Mistrunner - Chapter 49 - Resolute (Patreon)

I don’t know how the system came to be. Nor do I know much about the nature of Rifts. Because of the quarantine period between the Initialization and the Integration, specific information has always been thin on the ground. But what I do know is that it was all put into place by an altruistic race of beings whose planet had been ravaged by the galaxy-sized nano-cloud that we now call Mist. It has given us a chance. What we do with it is up to us. Everything I’ve ever seen from humanity tells me just how thin that chance is.

Jeremiah Braddock III

It took me a couple of hours before I had regained enough energy to move on, and in that time, I discovered a few troubling facts. First, the monster that I’d killed had almost immediately begun to melt and turn into vapor. In my head, I imagined that it was a construct of Mist, and now that it had been killed, it was returning from whence it had come. A silly notion, perhaps, but for some reason, it felt accurate. Maybe I would one day find out whether I was right or wrong.

Second, I found a couple of corpses that had clearly belonged to the men and women who’d been forced into the Rift. They were half-eaten and partially rotted, suggesting that they had been there for a while. I didn’t want to think about the kind of attitude it would take to leave your dead behind to be eaten by a furry tentacle monster. But, of course, I knew precisely what had motivated those people. It was a cycle of reward and punishment that had robbed them of every ounce of their free will, and it was a harsh reminder that slavery didn’t have to look like what I’d always imagined it would. Sometimes, it was more insidious than chains or societal constraints.

Finally, I discovered a net. It was large enough to have covered the tentacle monster, made of metallic thread, and edged in hooks that I suspected would dig into the ground. Clearly, the slaves had been incapable of killing the creature, and thus, had been given the means to subdue it so that they could mine the Rift Shards embedded in the central hunk of rock. Given the two bodies, the process wasn’t without risk, though. Having seen the monster in action, I could definitely understand their hesitation.

I searched the rest of the cavernous room, but to no avail. There was nothing there, save for the two long-dead slaves, the few pieces of the monster’s skeleton that hadn’t dissolved, and the net. However, I was please to note that the Rift Shards had begun to regrow. As far as I could tell, it would take at least another week before they complete sprouted, but it was an interesting development. More, it made sense of the mining operation. If the Shards regrew, the aliens would continuously send slaves in to mine the inexhaustible resource. The fact that they took time to grow just reinforced the Shards’ worth.

After a few hours, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and headed toward the door. Made of white wood, it was much like the one I’d previously encountered, though it was carved with elaborate whorls that sparkled with red energy. Planting myself on one side of the door, I reached over and pushed it open.

As it swung on its hinges, I clenched, waiting for some other monster to barrel through the opening. But nothing happened. Still, I remained stationary for almost a full minute before I worked up the nerve to lean out and take a peek through the doorway. What I saw nearly brought a chuckle.

It was a corridor not unlike the one leading to the Rift’s exit, complete with the interwoven branches for a ceiling. Unlike that hall, though, this one was at least twice as big, with sconces along the wall that looked like they’d been grown, rather than forged. Upon those sconces sat crystals, inside of which danced purple flames which cast the entire space in an eerie, ethereal glow.

After spending a long few minutes inspecting it from the safety of the other room, I decided that I couldn’t gain anything else from hesitating. So, I stepped forward, and I was immediately disgusted by the squishy sound of my boots squelching into something on the floor. I looked down, and I saw that the ground I’d thought was solid, was indeed some sort of gelatinous substance.

“Gross,” I muttered, picking up my foot. It came away clean, which was curious. I waited for a few more seconds to see if any other surprises presented themselves, but nothing did. So, I started forward, my feet squelching with every step. I tried to ignore the disgusting sound, but to no avail. Each step came with a tremor up my spine.

Thankfully, it was only a few hundred feet to the next door, which turned out to be an exact copy of the last, and I covered that ground in a matter of a couple of minutes. It would have been much faster, but I had decided to take things slow and be as careful as I could be. My caution was for naught, though, because the corridor was as devoid of threats as the previous hall.

But that lack of danger meant that the next room likely held another monster. Or maybe even multiple creatures like the tentacle monster I had recently fought. I had no idea, and so, I took the same precautions before opening this door as I’d used with the last. When nothing came barreling through, I decided to chance a glance inside.

Floating in the center of an even larger room was a boulder, and it glittered with a thousand Rift Shards, each about twice the size of any I’d encountered before. That was all I got to see before something whipped out of the darkness, wrapped itself around my waist, and yanked me into the room.

I let out a surprised yelp, but otherwise, I didn’t panic. Instead, I aimed my rifle, which I’d kept out, in the vague direction I was being pulled, and fired a series of bursts. It all happened in the space of a couple of moments, and when my bullets found their mark, I was thrown to the side with far more velocity than I thought possible. I hit the wall with a dull thud, and I felt at least one rib break. But with my Combat Focus and Pain Tolerance kicking in, the injury was easily ignored as I rolled back to my feet just in time to see a fur-covered tentacle as big around as my thigh coming toward me.

I dove to the side, but the moment I committed in that direction, another one slapped me to the ground. My Kicker went flying from my hands, and yet another tentacle swept the ground, knocking it to the other side of the room. Before I could pursue it, another tentacle, this one far bigger than any of the rest, screamed toward me. In the brief second before it slammed into me, I saw that its underside was devoid of fur. Instead, it was covered in wicked hooks that looked more like the pincers of an oversized insect.

Having no desire to end up on the wrong end of those, I rolled to the side. And though I barely avoided being crushed by the sheer weight of the tentacle, I couldn’t completely dodge the pincers. A pair of them latched onto my arm, easily cutting through my attribute-enhanced skin and only stopping once it reached the bone.

I screamed, and almost by instinct – or more likely, due to my extensive training – I summoned my nano-blade. As the scream turned to a snarl, I swept the blade down in an overhand attack enhanced by a hasty embrace of my Eviscerateability. That first attack bit deep into the monstrous flesh, but that only served to make the thing panic. Before I could follow up with another strike, the monster picked me up off the ground, shook me, and then threw me into the floating boulder.

Somehow, I managed to angle myself such that I only skipped off the surface, but the sharp crystals dug into my back and shoulder, ripping into my flesh like I was a freshly awakened novice rather than a seasoned fighter. I could only think that the strangely heavy atmosphere had something to do with it. Or I would have if I’d had any time to think at all. As it was, I found myself on the back foot and fighting a defensive battle.

I needed to change the paradigm if I was going to have any chance.

Fortunately, I had a weapon that I thought might give me an edge. So, the moment I rolled to a stop, I pushed myself to my feet, stowed my sword, and summoned my scattergun. It was an unassuming weapon, but I knew that it could pack quite a punch. I had no illusions about whether or not it would kill the creature. I knew it wouldn’t. But it might give me the time I needed to turn the tables.

In the short couple of seconds it took me to aim my scattergun, a half-dozen of the smaller tentacles had almost reached me. The larger tendril hung back, bleeding freely from where I’d cut it. That gave me hope. If a few bullets and a sword strike made it cautious, then that meant it could feel pain. And there was nothing in my arsenal better suited to dishing out pain than my scattergun.

When they reached me, I fired.

Lightning exploded from the barrel, arcing from one tendril to the next and creating a web of vibrant, blue electricity. Then, another followed in its wake. This one doubled the output of the first due to Double-Shot.

An unholy screech filled the air, and I got my first look at the monster who owned all those tentacles. In some ways, it looked like the previous monster I’d fought within the Rift. The pieces were the same. Tentacles. A bulbous, furry body. A great, gaping mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth. But that’s where the similarities ended because not only was this monster at least five times the size of the other one, it was also covered in eye stalks. And each one of them was staring at me with unrelenting hatred.

I gave it the same in return before firing my scattergun once again.

After that, I stowed my weapon and resummoned my sword before going to work on the thinner tendrils. Under the still pulsing electrical current of my scattergun, they were incapable of more than a few twitches, and my nano-sword was more than up to the task of cutting through them. So, after only a handful of seconds, four of them had been cut down to size.

But I only had eyes for the big one.

Using Engage to cover the ground, I was on top of the tentacle before it could react. Then, with a two-handed grip, I swept the slightly curved blade of my nano-sword down. It met the twitching tendril almost exactly where I’d hit it before. This time, though, it met little resistance as I sliced it in two. The severed portion flopped to the ground, and a moment later, the creature regained control of its limbs.

It screamed again, flailing the tentacles around and spraying the entire area with its black blood. I didn’t care. I was already filthy, and a little blood never hurt anyone. So, I ran toward the creature, my sword trailing a little behind me. When I drew close, I leapt. The monster tried to swat me from the air with its now-stubby tentacles, but the moment it came close, I twisted and contorted my body while using the monster’s own attack as leverage. I came through the mass of tendrils unscathed, landing on the monster’s body. That’s when I went to work, sweeping my sword in a horizontal arc and severing a half-dozen eyestalks with each attack.

Blinded, the creature panicked, bucking and rolling as it tried to throw me free. I let it, then retreated to where my Kicker had been thrown. When I spied it, I wasted no time before gathering it up and replacing it in my Arsenal Implant. I was sorely tempted to use it, but I had no idea if it had been damaged. Better to wait until after the fight – which I considered all but won – before making certain that it was still functional.

Instead, I stowed my sword and summoned Ferdinand II. Then, I loaded him with armor-piercing rounds, each one as big around as two of my fingers put together, and opened fire. My well-practiced aim proved flawless, and the huge rounds found a home in the monster’s bulbous body. More screeches joined the fresh blood fountaining in the air. I ignored it as I reloaded.

The creature’s stubby tendrils flailed, but the movements were weak. Uncoordinated. Unless I did something horribly wrong, they were easily avoided. After relocating while reloading, I fired again, emptying the cylinder of all nine bullets. They tore the monster’s furry hide to pieces, but it remained upright and alive.

So, I decided to adjust my strategy once again. This time, when Ferdinand II got a fresh set of ammunition, he was loaded with explosive rounds. My thought process was simple. The monster’s hide was torn to bits, and it had long since lost its viability as natural armor, exposing the more vulnerable pieces underneath. So, that negated the explosive rounds’ most glaring weakness, which was that they weren’t great against armored foes. But without that armor? They could dig deep before exploding. I couldn’t help but grin as I pondered the impending massacre.

So, of course, it was destined to go wrong.

At first, it went just how I’d planned, with Ferdinand II doing his job as well as I could have expected. Each round that thundered home brought with it a small, localized explosion that ripped the monster apart from the inside out. But even as I killed the body, the creature revealed yet another surprise.

Agony erupted in my leg as I admired my handiwork. I hopped to the side, and looked down only to see that, attached to my leg, was a creature that looked strikingly similar to a beetle, albeit one the size of my head and with overlarge mandibles. In fact, those pincers looked exactly like the ones I’d seen on the underside of tentacle.

I stowed my weapon, reached down with both hands, forced the little monster’s pincers apart, then threw it across the room. But a chittering from behind me sent a cold shiver up my spine, and, without looking, I dove to the side just in time to avoid being swarmed by a few dozen more of the creatures.

Only a single glance at the furry tentacle monster’s largest tendril was enough to tell me what had happened. The underside was ripped open, clearly announcing that the insects had been inside it the whole time. Now, they were free. And they seemed incredibly pissed that I’d killed their host.

I didn’t have time to form a plan before the horde of insectile monsters shifted directions and skittered over me. I writhed in panic as a hundred little legs scurried over me, and a dozen sets of pincers bit down on me. My mind went white with pain as both my Combat Focus and Pain Tolerance were overwhelmed, and I acted on learned instinct more than anything else.

Combination Punch activated as I started hammering my fists into any creature I could reach, and within a few blows, I was rewarded with the sound of shells cracking. Over and over, I punched and kicked, my limbs infused with all the strength my enhanced constitution could muster, but when I managed to dislodge a monster, it was soon replaced by another. And another.

I don’t know how long I waged that miniature war against the overgrown insects, but eventually, the tide began to turn. And bit by bit, I started to win. Finally, at long last, I emerged from a pile of insectile carcasses, bloody, bruised, and otherwise exhausted. Bits of ragged flesh hung from my arms and legs, and I had a gaping gash across my ribs where one of them had managed to latch on. Ripping it free had dragged quite a bit of my side with it. However, I was alive. And they, decidedly, were not.

Across the room, I saw what was left of the original monster disintegrating into the Mist. I staggered to the clearest spot of the room, summoned my medical kit, and started treating my wounds. They were both better and worse than I had expected, and some of them would be sure to scar. But none were life threatening. The alien insects’ bites had been painful, sure, but they weren’t deadly. Not unless they were allowed free reign.

Still, the fight had taken more out of me than I could’ve imagined, and I was already thinking of all the ways I could’ve done things better. Predictably, another door appeared, giving me just such a chance. But first, I needed to tend my wounds. And there were hundreds of Rift Shards just waiting to be harvested.

Fortunately, I’d brought plenty of medical supplies, and even more rations. I could stay in the Rift for days. Perhaps even weeks, if necessary. But if I was going to keep going, I needed to be smarter. I needed to take things more seriously. Otherwise, all my training would be for naught, and I’d end up just like those slaves had in that first room. Dead, decaying, and forgotten.

I refused to let that happen. So, I bent my mind to the task at hand, using my Triage ability to enhance my wound treatment. When I got done with that, I’d rest. Then, I would harvest the Shards. Only when I was completely healed would I move on to the next room.

It should be noted that I never once considered turning back, even when it would’ve probably been the smartest choice. I wasn’t a quitter, after all. And the Rift had to have an end. I was resolved to find it.