Chapter 759: Gary's Old Team

“You were being optimistic,” Jason told Humphrey. “If you kill a whole parcel of monsters in front of some elite adventurers, the result won’t be an awed crowd. It’ll be a cluster of wildly self-confident people explaining how they would have done it faster and looked better doing it.”

“Actually,” Clive said from the driver’s seat, “they mostly complained about the smell. You left a lot of disgusting goo back there and we had to take the crawlers right through it.”

Clive had been the man to drive their crawler through the foul remains of the elementals. As he said, the stench had been potent.

“Something dripped on my head while we were going through there,” Rufus complained. “I washed it off but I can still feel it, like a phantom limb. I need some crystal wash to get rid of it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with soap,” Jason told him.

“Jason, I just want the others to stop overlooking you,” Humphrey said. “If someone decides they know better than you and choose to ignore your orders, it could be disastrous.”

“I appreciate the thought,” Jason said, “but most of the people on this expedition are our friends, remember? The Adventure Society didn’t trust enough of the locals to not be compromised by the messengers.”

“This expedition being full of our people is the source of the problem,” Humphrey said. “People think you’ve been put in charge because of the important events you keep getting caught up in. They don’t think you earned your command of this expedition through adventuring.”

“And they’re right,” Jason told him. “I’m a silver-ranker, Humphrey. The best silver-ranker in the world doesn’t get put in charge of gold-rankers unless there’s some extremely extenuating circumstances. And I went off to kill those elementals alone because you suggested it, but it all felt very performative. I’m not the same guy who faced off with Rick and his team in the mirage chamber way back when. I’m an adventurer to do the job, not to show off.”

Jason's teammates shared a glance, even Clive dropping his attention from driving to crane his neck around.

“What?” Jason asked.

A coughing sound came from Jason’s shadow.

“Is everything alright, Shade?” Jason asked.

“Of course, Mr Asano. I just had something caught in my throat.”

“Shade, you don’t have a throat.”

***

The massive numbers in which the elementals appeared the first time proved to be the norm and not the exception. Even a monster surge rarely saw monsters appear in such concentrations, reminding Jason more of the proto-spaces and monster waves back on Earth. Elementals weren’t the only monsters to appear, although they were the majority. Even when others monsters types showed up, there were always at least a few elementals tagging along.

The expedition's first truly challenging battle came in a vertical section of the shaft. Gold-rank spider moles dug out through the sides of the shaft and started hitting the crawlers with webs, sending the expedition into chaos. Torrents of thick, viscous webbing hit the slow-moving crawlers in rapid succession, striking even before the dust cleared from when the spider moles burst through the rock and into the tunnel.

Along with the spider moles were diamond-tooth worms, whose rank was only silver. They had oily, sickly grey skin and maws full of crystalline teeth stained by ichor. Like the spiders, the worms erupted from the sides of the tunnel, smashing through the rock. They didn’t fully emerge, however, jutting from the sides of the tunnels like cilia. They flailed their lengthy bodies, the teeth for which they were named able to shear through the metal of the crawlers.

Finishing up the onslaught was the usual smattering of elementals, although there was an unusual deficit of earth types. This time it was gaseous elementals that exploded when exposed to fire before reforming, along with flying fire elementals to set them off.

Miriam Vance swiftly took charge, firing off commands through Jason’s voice chat. The expedition was in a mess, scattered and pinned to the walls by viscous webbing. The gold-rankers fought their way free of the webbing with abilities or raw strength. They were swiftly deployed to intercept the gold-rank spider moles before they could wreak havoc amongst the weaker adventurers.

The spider moles were the clear threat, being gold-rank where the worms and elementals were silver. They were massive spiders with long bodies covered in long, stiff bristles. Their heads were squat-faced, more like a pug dog than a mole, despite the name. They also had an array of special abilities, which was common in gold-rank monsters. Along with the viscous webbing that had caught up the crawlers, they could project an alternate type of web that was razor sharp and laced with poison. At close range, they could fire bristles from all over their bodies that were forearm-length needles, also sharp and venomous.

The spider moles each had eight strong but wiry legs that let them scurry along the vertical surface of the tunnel, despite their massive size. Oversized claws dug into the rock walls and could burrow through armour as swiftly as they could earth and stone. The rapid ambush through the walls demonstrated just how fast that was.

The other ability facilitating the ambush was the power to mask the auras of not just themselves but the other monsters as well. Even Jason and the gold-rankers hadn’t sensed them until the trap was sprung. Overall, the spider moles weren’t especially powerful by gold-rank standards, but they were numerous. More importantly, the disarray in which the expedition of elite adventurers had been left was an important lesson: Even a less powerful monster could be extremely dangerous in the right environment.

With the crawlers stuck to the walls and the adventurers stuck inside them, the monsters had easily seized the initiative. The gold-rank adventurers had swiftly escaped the webbing and moved to engage the spider moles at Miriam’s direction. Many of the silver-rankers also extracted themselves quickly and Miriam had them divide into two groups. One group was tasked with taking the fight to the monsters, fending off the explosive elementals and worms biting at the crawlers. The rest of the group were tasked with protecting the vehicles while extracting the adventurers unable to free themselves from the gold-rank webbing.

Jason’s team were part of the protection and extraction group. Sophie, Humphrey, and Taika intercepted monsters. Jason’s sword was able to corrode and rot the webbing quite well, while Rufus, Farrah and Gary all had powers to burn through them. Belinda and Clive worked on freeing the crawlers, not just the people inside them, while Neil watched over them all. He tossed barriers onto his team and threw Life Bolt spells at any injured adventurers the team released.

Their familiars also went to work. Gordon’s disruptive-force beams were highly effective against the flaming and gaseous elementals. Belinda’s astral lamp familiar, Shimmer, was equally effective with its rapid-fire force bolts. Stash turned into a flying fire octopus, burning tentacles effective at tearing webbing from the vehicles.

Leeches slithered up the wall, unimpeded by massive patches of webbing that painted the sides of the shaft. The adhesive in the webs slid right off Colin’s slick leech bodies as they crawled over and through. Colin was on a mission to prove the tunnel was only big enough for one set of horrifying toothy worms.

Onslow was serving as a bunker for Neil, Clive and Belinda to work from. It was also a place to bring freed silver-rankers into, giving them a moment to gather themselves and prepare before joining the fight.

Dead monsters were soon falling down the shaft, be it severed worm halves or the crystalline powder left behind by the elementals on their deaths, smoky white for gas and orange for fire. Shade’s bodies floated through the air, touching them for Jason to loot. He did so immediately, the monsters trailing rainbow smoke down the shaft as they fell while disintegrating. Not all the dead monsters fell, many landing in the web patches, including the ones holding the crawlers in place. More than a few adventurers had a heavy sprinkling of elemental power over their bodies.

“Such a waste,” Clive muttered as another cloud of dust drifted past Onslow’s shell. “So many good ritual materials, falling down a hole. I hope you’re getting that elemental powder as loot, Jason.”

“Haven’t been taking the time to check,” Jason said.

While continuing to cut away the webbing and free adventurers, Jason did take the time to occasionally cast his Blood Harvest spell. Catching every enemy corpse left by his own side in a considerable range, Jason drew in bright red streams of life force from across the battlefield.

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• You have gained health, stamina, mana and [Blood Frenzy] from [Blood Harvest].
• Health, stamina and mana have exceeded normal values due to ability [Sin Eater].

• [Blood Frenzy] (boon, unholy, stacking): Bonus to [Speed] and [Recovery]. Additional instances have a cumulative effect, up to a maximum threshold].

-------

With the preponderance of monsters, Jason had no shortage of bodies to drain the remnant life force from. That mostly meant worms as the elementals couldn’t be drained unless his Blood From a Stone had made them vulnerable to blood magic. As he was busy freeing adventurers, he hadn’t had time, although he got a few windfalls in the way of spider moles as the gold-rankers started to shave their numbers.

Even the lingering life force in just a few of the gold-rank corpses was a massive amount to Jason. By the time all the adventurers had been released, he had buffed himself powerfully.

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• You have gained health, stamina, mana and [Blood Frenzy] from [Blood Harvest].
• Your [Speed] and [Recovery] have reached maximal levels for your current rank. Further instances of [Blood Frenzy] will be replaced with [Blood of the Immortal].

• [Blood of the Immortal] (boon, healing, unholy, stacking): On suffering damage, an instance is consumed to grant a powerful but short-lived heal-over-time effect. Additional instances can be accumulated but do not have a cumulative effect.

-------

By the time Jason and his team launched themselves into the fight proper, Jason was flush with stolen life force and lightning fast. He even rivalled Sophie for speed, although she still managed to make him look sluggish. Her speed was always active and supported by years of experience and multiple supplemental powers. Compared to the grace, elegance and efficiency with which she soared around the space, Jason was a clumsy oaf. He was fast enough that he didn't feel in slow motion compared to the spider moles, though, which was good enough for him. He wasn't going to hunt them, but he wouldn't be blindsided by raw speed.

The team were variously flying or ensconced in Onslow’s floating shell. The battlefield they joined was a disorienting mess of shrieks, roars and explosions, magic light strobing in the dark. The lights on the crawlers were mostly still obscured by webbing, leaving the flashes and blasts of magic to light up the chaos. Projectiles slammed into giant worms and elementals exploded into flames. Tentacles reached out of portals to grab monsters and tear them apart, magic lighting shining on their glistening skin. That was one of Amos Pensinata’s abilities.

Jason had queried Miriam about adding his butterflies. The tactical commander said no, which Jason understood. In a messy flying battle where allies and enemies were all mixed up in the dark, the benefits they offered would not be worth the extra chaos.

The adventurers might have started on the back foot, but the battle was slowly but inexorably turning in their favour. The spider moles were certainly smarter than the elementals, but animal cunning wasn’t a match for gold-rankers in coordinated teams. While the monsters had the numbers, the adventurers would inevitably claim victory. The question was how much victory would cost.

The crawlers had already been hammered, but assessing how badly would have to wait until the fight was done. The more important threat was to the silver-rankers, a destroyed crawler irrelevant next to a dead adventurer. The most vulnerable group were the magic researchers, the only part of the expedition not made up of guild-level elites. They had been freed from the crawler they were trapped in but didn't join the fight. They were hunkered down on top of their vehicle, hoping to avoid attention.

Jason’s team was directed to retrieve them so they could be sheltered inside Onslow. They set out immediately, but they were on the far side of a battlefield full of chaos. Magic and monsters were flying around and a stray blast of gold-rank webbing could easily take a silver-ranker out of the fight, even if it was unlikely to kill them.

They started making their way across the shaft, fighting their way through. Gary was the only one left behind, to protect and tend to the largest group of now-empty crawlers. Several had taken some hefty damage and his forge powers went to work restoring them. He also fought off enemies threatening to damage them further, mostly the snapping worms writhing from their holes in the wall. Their filthy diamond teeth might have sliced through the metal of the crawler frames, but they broke on the humungous head of the enormous hammer in Gary’s hand, so large it looked like it should tip him over from the weight. Gary grinned as he shoved it into the maw of another worm looking to take a bite out of him, watching its teeth shatter like glass. This popped up another message from Jason’s party interface.

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• [Gary’s Medium Hammer] has resisted [Shear Metal].
• [Craftsman’s Ire] has inflicted retaliatory resonating-force damage.

-------

Gary yanked the hammer free and swung it in a wide arc. It crashed into the side of the worm, smashing it into the wall with a wet squelch.

As he dealt with worms, Gary’s old team members were with Jason’s team as they continued across the shaft. Jason’s team took their standard approach to aerial combat, with Humphrey, Sophie, Jason and Taika in flight, alongside temporary member Farrah. She was encased in obsidian armour that glowed magma hot around the plates. Wings of fire carried her along, somewhat ponderously with the heavy stone armour. Not ponderous was her flailing chain sword, shards of obsidian threaded on a thick strand of lava.

Farrah's sword was especially effective against the worms, more and more of which kept bursting from the walls. Their length was such that they could reach more than halfway across the shaft without leaving their holes, meaning that no fliers were completely out of reach. Any that extended Farrah's way found her sword corkscrewed along its body, obsidian shards digging into it and lava rope searing its ugly flesh. That only lasted a moment, though, as Farrah retracted her weapon back into a normal greatsword shape. As it did so, it chewed up the worm like a red-hot meat grinder, leaving the dead remains to drop limply against the wall.

Rufus didn’t fly but it was hard to tell as he sailed through the air. He used the enemies themselves as platforms, leaping from the wall to a worm’s head to even kicking off a hairy spider mole to vault through the air. When there wasn’t a foe to stand on, one of his two short-range teleport abilities could reposition him perfectly. His sun sword carved chunks from the worms while his moon sword slashed through the fire and gas elementals, leaving them diminished in size.

Rufus demonstrated his increasing synergy with his new team’ as he moved through the air. Belinda, doing her usual job of versatile mixed support, conjured platforms in the air for Rufus to use as stepping stones before they fell away.

Jason laughed riotously on seeing Rufus hopscotch a series of falling platforms, shadow-jumping nearby to give him two thumbs up.

“It’s a-me, Rufus!”

Rufus was taken aback when Jason appeared right in front of him and slipped. His foot missed the platform and his head bounced off it instead, sending him spinning down into the darkness of the shaft. Jason winced.

“Oops.”

“Jason!” Humphrey snarled.

“Sorry.”

Rufus teleported atop an approaching worm and buried his sun sword in its body. Using it as a handle to hold himself in place, he glared at Jason but only for a moment. The sword flared bright enough that light shone from inside the worm and Rufus ran along the creature’s body towards the wall in an implausible display of balance. He dragged the sword, still deep in the creature and moving as if through the air and not the dense flesh of a giant silver-rank worm. Rufus reached the wall and started running along it, leaving the worm’s two halves dangling, dead.

Jason floated in the air, watching in awe.

“Holy crap, that looked awesome.”

“Jason!” Humphrey scolded again.

“Sorry.”

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