[BT] Exploring The Tunnels - Chapter 18 (Patreon)

First impression? Green. I was now in a tunnel absolutely covered in greenery and not of the fungal sort. Well, except for the light mushrooms. Those seemed to have remained constant.

Also, where the area below broke into the tunnel was right on a bend and so I could see whatever might be coming my way. Which, given how frequent bugs and plants had been dropping down meant I saw quite a lot. Though they were ignoring me for the moment as a massive brawl took place, presumably for the honor of going down.

So, not wanting to give them a chance, I slunk into the underbrush. I’m not all that skilled at hiding, but my aqua gel blended in a lot better with the green plants than it had with the grey-brown rocks below. Though it might have helped that I was leaving the hole instead of fighting for a spot to go down.

Either way, the tunnel soon splits down the left path so I head over there. And once away from the hole, monster density drops way down. My guess at the time being all the monsters that used to be in the tunnels having gone to the way down.

Oh, not that there weren’t monsters. There are all kinds of creepy crawlies of great size. Though over represented were immobile plant monsters. Which I guess makes sense if everyone else seemed to want to go down. Of course they’d be all that is here, they can’t move!

In fact, my first proper encounter in these tunnels was exactly one such monster. I found an area with a rougher floor and had been paying way too much attention to my footing. Though I wasn’t blind or anything. The damn plant is obvious enough, looking like an oversized pitcher plant, flapping its lid at me.

I ignored it to my detriment as out of nowhere, a bunch of vines grabbed my legs. They tried to dunk me in its mouth and I disagreed with that plan of action. It is unfortunate for the plant that I’m now perfect for fighting their kind. My claws are shockingly proficient at slicing through them.

And once freed from their grip, I gave the pitcher a few extra air holes. That didn’t kill it, but it wouldn’t be holding any food or acid until the holes healed. Oh, yeah, did I mention the pitcher had acid in it, instead of water? I got to figure that out by how the ground cover and dirt below it sizzled and melted once I opened those holes. Also, getting acid on my claws hurts. Good to know.

After that experience, I was a lot more cautious. Didn’t stop any of the super-sized bugs and overly mobile foliage from sneaking up on me. Ambushes seemed to be the norm for this area. As for what they are ambushing?

Small, at least relatively so, mammals. If the insects are the size of trucks, the rat-like mammals scurrying all over the place are about the size of a golf cart. Still big compared to a human, but that isn’t hard to do. At least it seems the addition of magic makes it much less of a hassle.

Though it is at this point that I realize my changes went further than just replacing human flesh with aqua gel. Because the pseudo-rats weren’t the only prey in this area. It seems that humans and other similar sorts would adventure into these cave systems. Even if it took a while to find them as they seem to have been kept away from the easy passage into the lower region.

Not that I found living humans or anything. I’m going to assume delving into this region is for fools and adventures, seeking treasure by staging quick raids into monster controlled areas. Which also means I’m near a way out. As for what I found, well, skeletons and scraps.

At first, it was hard to tell the bones came from a human source as even the rodents of unusual size tended to eat them. However, a bed of soporific flowers gave me a more complete skeleton to recognize. And what I recognized was that I’m bigger now. Like, before this I would have compared the rous to a four-wheeler instead of a golf cart, which should tell you a bit about my size.

I don’t even know when I picked up the extra bulk. It could have been anytime after I jumped into the water way back on the surface. Though I suspect it was actually a bit more recent. My guess being during my charge towards the light in the lower area where I ended up consuming quite a bit.

Still kind of weird for me at the time to know I was suddenly about seven and a half feet tall or if you prefer, two and a third meters. Not the tallest person ever, but I was now built like a brick house. No bean pole here. When they scaled me up, they grabbed the corner and held shift while resizing me.

At the time, I half wondered if there was some race of small people around. Not only are copyright neutral halflings a popular fantasy trope, but even back on earth there had been some around at one point. I’m just going to nip that in the bud, though. No reason to leave you wondering about something so obvious the second I meet anyone else.

Anyway, I took the bones to mean I was on the right track of getting out of here and pressed onward. And let me just say, being differently affected by poison likely saved me. As my experience with the wasp venom showed, I could still be affected in some ways, but being lured in and put to sleep wasn’t on the table.

Then, as I skirted around another suspicious plant, it sprayed something at me. Oddest stuff, don’t know what it should be doing, but it caused my scales to fizz. It was really odd because my scales would bubble and foam, yet none of their mass went away, so it must have been pretty contained.

And what do you know? Right past that nuisance was a camp. While likely used by the unfortunate adventurers I had seen a few miles back. It was clear this is an established rest area. All vegetation has been cleared a good few paces on all sides and the pit has seen many a fire.

Though more interesting than that is what was up against the wall. A good and proper wall at that, not some cavern wall. The campsite is on a bend and at the corner a flat section made of some sort of brick. That would be interesting all by itself, but the bronze door at the center of the wall told many stories of its own.

Most obvious is the fact that it wasn’t just bronze and the bricks aren’t just clay. There were many signs of people having tried to get through the door or around it. To both sides the actual tunnel walls had someone take a pick to them to try and mine around the bricks. The door itself was covered in soot, showing that someone had tried to melt the door at some point. And right underneath, the floor was no longer flush with the door as multiple parties in the past had likely tried to go under it.

All those attempts and more had failed. The wall stood strong and the door wasn’t even the least bit crooked from what were presumably uncountable attempts to pry it open. This place has taken all comers.

Oh, and once I saw it, my Talent started to tremble. I had been focusing on how it had changed my body, so much so I had forgotten that in the end, it is a psionic effect. And this odd little corner of the vast underground caverns system is flush with mental energy. Energy that very much was whispering to me that I should look away and the door had clearly survived more than anything I could do to it.

Quite an effective defense, except whoever set it up wasn’t around anymore. Because, it totally took me in despite my Talent reacting. That is, right until I noticed the mental prompt didn’t quite match with reality.

The burn marks were from years and years ago, that chipped away section of wall to either side had been massively expanded, and someone had flattened out the ground to be even with the door. Though despite the glaring differences, I could tell no amount of differences would have made me notice if the power within hadn’t called to me. Well, if I was strong enough, but in this case I’m referring to those of average mortal ability.

So yeah, I walked up to the door and tried to push it open. That didn’t work, but I also didn’t get hit by some trap. I consider that an overall victory for me. Oh, and I did try to pull on the door, there just wasn’t anywhere to get purchase and my gel wasn’t tacky enough to stick to it.

In fact, I’m sure many had questioned if it was actually a door or not. Sure, the bronze rectangle stood out from the brick walls, but without a handle it could easily be something else. I’m still going to call it a door, though.

Whatever the case, this was a good place to get some proper rest. Well, I assume it was with the whole campsite and lack of plants growing around it. Either way, I ended up sleeping an indeterminate amount of time in a ditch.

Maybe calling it a ditch is a little rude. There was a log near the fire pit on the door’s side that was sunk about halfway into the ground. So, with a bit of leverage, I pried it up and out towards the fire pit. This provided a bit of a screen from any monsters that might have seen me, though I had to sleep in the ditch or I would have stuck up over the log.

While not comfortable, waking up was very much a struggle. Though not as much of a struggle as what came next. I had a direction to go and so all I could do was follow it.

Except has an underground fantasy tunnel maze ever been that simple? I tried, I really did, but I swear that no matter which way I turned I would end up back at the campsite within five or so hours. Sure, that meant I was exploring for a decent amount of time, but a lot of it was fighting.

So many encounters, and it seemed like the tunnels got restocked if I so much as turned my back on them. Of course, in reality, I knew the actual answer had to do with how I was avoiding the more obviously monster packed tunnels. This was already a low-density area when it came to monsters, likely because of the shortcut to the layer below.

Inevitably, once one monster is gone, another would take its place. If it wasn’t for the fact that the plants I killed stayed gone, replaced by other threats? I would have assumed this was some kind of dungeon and the monsters literally respawning. Though I guess some shenanigans were taking place to keep it all packed to the gills.

But now, I am going to change things. I’d been back to the camp over ten times, which was more stubbornness on my part. While I couldn’t map out the tunnels, they split and joined up way more than I feel is natural, I could notice patterns.

Not that I felt clever for realizing it. It took me ten times to notice that in a certain area, an increased monster presence would always block the one direction? I guess maybe if on the third round I hadn’t tried another such area only to end up back at the camp, I would have noticed sooner. None of that matters now as I was going to get out of here and as long as I kept telling myself that, it had to come true! Or so I told myself at the time to keep trying.

Oozing Venom - Chapter 17

Rous - Chapter 19