Chapter 279: Rock Climbers (Patreon)

A trio of explorers made a temporary camp beneath the edifice of another enormous column that connected the Underlayer’s surface with its ceiling. At a glance, Coop could tell they were experienced and determined. Though they were in an unfamiliar place, they didn’t seem lost.

They rested around their crackling fire, made in more traditional ways that didn’t require magic, using materials provided by themselves. The orange glow from the small flames made the campfire seem hospitable, especially compared to the mysterious and directionless illumination that engulfed the underground tunnels. Coop was attracted like a moth to a flame.

Dangling ropes, anchored into the rock, were coiled all the way to the floor, originating from an impossible distance beyond the mana clouds at the top. Carabiners clicked together, tethered to the extensive chords after being disconnected from the climbers. Each of the three strangers wore bright red helmets and harnesses that clipped around their shoulders and chests. They even carried bags of chalk among their packs while wearing special flexible shoes. If Coop didn’t know any better, he would have thought he stumbled upon a small rock climbing club that was testing new routes.

Coop was no detective, but he could tell they had made it down the ridiculous rock wall through regular physical efforts. Spelunking what could have been a thousand miles into the depths of the Earth was pretty absurd. Then again, the ragtag citizens of Neon Park had stumbled their way down, hammering boards and summoning jutting platforms as they went. Coop had to recalibrate what was realistically accomplished by people. The limits of human capability had changed.

As they recuperated from what must have been a tremendous climb, an ethereal spear stabbed into the dirt, 20 yards opposite their small campfire, and their conversation abruptly cut off. All three stared at the weapon, more confused than surprised. Rather than witnessing its flight, as far as they could tell, it had simply appeared in the dirt, like a flagless pole that had somehow gone unnoticed until it made a sound of dirt being displaced. 

Coop figured he should just rip the band aid off when it came to introductions for the foreseeable future, so he went straight to it. His mistjump would place him close enough to say hello before they noticed his distant approach.

His sudden appearance, emerging from a wave of mists that briefly engulfed the spear caused all three to have different reactions. Before they actually recognized what he was, his aura swept across their camp.

The one in the center fell off the back of his makeshift stool, landing in the dirt with his feet up in the air after he attempted to leap backwards. The one on the left froze, like a deer in headlights, eyes wide as her mind apparently worked overtime to understand what they were experiencing. The one on the right stood up, drawing a hatchet from her waist and grimacing as if she accepted death, but was prepared to fight anyway.

Coop inspected them from left to right as he lifted the palms of both his hands toward them, doing his best to overcome their fright with a harmless greeting.

[Human (Level 145)]

[Skald Invoker (Acumen)]

[Tailwind (Vanquisher)]

[Human (Level 118)]

[Housecarl (Body)]

[Chosen of the Rendolyant Stand]

[Ward (Slayer)]

[Human (Level 123)]

[Pathfinder (Agility)]

[Nature (Dauntless)]

“Easy there.” Coop said, a wry smile appearing on his face. “No need to get too excited.“ He added, keeping his voice low and reassuring, like he was calming a group of stray cats. Unfortunately, his controlled movements were a bit too smooth, and to the frozen explorers, he seemed like a graceful predator that had already cornered its prey. They each reacted accordingly.

“The hell are you?” The Pathfinder lady with the hatchet demanded, raising it slightly higher, desperate for an explanation.

“I’m Coop.” He answered cheerily. “I was hoping you could point me toward some Primal Constructs, or at least let me know where I am.”

They all paused for a moment that seemed to stretch on. Coop smiled awkwardly, realizing he had no idea how to consciously give the right impression to overcome his presence. Trying to force it was impossible.

The man in the center jabbed his finger at Coop from where he had landed in the dirt. “That Coop? You’re that person?”

Somehow, the exclamation caused the other two to calm down a bit, and the tense silence that had started to fill the air between them was broken. The frozen Skald took her first clumsy breath, like her lungs needed to relearn the action. It seemed like Coop didn’t really need to verify his identity beyond stating his name and letting his aura provide the evidence. He felt almost as relieved as they did.

“Coop?” The Pathfinder spoke again. “What are you doing here of all places?”

“Hunting monsters.” Coop responded as if it was the same as taking an evening stroll. “Where is here?” He prompted.

She answered readily, having done the best job managing her composure in the first place. Unfortunately, the syllables that came out of her mouth in response were too foreign for Coop to make sense of, so he just absently nodded as if he understood all the v’s and g’s and r’s.

“It’s Iceland, Sir Coop.” The Skald finally said something, correctly recognizing his befuddlement even if he tried to politely suppress it.

“Iceland?” Coop repeated, surprised himself. He thought for sure this would still be Canada. That was quite a bit farther than he had assumed.

“It’s an island nation in the North Atlantic.” She added, a bit too helpfully, making him wonder what impression he was actually giving them.

Coop chuckled at himself as much as her clarification. “I know what Iceland is. I just thought the tunnel was heading more North.”

“You’ve come from the West.” The Pathfinder noted before pointing exactly 90 degrees clockwise. “That way is North.” Then she pointed the way he was going. “That way heads toward Scandinavia,” She pointed to Coop’s right. “And that should go to Britain and Ireland.” All three directions would have made his spear throw impossible, obstructed by the massive column.

“...We think.” The Skald interrupted. “We were just discussing exactly where the tunnels would lead, but we didn’t want to stray too far from our way back out.” She explained, pointing toward the ceiling.

Coop looked around in the distance and realized there wasn’t even a hint of the walls of the Underlayer. It was as if there weren’t any barriers at all, just a ceiling and an endless expanse of dirt. He supposed it was an intersection of sorts. It was good that he had run into people, because he would have blown right through the crossroads without noticing the change.

“Dang, you’ve got a real hub here.” Coop observed before returning his attention to the trio. “Where’s your settlement? Want me to take care of the invaders?” He offered eagerly.

The two women that hadn’t ended up in the dirt exchanged a glance as if wondering how to explain, but the man on the ground answered willingly, just sitting up as if he had always intended to relax on his back among the packs of supplies with his feet facing the fire. “We don’t have one anymore. The shard blew up during the Siege Event.” He clarified.

“Ah, sorry.” Coop responded, unsure if he had inadvertently brought up some trauma. “You’re welcome to come to Ghost Reef.” He added, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder. “It’ll be the tenth settlement if you go that way. Tell ‘em Coop sent ya.”

“The tenth?” The Invoker and Pathfinder both clarified simultaneously.

“Well, I’m just getting started.” Coop gave an excuse for his apparent lack of accomplishments. Ten might not have seemed like that many, but it was half of an entire continent, though their question had been expressing surprise from the opposite direction.

They all exchanged more looks before the Skald spoke. “You uh… How much room do you have? Do you mind if we bring our friends?”

“Friends, family, pets.” Coop shrugged. “Bring your belongings too if you don’t mind carrying them down. We’ve got room as long as you’re willing to help out once you get settled in.” Coop flipped his hand as he quickly made some estimates. “Probably take a week to walk it.”

The Pathfinder stared at him skeptically. “Help out how?”

“Keep the settlement safe, keep getting levels.” Coop answered. “You know, the usual stuff to survive the apocalypse.”

The Skald looked confused. “Don’t you pretty much have safety covered?”

“For now.” Coop stated before sighing as he figured he should explain more. “Alright, you’ll probably want to sit down for this.” He stated as he resummoned his spear to his hand for something to lean on while he stood on the opposite side of their fire. “So believe it or not, the Primal Constructs aren’t really the main threat in this whole thing. You see, there’s something called the Eradication Protocol…”

Coop gave them the rundown, answering any questions they had to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, a lot of the information was speculative, but they were quickly on the same page as he was, at least as far as his knowledge was concerned. If they believed it was obviously another story.

“Whether or not this scenario is real, you and your people genuinely treating it as if it is a threat means that Ghost Reef is the safest place on the planet.” The Skald observed. “We’d be fools not to take up your offer, regardless if you are confused or not.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Coop added, essentially agreeing with her, even if she was suggesting he might be nuts. He tapped his spear into the ground as he moved on. “Okay, I’ll leave you to your own decisions, but before I go, which way do you think has the nearest settlement.”

“That way, south.” The Pathfinder pointed. “Glenveagh is in the north of Ireland.” She stated with confidence, indicating a direction that would have Coop taking his first obvious turn on his journey through the underground. He nodded for a moment as he confirmed the route.

“Well, it was nice to meet you all. I hope I see you again.” Coop bade farewell to the trio of explorers, keeping his eyes on the path forward. Glenveagh had been a settlement that rose in the ranks after subordinate settlements became a factor for upgrading the shards. He was vaguely excited to see how big it was.

He left them behind, coming and going like a whirlwind, satisfied to have offered his help, even if it had delayed him by a few minutes. As he mistjumped away, they were carving a giant compass into their pillar, clearly demarcating which path aimed toward Ghost Reef while they prepared to climb back to the surface. It seemed as though it had taken multiple days to reach the Underlayer, so they were in for a long series of climbs. Hopefully, their recommendation would wind up saving him some time even if his had sent them on a bit of a quest.

Coop quickly fell back into the routine of mistjumping through the desolate dirt plains, expecting the solitude to last a bit. His ethereal spear, blasting through the stagnant air, was the only excitement most of the regions had ever seen. The more time he spent traversing the underground, the better he was able to gauge distances, but the more he compared it with the surface, the less he understood.

How had he ended up below Iceland? He was ready to conclude it would be impossible for him to decipher anything about the surface by studying the Underlayer, especially because his own knowledge of the globe wasn’t perfect. The gaps between settlements seemed to vary in ways that were independent of the relative distances on the surface.

While he waited for the spear to travel beyond the horizon, he shook his head at the thought that he had reached what had always seemed like such a remote place. Iceland was way too far, even if the leg after leaving Neon Park had been long compared to any of the others.

It didn’t take him nearly as much time to discover another army of Primal Constructs. The tunnel south from Iceland had led him to another settlement that appeared to have a population comparable to Toronto. He counted 14 Field Bosses with each fort protected by three or four each. A bit disappointing, actually.

Coop teleported straight above the first control point, opening up with a quick cast of Inheritance of the Mists, intent on making up for the time spent talking. As time slowed, the invaders hadn’t noticed his presence in the slightest. The Apparition of the Cruel Impaler empowered his downward spear throw, and the ethereal weapon took on a bloody countenance, streaming darkness from its shaft as it sped toward the ground. The dark, sanguine mana formed an enormous banner as it drifted in the Underlayer, longest at the top.

When the spear struck the dirt, dead center in the middle of the control point, it implanted itself like a heavy stake, vibrating with the abrupt stop. An instant later, spikes erupted from the ground, all across the inside of the metallic fortress and even partially beyond its walls, tall enough to have been carved from entire trees after the branches were removed.

Each barbed pike impaled a Primal Construct from below, lifting them into the air as they were destroyed, momentarily transforming the plains into a horror show of effigies. It was a graveyard of the manifestations.

As the possession lifted, Coop returned his ethereal spear to his hand and landed within the billowing mana smoke with a muffled thump. The completely cleared control point immediately started changing color. He didn’t stay to capture the objective, instead throwing his spear into the next stronghold to start his own personal grind.

The time required for him to destroy the alien conquerors had shrunk massively. Even without tapping into Inheritance, he was fast. He cleared all three of the other control points in record time, activating Legacy of the Mists liberally, in place of empowering himself. The army of ghosts that streamed in and out of existence made short work of the invaders, though the way they supernaturally appeared and disappeared made it seem less like the aliens were engaging in battle and more like they were being cursed.

As Coop waited for the first control point to transfer ownership, he carved a line chart into the dirt. Starting with Ghost Reef, it listed each settlement he had cleared. The list concluded after he checked the leaderboard and determined that this settlement was Loch Bridge, which had a clean 294,000 point total.

Apparently, the Icelandic explorers had been mistaken as to which settlement Coop would find first, though their guess had been better than his. As long as he was finding enemies, he didn’t really care. Maybe this was Scotland, then? That was pretty close, geographically speaking, probably.

After all four control points were captured, Coop mistjumped a dozen times before spotting another gathering of Primal Constructs to his right. He assumed that was west, but accepted that he could be easily confused.

Compared to Loch Bridge, the second European settlement was even smaller. 120,000 Elite Primal Constructs and 6 Field Bosses fell to the ethereal weapons of Coop’s arsenal.

As it turned out, the second settlement was Glenveagh, despite evidently having roughly half the human population of the already relatively small Scottish settlement. Coop was both surprised and impressed that a smaller settlement had so successfully climbed into the top ranks of the leaderboards. Given their apparently smaller population, he supposed they must have a significant number of animal residents who didn’t contribute to the count as it pertained to the Primal Construct allotment, but embarrassingly, Coop had no idea what kind of wildlife even lived in Ireland.

“Maybe foxes? Badgers?” Coop muttered as he drew in the dirt with his spear. “Pretty sure they don’t have any snakes…” 

On top of their mysteriously small human population, they had to also have at least one subordinate settlement in order to advance through the ranks. Could it have been Loch Bridge even though it was larger? Coop was feeling curious as he captured the control points and prepared to continue his journey.