At the far side of the cavern were two more tunnels, one that leap up and away to one side and another that simply lead down. In a video game dungeon the first tunnel probably lead to a dead-end with a mini boss and a treasure chest. In this dungeon, it more likely led to something like a larder for the insects.
I decided my group would be making camp here in this cavern for the time being and spawned three stone golems to block off the potential third floor tunnel. On the other hand, though, I sent Grimm and Shade alone into the larder tunnel to scope things out. I only gave them an hour before I expected them to report in so the two dark elementals hurriedly disappeared into the tunnel.
My familiars were not even gone for more than fifty minutes before I felt them swiftly returning. Both of them soon began downloading fresh information into my head and I saw everything in the tunnel system through their senses. There were actually a few surprises to be found.
First was that there were roughly a dozen shafts and cracks in the ceiling of the tunnel and the two caverns at the end of it. These shafts actually reached out to the surface and allowed for fresher air exchange while one shaft stretched for over three thousand feet all by itself. Through the shafts I could actually see the wane light of early evening.
The first cavern about twenty minutes of swift flying into the tunnel was simply empty and relatively undisturbed except for trails of gravel and pitted stone floor. The rest of the tunnels I had been traveling had similar floors but not to this extent. Now I could clearly see that the passage of so many bodies over so much time was weathering the floor at visible rates.
The third tunnel, however, turned out to be the exact opposite of a larder. This was where unrecognizable piles of waste were shoved into the back half of the dead-end until the cavern was halfway filled with absolute nasal horror. Even just the visual data made me gag a few times and thank the gods that my wisps did not have a sense of smell.
After the serpents had gotten five or six hours of sleep I woke them up to keep watch for me be as I let my potion fueled energy simply dissipate. My wisps naturally woke me up exactly six hours after I actually managed to go to sleep and then I was up and moving. All I really had to do to start the day was pack up my hammock and reward everybody's efforts from the previous day with a light meal of individually packaged rat meats.
I did not have enough meat to feed the serpents again, so they would not have the energy for more than one or maybe two more fights. Then and there I decided we would turn back for the surface after the next conflict. After the tired serpents were somewhere safe and topside, Sili and I could unplug the rodent tunnels to feed everyone.
It was not that the snakes never seemed interested in the insect 'meats' after having been forced to eat rationed foods. It was that I did not want to introduce a potentially dangerous food into their diets. I could lose my current private army of 'gentled' serpents that way.
However I did test the theory of insect cannibalism by storing the 'meat' from warrior legs with my souvenirs.
After everything was done and ready, I led the way while riding on my wisps into the downward tunnel. After traveling down at a slight angle in a fourteen-foot wide tunnel for several hundred feet with my awareness probing forward by the same distance, I decided that this might just lead to the third floor of my dungeon.
I also noticed that the tunnels were becoming smaller and smaller. A few feet slimmer and Sili would no longer be able to walk beside me. Ten feet shorter and she would have to start learning how to run while crawling.
The serpents alone were now traveling in alternating lines of four to move comfortably.
The next tunnels might force Sili to have to sit out. If that happened, we would turn back on the spot and I would plug the tunnels with a dozen golems. Alone, I could go all out, but the previous conflict would have been my limit. I simply did not have the potions or ingredients for a solo campaign.
I would simply collapse one of the tunnels, confident the big boss could not pass through here to the surface, and send the wisps to investigate the rat colony. The wisps would be given two days to whiz through the rat warrens and three to return. If they did not report that there were tunnels large enough for an estimated forty-foot tall abomination or finding the actual big boss, the rats would go on to become food.
The next shift in the tunnel we came to leveled out for the most part but started to veer slowly off to one side for a few hundred yards before winding off the other way. As far as I was concerned, this had officially become the third floor and I now carried my crossbow loaded with a citrine tube. Anything could be around one of these bends.
For safety's sake, I had the serpents slow down to hang back and made Sili retreat a full body length behind me. I was still in reach of her tail but she was far enough behind me that I could shield her from close range explosions. Because the energies involved were all now mine and of the holy attribute, they would only ruffle my clothes and make me toasty if I did not shield myself.
To Sili who was blessed by the holy attribute and even anointed, they would likely do the same. However, the surrounding rock would certainly be super heated beyond her and the serpents' thresholds. I had to make sure all boom boomed forward.
This almost zigzag of seemingly natural tunneling continued for a quarter of a mile before my probe entered a larger area. This space turned out to be another tunnel that inclined up by about ten degrees for as far as my detection could go. The ceiling was several feet higher and the walls were about ten feet further apart on either side.
When I did not detect any signs of life after coming withing fifty feet of the entrance, I decided to move forward with everyone together but maintaining our current marching formation. If we had to suddenly stop or beat a hasty retreat, we would be ready to smoothly reenter the tunnel leading out of here. I also always had the crossbow comfortably in hand.
In the full light of the sole golem tailing the parade of serpents it became clear that this tunnel stretched on for the better part of a mile. With the light to support my natural vision I could retract my probe and spend my mana directly to my eyes. Another quarter of a mile away just beyond the light of the golem were clusters of highlighted bodies.
Unlike last time we came across one of these war parties, there was only a couple clusters more than a hundred bodies and all of them were warrior drones. While this might seem like a drastic change, this felt more like a trap or alarm of some sort to me. However, there were so few clusters of so many bodies I could not help but withdraw a dozen bolts from their case at my hip with telekinesis.
Sending out a probe to appraise the walls and floor and ceiling ahead of me, I leave Sili and the serpents behind while I take the front line alone a few hundred feet ahead. There were no nooks and crannies with anything hidden, no empty areas behind the rock for other insects to burst out from. It looked like it was just us and them.
The light golem had yet to disturb the enemy but the warriors were all standing on their feet while waiting in rest mode. From this distance it looked like there were a few larger signatures of of magic auras among the clusters. These could have been more refined versions of the larger warrior drones with innate abilities.
The venom contained in glands on their forearms was more of an acid with some paralyzing agents so it was entirely possible that these heavier duty models could sling or outright spray acids.
However, I did not intend for any of that to matter as I drew back the string of my crossbow to catch above and behind the trigger. After doubling the output of the light golem to increase my range of view beyond the enemy, I pull the trigger a single second later after ascertaining that there was not another ground beyond. The bolt spent about two second traveling a few hundred yards before finding its mark in one of a dozen clustered bodies.
The sudden expansion of light and heat that followed challenged the brightness of the light golem as it sent the surrounding giant bugs flying into the air. The bug that was initially struck was no long there at all and the closest neighbors were all in pieces. It was not even half a second before the next bolt was loaded and the line drawn back.
The front most bodies of the neighboring cluster were only just stepping into action when the second bolt struck their front line. Everyone behind that line of moving bodies was roasted in over a thousand degrees of high pressed hot air and soul-suppressing holy light element. For creatures of dark affinity this explosion of light was just as concussive or even lethal as the expanding furnace.
Two seconds later and half of the clusters were scattered bodies and parts yards apart from one another. The other half were rushing forward in their respective clusters while trying to band together into an instinctive phalanx. The next two bolts took a second apiece as I picked off the clusters heading in to their fellows from either side.
Even though this allowed the other side time to halve the distance between us and form ranks, my next three bolts were fired in quick succession around the middle of the front lines. The ensuring flares of light and head and sound scattered the rushed phalanx entirely. I did not bother to count but only around ten of them were still capable of getting up.
A broad sweep of my arm sent every insect on its feet flying off to the side wall of the cavern. Because so many bodies were ruined, I simply aimed to bury the greater mass of them and harvest the more whole bodies I had sent flying. The burial was done by stone golems while I consumed ambient mana with my trusty geode.
This cavern was more wholly granite and so it was less rich in impurities of other mineral deposits so there was not much that I could 'loot'. However, I was content with the gallon of venom and few hundred pounds of conductive exoskeleton. I already had enough silver to sell in trinkets and fund a few years of research.
*