Chapter 275 |
I barely heard the insectile whining keen before Talia’s other projectiles hit, each emitting a sound similar to a bottle rocket with far more devastating effect. Flaming segmented bodies, some far larger than others, scrambled out in a squealing dash, mandibles clicking, feet skittering as they raced towards the only visible source.
Talia fired projectile after projectile, moving more than necessary to hold their attention, while Julian and I pressed ourselves against the walls.
A BOOM and subsequent rush of heat escaped from the boss room as Talia detonated the ambush stockpile. Flaming ants heavy with pheromones and chemical scents brushed against us as they passed, unsettling Julian and nearly knocking me over. Either the glamour worked, or they were too angry and unsettled to notice the two lesser threats holding up either side of the tunnel.
“Now.” I snapped.
I leapt over a flaming ant as Julien shoved it aside and dashed through the doorway. This time, he actually kept pace with me, and we entered the boss chamber at the same time. There was a deep rumble and a cascade of falling rock and soil crashed down behind us, crushing most of the adds. A few probably still made it through. But in smaller numbers and away from prying eyes, Talia could handle anything Eldritch in nature easily.
Julian evaluated the cave-in behind us, taking a step back. “That worked way too well.”
“Twelve o’clock, hanging upside down from the indentation of rock.” I spat out tersely, my bow at the ready.
A praying mantis clung to the ceiling, pinprick eyes barely visible with its rock and soil colored camouflage. It swayed slightly, mimicking a leaf in the breeze. Tendrils of oozing red were wreathed around its body, digging into its limbs and carapace.
I sighted its head. It was a plausibly easy shot from here with the thing being so large. “Let’s get this started.”
“What the fuck—”
“My thing, remember?”
I fell quiet, annoyed at the interruption. A system quirk that forced you to fight differently was one thing. Losing the benefit of surprise when it was the only advantage we had was an entirely different level of irritation.
After waiting until he was confident I wasn’t going to fire, Julian raised himself up and approached the mantis. “Are you intelligent?”
A set of human teeth clicked impatiently. Its voice was a harsh noise, forced out through a throat clearly not designed for it. “I am a servant of the disruptor. There is no me. Just as there is no you. Merely the wills and ideals we are driven by.”
As if that was somehow satisfactory, Julian sheathed his sword.
What the hell are you doing, idiot?
I nearly said something inflammatory, but didn’t want to draw more attention to the opening. suddenly proc’d, informing me that Julian was using a skill. But there was no further sign of one. “You’re intelligent enough to speak eloquently, and can grasp abstract concepts such as the erosion of self. Surely you must hold some sort of belief of your own accord. Some will.”
The creature chortled. “All willing springs from lack, from deficiency, and thus from suffering. Fulfillment brings this to an end; yet for one wish that is fulfilled there remain at least ten that are denied. Further, the desire lasts long, and demands are infinite; the fulfillment is short and rarely measured out.”
The statement gave me a chill. The added context of what this thing was—or rather, what it was controlled by—made it worse.
Julian chuckled back, as if the creature had just told nothing more than a clever joke. “That’s a direct quote. Schopenhauer, right?” He frowned. “Though I suppose you may or may not be aware of that. In my opinion, it overlooks a lot. Cruelty and suffering might spring from lack, but so do empathy and compassion. One side cannot exist without the other.”
Are you seriously arguing philosophy right now?!
I told myself it was some sort of stalling tactic. He’d cast an ability, so he was doing something. Right?
“Which is why I’m prepared to offer clemency.” He said, oddly solemn.
“You offer us mercy?” The mantis asked flatly.
“I do. We have an entire region of people afflicted with a similar condition. And it’s possible, given your control over others and retention of self, we may be able to learn how to cure them by studying you.”
Completely silent, I slowly moved, shifting counter-clockwise until I had a decent view of the mantis’s side profile and gripped hilt, leaving the knife in its sheath. The mantis had no obvious weak point. If it had any, they were hidden beneath the network of red that looked vaguely like a circulatory system. Just like the victims of region six, the Eldritch Infection was the only thing left the weapon’s magic effect considered critical.
I was nearly to the point of abandoning any concern for Julien and striking out on my own. Starting the fight on my own terms before he got himself captured or controlled, or worse. The fact that he even thought he could reason with something clearly so malevolent and barbaric cast a permanent shadow on his potential as an ally.
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“Strangely, we hear truth in your words. Had you come to us alone… perhaps we might have considered this… offer.” The boss hissed, head flicking towards me with inhuman speed. “However, we suspect your companion does not harbor the same sentiment.”
Julian’s smile grew thin. For the first time I noticed how pale he was. The way his hands shook. He was clearly terrified.
But… not by the boss.
For the sake of the small, infinitesimal chance Julian was taking a page out of my playbook and pursuing a misdirect for the sake of an opening, I played along.
“Doesn’t matter what I want. Julian’s in charge here.” I shifted my head towards him, making a show of acknowledging his position. “I do what he tells me.”
It rotated its head until it was nearly upside down. “Because of your boon, I will make this offer only once. Leave now.”
“What boon?” Julian turned to me in confusion.
“Does that apply to both of us?” I asked. Leaving it alive wasn’t an option, but if it was shortsighted enough to open an exit for me to shove my misguided companion through before the fighting started, I would not turn it down.
“Only you.”
Unfortunate. The old me would have jumped on the opportunity in a second. In-part, I was still tempted. Julian had blown this in so many ways he’d essentially made his own bed. The cold rational option would be to leave him here to lie in it, eventually returning with a stupid amount of firepower, casualties be damned. But there were countless ways that could come back to bite me.
“Yeah, I’m good to get out of here.” I shrugged and inventoried my bow.
“Matt?” Julian called after me, his concern clear.
“Don’t.” I snapped at him suddenly. “Whatever you’re trying to pull here, this half-assed it’s-a-small-world horseshit wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Oh.”
I ignored him as he looked down, hands still shaking and addressed the mantis. “Where’s the exit?”
It chortled as it extended an insectile leg towards the wall. “This way, kindred. Though I do wonder how many days this mercy will grant you. Not long, most likely.”
I trudged through the soft dirt, all business, in the direction the mantis indicated. Disappointment swept over me as I realized where he was directing me—towards the only patch of stone-looking wall in the arena.
I kept talking. “Strange to warn me if it’s true. Stranger still to threaten me if it’s not.”
“This is neither a warning, nor a threat. Simply an observation. The lithid’s scent is strong on you.” It leaned down, body proportions allowing it to simultaneously tower over me while it stared me in the face. “It will grow stronger still until one is no longer distinguishable from the other. After that? It will no longer have need of you.”
My mouth tightened. “Thanks for the warning, then. May I go?”
There was a grating of stone on stone, and a human-sized passageway opened up. It was barely large enough for an average person to fit through. More annoyingly, the stone that surrounded it was thick and solid. Dungeon infrastructure tended to be anywhere from five to ten times as strong as its real world equivalent to prevent sequence breaking, so it might as well have been steel.
I’d hoped getting the boss to reveal the exit would give us an avenue for retreat. Not so much. The door itself was thicker than the average support beam. We wouldn’t be forcing it open in a pinch.
Realistically, abandoning Julian here wasn’t an option. On the off-chance he made it out it would create animosity between our factions. And if he died, he was too beloved and central for the people around him to not take his loss personally. Too valuable as a foothold into the court. Those were all sound, logical reasons to help him.
That it kept me from having to take advantage of someone who was misguided and naïve was just a lucky coincidence.
If the battle went badly, and I was forced to rely on Ordinator abilities in a manner that was obvious, I’d him in a second.
“There are no traps. My kind might be devious by nature, but we do not offer boons often. Thus, in the rare situation they are encountered, we treat them seriously.” The mantis said, looking between me and the tunnel, misinterpreting my hesitation.
The fight was inevitable. There weren’t many angles left to play. I was well within range for something devious, but a sneak attack wouldn’t mean much if there was nothing critical to target. Moreover, Julian seemed to be taking the betrayal really hard. Like I’d catfished his mom and kicked his dog on the way out hard. The only play I had left was turning this moment into something cathartic and stirring, something that would etch me in his mind as an ally. Wouldn’t help us with the fight, but it would pay dividends if this didn’t end with subjugation.
I sighed and resigned myself to channeling Nick. “Well, Mr. Prince? Hope you’ve legitimately got something up your sleeve, because we’re not brute forcing our way out if you don’t.” Julian’s head snapped up, and I knocked on the solid stone of the exit for emphasis.
“What… is this?” The mantises’s eyes seemed to bulge, and the mandibles around its human mouth clicked nervously. “The way is open. It will not open again unless I am slain. Leave.”
“Hear that?” I said, discreetly stepping out of swiping distance. “Clear cut and plainly stated. Never intended to negotiate, after I left. Probably just wanted a clear shot at infecting you as a host.”
When in doubt, poison the well.
Julian shook his head, his mouth pursed. “Why?” He asked me.
“If I’m honest, I don’t really have a reason.” I stuck my hands in my pockets, crossed the room, and returned to him, fully prepared for the boss to strike at my back. It didn’t. “Maybe because you seem like a decent person. Or maybe it’s just that you got under my skin back at base camp. Felt like we made a connection, but I wasn’t born yesterday. Could have been nothing more than savvy maneuvering.”
He blinked several times. “What? No, not at all.”
“Then you treated a stranger and outsider as a friend. And I don’t abandon friends.”
Drawing on Nick in this moment felt so saccharine I could almost hear the stirring cinematic strings, crescendoing to a fever pitch. It was all I could do to keep my cringing internal. It felt so over-the-top and inauthentic I couldn’t imagine anyone taking it seriously.
Julian grasped my shoulder, his expression stoic and serious. “I won’t forget this.”
Someone please kill me.
“What entertaining company.” The mantis cackled. “A system-borne so earnest and straightforward it is a miracle it still lives…” One pinprick eye rotated towards Julian, while the other remained trained on me. “And another that lies as easily as it breathes.” Its cackle grew louder. “Had you never wandered into my lair, I suspect the pair of you would have reached the same inevitable conclusion.”
Regaining his composure somewhat, Julien stepped to the forefront. “That being?”
The mantis smiled widely, showing the dark, unhealthy looking gums that surrounded its human teeth. “Tragedy.”
screamed, milliseconds before four crimson spears buried themselves in Julian’s torso.