Chapter 40: Chapter 30: Showdown in the Cave!

Showdown in the Cave!

Miriam moved to the rocks that fell from above, and picked six that were big enough thanks to the light that came from her eyes, while thinking about the pattern for her Silent Stone

‘Ia, Chisel, Scratch, Inscribe, From Memory’ she touched the rock with a claw ‘Stone Engrave!’ and was pleased to see it roughly appearing on the stone ‘Good… five more to go~’

She had no trouble with the stones, or the magic cost for the engraving, and quickly made the box on her back again, storing five of them inside it, while keeping one on her hand, as the vibrations became stronger to her

‘He is getting closer… let’s see how these actually work, from the inside that noise. Ia, Imbue…!’ as the stone was draining her magic, she could feel how the shape of the tunnels she could “Hear” around her, became blurred and shrunk ‘Hmm…’

The sound wasn't completely nullified, but she had no time to think about how to improve the design

‘No pain~ time to hunt~’ because it was good enough at the moment

At that moment the vibrations intensified, and she took another carved stone on her hand, to be ready to Imbue it

‘I wonder how much of a mess I can-!’

BOOM!!!

‘Ah!’ she could hear and felt the shockwaves of the explosion, as she saw more rocks fall from the ceiling ‘Move!!!’ trying to avoid them

/////

The enormous red and gold bat was learning the shape of the cavern and its tunnels, as it flew closer. Landing on the shore of the lake that was close to the entrance, near the white line last location, before dashing between the trees to the entrance

Silently opening its huge mouth while a sharp chunk of ice was growing between its sharp incisors, and he aimed it to the darkness

BOOM!!!

Firing the projectile and destroying the entrance, causing the whole cliff and hill to shake and collapse on certain parts. Covering him on dust coming out of the cave, while seeing the name of everything he had killed with that attack, not paying attention to the rustling trees

SCREEEEECH!!!

But nothing matched with what a white line should be, and used the red claws on his wings to destroy the source of the dissonant lack of sound next to him

A carved stone that was thrown at him with the explosion

He could detect another one of those inside the hill, but it was too deep to aim at the time, and when the black ball got out of the water, on the other side of the lake, he aimed another projectile at it, making the Fell Destroyer freeze with fear

Screech?!!!

At the same time the second dissonant spot started to move, making him turn to it, and firing the projectile at the lake. Making the ground tremble and causing an enormous tower of water, once it exploded on the bottom of the lake

SCREEEEECH!!!

The Ruler dashed to the water and took fly, aiming to another entrance nearby that connected to the same tunnels

Knowing that the lack of sound and the white line were related somehow…

/////

Miriam looked at the collapsed tunnel next to her, while rubbing the spot where a rock hit her body

‘Ow…’ it was painful, but not in a way she felt the need to heal herself ‘At least it just blocked one of the sides…’ the rest of the tunnel was in a rough shape, to both her illuminating eyes, and to the vibrations she was feeling. But even if only one big stone had fallen in that direction, she didn’t wanted to remain still ‘Ugh… I hope that I can eat soon…’

With that though she started to move, doing her best to make a mental map with the dulled vibrations around her. Helped by a sudden loud explosion far below her

‘What was that…? Hmm… there should be… another bigger tunnel down and to the right of this one…? It’s either that, or an open chamber…’ as she moved, Miriam took a moment to see the walls ‘I don’t know enough, to tell if this is a natural tunnel… or if a creature made it…’

The Silent Stone was helpful to make sure the noise wasn't hurting her, but she was sure that it was hiding the sounds of anything nearby

‘Ah!?’ like the black, eight legged, chitinous things, that reflected the light coming from her eyes the moment she took a turn on the tunnel

One of them was looking on her direction, and in a similar way to a Launcher, threw itself towards her after turning to aim at her

Silently passing next to her as Miriam dodged it, ignoring it, before jumping towards the other one once she realized that they weren’t spiders. Grabbing it with her mouth while she coiled around it, turning to look at the first one, as she felt the body of the thing she was attacking first, starting to crack

She saw the other one, push against the wall of the tunnel to remove the sharp horn it had, from where it had impacted on the wall, landing on four legs that it had on its “Back” that tensed immediately

‘Aaahhh!!!’ making her force the stone, that made the floor of the tunnel, into a spike to block it once it launched again

The lack of sound, while seeing the spike and the chitin of the thing break, unnerved Miriam. She still moved her body to curl around the twitching monster, to crush both of them

Ding

‘Ugh…’ even with that sound, she didn’t relaxed her body ‘By the smell, these are monsters, not looking forwards to eat them. Status’

‘Eh…? Why that fast…?’ even if she was completely dumbfounded by how fast she had gotten that level, she was still aware that the Ruler was trying to kill her, and removing the “Horn” from both monsters, Miriam kept trying to eat ‘Ugh!!!’ which was difficult, due to her upgraded senses…

The Darts had a long tubular shape, with four long, chitinous legs, above and below, even if what was “Above” in one of them wasn't clear. Unlike the Launchers that Miriam had fought before, the monsters had a sharp, flat horn between two equally flat and wide eyes, that looked to the sides of the pointed head

Miriam didn’t noticed, but between the horn and the rest of the body, there were two mouths above and below it, technically making them, two headed monsters

‘Ugh…!’ she was doing the best she could, to forget about the taste as she moved away from that place after eating

/////

It wasn't long for her to reach a point were the tunnel split, but before she got there, another explosion had shook the tunnels, nothing had fallen near her. But she was sure that one of the side tunnels she had felt crossing above her, had collapsed

‘Up or down…’ directly to the front of her, the tunnel shrank as it went up, to the point were a human would need to crawl to move on it

The other did a sharp turn in the direction she had came, but it twisted to the deeps without being connected to a previous tunnel she had felt on the way

‘Up is probably a bad-!!!’

But the choice was made for her, as something big enough for her to heard within her Stone’s effect, landed above her. And before she could fully hide on the twisting tunnel, she saw an enormous red eye glaring at her

‘Self Speed Burst!’ making her force her body to move as quickly as she could, until she saw another split on the tunnel ‘Aaahhh!!!’ and using her magic to make the stone wall close the entrance to the split she took-

BOOM!!!

‘AAAHHH!!!’

/////

It was a snake…

Just before flying to that hole leading to the underground, The Ruler had destroyed another entrance to it that was too small for him to enter, he could have entered the first one, but it quickly became too small, so it didn’t matter that he had destroyed it while enraged

And this third entrance was even smaller, but it was where he had seen the creature that had troubled him

A white snake…

He took fly again, the moment Miriam started to flee, carefully aiming and firing a smaller projectile. His attack didn’t connected directly on the splitting part of the tunnel-

BOOM!!!

But the explosion still caused the ground around the hole, to sink. Making the trees rustle and move quickly to avoid getting buried-

Crackle!!!

And with being annoyed a third time, they started to fling bolts of lightning to the Ruler in retaliation-

SCREEEEECH!!!

Just as the beast blocked all of those with many smaller ice projectiles. Continuing to do that, while trying to listen for the spot without sound for a few minutes, until the trees eventually stopped

Screech?!!!

But now there were two dissonant spots underground…

/////

Miriam was hurt and dazed by a hit on her head, caused by the explosion that destroyed the “Door” she tried to make. She still managed to use magic to heal her head, while the noise was paining her senses

‘Ow… ugh… I can work with this…’ but because she had less than half on her magic reserves, she choose to not heal her whole body ‘Shit! One broke…’ instead she worried because one of the carved stones she made broke, together with the “Box” she had on her back, spilling its contents ‘Where is it…?’

It was then when she realized that her Silent Stone was gone, seeing a deep crack nearby as the most likely place where it fell

‘Ia! Imbue!’ she didn’t wasted time trying to find it, and Imbued another one ‘Ow… the prick is big…’ once it was done, she could finally focus on the echoes around her ‘This one… turns almost vertical behind a corner… and ends on a cliff…? Or are they called ravines in this case?’ she stopped focusing on the path where she had tried to hide ‘This other one… full of rubble…’

Most of what she could detect of the other tunnel, had been buried by the attack, but she still could hear a way to move on it…

‘I don’t like tight fits…’

She remade the box on her back and stored the three remaining “Blanks” in it, before moving to, and on, the partially collapsed tunnel

It wasn't as tight as she feared, but her box had gotten stuck a couple of times, making progress slow. Eventually on the other side she saw another living Dart, partially buried by the rubble, which she killed and ate part of it

‘Ugh…! There is… ugh… a Spawner nearby…’ she looked around for the source of the smell, but it came from a tiny crack on the wall, and the vibrations didn’t revealed anything in that direction ‘Later, first I need to… deal with the flying prick…’

Miriam had no idea of how to “Deal” with the Ruler, but she focused on following the tunnel, now thankful that it was clear of obstacles

‘Why I couldn’t smell it before…? Um…?’ moving along the darkness, she reached a point were she was unable to understand some of the vibrations, and slowly she moved in the direction where the oddity was

Reaching a small open spot in the tunnel, with muddy water reflecting the light on her eyes. Miriam got close to the liquid, and after making sure that nothing was hiding around or in it, she drank some water

‘Not ideal, but it’s better to not waste magic trying to clean this water…’ she noticed a small crack on a nearby wall ‘The vibrations react weirdly with water… I think there is water behind this wall, and the prick is making a lot of cracks…’ once she had enough water, she retreated a bit from the mud ‘Now… is the lake behind this wall? Or is just a… natural chamber that filled because the idiot?’

To her senses, the water on the other side of the deep stone wall, was at either the same height as the puddle, or slightly above it…

‘Either way I can’t break the wall, it’s stone, I run the risk of making it fall on top of me and-!’ she suddenly realized something and moved away from the wall, deeper into the tunnel, clutching tightly the Silent Stone on her hand ‘The prick is tracking the lack of sound! If the wall goes to the lake then he can break it to kill me!’

Only one way was available to Miriam, as she could feel another distant explosion…

Down the twisting tunnel, eventually feeling the strength of the vibrations increasing slowly, as something big was moving on the edge of her perception, and getting closer

‘Oh…!’ the Ruler took all of her concentration until she reached the end of the tunnel, and suddenly she found herself staring at the darkness beyond

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The tunnel ended abruptly in an open space, a sharp cliff too deep for her light to show her the bottom, and the vibrations of the Ruler were getting closer…

‘All right’ she threw the Silent Stone forwards with all her strength, hoping that it didn’t break with the fall, ignoring the pain before grabbing an empty one ‘Imbue!’ and placing it down on the edge of the cliff…

And the last step of her plan

‘Ia Stop’

Was to stop seeing

/////

The Ruler finished destroying another small entrance, and took flight again, moving to the only entrance that he could fit, while dodging and blocking another volley of lightning coming from the trees

Landing in front of the cave, before they were done with the attack, and screamed, unable to ignore the pain, but with his regeneration, it meant that the trees couldn’t damage him fast enough, to achieve a kill before stopping, allowing him to get in

His head had the same dimensions has the Fell Destroyer, but he could hear a path that was perfect for his size, and the wings to his sides, were strong enough that the occasional scratch was healed in moments

The only thing that stopped him for a moment, was the smell of monsters and Grudge in the tunnel. Those smells had been hidden by magic, but his sharp claws had destroyed the engravings on the mouth of a side tunnel, releasing it

Screech?

For many reasons, unlike the other forest’s creatures, the Rulers were immune to the pressure that came from the trees, so he wasn't going to go out of his way to kill monsters

But the foul nature of the Undead almost made him turn around… almost

Screech!!!

Only his pride made him keep on with his rampage…

Moving quickly, ignoring the sounds of anything that got too close, killing them either willingly or accidentally. It didn’t matter to him, he was just moving to the wide empty area that was echoing further down

Big enough for him to take fly, and where he could feel two empty spots

Once he found the entrance to the open area, he got stuck on it for a moment, before screeching one more time and break in the cavern, and using his massive wings to fly on the absolute darkness…

Screech?

Remembering the place…

Long ago, that hollow place had been his hunting ground, using the echoes he quickly found the chamber where he was born, near the bottom of the cliff, now barely big enough for him to turn inside it…

Getting distracted, because he now understood what the weird stones on the partially flooded cavern were…

Ruins of building that were older than him, extending far on the distance of that wide place… he almost considered getting the “Helper” for information about that…

SCREEEEECH!!!

But he didn’t dwell on those memories, or in thoughts about him asking for help, instead he focused on the emptiness that was on the wall, and turned flying towards it, sure that the one on the water below, was just a decoy. Hanging to the wall near the entrance of that small tunnel-

CRACK!!!

And biting the place were the dissonant rock was, destroying it. Roaring once it was gone, gloatingly knowing that he was stronger that the thing, as he read the notifications he had been ignoring…

Screech?!!!

Not seeing anything related to a snake…

SCREEEEECH!!!

Taking flight once more with wrath, aiming a projectile to the other empty spot and firing at it. Causing an explosion that shook the whole cavern, but it didn’t kill a snake, making him fire another one near the first explosion

Followed by another, and another. Destroying indiscriminately the ruins all over the hollow area, as he flew around it, making the whole cavern tremble, causing cracks to appear everywhere he attacked, while not reading anything about a…

Snake…

SCREEEEECH!!!

He had gotten too focused on the emptiness, to pay attention to the sounds of the creatures he had been killing. In just one moment of focus, he found the snake, behind something with a conical shape in a crack near the entrance to the cavern where he was born

Roaring, the Ruler landed and hanged to the wall with the intention of killing the snake with a bite-

HIIISSS!!!

/////

‘Ia! Sound! Vibration! Volume! Potency! Echoing! Stun! Unbearable Pain! Lingering!’ Miriam inhaled behind the megaphone she had made, waiting for the Ruler to get close enough ‘AGONIZING SCREAM!!!’

HIIISSS!!!

Making the Ruler scream in pain, and drop to the darkness below, with his wing covering his head. But didn’t stopped to celebrate her victory, because she doubted that he was going to die from the fall, and got to the nearby tunnel moving towards the chamber at the end of it

At first, after Miriam threw the Silent Stone, she was planning to climb up, to the other entrance to that cliff she had felt before. But while making the decoy Stone, she noticed how that lower crack was closer, and changed her plan

Like this, if she was going to die, she was going to die fighting

‘Moving close to the stalactites!’ but she needed a place that benefited her ‘Hahaha!’ and the ceiling of the cavern was perfect for that on her mind. Miriam started to climb a natural column and flung the top of her body to the biggest stalactite she could

Just as she started to engrave it, the Ruler started to stand up, doing his best to ignore the pain that kept hammering his head, destroying more submerged ruins around him, while loose rocks fell from the ceiling

Trying to aim his wrath at the snake, to overcome the pain, but it wasn't until the accursed hissing stopped, and the appearance of a new dissonant void on the middle of the cavern where he was born-

SCREEEEECH!!!

That he could force his body to crawl to, and climb the wall, entering the tunnel at the same time that Miriam Imbued a Silent Stone

‘Ia! Volatile! Impulse! Cling! Melt! Damage! Kill!’ preparing another spell while most of her body was hidden by the stalactite, and her mouth was filling with venom…

SCREEEEECH!!!

Dropping the stone the moment the Ruler entered the cavern, causing him to lunge at the moving stone first, breaking some columns and stalagmites before destroying it with his claws, turning his head to the stalactite above-

‘TOXIC BREATH!!!’ taking the brunt of a cloud made of both Miriam’s custom venoms to the face

SCREEEEECH!!!

Feeling it destroy fur, skin, flesh, his tongue, nose, eyes and ears

Causing so much pain that he lost control of his body, thrashing on the ground hoping that the suffering could end…

‘IA! SHATTER!!!’ and releasing her aura, Miriam saw the smallest glimpse of victory, before hitting the stalactite with her claws, making it fall on top of the Ruler

/////

The change on their calculations was sudden

[Cause of Death: 0% Nameless Fell Destroyer ‘Porkus’ – 99,999% Nameless Ruler of Death ‘Screeching Idiot’ Survival Chance: 0,001%]

‘What?!’

But it had change from an absolute, to an impossible…

And on the eons the Guardian had existed, they had seem many of those happen… but… this felt different…

/////

Wherever the Ruler noticed the stalactite or nor, while it fell and Miriam let go of it, he moved, making it break, and pierce, a bone of his left wing. Increasing his pain as it got him stuck to the ground, and Miriam fell on top of his back, biting again and delivering some of her normal venom this time

Before having to jump away to avoid the claws on the other wing of the enormous bat, for some reason that eluded her at the time, she had a weird hunch of the enormous creature

‘You are scared!’ she had landed on the other side from the entrance, but she didn’t saw the need to escape from him ‘And you aren’t used to pain! You lost the moment you stopped attacking at range!’

The Ruler broke the stalactite, looking on her direction as his body tried to regenerate his face and wing, wanting to kill her the moment the pain stopped

‘I win!!! Ia! Sound! Vibration! Volume! Potency! Echoing! Lingering! This place will be your Grave!’ she couldn't make another megaphone ‘STONE SHATTERING SCREAM!!!’

HIIISSS!!!

But with the already weakened cavern, she didn’t needed to

And the Ruler noticed, after some of the pain on his head stopped, how some of the stalactites were falling on that place, partially due to the snake… but he could feel the vibrations coming from the lake…

Thundering water had started to flood the cavern…

Rumbling louder than his echolocation, together with the lingering hissing on his big ears… and… the… fear…

Ding

Made him flee

‘HAHAHA!!!’ with Miriam right behind him as everything trembled and crackled loudly

The Ruler wasn't using his own sounds to guide himself, to both him and Miriam, the water was more than loud enough for that. Miriam was also happy of not having to withstand more damage to her ears, and once she heard the bat getting out to the big open space, she removed the box from her back and started to climb the stone wall up…

‘I hope the whole lake doesn’t get down here!’ not thinking too hard about her survival… ‘It looked so pretty!’

She was still trying to escape, but was wary about moving to the same opening that the bat was taking, instead she tried to move past the crack she had used to hid and make the megaphone-

CRACK!!!

‘AH!!!’ but the shaking caused by the water made a huge chunk of the wall to fall down, almost taking her with it, making Miriam rethink her route and just climb up

Becoming more and more worried as she slowly got close to the opening

CRACK!!!

‘SHIT!!!’ just for the same thing happening again, this time between her target and her location, making her try to get closer to the wall, to avoid the falling rocks