The Original Beefcake

As soon as Janette raised her rifle the other class holders got ready for combat and the scientists ran for cover. Something was moving in the twilight of the cave, but Marcus could not see it clearly. The area was the opposite of flat, giving everybody natural cover. "Animal or monster?" Kou asked, as he slowly moved to the left and used hand signs to tell Achara to do the same to the right. "I couldn't see well, but it is big and all big things we have seen on the planet have been monsters," Janette responded.

Janette did hang back while Marcus slowly advanced, there were a multitude of scratching sounds coming from the inside of the cave. He tried to imagine what kind of thing would cause such a sound, but he couldn't come up with anything nice. A second later he didn't need to imagine anymore. Something shot up behind a pile of rubble and the same moment a shot rang through the cave. A metallic "pling" sound confirmed the hit, but the shadow vanished with a screech behind the rocks.

"I hit whatever it is, but it is armored on the head," Janette shouted, and Marcus decided to use this interruption to quickly push forward. He took two steps, as suddenly something big rose from the darkness, just two meters to his left. "MOVE!" Kou's voice, and Marcus jumped to the right feeling lighter than usual thanks to Kou. An organic sound was followed by something splashing against the stone behind him. He turned and saw a creature from a horror movie.

The centipede-like thing, half of its dark, leathery body raised from the ground and dozens of claw-like legs twitching, focused on Marcus. The sharp mandibles on its armored head spread apart and something told Marcus to get the hell away. He threw himself behind a rock formation and a second later something made a wet sound, again. A shot fell and screeching followed while Marcus got back to his feet.

"There is more than one and they can spew some kind of liquid. NO, scratch that, it's acid. The rock is melting!" Achara informed the team, and her voice was tense. Marcus sprinted back to the cave entrance while the rest unloaded a few pop shots. "Those monsters are crawling behind the larger rocks. We need lights," Marcus said, trying to calm his pulse. Kou and Achara grabbed the powerful expedition lamps and acted as lighthouses, illuminating the dark cave. Now, they could see two bodies writhing between stone piles and rocks. A third one was already on the ground, twitching thanks to Janette's deadly aim.

Two more, Marcus thought and started another attack. He climbed over rocks and moved from the right this time. A centipede head rose up, but a "clang" against its head made it vanish again. "Their heads are completely armored, we have to aim lower," Janette said with frustration in her voice. "I have this one locked," she added. Marcus saw where she was aiming and moved closer, ready to jump back as soon as the head would rise up again. There was scratching and in the next moment the thing was lunging at him. A shot rang through the cave, but the monster was already upon him.

Claws and mandibles scratched at Marcus, tearing at his armor and trying to get to the soft goodness underneath. The thing was much heavier than he had expected and only Anchor stopped him from being thrown to the ground. He pushed his right fist through the clawing legs and punched the body with Impulse Hammer. The beast shrieked and was thrown back, toppling over and writhing on the ground.

Marcus stepped forward to finish it off, but a "Behind you!" from Achara made him turn and cover his face with his arms. The last centipede had risen behind him and was ready to cover him with acid. The attack never reached Marcus. The monster's head suddenly turned, as Kou used his ability. The acid went wide and a second later a large hole appeared a bit under its head, Janette had adjusted her aim.

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They quickly finished the wounded one off before it was able to crawl away and confirmed the death of the rest. "So, this is officially the bug planet," Achara said, with a disgusted voice. "Could have been worse, could have been snakes," Kou said, and made a high five with Marcus.

"Is it okay to come out?" Carmen asked, and after double checking they gave the okay.

Malcolm quickly, really as quickly as he could, moved to the corpses and inspected them with scientific vigor. In the meantime Marcus checked his armor. The claws had caused only some minor damage but a few drops of the acid had made holes in his arm and leg armor. "Would have been bad if you had taken a full load of that." Janette looked at the small holes in his armor. She was right, next time they should use the lights first or he needed to remember that his armor has IR sight.

"Hey, has anybody else gained TWO levels?" Achara asked, and now Marcus realized he leveled twice too. They all had gotten two levels and spent their crests. Kou looked down to one of the corpses, "We might have been lucky, given how much EXP we gained. They could have been far more dangerous than it looked."

"I agree," Carmen said, and waved them over. She stood over a pile of parts, waste and other things left behind from various victims of the centipede monsters. She picked up something that looked like a melted piece of green chitin. "If they devoured the green bugs, then they might have gained a lot of EXP and that would explain it," Kou said, and added, "Lucky none of them evolved." Marcus had to agree.

A lot of things about monsters were still unknown, but a few rough rules existed. They give and gain experience points. They can have abilities and powers comparable to class holders and if they get enough EXP they can evolve to higher forms. How they came into being and why was one of the big unsolved questions, but everybody agreed it must have something to do with the monoliths. It has been theorized that all worlds with monoliths have portals and eventually monsters. Marcus was not aware of any monster sightings on Earth. Maybe that was only a question of time.

While Malcolm made a report about the centipedes the rest prepared to move on. Bianca seemed unsettled by the centipedes and visibly avoided them. "She hates bugs," Malcolm said, with a sad look. It sounded nearly like "she hates me", but Marcus didn't say anything. They slowly descended into the cave and eventually found the entrance. A smooth gray material formed an archway to a tunnel made from the same material. The entrance was half buried behind stones and rocks and they needed half an hour to remove enough rubble to enter the tunnel safely.

"Some kind of concrete maybe, but much smoother." Carmen touched the wall and took some close up photos. The floor was covered in dust and rubble, but overall it seemed in good shape. Marcus looked up and pointed his light at the ceiling, there were small half globes every few meters. "Lights?" He asked, and the others looked too. "Most likely. This might be the product of the same advanced civilization that left the other ruins behind," Bianca said, now more in her element.

If so, is this also 100k years old? Marcus had trouble believing this.

The tunnel quickly opened up into a larger room with some parts of the ceiling collapsed and undefinable remnants of objects on the floor. Everything had withered to the point they were no longer able to identify its use. The room had several doors, which were all open. Janette took a closer look at one, while the scientist continued to document their findings. "It is just a guess, but these doors have been opened by force," Janette said, and Kou agreed shortly after, "At some point somebody forced their way in here. We might not be the first explorers or scavengers to come here." This greatly reduced the chance to find something truly valuable, Marcus knew.

They decided to go with a left hand rule and check the paths. The idea from Carmen to split up was shot down in an instant by the whole team. "You are just asking to be eaten by an eldritch horror," Janette mumbled. Walking through the ruins was exciting, but also mind numbing. Corridor after corridor, room after room, was filled with rubble or undefinable trash. Still, Marcus found the idea to walk in the footsteps of another civilization exhilarating. They came around a corner after a long corridor and they found a closed door. The first.

They had some tools at hand, but Achara thought to use a heavy crowbar first. She was the one with the most strength crests in the team. Janette did not fail to point this out… again and again. Marcus watched Achara go to work, trying to find an anchor point for leverage to open the metal door. She put her foot against the frame of the door and started to apply force. Marcus saw a small trickle of water escaping beneath the door and jumped the same moment Kou pulled Achara away from the door with his Move ability. They nearly collided and Achara looked shocked. Marcus just grabbed her arm and pulled her further away. Water was leaking through the door and Kou shouted, "EVERYBODY RUN!"