Chapter Seventeen: Bait and Burn

I crouched low behind the jagged bend in the tunnel. According to Varashan, this tunnel was one of many that led straight into the mouth of the Steelclaw den.

Crystals growths lined the stones again here, but they weren’t like the ones closer to Daruvasht. These glowed a deep, pulsing red--as faint as simmering coals left to die. They barely lit the corridor, which was probably the point. The Steelclaws liked it dark.

Which, I hoped, would make the small flares of orange drifting around the head of the sentry ahead of us all the more noticeable.

Three of my [Fire Wisps] circled lazily near the creature’s head. I kept them dim, just enough to be seen, just enough to irritate. The Steelclaw in question, previously lounging, scrunched its nose and bared jagged fangs as it swatted at the air.

Varashan crouched behind me, whispering. "Everything is in place. The runes are set in the other tunnels. All you need to do is draw the den's attention. The Steelclaws are highly territorial; once they sense a threat they’ll check every tunnel mouth."

"Focusing," I muttered.

My wisps danced around the Steelclaw’s face. One brushed past its nose and singed it very slightly. It snorted, shook its head, and rose with a slow, irritated growl.

I grinned as it nipped at one of the wisps.

"Open wide."

With a flick of thought, I sent all three wisps surging forward. They zipped into its slightly open mouth, vanishing down its throat.

My eyes flashed with fire.

[Raging Sorcery] infused my wisps. And detonated them.

The Steelclaw’s head ruptured from within, jaws snapping wide in one final, terrible moment before the upper half of its skull blew outward in a burst of thundering flame. It hit the stone floor with a heavy, wet thud.

"Think that was loud enough?" I asked, turning to glance at Varashan.

As if on cue, a chorus of enraged roars echoed down the stone corridor ahead.

"I believe that gives you your answer, my Lady," Gwyn purred behind me.

Varashan nodded. "We must move. You've seen yourself that they’re slow to start moving but gain momentum quickly."

We sprinted. The tunnel we came through blurred past, our boots slapping stone.

And along the way, every [Rune of Flame] I had planted shimmered softly as we passed. Finding all seven entrances to the Steelclaw den had taken most of the day. We’d dodged lazy and instinctive patrols the whole time. Fought in bursts of silencing ferocity when we'd had to. And all the while I'd laid my runes with caution.

Now it was time for the pay-off.

We ducked behind a large, craggy rock formation just as the first wave of steel-claws-on-stone thundered through the tunnels behind us. The Steelclaws were coming. And a lot of them.

Good.

A chain of detonations filled the air. Blinding light beamed out from the tunnel we'd left.

One by one, I felt my flame runes ignite, even though I couldn't see them.

The air shook once, and again, and again. Dozens of times, starting and stopping as each of the booby-trapped tunnels into the Steelclaw den turned into fire-filled killing fields.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Dust poured from the rocky ceiling above us. Gwyn snarled low beside me as the shockwaves passed.

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 27!]

[28.]

[29.]

[+20 (50/50) Incinerator I.]

[Congratulations! For slaying fifty enemies with fire-magic, you have completed the Incinerator I challenge.]

[Blazing Recompense [Un] Perk added.]

[Perk Description: Each soul claimed by your flame feeds your fire further. (Killing an enemy with fire magic restores 5% of your max mana and reduces the Mana-Cost of your next fire spell by 10%).]

[+10 (10/100) Incinerator II.]

I breathed out. It was good to get confirmation that the runes had worked and not just pissed off a metric-ton of monsters.

The new perk was also very exciting. As long as I had enemies to kill, I'd be able to chain spells like my fire wisps nearly infinitely.

More explosions echoed in the distance. Then silence. Then a few more final booms.

I then received a few pings from the System about the next tier of Incinerator.

"I got notifications that we took out a lot of them," I said to Varashan. "Think there’s more?"

The calabani knight rose slightly from behind the rock, listening. "Perhaps a few. They feed often upon the weaker monsters of the underground. I cannot imagine they could support a large population."

"Are we going to check, or?"

He hesitated. "We should. You’ll want your loot I'm sure. But... I doubt the tunnel held."

We crept back toward the mouth of the original corridor. Rubble choked the path. Flame-blackened stone.

"Guess I shouldn’t be surprised," I muttered.

Varashan approached, steady. "You could clear it. With your fireball spell. Just mind the chance for another cave in."

"I’ll be careful," I said. "We should back up though."

They retreated and so did I. Then I focused.

An orb of flame spun into shape above my palm, fed by orange fire wisping between my fingers.

I reared back and thew it.

The blast shattered stone. Rocks rolled and cracked as the debris blocking our path shifted.

I looked to Varashan, who cautiously observed the ceiling and walls of the tunnel. "Try once more."

I summoned another fireball and threw it. More stone crumbled and fell.

I looked back to my older companion once more briefly and, when he didn't protest, I called forth another orb of flame. And hurled it.

It did the trick and broke open a gap. Enough to see glowing loot orbs scattered among the rocky collapse.

I stepped forward, eager to claim my loot.

And then... a sound interrupted me.

It was a roar that put the ones we had heard from the other Steelclaws to shame. Lower. Heavier. Louder. Deep and resonating enough to shiver through my bones.

I turned my head slowly back to my Gwyn and Varashan. "What was that?"

Varashan stared in the direction of the Steelclaw den, brow furrowing in concentration and concern. "I do not know."

Gwyn moved forward and sniffed the air. "Whatever it is… it is large. And I can smell its anger."

Another roar came after the first. Higher pitched than the original. Anguished. Echoing with fury. Smaller, desperate snarls joined in with it.

I looked to Varashan. "Should we leave?"

He clenched his hand around his spear. "Whatever it is, it is no doubt a threat to the city. One we were previously unaware of and unprepared for."

A smile tugged at my mouth.

"Good. I didn’t want to leave anyway."

He met my gaze, steel in his expression. "Then lead the way. Carefully."

We moved into the breach. The cavern beyond the entry passage was huge. Dust from the detonations still settled in clouds around us, lit by many towering groupings of the same red crystals as before.

And at the center of it all: a familiar, but altogether new type of beast.

Enormous. Hulking. Reminiscent of a Steelclaw yes, but with longer blades atop its paws. Instead of brown, it had a shaggy black hide that was marked with vicious looking carmine swirls and tuffs.

[Steelclaw Mother - Lv. 28 Elite]

The van-sized matriarch crouched amid the wreckage, thick limbs tense, eyes glowing a red to match its fur's patterning--but more alive and hateful. Surrounding her were a number of her surviving and smaller kin, clawing and bunching backwards near their progenitor.

"I thought only Rulers were elites," I whispered.

"Some monsters earn the title," Varashan replied grimly. "Rulers are Cowagen’s chosen custodians of our world. But other elites are the horrors of the world itself."

"Think we can take it?"

Varashan exhaled. "You defeated a Ruler."

Gwyn padded forward. "And now, you’re not alone."

The Steelclaws turned their heads towards us, sniffing the air. Seeing us with their lacking vision and locating us by superior scent--maybe even some form of tremor sense, judging by how they'd fought us this far.

The Steelclaw Mother roared, sending a shockwave through the air towards us. The soundwaves hit our group with a rolling, physical force; I was forced to take a single step backwards against the shout's sheer viscosity and momentum.

[Warning! You have been affected by the Weakening Shout debuff. Strength and Dexterity are decreased by 10% for 30 seconds.]