CHAPTER 77: UNWELCOME GUEST

"What the hell is that?" Calen asked.

"A hole." Cassian responded.

"Thank you for that helpful observation Cass."

Isara ignored them and said:

"From what you told us about the Withered it’s highly unlikely that it made that tunnel, something else dug it and our dead friend simply followed."

"I agree." Alison nodded, and crouched to inspect the opening closely. " And it wasn’t made by a fatty either - it’s too big and neat."

"Are there many other creatures capable of digging tunnels?"

"Not that many, and most of them are even smaller than fatties - there are only three potential suspects: it could have been a Drill, a Steelworm or gods forbid a Carver."

"Nah, no shit it’s a Carver." Alfred shook his head. "I saw a body of one, they’re much too big to fit in that tunnel."

"Well, two then."

The monsters they described didn’t sound particularly pleasant, and Calen wasn’t particularly keen on meeting them.

A Drill was one of the very few cases where the size of the corrupted creature was much larger than that of the original animal - in this case, a field mouse became the size of a big dog and developed taste for blood, along with a couple additional limbs and two heads.

They owed their name to the fact that they spun whenever they dug because of their disproportionate bodies.

Coincidentally, the Steelworm was even a more bizarre case of this size discrepancy - an earthworm as wide as a person, and as long as three. They didn’t change much as a result of their corruption appearance wise, but they didn’t really have to - they were made of pure muscle, their raw power was so high they could forgo any advanced powers.

Their name was obviously an allusion to the fact that they could pierce steel just as easily as they predecessors could move through dirt.

Finally there were the Carvers - even though Alfred was certain they wouldn’t meet one, he was kind enough to describe them - although Calen kinda wished he didn’t.

The Carvers apparently originated from bears - not that you could tell by looking at one, they were truly massive beasts with back covered in rock-like spikes that could be manipulated by the beast to a degree, almost like those of a porcupine.

They also had no face, and their heads were covered by a heavy plate, with an unnaturally wide mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth underneath. Another visible difference were their claws, now much longer and adapted digging - but they were also much better at ripping things apart.

"I think a Drill would make the most sense." Maya commented. "A Steelworm wouldn’t reach the surface, and therefore the Withered wouldn’t be able to enter it’s tunnel."

"I think so too." Alison agreed and looked between Isara and Calen. "Can either of you plug the tunnel with magic, or do we have to get the construction crew involved?"

"That depends." Calen studied the hole. "If you can look through the wall and describe the shape of the tunnel accurately, then we should be able to do it."

"Sure." Her eyes glowed and she focused on the wall. "It’s just a horizontal line as far as I can see, without any turns or changes I’m altitude."

Calen and Isara touched the edges of the tunnel and murmured a spell.

A moment later there was no trace of the opening, as if it was never there in the first place.

"Alright, let’s find out unwelcome guest."

***

Alison stopped after walking for another five minutes.

"I see it." She announced.

"Is it a Drill?" Alfred questioned.

"It is." She paused. "Two of them in fact - I think... I think they’re trying to build a nest."

"So that’s what Gary’s crew heard, they probably destroyed the support beams in the place they’re trying to turn into their nest."

"Let’s deal with them quickly."

It didn’t take them long to reach their targets - the creatures have indeed have indeed destroyed a part of the tunnel, crushing the support beams and digging into the wall to create their lair.

The Drills were somehow even more disgusting than their description - not only did the monsters have way too many legs, but their number was different on each side, and some of them were deformed or dead and mummified.

Their heads were also horrifying, unlike the Cerberus-like setting Calen expected, the additional ones were put in random places, with only the main one showing any signs of life.

"Be careful, their spit can melt rocks." Alfred casually revealed, while drawing his sword and jumping at the closer of the two creatures.

Despite its seemingly horrible state, the monster easily dodged the knight’s attack, and let out a rather angry squeak.

"Did I forgot to mention they are also very fast?"

Alison sighed, and announced:

"Maya go help Alfred, the rest of you focus on the second one and don’t let it bite you."

Whether inspired by her story from earlier or simply deciding that it was a better fit for the situation, Maya took out a pair of sickles out of her infinity sheath, instead of her usual mace.

As an opening attack, Calen threw a ball of flames at the monster- and missed.

Or more accurately the Drill jumped away so far away that he was almost sure it sensed the fire would be fatal.

But he could use that.

"Cass, get behind that thing I have an idea" He gathered some flame in his palm. "Isa I need you to cut it off from the sides - make a wall of something."

"A wall of what? I can’t use fire because unlike your fancy one the regular thing will suffocate us, the monster can bite through rock so that’s out of the question as well, and ice doesn’t mesh with your powers too well."

"Make a construct then."

"You’re saying that as if it’s easy." She grumbled. "Fine, but be quick about it, I don’t know how long I can maintain it"

Isara kneeled and put her hands on the ground, simultaneously chanting a rather long spell - as soon as she was finished two mighty walls made of pure energy appeared on both sides of the monster, trapping it in a narrow corridor.

That was when Calen crated a third wall, one made of fire, and started slowly moving it towards the creature, following behind it himself.

The Drill started moving backwards, never looking away from him, just like he wanted.

All of its heads were facing forward, so it didn’t see Cassian who in the meantime ran around the corridor and positioned himself at the other end of it.

Every step back from the flames brought the monster closer to its doom - frankly it was a bit weird that it still didn’t turn around at this point.

Calen was planning to simply attack it from two sides at once, but seemed like Cassian was going to simply kill it without it ever knowing he was there.

When they reached the end of the corridor, the monster finally turned around, but it was already too late.

Cassian’s heavy blade fell, and sliced the creature into two, splattering the glowing constructs with horribly smelling, viscous blood.

Once they were sure it was dead, Isara dispelled the ethereal walls and breathed a sigh of relief - she was covered in sweat and barely able to stand straight.

"You good?" Calen asked.

"Yeah, I just hate making constructs." She looked over his shoulder. "Is the other one dead as well?"

"It is, Maya and Alison turned it into mincemeat - not a particularly pleasant sight if you ask me."

Seeing that they were done, Alison approached them.

"Destroy the corpses if you can, we don’t want it laying here for too long or it’ll stink up the place."

"We’re not leaving them for the workers?"

"No, their blood is toxic, and most of the materials are too corrupted to use. As a general rule of thumb, If something looks too disgusting to use, it probably is."

"Okay." Calen set both of the bodies on fire, and let them burn until nothing was left but ash. "What now?"

"Well, do you know how to fix that?" She pointed at the half finished burrow and the broken support beams.

"I’m afraid we lack the necessary engineering knowledge to do that." Calen shook his head. "But it’s probably fine to wait for the construction team, if it didn’t collapse so far it probably won’t until they arrive."

"Figures." She took out a different runstone and sent a signal to the team behind them.

"You have different runestones for different signals?"

"Obviously." She lifted an eyebrow. "It wouldn’t be a very good signal if we didn’t know what it meant."

"How many do you have?"

"Only four; ’salvage team needed’, ’construction team needed’, ’stop’ or ’go’ and finally ’retreat immediately’."

"I think we need to wait for the construction team." Alfred stated after inspecting the burrow. "If this thing gives were going to be cut off for at least a week - and as much as I don’t have anything against Greenheart, I would rather avoid getting stuck in a different city."

"Fine, we’ll wait - but you’re going to listen to Gary if he complains about being behind schedule."