Chapter 18 – Bloodspawn (1)

Chapter 18 – Bloodspawn (1)

Rowan watched in fascination and horror as dozens of soldier ants charged against their adversaries, ignoring the festering wounds adorning their bodies. And their enemies…he didn’t even know how to describe them.

‘Mushroom men’ was the first thing that came to mind, but that just didn’t fit. It made it sound like they were just friendly creatures in some fantasy book. No, they were abominations.

Each one was an amalgamation of fungi and bloodied flesh mashed into something resembling a humanoid form. Pulsing red veins snaked across their splotchy, scarred skin, spewing crimson ichor wherever the ants struck.

They had no eyes, no nose, only mouths. Too many mouths.

Each of the openings on their faces was lined with uneverving shards of bone. And from those openings came the very sounds that had drawn his attention to the cave. The screams.

They were primal, guttural, unnatural. As if they sought to mimic human sound, but had only gotten halfway there. And then, Rowan realized not all of them were humanoid.

As a soldier ant lunged forward, moving to attack one of the creatures, a crimson blur shot out from the side of the cavern, crashing into the insect. The fungal creature looked like a dog.

Almost. Perhaps a skinless, sickly, rotting dog. But the beast was vicious, tearing into the ant with reckless abandon.

It was obvious that individually, the ant was far outmatched. But it wasn’t alone. Two more soldiers appeared at its side, biting into and ripping the hound apart until it was but a pile of bloody scraps.

But the ant they had saved didn’t escape unscathed; an entire plate of chitin was missing, and beneath it were countless wounds from the bony claws of the beast. And the wounds were festering.

Rowan couldn’t tell exactly what was happening from such a distance, but as he continued watching the ant’s rotting flesh, he realized that he didn’t want to know.

As he finally recovered from the shock of wandering into a full-on war, he focused hard on an individual humanoid.

[Fungal Bloodspawn – Level 7]

A few moments later, when another doglike creature made its appearance, Rowan focused on it as well.

[Fungal Bloodspawn – Level 4]

He frowned. That was strange. They were the same species? Worker and soldier ants were classified as different by the System despite all their similarities, and yet the two Bloodspawn, despite so many obvious differences, were the same?

Rowan shook his head. It didn’t matter. What did matter was his survival. And if he entered the fray, his chances of that were all but zero. So he retreated, turning his attention back to his original target.

The injured ant lay on the floor of the cave, its side scored with claw wounds, no doubt from the fungal Bloodspawn. Its condition had only deteriorated while Rowan had been been busy watching the battle.

And now, up close, he could see what happened to wounds inflicted by the Bloodspawn. The flesh and chitin were blackened and discolored, some kind of necrotic poison slowly eating away at the insect.

After a few more moments of observation, he nearly vomited. Deciding to put the ant out of its misery, he drove his mace into its eye, and it barely resisted.

[You have slain Soldier Ant – Level 5]

[Level 5 → Level 6]

After making sure there weren’t any imminent threats—other than the raging battle—Rowan opened his status screen.

Name: Rowan Crowe

Race: Human

Class: Chained Lord (Inheritance)

Level: 6

Stats:

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 8

Toughness: 16

Vitality: 13

Mana: 11

Free Points: 1

Active Skills(2/10):

Bind lvl 5

Mana Manipulation lvl 8

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Passive Skills(0/10):

Quests:

Defeat the Guardian of the Forest or Defeat the Leviathan (Layer Quest)

Defeat 20 Enemies (Complete)

Reach Level 20

System Credits: 90

After a few seconds of consideration, Rowan put his free point into dexterity. The stat was beginning to lag behind, but so far, it hadn’t been too big of an issue.

He’d survived his encounter with the Ironclad ant, after all. Still, he couldn’t neglect it forever. He was in a hostile and unfamiliar environment, and from what he’d seen at the battlefield, the fungal Bloodspawn were powerful enough that he would likely have to flee from at some point in the near future.