Jake hopped out of the boat as well to come look at the ground where Jon pointed. It looked no different than any other spot they had passed. Jake looked at his hand then the ground, could he punch down thru over one hundred and fifty yards of dirt and stone. He looked up at Jon and was really tempted to start swearing as well, but it seemed Aoe had that covered. She had used every swear and curse word Jake knew of and then some. It was almost impressive in its vulgarity.
Breeze stepped out of the boat in a single step, almost floating down. While Leah and Nira stayed in the boat watching the rest.
"Can you do anything to get us down there?" Jake asked the pale blonde woman, she was always rather stiff and calm. Even with Aoe going off like a drunken sailor tricked out of his last dollar.
"Maybe." She raised her staff and instantly there was a swirling ball of wind blades the size of a small car overhead. Jake had seen Aero do something similar but nowhere near as fast as she had just conjured.
"What rank are you?" He asked out of shock.
"A rank. Same as Aoe." Jake blanched. He had never seen anyone higher than B rank. He wondered just how strong these two really were. The B Rank Flak Cannon user had almost instantly killed him with one attack. What could an A rank do?
Jake and Jon stepped back as that massive ball of cutting wind lowered. It hit the ground and began tearing it up. "I think I can do this. But I will be exhausted after." Her tone was calm as always.
"That's my girl! I knew you would do it. Bloody good job!" Aoe stopped swearing and started smacking Breeze in the small of her back.
"Stop that." Breeze complained, the huge ball slowly cutting into the ground. It was going to take a while.
**********
"No no no. Not that knob you stupid…" The towering shadow sighed and composed itself as the Shaman looked up from the console. This would go so much faster if they were there in person. But that wasn't possible.
They sighed. It had taken far longer than they expected to get this far. Their little pet had finally contacted them to let them know a new champion had been born. It was then they found out why it had taken so long. The stupid thing had split the corpses and was growing two champions. The stupid Grim shaman had tried to explain. But hadn't done a good job.
The shaman had meant well. Dividing the corpses of the monsters controlled by the other gods. Dumping the weaker looking ones into the pool with a second egg. It had then put the larger stronger looking bodies in the pool with the original egg. They had even gone out of their way to only feed the original egg. Wasting nutrition on the lesser one went against their beliefs of only the strong should be fed, so it grew slowly. Feeding only off the original female corpses.
They had thought to have done well. When the egg hatched what emerged was beyond anything they believed possible. The towering five eyed monster that emerged was muscle upon muscle. It emerged from the giant egg floating in the pool of sludge fully grown. A grim unlike any the Shaman had ever seen. The only problem was that the shiny blessings they were growing in the old chief's body weren't ready.
They had placed the weapons and armor collected with the monster's corpses in the pool of god's blood. At first, it had seemed to speed up the growth process but then it returned to the very slow rate of before. When he contacted his god they had been displeased when meeting the new champion. Calling it nothing more than another stupid failure. Yet, it had given the shaman new orders. Seemingly angry with them. In truth, they were just tired of delays. Also, beginning to believe their research using the Grims was a failure. The five eyed monster they had created using human corpses as nutrition was impressive… for a Grim. But seemed no smarter than any other Grim. Perhaps even dumber than the shaman.
After speaking with their god the Shaman looked at their new champion standing there staring at the altar used to summon the god, all five eyes blinking slowly.
"Come." It barked in that grunting language. The five eyed newborn followed. The god had given them the orders. They would do as ordered and it was to be a long trip thru the tunnels. Only a few Grims were left behind to maintain the spawning pools. The rest of the tribe would be coming with them. The last stop after everything was prepared was to check in on the pools of liquid metal bubbling with the impaled chief. The five eyed newborn followed the Shaman like a lost puppy. It wouldn't even leave his side when commanded to so finally the shaman relented allowing them to follow.
The shaman was worried about pushing too hard against the fledgling. After all, it might be a dumb mountain of muscle. But might made right within the Grim tribe, so it feared being usurped. The shaman wasn't sure their magic would be enough. It could sense the strength within the newborn. The realization of this new champion being too weak to please their god made them shiver. How mighty was their god that such a Grim was considered a failure?
Impaled on that metallic crystal the old chieftain still hung. New small beads of liquid metal were slowly pushing up through their pores. The process was slow going, but still working. This too angered their god. With closing their tunnels to the surface they had not been able to collect more stone hearts to feed the pools.
The shaman inspected the progress of the process from the edge of the pool. They were about to leave when the fledgling moved. To the Shaman's horror, it waded right into the pool of god's blood.
"No!" The Shaman barked raising their new staff at them. From the ceiling, ropy tendrils made of stone lashed out to wrap around the fledgling. Intent on pulling them out of the liquid metal pools. Only the five eyed monster ignored them, the stone shattering as its muscles swelled.
"MINE!" It growled a low rumble while reaching into the bubbling silver pool. The Shaman didn't know what it said, it spoke in the tongue of gods.
"I said turn the next nob." The Shaman was snapped out of their memories. Reminded that that had been weeks ago. Before they started traveling the tunnel systems at their god's command.
The rest of the tribe crouched around the edge of the huge underground chamber. Off to the side, sitting in the darkness was the five eyed champion. Just watching, unmoving.
As ordered the shaman turned the nob, and the small flying metal monster made a buzzing noise as it moved. The shadow of their god underneath it moved as well, to get a better look at the screens. The shaman was standing in front of a towering metal contraption. It hummed and they could feel a strange power coming off it. When the nob was turned the pitch of that humming changed and there was an arc of lightning that shot off to scorch the wall making the other Grims shriek. This had happened many times over the last week of doing as their god ordered.
"No no no." Their god shouted in frustration. "That is enough. I have to return to work. You can rest until then you stupid beast." The shaman listened to the words of their god, he heard first the words as spoken then the translator did its best to convert them. Before the Shaman could respond the shadowy projection winked out. The little drone zipped away to land in the exact same spot the shaman had placed it at the start. They picked it up with slow reverence.
After carefully storing it in a crude pouch it turned its gaze on the Grims crouched around the room. It was busy trying to pick out the weakest looking one to be used as sustenance for the rest of the tribe. When overhead a strange sound could be heard. It was a grinding churning sound. Dust and dirt fell from above. Then the sound crescendoed suddenly and an enormous hole opened up in the ceiling.
From that dark shaft, they heard the faint words drift down, seeming to echo from a great distance. "We are in I believe." The Shaman glared up at it, the words were spoken in the god's language.