hotmtlnovel Chapter 54: Spitter Drone, Take II
Chapter 54: Spitter Drone, Take II
Chapter 54: Spitter Drone, Take IIAliandra The ruined streets were desolate and quiet, with not even a single hint of their desperate flight from the Kobold horde yesterday remaining. They encountered only a couple of patrols while retracing their steps – it seemed that the dungeon needed some time to respawn everything, and they must have made enough of a dent in the Kobold population that – at least in this area – there weren’t nearly as many as before.
“It’s clear all the way to the explosion site,” Calen said, his voice hushed as his lithe form slowly emerged from the shadows nearby.
“Sounds good,” Malika said. “Let’s continue.”
Mato just grunted, not bothering to shapeshift in order to speak.
Ali followed along, her eyes scouring the darkened doorways and shattered buildings as they retraced their steps deeper into the heart of the dungeon, but as they arrived at the street where they had fought the Spitter Drone, she stopped and stared in surprise. All that remained of the battle site was a giant crater in the middle of the street. Several of the surrounding buildings had collapsed into piles of rubble, no doubt the result of the potent explosion of the bone elemental’s corpse. But besides that, the scorch marks on the walls, and the scurrying bone skitterers scrambling for cover, the entire scene had been stripped clean.
None of her Kobold minions’ corpses remained, nor any of the gear. Even the bone shards, blood stains, and chunks of the drone had vanished as if they’d never been.
“Where’s all the stuff?” she asked, not really expecting her friends to know. Of all the things she had lost down here in the mad scramble to escape, that was the only item she couldn’t replace. She had been hoping to give it to her highest-level mage.
“What did you expect? Your gear is nice, and it obviously fits the dungeon monsters,” Malika pointed out. “They probably just took it.”
“But why the bodies? And all the pieces of the bone elemental?” While she would need many more, there was the possibility of learning the monstrous creatures eventually. Not that her stomach would enjoy that prospect, but without the corpse, she didn’t even have the option.
“We saw that drone eating all sorts of bone, alive or dead, I bet another one came over and cleaned up,” Mato speculated.
“It’s a dungeon,” Calen said, scrunching his brow. “Dungeons eat everything you leave. It probably has some way to turn that stuff into more monsters.”
“Well, that’s annoying, I wanted that bracelet,” Ali complained. There were already fresh layers of bone encrustations plastered over some of the scorch marks on the wall. A sure sign that another of those Spitter Drones had been by.
“There are lots of Kobolds in here, let’s keep our eyes open for another,” Malika answered.
Malika was obviously right, but it was still frustrating to lose something so perfect for her mages.
Ali followed as their group pressed on, now at a much more cautious pace, with Calen ranging ahead as their scout. She sent her rogues off to hide in the shadows and walked in a loose formation with her two Goblin Storm Shamans forming a bulwark in front of her so that she could take advantage of their sturdy shields and armor if necessary. Her annoyance faded as they entered unexplored territory, replaced with an alert caution and the expectation of a fight around every corner.
A few minutes passed in silence while they continued to creep forward. Ali stepped over a nearly invisible tripwire while trying to avoid getting closer to the creepy skitterers when the darkness shifted suddenly, startling her. But it was just Calen dropping down from the rooftop to land on silent feet.
“Group of five high-level Kobolds incoming, warrior, rogue, two archers, and a Fire Mage.”
“Didn’t the Guildmaster suggest you learn some archers, Ali?” Malika asked.
“Oh, yes!” she answered. She would need a few more than the two before she could inscribe the variant but, if there were archers in this patrol, there were certain to be more. Funny how she saw these high levels as learning opportunities, these days.
Mato immediately transformed and a few seconds later, the group of Kobolds rounded the corner.
Ali identified them the instant they burst into view.
As soon as they caught sight of Mato, a clamor of raucous chirps and screeches rose from their throats as they broke into a scrambling charge with the warrior leading the way, while the rogue faded into the shadows. Mato rushed down the center of the street toward them, with Calen’s orb bobbing along above him, shedding a harsh bright light on the battle that made fangs and claws gleam wickedly.
Ali summoned a barrier immediately.
“Go help Mato,” she said, sending both Storm Shamans to aid the Bear.
Ali mustered her focus. While she maintained her connection to her minions, and her stream of Arcane Bolts, she carefully sorted through the riotous mana, making sure she could easily pick out the specific signature and color of the Spitter Drone’s bone affinity mana every time it used one of its abilities.
“Think that crack is big enough?” Calen’s voice drew her attention back to the physical aspect of the battle.
She stared, and he moved his floating orb of light so she could get a better view.
“Yes, I think so,” she answered, pressing her lips together.
“Drop your Fireballs through that crack in the armor,” she instructed her Kobolds. Immediately, the Firebolt volleys ceased and the ambient heat on her face skyrocketed as the three mages simultaneously summoned their most potent magic. She maintained her stream of Arcane Bolts, trying to hold the regeneration at bay so the crack didn’t close before her minions were ready. She counted the seconds.
“Incoming Fireball!” she yelled, hoping that they could hear her inside the building, over the din of the fight.
Three Fireballs sizzled in the air as they shot across the street, impacting with the Spitter Drone and burying themselves inside the crack in its bone plate carapace. The detonation, muffled as it was by the body of the enormous creature and the stone walls of the house, still lit the entire interior with angry red flames. Gouts of fire and splinters of bone erupted from the doorway and spewed out of the windows as the shockwave slammed into her barrier, knocking one of her Kobolds off his paws. Off-white shards rained down everywhere, some gobs of flame splatting up against her barrier, and pieces of bone clattering to the ground all around.
To Ali’s relief, the telltale green sweeps and aura of Mato’s nature magic, and the cool blue-white flickers of Malika’s soul magic continued unabated.
It took a few minutes of continuous assault against the compromised armor before Ali saw spirals and swirls of dark mana beginning to coalesce somewhere within the room.
“Get out! It’s going to explode!” she yelled as loudly as she could. She couldn’t tell if she had been heard until she saw Malika’s athletic form sprinting out of the smoke-filled red-glowing ruined house and onto the street. Ali’s minions followed close behind, and then finally, the huge, scorched figure of Mato’s Bear lumbered through the shattered doorway, shedding chunks of bone as parts of his heavily ossified hide and flesh cracked and splintered.
Ali ignored her queasy stomach’s complaints and slammed the largest barrier she could muster in the doorway.
There was an enormous, muffled thump and the entire street bucked, tossing Ali to the ground. Chunks of bone whistled past, burying themselves into the stone walls, shattering the rock and encrustations of bone as easily as glass. The barrier she had created in the doorway burst in a sparkling spray of magic shards, while her ears rang from the explosion.
Ali stared in amazement at the building, somehow still standing, even though it was clearly much worse for wear.
“That went a lot better,” Malika announced, her voice getting progressively clearer as Mato’s aura helped regenerate the damage to her ears.
“Yeah, that was a great plan!” Mato’s huge grin told her that he had enjoyed himself. However, how he could have fun when his body was continually being turned to bone was beyond her.
“Nice call on the explosion,” Malika complimented her. “That was a perfect amount of time to get out, and the barrier in the doorway was a great idea – we should keep doing that.”
Ali was most surprised to realize her fear of the giant monster had evaporated somewhere during the fight. Admittedly, she had been much safer outside, but she still had a critical role – one that her friends had depended on her getting right.
“No adds,” Calen said, hopping down from the roof. “I think we’re clear.”
It took Ali a moment to remember that sometimes adventurers referred to ‘additional monsters’ as ‘adds’ and that Calen had just verified that the explosion hadn’t attracted the horde of Kobolds like last time.
“Shall we get another one?” Ali asked, getting to her feet and heading to the doorway so that she could deconstruct the huge monster.
She didn’t miss Mato’s broad grin at her question.