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*Chapter 70 - Labasta
🕑 Added 2021-09-01 21:36:40 +0000 UTCChapter 70 - Labasta
“How’s the studying going?”
Trey propped his back against a fallen, moss covered tree and slid over. Leaning to the side to get a better look at what Ashe was reading, he was indeed correct that it was the ‘Grimoire of the Dark Hand’ he’d given her to learn the Dark attribute.
Ashe wore her usual leather outfit and casually flipped the next page over before glancing up at him. Sweat trickled down her face, and she took a canteen at her side - flipping up the top and downing a good amount of water before letting herself breath again.
She exhaled, wiped away some of the sweat along her forehead, and passed the water to Trey. “It’s coming along, but I still don’t understand a lot of it. You got lucky, just being handed the attribute. There’s a lot of magical theory involved with this that is way over my head.”
The brilliant jungle sunlight glared hot daggers down on them through the foliage overhead, and looking up - Trey saw one of Gorhtomal’s tiny red imps ten yards away keeping watch in the canopy.
“Yeah I got lucky.” Trey admitted with a grin. He tapped her shoulder to get her attention after she’d started reading again, and he head-bobbed to the side. Want to take a break? Come and walk with me. I need to clear my head.”
She glanced around, shrugged, and then pocketed the book in a satchel along her side. “Yeah I can take a walk. Let’s just let the others know first so they don’t flip out when they realize we’re gone.”
Five minutes later, Trey and Ashe were slowly trodding through the shrubbery back the direction they’d come from earlier that day. They’d already scouted out the area numerous times with Atharost or Gorthomal’s harpies, and were relatively certain that there wasn’t any obvious threat in the area. So they felt comfortable moving about, as long as they stayed within a somewhat close proximity to the camp.
“You should really lay off the drinking Trey. You’re doing too much of it lately.”
Trey was about to put the flask of liquor to his lips, but stopped and frowned when he caught Ashe’s gaze. “Why should I lay off?”
“Why?” Ashe repeated, a little sourly. She folded her arms, stopped him mid-stride, and gave him a scowl. “Seriously Trey?”
Trey capped the flask, pocketed it, and shrugged. “I don’t see that there’s any problem with it.”
“We’re in the middle of Ornthas Trey.”
“There isn’t anything around here, we’ll be fine.”
Her scowl deepened, and she stepped forward to promptly smack Trey upside the forehead with the back of her hand like a mother would when scolding her son. “That’s how you get killed, idiot! Getting drunk on the job is not an option, you goddamned alcoholic!”
Trey rubbed at the red area she’d left behind. It’d been a particularly hard smack, and he irritatedly grumbled to himself. “Jesus…”
She just shook her head, eyed him for a bit, then turned to look down the trail they’d traversed earlier that day. They were in the beginnings of the mountains now, on the lower end with the jungle spreading out below them like a green blanket of vegetation. Far off in the distance, they could still barely see the ocean from up here. It looked more like a vacation spot, rather than a hellhole infested with undead.
Ashe’s scowl faded, and it was replaced with a softer, melancholy gaze. The wind rustled her blonde hair, and her eyes settled on the distant sea. “I wish we had more time to relax… to take some time off and just enjoy all of this.”
She motioned him to follow, and sat down on a large moss-covered boulder with a good vantage point to overlook the beautiful tropical landscape.
He followed, swinging his legs over the side of the rock to scoot up next to her with their arms lightly touching. It wasn’t anything sexual, but more of a close bond of friendship that the two had developed over the months of knowing one another. She’d definitely become one of the best friends he’d ever had in a short amount of time, and as she laid her head against his shoulder with a yawn and folded her arms up around her knees - he knew she felt the same way.
He paused the next instant though. His horns picked up vibrations off to his right, and his head swiveled to gaze into the forest. He didn’t see anything, nor did he hear anything… and the vibrations didn’t come again. They’d been fleeting anyways, so after some time had passed, he let it go.
“It’d be nice if we could buy one of these islands.” Trey thought aloud, putting an arm around her and giving her a friendly hug. “If we were somewhere that wasn’t infested with vermin.”
She chuckled, relaxing a little bit and letting her body sag further against his side. “Yeah. These undead… they really ruin this place.”
Trey raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. “I was talking about the ones who aren’t undead. Like the people in Teretog?”
The two had a good laugh, settling down a dozen seconds later. Then they sat in silence, just staring out at the view. Trey glanced skywards, noting storm clouds on the horizon to the east on an otherwise pure-blue sky. He really hoped that it wasn’t coming their way, but felt assured because the wind was picking up and blowing south-east.
Then, directly behind him, came a subtle and alien whisper…
“You smell nice…”
Trey spun, nearly knocking Ashe off the rock with his claws coming out. He bared his teeth and shimmered with shadow-magic, quickly scanning the area for any threat as Ashe did the same.
“What is it?!” Ashe asked, drawing up both crossbows with eyes widened. “I don’t see anything! Did you hear something?”
All around them was jungle. Just plants, more plants, a couple birds, and some insects. Trey’s brown furrowed as he nodded, summoning Talsh’Noc’Un to him and grasping it with both hands. He was seriously creeped out, and it didn’t help that he couldn’t see whatever the hell had just whispered into his ear. “Something just told me that I smelled nice… you didn’t hear it?”
Ashe just shook her head, but she went a little pale. “That’s… well that’s creepy. And a lie.”
Trey shot her a glare, and her scared countenance had a little bit of amusement mixed in after the low blow.
“You… smell nice…”
The whisper came from behind him for the second time, causing him to whirl again. Just like the time before, he didn’t see anything… but he definitely wasn’t imagining it. Now, however, he was getting a little bit nervous… because whatever this thing was: it had the ability to remain stealthed without detection even while whispering into his ear.
And that is when Ashe screamed. She dropped both crossbows, covered her mouth with one hand, and pointed directly at Trey in horror. “On your shoulder! GET IT OFF!”
Trey paled, and slowly turned his head to the shoulder Ashe was pointing at. There, sitting right on top of his left side, was a spider the size of his fist.
It was a cute little thing - colored blue and red, with two legs in front of it waving around at Trey’s face as if to try and get his attention.
“Hello.” The spider said with a courteous bow - still keeping both front legs up in front of it. “Why do you smell so nice? Are you a spider too?”
Trey’s features turned from worried to amused, and he sunk Talsh’Noc’Un blade-first into the dirt. “I’m definitely not a spider, no. How are you able to talk?”
“I have always been able to talk.” The spider replied, tapping his chin with one leg as if to make sure he was real. “But you are the first human I’ve come across that is able to talk back.”
Ashe was looking at him now with a flabbergasted, open-mouthed gawking expression. “Trey… are you speaking to that thing? What are those weird chittering noises your making?”
Trey glanced her way, momentarily taking his eyes off the somewhat larger-than-average arachnid. “Chittering noises? I’m not-”
He stopped, and realization hit him like a semi-truck. He HAD just been making chittering noises. He was talking to this spider just like the web runners back in that Earthborn tournament had talked to one another.
Livaria, Queen of the Web Runner’s Bane (Heroic) – Unlocks knowledge of hidden language: Arachnid. Unlocks a new physically-altering evolutionary skill tree: ‘Arachnid.’
[Arachnid] “Are you sure you’re not a spider?” the red and blue creature asked curiously, wiggling its backside in excitement. “You smell like my siblings, and we could all smell you for well over a mile.”
The word ‘Siblings’ caught Trey’s attention, and he immediately swiveled left again. [Arachnid] “Uh… well, I guess I’m potentially becoming part-spider. It’s a long story, but by siblings… Do you have family in the area?”
The arachnid laughed, or to Ashe’s ears - chittered. It then bobbed its legs up and down, displaying its fangs with a weird but friendly smile. [Arachnid] “Part spider? How interesting. And oh yes, I have thousands of my brothers and sisters nearby. You are very close to our nest… but because you smell like us, we wanted to talk to you to make sure you weren’t an enemy… before eating you or your friends.”
The trees to Trey’s left rustled, and with a flurrying motion from the arachnid on his shoulder - five gigantic spiders stepped out of the jungle into the small clearing. They were all far larger than the web runners Trey’d fought back in the swamps, as unbelievable as that was - but they’d remained hidden because of their natural camouflage. Each of them was the size of a pickup truck.
It was a chameleon-type of disguise, with their bodies completely blending into the foliage about them until they’d moved. The colors on their bodies shifted and weaved as they noiselessly stepped into view, until all of them stood a few feet from Trey’s position and settled into the blue and red colors of the spider on Trey’s shoulder.
Ashe was about ready to piss herself when the first of the newcomers reached out a foot to tentatively tap Trey on the head, like a human would a puppy. Trey stood absolutely still as it rubbed its arachnoid foot along his hair, brushed up against his horns and then withdrew.
Then, to their horror, hundreds of smaller spiders about the size of the one on Trey’s shoulder began creeping out of the underbrush to curiously gaze up at Trey.
[Arachnid] “They are just curious.” The little spider on his shoulder stated with a clicking hum. “We are all curious. But, I must clarify - you are not here to harm us, right? It would be a sad thing if we had to eat you, because you are such a rare specimen. We get enough food by eating the local wildlife and undead that roam by, there is no need for us to fight.”
Trey’s heart began to slow as the words sunk in, and he felt al little less tense. Taking another step forward, he placed one of his own hands warily on the creature who’d reached out to touch him - one of the enormous ones only a few feet away.
It let him do so without reacting, but its eight eyes never left him as it watched him with keen fascination.
He let on a grin, and turned back to Ashe who still had both hands up over her mouth. [Arachnid] “Yes… I agree. There’s no need to fight.”
Chittering from all around him began to spring up from hundreds of the creatures in unison, but they were quickly silenced by the one on Trey’s shoulder who began frantically waving at them with its front legs in irritation. After they’d calmed down, it glanced back up at Trey and tapped him on the chin again.
“Very well!” The spider stated with pleased glee in its voice. “I’m glad we spoke to you first. Usually humans come to kill us for our body parts, for potion making I believe - or out of fear. I am happy to see that we were not wrong in wanting to make contact. Do you have a moment to speak with us? We don’t get to see much of the outside world, and we are very curious as to what lays beyond the large blue water.”
Large blue water. Trey glanced out over the landscape and to the sea, then pointed. “The ocean?”
The spider followed his gaze and pointed at the ocean with a foot. “The large blue water.”
Trey chuckled, nodded, and walked over to sit back down on the boulder. “Alright then. What would you like to know?”
The blue and red spider scampered off his shoulder and onto his lap, then turned around to look up at him as the other arachnids gathered around. It chittered a couple times between them, the words understandable but a little too fast to keep up with - before it cocked its head his way.
“Everything you can tell us. It is a rare opportunity to speak with half-spiders, you are actually the first human-arachnid hybrid we’ve ever met. Tell us about your world, and we will leave you in peace.”
Briefly translating for Ashe, who was beyond stunned at the turn of events, he began casually telling the arachnids of how he’d come to be here in the first place. He settled down and began to tell them of Earth, his home planet. He told them of science, the milky way galaxy, space travel, artificial intelligence, medicine, and numerous other subjects before turning his story over to the world of Nagochus. He told them of what he knew of the kingdoms to the east - of Yosemar and its neighbors. He told them of the lawless lands, of Teretog, and of how human society functioned.
He’d sent Ashe back to the camp to let them know what the hold-up was, and she happily agreed to get the fuck out of there. It would be many hours after that before he’d finally finish conversing with the nest of arachnids, but by the end of it - he had a completely new appreciation for the intelligence and self-awareness of these creatures. He ended up leaving them unharmed, intrigued, and with an experience he’d never forget for the rest of his life under his belt.
He didn’t think he’d ever see them again, and as sad as that was - he was still optimistic about any future encounters he had with their species. Perhaps he’d even be able to make friends with their kind again, and looked forward to the potential opportunities to come.
***
Five days later and they finally arrived. After two weeks of being stalled by large groups of undead that they had to go out of their way to avoid, the way had finally cleared. The ruins of Labasta were within sight.
Unlike the majority of Ornthas, Labasta was located on the cusp of tropical paradise and the snow capped peak of the mountain it sat on. Vegetation was a little more scarce here and the landscape as a whole was less pretty, but it also made it easier to spot ambushes with fewer places to hide. At least… that was the case until they actually had to enter the ancient fortress-city. Inside there would be far more opportunity for unseen attacks and hidden alcoves.
Labasta was enormous. It spanned the length of many miles and ran into a crook of the mountainside, with most of its buildings in a state of ruin - though there were definitely a good percentage of them that stood mostly intact. Square and rectangular structures lined old roads once made of brick, but now the roads lay in ruins after the decay of time had taken hold. The structures that did remain standing were also usually made of stone, but a lot of the bigger buildings were actually created from steel. The towering skyscrapers this civilization had built used support structures with imbued enchantments to withstand the test of time or the elements, making the journey forward all that more daunting. The size and scope of the city was relatively close to that of Hong Kong or New York City but on a slightly smaller scale. A steel wall with various holes in it created from explosions over past centuries or even millenia surrounded the front before each end of the wall embedded into the jutting mountainside of the crook this city was positioned in. With a cliff face at the city’s sides and back, Trey could understand why the location had first been picked. It was a very easily defended area should the city be put to siege.
There was one prominent feature that stood out above all else though. It was built into the cliff face along the very back - a monument to the glory of what had once been the most powerful nation in this area of the world.
It was a huge steel citadel, even larger than the many skyscrapers Trey’d first been impressed with when he’d first laid eyes on the city. This citadel had eight major layers to it, eight walls still intact to create layers increasing in height from the first shortest layer to the last and highest wall. The walls were all connected by stone bridges and fed into towers, ramparts, towering buildings, or were connected into the mountain itself where Trey suspected even more was built inside by the looks of it.
“Here it is boy… take it all in, it may just be our grave.” Gorthomal gave the younger summoner a creepy wink and placed his demon mask over his face. The two of them stood at the forefront of their collective group along a stoney ledge leading out into the mountain crevice holding the ancient city.
Trey grimaced at the sight of it, despite how impressive the ruins were he knew that what likely awaited them here was very dangerous. He wrapped his cloak around his shirtless body, catching a gust of cold air and considering donning some more clothes. “Yeah, let's hope not. I’d rather not die getting this over with and I still need that 200,000 coin to fuel my need for hookers, drugs and liquor.”
The rogues had been sent ahead with his imp. Now that they were so close and with thinning vegetation they thought it best to rely on the more agile members of their group to give them the clear on proceeding. Ashe had taken Napoleon, Rofa and Tarline and had left nearly an hour ago with instructions to not engage anything and just find out what lay on the beaten path before them. Atharost had also done a quick flyby to make sure no glaringly obvious large groups of enemies were in their path, of which he’d found none before the rogues had headed out.
Not that an aerial view would help much, considering the sprawling city giving thousands of hiding places to potential enemies.
Trey glanced up to the status bars of his minions on the left side of his HUD. Napoleon, Rofa and Tarline were still at full on their HP, MP and DP bars with only their stamina having anything missing - to be expected. They definitely hadn’t come across anything that had harmed them yet, so he remained unworried.
In the meantime though, he was practicing control over his shadowform. He’d been doing this over the past couple days now at Sithis’ prompting, with his symbiote being adamant that he master it. Holding out his right hand watching it flicker in and out between solid flesh and shadows, he tried his best to keep it a black trickling flurry of wisps. He was failing pretty hard though, only being able to maintain that form for a couple seconds at best over only a small portion of his body. Then he focused on his other hand, then his entire arm, and so on. Each of them lasted only a couple seconds. Thus far Sithis had been able to use shadowform to dematerialize pieces of their body for dodging projectiles. They also used it for its storage compartment, but otherwise hadn’t been able to utilize it at all. Sithis had told him that it had incredible potential if mastered, thus Trey’s frustrating demonstration of repeated failures went on.
And it went on like this for well over another hour.
“Having problems?” Atharost asked while watching Trey’s pitiful attempts to maintain the shadows. Boxamoth, Atharost’s new flaming serpent familiar, circled and twirled around above them in the air.
Trey’s only response was an irritated grunt as his right arm fizzled out and turned back into normal human flesh.
"May I give you a suggestion Trey?”
Trey stopped what he was doing and looked to his friend. “Do you have advice?”
Atharost nodded, holding out his own hand and lighting it up with flames. “My fireform is likely similar to your shadowform in a few key aspects. When first learning to control it as a small child, the best advice my father gave me was to hold your breath and clear your mind. I know it may sound stupid at first, but just try it out. It certainly helped me.”
It was weird thinking of Atharost as a child, or of the demon having a dad, but Trey took the advice in stride. He took in a deep breath, held it, closed his eyes and tried to empty out his mind. When he finally felt like he was going to pass out from lack of oxygen he opened his eyes and willed his hand into shadowform - breathing again. As he did, the shadow along his arms took a little more than it usually did to display larger streams of black.
He excitedly smiled but it was replaced with a frown as it immediately died out. “OH for FUCK’S SAKE!”
Trey angrily threw out his right hand in disgust, only to shoot out a silky, pitch black projectile in the shape of a flat, pointed ovoid shape about half the size of his hand. He stared at it in stunned silence, looking to where it had cut cleanly into a large rock and embedded itself halfway inside. Raising an eyebrow and trying it again, he failed.
Sithis came to the forefront of his mind to whisper to him. ‘Repeat the steps… the exact same way you did before.’
Now more curious than anything Trey did exactly that. He closed his eyes again, took in a deep breath to hold it, and thrust his hand forward like he had a few moments ago. To his amazement the exact same thing happened, but because he was trying for it this time he felt a little bit more of his mana flow into the effort and produced a series of five of these sharp, ovoid shadow-projectiles.
“During your experimentation with the natural aspects of your own body, you have learned the spell Shadow Blades. Your Intelligence has increased by 1. Congratulations. For more information please visit your status page.”
Sithis internally laughed. ‘That was unexpected, but good job.’
“You’re kidding me…” Trey’s eyes widened and he gave Atharost a fist bump and acknowledged Sithis before excitedly opening up his page and scrolling down to where the spell was located.
Shadow Blades (Dark) - Level 1
- Unleash sharpened blades of shadow at your enemy.
- NOTICE: Your shadowform decreases mana cost for this ability by 80%
A mana decrease too? Damn. Trey’d gotten really lucky to blindly stumble over something like this. He tested it out a few more times, riddling the rocks and boulders around him to easily pierce them. The blades would evaporate about a minute later, but the damage was evident. Trey was especially pleased to note how many flurries of these obsidian blades he could cast before they made a dent in his mana pool - it was quite a few. Depending on how effective they were in actual combat this spell could very well become one of his primary attacks.
