Drip-Fed – A Rivalry 4 – Incursion (Patreon)

‘This Leaf is truly gargantuan,’ Apexus thought.

High up in the sky, he gazed out over the landscape. He was used to sprawling forests, green plains, and all manners of biomes by now. What he wasn’t quite used to was the sheer scale of sameness in this one. Even high up as he was, high enough that he had to burn additional biomass to keep generating heat against the chilling winds, all he saw was the same green, half-tamed farmland. Towards the south, there was some ocean.

There had been some comparable stretches in Apexus’ path, but those had been vast swathes of their Leaves, compared to what was, by scale of the world map, a rather small area. This world required months to traverse.

Apexus went into a sudden dive. His eyes narrowed down on a target on the ground. They had originally belonged to a forest cat, but the adaptations since becoming a permanent Growth had made them as sharp as those of an eagle, with the added benefit of precise night vision. The latter did not enter the equation at this moment.

Challenging himself, Apexus pulled his wings in fully. Undiluted speed made the line of trees come closer and closer by the millisecond. Hitting the canopies sprinting, the Monk Feather Stepped his way from branch to branch. A simple slip up would have sent him crashing down through the woodwork.

Apexus was so focused on keeping the Ki in his feet steady that he was caught by utter surprise when there was no more treeline to tread on. One stride hit nothing but air and he fell on over forwards with all of the grace of a boulder tilting over a cliffside. Hurriedly spread wings did not do much at this distance, so Apexus decided to attempt a roll instead.

The gravitational impact broke his shoulder. One of the bones in his wings snapped as he did not roll over but stopped on top of it. The uneven ground stopped the motion halfway through.

“Darling!” Aclysia shouted and hurried on over.

“Is he badly hurt or can I laugh?” Reysha shouted.

“You can laugh!” Apexus shouted.

The tiger woman proceeded to do so. Loud and borderline manically did she laugh. She even held onto Korith’s horns to keep herself steady while the shivers of intense amusement went through her.

“Do you require assistance?” the first of his loves asked the humanoid chimera.

In response, Apexus raised his unharmed arm. Under the surface, stores of biomass were consumed to knit back together the shards of bone. For regular beings, shattered bones were among the worst wounds. For Apexus, it was among the simplest. As long as everything was still attached to him, that was easily fixed.

Afterwards, Apexus got up and joined the rest of them on foot on their journey northwards. Not much of it was left. The farmstead was in view. It was a collection of ten houses. Originally, this plot of land had been settled by two adventuring parties that had cross-party romantic interests. That had been two generations ago and since then the lines had become farmers first and adventurers second.

These people were capable of fending off the average beast roaming the tamed area of Drowse, but an incursion was too much for them. If they threw bodies at the issue, they would be able to solve it, but money was more readily spent than the blood of one’s neighbours.

The quartet entered the busy village. It was a harvest season lunch and most of the inhabitants were currently sitting around long, communal tables. Their coming was spotted from afar. The largest table at the centre of it all held the town leadership. Busy gestures waved the party closer.

Aclysia took the lead, as per usual with social situations. “Greetings, we are the Inevitable party. We have come in order to fulfill your posted request.” She pulled the folded note from her adventurer’s bag and presented it to the table.

“Gods, I wish you had come three days earlier,” the elderly woman, who took the note, lamented.

“Was the Quest taken care of already?” Aclysia asked.

To that, the old woman shook her head. “No, it’s just that the Incursion appeared in the middle of a field. We haven’t touched the crops there because of the monsters and a lot of it is probably going to waste now… ah, but that’s not your issue. Boy!” The elderly woman shouted over to a nearby table. “Come here!”

The ‘boy’ was a male human in his mid-teens. Farmwork from a young age had given him a tan and stringy muscles. Someone of his age could only still be called a boy in an environment that was harsh and dangerous. “Yes, gran?”

“These people are here to take care of the Incursion. Please show them the field… oh, or would you like to eat first?” The old woman smiled wryly at the visitors. “I am getting forgetful in my age, forgive the lapse in manners.”

“We prefer a swift approach to our work,” Aclysia answered.

“Mhm… ah, I guess I could have spared myself the question. You are probably looking to eat in the dungeon,” the old woman now focused on Reysha specifically. “It has been years since I saw someone with Noir.”

“Surprised you even know about it,” Reysha admitted.

“When we originally started exploring this Leaf, there were a lot of people who’d lose their comrades or venture into dungeons alone.” The old woman turned her gaze to something distant. “There was less organization back then… so there were quite a few survivors who came back with the condition… maybe…” the elderly woman shook her head and turned her attention to another grandchild, this one only three years of age, tugging at her sleeve.

“Lap?” the very young girl asked.

“Of course,” the village elder answered. “Please then, go ahead. We’ll talk more after you’ve cleared out the Incursion.”

The boy waved for the party to follow him. They walked for roughly ten minutes, before their goal became apparent to the quartet. Most of the fields were empty by now. Work had transitioned from pulling the various root crops from the ground to storing and processing them. That one field was left untouched, its vegetables rotting in the ground, made it stick out immediately.

What stuck out next was the figure that shambled around the field. It was a deformed figure, devoid of any sense in its body plan. Two giant arms were dragged along while thin legs struggled to keep up with the weight. On top of a broad, monkey-like torso sat the head of a praying mantis. All around, the creature appeared like a weird mix between monkey and insect. Not a blend, it had to be said, just a mix and matching of poorly scaled parts.

The monster did not notice them at a distance. It just walked about in small circles, occasionally tearing a carrot out of the ground and nibbling on it. “The hole it crawled out of is in the field,” the boy reported. “They only get aggressive when you get real close. There’s pro’ly more dangerous stuff down there.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Apexus stated simply, then leapt upwards. His wings beat desperately to gain the initial bit of altitude, then in a controlled rhythm to keep getting higher. Once he had gained a satisfying height, Apexus went into a dive.

There was no braking to this descent either, although he was doing something he was experienced in this time around. Crashing into the monster at speed that would have been suicidal for many other people, Apexus squashed the creature with his Ironskin covered hide. Bones cracked, flesh ripped, carapace burst open, and just like that, it was on the floor, dead. Apexus rose from the wreckage and dusted himself off.

It was a swift and simple way to take care of a monster with bad perception.

“We’ll find our way back,” Reysha told the mid-teen, then sashayed her way over to Apexus. She was about to descend on the meat when Aclysia held her back. “What?”

The metal fairy pointed over her shoulder at the young male that stayed at a respectful distance. He had a greater interest in watching this than he had in sitting with everyone at the feast. The meals happened regularly, adventurers taking care of an Incursion less so.

“They know what Noir is.” Reysha shrugged and was hesitantly let go of.

Aclysia did not like showing others this side of Reysha. The redhead not only was ambivalent about it, she did find a degree of revelry in the fact that she got to live out her abnormality in open daylight.

The cracked carapace of the legs made for the quickest access to fresh meat. Tearing the chitin plate of the thigh wide open, Reysha revealed purplish meat within. Her iron dagger had difficulty cutting the meat, densely enriched by magic as it was. She decided to put the inefficient weapon aside. She dropped the pretense. Apexus grabbed the torso of the corpse, she ripped at the legs, until muscle, cartilage and sinew snapped one after the other.

After that, the animalistic feast truly began. Reysha nearly choked on her first bite, so intense was her need for the magical meat. Blood and fat filled her mouth with a rich taste. Mad giggles rose in her throat, a purring of another variety, while she devoured her first delicious meal in days.

The boy’s fascination stopped soon thereafter. Blood and guts were things he was used to, living out in a farm, but they weren’t interesting to look at. He returned to the village and left the party to their dirty work.

“By guild estimation, Incursions in the Chimerion Influence Zone are level 15,” Aclysia reminded. “At our estimated level of 21 average, this should be a simple affair. Please do not underestimate our opponents, however.”

“The only simple part here is my lack of proper weaponry,” Reysha complained and picked up her dagger. “Only weapon I still have and it's not even cutting right.”

During their journey, Reysha had either lost, broken or needed to sell the various weapons they had accrued over time. The dagger was indeed the last she had. Korith’s plate armour also was quite damaged, but it was still serviceable. Her hammer was the kind of weapon that scarcely needed maintenance.

“We will put the money from this Quest to good use,” Apexus said, then lead them all up to the hole.

It was a diagonal, almost vertical shaft. The walls were reinforced by a web of some kind of chitinous substance, preventing the whole thing from collapsing in on itself. Apexus leapt down first, his eyes swiftly adjusting to the twilight.

After the initial drop, the Incursion revealed itself to be a simple tunnel. It continued on for two dozen metres. Its width left much to be desired for a party with three melee combatants. Two enemies half-monkey, half-praying mantis shambled around like their above ground kin had done.

“Aclysia,” Apexus offered to the metal fairy.

“Are you certain, darling?” the angel asked. She preferred to keep her mana reserves topped up in case she needed to heal.

“It’ll work best if we take them out from a distance. I don’t want to be surprised by enemies hiding in the walls.”

“I see the wisdom in that,” Aclysia answered, then took a deep breath.

Invisible at first, then manifesting as blinding, solar light, the magical energy of the angel channelled into a swirl that soon took the shape of a lance. Each passing second saw the energy construct grow longer. Light continued to swirl around the iridescent core. The brightness alerted the closer of the two chimeras. Too late – the Solar Lance was launched by Aclysia. Her throwing arm was weak, but that hardly mattered. All the gesture provided to the spell was the direction of its launch. All acceleration past that point was supernatural.

The devastating spell ripped clean through the first chimera and continued on, cutting into the shoulder of the second before stopping. A split second after the spell’s momentum had ended, the remaining energies within the concentrated, deliberately unstable spellwork burst apart into a wave of divine energies.

“Exemplary,” Apexus complimented the metal fairy.

“Yeah, that was impressive, bubble bu-“ Reysha’s addition was interrupted by the screeching arrival of a third chimera. As Apexus had guessed, it had hidden in the wall and came out, gorilla arms swinging. Confused, it only hit the wall of the corridor. An opportunity for an attack that Korith took full advantage of.

The kobold sailed through the corridor. Hammer raised, her explosive leap found its endpoint with the flat of her weapon smacking into the head of the monster. One loud ‘CRACK!’ and the insectoid top of the creature was turned into purple pulp.

“That it?” Reysha wondered.

“Uhm, nope, there’s another hole at the end of the corridor,” Korith announced.

“The majority of Incursions have a mini boss,” Aclysia said.

“Mini boss? The fuck is that supposed to mean, is it going to be tiny?” Reysha asked, more amused than anything. “Can I fit it in my pocket?”

“The terminology of the Adventurer’s Guild is widespread and therefore useful!” Aclysia’s pitch rose slightly, reflecting her embarrassment.

“Relax, bubble butt, I’m making fun of the word, not you.”

“It is difficult to tell with you sometimes.”

“I know, I know – now can we murder this mini boss so I can clean myself and then have my insides rearranged? Fuck, eating makes me horny!”

“You mean like breathing makes you horny?” Korith asked.

Without missing a beat, Reysha responded, “Yes! Murder!”

The redhead broke out into a sprint and leapt down the hole. The rest of the party followed as quickly as possible.

They dropped into a den of some kind. Its inhabitant was immediately upon them: a massive bear with the arms of a praying mantis coming out on the top of its shoulder blades. Parts of the fur had been replaced by black chitin.

For as swift as the bear moved, it still was hopelessly outclassed. Reysha suppressed her presence, then moved at increased speed. The mini boss was confused, especially when Apexus and Korith landed on top of it in short order.

The humanoid chimera wrapped his arms around the dungeon chimera’s neck. Arms of a praying mantis tried to tilt to pry him off but even this animal had the weak spot of the back. The monster just could not turn its additional arms enough to grapple the male that now had its windpipe in a tight embrace.

Thrashing would have followed, had it not been for the concussive impact of Korith’s hammer. The two-handed weapon smashed straight into the forehead of the monster.

From there, it was a struggle for execution. Apexus’ feet managed to connect to the ground. Evolved, liquid muscle fibres tensed up, boosted by the deliberate flooding of ki into the stressed fibres. The bear creature thought itself the biggest, strongest thing in the room and tried to break out the straightforward way. It was wrong.

Reysha and Korith went for the exposed gut. With demon claws and hammer strikes, the creature was slaughtered. It was a struggle, but a one-sided one. In the end, the chimera collapsed to the ground.

“Alright, where’s the loot?” Reysha asked.

Aclysia, having actually listened when they had informed themselves about Incursions, went to the centre of the den and unearthed a chitinous lid. Now that the boss had been slain, it loosened and she lifted it to reveal a simple gemstone. “Incursions on this Leaf provide Mana Gems, there is no specific loot. We have to visit proper dungeons to be blessed with those boons.”

“Bah… are they worth something at least?”

“They are highly sought after by craftsmen,” Aclysia answered. “They make for good batteries and conductors in complex magical items.”

“What will happen to this cave?” Apexus asked.

Aclysia had the answer to that as well. “It will refill itself with fresh dirt over the course of three to seven days.”

“Neat! So… uhm…. Let’s go back for the free food?”

“Feel free to go ahead.” Apexus’ form began to spread out, enveloping the bear corpse in its majority. He left a leg for Reysha to munch on. “We are going to eat our fill here.”