Antvance into the Unknown

81. I Wish I Hadn’t Seen That

What follows is an hour in which Tiny goes completely berserk on every monster unfortunate enough to poke its nose into the tunnel. He was mowing down the lower tier shadow creatures so fast, he ended up pushing forward several hundred metres in his drive to find a challenger. He did eventually come across a lithe demon with scythe-like arms and a menacing aura. I almost stepped forward to take it on myself, but the moment he saw it, Tiny was off like a shot, bellowing his challenge and spreading his wings out to build his speed.

My heart leapt into my mouth, and I was genuinely concerned for the moron for a heartbeat. Despite being a tier lower than he is, demons have all sorts of built-in advantages over a first stratum monster like Tiny. Will he be alright?

As it turns out, my worries are somewhat warranted, despite how short the fight turned out to be. The demon, unimpressed with the gigantic monkey bearing down on it, slid neatly to one side and slashed out with an arm. A powerful blade of light manifested along with the strike, homing in on Tiny’s neck. I thought his head was going to get sliced clean off, but without missing a beat, Tiny raised his left arm to block while his right swung down, his own fist wreathed in a glow as a giant fist of light manifested to mirror his own.

It appeared as though the demon would win the day as its blade sunk deep into the ape’s flesh, blood spurting from the cut. But then, the attack just… stopped. As if it’d run into a brick wall. Tiny’s hand, however, did not stop, and the poor demon was flattened into the ground by the brutal power behind that swing. Disoriented from the blow, there was little the third stratum monster could do to retaliate as Tiny stood over it and delivered a devastating combo, literally burying it in the stone floor.

When it was done, Tiny walked back to us with a broad grin on his face, even as he continued to lose a copious amount of blood from the wound on his arm.

[Don’t smile at me like that, you moron! Your arm is half cut off! Come over here faster and get healed!]

The blade had indeed sliced through his muscle and tissue like it was paper, but when it came to the bone, no such luck. Tiny’s new skeleton was harder than stone, harder perhaps than my own diamond carapace. When the scythe struck the bones in his forearm, it’d been stopped cold, completely unable to cut through.

[Those new bones of yours are the real deal, Tiny!] I tell him, impressed.

He brings both his arms up to flex, showing off his gains.

[Yeah, yeah. You did well. Let’s get out of here and head to another checkpoint since you’ve flattened everything out here. I don’t want to range too far from the Colony on this trip, this is just a test run.]

We make our way back to the choke point, clearing up the still-spawning monsters on the way and squeezing back behind the safety of the defensive lines with as much Biomass as we can carry in tow. The general waves goodbye as we head off, stop for a quick meal, then make our way to a neighbouring checkpoint. After finding things much the same here as at the last one, we wait just behind the garrison, watching for the moment they pull back and we can drive ourselves forward.

[Alright, Crinis, it’s time for you to shine. Are you ready?]

[I am!] The little ball sitting on my back extends a few tentacles and makes a miniature ‘guts’ pose, pumping herself up for the battle to come.

[Okay. You’re going through first, so make sure you’re completely prepared. The rest of us will follow behind. Tiny, you bring up the rear, no fighting for you, it’s Crinis’ turn.]

He nods unhappily and droops his shoulders. We ignore him, focusing on the intense battle. With a short hop, Crinis launches from my back onto the ground in front of me, where she splats into a puddle that rapidly unfurls and grows, sprouting tentacle after tentacle, until one great, yawning maw after another opens wide, the black depths within an unknowable void from which nothing can escape.

Gradually, the light fades until the darkness is so complete I have to switch to Mana Sensing to get a sense of what is going on. They don’t call it the sea of shadows for nothing. This is Crinis working her Shadow Magic, which she has been practising diligently, I see. To have this level of mastery of the darkness, she must have raised it to rank five or six, which is impressive.

When the area around her has been submerged in total shadow, I can sense some of her tentacles slipping into the ground beneath her, plunging into the realm between. I almost feel sorry for the creatures on the other side of the choke point, not even they deserve what is about to descend on them.

When the garrison pulled back, it wasn’t with a mighty roar or valiant charge like Tiny that Crinis advanced, that wasn’t her style. She glided on a rolling carpet of limbs, with no sound announcing her presence to the monsters beyond. An impenetrable silence. The first the maddened creatures knew of her was when all light faded from their eyes and the tentacles latched onto them, slithering around their bodies and winding between their limbs. By that time, it was, of course, far too late.

Somewhat reluctantly, I follow her, ready to assist in any way should it prove necessary, but instead I witness a one-sided, sickening affair.

Crinis’ ability to independently control her tentacles has risen, as a forest of dark, bladed limbs writhe before me, each one perfectly controlled as they batter aside claws, curl around and snap shut mouths, before extending their barbs. The buzzing of her blades at work is enough to set my mandibles to chattering. The unspeakable takes place, with segmented body parts of slain monsters filling the air as Crinis brings them back to her main body where they’re stuffed into one of the waiting maws.

Sometimes the monsters have not even completed the transition from living threat to Biomass before they’re dragged, struggling and clawing, but it matters not. Into the bottomless void they go, the gnashing teeth disintegrating them with every bite.

My eyes! My precious eyes! I can’t even close them! I swear by the shining white beard of he with the pointiest hat that I’m giving myself eyelids the next time I evolve. It’s not right that someone should be made to see this.

Even the monsters have had enough. Overcome with terror, they attempt to flee, which is when Crinis unleashes the true horror of her new existence. From the shadows of their escape route emerges a wall of limbs. The creatures try to fight their way out, swinging with claws, biting with fangs, and unleashing every other ability they’ve gained since spawning.

It’s all for naught.

Rather than block or dodge, Crinis simply allows the limbs to phase out of reality. Fiendish claws slide straight through, teeth close over nothing, acid and poison find no purchase. Before the monsters can recover, the ghostly limbs snap down, extending something new from their tips. This isn’t anything I’ve seen before, and I find myself curious despite everything, leaning forward and sharpening my mind to better catch a glimpse of what she’s doing.

I soon wish I hadn’t.

Glistening, ghostly tendrils hang from the tips of Crinis’ limbs which she drives straight into the monsters’ heads. If I hadn’t been paying such close attention, I might not have noticed how those root-like, ethereal appendages drilled down into the monsters, slipping straight through whatever hide, skeleton, or mucous covered them, penetrating their brains. I held my breath as they grew still, each of the beasts frozen in place like a nightmare painting.

Then they screamed.

The monsters of the Dungeon, filled with rage and drunk on Mana, screamed in fear and terror before they set upon each other, tearing their fellow victims apart as whatever sanity they had fled to the furthest recesses of their minds.

[Hee, hee, hee, hee!] Crinis giggled.

I could only bring my forelegs up to clutch at my head in despair. What have I created!