Rise of the Living Forge

Chapter 89: Vile

The hallway leading to the next room greeted them with the scent of the sea and stale breath. Familiar green crystals ran along the path at their feet, jutting out and seemingly doing their best to stick themselves right in front of their ankles whenever they took a step.

Water dripped from the ceiling in a rhythmic pattern and plinked against pools of water around them. Moisture covered the walls and gave life to moss that hid in the cracks and corners of the stone.

The hall grew narrower until there was just barely enough room for two people to walk side by side but they remained in a single file line anyway. Standing shoulder to shoulder would have forced them to squeeze and the crystals likely would have poked them every few steps. The scent of fish and salt intensified the deeper they headed.

“If the smell gets any worse, I think I might throw up,” Reya said nasally, pinching her nose shut and grimacing. “Where are we headed, the ocean’s ass crack?”

“You’ve been near the ocean?” Arwin asked, glancing back at Reya in surprise. “Is Milten near a large body of water?”

“Yeah,” Rodrick said. “It’s at the edge of the continent, at the farthest reaches of Lian. Honestly, it’s only part of the kingdom by name. Have you seen the governor’s mansion? Judging by its size, I’d reckon he hasn’t paid taxes to Lian in quite some time. Milten is just too far out and small to bother giving a shit about.”

Well, I guess that means my assumption of where Milten was happened to be pretty accurate. Did that explosion really throw me this far? How in the world did I survive the landing?

More questions, and still no answers. Arwin shook his head and dismissed his thoughts. There wasn’t any room for that inside a dungeon. He could deal with his worries when there weren’t monsters waiting to rip his heart out through his chest. His nose scrunched in distaste as he drew in a breath. Reya was right – it smelled horrendous. A stain of rot had marred the already disgusting fishy scent, somehow making it even worse than it had been before.

When the hallway finally turned a corner and stopped at the opening of a large room, Arwin wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disgusted. The scent was definitely coming from within it. Glowing green moss reflected off a pool of murky water at the back of the domed cave and illuminated the sparse crystals jutting out of the walls and shimmering beneath the small lake’s surface.

“What are the chances we’re up against some slippery piece of shit that’s waiting underwater?” Rodrick whispered.

“Depends. Are you a betting man?” Arwin asked.

Rodrick grunted. “I’ll take that as one hundred percent. Nobody offers up a bet they don’t think they’re going to win.”

“Good choice,” Arwin said. “Everyone ready?”

“As ready as we’re going to get,” Anna said. “I’m standing back here. I don’t fancy the idea of tentacles.”

“What makes you think there will be tentacles?” Arwin asked.

“It smells like shit and there’s water. It’s going to be tentacles.”

Arwin shrugged. He stepped into the room, keeping Verdant Blaze ready at his side and prepared to activate [Scourge] at a moment’s notice. The steady drip of water rang in his ears as he walked closer to the lake.

Both his armor and greaves still had energy stored within them. The gem in the center of his chest piece had stopped humming but dim blue magic still sparkled within it. His greaves hummed with energy from the fight with the Chiropire, but he’d need to tank another strong hit or two before they activated.

The room was still silent. An outline in the wall at the edge of the lake marked what Arwin suspected to be a closed passageway. That was unfortunate. They’d probably have to find a way to open it. There wouldn’t be any way to sneak past the room.

That’s fine. Not a good idea to leave enemies behind you anyway. I just wish whatever is in this room would just come out already. I really don’t want to get any closer to the water and get pulled in.

Arwin coughed into his fist. It echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls, and faded away. The only response the room gave him was silence. Evidently, the monster here wasn’t planning on giving up its advantage.

“Lillia?” Arwin called.

“Yeah?”

“Think you could start stabbing the water? I’m not walking up to it.”

“Can you do that?” Reya asked, peering into the room but not taking a step past the entrance.

“I don’t see why not.” Lillia walked past Reya. The shadows rose at her feet and stretched across the room, crawling across the walls, and approached the lake.

“It just seems… I don’t know. Cheap is the wrong word. I never really thought about it, I guess. Some part of me felt like dungeon monsters wouldn’t just sit around and let you stab them.”

Rodrick entered the room and stood a few feet behind Arwin. He glanced around the walls and ceiling. When he found nothing that Arwin had missed, he turned his attention and sword to the lake.

“I highly doubt it’ll sit around if I manage to stab it,” Lillia said. The shadows rose up over the water, sharpening into points and looming above it like several large snakes. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Arwin replied. “Just get to safety if you manage to hit it. Even if you miss, I figure it’s going to pop out pretty pissed that we’ve messed with its house.”

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The others all nodded. After waiting one more second to make sure that nobody had any last second things to say, Lillia brought her hand down. The ropey shadows dropped, slicing into the dark water.

The lake bubbled. A furious roar burst forth from within it and Lillia beat a hasty retreat to the back of the room as a dome formed in the water. It rose up into a pillar before bursting. Water sloughed away from a lumbering body.

If the smell in the room had been foul before, now it was indescribable – and the water hadn’t even completely revealed the monster yet.

Metal clanged against stone as a foot clad in rusted, barnacle-covered greaves slammed onto the ground. The monster wore a matching chest piece. A huge hole in the center of its chest where the metal had splintered and shattered marked a defeat in a battle ages past.

Scraps of flesh hung from the monster’s rotting, ten-foot-tall form. It was humanoid – it could have even been human if it wasn’t for its imposing size. Translucent green crystals jutted out of its body from random spots like cancerous growths. Arwin was grateful that a helm covered its face to keep what he could already tell to be horrid breath from wafting across the room.

[Rot Giantling – Journeyman 5]

A loud, scraping shriek carved through the air as the monster dragged itself fully out of the water and its sword caught on the ground, carving a thin furrow through the stone. The weapon was nearly as tall as Arwin. It looked far too big to be swung around by something as decayed as the Rot Giantling, but it seemed that nobody had informed the monster yet.

“It’s an undead,” Arwin warned. “Forget going for killing blows. We want to cripple it until we figure out how to make it stay down. I don’t suppose anyone has any blessed attacks?”

Nobody responded. If any of them did, it probably would have been Anna, but healers generally didn’t get offensive options like that until their later Tiers. The Rot Giantling let out a teeth-rattling roar and two dim green lights erupted behind the eyes of its helmet.

“How in the Nine Underlands do I cripple something like that?” Rodrick asked, his voice wavering slightly.

“Just follow my lead,” Arwin replied. The Rot Giantling took a lumbering step toward him and raised its arm, bringing the huge sword screaming through the air toward Arwin. He darted out of the way, then closed the distance between them and brought his hammer hurtling for the monster’s knee.

It struck the giantling’s greave dead on with a resounding clang. Arwin staggered back as a vibration raced down the haft of his hammer, leaving nothing but a dent in the armor. The giantling swung its hand at Arwin, forcing him to use [Scourge] to empower his jump back to safety.

No point using [Soul Flame] in my attacks right now. I need all my magical energy for [Scourge] and I don’t think fire is going to do very much damage to something like this. Soul-empowered or not, I just need brute force right now.

Large or not, the giantling was fast – or perhaps it could just cover a lot of ground quickly because of its size. That said, it was still a little bit slower than Arwin moving under his own powers, much less with the aid of [Scourge].

“Just stay away from its arms,” Arwin called. The giantling stepped toward him again and twisted its body, swinging the sword like a bat in an attempt to cut Arwin in half.

He ducked the attack. Wind screamed above his head and he straightened, taking a step forward and swinging Verdant Blaze once more. It struck the same spot on the giantling’s knee. Energy swirled within the hammer and coursed into the giantling as [Shieldbreaker] triggered.

A surprised roar escaped the giantling’s mouth and it kicked at Arwin. He dodged out of the way and scrambled back as the giant brought its foot down where he’d been standing, shaking the room with a resounding crash.

Rodrick darted forward as the giantling swung at Arwin again. His sword ignited with glowing yellow energy and he thrust it for a gap in the monster’s armor. It scraped against a plate of old armor, its approach slowed, but still bit into the flesh beneath.

The giantling’s attack missed as Arwin dodged to the side, but it didn’t so much as slow its momentum. In an insane feat of strength, it yanked back on the blade and redirected its path toward Rodrick.

“Godspit,” Rodrick swore, stealing Lillia’s favorite insult as he dropped to the ground. The sword scraped past his head and Arwin used [Scourge] to launch himself forward. The Rot Giantling’s free hand reached for him and a shimmer of blue passed over it, passing so quickly that it may as well not have ever been there.

Bands of shadow slipped out of the ground and reached up for its hand. They wrapped around it and tightened, restraining the monster for just long enough to buy Arwin time to land another blow on its knee.

This time, he was rewarded with not a clang but a crunch. The metal dented beneath Verdant Blaze, the crystals at its head ripping into the rotting flesh beyond. A furious scream ripped out of the giantling’s mouth and it lunged for Arwin.

The shadows snapped and fell away. Another flash of blue passed over it and failed to take purchase as it reached out, hand extending to crush Arwin’s head like a grape. [Scourge] coursed through his legs and he leapt back, just barely avoiding huge, bony fingers as they slammed shut on the air.

A shudder shook the ground as the giantling crashed to the ground. It was joined by a loud, scraping screech of armor grinding against stone. Rodrick darted forward and thrust his blade for one of its large eye holes.

The giantling lowered its head and Rodrick’s sword rang harmlessly off its helm. Rodrick jumped over the monster’s hand as it swung at him, then darted out of the way of its sword as it clambered back to its feet.

“Do it again!” Arwin yelled to Lillia. He ran forward, not waiting to see if she’d heard him. Arwin dropped to the ground, skidding across the stone on his knees to avoid the blade that carved the air above him apart, then drove himself upward and swung Verdant Blaze with all the power [Scourge] would impart into him.

Shadows erupted from the ground, binding around the Giantling’s other leg and pulling at its free hand. It ripped itself free, but not fast enough to avoid the hurtling hammer. It slammed home and metal crumpled beneath it.

Verdant Blaze roared in Arwin’s mind as it ripped through flesh and bone, emerging from the giantling’s leg in a spray of viscera. The blow had separated knee from leg entirely. A scream of pain filled the room as the giantling pitched back and crashed to the ground.

“Yes!” Rodrick yelled. “Nice! Let’s finish it off!”

“Hold on.” Arwin held a hand out to stop Rodrick from advancing and the other man froze in place.

The Rot Giantling rolled itself over and slammed its sword into the ground, using it as a crutch to raise itself back up. A deep growl emerged from within its chest, rancid air washing over them like a filthy blanket.

Chitinous legs pushed their way out of the hole in the monster’s chest and a bulbous grey spider clambered out from within it. More legs sprouted from the severed leg and its stump, hissing and popping as they crawled free.

[Corpse Burrower – Apprentice 4]

“Oh, that is just vile,” Rodrick muttered.

“Focus on killing them. Don’t let them touch you for obvious reasons,” Arwin said. “Something tells me that they don’t care if the bodies they infest are alive or not when they start.”

“Trust me, I’m not letting those creepy little shits anywhere near me,” Rodrick muttered, taking a step back as the spiders started toward them.

The Rot Giantling grabbed its severed leg and jammed it onto the stump. Flesh squelched as it drove a bone back into rotted muscle. The leg was mutilated and a little shorter than the other one, but the giantling was able to stand once more.

“Oh, that is bullshit,” Rodrick said. “That’s not how legs work.”

“Just keep the spiders off our backline.” Arwin hoisted Verdant Blaze. “I’ll handle the big bastard.”