Chapter 305: There’s the death trap
‘Frosttusk, you wanna stay in armor mode or nah?’
[Safer…if…I…stick…to…you.]
‘Aight…wait, for me or for you?’
[You.]
‘Gotta love the honesty.’
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“Miasma is clear…ish, we can go inside,” Zhen Liu told the group after withdrawing his hand from the interior of the spider leg. There was a small hint of a purple hue on his gauntlet, remnants of miasma that was still floating upward, but that probably wasn’t a big issue.
While he did so, Nepherage and Hurricroak used the time old tradition of rock-paper-scissors to determine who would enter the creepy fossilized leg first. Nepherage was the “lucky” winner.
[If the miasma turns out to be flammable, I blame you for this.]
[Electrical fires are still a thing, ya know~]
While the kaijin/lord we’re getting ready to enter, the native hunter in the area was…still mildly freaking out about what they were doing.
The squishy one, Zhen Liu, may have now been armored, but that didn’t change the fact that this entire leg was essentially a death trap.
Just because the miasma was “dealt with” didn’t mean there weren’t other things in there.
Could be even bigger insect beasts, deadly traps, her caretaker’s former comrades turned into vicious monsters…wait, what was that last one?
Regardless, Nausicaa had a feeling it was a bad idea for the kaijin and Zhen Liu to try and go deeper into this spider’s remains.
‘I need to get them to stop now because this is fucking stupid…not because they’re the first people I’ve talked to in decades and I’m lonely!,’ Nausicaa told herself.
“You fuckers need to fucking stop-”
“Uhh…milord?,” Nepherage interrupted before Nausicaa could finish scolding. She had leaned her head into the opening and started circulating her aether in order to provide some rudimentary light for the internals.
“That journal we’re using as the basis for this trip…only mentioned one group of failed expedition goers, right?”
“Journal? What journal?”
“Yes…”
“Then either that information was leaked or the expedition was a lot bigger than we anticipated.”
“Oh that’s not good,” Hurricroak added.
“What?,” Zhen Liu and Nausicaa asked simultaneously.
Curiosity overcoming caution, Nausicaa stuck her head in the opening alongside Zhen Liu and looked down.
“What the fuck?”
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Military Log: 08/23, Her Majesty’s Reign-Novalla the 3rd – Year 78
The journal was right!
There is an eighth tier Aether Beast corpse here, two in fact!
I will not lie, I had assumed that Sir Heinrich might have been hitting the sauce a bit too hard when he had proposed an expedition into Insect Hell of all places, based on a journal he bought off a beggar, but by God, he was right!
Now all we have to do is break through this accursed carapace, and if we’re right, then the staircase left behind by the failed expedition from before should be there.
Once we get our hands on the Sacred Beast Essence, we shall become so powerful that not even the Steel Stars battalion will be able to defeat us.
Those eggheads from the Sapphire Kingdom may have failed to claim the prize, but we shall not.
For we have the blessings of Empress Novalla herself!
Long may she reign!
Long may the Empire stand!
…
…
Writing: Ineligible, scrawled onto the armor of a fallen comrade, that the writer killed himself out of mercy.
This place is cursed!
We are cursed!
The general! The commander! The lieutenant! All of them!
They all died by the flame, by that ghastly, wretched flame!
The Empire is destined to fail and burn as well!
We were all fated to-!
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Chronicles of the Coyote Skull Tribe Volume 3-Year 96
The seer’s vision has been proven true.
The corpses of the Great Wind Lacewing Beast and the Infernal Fire Spider Beast are indeed buried in this accursed jungle.
If our chieftain can get his hand on the Sacred Beast Essence inside, then he’ll have power unmatched in the region and we can finally get rid of those accursed Scorpion Clan parasites.
Huh…isn’t that ironic?
The Scorpion shall be brought low, by the power of the Spider and the Lacewing.
Perhaps we shall erect a memorial in their honor…after we burn them and their households to ground!
The Coyotes shall live forever!
…
…
Writing: Blood-soaked scratches, carved into stone through desperation and madness
It’s a trap!
It was always a trap!
Their entire place is nothing more than a mass grave to which all will fall.
The seer! They betrayed us, I’m sure of it!
They sent us into this death pit, this hell, all so that we may be fuel for the fires of…
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Adventurer’s Accounts – The Howling Beetle Boys – Rocko
Winter – Year 104
Holy shit!
Our asses has stumbled upon possibly the greatest find in our fucking lives!
A tier eight aether beast corpse!
And from the looks of it, nobody has attempted to loot the thing yet, what luck!
Hocko says that if nobody has indeed broke it open yet, then we’re looking at a payout that can make us as rich as kings, if not, even richer!
Hell, if we’re feeling greedy, we can even take the goods for ourselves and see if we can leverage the power within to raise on our own ranks!
Imagine that, Rocko, Hocko and Pocko, the Unbeatable Howling Beetle Boys, Aether Kings galore!
Well…Aether Masters first…
Standard protocol dictates that we should alert the guild first and foremost, but I’m sure nobody will mind if we take a crack at it first, right?
…
…
Rocko’s Survivor Log – Day 1
So…both of my friends are dead.
Hocko got burnt to a fine purple mist while his bones were left surprisingly intact, while Pocko…Pocko got eaten by some…thing.
Worst part is, the thing that ate him went bottom up…so I could still hear him scream…telling me to run.
I’m currently stuck at the bottom of Insect Hell.
And I have been infected with a horrible disease that if I try to bring it back up, will… probably kill everyone else.
At least I think it’s a disease.
I coughed up blood when I got back to camp and when a very unfortunate Blizzard Mantis tried to eat me, I ended up coughing into it’s maw…it ended up disintegrating into more purple smoke, that was then blown away by the wind, after a couple seconds of horrible, shell breaking seizures.
I’m think I’m going to die here…
On the plus side…I don’t have any family that will miss me…not anymore at least.
…
I…don’t know who will ever read this book, but I’m just gonna keep writing in it. Helps…to maintain sanity, I guess?
Who knows?
Maybe someone will find it, find my body and…learn from my mistakes.
…
I never did find a girlfriend…
…
Or a boyfriend…
…
Fuck, I never even slept with a prostitute.
…
Man, I hope my body doesn’t get eaten by caterpillars.
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=Huh…evidently I should have been more thorough of my research of this place…wait, I usually am. Why didn’t I this time?=
=…the fact that you’re the one saying that is worrying….even moreso that I’m unable to…oh. Oh.=
<=Oh fuck.=>
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“What the fuck…”
“As I said milord, either were not the first to scavenge, or that expedition was a lot bigger than anticipated,” Nepherage called up towards the opening.
“Daaamn. That’s like an orchestra and half worth of skeletons down there,” Hurricroak pointed out.
Evidently, the way down the spider leg was significantly easier than they anticipated, due to the spiral stairway that was embedded on the inner perimeter of the leg, being made of what appeared to be stakes of wood jammed into the side and having makeshift planks and ropes holding it all together.
While Zhen Liu was struck with a sudden case of deja vu, he couldn’t help but notice the sheer amount of skeletons at the bottom of the steps, and the ones clinging to the stairs for dear life…no…looking like they were desperately crawling up the steps.
In fact, all of the skeletons from the bottom of the stairs to the top, weren’t scattered or falling apart like one would expect if someone had been dead for several decades.
Instead, all of the skeletons looked to be in various running, crawling, just some form of movement based pose like they were displays at an amusement park’s haunted house or pirate ride. The group had a feeling that even though they couldn’t see the bottom of this staircase, but there were probably even more skeletons at the bottom…also, probably running.
‘Welp… looks like we’re dealing with a nesting death trap of sorts…great…’
[You…got…this…jarl!,] Frosttusk encouraged.
‘Thanks my mammoth friend.’
Zhen Liu took a deep breath before steeling his nerves and walking down those skeleton-riddled stairs…he was soon followed by Hurricroak and surprisingly, Nausicaa.
‘I ain’t losing another person to this damn thing…again, who am I talking about?’
