Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Four - Left or Right

I had choices. Left or right.

The right path seemed a little wide and more inviting, the left more narrow and winding.

I went left. Maybe I was a bit of a masochist, but some gut instinct told me to always pick the harder-looking option first. I'd circle back around and see what the right path was like later, if I felt like it.

The path was, initially, just wide enough that I could reach out both arms and touch the walls to either side. As it went, the path became tighter, climbing up and squeezing until, in order to move forwards, I had to either duck my head low, or crouch-walk. Nice and suffocating, especially with the constant darkness just around every slight bend.

I was coming around the first of those bends when I came face-to-face with a bugling.

It seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see it, which is what might have spared me, because it hesitated for a full two seconds before launching itself at me.

I'd made a serious mistake, though. I'd sheathed my sword and didn't have my gun in hand. I was so used to finding the monsters first, and worried that I'd run into a trap, that I didn't consider walking around with my weapons in hand, not in such tight confines.

Stupid. And it was something that I should have known better than to do.

The bugling raced for my face, mandibles opened wide, forelimbs clawing at me. I reached out and grabbed it around the neck, then I slammed it to the side. It only weighed as much as a large dog. I had the advantage in mass.

Pressing it against the wall, I winced as its scrambling claws cut into my forearm. Still, pushing it against the wall freed up my other hand to tug my combat knife out. I plunged it into the monster's neck, right where there was a sort of joint in its exoskeleton.

The knife went in deep, and I wiggled it around. It was only seconds before the monster stopped trying to break free and simply slumped.

Cursing, I pulled out my revolver and looked around. But there was nothing, and I couldn't hear anything either. I should have been listening more carefully, maybe I might have heard it scrambling my way.

Lowering my arm, I brought it into the light and winced. The monster's clawing had ripped through some of the cheap faux-leather of my coat and cut into my skin.

I removed my coat, tears filling my eyes as the adrenaline wore off and I started to really feel the cuts. Fortunately, they were on the more shallow side. Not so deep that it would really be too much of a bother, but... yeah, not enjoyable.

Some of the thinner scrapes weren't bad. I'd cut my legs harder, shaving, I could live with them. Two were a bit deeper, but they were on the top of the arm, kind of away from the bigger muscle groups attached near the radius.

I had a small backpack with me, with spare ammo and a few essentials, including that individual first aid kit.

I ripped the IFAK open, then pulled out bandages and some disinfectant. And then I decided not to bother. If I got infected, it wouldn't last, and... didn't bugs hunt based on pheromones or something? I wasn't sure, but the strong scent of alcohol might alert them more than the noise I was making.

Wrapping some gauze around the wound, then a layer of adhesive bandages, was about the best I could do. It would at least keep the cuts dry and any blood off my hands.

I opened a spare water bottle, drank half--because fighting was thirsty work--then used the rest to wash my hands and knife. Not ideal, but better than nothing.

Patting my hands dry on my pants, I picked up my combat knife and revolver, then continued to move.

The tunnel veered left, eventually right, and then up. I met two more buglings, but they seemed distracted. They turned aggressive when they saw me, but a quick Shadow Bolt to the face followed by a stab brought them down.

These guys weren't all that tough. Very much lower E-rank fodder.

The passage eventually, blissfully, widened. It was a room with water that branched off in three other directions. A few 'islands' in the centre were occupied by some buglings who seemed busy. They were building a sort of bridge across the centre of the room. Rocks stacked one over the other, then... well, to put it plainly, shat on.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to NovelBin for the genuine story.

Their cement-like excrement was covering up some of the many flaws in their building techniques.I was pretty sure most of their work would topple over from a mild shove.

Since I didn't feel like fighting while swimming, and since I hadn't been noticed, I took a moment to switch gear. My short little shotgun came out, and then I carefully aimed down its sights to the nearest bugling.

Four shots later and the room was cleared. I waited for the echos of the shots to die down before slowly reloading. No reinforcements? Interesting.

Three directions to choose from...

Since I'd gone left already, I decided to go left again, taking the route that was closest that way. It did mean stepping through the water, which left me cursing with every step. It was cold as tits and just tall enough to fill my boots, and the water was all brackish and grey besides. Disgusting.

I stomped into the leftmost corridor and almost onto a pitfall, it was only noticing a lack of any rocks or unevenness on the ground that had me stopping in time to notice.

Kicking the top of the trap down, I continued, then navigated around two more until, finally, I came onto a door.

The boss room? Already?

The door was more like a large plug, made of vines woven together and shoved into a narrow space in the tunnel, but it was definitely a door, of sorts, and...yeah, there was something about it, or maybe about the magic around it, that screamed 'boss area' to me.

I hesitated, then went back to the room with the pool.

This time, I took the path that would have been to the right for me earlier. It was longer, wider, and filled with buglings. Buglings looking the other way, though.

I came up behind a group of six, and it looked like they were waiting to ambush someone coming from the other way. So, since they were in an ambush-y mood, I gave them one and opened up onto their backs.

Shooting them was very satisfying when I was outside of the splash radius. They kind of just exploded into gory bits that went all over. It was like shooting ripe watermelons with, like, elastic bands around them.

I reloaded after the last went down, then walked over to inspect the direction they were facing only to discover that it was the room with the two pillars.

Ah, so both paths led back to the room with the pool. Neat. This path seemed safer. Minus the buglings waiting in ambush.

So, what was that fourth path in the pool room, then?

Shrugging, I turned and went to find out. It wasn't too difficult. The room's entrance squeezed in, then opened up to a large, low-ceilinged space that was, unlike the rest of the tunnels, at least partially illuminated. The room had some two dozen large 'vats' on the ground, each one filled with eggs and a sort of glowy moss.

More buglings were tending the eggs, poking them, shifting them around, and generally doing... bug things at them.

I parked myself by the entrance, then crouched down and opened up.

Did I feel bad for blasting what was essentially a hatchery? Surprisingly, yes, a tiny bit. These were innocents, in a way.

They were also giant insects, so the guilt was rather limited.

Could I bring a few big cans of bugspray? Would that even work?

No, probably not. I was sure there was something to do with concentrations with that kind of thing, and a few cans wouldn't be enough. Though maybe they'd work as a distraction.

Or, I could just keep blasting instead of letting my mind wander.

It took a few minutes to clear the room, and in the end... yeah, lots of dead bugs, and not much to show for it, though there was a tunnel at the far end of the room that looped around and seemed to lead right back to the boss room.

Figures. The portal was going to end there, one way or another.

I checked my gear over. I wasn't sure what to expect from the boss, but it'd be stupid to walk in without fully-loaded weapons.

***