Just as Barda was drawing near the hole, brilliant light emanated from it. It seemed as though there was a floodlight at the end of the tunnel, for the light coming from it was blinding even. The cave hole was more like a tunnel, but try as he might, Barda was unable to see what was inside the tunnel, and where the light was coming from.
He then proceeded to climb down the hole, crawling as he went deeper underground. He was on high alert, careful to eradicate any threat that showed itself. Using special lens filters, Barda was able to regulate the amount of light entering his eyes, allowing him to see normally as he went down.
After getting to the bottom of the tunnel, he realized that it opened to another cave hall. He saw the source of the bright light rushing off at the end of the hall. Around him, he could see drops of glowing liquid, and a small pool had been formed at the bottom of the tunnel.
Curious, he walked over to where it was. It seemed as though his arrow had found its mark. The bug had been hit, but it was not down yet. The silver lining was that it was bleeding.
Motivated, Barda then followed the blood trail, if it could be called that. Seeing him follow, the bug turned around to stomp, widening the distance between it and its pursuer. Down below, the cave was not very stable, and Barda was in very real danger of being buried alive.
What Barda was mostly looking out for was traps. In such a place, to be caught in a magical trap smelled doom, and so he was extra careful.
If ever a logic-based entity such as a machine was to possess talent, it would be in pattern recognition. After 2 more stomps, Barda realized he could predict when the next stomp would be. It was all in the pattern, and any repeated activity would fall into a pattern, one just had to recognize it.
Just as it was about to stomp again, an arrow flew towards the queen. After the first shot, the Queen hadn't managed to get rid of the arrow in its mouth. It had desperately tried to chew it, but it ended up causing more pain. Deciding that evasion was more important, the Queen had been focusing on running away.
When the second arrow came, it lodged itself beside the other arrow, digging the wound up further. The bug was now leaking the mysterious plasma freely. Its movement seemed to have been affected since it was no longer as fast.
Elated, Barda ran after it, firing arrow after arrow. 4 arrows later, the bug collapsed. It did not get back up again.
Cautiously, Barda approached it. The body's glow was diminishing as it gave up its ghost. By the time Barda got to it, it looked like a regular corpse. However, something else started happening. The body was disintegrating, crumbling around itself. The body seemed to wither, shrinking until it was completely gone.
There was only one thing left behind. A white glowing orb. It was the size of a man's fist, but it was perfectly spherical.
When Barda touched it, it felt like jelly. Seeing nothing wrong with it, Barda reached out and held it with his hand. Nothing happened, making Barda's mind be more at ease. He then proceeded to run many tests and scans on the orb, but it yielded no result. Everything kept coming out as blank.
There was one last thing Barda wanted to try. If this was an energy source of any kind, his psionic organs could convert any kind of energy to consumable energy. Barda then activated Energy Absorption. To his surprise, he could absorb the energy in the orb.
It took a long while for the orb to be fully absorbed by the android body, but when he was done, Barda could feel he was stronger. The power absorbed had had a qualitative rather than quantitative impact on his energy levels, he just couldn't tell what was affected. Nevertheless, it was a good thing.
Barda didn't know this but he had been underground for quite a long time. He could tell time, and his android system kept track of time to the nanoseconds, but he didn't realize how much time had passed since he went down there. He had been fighting the bugs for more than a day.
Already, the miners were getting anxious, with many believing he had died. This had been exacerbated by the tremors they had experienced earlier.
As the sun rose the following morning, 2 women wore worried expressions in their faces. A man was seated quietly as they ate breakfast. Markell couldn't help but blame himself. Had he been too overly ambitious that he put a child's life in danger?
The boy had been nothing but good to him. All through, since he came, Barda had proven his value to the family to be absolute. He was not just a good employee, but he was dependable, productive and on-intrusive. He seemed to know how far the line was, and how much he could intrude. More importantly, he was in harm's way because of his family issues.
When he rose from the table, his mind was made up. He would not let the boy perish alone. This was his mess and he had to take charge. He walked with determination to the mine.
That day, the miners were not too eager to go down the mine. Mienie, the mine's owner, felt at a loss but he had no one to blame but himself. Had he gotten a proper beast hunter, none of this would have happened.
When he saw his friend coming up the mine, his heart collapsed even more. He was clear on one thing though, no way he was going to compensate for the boy. Had it been a professional Monster hunter, then he would have had no choice on the matter. They had not negotiated on what happens should the boy be lost.
"Has he come out?" Merkall's first question.
"Not yet, but we are still hopeful," Mienie responded, although it was more of a stretch. Hardly did any beast hunter last a whole day underground, and if they did, chances were that he was not coming out.
Merkall didn't say another word. Instead, he sat back and waited, along with the rest. The mood of the miners seemed to turn somber when the old smithy came, and they sat quietly waiting. In that tone, another half day passed.
The first thing they saw was his silhouette. A dark outline of someone against a dark background. Many squinted to get a better view, not believing it.
"He's out! He's out!" The miners exclaimed.
"He did it, he did do it!"
Excitement and celebration followed as the miners delved deeper to see. With his assurance, and seeing him come out without a scratch, convinced the miners that all was safe. Under Mienie's organization, the brave ventured in first to confirm Barda's clue. Then followed the rest.
By evening, the whole town was awash with excitement. Many had not believed he could do it, others debating the rationale of sending a boy on a monster hunt. Now all the detractors had been silenced. The littered corpses and the body of the queen that had been recovered had been enough proof.
The family was extremely excited. All the worries of the day had been alleviated, and they sat down to have another of Anna's special cooking. At this rate, she would run out of specialty dishes, Anna thought as she eyed Barda.
Not that she complained. In her heart, she had always loved the push and ambition of her husband, but she had been a pragmatic woman. Very rarely could a man escape his place in the world, and while Merkall sought to elevate his status, such a deed was easier said than done. She still stuck by him, cheering him on and being his comfort when he was down. Before she knew it, his dream and ambition had become hers.
Now, looking at Barda, she realized that with him around, they were well on their way to greatness. Part of her wondered why such an obvious elite would choose to live with the likes of them, but she was never one to lick a gift horse in the mouth.
Looking at the smiles and unbridled joy plastered all over her daughter and her husband, she smiled. Such a thing was rare, especially to her husband. Even at his happiest he rarely laughed and smiled so much, now he was.
Suffice it to say that it was a good night in the Merkall family home.