise—those monkey-bats.

However, because those monkey-bats were not comprehending her existence—or maybe they were ignoring her, hard to tell—many of them clawed straight passed her, crawling above the ceiling and walls around her as if a tide unleashed, heading into the greater cave behind. Indeed, many monkey-bats were even clawing through crevices in the cave around, burrowing in effect; their sharp claws could cut through rock, it seemed.

“BURROWER MONKEY-BATS, NOT REGULAR! I WAS WRONG!” Novea’s spell-muffled voice shouted, the effects beginning to wane.

“NO SHIT!” Red and Blue shouted as one.

Novea’s bullets, at least when well-aimed, were able to strike straight through a couple monkey-bats at once. Though, she was hardly a sharpshooter…and these were very agile moving targets. She had to pick her shots with grave care.

“GODS’ SACRED TOILET! HOW MANY OF THESE THINGS ARE THERE?!” Red shouted, relentlessly defending Blue from the front.

“I CAN’T! I CAN’T KEEP! I DON’T KNOW!” Blue, becoming exhausted, shouted in reply. She was keeping the monkey-bats from flanking behind, though she could not keep up with what truly seemed to be an endless tide; her arm muscles were burning, not to mention the monkey-bats’ blood which felt…as if acidic.

However, the monkey-bats were not infinite, and they had so many targets to pick from; compared to the growl-hounds and goblins being torn apart, plus the orcs barely holding their ground, Red and Blue were…perhaps, lucky.

Likewise, Red, despite his mind being frantic, was starting to notice…

“WAIT!” he abruptly shouted; grabbing Blue by her fatigued arm, he pulled both her and himself away from that ledge against which they were backed, running off to the side.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Blue shouted, confused.

Yet once they were away from that wall and thus their exit-climb, the quantity of monkey-bats attacking them had decreased…

“Heh… They were trying to get out; we were just in the way…” Red, breaths panting, noted. Their fighting still continued, granted, but this was…a considerable improvement.

And it did not take long before all those monkey-bats whose fixated priority was, for whatever reason, breaking out into the greater cave…had done so; the still countless remaining were those who intended to defend their territory.

Though, still, such granted them some respite, Novea especially since there were hardly any more monkey-bats tunneling around her… And by now, not only was her shadow spell beginning to wither, but she was also left with only one last shot…which…she wanted to save…just in case.

Any lingering, Novea simply daggered. Though, now, she…did not know what to do. Everything was so chaotic and…overwhelming; she could hardly hear her own thoughts.

Yet…

“GAAAGH!” such roaring shrieks tremored the cavern, almost, nearly stunning the spines of those about.

The giant cyclops being the largest and most prominent target, the remaining monkey-bats found themselves fixated on it, latching on. Chewing, clawing, and injecting pestilence. The cyclops being made of flesh, many had no problem simply burrowing into its flesh… The wheezing giant was being chewed from both the outside and the inside.

Worsely, monkey-bats were rather…eusocial things. Their foaming mouths and strange sweat released pheromones as they attacked, signaling a target priority to the rest which only intensified the more there were.

Indeed, as everything so spiraled forward, the cyclops only became the greater priority.

Red…could see the change in focus, no longer being as attacked. However, such also meant that…

“WAAAG! [NOW! CHARGE! DEFEND THE CYCLOPS!]” Indeed, the orcs were given their chance. They broke formation, charging forth; the goblins had not the choice but to follow.

“Shit…” Red quickly grabbed Blue’s arm again and ran back to that ledge up which they needed to climb… He immediately eyed it up, breaths fatigued.

Novea, shadow spell having largely withered, peered down… “Smeared with blood, but it’s clear! You can climb! So climb!” she urged.

Right, this was their chance. His eyes snapped to Blue; “Blue! You first! Climb!” He shoved Blue’s backup dagger, dripping with ravenous blood, into her hand…

“Eww…” she mumbled, sheathing it… “W-what… What about yo—” she was trying to articulate…

“Do not think!” Red interrupted; “Just fucking climb! Short and easy! I’ll watch your back!”

Blue…looked at him, her eyes so worried indeed. Though…she trusted him. “Alrightly, I’ll climb… I’ll climb…” Nodding her head, she turned…and looked up… Taking a deep breath, she began to scale up, her staff…dangling from a strap wrapped around her being.

Reaching near the ridge of this short climb, Novea quickly lunged to help Blue finish the climb.

“Thanks… Thanks…” Blue, panting and sweating, thanked…as she swiped at her dirtied attire… “I am amazed my hat is still on…”

“FORTUNE, FUCK YOU!” such words shouted from below.

Immediately, Blue peered her eyes down, worried quite… “You have to be…” she muttered…

Indeed, as if Fortune was playing games, right as Blue finished her climb, two surviving growl-hounds decided to bully Red…who was left with only his fists—which, granted, were still sufficient enough.

However, Fortune had yet finished her scheme, for…

Clink. Clank. Rattle.

In the background of the hooting howls and sheering cycloptic roars, the sounds of marching steel echoed from that other tunnelway directly ahead, figures emerging from the darkened abyss.

“[FINALLY!]” so shouted in rallying cry, a surviving orc, having now been reduced to merely three.

Armor clanking away, dozens of orcs began to arrive in an organized formation unbecoming of an orc, alongside goblin auxiliaries armed with javelins, crossbows, bows, and…firearms. Unleashing orcish battle-cries, they all began to charge in a wall-formation, goblins behind.

“YOU NEED TO CLIMB UP! NOW!” Blue cried.

Red hurled a scream, his partially ignited eyes gleaming; immediately, his fist bashed the skull of one, knocking it out, before swinging its body right onto the other, knocking it back. Growl-hound staggered, he quickly began to climb without delay; the second growl-hound, rebounding, was left clawing at the rock below, ferociously biting at the air.

He made it back up just fine, finishing the climb unaided.

“Gods’ sacred…” he muttered as he stood himself up, Blue helping. His entire figure was starting to burn indescribable. Panting, he turned and looked at the scene below… His polearm was still down there… He could see it…

The cyclops was no longer standing… On the ground, whimpering and overwhelmed. Without it tumbling around, the orcs were even more violent and up close, yet remained atypically disciplined; the goblins hurled arrows and javelins, the handgunners being left in reserve.

The monkey-bats, however, remained both ravenous and steadfast… Despite so many being slaughtered, so many still persisted; though, most seemed concentrated on the cyclops, at least.

“Fantastic… How many are there now?” Red wondered…

“Fifteen orcs, twenty goblins—six of which are with…firearms” Novea stated.

“No fucking shit...” Red muttered…

“This only confirms… That tunnel path, it’s connected to a larger under-network; this is probably not their only…den…” Novea remarked; “Though, I don’t know what they were doing here…”

“Don’t matter. They can’t remain…” Red frankly stated.

Novea looked at him; “…I think it would be best if we took our chance to get out of here and then inform the—”

“No, no,” Red interrupted, “Pebbleberry expects me to handle this, and I don’t back out… By the time we tell the Guild, these greenies will have ransacked the entire village”.

“I did not agree to this, Red…” Novea said.

Red exhaled; “I know…” he…actually acknowledged. He backed away from the ledge, the other two doing the same… Just to keep their distance and free themselves of the noise.

“So, what are you planning? Those monkey-bats are inevitability going to lose…” Novea inquired.

Red remained silent; his mind simply cogitated and recalled…

Blue, abruptly, began to peer in the direction ahead… “Had not a mass of them…stampeded through here…?” she realized, though…she then began to…notice… “Wait, is anyone else…hearing that? Little tremors and…poofs… Is something happening far-far back?”

Yet Red was far too preoccupied in mind to care about such minuscule background details, Novea too.

“Alright,” Red finally began to speak, his eyes lancing to “Blue!”

“Huh??” Blue’s attention jolted in kind…

“We’re going with your idea… Prepare the big one” thus he instructed…

Blue stared… “…you…are serious? Now we are—”

“I wouldn’t be saying shit if I wasn’t serious” Red stated.

Blue, breathing, nodded…“…heh…” Her timid expression became a…tiny smirk; “…goodly heard…”

Red shifted his attention to Novea; “You, birdy! Load new shots… You’ll be taking out those handgunners—once they realize, they’ll try to take her out” he thus instructed.

“Got it.” Novea acknowledged and began to do…just that.

-|-

The fighting continued; the monkey-bats were greatly reduced yet remained uncontained. The orcs used their spears, side-swords, and very fists to rip, cut, and pierce.

Yet although the monkey-bats could not penetrate the orcish armor, they could leap onto them and gash their faces or…throats. Though, any causalities were rectified by the arrival of yet more reinforcements.

The cyclops was essentially dead even if still breathing, its body still twitching with feasting movements within as if being made a new edible home.

Novea, crouched down, cocked her firearm’s hammer; “Ready…”

Red, standing behind, turned his eyes… “Blue?”

Blue, hunkered next to Novea, took out…a rather specific spellcard from her special holding container, a card emblazoned with that symbol of ice magic. More elaborate and glittery than any typical spellcard, it was clearly high-level.

She nodded; “Ready…”

“Remember, once it’s ready to burst, we all back away until out of range…” Red reminded.

“Yep…”

“I know.” Blue and Novea acknowledged.

Novea, taking a focusing breath, eyed what she could in the dimly lit chamber… The fighting was slowing down… Fast and quick, she had to be. Her six targets identified, she took her aim.

“Do it” Red gave the signal.

Bang. A cloud of smoke covered their sight.

Instantly, a goblin handgunner was struck in the throat; falling down, the goblin clenched as it bled and gagged.

“[HUH?!]” a goblin immediately jolted, startled; “[WHAT WAS THAT?!]”

Bang. Instantly, another goblin gunner was struck dead.

“[GUN! SEE SMOKE! THERE!]”

Bang. Another goblin dead, albeit…not a gunner—just in the way.

The goblins in reserve stumbled from the sudden gunshots, the orcs and other goblins too preoccupied with the remaining monkey-bats to break their focus…

“[GUN! GUN!]”

“[WE KNOW YOU MORONS! COUNTER-FIRE!]”

Identifying the smoke above, the remaining four handgunners took aim.

Bang. Another dead before it could fire; finger still on trigger, its firearm discharged upon death.

“[REPEATER!]”

Two of the remaining three, panicking, fired their shots. Yet, jittery panic aside, their firearms were smoothbores of questionable quality. The bullets missed, yet their whistling impacts were still enough to startle Blue and Novea, who quickly tried to shoot faster in spook.

Bang. She missed. Cycle. Hammer. Bang. She struck…the one goblin who had not fired.

“Four dead, two have to reload! No point in waiting!” Novea signaled, breaths exhausted from sheer focus…

With four neutralized and two left to reload their…muzzle-loading firearms, the risk of being sniped mid-casting were nullified.

Now it was…

“My turn…” Blue mumbled. Ears…a little unhappy, she took a deep breath of the smoke-filled air, gripping her staff. She readied her mind, focusing in absolute. Standing tall before the ledge, she pointed her staff forward and up at the chamber ahead, her eyes then glancing at the spellcard held in her other hand.

Immediately, Blue’s eyes ignited in that icy-blue, the spellcard dissolving into such potent wisp-dusty radiance. Magical eminence bled out from her being and nerves, ever-so faint, accumulating at the staff’s tip, connected and weaving…

Complexities in action, processes underway, all unseen; roots and wisps of such icy eminence began to permeate throughout the chamber.

The goblins paused, noticing the shift and change…in the air around; the orcs noticed too, yet continued to fight.

Accumulating, concentrating, wispy radiance congregated as properties changed, arcane potency becoming more visible. Before abruptly, Blue’s eyes ignited even more as all that icy-blue radiance began to flare.

A gargantuan radiant sphere spiraled into shape; as if a cyclonic vortex, air, from the cave around to the very breaths of all that which breathed…blew along, becoming entrapped within the pulsating shell. So much air, indeed, that it perhaps felt…harder to breathe—or maybe, such was a trick of the mind.

Within these seconds, the orcs became distracted too, staring up… Yet the surviving monkey-bats cared little for this suddenty; they continued clawing and gashing, pouncing the distracted orcs.

The gargantuan wisp-dusty sphere of magic began to contract and compress, temperatures within rapidly collapsing. The radiance only intensified, becoming as if it were steaming with frigid frost. Contracting and contracting, what was initially a gargantuan spiraling sphere which occupied much of the chamber’s volume…was now the size of large playball. Yet contained within it…was still that same mass of air it had so entrapped, now hardly gas as much as liquid under extreme pressure—perhaps supercritical, even.

Lowering altitude, floating above them all with such wisp-steaming freeze…was a frost-bomb so eager to detonate. And it only contracted more and more.

An orc snarled aloud, bashing a monkey-bat with its fist; “WAAG! [WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! KILL THE CASTER!]”

“[NO! DON’T! DON’T!]” a panicking goblin intervened; “[I’VE SEEN THIS SPELL BEFORE! IT’S LIKE A BOMB! KILLING THE CASTER WILL DETONATE IT, KILLING US ALL!]”

“[THEN WE DIE!]” the orc merely rebuked, crushing the skull of yet another monkey-bat.

Many goblins looked at each other and then at the orcs; “[RUN!]” a goblin screamed as a few began to run.

“[COWARDS!]” an orc growled. The orcs quickly turned on their former comrades, crushing and stabbing any retreating goblins.

The pulsating ball contracted ever-more until, finally, the icy radiance, now more frosted-white than blue, gleamed brightly.

“Alrightly! It’s ready!” Blue shouted, breaths far more fatigued than before…

“Good! Back away, now!” Red so commanded.

Promptly, the three retreated away from that ledge and that chamber, faster and faster.

Although there was a command to do it, the nature of what this spell was made it so that any disruption to it could trigger its…finale. They merely continued moving until, finally, the spell’s maximum allowed range…was crossed.

And thus, that volatile wisp-dusty ball so popped. A gaseous scream and tremoring breeze, as all of that extreme-pressurized liquid air was freed. The force of the blast alone was enough to inflict injury to those closest, but the steaming sprays and streaming cloud unleashed touched everything else with deadly freeze.

By the time temperatures stabilized, everything within that chamber was either dead or terribly frost-burned with bitten flesh. Over-kill, perhaps. But the job was finished.