Osamaru Ta
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(AS) B2 - Lesson 54 "Wanna See A Magic Trick?" (reedited)
🕑 Added 2024-09-21 01:45:40 +0000 UTCSept 24 EDIT: Someone sent me a message saying this one was a mess, and boy were they right. I must have copied the first draft by mistake. It should be better now.
Next chapter will be later today! (Sept 24)
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A mage, a scout, and two goblins walked into a dark, primal jungle.
As much as Antchaser wished that a punchline was coming, that was the reality of their situation. The forest past the tunnel was far different from their home cavern. Where the goblin cavern was filled with towering redwood trees and massive mushrooms, this new cavern was a tangled mass of overgrown vegetation and strangling vines.
Even the path cleared in advance by Alpha’s ants was already disappearing under fresh growth.
“Why is there a jungle next door?!” Maggy complained, incinerating a thumb-sized insect with a thought before it could sneak into her robes.
“That’s the nature of the Deep,” Garrelt responded. He and Boarslayer stood in front of the group, hacking away at the thick brush to clear their way.
Antchaser took the rear, the same plasma cutter he’d used in the Dragon’s Garden clutched tightly in his hands.
“Most Deep caverns are pretty insulated. You never really know what you’ll find walking from one cavern to the next. I know of a tribe of Deep Dwarves who live in an underground desert under a massive pool of magma, held in place by a spiritual barrier. Pure metal dust will filter through the barrier and fall like snow to the sands below, where the tribe sifts it out.
“Another well-known cavern is the Shattered World, a place filled with so much broken space no one is sure where it starts and where it ends,” the goblin continued.
Measured from the outside, the cavern was less than ten square kilometers wide. Yet some people have reached the opposite wall in less than ten steps, while others have spent months, or even years, traveling constantly. That was the kind of place you could find in the Deep.
“And that’s why access to the Deep is so coveted,” Garrelt said, picking up the conversation. “The sheer variety of strange environments down here gives birth to uncountable treasures and resources that can’t be found on the surface.”
“How do you not know any of this?” Boarslayer asked the young mage.
Maggy huffed. “I’m an Old Ruins researcher! As far as we know, there’s never been an instance of Old Ruin architecture this deep. Not that anyone knows why. That’s what makes the Dragon’s Garden so interesting. It obviously has Old Ruin influences, if not directly. The implications could be… groundbreaking!”
Boarslayer exchanged a look with Antchaser, though neither said anything.
“Anyway,” Garrelt continued, cutting through another thick vine that blocked their way with his heavy machete, “all that variance also means the Deep is, on average, far more dangerous than the surface. You never know what kind of strange things you’ll find down here.”
Sccccrrrreeeeeee!!!
As Garrelt swung at another vine, his machete failed to cut all the way through. Instead, it became lodged in the writhing vine, screeching vine, as dark red blood bubbled out.
“Ambush!” Garrelt yelled as a dozen ‘vines’ fell on the group. Being the largest of the group, Boarslayer seemed to get the brunt of the assault. She lifted her arms in time for several fanged maws to latch onto her forearms. Serpentine bodies as thick as an adult human’s wrist wound themselves around her arms and body, as short, clawed limbs dug shallow groves into her muscled arms.
Boarslayer slammed her arm against a nearby tree with enough force to crack the trunk, loosening one of the creature’s grip enough that she could slip several fingers under it. She pulled, and the creature was torn apart in a spray of gore. A hammer fist to her shoulder drove another creature’s fangs deeper but also crushed its head with the sound of a cracking skull.
In only a few breaths, the ambush was over. Maggy stood in a charred circle, blackened vines surrounding the wide-eyed, panting woman, while Garrelt calmly cleaned his glistening daggers. Not a single scratch or drop of blood was visible on the scout leader himself.
Boarslayer swayed slightly as they regrouped, her vision swimming.
Garrelt steadied her with a hand. “Hanging Longs,” he said, kicking a body away.
The long, green bodies looked like vines at first glance, but closer inspection showed distinctly reptilian features with four pairs of short, clawed limbs scatted along its long body. Near the head and tail were manes of bright red feathers that gave the appearance of hanging berries from a distance.
“Mildly venomous, but not very dangerous for someone of your cultivation and size. The blood will attract something nastier in a place like this, though. Let’s move on and find somewhere for you to cycle the venom,” he continued.
“Ummm… guys?” Maggy suddenly spoke up. Garrelt and Boarslayer turned to Maggy with a questioning look.
The young mage nervously looked around the area, asking, “Where’s Antchaser?”
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Antchaser struggled against his bindings, but the strange threads only tightened in response. He had never seen his captor, and even now, as he was dragged through the unnaturally silent jungle, whatever held the other end of the threads was careful to never enter his line of sight.
That was bad.
It spoke of intelligence beyond that of a simple spirit beast. That was even before considering how the creature had taken advantage of the other spirit beast’s ambush or grabbed Antchaser before his companions had even noticed.
It had descended on him in absolute silence, binding him with black threads that seemed to materialize out of thin air. In less time than it took to draw a breath in warning, Antchaser had been pulled into the underbrush.
What’s more, despite feeling every bump and bruise as he was pulled at speed over the jungle floor, Antchaser could tell at a glance he wasn’t leaving a trail — not a broken branch or torn leaf was left in his wake.
If Antchaser had been the same person he was several months ago, he might have fallen into despair. Lucky for him, he wasn’t that goblin any longer.
The goblin gave one more push against his bindings. The threads barely had any give, but it was enough. A bulge near his shoulder wiggled under the threads, making its way toward where the bindings ended, just under Antchaser’s nose.
The [Wasp] drone wiggled free a moment later. The drone turned, looked at Antchaser, then spread its wings and launched into the air. Antchaser sighed in relief as he watched the drone fly away. Alpha could track his and Boarslayer’s exact positions using their implants. It didn’t matter what kind of stealth tricks his mysterious captor was using.
Now, they would just have to think of a way to explain that to the Adventurers…
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If Alpha had a body, he would be grinding his teeth at that moment. He’d grown overconfident over the last few months, as his capabilities had grown. He had forgotten an important lesson about this hellscape planet; expect the unexpected.
To be fair, the goblin’s implants weren’t built to detect stealthed enemies, and there was only so much data he could gather through his [Wasp] drone scouts at once. Even so, he was kicking himself for letting slip by like this.
Even now, Alpha couldn’t get a good lock on whatever dragged Antchaser deeper into the jungle. The drone’s optical cameras could only make out a blurry shadow moving through the treetops.
Lucky for him, whatever method the creature used to avoid detection wasn’t obscuring the tracking signal from Antchaser’s implants.
He could lead them right to… wherever it was, the creature was taking Antchaser without it even knowing it was being tracked.
The problem was convincing the other two to follow Boarslayer’s directions. She might have been an expert hunter, but so was Garrelt. The man might become suspicious if she started following a trail he couldn’t see. Luckily, he had an idea… though he doubted Boarslayer would enjoy it.
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“I can’t see a thing!” Boarslayer roared before turning to Garrelt. “What about you?”
Garrelt shook his head. “Nothing.”
The floating motes of mana surrounding Maggy vanished, and she opened her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t get a read on him. Whatever took him is blocking my divination somehow.”
Boarslayer slammed her fit into a nearby tree. “Damm it! How does someone just vanish without a trace?!”
“Teleportation, maybe?” Maggy proposed. “Though if that was the case, we should have felt the energy fluxation. Teleporting isn’t subtle in the slightest.” She glanced around the thick forest. “Should we split up? See if we can find any clues?”
Garrelt looked at the young mage like she was an idiot. “Splitting up is the worst possible thing we could do. More so if whatever happened to Antchaser isn’t a one-off. No, we head back to the village and gather more people. A few of my scouts have more… esoteric abilities. We’ll find him. If he lives.”
“But that will —” Maggy began to say.
“Maggy,” Garrelt cut her off, his eyes hard. “We know nothing of what happened here. Knowing when to proceed and when to retreat separates the Adventurers who get to go home and those who don’t,” he said before turning toward the tunnel entrance. It would likely be at least half a day before they could return. They had to trust that Antchaser could survive until then.
“Wait!” Boarslayer said as a voice whispered in her ear. The two Adventurers paused. They turned and stared at the goblin in confusion.
“I…” Boarslayer spoke through clenched teeth, nearly snarling the words the voice in her ear had her parrot, “I might have a way to… track Antchaser.”
Garrelt raised a brow as if to say, ‘continue.’
Boarslayer sighed and rubbed her temples. “Antchaser and I are… Oathbound.”
Garrelt’s eyes widened, though Maggy looked between the two in uncertainty.
“Oathbound? What do you mean?” Maggy asked.
Boarslayer grumbled wordlessly, leaving Garrelt to answer. “It’s an old form of soul binding. Rarely done now these days. In fact, the only place I know it’s still practiced is the Radiant Sea. Why would two goblins near the other side of the continent be Oathbound in the manner of the Wandering Cities?”
Maggy turned to Boarslayer, her eyes wide and sparkling. “Does that mean you two are married?! When did that happen?! Well, I mean, I guess it’s obvious in hindsight. You two do spend a lo—”
“NO!” Boarslayer roared, shaking the nearby trees with the sound of her voice. “Divines above, NO, we’re NOT married, girl! What kind of…” Boarslayer took a deep breath and collected herself. “My point is, I can track him… kinda.”
Garrelt frowned and narrowed his eyes as he stared at Boarslayer. “Why is this the first time we’re hearing about this?”
Boarslayer folded her arms and frowned right back at him. “Because it’s a personal matter, and frankly, none of your business,” she responded, thinking on her feet.
Garrelt raised his hands in defeat. “Fair, that’s fair. Fine. If you’re able to track him, then let’s get moving. Every moment we waste is more time for them to get farther away. Lead the way, Ms. Boarslayer.”
Boarslayer didn’t bother to say anything more. Instead, she turned off the trail and walked deeper into the jungle.
Maggy gave Boarslayer a cheesy smirk as she passed the goblin, and Boarslayer felt her eye twitch. She was going to have a talk with Alpha about this stunt later. She didn’t doubt news of her ‘oath’ would spread like wildfire. Boarslayer would milk the Dungeon Core of everything she could for agreeing to this.
Comments
Osamaru Ta
Orz unfortunately I've been sick all day with food poisoning, was just about to make a post. I'm feeling a lot better after sleeping it off though, chapter should be tomorrow.
JulesBeHere
Haha the Oathbound thing is hilarious. I'm glad Antchaser seems to be much more confident, too, which makes sense considering Alpha's got his back. The next chapter should be good! I'm looking forward to finding out more about that creature
