Chapter 87 - Everyone Loves…

  We pressed on through the chamber, everyone as alert as we could be. None of us wanted to get close to the fungi which seemed to be growing from every wall and most of the floor, but oddly enough the stuff didn’t seem to grow as well in the spaces between the stalagmites. Maybe it was the water dripping down from above which helped them grow, or perhaps it was just magic being weird again. Whichever the case, we had a relatively clear if winding path through the mess.

  I lifted off, flying with my feet just above head height. That made me the most obvious target for anything that wanted to test our strength, which was my preference. If we were going to get hit, I was the best prepared to survive whatever it was. The height also gave me a vantage point from which I could see a good distance around us, which I hoped would give us early warning against further attacks.

  But nothing came at us as we progressed through the cave. We kept moving forward, but no new creatures jumped out at us. I wasn’t sure whether I ought to be disappointed or not. After all, the main reason we were down there was to pick up more white crystals, which meant we needed to fight monsters. If the creatures weren’t cooperating, it was going to be tough to accomplish the mission.

  I had a hunch things weren’t going to remain so quiet for very long, though.

  Up ahead, something changed. I called out to the rest of the team below me. “I see the far wall, guys. Looks like the cavern ends up ahead.”

  “Is there a way to press on?” Alex asked. As he spoke, he activated his Flight power to join me in the air.

  “Can’t see for sure, but I think so. See that little stream over there?” I asked. Alex nodded. “Well, it vanishes around that clump of rock and fungi. I’m thinking it has to go somewhere.”

  “We’ll check it out. I want everyone to stick together, though,” Alex said, descending back to the floor.

  I continued hovering as we approached the place where the stream vanished, but it turned out my guess was spot on. The stream was small, barely enough to call it that. It gathered the runoff from several nearby stalagmites into a single channel. There was no way to tell how long the little rivulets of water had been running, but they’d carved a trench several inches deep into the rock.

  That channel led around a jumble of fallen rocks, past more fungal growths, and then down another passage, leading away from the cavern into darkness. I peered in as we approached, my NightVision letting me penetrate the gloom.

  “The passage goes down at a slight angle, maybe five to ten degrees,” I said. “The walls are rough rock, same as in here, but I don’t see many fungi down there. A few toadstools here and there, but nothing luminous.”

  Most of the party still had glow sticks attached to their weapons, so that wasn’t as critical an issue as it might have been. We made good time the rest of the way to the new passage, giving me a feeling I wasn’t the only one who’d be glad to put this room behind me. These mushroom type monsters were hard to fight. Heck, I’d be happiest when we all got clear of the dungeon, not just one room of it.

  “What’s that?” Anderson asked, pointing.

  We all looked. There, off to our right a bit, was a massive wooden trunk, like the sort of thing they used to call a ‘steamer’ trunk. It was big, heavy-looking, with wet streaks across the wood surface where green mold and moss grew.

  Most curious, though, was how the chest was rooted into the wall of the cavern. Only about two thirds of it were visible. The rest looked like the wall had grown out around it, enveloping the right hand side of the chest and some of the back.

  “A treasure chest, maybe?” Kelly said. “Dungeons have treasure, right?”

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  “Dungeons also have traps,” Alex snapped. “I suspect that’s one of them. Let’s not fall for it, hey?”

  “What makes you think it’s a trap, boss?” Kelly went on. I could tell he wasn’t happy with that answer. “Could be some good loot in there. We’ve all played these sorts of games, right? You said yourself that magic was twisting itself to match our expectations. Maybe this is part of that?”

  Alex closed his eyes a moment before speaking. I kept my mouth shut, because I already agreed with Alex. The real treasures this place had to offer would be crystals, and the only place we’d seen them come from were dead monsters. I didn’t think it was likely we’d find more magic stones lying around in a box. Maybe it was full of gold, like in a game, but we couldn’t exactly eat that, and it wasn’t going to make us stronger.

  “If the dungeon lets us come back on another attempt, we can check out any chests we see,” Alex said at last. “But we’re not stopping for them right now. We’re on a specific mission. Let’s get that done, and worry about anything else after. Cameron, can you lead the way down into the passage?”

  “Of course,” I said, landing on the ground beside him. I stepped out, marching toward the new tunnel.

  It wound down and a little to the left, burrowing into the cavern floor. It was similar to the first passage we’d found in size, but roughly hewn instead of smooth. I was going to have to walk, and since there was about an inch of water on the tunnel floor, I was extra glad I still wore my good boots.

  My foot slid on the slimy bottom of the stream. I called back to the others to warn them. “Watch your step. Slippery here.”

  Then I pushed on, moving deeper into the passage. Because of the curve, I could only see a few dozen feet ahead of me. Anything could be down there. I kept all my senses on full alert, watching for anything that might be a threat. I heard the rest of the party filing into the passage behind me, each footfall making a small splash.

  “Oh, shit!” The shout was loud, from somewhere behind me. Was that Kelly?

  The two words were followed by a shrill scream, cut off abruptly.

  I whirled in place, turning back the way I’d come, but the passage above me was full of people. Alex was next in line, Dara right behind him, with Ruiz and Marion right behind her. I could barely even see past them to the cavern we’d left behind, let alone figure out what was happening back there. Who were we missing? Johnson, Clark, Kelly, Rodriguez, and Anderson were still topside.

  The scream had stopped, but the yelling hadn’t. There were a lot of people shouting up there. Ruiz, bringing up the rear, had already turned around and was rushing his way back up the passage toward the cavern.

  “Let’s go!” I called out. Too many people in the way, moving too damned slow! I needed to get out there and help. With a quick burst of Will I activated my Flight, taking to the air. I soared to the top of the passage, which was barely a few feet above the heads of the others. There was just enough space there for me to zoom past them all, rushing up and out.

  Then I was out, back in the open air of the larger cave, looking around for the threat. At first I couldn’t see one, but our people were gathered around some object up near the cave wall. It lay on the floor, a wriggling oval shape that lashed back and forth like it was trying to get to our people.

  “Get clear! I’ll blast the thing with lightning!” I called out.

  But Clark waved me back. “Stop! That’s Kelly! The thing wrapped him up!”

  “What?” I dropped down so I could get closer. Sure enough, once I was near enough to see better, I could tell that the grey mass on the cavern floor was like a cocoon made up of long, sticky strands which had shot out from the chest in the wall.

  Kelly must have opened the thing, and then those tendrils whipped out and wrapped him up. He was still wriggling about, so he was alive, but I doubted he could breathe in there. We needed to get him out, fast.

  I reached down and grasped hold of the strands nearest to where I guessed his head would be, but as soon as I touched them my skin burned. A hissing sound reached my ears, then a crackling noise, and the pain ramped up rapidly. I yelped and tried to withdraw my hands, but they were stuck fast.

  The burning intensified. I gasped as the pain shot up, increasing by the second. Holy shit, this stuff hurt! I’d taken some bad injuries since all this started, but the pain from this creature was worse than most of them. I couldn’t let go, either. No matter how I opened my hands, the palms were stuck fast.

  Ruiz came in with a knife, ready to help, but he reached out with his other hand like he was going to lay it on the cocoon.

  “Stop!” I warned him through gritted teeth. “It’s sticky. Touch it and you can’t let go.

  “Damn. You okay, man?” Ruiz asked me. He must have heard the pain in my voice.

  “Nope. Acid or something in the tendrils. Burns like hell.” I looked down, where Kelly’s thrashing was beginning to slow. “We don’t get him out of there fast, there’s not going to be anything left of him to heal.”

  Or me, for that matter. I wasn’t sure if Regeneration would replace my hands if they were burned off by monster acid, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way!