Chapter 299: Over the maggots and through the woods.
“Not prey…not dangerous…but…weirdos?”
The hunter had been observing this new group of people that had just appeared in the jungle for the past few minutes…and they couldn’t make heads or tails of them.
There were initially four of these people, but then three out of those four had summoned four more people that looked radically different from the rest of them as well. Granted, those four had no air of danger to them, so she didn’t care to notice.
Of the four that did pique their interest though, they were very…strange.
One had curved horns that looked like the pincers stag beetle, curing downwards in menacing form. But their chitin(?) was colorful and loud like a fire beetle. Very strange, because fire beetles had no need for horns and stags had no need for colors.
“Perhaps…a bluff?”
Another had strange blue-green coloring and four horns jutting from it’s head and presumably face. A long whippy feeler was sticking out from its face, writhing like a centipede, but seemed much too hairy to be used effectively.
“Strong like…rhino…beetle.”
The third of the quartet felt the most familiar to her, radiating the same aura as the wasps that would dart about the jungle, searching for fruit or prey, whichever struck their fancy. But at the same time…they were the most alien of the bunch. Mixed in with the wasp aura was smattering of other creatures that felt familiar to her, but not ones she could identify. Combining that with the bright colorations of a poisonous caterpillar…she didn’t have much trust in this one.
“Loud…and bright…not want to fight…”
Which now left the last of the group, a squishy looking…person? Was that the word?
“Like…me?”
Out of this group of people, this squishy, scrawny looking person bothered them the most.
Not because they felt threatened by them, in fact, it was the opposite
They had no shell, no stinger, no pincers, no venom and definitely no webs…so why were they just walking around naked like that?!
“Maybe…bad hunter?,” they mused.
Unsure of what to make of it, they decided to keep watching.
“How…will they…fight? Where…will they go?”
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“So we’re doing best two out of three or…”
“We don’t have time to dawdle, best of one. Winner decides the order we go.”
“Fair…enough…”
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”
“Dammit!”
“Haha!”
“Okay…”
As quick as three shakes of a hand, the kaijin determined that Hurricroak would be the vanguard, Frosttusk would bring up the rear while Nepherage would keep to the middle, making sure Zhen Liu didn’t get unexpectedly ganked. Finally, the zako would serve as forward scouts and foliage clearers. The unexpected perks of betrayal murders, left over equipment.
“Y’all do remember I have the strength of a roided out ox right?”
“Yes milord, but I’m pretty sure the insects down here could eat an ox.”
“Whole…”
“That is a fair point…let’s go.”
With the formation set, the group made their way away from the relative safety of the lift and abandoned campsite and towards the center of the sinkhole jungle.
“Okay, let’s try not to step on anything that looks to be wriggling so we don’t-and I think I just stepped on what could only be described as a cushion of maggots.”
One of the zako gestured in apology for not having notified the group ahead of time…not that they could actually talk…yet(?)
“Meant to…say…something…”
“Oh right, they can only communicate with you guys mentally…let’s switch over to mental communication before I’m tempted to scream,” Zhen Liu grumbled as he stepped on what he hoped wasn’t giant insect dung.
There was one other reason for them to switch to mental communication, a certain expedition lost some men due to their vocals!
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Date: Twelfth day of the Sixth Month, Azure Kings Era – Year 56
What should have been a joyous day for the expedition has quickly been marred by tragedy.
After two days of solid work, we had managed to establish a deep enough passage into the earth and break our way into the fabled bottom layer of Insect Hell, the Green Scavenger layer.
The smell of foliage, both fresh and rotting, overwhelmed our senses as we broke through the wall.
An understandable reaction given that no scent could penetrate the “Misty Paradise” layer above it, the mist serving as a natural deodorizer.
Through the falling rubble we could make out the sight of scurrying insects, denizens of the bottom layer that had never known unexpected intruders, but instinctually knew when to scatter.
We thought the area to be clear after the the insects had scattered, so comfortable in that thought we walked about of the newly formed tunnel and took our first steps into the bottom layer, the crunching sound beneath our feet being plantlife or buglife, we did not know, for the sights of the treeline and it’s alien beauty captured our attention.
The air was unexpectedly warm and moist, a phenomena common to jungles to be sure, but to feel it out in the middle of wasteland was…oddly refreshing.
A first year student from the History department, a boy named Davie I believe, was so overwhelmed by the sensation of greenery and success that he couldn’t help but let out a shout of joy at what was accomplished.
That was his first and…last mistake.
Attracted by the sound of the shouting and rubble falling, or maybe just because it was in the area…a Third Tier Violet Assassin Bug struck out and stabbed Davie right through the back and out his chest, the claw covered in viscera and blood while Davie himself…threw up some of it.
Just…so much blood…
The rest of us were too stunned by the suddness of the attack to do anything about it, but my senior, Cassandra, gods bless her soul, managed to react in time to at least prevent the Assassin Bug from doing any more harm by breaking the thing’s fucking leg right at the joint. The beast let out a violent hiss by slinking away, licking it’s wounds…
We had managed to recover Davie afterwards, stem the bleeding a bit, but by the time the lift brought us back up to the base camp at the top side layer…Davie was gone.
I watched as the light faded from his eyes…and felt his breathing still underneath my hands.
There was…a lot of arguing after that.
Blaming.
Shouting.
Grieving.
Second time this whole expedition we thought about turning back again, give Davie a proper funeral, but…once again, Frederick changed everyone’s mind.
He stated that turning back now would have made this whole expedition in vain,that we all knew the risks when coming, it would have been an insult to Davie’s death, that we owed it to his death to keep going and make something of this trip.
Weirdly enough…that worked.
It was a lot more elegant than how I put it, but…it was effective nonetheless.
We spent a day mourning for Davie’s passing, buried him as was tradition and used stones as markers with plans to give him a proper one later.
…
I’m…not used to death.
Not the idea of it mind you, I’ve been to funerals and witnessed executions before, it’s just…how sudden it can be.
One minute here, the next…gone.
…
I hope we won’t have to bury anyone else after this day.
…
He was so young…too young…
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As the group switched from being vocal with their conversation to being mental, the sounds of jungle insects chirping and…insects chirping, punctuated the air and made it almost impossible to hear anything else…not that it stopped Hurricroak from dining on the local wildlife when given the chance.
[I think this is the first time I’ve eaten anything in a while…and I am loving it!]
With a mucous coated tongue that seemed impossibly long for a build such as hers, Hurricroak greedily snatched insect beast after unfortunate insect beast, who were caught completely off guard by her tongue lashes.
Thunderbolt Rhino Beetles, Jade Cicadas, Bloodthirsty Lacewings and more!
Granted, they were all small sized first tier aether bugs, but it was still impressive how many she ate in a row.
Apparently living in the bottom of a jungle hell with nothing but other insects to contend, it desensitizes one to the possibility of other types of predators, who knew?
[This is great!,] Hurricroak hummed with glee as she ate what Zhen Liu recognized as a first tier Violent Blood Grub, a creature known to cause madness to the consumer if eaten raw, as if it was nothing more than a tasty dumpling.
Evidently, Zhen Liu was now being subjected to conflicting emotions, pure joy and pleasure from Hurricroak feasting like a mad frog…woman, and pure disgust from…Frosttusk surprisingly.
Apparently the big ole mammoth ice viking was not fond of insects.
[Don’t like…creepy…crawlies…or fleas…]
‘Wait, do you even have flesh for them to bite?’
[They…lay eggs…in my…vents.]
‘Oh…gross.’
[Yeah…]
As Zhen Liu’s mind began to wander about the idea of fleas in a jet turbine, the voice of Logos and Pathos cut in to get him to focus.
<=Milord, we're getting close.=>
