Purple Blood splattered the ground. I withdrew my fist from the abdomen of the spider. I could never get used to these. I fired concentrating my mana into fine points and ejected them from my fingertips hitting several more spiders. The remaining spiders scuttled away. Having both hands free by not needing a torch in these caves was a big advantage. My mana sense had improved a lot it felt more like second nature at this point. Although that might be because I depended on it to sense monsters that would rip me to shreds the moment they could. I walked deeper into the cave. It had been a couple of days since my last excursion but thanks to the many medicinal herbs and healing magic Olivere possessed, he patched me right up, not without consequence though. I shuddered at the memory of the healing process. I still wasn’t fully recovered but I should be fine. I felt for a pocket by my chest. I withdrew a small golden shell. Just in case anything happened again Olivere had given me a whistle that would call him. I had asked him how he would be able to hear it but he had assured me that he would definitely hear it. I felt figures approaching. Monsters! I willed my mana to contain the tendrils of mana it let out around me and stop it from reaching them. Tiny figures too short for a typical human ran through the tunnel. They bore weapons. There was something going on in this jungle. The monsters were different. This seemed almost organised as if it were part of a bigger scheme. The monsters I knew didn’t think this much, they weren’t intelligent enough to do this. I moved back into the tunnel. A creature of the same variety just then came down the tunnel and bumped into me. How hadn’t I noticed this one? It opened its mouth to yell, I clamped my hand over its mouth muffling its screams. I held my fore and middle finger a small blade appeared around them, producing a a small light that illuminated the creature’s wrinkled green skin. Goblins. I remembered the first time I killed a monster, I had felt lost. I thought long and hard about whether or not I should have killed it. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. A lot has changed since then. Olivere explained it to me in a certain way one day. He had said this:
“If you don’t kill the monster, then it will go on and kill many more animals than you would have, What is the moral decision to do then? It’s only something that you can decide but know this; Not doing something can be just as bad if not worse than doing something,”
I slid the blade across the goblin’s neck. I held the goblin quiet until it bled out. Its lifeless body slumped to the ground. It began to glow illuminating the tunnels. It grew brighter until it exploded. I covered my face. The light and smoke washed over me but I was unarmed. sprinted away from the body when the realisation struck me. It had notified everyone within the vicinity of where I was. I followed the tunnel and picked a random entrance when I got to a crossing. I needed to put as much distance as I could between me and the signal. I could hear the steps of numerous creatures as they travelled through the narrow tunnels. The tunnel opened up into a much larger one. I came face to face with a horde of armoured goblins. They had swords and shields as well as light armour. How did they have armour?”
They turned towards me at the sight of me. One of the goblins stood taller than the rest. A gold ring hung in its ear and two scimitars were sheathed to its back.
The taller goblin pointed at me and barked. The other goblins responded and charged. I punched through the first goblin’s armour, shattering it into many pieces. At the sight of the death of one of its comrade the other ones hesitated for a moment but still continued towards me. I grabbed the sword of the dead one. I let mana flow into the sword. It vibrated softly. I swung at the next goblin, it lifted up its own sword to guard it. I didn’t think I’d ever swung a sword before. My sword swung through it and cut it in half. I sliced up 3 more in one swift motion. The larger one that I assumed was the leader withdrew its scimitars. I grabbed another blade from one of the fallen goblins. I didn’t have any sword skills and I relied on my reaction time alone to block the swings. The leader was clearly more skilled even avoiding some of my blows. Eventually though I sliced through its scimitars as well.
“Let’s end this,” I said.
The leader withdrew a shining blue gem from its shoulder pad. I could feel dangerous amounts of mana flowing out of it. He slammed it into the ground breaking it into pieces and shaking the tunnel. I scrambled to the sides where the ground was more stable. I sensed the figure disappearing.
“I won’t let you get away!” I shouted, following after it. I went down the tunnel it had been in mere seconds ago. I saw a light up ahead. I couldn't sense anything past it. All I could sense was that the tunnel opened up past it. I ran into it. I was in a huge cave. Dark emanating mana with black tendrils of energy reaching out from it came from a throne facing away from me in the center of the room. It sent chills down my spine. The mana output was comparable to Olivere’s. The goblin was hiding behind the throne. I saw several giant creature’s behind the throne. Giant figures writhed around in the shadows. The goblin was making clicking and barking sounds to the throne. A deep rumble from the throne replied. I backed away slowly. Only to hit a wall. The exit behind me had been sealed. The tunnel was still there but some transparent force stopped me from going into it. I was trapped.
I extended my blades in between me and the throne. The figure in the throne stood up. It was a massive figure at least three times my height. Thick brown hair covered it. It couldn’t cover the massive tusks from its face and its muscled arms though. It turned around to my direction. Its eyes were a deep red. They stared into my soul. I shivered. It roared, its mana stretched across the room. The mana of the surrounding creatures seemed to diminish slightly. The creature’s mana seemed to only grow stronger still. I controlled the wobbling in my knees. I couldn’t fight that. I doubt Olivere could fight that. It walked towards me, its steps shook the floor. It rushed forward throwing forward one of its massive fists. I raised my swords. My feet dug into the solid rock ground. Blood spurted from my mouth. It seemed to grow right in front of me. I could feel my vision growing faint. I glanced at my feet only to find one of my knees had overextended and was now bending in the other direction. I summoned mana to my arms and shot it through the creature’s arm. It grunted slightly. It picked me up and threw me. I smashed into a wall. I felt my lungs contracting painfully shut. My vision turned red. I fell from the wall to the ground. It soon picked me up. I felt my leg shatter in its grip. It swung me around as if I was a rag-doll. It swung me into the ground. I wasn’t sure if I even had any limbs after that point. I fingered my breast pocket for the whistle Olivere had given me. I took the shell out but it was in pieces, some parts even ground into powder.
I felt mana charging within the creature an incredible amount. Maybe I was just hallucinating.
That’s when the pure mana shooting out of the creature’s gaping maw slammed into me. I crashed through the ground and was pushed deep down into the bowels of the earth. Blood and bodily fluids ran out of all my orifices. My eyes, ears, nose and mouth all leaked blood. The cave above was now only a pin-prick above me. Insects scuttled around in the dark. They nipped at me. A slimy red liquid covered the area. The spiders seemed to ooze the liquid and soon I was covered in it. I screamed, the white-hot pain sweltered over my skin. I thought the pain had dulled when my body took all that damage but I was wrong. I heard the sizzling of my own flesh as the ooze settled into it. I couldn’t protect myself from all the bites of the hand-sized spiders either. They pinched off pieces of my flesh, piece by piece. My physical stamina as well as my mana was all depleted, there was nothing I could do about it. I sensed several huge skeletons around me. I scrated at the walls trying to get out but I only fell down again into the goo and the spiders.
I was never getting out, was I. Even If I did I would only meet me end at the hands of that monster at the top. The spiders crawled over me and picked at my flesh. My screams echoed off of the walls but there was no one to hear them, at least no one that would save me.
