Dao 3 Chapter 18 (Patreon)

Dar nodded, also wanting to get through the job quickly. As tempting as the other food stores might be, they needed to finish this and get out of the underground hive. And removing other food stores might send up an alert even faster.

Ducking out of the storeroom and following the queen’s tunnel to the center of the hive, they passed dozens of devils. As quickly and quietly as they could, they both used the dao of concealment to hide themselves.

The drones completely ignored them, but more than one beetle paused as they passed.

Each time, Dar could feel sweat beading on his face.

When they reached the central cavern, Dar paused, letting a beetle drag in two troll corpses. It was only then that Dar realized what was inside.

The entire wall of the cavern was lined with pulsing sacks of more devils. There were larva-like creatures growing inside.

He shuddered. There were so many. How quickly would a mass of devils like this grow?

The beetle stopped in the center of the room, tossing down the two corpses.

A massive, squishy form shifted, and a delicate female form attached to it picked up the two corpses effortlessly. It started tearing them apart, devouring the two trolls swiftly. The squishy form pulsed behind the queen as it gurgled and spat out another small egg. She carefully picked up and placed it against the wall before regurgitating more gunk to keep it in place.

There, where she had just stuck another soon to be larva, was a giant embedded in the wall. It was covered with gunk and more than a few larval sacks as it slumped forward. Dar realized what he was looking at was the Mo. He could feel its power radiate from it even as it hovered at the edge of death’s door.

The queen continued her work on the giant, tearing off much smaller pieces of flesh, seeming to have no issue tearing through the stony exterior. And after the piece was ripped off, its body healed before his eyes.

Dar cringed at the torture. A chill traveled up his spine as he watched, but he didn’t dare shiver. He was worried the motion would draw attention.

Tami swallowed loudly beside him, but thankfully he had kept them both wrapped in shadows and could prevent the sound from escaping. “I didn’t come into this room before. We have to destroy this.”

“No way. We stop them from using that Mo to feed and get out of here. Can you not feel that devil’s strength?” Dar could. The queen was clearly a grand devil, one that was giving off similar levels of strength to Karn.

Dar had been able to beat Karn, but that was when they had limited themselves to only lesser dao. And she had an entire army around her. Hundreds of those beetle devils would descend upon them if they tried to do anything. Dar was confident, but he wasn’t stupid. There was no way he could take on that many.

“Do you think it sleeps? How are we supposed to get to the Mo?” Tami argued.

The heavy fleshy segment of the queen was firmly planted in the dirt, but there was a deep furrow around the outside of the room, indicating she still moved around. The fleshy segment continued to pulse, squirting out yet another larval pod.

Dar realized whatever she was using to fix them to the wall also provided their nutrients. She likely would have to travel around the room, refreshing the other larva at some point.

“For now, we wait. Once she moves away from the Mo, we take our chance.” Dar stepped into the room and did his best to stay hidden.

But Tami had other ideas. Her sword lashed along the wall, cutting into the larva and destroying them.

“Stop that.”

“You have the dao of quiet and concealment. Keep me hidden. If we let these live, Kindrake is doomed.” She slashed again, cutting another handful of larva.

Dar ground his teeth but did as she asked, keeping them quiet and concealed while the queen had her focus elsewhere. He knew that this wouldn’t go unnoticed for long, limiting their time. But he understood why Tami did it. The sheer mass of devils in the space was overwhelming.

He kept watch, nervous the queen would somehow sense what Tami was doing and whirl around to attack. But the devil didn’t; it continued to focus on eating and birthing more devils.

“Tami. There are too many.” Dar pulled her away as the queen finally moved, taking several steps away from the Mo and revealing more of the giant to them.

It was torn open at the gut, its eyes closed and head bowed.

Dar stepped, moving the opposite direction from the queen, who was circling the chamber. Seeing his opening, Dar rushed to the Mo.

He had killed a Mo once before, but the tree had also come in his moment of desperation. This time, he hoped he’d be able to do it on his own.

He remembered the moment the tree had manifested in the world, coming to absorb the Mo. It had been a feeling he’d never forget, and he focused on that feeling.

Tami started to speak, but he motioned for her to stay quiet. He needed to focus.

Focusing back on the feeling when the tree had led, Dar began pulling the little dao tree out of his inner world. It moved slowly at first, but as Dar worked to adjust his process slightly, it flowed more freely. Soon, it popped into being right next to the dying Mo.

The tree barely fit into the chamber floating before the Mo. Cherry swung down from the green canopy to keep an eye on the situation.

The Mo looked up, feeling the presence of the dao tree. Exhaustion spread across its face, and as it took in the dao tree, a flitter of hope shone in its eyes.

It looked at Dar and gave a nod, clearly exhausted from the constant torture. Dar paused for only a moment. It felt different from when he’d taken the other Mo’s life. That Mo had been trying to kill him. This one was asking for a mercy kill.

He gave a small nod back before moving quickly. He knew they didn’t have much time. Sending a thought to the little dao tree, it plunged its roots into the Mo, the Mo groaning and squirming at the intrusion but not fighting against it. Instead it sounded like relief.

Unfortunately, the process was far from subtle. The queen spun around, shrieking at Dar and Tami for intruding. The sound increased as she took in what was happening to the Mo.

The queen darted to the edge of her range before Dar could blink, batting him away from the Mo.

He flew across the chamber, crashing into the sticky wall, crushing several larva behind him. “Protect the tree.” He shouted.

But he hadn’t needed to do that. Roots were crashing through the side wall of the chamber, blocking the queen from getting to the tree.

He had a feeling Tami would have lots of questions about the tree later, but for the moment, she stayed on task. She was already moving around the queen, slashing at her even as Cherry shot roots up through the floor, entangling the massive birthing segment behind the queen.

The devil was already hampered by the heavy fleshy appendage that kept spitting out eggs, forgotten on the floor. But with Cherry’s added help, the queen’s mobility was limited to what little she could stretch.

Even still, the queen and Tami were a blur of motion as Tami hacked and slashed at the queen. Yet even hampered as the devil was, she kept up with Tami without issue.

Unfortunately, Tami’s blade didn’t stand up well against the claws of the queen. Dar noticed large gouges torn into her sword following their first exchange.

“How long is it going to take?” Tami cried out, blocking another attack. Tami could hold the queen off, largely thanks to the queen’s more limited mobility, but the Queen was still powerful. Dar knew Tami couldn’t distract her much longer.

“Just a moment.” Dar focused, trying to speed the process, but he was only able to do so much. He watched as the roots pushed their way deep into the earthen Mo. Its skin was already drying up, cracking and flaking away as the little dao tree absorbed it.

Cherry’s roots shot up around the queen, continuing to bind her further, while keeping a protective barrier in place between the queen and the little dao tree.

Tami screamed, and Dar realized he needed to get back in the fight. The queen had quickly torn apart her sword and was turning to deal with Cherry’s roots.

Needing to do something fast, Dar barreled into the bulky section of the queen, slamming into it with his full force.

It definitely got her attention.

The queen turned, whipping her arms and her sharp claws at him, nearly giving Dar a new haircut as he ducked under and came right back up, hoping to slam into her gut.

As he moved, he was surprised when he didn’t collide with flesh when he’d expected to. Instead, he only hit air as the queen sped around the tiny space. Swinging and smacking Tami, who’d tried to ambush her.

This devil was more than they could handle right now. Luckily, Dar and Tami only needed to distract it while Cherry and the little dao tree consumed the Mo.

The back wall crashed to the ground, distracting Dar for a moment.

Looking over, he watched as the Mo crumbled. The little dao tree had done its job. Dar pulled it back, and it returned to his inner world along with Cherry. He breathed a sigh of relief. Having it out of his space was risky.

He did not know what damage to the tree would do to him or its abilities.

Their task was done, but they still had a queen to contend with an and underground filled with enemies to escape. Dar took a deep breath, readying his body for the run.

“Tami, let's go.” Dar moved, aiming to get out, but finding himself smacked into the wall yet again by the irate queen.

“Right behind you.” Tami shouted, dodging several attacks before darting out of the room.

Looking over his shoulder, Cherry’s dao still rooted the queen to the ground. At least one thing had gone their way. But as he watched, the queen stopped moving, and the breeding section startled to wriggle and shift.

“Fuck.” Dar cursed, extracting himself from the wall and not looking back as he charged out of the space. Whatever the queen was going to do, he knew it wouldn’t be in his best interest to stick around.

Dar was out of the room quickly and followed Tami as they shot down the tunnel.

Drones were swarming out of every side tunnel, pouring into the larger cavern. Dar put his dao of shadow to work, whipping it around him like a scythe, cleaving through the mass of drones and working to hide them from attacks. His shadow dao worked wonderfully against the mass of weaker devils.

So far, it was working. They charged forward, continuing to slice their way through the tunnel. It wasn’t about how many devils they killed, but keeping a path clear as they moved forward.

So far, the devils hadn’t been very organized, but as they turned a corner, Dar could see that was about to change. Beetle devils looked like they were forming a wall up ahead, working to seal off their escape with their own bodies.

The beetles then began to advance forward, aiming to stop them and sweep them back towards the Queen.

Tami was still sprinting down the tunnel. She jumped high into the air, hoping to clear them, but it unfurled its wings and launched itself upwards, catching Tami and pulling her down into the swarm below.

Dar’s heart pounded as he watched the beetle slam Tami into the floor. His Black Knight’s ax was in his hand on instinct as he leapt into the crowd of devils.

His weapon bit into the beetle on top of Tami, and he wrenched the devil to the side, toppling over the beetle next to it.

Unfortunately, in those moments, they both stopped moving, giving the devils a chance to swarm them. There were too many to fight head on. Beetles tangled up his ax while drones poured in behind.

His dao of shadow lashed out, but could not penetrate the touch exteriors of the beetle devils. Dar managed to make two more swings of his ax before three of the beetles pinned it down.

Dar pulled his ax back into his inner world and snatched Tami off the ground, diving low. He tried to maneuver under the arms of the devils and break through the blockade, if only for a second.

But more beetle devils stood up ahead. They were surrounded.

“Tami.” He shook her, but she didn’t respond. Her body was limp. “Fuck. Okay, I’m going to do something and you need to trust me. I don’t know what will happen if you resist. Do you understand?”

She moaned in response, and Dar took that as a yes. He pulled her into his inner world, like he did with Cherry and the maids. She flowed into him, successfully tucked away.

Free of the need to protect her, Dar drew another weapon from his inner world. This time, he pulled out a large, curved sword. He wasn’t a skilled swordsman, but he wanted something that would work better for what he had in mind.

He swung in wide, nearly spinning arcs. The black blade cut through the beetle’s tough hide as they pressed in around him.

A few times, they almost pinned him with their sheer mass of bodies, but he kept them off. Pivoting and sweeping to continue clearing them from his back, pivoting on one foot and sweeping on all sides.

It was a tiring, wild excuse for a fight. And it was slow, but he was making slight progress. Dar managed a single step with each swing, but he wasn’t killing anything but drones. They were pressing themselves between the beetles, seemingly willing to take the brunt of the hits.

The larger devils were taking deep cuts, but nothing bad enough to take them out of the fight. If he was going to move further, he needed to take them out as well.

The underground tunnels erupted with a deafening screech that froze all the Devils. Dar recognized it as the queen. She had finished whatever she’d been trying to do, and his time was up.

Dar pressed his slight and momentary advantage, slashing into one beetle and killing it while it was frozen. Unfortunately, the moment didn’t last long, and more poured back in before he’d even removed his blade from its corpse.

Dar ducked low and picked up a beetle, using it as a battering ram to push his way towards the exit. Unfortunately, it also left Dar’s back exposed to the beetles, and something tore into his back.

He might have taken some serious damage from that move, but he made significant progress, breaking free from the other beetles. He slammed down the one he’d been using and bolted for the exit.

Drones tried to block him, but they were fodder for his shadow as he rushed through them.

Taking one step out of the exit, Dar was hit from behind. His body lifted off the ground with the impact.

Dar felt the queen’s clawed hand tight around his neck as she zipped up into the air with him. She opened her mouth, almost as if it was going to talk, before screeching in his face and then rocketing back down to the ground. She slammed him into the dirt just outside the tunnel.

More buzzing accompanied her as the air filled with flying mantis type devils, and looking around, Dar saw that the surrounding hills were covered with mantis devils that lacked flight. He wasn’t loving his chances.

The queen floated over him, gloating as more beetles poured out of the tunnels and set up a blockade around him.

“I really kicked the hive, didn’t I?” Dar joked, but none of the devils laughed. Clearly a tough crowd.

Dar worked to figure out some semblance of a plan. He was surrounded by multiple layers of devils, and there were more in the air, ready to dive on him.

He scanned the ground underneath him, but there wasn’t any granite to be found. So his best shot would be his dao of shadows.

The queen landed next to him and snapped out a kick, flinging him into the air. She followed that up by slamming him into the chest of a beetle devil, which then wrapped its arms around him, working to hold him.

Before Dar could even struggle, multiple punches rained down on his face, knocking his head back and forth until he was dizzy.

Dar flexed in the beetle's grip, but between its strength and his disorientation, it was useless.

The queen stepped forward, the pair of mandibles on her face clicking open and hungrily seeking his arm.

He wondered why they always went for the arm first. But as he stared at the appendage, he was rather fond of, and her descending mandibles, Dar remembered how he’d turned it into a shadow during the fight with Karn.

As quickly as he could, he tried to recreate the feeling.

Her mandibles met nothing but shadows, her jaws closing. Dar felt his arm traveling slightly along the shadows, and he realized he had a risky gamble to make. But he really only saw one option left to him.

Pushing, Dar tried not only to make his arm into shadows, but his whole person. Feeling the way his arm moved along the shadows, he worked to pull the shadows through his body, following it. He pushed everything he was into the greater dao of shadows.

Another hit landed on his head, breaking his focus for a moment, but he ignored the pain as best he could, letting her rain her blows while he worked to shift his body.

Her next blow passed right through him as he faded. Although faded might not be the right term. It was like his entire body melted into the darkness, but he was still there.

Evening had descended, filling the area with shadows. Dar was able to slip away, diluted by the massive shadows around him.

Feeling himself fading away, Dar desperately focused to keep his body whole and not allowing it to spread throughout the shadows.

Dar coached himself, working to think of something to ground himself.

And in response, his mind kept slipping back to home. The home he’d built. That cave mansion he’d spent days carefully carving out every last detail.

He could touch and feel each small piece of granite he’d shaped, as if he were right in front of it. So intimate was his knowledge and understanding of the place that it gave him something to grasp in his mind and focus on.

Shadows pulled him along as the world blurred by. He was helpless, as every iota of his mind was focused on keeping himself together.

He vaguely could feel the devil queen smashing the hills in fury and frustration, trying to find him. But it was useless. She couldn’t damage a shadow.

Devils poured out of the hills in search of Dar, but he was long gone.

Spilling through the massive shadow that was night, Dar was traveling at speeds he could only have dreamed of.

He was one with the night, and he only had one destination in mind.

The cave mansion was so locked into his mind, he clung to that single thought to keep him grounded, even as he threatened to spill out into the great shadow of night and be lost forever.

The countryside rushed by as Dar passed the ravine, the forest, and even Bellhaven, with all its lights trying to break him up and wash him away. He barely stayed in control, but he kept himself centered, flowing up along the Bell River until he settled into a familiar shadow.

He pulled himself back together, reforming his body.

“Dar? Dar!” Sasha screamed in confusion. “Dar, what happened?” A pair of soft hands grabbed his shoulders and tried to shake him.

But he only managed to respond by rolling over and puking blood.

“Dar! Blair, go wake Bart’s wife. Tell her we have a patient that needs our help immediately. Make sure she drops whatever she is doing.”

Dar groaned and rolled back over, his vision blurry from the strain of tonight.

“Dar, can you focus?”

“Pretty.” He said, reaching up and touching Sasha’s face. “I hurt.”

“I can imagine. You look like a mess, Lug. Let’s get you patched up, and then you can tell me all about it.” She gently took his hand off her face and kissed his knuckles.

Dar could feel his eyes fluttering shut. They were too heavy for him to keep open. Letting it all go, he relaxed into Sasha’s softness. He was safe, at least for that moment. He let himself drift off into sleep.