Chapter 277 - Moving Up in the World (Patreon)

Zeke gripped his cheap cudgel, his senses trained on the tunnel before him. With it being at least a hundred feet from one wall to the other, it was wider than most of the other tunnels he’d experienced. It was also laced with silvery ore and studded with green-and-red gemstones that flickered beneath the light of the miners’ mana torches.

“Any idea what kind of dangers we can expect?” asked Zeke, refusing to tear his eyes from the tunnel.

“Rats,” grunted the other guard. Zeke didn’t know his name – he hadn’t bothered to introduce himself when they’d met – but he didn’t have to look at him to remember his features. Tall, broad, and green, the other guard could only be described as an orc, what with his protruding tusks and heavy, sloping brow. He was clearly powerful, too, judging by the aura Zeke felt radiating from him. “Maybe lizards. Skates, too.”

Zeke nodded. None of those labels really meant anything to him. Certainly, he’d encountered rats and lizards before, but he suspected that the denizens of the mine would scarcely resemble the creatures he knew. At the very least, they would be bigger, stronger, and more magical – which didn’t bode well for him, given that he’d already reconnected his shackles and sealed his skills away. If something like that kobold legionnaire attacked, he would be forced to reveal his secrets.

And that would be disastrous.

“Other stuff, too.”

Zeke rolled his eyes, but he didn’t respond to the orc’s addendum. Not that it mattered right now. There were limited preparations he could make, especially without his skills, so he only had to hope that he hadn’t been shoved into a situation he couldn’t handle.

Idly, he wished that Jasper had been allowed to come. However, the dwarves had quickly surmised that the dark elf was no more powerful than he’d seemed, and so, they’d thrown him into a different direction. While Zeke had been relegated to guarding the more experienced miners as they delved into the deeper and more dangerous parts of the mine, Jasper had been given the opportunity to work the in the forge. Not as a smith, but rather as a helper. According to Jasper, it was supposed to be backbreaking work, but it came with a much larger stipend of contribution points, which could in turn be used to improve his situation. So, it was definitely a promotion.

However, it was one that came with the necessity of separating the duo. Zeke still saw the dark elf in the barracks, but other than that, they’d gone their separate ways. In turn, Jasper had been replaced by the unnamed orc. And while the hulking man had proven himself a competent combatant – they’d had to fend off a few groups of monsters along the way – Zeke couldn’t bring himself to trust the orc. Not yet. Probably not ever.

But now they were facing the Dead Drop, which was a steeply sloped tunnel that led deep into the mines. There were rumors of abandoned ruins down there, but those same tales claimed that anyone who ventured too far ended up dead. Zeke could believe it too. If the wraith on the other side of the Rainbow Forest was any indication of the dangers, there were almost assuredly some truly terrifying creatures in the deeper parts of the mine.

But thankfully, the first half of the day required nothing of Zeke or his taciturn partner. However, that all changed when Zeke felt the ground begin to shake.

“What was that?” he muttered, glancing at the other guard.

But the orc was already moving, and faster than Zeke could have expected. He growled, “Pack it up and get moving!”

The miners all looked at him with a mixture of surprise and fear, but they obeyed nonetheless. After all, these were all veteran miners; they knew when to unhesitatingly obey and when to ask questions. This situation required the former, and they immediately grabbed whatever ore or gems they’d managed to dislodge from the walls before loading them into a series of carts.

However, that was as far as they got before another tremor rocked the tunnel. Dust and debris fell from the ceiling, and the ground shook with enough ferocity to suggest a minor earthquake. Zeke tore his gaze from the miners to see a shadow approaching from below. Even with the enhanced eyesight that came from his multiple racial evolutions, he had difficulty making out more than a vague shape.

That changed a moment later when yet another tremor shook the tunnel, and a creature stepped into view.

“What the hell…”

The monster looked like a bronze statue, though one streaked with blue-green oxidation that made it look like nothing so much as teal blood. The thing was at least fifteen feet tall, but other than its massive proportions, it looked like a human woman wearing a flowing robe. If it hadn’t been for the metallic texture and the oxidized patina, Zeke might have thought she was a real person.

But it wasn’t.

Rather, it was clearly some sort of monster.

Then, something hit Zeke from behind. He stumbled forward, stars dancing before his eyes, and for a moment, he felt like he was on the verge of blacking out. Shaking the cobwebs loose, Zeke glanced back to see that the orc was pushing the miners back up the tunnel. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.

The orc knew they couldn’t outrun the statue monster. So, he’d chosen to sacrifice Zeke so he and the other miners could get a head start. Already, the miners were a hundred feet up the tunnel, and Zeke knew he wouldn’t catch up before they reached the massive gate that guarded this branch of the mine. The orc’s gambit had been underhanded, but it was also effective. Even if Zeke only slowed the monster down by a minute, it would probably be enough to ensure that the others would escape. And when they did, the orc would get a greater amount of contribution points for his actions. For him, it was win-win. For Zeke, it was the opposite.

Or it would be if he was like everyone else.

But he wasn’t. With a flick of his fuzzy mind, he deactivated the shackles that restrained his skills, then embraced [Metallurgical Repair], siphoning earthen energy from the ground in order to heal what he thought was probably a concussion. How hard must the orc have hit him to do that? If he’d been a mundane human, Zeke had no doubts that the blow would have exploded his head into a million pieces.

Fortunately, he hadn’t been that fragile for years.

As he recovered, Zeke pushed himself to his feet and turned back to face the rapidly approaching statue monster. The closer it came, the more detailed it looked, and even to Zeke’s inexperienced eye, he could tell that whoever had created such a work of art had been incredibly talented.

Or perhaps it hadn’t been made at all, and was instead simply a monster native to the mines. Either way, Zeke knew that he couldn’t outrun it – especially since, a moment later, the sound of the massive gates closing in the distance echoed through the tunnel. He was trapped, facing off against an unknown threat with his back against the wall. So, he had no choice but to fight.

Briefly, Zeke considered simply running past it and going deeper into the tunnels, but that was where the thing had come from, wasn’t it? And Zeke didn’t think he was so lucky that the statue was the only one of its kind. If he did retreat into the depths, he felt confident that he’d run into more of them. Still, it would be a consideration if he happened to find himself overmatched.

For now, though – he wanted to see how he stood up against such a formidable-looking foe.

So, Zeke summoned his hammer, Voromir, and squared his shoulders as the monster bore down on him. Its movements were ponderous and slow, but even from dozens of feet away, Zeke could feel its power. If he was hit, his endurance and ability to heal himself would count for little, he was certain.

Clutching the grip of his hammer, Zeke trotted forward. With every step, he picked up speed until he reached a sprint. Then, when he was only a handful of feet away, he started his swing. He came in from the side with a ferocious attack reminiscent of a baseball swing. The metallic head of the hammer whipped through the air with enough momentum to fell a mountain.

Then, it collided with a bronze knee, and everything went wrong.

A brutally loud gong filled the air, shattering Zeke’s eardrums even as it shook dust and small rocks free from the walls of the tunnel. But even the pain of his destroyed ears was nothing compared to the vicious vibration in his hands. His skin was rent, and his bones cracked under its influence.

And then the statue responded.

In his stunned state, Zeke never had a chance to dodge its simple kick, but when he took a bronze foot to the chest, his sternum was ground into the dust. Fortunately, he had nothing behind him, so when he went flying up the tunnel, some of the blow’s godly momentum dissipated.

He hit the ground going so fast that his tattered shirt was ripped to shreds and the skin beneath was torn from his body. He tumbled a dozen times, each impact ripping more flesh away from him until, at last, he came to a stop almost a hundred feet away from the statue. Still, it advanced, as if he was no more than a swatted fly. Unimportant and instantly forgotten.

Zeke’s mind reeled as he drowned in confusion and pain. But he kept his wits enough to channel some mana into [Metallurgical Repair], yanking earthen energy from the ground and fueling his rapid convalescence. Gritting his bloody teeth, Zeke pushed the skill to its limits, siphoning more and more yellow energy until, at last, he could push himself back to his feet.

Somehow, he’d managed to maintain his grip on his hammer, which he used to steady himself as he looked at the statue. In the thirty seconds since he’d started healing, it had stopped beside a particularly dense silvery thread of ore, where it thrust its hands deep into the rock. Rivers of metal flowed from the tunnel wall and into its bronze form, taking on the appearance of exposed veins.

Power, raw and unconstrained, billowed off the creature in waves of mana, and Zeke suspected that, if it was left to its own devices, the monster would use the metal to push itself to heights of power that couldn’t be restrained by a mere gate. Doubtless, the dwarves had a way to deal with such a creature – they obviously knew the mines well enough, and they just as surely had powerful warriors of their own. But what would happen in the time it took them to respond?

Hundreds of slaves would die.

Could Zeke allow that to happen? He couldn’t have cared less about the fate of the dwarves. After all, they’d abducted and enslaved him. They didn’t deserve his compassion. However, the slaves had done nothing to warrant their treatment, and he wasn’t sure if he could, in good conscience, allow them to die at the hands of the monstrous statue.

But could he beat it?

Maybe. He hadn’t used [Unleash Momentum] in quite some time, so there was a chance that it could be hurt by such an attack. In addition, as heavy as the statue was, it would surely be susceptible to the increased gravity of [Weight of Two Worlds], just like the earth elemental had been back in the Radiant Isles of the Mortal Plane.

Either way, he’d taken a direct attack from the creature, and while it had been incredibly painful, it hadn’t killed him outright. That meant that he had nothing to lose. If it proved too difficult, he could always just disengage and retreat further into the mines. There was risk, but it was more than manageable.

So, Zeke pushed redirected his mana into the runes associated with [Weight of Two Worlds], and as he let the skill loose, he used his racial ability to manipulate his own weight. Instantly, the air grew heavier, and he rushed back towards the statue. It paid him no heed as it continued to feed upon the veins of exposed ore – or that was the case until Zeke drew close enough for it to feel the weight of his skill bearing down on it.

It whipped its head around, but by that point, Zeke was already upon it. He leapt, aiming an overhand hammer strike at the statue’s head. As he did so, he released his racial ability, taking advantage of his drastically increased weight. When the head of the hammer collided with the statue’s face, it did so with the force of a falling meteor.

Zeke’s arms shattered under the unyielding impact, and he crashed into the monster. It stumbled backwards a single step before regaining its balance, and Zeke landed on the ground at its feet. In the space of an instant, he’d already activated [Metallurgical Repair], flooding his body with healing energies that mended the broken bones of his arm. Even as they solidified, he shot to his feet, aiming a vicious uppercut at the monster.

As the head of his hammer hit, Zeke used [Unleash Momentum].

It sounded like a bomb had gone off as an explosion of force ripped through the air. The statue rocketed toward the ceiling, its massive weight, which had already been amplified a hundred-fold, completely overcome by the incredible momentum Zeke could bring to bear.

Huge cracks spiderwebbed across the ground. Loose rocks were pulverized into dust. And the statue-turned-projectile dug an enormous crater into the ceiling. For a long second, it hung there before, finally, it fell back to the ground. Rocks the size of Zeke’s body rained down from the crater, but he sprang backward, avoiding the worst of it. The statue wasn’t so lucky, and it was buried under a small mountain of stone.

Zeke let out a deep breath, then said, “That wasn’t so bad. I thought –”

Then, the rocks shifted, and a single bronze hand pushed itself free of the mound. That hand was followed by an arm. Then a shoulder. A torso. And finally, the statue pulled itself free. It bore a few deep scratches, but, otherwise, it was unharmed.

There was one other change, though. It stared at him with glowing, yellow eyes that radiated unbearable menace. Clearly, it didn’t appreciate Zeke’s efforts to kill it.