Chapter 91: Quest Gone Wrong

Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Quest Gone Wrong

The beast rose up from between the trees.

Arin had expected at least something sizable, given the damage it had done across the forest, but not this.

It was more of a living wall, towering above the trees.

The creature had four thick legs that were each at least twice as broad as Arin’s shoulders.

Its body was covered in dark brown hide, but with patches of hardened scales along its back and chest from its shoulders to the base of its tail.

Two curved horns came from either side of its skull, and smaller ones lined its jowls.

Arin didn’t particularly notice its skin.

Its eyes were unnatural.

Six of them.

Three on either side of its head.

And all of them were fixed directly on Arin.

"That’s not good," Arin muttered.

Saira unsheathed her weapon, "You could say that."

The monster lowered its head.

Ayan took a step forward.

"Break formation."

They scattered instantly.

The creature lunged forward.

The earth shook beneath its bulk as it charged across the glade far faster than any animal of its size should be able to move.

Arin dove to his left.

Saira moved to the right as Adnan ducked behind a tree.

Ayan stood his ground directly in front of the oncoming mass.

"Ayan!"

The dragon raised an arm.

A swirl of mana gathered around his forearm.

The creature rammed into him.

BOOM!

The impact sent out a shockwave that sent splinters of wood flying through the glade and kicked up loose leaves.

Ayan’s combat boots skidded across the ground for several meters, but he still managed to keep his footing against the creature’s horns with both hands on them.

A troubled look crossed Ayan’s face.

"Strong."

"You’re saying it’s strong?" Arin shouted.

"It seemed fitting."

The beast let out a guttural bellow and reared back.

Ayan pulled his hands away from the horns and jumped back before it could toss him into the air.

Saira was already on the move.

She dashed alongside the beast’s side and brought her weapon down on one of its hind legs.

CLANG!

She blinked in shock as her blade barely bit into the creature’s hide.

"What the hell is this thing made of?"

The monster kicked backward.

Saira twisted her body away from the oncoming appendage.

Arin focused his senses on the battlefield.

The world around him seemed to change.

Not necessarily visually, more like an understanding of it.

The crushed ground, the trees, the movements of his friends, and even the creature itself were all parsed into information for him to process.

It was powerful, that much was obvious.

The hide was thick.

It had veins of mana running through it, which Arin detected just as he had earlier.

But that wasn’t what he was focused on.

The flow of mana within the creature wasn’t consistent.

It was pooling at various points along its body every time it moved.

When it charged at Ayan, the energy had rushed to its neck and skull.

When it reared back to kick Saira, it was flowing to its leg.

"Reinforcement," Arin said.

Ayan glanced over his shoulder, "The monster is reinforcing the parts of its body it intends to use."

"Can you identify the source?"

"I’m working on it."

The creature turned its head to look at Arin.

All six of its eyes narrowed.

He felt a pulse of mana, and suddenly realized where it was going.

Towards the beast’s mouth.

"Ayan!"

"I see it!"

The monster opened its maw and a sphere of condensed mana appeared between its teeth.

Arin’s stomach twisted.

"Get down!"

The ball of energy expanded to form a beam and shot across the glade.

Arin barely had time to roll behind a tree as the projectile flew overhead.

Several trees were instantly obliterated.

Not splintered, but vaporized.

The beam continued to travel across the glade for nearly fifty meters before it impacted against a cluster of large rocks set deeper into the forest.

Everything went silent.

Adnan stared at the smoking remains.

"This was supposed to be a normal monster quest."

Arin stood up, "Tell that to the System."

Arene spoke inside his head, "I would like it noted on record that I did not select the quest."

"You showed it to me."

"Displaying and recommending are two very different things."

"Wonderful, I’m being legally abandoned by my System guide."

"I prefer the term professionally distancing myself."

The monster let out a furious roar.

It charged forward again.

This time Arin was prepared.

"Dungeon Manipulation."

A wall of earth rose up in front of the creature’s legs.

The beast stumbled as it ran into the barrier and Ayan was already there to capitalize on the error.

He appeared next to the creature’s head and drove a fist into the base of one of its horns.

CRACK!

The appendage snapped off and the creature shrieked in rage.

Saira took advantage of the opening, driving her weapon into the fresh wound on the monster’s neck beneath the broken horn.

Dark blood sprayed across the ground as the beast reared back, but Saira was sent sprawling by the force of its headbutt.

Arin caught her before she hit a tree.

"Got you."

"I noticed."

"You could show some gratitude."

"I’ll consider it after we kill it."

"Fair enough."

The monster’s mana surged again.

Arin focused.

There.

It always seemed to funnel through a single point when it moved.

"Core," he said.

Ayan turned towards him.

"Under the chest, slightly to the left."

"You’re certain?"

"Nothing in life is certain," Ayan replied.

Arin narrowed his eyes, "About seventy percent."

"Wonderful.

You’ve been spending too much time with Arene."

"I do not know if I should be insulted."

The beast let out a deafening roar and reared back.

Arin’s eyes widened.

"Now!"

Ayan shot forward and drove a fist into the center of the creature’s chest from below.

The impact sent the monster tumbling backward, but Saira was there to follow up.

She plunged her weapon into the same spot, and a section of the beast’s hide cracked away from its body.

The creature stiffened, its six eyes widening.

Then, with a final shudder, it collapsed.

BOOM!

A thick plume of dust billowed into the air.

Everyone was silent as the beast’s body hit the ground.

"That was easier than I anticipated," Arin said.

Adnan was already walking up to the fallen mass, "You were nearly incinerated by a blast of mana."

"I said easier," Arin corrected, "not easy."

Saira kicked the creature’s leg, "No movement."

Ayan placed a hand on the beast’s neck, "Dead."

Arin waited for something to happen, and when it did not he frowned.

"Where is the notification?"

Saira looked at him, "What notification?"

"The quest completion," Arin said, opening the System menu.

[Quest Active]

[Monster Threat]

[Objective: Eliminate the monster responsible for attacks in the western forest.]

[Reward: Monster Creation and Control]

The objective was still unfulfilled.

Arin turned towards Arene.

"Arene."

"I see it."

"We killed the monster."

"Yes."

"Then why does the quest still persist?"

Arene was silent for a long moment.

That was more concerning than any of her usual condescension would have been.

"Arene?"

"I am checking."

Adnan came over, "Something wrong?"The quest didn’t complete."

Saira stopped kicking the beast’s corpse and Ayan narrowed his eyes.

"Then this was not the creature that was attacking us."

Arin looked over the remains.

The claw marks, the shredded trees, the large indentations in the earth.

"It fits every detail Eldran described."

"That does not mean it was responsible for every assault," Ayan said.

Arin knelt beside the body still searching the battlefield with Dungeon Sense.

The odd mana flow had slowed and the creature’s core had shattered, but something about it still felt wrong.

Arin turned his head.

It was not coming from the body.

It was beneath them.

His eyes narrowed.

"Everyone, move!"

Saira reacted instantly, "What?"

"Get away from the body!"

The ground rumbled.

Once.

Twice.

The corpse twitched.

Not from life, but something underneath it was shifting.

Ayan grabbed one of the creature’s enormous legs and yanked, but even his strength was barely enough to move it.

The earth beneath the beast gave way and the corpse disappeared into the ground.

"What the hell," Adnan exclaimed.

The ground began to subside around them.

Arin leapt back as the earth cracked open in several places.

Trees groaned as their roots were forced out of the ground and large chunks of dirt tumbled away.

"Run!"

They turned and sprinted for the edge of the glade.

The ground was vanishing underneath them.

Saira was the first to the far side, leaping over a widening fissure.

Adnan barely makes the same leap, but Ayan caught him by the collar of his shirt and tossed him across the edge.

Arin was right behind him when the ground beneath his left foot gave way.

He fell.

"Ayan!"

The dragon turned, and their hands almost met.

Almost.

The ground beneath Arin vanished and he plummeted.

Darkness swallowed him.

He fell from the ground, past roots and loose stones until his shoulder slammed against the side of a rocky wall.

Pain shot up his arm and Arin rolled away from the impact.

Above him the opening continued to collapse.

"Ayan!"

No answer.

He tried to stand, but another hunk of ground smashed down nearby.

Arin threw himself out of the way.

The opening was gone.

Complete darkness surrounded him.

For several long seconds he heard nothing but his own breathing.

Then Arene spoke.

"Arin."

"I’m alive."

"I noticed."

"Can you sense the others?"

"No."

That was not the response he wanted.

Arin focused a trickle of mana into his palm, shaping it into a small orb of light.

He was in a tunnel of some sort.

The rock walls were uneven, but the deep gouges in them were far larger than the scratches they had seen in the forest.

Arin turned forward, willing the light to reach the end of the passage.

Something slick was coating the floor.

Arin crouched and pressed his hand against it.

Blood.

Fresh blood.

"Arene."

"Yes."

"Tell me the quest changed."

"It did,"

A new window appeared in his vision.

[Quest Updated]

[Monster Threat]

[Original threat incorrectly identified.]

[True Target Detected.]

Arin stared at the new message.

Another line of text appeared.

[Threat Assessment Failed.]

"That’s reassuring,"

"I recommend caution,"

"You recommend caution after tossing me into an underground tunnel?"

"I did not toss you."

Arin stood and summoned his weapon.

A deep rumbling echoed through the tunnel.

Not a growl, but breathing.

Loud, labored breathing.

Something larger than the creature they had just killed was waiting for them in the darkness.

Arin’s grip on his weapon tightened.

The System began to shimmer.

[Warning]

[You have entered the target’s territory.]

[Escape route unavailable.]

[Quest difficulty recalculating...]

Arin waited for the calculation to reach an answer.

[Unable to determine difficulty.]

Arin stared at the message.

"You’ve got to be kidding me."

Arene did not respond.

That was when he heard something moving in the darkness.

Footsteps.

One after the other.

The tunnel shook with the sound, and Arin raised his weapon.

Two enormous eyes appeared in the darkness, then four, then six.

Then dozens of others.

The beast that had attacked them in the forest was not the one that had been attacking the western district.

It was only one of its offspring.