Chapter 26

  A Storm Of Death

  A flood of black chitin, with all of the crushing weight of its mass, threatened to grind them into the stone. There would be a few of the quickest insects ahead of the others, only a few small ripples before it would become a tidal wave of legs, teeth, and venom injecting stingers. Shimmers of black in the distance reflecting the light of the party’s dropped torches.

  The first of the beasts had leapt towards Eric, and he used its momentum to fling it off of his shield, right into Doggy’s waiting teeth. The next had a leg, while on its path to strike at Stabitha, cut short by his sword. It stumbled straight into a longsword to the face. The third had already made it past his shield only to be thrown back into his peripheral view by a club-like swing from Beatrice’s staff.

  Their group had been training hard together and they’d been on the edge of leveling up before going on this kobold chase. So, it wasn’t that much of a surprise when he saw the level next to GreenWardenOne tick up to a five on his display.

  Mid-swing with his sword, he shouted, “Bea, move to center and take care of that,” he grunted as another insect bounced off of his shield. He stabbed forward, before adding, “Quickly, please.”

  That thought didn’t cross my mind before, but if we can each level up, then we might just get some abilities to help against this horde. That’s if we’re lucky and can sort through level-ups mid-fight. Right, David and JD first.

  He called out to their healer and elementalist, “Bob, Loot, ranged attacks now, level up and then sort through your options — and be quick about it.”

  “Got it!” Loot shouted out.

  David shouted back, “Freakin’ time we get to five, huh?”

  As one lightning bolt followed by another was flung over their heads, the distant cavern filled with an unrelated radiance. A solid beam of light shone down from the ceiling in a shaft of LootLadDungeonDad’s Divine Judgement ability.

  Giant bugs burned and shriveled as they were caught in the beam or moved through it unknowingly. One-by-one, they found themselves being partially or even wholly knocked into it by the others around them. By the time they formed a gap around it to avoid its wrath, several of them that hadn’t been outright killed, had at least suffered crippling damage from its effects.

  Loot’s level ticked up to five before the next of the skitterbugs had even made it to their party.

  Four more of the creatures crashed into the frontline as Beatrice lunged forward to knock one of them back. Doggy, Addy, and Eric each dealt with one of the others, with blade and claws. The one Beatrice had struck back was then crushed to the ground under Doggy’s paws.

  David’s lightning had done its work to bring him up to level five just as the bulk of enemies had nearly reached them, when a series of vines shot up from the ground in a wide row that nearly reached the sides of the tunnel.

  The vines curled forward, winding in braids over and under each other. As they dug in and out of the ground in tangled knots of green, spikes of white needles burst out from their surface.

  The next thirty feet of the tunnel ahead was a thorny web of plant tendrils that left the skitterbugs tripping and falling onto the vines’ spikes.

  “Hah, Field of Thorns! How do you freakin’ bugs like that!” Beatrice shouted.

  “Great job, Bea!” Eric called out as the mass of thorns filled with a layer of skitterbug corpses.

  That had slowed them down significantly, killing somewhere near twenty of the beasts, but even that powerful ability was only enough to keep the horde at bay. It hadn’t taken long before they were crawling over their fallen hive-brothers and on their way to overwhelm the party once more.

  Lightning arced overhead, filling the tunnel with glaring brightness. The bolt slammed into one of the giant bugs before bursting out of its carapace and shooting to latch onto the nearest of its brothers, and the next after that in a chain of interconnected links of lightning.

  As the after-effects of David’s ability filled the room with the acrid scent of roasted insects, Doggy, Addy, and Eric shielded their fellow party members from the chitinous monstrosities that had ducked below the electrical storm.

  The smells of burnt plastic and wood rot hit Eric like a punch to the gut. The moment it had taken him to focus through the nauseating odor had been enough to throw off his aim. His sword plinked at an awkward angle off of chitin, and a razor-like insect leg slashed at a gap in his leg armor.

  Warmth trickled down into his shoe, and he sunk the tip of his blade into the back of the offending bug. A bleeding effect was announced before flickering away from his vision as a tingling sensation replaced the burning pain next to his knee.

  Having realized the only possible source, he shouted over his shoulder, “Loot, I could kiss you for whatever you just did!”

  JD guffawed and said, “Hah, Please don’t. All abilities that require touch now have a ten foot range, though.

  What could only be described as borderline maniacal laughter came from the barbarian at his side, followed by the bellowed cry of Addy shouting out, “Level five, baby! Bring it on, because I can do this all day!”

  Looks like I’m the one lagging behind now, Eric thought.

  “Oh, nice job, Doggy!” exclaimed Beatrice, and Eric looked to his left to see the capybeara covered in patches of chitinous armored plates. The system displayed him as a Tier 2 Armored Capybeara.

  Even Doggy? Come on, man! No. Stop getting distracted and just focus on the fight, he told himself.

  Another wave was cresting the growing pile of stinking exoskeletal corpses, and it only took Eric dispatching of the first two before his notification bell rang. Finally, he thought before he called out to Stabitha.

  “Can you cover me, Addy?”

  “Yes, I can,” she said as she liberated an insect’s head from its body. She pressed herself forward with a dark smile to stop the next bug in its tracks with twin slashes from her longswords.

  Eric took a small step back to pull up his notifications, and skimmed through as fast as he could.

  Congratulations!

  Level Up!

  XP 15 of 600 to Level 6

  Class Evolution Available

  Congratulations! You have unlocked class evolution options!

  Please select from the following!

  Master Generalist

  Moderate skill growth with all weapons and armor.

  Shield Guardian

  Shields grant an aura of defense that extends beyond you, making you and nearby allies harder to strike.

  Specialist

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Gain advanced skill growth and a special skill for one weapon type

  Standard-Bearer

  Gain a permanent aura that increases damage dealt by yourself and nearby allies.

  Reading through his options as quickly as possible, he thought, We need to survive long enough to get through this hornet’s nest. Shield Guardian is exactly what we need right now.

  Even with Eric going as quickly as he could, more bugs were upon them by the time he’d made his selection. While this would help, and his allies could deal more damage now, the sheer numbers they faced now were overwhelming. It was a nightmarish barrage of blade-like limbs climbing and crawling over each other to strike at him and his friends.

  A repeat combination of Shield Wall and Shield Bash gave his party one more moment to come up with a plan, but they only had so much time and mana to work with. They would need to come up with one incredibly brilliant plan, or they would need a miracle, maybe both.

  Three skitterbugs leapt from atop the others to clear the shield wall as Eric called out, “Anyone have any genius ideas?”

  “Charge in to see if we can kill them all or die fighting?” Addy asked with a grunt as she took out one of the bugs that had made it past the shields.

  Eric pulled a foot back and swung his sword low to lop off the stinger that stabbed at his leg. Ending the bug’s life with a slash, he asked, “How about any other ideas besides the one where we die fighting?”

  Their capybeara took out the other bug as one of Beatrice’s vines held it in place.

  “Face these ridiculous numbers with incredible force. It’s as good a plan as any with no path to escape,” said David as he shot another simple bolt of lightning overhead.

  With no other words being offered by anyone else Eric said, “Fine no holding back, but keep formation.”

  His ability flickered out of existence, bugs racing through the now open ground between them, and he roared as he charged forward to meet them. As one solid unit, his friends moved with him.

  A web of thorny vines shot up through the previous Field of Thorns, slowing down the enemies in the middle of the swarm.

  Nearly blinding white flashed through. Lightning blasted through from one bug to the next, and as each chain came to an end, David made a new chain begin. The air filled with even more of the stench of burned plastic, as legs folded in on charred thoraxes.

  The form in his peripheral vision grew. Addy had finally revealed her choice from hitting level five. The now 8 foot tall barbarian had to slow down to keep in formation. Longswords that had grown in size along with their wielder, now sliced through more than one bug at a time.

  Several of the strikes that would have otherwise nicked one of them had glanced off of shimmering silver light instead, but other strikes had found their mark. It was inevitable. Even as they cut, stabbed, bit and burned their way through enemies, the occasional leg would make it through to flesh.

  There were too many enemies, with too many limbs, and it was impossible to stop them all.

  However, they would keep the monsters from reaching JD for as long as possible. Whatever healing he could manage was the key to any hope they had of survival.

  One of their enemies tried to leap over Eric’s head and he raised his shield upward, using a Shield Bash to send it splatting against the ceiling. It had left him open to an attack. A leg pierced his shoulder even as Addy sliced it from its owner’s body.

  His wasn’t the only wound. The occasional growls and cries of pain clawed at his ears amidst the sounds of battle.

  The rough edges of the leg protruding from his shoulder made it an absolute literal pain to yank out, but he stashed his sword and pulled the barbed limb from his joint. Eric hissed as a second wave of pain blossomed through his whole arm. Thankfully he could already feel the effects of the healing ability being used on him.

  “I’m starting to run low, guys; I don’t know how long I can keep this up,” JD shouted in warning.

  One monster, then another, and the next; his whole body burned with exhaustion. It was all he could do to keep fighting as more cuts were added to his limbs. That’s when he saw it; the ocean had started to thin. An end to the horde was within their reach, if they could just fight a little while longer.

  A sharp pain cut across his cheekbone, and he stabbed forward as he cried out to his friends, “Keep fighting! Pour out every ounce of mana you’ve got!”

  Blood splashed against his neck and ear. Addy had given herself a boost of strength and reach with her increased size, but she was also a much bigger target. When he looked over to glance at their barbarian, he saw that her entire body had become a mess of wounds.

  And then she broke formation…

  “Addy!” Eric and JD shouted over each other as she bolted forward.

  However, their calls went unheard. Addy was no longer present. In her place there was only a storm of death.

  Enemies fell to the sides, left in a wake of her destruction. Swords covered in the acrid blood of her enemies blurred through the monsters as she launched herself through the center of the battlefield.

  The party raced to catch up with her, but enemies had already spilled into the gap between them. They fought through the bugs as they pressed forward, their formation broken.

  Another scrape, another cut, and another stab that tore through the tricep of his sword arm.

  And the bleeding didn’t stop. The blood dripped down his arm; the sword fell from his hand into the piled chitin and vines that created a second level above the ground.

  JD stepped up to cover his right side, but the damage had been done. “I’ve got 5 mana left, one emergency heal,” he said.

  “It’s ok, save it,” he said as he used his shield for his only weapon.

  The group kept on moving forward, up and across the vines and insect husks; they avoided the thorns that remained uncovered. Each of their wounds worked together to leave a trail of crimson behind them.

  Beatrice’s hair was matted from a severe head wound that left her leaning into Doggy in the moments between the beasts’ assaults, even as her companion worked to shield her from their attacks. The capybeara’s own fur was a mess to match her head.

  My shield wasn’t enough, Eric thought, seeing the wounded companions at his sides.

  He didn’t look back to check on David, as a bolt flashed over them to strike an enemy that was mid-leap at Addy. The creature went crashing into one of the others.

  No, don’t give up, you’re all still alive, he reprimanded himself as they continued pushing forward.

  JD was the weapon to his right, and Doggy still had claws and teeth to his left. His feet and shield arm still worked. He swung his shield wide, knocking the head of a charging skitterbug to the side and Sparta-kicked the bug into the one behind it.

  Vines wrapped around both of the enemies and pulled them down into the field of thorns below their feet.

  They had nearly caught up with their reckless barbarian. On her knees ahead of them, Addy was still swinging her swords at the enemies that threatened to swarm her. The blade in her right hand was knocked aside, flying from her grip.

  There were only a dozen of them left…

  One dozen enemies to kill and they could do nothing to reach them before they overwhelmed Addy.

  A lightning bolt hit one and a vine gripped another, but it wasn’t enough.

  Addy’s remaining blade glanced off of chitin and a spindly leg rose over her, readied to stab down on their friend.

  That was the moment a red glow appeared in a nook against the edge of the tunnel. A crescent shaped blade of air sliced through the space in front of her, leaving a stump of limb swinging towards her.

  Four more blades of condensed air cut through the skitterbugs, and a series of goblin spears flew through the air to pin insects to the vine-covered ground. Wind whipped through the air around Addy as a second wave of wind slices cut down the remaining beasts.

  “Loot, get to Addy!” Eric shouted, but JD was already on his way to reach his cousin.

  He called out orders to the rest of his party as they moved to catch up. “Everyone else form up around them, and be careful; we don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

  Without the flash of lightning bolts, and with the torches left farther back, it was a challenge to make out much of anything this deep into the tunnel. With the new arrivals being lit from behind, they were just silhouettes in the dark.

  A small flame the size of a lit match created the tiniest glow. Soft blue, flickering light revealed a side tunnel that had been hidden behind a series of ridges and cracks. It also revealed the face of the one who led the group of wind and spear users.

  Adding to the confusion Eric was experiencing at the sight of a kobold leading a group of goblins, was the sprite hovering above him and the mushroom-lizard creature on his shoulder.

  Then he heard Beatrice shout an excited, “Nik!”

  “Beatrice?” the kobold responded.

  Eric shook his head in an attempt to get his mind to do a soft reset. “Did I get hit in the head or did that thing just say your name?” he asked.

  The end of this battle had become a strange fever dream of random bits mashed together.

  This kobold, Nik apparently, lifted his left hand and a black shield appeared as if drawn from an inventory. Its head dipped low, a potential enemy analyzing the threat, and it said, “BlackDagger…”

  Brows lifted in surprise and crunched back down as he tried to sort through what was happening. Thinking entirely out loud, he said, “Has this all really just been the one kobold? What in the actual—”