Liemann hummed contentedly as he toyed with the gems he had acquired from the peculiar beasts. "Carving through those took quite a bit of time, didn't it, Jim? Who would've thought that the crystals would be in the bear's brain and two of the 36 arms..." he remarked, his fingers deftly manipulating the gems. The steady sound of his hum was accompanied by the rhythmic clacking of the gems as they struck against each other. Liemann's eyes gleamed excitedly as he sifted through each gem, studying its colours and patterns.
"Grr."
It took nearly an entire hour for them to carve through the bear's tough flesh. Liemann's almost skeletal body struggled to tear through the muscles with his limited strength, making the task even more challenging. After all the effort, the crystals were not even found in the bear's body but instead had crystallised in its brain. What a ridiculous outcome! Absurdity! Liemann had wasted so much time and energy creating an abominable hybrid of three monsters, only to discover that the crystals were in the easiest place for him to reach - the skull. He simply had to unleash a barrage of metal spikes to blast the head apart like a piñata.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. How unlucky. We could've saved so much time there if not for that." he shook his head with a grin on the barely hanging pieces of flesh he had on his lips.
Liemann examined his hands, which were holding three crystals he had recently acquired. Among them was a square, glimmering blue block that emitted a faint hum when he applied more pressure to it. The other two were spiky, black pieces of rock that looked more like coal than crystals. However, Liemann was sure they were indeed the crystals he had extracted from the caterpillar, as they vibrated with power when he squeezed them.
"Now that I've gotten new crystals, I'll have to undergo another period of tests and trials to figure out what the runes' effects don't I..." Liemann scratched his head in frustration.
From his very minimal understanding of how runes and these crystals worked, it may be possible to gain more complex runes or ones that had more substantial effects on reality by defeating tougher opponents. Just like how one would gain better spells and more knowledge about the world as they levelled up in a game.
He also wondered why the crystals were of different shapes, sizes and colours, but going by the same RPG logic he'd been banking on this entire time...it was likely that they acted as unique indicators for the creature it dropped. A different crystallisation of that life's experiences, so to speak...
Else there wouldn't be a way to distinguish between a hedgehog crystal and a bear-spider crystal.
He sighed as he placed the three gems into his side pocket.
"Let's go Jim, we need to climb up this cave wall to reach another cavern. I don't want to stay and find out who 'The Lord' is." he tugged on the zombie whose mind was probably stuck somewhere in grasslandia and pointed upwards to another tunnel he'd spotted a while ago.
...
Liemann rapped his bony knuckles against the rocky surface that marked the end of their ascent. Three sharp knocks echoed through the cavernous tunnel. "Then how am I supposed to leave this place? If this way is blocked, there are no other exits as far as I know..."
He had scoured every inch of the strange tunnels in the first cavern and even explored the reversed gravity chamber, but it only had an entrance and exit chute. Where else could there be an exit? The cemetery where he had awoken was clearly a man-made creation, so it stood to reason that its creators would have created a means of escape. But where was it?
He stopped the moment that thought crossed his mind.
"They carved a cemetery in the tunnel wall, but there was no path between the inside or the outside...which required me to blast through the walls with my [Fire Bolt] to get out. Then, I travelled all the way here, thinking that there would be an exit but instead found a dead end with the same rocks as the cemetery walls..."
What if? Just what if...they could use runes and somehow manipulate rocks? If that were the case, then these tunnels would make complete sense. They would possess the ability to create vacuums in the earth and tunnels through them without much effort, and would also be able to patch the entrances and exits without leaving a trace!
"But why? Why would someone ever do that?"
He stared at the wall in wonder, failing to understand the mentality behind this utter cuckoo-brained person who decided it was a good idea to bury dead bodies in some random cavern with a bear and a caterpillar standing guard at the...entrance?
"I have not thought about that...Where would a looney put an entr -
Before he even got to finish his sentence, Liemann saw blue runes glow on the stone in front of him and the tunnel opening up to a crimson light that penetrated through the rocks that began to dissolve into thin air!
The Lord?!
"S**t! Jimmy, hide!"
"Grah? Grah!"
He grabbed his companion and rushed back into the tunnel at breakneck speeds, his hands rushing to churn out as many dark runes as he could before whoever or whatever trapped them in here discovered that this zombie was intelligent! Hell, he didn't even know if there were supposed to be zombies in this mystical world, but he wasn't taking any chances!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Liemann ran like there was no tomorrow, past the pieces of rocks and stones that jutted from the side of the tunnel into the darkness until he reached a little crevice he'd seen earlier in the walls and pushed Jim in!
"Quick, get in!" Liemann urged, his voice low and urgent. Jim's skeletal body offered little resistance as Liemann shoved him into the crevice. The knight's armour had long been removed, leaving only torn clothes and a backpack.
"Be careful now. Plagues of the Midnight can resurrect." Liemann heard the sound of some people talking at the front of the tunnel, no more than a hundred metres from where he was.
"Alright, my turn!" he whispered as he began to shove his body into the crevice as well, casting the dark rune one last time before his hands and legs were completely against the surface of the rocks!
Ugh...this is so claustrophobic...like I can worry about that now!
He put the random thoughts to the back of his mind and listened in on the conversation between the people and the looney who made the wall disappear.
"What are the commands from Vassal Johann?"
"We are to dump the corpse into the pit as food for the bear."
"Alright. You, Jeremy, take the end of the corpse and I'll take the front."
"Then I'll take the middle."
"..."
"One, two, three, heave ho!"
"Good. Now we go down this tunnel to the main chamber to feed it. Be careful not to trip. It's a long fall down."
"Aye, captain."
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Liemann's ears perked up as the sound of metal boots echoed through the cavern. He strained to listen, trying to discern whether the footsteps belonged to friend or foe. The rhythmic clang, clang, clang grew louder, and Liemann's heart began to race. The sound was familiar, almost identical to Jim's clown armour, which they had abandoned long ago. But the footsteps were heavier, more purposeful...were they perhaps a knightage?
What would they be doing here when there is literally nothing in the cavern? And how do they relate to The Lord?
He wanted to think more about it but decided to put the thought back for a later time. Right now was survival!
...
The footsteps of the knights were almost in sync as they moved closer to Liemann's little crevice.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
The first one appeared in his narrow vision out of the crevice, walking at the front with the torch raised high above his head. He emerged from the darkness, his long black robe shrouding him in mystery and rendering his facial features invisible to Liemann.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Moments later, Liemann saw the convoy of knights that followed the black-robed man, holding onto something that dripped with green liquid and had multiple arms and legs hanging from the sides...
That's a caterpillar hybrid! Just way smaller than the one I saw back there!
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang...
"Hey, what's this?"
They suddenly stopped.
What's what? What the hell did you discover? Just keep moving, dammit!
"There's a little bag of soul crystals here."
"A bag? What are you talking about?"
"Here, in front of his little crevice."
Huh?!
Liemann quickly looked down at the space in front of the tiny opening he was in...and sure there was. The goddamn bag of hedgehog gems that was supposed to be tied to his belt!
F**k! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!
He could hear the knights lowering the caterpillar corpse and walking towards his place, their steps echoing in the tunnel closer with every second passing.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
He could see the light from the torch again, and the flames entered his view!
S**t! Act like an authentic corpse!
Clang.
Clang.
"Here. This little bag."
Rustle. Clink, clink.
"Oh! You're right! It's packed full of soul crystals!"
"Hey, extraordinaire, do you know where these are from?"
"Steel hedgehogs. They'll give you a rune for spikes, mostly."
"Huh...how much do they do for on the black market?"
"10 nocs each."
"Damn. There's a lot here, so I'll make some good cash when I get back."
Shuffle. Clink. Clink.
Okay. Okay. You got the bag; now go! Go! Get the hell out of here! Go back to your caterpillar and leave me alone!
Clang.
Clang.
"Wait."
"What is that?"
Again?! What the hell is wrong with this guy?!
Liemann couldn't see them because he'd turned his head to look at Jim, a precaution just in case the knights somehow sensed a gaze like the bear-spider hybrid...something he dearly regretted now because he couldn't see what was happening!
"Do you all see the corpses?"
The light moved closer to Liemann's head, exposing the pitch black of the crevice that extended further in from the tunnel!
Please! Please! Lose interest! I'm a corpse. Leave me alone!
"..."
"Oh, well, if you count a skeleton as a corpse, then sure. I see them."
"Wow, there really is a corpse here. You think this was theirs?"
"Probably. Bandits always try to raid this place because of the rumour we spread, but they end up dying because of the bear...or stuff like this."
"Damn...I think this is a worse way to die."
"Agreed. Getting stuck in a crevice and dying of dehydration is rather terrifying."
Shuffle.
Shuffle.
"Let's move. The Vassal of Zoran and the Royal family will not want to wait long for their ceremony to begin."
"Okay, okay. You lead the way, extraordinaire."
Shuffle.
Clang.
Clang.
"One, two, three, heave ho!"
"Again, watch your foot, boys. One of you trip, and we'll be down with the bear."
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang...
After waiting a few more minutes to let the knight convoy pass, Liemann slowly wriggled himself out of the tiny crevice and pulled Jim out. He quickly put on the backpack, grabbed the bumbling zombie's hand, and cast more dark runes behind him as he bolted for the open entrance.
Liemann knew that the knight convoy might hear his boots' sound from the natural tendency of tunnels to echo, but they were a couple minutes away from his position, and he only had less than a hundred metres before he could acquire freedom!
With no telling when the illusory tunnel blockage would return, Liemann knew that he had to make every second count. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the dark tunnel as he ran as fast as he could, each thud of his feet against the ground bringing him closer to the end. He could see the clouds, the sky, and the crimson sunlight that dyed the tunnel's entrance dark red, giving him hope that his escape was near.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
At last, he burst out of the hole in the ground, leaping through the air and landing on soft grass that no longer reached his chest!
Liemann was out!