Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

“Maus, get to cover!”

“Where?”

My eyes scanned the darkened cavern, and besides the enclosed space we resided in, there was nothing but the wall in front of us. If we can get inside, they’ll be forced to come down from the ceiling to attack us.

“Follow me!” I shouted, running for the other end of the room.

Lend me your power, I need it.

“Of course.”

I skidded to a stop when I reached the smooth gray brick of the long-forgotten dwelling. With my hands encased in chitin, I tore at the mortar that held them together and ripped them apart with ease. The wall came down like clay in my hands, and in a handful of seconds, we had our egress.

Maus filed in after me, and we paused in what had once resembled a workshop. Stone tables were strewn with a heavy layer of dust, and the rusted remains of iron lay in scattered chaos.

I kept an eye of the entrance while Maus pulled a health potion from his inventory and downed it in seconds. His labored breathing evened out as his bones reset in his arm, and he wiggled his fingers, twisting and bending his wrist.

“Much better.”

“Good, ‘cause we’ve got company.”

Four thumps landed on the roof, and many legs scuttled towards the gap I’d made. They crept over the lip, clinging to the ceiling. When they spotted us, they fell to the floor and raised their slender appendages.

They scraped them along the edges of the floor and walls, and the rock bent to their will, forming heavy clumps of stone at the tip of each limb. As they reared back to throw them, Maus threw himself to the side, and I activated Dance of the Immortal.

What little color that existed in this gray landscape bled away to mix with the stone around us. Maus froze mid-roll, his chin tucked to his collarbone. The knockers froze before they could loose their homemade projectiles at us.

I had ten seconds to kill them, it was more than enough.

They had grouped up, making my job easy for me. I crossed the room and arced the edge of my steel through the neck of the first knocker. It hung in the air as my blade passed through it and the momentum carried my swing to the second monster.

The tip scored a deep gash in the second’s cheek and split its jaw in two, continuing until the metal lodged in its throat.

I pulled my sword free and vaulted over the split-mouth knocker to engage the final two. For my encore, I rammed my blade through the chest of the one on the right and grabbed the final knocker in my blackened hand.

I crushed its windpipe, tearing through its soft skin to shred and pulp its flesh and arteries. Too-dark blood sprayed from the wounds I’d inflicted, and the color stuttered, telling me my time was up.

I left the carcasses of the creatures to fall and ran back to my original position, just managing to wipe the blood from my blade before the world restored its dominance, and I sagged to my knees.

“The fuck?!” Maus shouted when he came out of his roll and saw the blood-strewn bodies.

I couldn’t muster the strength to even speak, and my sword slipped from my fingers as my battle fatigue jumped to nearly max and I fell to the ground. Maus raced over to me and pulled me out of the path of the pooling gore.

“What just happened?” he asked, his voice frantic.

I tried to form words, but using Dance had taken the last of my strength, and I lost consciousness.

When I finally opened my eyes, I hurt everywhere. The nap I’d taken had only exacerbated my exhaustion, and sitting up brought aching misery to my bones and muscles. Maus sat cross-legged by a fire.

“Where are we?” I asked, looking around.

We were in a building, equally as decrepit and worn as the workshop, but it wasn’t the same building. The roof was convex, rather than flat.

“Still in the cave, just a lot further in. Had to carry your ass when more of those knockers showed up after the others died. Which, speaking of, how the hell did you do that?”

“Do what?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

“Don’t give me that,” he said, waving a thin wooden skewer at me, its tip blackened by flame. “All four of those things die at the same time and then you collapse like your battle fatigue maxed out. I know you did something, just can’t figure out what.”

I shrugged and grabbed one of the skewers that still had a bit of food on them and dug in. The meat was bland, absolutely no seasoning, but I was ravenous and inhaled it as fast as I could chew.

“Don’t know what you want me to say,” I replied with my mouth full.

He gave me a sideways look and smirked. “Fine, then, keep your secrets.”

Maus didn’t pry more after that, and I was thankful. He’d revealed a bit about his own class, but that was only because it was necessary to us getting out of Tombsgard. He’d dragged me out of a bad situation, and I owed him, but I wasn’t about to spill one of my trump cards to someone I didn’t trust.

Haven’t killed a knocker in a while. Let’s see what they gave me.

Combat Results!

4 Killed (Knocker): 3400 Exp!

Total Exp Gained: 3400 Exp!

Exp: 5900/5900

Level Up!

Level: 60

2900/6000

10 Stat Points Available!

1 Ability Point Available!

Finally made it back to sixty. Good. Though I need to think about what ability I want next. I grabbed my sword and looked down at the slight trickle of poison. Poison Blade has been helpful, but not all that useful since I’ve increased my