NOVEL FROG 18: Blood and Honey
Kai squinted through layers of sticky amber threads blocking his passage through the tunnel. His eyes pierced the dim light and landed upon a golden honeycomb structure, but it was not the only new thing about this particular tunnel.
Beneath him, all along the tunnel was a crystallised river of prehistoric amber. He ambled down the passage, noticing a plethora of dead — or perfectly preserved creatures within the amber, some Ooze hounds and even two humans. He clutched his chest as his heart thumped. Did those poor bastards start here, does that mean the exit is close? Kai suspected the tunnel was some kind of food trap — or defence, protecting something, which just made him want to explore that way more.
He was halfway down the passage when countless eyes lit up the darkness. The hair on his arms rose as buzzing howls echoed in the tunnel. Black and yellow Umbra hounds slipped through the sticky strands unimpeded, like shadows. Hordes of the six-legged monstrosities pounded over the ice-like amber ground, threatening to flatten him as they thundered toward him like fanged cavalry. His heart fluttered as adrenaline stormed his senses.
No more retreating, he thought, as he flowed into his combat stance.
Kura’s hunger swelled and she searched his mind for the most dangerous creature she could find. Within his mind Kura morphed from a treasure chest into a golden dragon and roared defiantly at the Umbra hounds.
Consume. Devour!
Kai grinned and rushed forward with the confidence of an unstoppable river behind him.
He clashed with the Umbra hounds in a maelstrom of swirling violence. Shadow clawed skin and palms exploded fur. Kai ducked snapping jaws while his palms crunched into the underside of maws before yellow teeth could sink into his neck. Heads crunched as they burst upwards.
Kai grimaced when they kept coming and coming. Despite his aura trait advancements, the glinting claws of multiple awakened beasts proved problematic in a tunnel adorned with sticky golden threads, he had to move carefully, while the Umbra hounds seemed to just phase through the threads. He was grateful only two or three at time could reach him in the narrow space.
Inhaling sharply, he briefly hesitated before whirling all nearby strands onto himself. His aura undulated and rippled as he decreased the weight of everything touching him and adopted a wide stance. He rebuffed any attacker that tried to circle behind him, fearful that he would be unable to fight more than three at a time at most. His eyes darted as he dodged and pivoted. Water Slaps broke against jaws and sensitive bellies like tides smashing rocks.
Despite the dangerous situation, he grinned. Flesh rippled and teeth flew as he slammed Ooze hounds into walls and the amber floor with crunches and splats. They retched up ropes of thick ooze in an attempt to entomb him. The thick golden ooze splattered across his heinously dirty and ragged clothes.
It was unnoticeable at first thanks to his aura, but gradually his movements slowed, and his aura drained. His sweat became trapped under layers of ooze and his muscles burned like an overheated engine sputtering and about to die. The shadowy Umbra hounds began to surround him. Dark claws sliced through his shirt and raked through his charcoal Hotplates and into his chest flesh. Kai roared, but pushed through the pain thanks to his Neural Regeneration trait, it allowed him to function despite the pain, but he still felt it.
He realised almost too late how cocky he’d been and gradually retreated while dispatching the last of the seemingly endless swarm. By the time the fight was over, claw marks and bloody gashes covered him from head to foot along with the constant burning sensation that raked across his swollen skin. Mangled corpses lay strewn around him in trailing circles of death. The smell of burnt sugar, wet fur, and blood assaulted his nostrils.
Kai dry heaved as his body convulsed. He tried to throw up. But nothing came out.
Ignoring his notifications for a moment. Kai used a healing crystal then took his shredded shirt and pants off, using his shirt as a mop to clean the layers of ooze off himself. He twisted the material, watching bloody ooze glop to the floor as he dry heaved again. After wiping his mouth he wondered if this didn’t happen in heroic stories, or if they just skipped it in the telling.