Chapter 142: Dealing with the Quest

Words : 1301 Updated : Oct 8th, 2025

The wind was still as the stars overhead blinked into a cloudless night. The heat sensors beeped quietly from the perimeter, casting soft red light onto the barricades the team had hurriedly constructed. The JLTVs were parked in a defensive crescent facing the basin, mounted spotlights sweeping across the melted terrain. Inigo stood on a rock outcropping just above the camp, binoculars in hand, watching the treeline where the last tunnel had emerged. "Anything?" Lyra’s voice came softly over the comms. "Nothing moving. But the sensors are twitchy," he replied. She exhaled. "I don’t like this silence. Not after what we saw earlier." "Same. Stay sharp." Back at the camp, Sark was adjusting the motion detectors wired to claymores, while Brenna loaded mags at the back of the JLTV, humming low to herself. Hal stirred a small pot over a field burner, muttering, "If we’re gonna get jumped, I’m not dying hungry." Feron sat beside him, flipping through his enchanted notepad, pages covered in rune symbols and elemental profiles. "This environment’s unstable," he muttered. "It’s not just that the creatures are foreign. The land itself—leylines, soil composition—it’s being warped." "Warped how?" Brenna asked. "Warped like something is trying to shape it. Like... colonization." Inigo returned to camp at that moment, catching the tail end of the discussion. "You think these burrowers are part of something larger?" Feron looked up grimly. "I think they’re just the beginning." Before Inigo could reply, a sharp ping echoed from the northern seismic detector. Sark snapped to attention. "Movement. North slope. Four hundred meters." The team jumped into position. Inigo slid behind the mounted M240 on the JLTV and adjusted the scope. "Lyra, can you get a visual?" "Working on it," her voice came. "High ground’s clear—wait... I see movement. Confirmed! One large, same signature as the previous one. Two smaller entities following behind." Inigo frowned. "Smaller? Juveniles?" "Possibly. They’re fast. Heading straight for us." "Meryl, prep a launcher. Sark, get the second M240 up. Feron, I want anti-burrow wards cast around the vehicles—double layer." They moved like a well-oiled machine, boots crunching softly over gravel as they prepared for contact. A low tremor began to ripple beneath them—subtle but rising. The same telltale vibration as before. Brenna readied her shotgun, eyes sharp. "Here we go again." Moments later, the ground erupted twenty meters from the front barricade. The larger creature burst forth in a hiss of molten vapor, chitinous armor glowing red-hot in places. This one was even more massive than the first—longer, bulkier, its mandibles sharper. Behind it, two smaller versions emerged, each about the size of a horse, skittering and shrieking in high-pitched tones. "Incoming!" Inigo shouted. The heavy machine gun roared to life, spitting a stream of 7.62mm rounds that sparked off the lead creature’s armor. Sark opened up from the second mount, walking fire across one of the juveniles. Meryl lobbed a fragmentation grenade that burst midair, showering the beasts in shrapnel. Lyra, perched on a bluff, drew back an arrow tipped with a new alchemical explosive—a mix of frost and concussive reagents. She loosed. It struck the adult square in the upper thorax, detonating with a muffled whomp. Frost spidered across the plate, slowing its advance. "Now, Brenna!" Inigo called. She rolled forward and fired point-blank at the frost-covered plate. The slug shattered the armor, exposing molten flesh beneath. Meryl stepped up with a grenade launcher and fired again. The creature roared, buckled—and finally fell. But the juveniles were already closing in. "Get those bastards off the JLTV!" Hal shouted, blasting one off the vehicle’s side with a mag dump from his P90. The second juvenile leapt onto Sark’s position. He tackled it backward, smashing his warhammer into its side. The blow cracked carapace and sent the thing flailing. Feron completed a glyph and slammed his palm to the ground—an arcing rune barrier erupted in a semicircle, trapping both juveniles inside. "They’re contained—briefly!" Inigo didn’t waste the moment. He grabbed his RPG, took aim through the shimmer of the barrier, and fired. The blast detonated dead center between the creatures. One disintegrated instantly. The other was flung against the barrier, broken and twitching. Silence fell again—except for the sizzling of flesh and the low moan of wind over the pass. Inigo lowered the launcher. "Status?" "One juvenile still twitching," Brenna called, cocking her shotgun. "Let’s not take chances," Inigo said. Bang. It stopped twitching. Sark wiped blood from his face. "Second wave already. They’re testing us." Lyra returned to camp, breathing heavily. "I saw more movement further north. Two separate tunnel mouths. They’re digging in. Establishing a network." Feron looked pale. "That confirms it. This isn’t random. This is territorial expansion." Inigo nodded. "Then we’re drawing the front line here." — Morning broke like a blade through smoke. The team barely slept, taking shifts through the night. More tremors had come—but no surface activity. It was only a matter of time. Inigo stared at the reinforced edge of the camp. A few mana lanterns still flickered. Spent casings littered the perimeter. Thorne’s voice came through the radio. "Update received. Guild forces are en route with heavy ordinance. ETA: 16 hours. You are to maintain perimeter integrity and collect as much biological data as possible." "Understood," Inigo replied. "We’ll hold." He turned to the squad. "Alright. We need to go deeper. If they’re building tunnels, we need to map them. Sark, Brenna, and I will lead the recon. Feron, set up ward anchors along the edge. Meryl, Hal—secure the JLTVs and prep fallback positions. Lyra—you’re with us for overwatch." "Going underground?" she asked, not thrilled. Inigo smirked. "Figured you’d want the high ground in hell, too." She sighed. "You know me too well." — The tunnels were worse than expected. They were slick with condensation, their walls scorched and half-melted. The smell was sulfur and decay. Inigo’s boots squelched with every step, rifle raised, flashlight cutting through the gloom. They marked the walls as they went—spray paint and glowing rune tags. "I’m picking up low-level mana fluctuations," Feron’s voice crackled over radio. "There’s a pulse—something generating consistent heat below you." They reached a cavern opening thirty meters down. Inside, they found an egg. Massive. Pulsing. Hissing steam from its seams. "Inigo," Sark said slowly. "That looks like a nest." Brenna scanned the chamber. "Multiple heat signatures. They’re dormant. For now." "We tag the location, set charges, and pull out. Thorne needs this on record." Lyra climbed to a rocky perch above. "Wait... Something’s waking up." The egg shifted. Then cracked. A high-pitched scream tore through the chamber as a creature unlike the others emerged—sleeker, sharper, its plates dark obsidian with glowing red veins. It stared at them. And charged. "MOVE!" They ran. The tunnel shook behind them as the thing gave chase. Inigo tossed a flashbang behind his shoulder, blinding the creature just long enough for Sark to lob a proximity mine. The explosion collapsed part of the tunnel—but it kept coming. Brenna skidded to a stop and turned. "Inigo! Now!" He yanked the last RPG off his pack, spun, and fired. It caught the creature in the throat mid-leap. The impact threw it into the cavern wall with a howl. Silence followed. This time, it held. The squad didn’t wait to check. They sprinted out of the tunnels, gasping as they burst into the daylight. "Get the charges set," Inigo barked. "We’re sealing the entrance." By the time the dust cleared and the cave collapsed behind them, they were coated in ash and sweat. Inigo dropped to one knee, catching his breath. "That thing... it was a queen." Feron’s voice came through the radio, soft but certain. "And where there’s a queen—there’s a colony." Inigo looked to the ridge, to the horizon beyond. The war had just begun.

Chapter 142: Dealing with the Quest

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