B4 Chapter 507: Unwanted Gold, pt. 4

Kaius peered into the room. A rounded chamber, fifty long strides or more across. The ceiling was far higher than the rest of the catacombs — though its walls were still filled with the same grave-niches he’d seen all throughout the complex. Pillars encircled the space, propping up the ceiling, and dozens of openings littered its sides — leading to tunnels spiralled away into the black.

It almost looked like they might have once been covered in engravings, though they were heavily weathered by time.

He didn’t bother to look closer. The queen held his entire attention, laying at the far side of the room, a little to their right.

It was an undulating mountain of flesh; a grotesque refinement of the larva it spawned. At least forty strides long, its head was bulbous, and made of black plates that pulsed. Expanding and contracting, the poor coverage of its chitin revealed flashes of golden flesh.

Kaius had no idea how it could even move. Six legs lay haphazardly scattered over the first quarter of its body, but the things looked far too spindly to support its bulk. Behind those lay what could only be described as a fleshy sack; half molten as it oozed over the red brick of the ground below.

Disgusted fascination gripped him as he watched its naked thorax pulse and undulate in a constant ripple. There was a building intensity to it as the contractions grew larger; the timing between them shorter.

A heartbeat later, the crescendo arrived. The queen’s thorax scrunched as a gaping sphincter opened on its rear.

From that pit of horror, an amniotic deluge flowed, and with it came more of the creature’s horrid spawn. A tide of maggots, dripping with slime.

The newborns quivered, writhing as they acclimatised to their sudden life. Soon, they moved — an undulating carpet that crept for the closest tunnels.

Kaius watched them leave, still held frozen by what he had just witnessed. Swallowing thickly, he suppressed his urge to gag. By the gods was he glad that they had decided to circle around and approach from a different angle. He had no doubt that killing any larve so close to their mother would alert the creature.

At least this way they could survey the battle ground.

“Gods,” he whispered, the sound masked by the constant squelching coming from the room ahead.

“Definitely one of the more disgusting sights I’ve ever seen,” Ianmus agreed.

“Ignore it, I spotted the guards,” Kenva said, pointing past the queen.

Following her queue, Kaius saw them almost immediately. They lurked in the shadows, towering figures that stood taller than their mother. If their queen was the epitome of sloth, her guards were the killing edge of a blade given life.

Half again as tall as he was, they looked like a mantis covered in black plate, with only thin golden lines revealing the colour of their hidden flesh. Standing as still as statues, their bulbous black eyes hid malevolent depths — he could almost feel their willingness to die in service.

Folded tightly to their chests in a cross, their blades looked as dangerous as any greatsword. Sickle-shaped, they tapered to an edge so fine it looked almost transparent.

Kaius’s eyes drifted lower, settling on their powerful legs.

“Speed focused, you said?” he asked Porkchop.

Before his brother could reply, the queen’s abdomen contracted once more — spilling its grizzly contents across the floor. Kaius grimaced, they needed that thing gone. He would have thought it miraculous how quickly it could birth its spawn, if it wasn’t so dangerous.

“That’s what the Matriarchs said,”

Kaius nodded, before he analysed the creatures.

**Golden Ceratin Royal Guard – Level 290 Obsidian Blade**

Beast, Elite, Minion, Skirmisher

**Golden Ceratin Royal Guard – Level 290 Obsidian Blade**

Beast, Elite, Minion, Skirmisher

**Golden Ceratin Queen – Level 312 Mother to the Kingdom**

Beast, Elite, Hive Queen, Bastion

Their levels were manageable. Just. The queen was a higher level than even the final Guardian they had faced in their most recent delve, however she wouldn’t be the primary threat. From what Porkchop had said, the creature was almost entirely geared towards the production of her young, plus a few defensive and supportive abilities. The queen could have had all the stats in the world, and it wouldn’t have helped with how bloated and immobile it was.

The royal guards were another matter. Two-ninety was strong — and a speed focused foe would stretch his capabilities. It was the average level of the deepest Depths layer they’d reached — a place where every fight had required the full cooperation of his team. Could he hold one alone?

A wide smile spread across his face at the thought of it. He’d grown in the weeks since their last delve. He was well into the second tier now — all of his general skills and two of his class skills had reached that new level of power.

He’d be a fool to use Starfall — the area it covered was larger than the room itself, and he didn’t fancy getting caught out by his own spell. That said, his empowered Drakthar still made the rest of his spells more potent. Beyond that, he had Hellblade Investiture.

His prosthetic might be an issue, but he’d learnt from their tussle with the nightscale — he was fully loaded on spells, including his mobility ones.

“We tie up one each. You confident?”

Porkchop gave him an affronted look,“You think I’m going to let an overgrown bug show me up?”

“That’s the spirit,” Kaius said, before he looked behind him to his back line. “You two focus on taking down the queen. We’ll call out if we need help.”

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Kenva nodded, while Ianmus drummed his finger on his staff as he looked up at the layered keyseals that sat at its tip.

“I’ll use one of my new spells — Sanctified Lilyfield should work well.” The mage said.

Kaius grinned, excited to finally see his new keyseal in action. Much like Keyseal of the Rising Dawn, The Nights’ Watch came with a first and second tier spell. The former was relatively basic — Silver Plating. It gave Ianmus’s target an additional layer of magical protection.

Sanctified Lilyfield was much more interesting. Supposedly, it would cause giant, illusory lilies to sprout from the ground in a large area. To the mage’s allies, they would barely be visible, and would be utterly incorporeal. To hostiles, they would swamp the field, bogging down movements, and hampering attacks.

Kaius breathed deep, slowly drawing his blade as he gripped it tightly. He met his brother’s eyes.

“I’ll take right, you take left?”