Chapter 88: The 'Furry-Folk' (1)
"I only left 4 pieces of meat, that probably won't be enough to feed both Ghost and Pagan. Not to mention that Asclepius might need some more too," Lucius thought to himself.
"But they'll probably just go hunting for more meat... right?~ he wondered, before realizing that it was Pagan he was talking about. The guy would probably just neglect Ghost's pod and eat all the meat himself.
~If my mental clock is still trustworthy, is been just under a day since I got here. With 4 pieces of meat, they can probably survive another day, before neglecting Ghost's pod,~ he thought, quickly doing the maths.
~Ok, let's get out of here,~ he decided, retrieving his long knives from the walls. As he held them in his hands, he realized that they were more like short daggers than long knives at the moment.
Just as he was about to leave, he remembered that his entire body was coated in blood, which would probably attract other hunters around him. He had no means to clean himself, so there was no way for him to avoid it.
"If I'm going to attract attention, I might as well have something to eat along the way," he whispered to himself, picking the centipede carcass up before going on his way.
As he walked, he realized that he didn't have to be too worried about hunters sneaking up on him as he had his 'earth sense'. Which seemed to have grown even stronger than before as he could now sense creatures that were further away.
In addition to that, he also used his crux to scan past corners and walls to see whether there was anyone ahead.
His scans found that the walls weren't at all very thick. He couldn't get an exact reading from his solar pulses alone, but if he had to give a rough estimate, they were about 2 inches of material between adjacent walls.
~There's something close by, and it's moving fast,~ Lucius thought to himself, sensing that something was approaching. Based on the speed it was moving at, it was probably already aware of Lucius's presence and was aiming to attack him.
The creature came into view a few seconds later, running from a tunnel path to Lucius's right. It was a humanoid frog-type creature, with purple smooth skin, and very muscular legs.
It was about the size of a large rabbit and was carrying a spear about the same length as Lucius in its hands.
Before Lucius could even drop the centipede on his back, the creature jumped to the tunnel's ceiling. Which was quite the feat, as the ceiling was more than 10 meters high.
It ricocheted off the wall, zipping past Lucius, and landing right behind him, before twisting around to thrust its spear in his back.
However, it was hasty in its judgment. Lucius wasn't even threatened by it, for some reason he had an unreasonable new confidence in himself.
With but a single thought 'kill it,', the razor-sharp petals at the tip of his tail closed up into a stinger and impaled the frog's head. Before blooming and splattering its insides everywhere.
It whipped in the air to throw the blood off itself before going back to its neutral state.
~I knew my tail felt more... accessible than before. So it works on conscious thoughts now?~ he thought, before giving it another command.
'Pick it up,' and with that, the tail picked the frog-being's corpse off the ground, its fibers flexing as it took on the weight.
Lucius proceeded, using the same tactic as before. Solar pulse to check corners, and earth sense to get an idea of what was close by.
Though he wished that the echoes would stop as they interfered with his senses, and somewhat irritated him. So much so that sometimes he would find himself growling without even realizing it.
Hours passed by, and he made short work of many lower-tier creatures with ease. The strength of his new body allowed him to split skulls, and completely crush even boar-sized creatures with relative ease.
Soon he even had to get picky with the type of meat he carried, as there were simply too many carcasses to take along.
~Ugh, it's only been two hours since the last time I ate,~ he thought to himself as he took his sixth meal of the day. His large body seemed to have high food requirements, but that wasn't at all surprising. With great strength came a greater price, something that he realized would be quite the inconvenience.
The section of the forest he stayed in didn't have many creatures to hunt, apart from worms and boars, which he was certain would not be enough for his and the commune's diet.
"Anyway, that's a problem for when I get out of here," he whispered, wiping the blood of his mouth before continuing his journey.
*
Several more hours passed by but it seemed like he wasn't making any progress towards the exit. He had memorized the turns he had taken during the first segment of his journey and though his memory wasn't crystal, he was certain that if he just followed the general direction he would eventually be led to an exit.
However, that wasn't the case. Something was off.
As Lucius was walking down a path, he noticed that the end of the path had fleshy walls, and was giving an odd warmth. He had encountered paths like these before, so he didn't think too much of it, and just backtracked to the last crossroads.
"Wait a moment," he whispered, looking at the ground in front of him. "Where is the trail of blood?"
He was carrying bloody corpses, so the trail of blood would be a given. But when he finally got to the crossroads, the trail he had left there was nowhere to be found.
"Huh? This pathway didn't lead straight. It bent to the left, I was just in it," he whispered, looking at the path he had just been in. He sat down for a moment and observed all the paths. And after sitting there for five minutes, the tunnels began to distort, and they changed in appearance.
"The tunnels are moving," he realized. The place was indeed a Labyrinth.
"Fucking hell, how didn't I n-"Lucius's words clung to his throat, and his entire body tensed up. It took him a moment to realize what was going on, and when he finally did he couldn't believe it.
Fear.
A veteran, who had seen the face of war, of fallen comrades and dead enemies countless times, was now experiencing fear beyond comprehension.
He couldn't even think properly. Nothing had even happened, nothing had approached him, so why.
**It's around here somewhere. Something was trying to sense us.** Lucius could not understand the language. It sounded extra-terrestrial, like a random mix of sounds than an actual language.
As the voices approached, he realized why he was frozen in fear. His earth sense had sensed an enemy beyond comprehension. An enemy so above him, that it shut down his brain. It was telling him that it was hopeless, that he would never escape.
**Deruvon, need I remind you that we are 4 lunar cycles behind on reporting the findings of our mission? We don't have time to be searching for creatures** this was a different voice. Though Lucius couldn't understand what they were saying, he could tell that their cadences were different.
**There it is. Found it.**
The two creatures finally came into view, and Lucius could now tell why his senses were telling him that running was a hopeless cause. A black cloud began to coalesce around his body, and his fight or flight kicked in, completely blurring his vision.