NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23: Little bugs, big bugs, bugs for dinner.
The entrance to the cave leading to the deep-down and Harry's mushroom farms had a sign in front of it. Milo couldn't read the dwarven runes, but the picture of dead birds and little swirls above them was understandable: Bad air. Milo could smell an awful pong coming up from the cave, but it wasn't worse than what Harry's farm normally smelled like. Hopefully, Harry's bath time had generated some bad smells that were now gone. Milo slipped past the sign and began his descent.
There were pockets of bad air, but the upward draft was clearing them. Milo stopped to fortify himself with a small cheesy snack now and then to help him keep climbing and ignore the smell. Finally arriving at Harry's farm, he was happy to find the air much better down here. The stench seemed to be coming from a manure pile near the entrance, and once passed he could breathe easily.
"Milo, you're back! Just in time for dinner." The voice was Harry's, but the person talking was different. Gone were the layers of filthy clothes. Instead, he was wearing loose pants and a tunic. His enormous feet emerged from the pants. Long arms ended in huge misshaped hands. Hair and beard that had been huge bushes were trimmed neatly back to reveal a smiling face. Where the first Harry was round and swaddled, this creature was nearly seven feet tall and on the thin side. His blue-grey skin looked rocky and hard.
"What did that thing you ate do to you, Harry?"
Harry looked down at himself and then smiled. "Hah! it fixed me! I was shriveling up more and more. I had a terrible case of terra magicae defectus. Even covering myself in layers of earth, worms, and grubs couldn't keep up with the drain. I turned to an all-mushroom diet, and that slowed it. But I really needed a huge boost of Earthen Mana to get back to normal.
"And this is normal?"
The new Harry nodded. "Sure is. You mean to tell me you didn't know I was a troll?"
"That wasn't mentioned at the guild hall when I took the job."
Harry smiled, “Probably a good thing. Hard enough getting help down here. If they told people that the person hiring them was a troll, it might make it tougher to find helpers. But hey, grab a seat; I’m back to my cooking. I made a nice stew of giant beetles and some portabella."
Milo wasn't picky about food. He'd eaten food cubes for most of his life. The crunchy beetles in a creamy mushroom sauce were delicious.
A few hours later, Milo was creeping carefully towards the mushroom caverns when he saw movement. Something large had been moving along the wall, but now he saw nothing. He stayed very still, hoping that Skulk would allow him to go unnoticed until he knew what the creature was. He saw movement again in the center of the cave. A fat beetle about a foot long was moving slowly along the tunnel. A creature appeared near the wall and lunged. Large claws slammed into the beetle, raising it up to a mouth with two flanking mandibles. Two bites later, the beetle was gone.
Milo got a good look at its killer before the creature faded away, its armored carapace blending into the side of the tunnel
Giant Cave Mantis Level 2 ambush, camouflage
Milo had been looking forward to testing his new spells out on a myconid guardian and was tempted to try his hand on this stronger opponent. Could you ambush an ambusher? Milo saw movement again as another beetle came wandering along the cave. Were they migrating? Or just heading for a snack at Harry's farm? It was obvious where Harry had gotten last night’s dinner.
As the mantis pounce on the beetle, he tossed a skull towards the creature. The butcher who had sold him four dozen rabbit skulls had kept his curiosity to himself. Rabbits were raised as meat in Shadowport and fed on a diet of dried seaweed.
Milo had 305 total mana. Some of that was from his INT and WIS bonuses. That meant he could throw 6 of these bombs before running out of mana. Assuming he had a good supply of skulls.
The mantis had been focused on the beetle. As it pounced, the skull landed between its four legs. The explosion hit it hard, and small pieces of bone bounced off its carapace or created small wounds.
BOOM!
You have slain Giant Cave Beetle x2
You have injured a Giant Cave Mantis for 75 points of damage minus 10 points of armor mitigation. Health 135/200
Giant Cave Mantis is not happy with you!
The mantis was thrown back against the wall by the explosion. The beetle in its claws was shredded, as was another that had been crawling behind it. The mantis recovered quickly and ran forward on its four legs, raising its claws to attack.
Milo tried out his second new spell, pulling a carved and pointed femur from some animal. He hadn’t asked the butcher for details. The Bone Spike glowed and shot away from him as he cast the spell. Aiming wasn't difficult. The mantis was pretty much right in front of him. The small bone spike, part of a carved rib bone from an animal, raced away from Milo and punched into the bug’s carapace and out the other side. One claw scraped across his shoulder as it died, doing 30 damage.
As he looked at the combat messages, he failed to see a ripple of movement as a second mantis attacked. His Danger Sense skill screamed a warning, far too late. The mantis slashed down at Milo, who failed to dodge entirely. He tried to run away, but the mantis was adept at chasing prey and kept up with him. Milo took another small slash, dropping his health to 100. He was half dead already, and the second enemy was fresh and couldn’t be avoided. He turned suddenly, leaping toward the surprised insect, his tail swinging in an arc to slash across its face. He held Shadowblight in both hands, bringing it down on the Mantis’ head as both claws slashed his sides and captured him. His health plummeted to only twenty points.
But his weapon punched straight through the carapace, leaving two leaking holes. Shadowblight’s curse took the insect’s armor to zero and reduced its damage to 25 points, saving Milo from far worse wounds. The Cave Mantis was down to only 40 health, and desperate. Milo was at 50.
He struggled as the Mantis lifted him up, and its head started to move forward. In desperation, he put his weapon in front of his face, unable to swing it. But he still had a weapon! His tail slashed at the Mantis, doing enough damage to kill it. The bug slowly toppled over; with Milo still stuck in its claws.
That had been too close. He hadn't been prepared for the mantis's speed or its grapple attack. But still, he had won. Near the top of the cave, twenty feet up the wall was a small ledge. He carefully crawled up to it, out of the main corridor and hid in the shadows while he bandaged his wounds and enjoyed a nice piece of cheddar to give a boost to his healing.
He debated the choices he had made with his enhancement points. Should he have spent the points to increase his health? Seven points would give him 350 health instead of 200 and that fight wouldn’t have been so close. Of course, if he had been more careful, he would have seen the second mantis. That was the real mistake. He went over the fight again and again, thinking about things he could have done as he chewed on his snack and the line of migrating beetles moved through the cave.
You have slain 2x Giant Cave Mantis! You earned extra experience for fighting a creature over your own level.
You have gained 300 points in Bonecasting.
You have earned 50 experience in Dodge.
You have earned 300 experience in INT
You have earned 50 experience in AGI.
Bonecasting has reached rank 2!
INT has reached rank 4!