Chapter 5

 

 

“Give me your best educated guess?” I asked Garrett after he completed his assessment of the intersection.

“The trail certainly led into here, but the tracks keep going until they reach the centre and then it’s essentially lost in the chaos. What I can say with reasonable certainty is that tunnel...” He pointed up and to the right at one of the upper galleries that had a single large exit. “...has had the most recent activity. A lot of traffic leaving this cave and heading down there. Possibly the group that visited our waypoint went that way with some others.”

“What, so you’re saying that’s the way to the nest?” Amber asked.

Garret paused and glanced back up at the offending gallery before he answered, thinking over his reply. “On the balance of probabilities, I reckon no.”

His answer surprised both Amber and me. I was about to prompt him to explain when he pre-empted my request.

“There’d be more to and fro if it were a thoroughfare that led to a nest. Up there seems to be mostly tracks leaving this cave, not entering it. As for the nest, we’ve got three other passages which have that kind of regular two-way traffic. It doesn’t mean any of them lead directly to a nest or that some of these others might not be better candidates. Just what I can tell from the tracks we’ve got available.”

“Thanks, Garrett.”

The lanky older man nodded respectfully and then excused himself from the command huddle of four.

“What are you thinking, Jackson?” Carlos asked me. “You look conflicted.”

“It’s a question of do we want to run toward danger or away from it? The only reasonably sure thing we have is that some rats and their allies went that way recently.” I pointed to the upper gallery Garrett had indicated a moment earlier. “On the one hand, that means if we correctly pick a path which leads to the nest it should have fewer mobs to defend it. We could finish the quest super quick and reestablish contact with Stormblade Harbour.”

“There is no guarantee we’d pick the right path, though,” Tully interjected and scratched his chin.

“That is the other hand.” I smiled. “Too much uncertainty.”

“Not to mention if we did pick right, we could get there and find it was too much to handle anyway. Then the other lot might be on their way back and we could be caught between two forces,” Amber added.

“That had also occurred to me. Between the hammer and the anvil is not a position we want to be caught in,” I said in agreement and Amber imperceptibly nodded and stood a little straighter. “I think the best course of action is to act on the best intelligence we have and use it to whittle down the enemy. We follow the crowd and hit them from behind. Tully, you and Garett lead the way. Carlos, I want the support team in the middle. Amber, the militia squad is to guard the rear, there might be more rats following in the wake of the group we are tailing.”

 

***

 

The tunnel on the upper gallery continued for almost half a mile with no deviations until it opened into a jungle expanse.

The air inside the vast cavern was hot and humid. The discomfort was made worse by a plethora of buzzing, flying insect life. The bugs weren’t dangerous or contagion-spreading, merely incredibly annoying. The jungle was filled with crazily huge trees, their trunks a few dozen metres in diameter and the foliage came in a riot of different colours, not the usual dominant green you’d see on Earth. Although there was plenty of green in amongst the rest of the rainbow.

Even from the tunnel entrance, we couldn’t see the tips of the trees let alone the caverns roof. A thick layer of mist or cloud obscured our view several hundred metres up. There might not be a roof, the Darkwyrlds was filled with weird, logic-defying stuff.

“God damn, it’s hot,” D-Ball complained behind me while we trudged through the undergrowth. “I’ve not got the genes for this shit. There’s a reason my parents moved to Michigan when they settled in the States. If they wanted to sweat more than breathe, they would have stayed in Honduras.”

Carlos clipped his shoulder and motioned for him to keep quiet. We didn’t know anything about this jungle. Garrett and his scouts ranged ahead of us, but the multi-coloured foliage was too dense for them to be sure of our every step.

Whether D-Ball’s comments gave away our position or if it was epically poor timing, it acted as a catalyst for action.

“Incoming!” Tully roared and my head snapped up.

Hurtling from the canopy came thirty or forty spiked seeds the size of basketballs. Most of them clattered into branches and bounced away harmlessly but a handful successfully threaded the obstructions and slammed into our column. Three people went down, hit by the large seeds. One almost hit me, but I shimmed to the side at the last second thanks to Tully’s warning, otherwise, it would have brained me. The seed which almost hit me thudded into the moist leafy detritus that covered the jungle floor and stuck there, inches from my foot.

Instinctively, I knelt low and rapped my knuckles against the spherical object. The outer shell was tough and unforgiving, the spiky protrusions had little to no give to them. Getting hit would have hurt quite a lot.

None of my friends were struck, but Tommy had already moved to another member of the support team who had been hit in the shoulder and driven to the ground. He pulled the seed from his body and laid his hands atop the bleeding puncture wound, muttering a healing incantation. The other two victims seemed to be in better shape and were also being seen to.

“Did these things fall on us?” Carlos whispered just behind me.

Based on the angle of their trajectories I doubted it. “They were launched.” My suspicion was confirmed as the words left my lips when a second volley of seeds was propelled in our direction.

The second volley was less successful than the first as the party were now aware and defensive measures had been taken. It was followed by a whooping and hollering from above. The branches started to shake, and we could begin to see movement in the upper canopies. Whatever had been up there and thrown the projectiles at us was now making its way down and it wasn’t taking its time to be careful in the descent.

“Enemies coming from the trees above,” I yelled out. “Get ready to engage.” It was probably superfluous information at this stage, but there was no point taking a risk that somebody would be caught unawares.

I summoned a new item I had acquired after the fall of Grand Rapids from my inventory. A Spellslinger Spear. The spear acted as a spell focus and allowed me to channel my sorcerous effects through it. I could also imbue the spear with my flame-attuned mana. This afforded the spear additional heat-based damage depending on how much mana I infused it with. Provided I didn’t lose physical contact with the spear, the infused mana would not be expended and could be absorbed back into my pool later. If I dropped the spear or it was knocked from my grip, then the mana would be automatically flushed into the atmosphere.

It was perfect for me. Melee combat was not my forte and a weapon that kept my opponents at a distance and didn’t require a lot of skill or practice to use competently was a big bonus.

The spear had been in the Brotherhood’s armoury along with a lot of other half-decent items that had either been dropped by mobs or had been looted from the people they had conquered and enslaved. Many of the Brotherhood rank and file had continued to rely on firearms despite their lack of effectiveness. Meanwhile, weapons like this had been left to collect dust in a warehouse.

With the spear pointed in front of me, I scanned the canopy above searching for a viable target. It didn’t take long before one presented itself to me.

Our opponents were a troop of angry apes that swung on sturdy vines or leapt between thick branches on their way down to us. They were about six feet tall, powerfully muscled, and covered in a thick matte of burnt orange fur. Apart from the colour of the fur, the biggest distinguishing feature which differentiated them from Gorilla’s or Chimpanzees was the bone of the upper part of their skulls was skinless and exposed for all to see.  A ridge of bone fragments circled the exposed area like a crown.

{Skull apes} Qunicy confirmed. {Nasty brutes, but manageable provided there aren’t too many of them. Kill the alpha, that would be the one with the most prominent bony halo, and the rest should flee.}

 

Ridged Skull Apes x36

Grade: Q

Level: 10 (average)

HP: 1,200

XP Value: 4,500

 

I quickly relayed that information to my people and shot off a few green-fire darts at the approaching beasts. My magical assault was joined by arrows and bolts by those who had ranged weaponry in the group. An initial scan of the orange-furred attackers hadn’t revealed the identity of their leader. Perhaps he hadn’t joined this initial foray.

The first volley collided with the descending monsters, but this gave the apes pause. Their headlong descent halted at the lowest branches, and they scuttled out of sight around the back of the huge tree trunks. This didn’t mean the apes had given up. They were simply smart enough to minimise the opportunities to be hurt before they engaged. The thumping sound of heavy bodies landing on the turf off the trail and just out of sight confirmed they hadn’t retreated.

“Expect a ground attack but keep your eyes open for more thrown seeds,” I whispered to the warriors that had gathered around me. We’d formed six groups of roughly ten people in a clumped circle so that no one’s back was exposed.

The jungle fell deathly silent for a heartbeat or two and then a cacophonous hooting rose from the jungle around us, followed by a signalling roar. The skull apes burst from the undergrowth and charged our positions, running by pounding their knuckles into the jungle floor and baring their elongated canines in a display of aggressive dominance.

I let the two which charged my circle from the left side of the trail get within five metres before unleashing a belch of green flames from my spear tip in a cone of fire that encompassed both. The flames scorched away their fur and burnt their flesh. Worse for them, I’d taken advantage of my deep mana pool and invested more mana into the wide flame than normal to give it a sticky napalm-like effect. The flames clung unnaturally to their bodies and continued to burn.

The apes screeched in pain. Their charge faltered when they slowed and tried to extinguish the persistent green fire which covered them. I didn’t use this option very often, as a damage-over- time effect it was not a cost-effective use of my mana. The additional damage it inflicted was quite modest for the expenditure. However, it was very painful and panic-inducing if you weren’t wearing armour. Useful for breaking up a mob’s charge. Three members of my circle stepped forward and hacked the apes to death while they rolled about on the ground trying to extinguish the flames.

I glanced around and observed that my people were dealing with the threat. None of the circles had been broken apart or overwhelmed. And then the seeds started to fall from the canopy once more. This time the barrage came with added difficulty of a few skull apes who hadn’t been slain yet. Therefore, it was more difficult to avoid the spiky projectiles. More than a dozen people were hit, forcing some of them to the floor.

Switching my flame aspect to white, I began targeting those in our group who had been hit by the deadly seeds with healing fire-darts.

That was when I spotted him. A much larger skull ape whose bone ridges were a good inch taller than any of the others. He’d been silently climbing down the side of the largest tree using the vines to good effect. He had a cadre of four other skull apes which quietly slipped to the ground along with him.

“I’ve sighted the alpha!” I barked out and pointed in the beast’s direction with my spear.

“Separate him from the others and I’ll take him down,” Amber called back from the militia group not far from my circle.

I nodded back in understanding. She had a Duelling Charge ability that would allow her to rapidly close in on any target. Very useful for getting in close and dishing out some severe damage, but it could leave you isolated and surrounded if used on someone in a large group.

To provide the space Amber needed, I started to rapid-fire my green-flame darts at the honour guard apes. The repeated hits forced them to break their stride and duck for cover which consequently left the alpha exposed and partially isolated from his backup.

When the guarding apes backed off, Amber broke away from her circle and approached the trunk of the nearest tree. She retrieved a mana-fuelled device that looked like a claymore mine with a grabbing claw sticking out of the top from her inventory. I’d not seen the device before but had heard about it. They were called Lurch Traps. She quickly planted the spike at the base of the trap into the bark of the tree and flipped a switch. Six legs extended from the device and dug into the bark of the tree, fixing the trap firmly in place.

With the lurch trap secure, Amber took hold of the grab claw on the top and pulled it out. It was connected to the trap by a thin wire. With the claw in hand, Amber activated her Duelling Charge and raced across the jungle floor with extreme speed, closing the distance between her and the ape alpha in under a second. Rather than attack the alpha with her small blade, she punched the startled beast in the chest with the grab claw as part of her movement skill. The claw reacted on contact and pincered deep into the flesh of the skull ape’s pectoral muscles.

Amber let go of the claw, threw herself to the side and rolled away. At the same moment, the lurch trap went into action. Like Scorpion’s signature move in Mortal Kombat the extended grabbing claw was retracted with great force, pulling its target closer. It became a battle between the strength of the skull ape alpha and how well-anchored the trap was. To be sure of the outcome, I fired off a pair of green-flame darts which connected with the alpha’s knees pushing the beast further off-balance. The two factors combined to send it tumbling to the jungle floor and soon it was being dragged across the ground leaving a rutted furrow in the moist leafy detritus.

Despite its bulk, the skull-ape alpha couldn’t stop the inexorable reeling-in-function of the trap which gathered pace and slammed headfirst into the bulbous roots of one of the grand trees we walked amongst. Amber’s circle of militiamen were the closest and rushed the downed beast and laid into it with everything they had.

“Keep the rest of the troop off their backs,” I called out to the others and efforts were redoubled to keep the subordinate apes occupied and prevent them from coming to the aid of their leader.

Amber scrambled back to the nearest circle of warriors which happened to be mine and joined in our delaying action.

It didn’t take long before there was a mighty roar from the alpha which faded into a whimper and its outstretched arms which had tried to knock away its attackers flopped to the ground in death. The closest skull-ape to the alpha hollered what seemed to me to be a mixture of distress and excitement. The strange call was taken up by the rest of the troop, both those battling us on the jungle floor and those still hidden away in the treetops.

Then, as Qunicy promised, the skull apes disengaged and ran from the fight disappearing back into the heavy foliage of the jungle. I caught a few flashes of their burnt-orange fur in the distance as they climbed back up to their territory in the trees.

“Is everybody alright?” I shouted out to the different groups.

Several shouted answers came back. A few people had been injured in the short battle, but no permanent casualties. Tommy and another healer whose nickname was Pony set about mending any wounds and restoring people’s Hit Points.

“Well, that was invigorating,” Tully commented with a wry smile when I brought my three squad leaders together for a debrief. “Fourteen dead apes. Standard kind of loot for the grade and level, nothing special of note.”

“A thousand XP each for the combat, though,” Carlos noted with a smile. “I could get used to this.”

“Preferably not from ambushes,” I added. “We got lucky this time. They launched that first barrage of spiky seeds from too far away. The apes could have got closer without being spotted and our defensive formations would have been weaker as a result. Also, if the alpha had been smarter and not exposed himself, we wouldn’t have been able to separate him from his allies and take him out so easily. On that front, the lurch trap worked well.”

Amber grinned in appreciation, pulled the trap out and showed it off. “This was the first chance I’ve had to use it.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Carlos started to say a bit tentatively. “But wouldn’t it be safer to shoot the claw from a crossbow. The back end is shaped like a bolt.”

Amber gave him a mock glare which quickly softened back into her grin to show she hadn’t really been offended. “That’s how it was designed. But bolts can be blocked, knocked aside, or you might simply miss the target. The first hit from Duelling Charge is much more difficult to prevent and gives me more control over where the claw is placed.”

“Okay, everybody did well in this engagement. Feed that back to your respective teams and we move out in two minutes. There is no point giving another skull ape the chance to ascend to alpha-hood and send the troop back to fight us again.”