40Lust guided them through the new path made by Shocker. He looked around as the flame of his hand illuminated their path forward.
Demi continued to grumble painfully as his hand didn't get better quick enough for his liking, "I regret nothing," he stubbornly said.
David sighed, "I regret not seeing you doing something that dumb Demi. Sometimes, I wondered if our master really reached you."
"He did. Or I would have punched when I wanted too, not when you gave me the chance," a smug was on his face.
Garn ended that little banter, "Okay. We need to focus now and not talk about who's the idiot now. We could be in their territory, or something else. That gate couldn't be put there for no reason."
Shocker suggested, "Maybe it's made because it prevented us from finding that cult."
They heard some shrieking. Everyone drew their weapons or took a fighting stance.
Maniko, for the first time since Garn met her, looked a bit nervous. Her breathing was a bit faster and her eyes quickly darted left and right. Her father put his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it in a reassuring way, "Stay calm. We don't know what it is, but it's not some kind of monsters or ghosts."
Garn used his visor to look around, "See nothing near us. Maybe it's just the echo of something, or they are far away, but we managed to hear it."
David decided, "Let's more forward," he decided.
Lust took a deep breath. He gulped and proceeded forward with the others behind them.
Chapter 30: The Hunting Game
The bounty hunters followed their guide. They didn't hear any more scary sounds for now. Everyone got their bearing together. The group reached a path that split in two. The group looked left and right.
"Any idea where it might be best to go?" David asked Lust.
"I have no idea. I don't really know where it will lead us, just like before. I don't go that often underground. I know my ways well on instinct, but not what we will find. I really hope we won't reach another dead-end."
"We do as before and we go right. If it's a dead-end, we go left," David decided.
The group took the right path and marched forward. They walked for a while. They stopped when they heard that sound again. It seemed like there was something that screeched loudly, somewhere in the cavern.
Garn looked around, his antennas pointed at different directions, "Lust. You lived underground. Are they creatures we should be warry about? Because I know nothing that's going on in here."
"Us either. I have nothing in my memory processor about the ecosystem of the underground. I was almost sure there was almost nothing than your people," Shocker commented.
"Is it a demon or a man-eating monster?" Maniko nervously asked as she grabbed the hand of her father.
Demi snickered at that sighed, "Looks like the little human is afraid of some kind of 'monsters'," he smirked a bit. His smirk disappeared when the screaming was much closer now. His muscles tensed as he raised his fist. He ignored the pain of his hand, "Okay. Not funny anymore."
Lust frowned as he tried to remember what it could be, "I didn't live underground for a long time with my people. Maybe it is a creature that lives in there. Maybe more," he sighed.
"Let's keep moving forward. It might be following us now," David declared.
The group continued forward, weapons our and ready to be used at any moment. They traversed the tunnel for a while.
Garn took his time to inspect the tunnel and couldn't help but wonder, "Is this why the gate was put here? If it is…" he said nothing else.
"I don't think my people would do something like that. We do not really use the material from the surface and they are way too many paths to block, if it was the case. The gate isn't for that," Lust declared with certainty.
They eventually reached the end of the tunnel and stopped. They reached another room with many paths they could choose. Compared to last time, they could hear things coming from different path they could pick.
Whatever was around, it felt like they were everywhere.
"Center of the room now. We need to find where they are and what to do," David ordered.
"We could go into a tunnel, but those have little space," Garn commented.
They couldn't fight as a team in those tunnels. The group drew their weapons and formed a circle.
"Can you fight Lust?" David asked.
"Of course I can. I can do more than use my power as a torch," he raised his second hand and summoned a fireball. He made it disappeared as he didn't need to use it now.
"Are they after us or not?" Shocker asked.
Garn changed his mode on his helmet and tried to find any heat signature. He found nothing for now. He frowned, "I don't know. I don't detect any heat signature so far," he glanced at the others, "They might be out of range or the underground is messing with my helmet too," he pointed his blaster at one of the tunnels.
They heard more of the high screeches once more. It was a bit farther, but more replied around them.
"I guess those things are hunting us," David pointed his blade at one of the holes.
Demi chuckled, "I'm ready to welcome them," he punched his hands together and whined a bit pitifully for a few seconds, "Forgot one hand is in bad shape."
"I suggest Garn, Lust and I stayed a bit more in the middle and used our range weapon at the start," Shocker suggested.
"And we will take care of anyone who get close to us," David nodded as he agreed to the plan.
The three stood in the middle and pointed their weapons at different tunnels. They counted them. They were eight paths the enemies could come from.
They glanced at each other's for a second, before they continued to watch the tunnels. They could hear the sound of the creatures that approached closer to them.
"They seem to come at once," Garn guessed as his antennas wiggled a bit. He aimed carefully and took a deep breath. He steadied his aim and waited.
Shocker and Lust did the same, while the others readied for anything that would come.
The native felt the ground shook a bit as whatever came was closer. He took a deep breath and prepared his fireball, "Those things are almost there," he looked at the tunnel where the first one would come. He raised his arm and threw his fireball.
A creature came out of the tunnel took a fireball in the face, before it shrieked in pain and turned back in the tunnel.
Lust looked carefully at the creature and felt like he knew what it was. It was some kind of crawling bug or something like that. It had orange exoskeleton except for the head with red flesh and sharp claws.
Garn saw some coming out of the tunnel and fired at the face. He could tell this was the spot to aim. He could see some kind of transparent blood that came out of the wounds and the thing felt down dead, "Bugs," he grunted in disgust.
Shocker fired at another one that came out from one of the tunnels, "The worse kind of trouble. There are surely much more than we can expect," his optic looked at the others.
David saw one coming out of it and tried to cut it with his blade. It bounced on the exoskeleton. He dodged the claws coming at him.
Demi came and punched the face of the creature. It exploded on his face the green alien growled, "I hate those things already," he had no time to clean himself from the goo and other stuff that came from the thing. He fought the next one that came next to him.
Maniko used her chain sword and cut a few of the monster bugs that approached her. She blocked the claws coming at her at the last second and slid on the ground a bit.
David came and slashed the head before it could hurt her, "No point telling everyone where to strike."
Garn threw his blaster in the air when one came too close to him and punched it hard on the face. He was also covered with goo and other nasty fluids, but he wore his armor and his visor quickly clean it, restoring his sight, just in time to grabbed the pincers coming at him. He grunted as he tore those pincers off the body of the monster and impaled them in the head, before he kicked it as far as he could.
"I do not detect any negative olfactive stench from the fluids," Shocker commented as he fired a few blasts from his cannons at them. He then crushed one of the creatures when it came close to him.
It wasn't long before those things quickly decided to turn around and left the ground.
Lust threw a few fireballs at the things as they retreated. He panted a bit, "And don't come back! Whatever you are!" he sighed as he wiggled his hands. He felt his limbs a bit numb after fighting them.
The rest of the group panted for a bit.
Garn sighed, "I guess those animals relented quickly."
"Their head just explodes at our punches. I kinda wish it would work the same way with the cult," Demi commented, before trying to get rid of the fluids on him. He painfully grunted as it was sticky. His hair and beard were stuck with that thing.
"Only good thing is that it isn't stinky," David commented. He was also covered with it, but much less than the others.
Maniko grumbled as she tried to get rid of that. She grumbled for a bit. Thankfully, she had nothing on her hair.
"You didn't get the worse," Shocker commented.
The group turned towards him and somehow, he drenched in goo.
"It will be easier to clean yourself from that," Demi commented as he tried to get rid of it. He pulled a bit, but stopped when it hurt a bit too much, "Let's keep going. I won't turn bald because of that stupid stuff."
Lust kneeled down and observed one of the corpses. He had no idea what those things were called, but he was a bit familiar, now that the mess was over, "I think I know those things. I know that they are not that much of a problem when you aren't alone. Not that tough," he glanced at them, "Never met one. Forgot the name."
"Surely no reason to put a gate to stop those things," the machinum concluded.
The group didn't pounder long about the existence of those gates.
"We should press on," David looked at the many paths they could take.
The group hesitated to pick one.
Lust took one on the left, "I think this one might be the right one. I seem like this one is obviously made by my people. You can see how soft the corner is," he showed it to them.
They had to agree, but they also saw marks from those things that probably tried something on it.
The abyssien looked at the group, "I hope we won't encounter more of them… Do we have enough supplies to keep going?"
The group nodded and replied positively in their own ways.
David gave up getting rid of the goo, "Let's keep going."
The group ventured forward.
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next: Observation.
Phaon searched for a way out when he had an opportunity to do so without casting suspicion on himself.