Chapter 22 – The Sound of Water (1)

Chapter 22 – The Sound of Water (1)

As the adrenaline of the fight wore off, Rowan remembered something. He closed his eyes and focused. And he heard it.

The faintest trickle of running water. Exactly where it was, he didn’t know, but it was somewhere near. So he wandered in a random direction, constantly listening in case the sound of the water got fainter or louder.

While he walked, he thought about the implications of what he’d discovered—or at least what he assumed was going on—with the bloodspawn. If he was right, and they really were learning, it would change everything. And not for the better.

He’d need to face more of them to get a better idea, but from the two he’d just fought, it seemed that they were already learning to be wary of his chains, and even worse, to block his blows.

He also thought that they were sharing their experiences with each other and that every time he fought one of them, all of the others would be able to learn from their brethren’s experiences.

If this were true, it would make it increasingly harder to face the bloodspawn and, in Rowan’s opinion, that was just…unfair. How was anybody supposed to reasonably fight them? Then, he remembered he was in Apocalypse Difficulty, and it was only fitting that there be enemies like this.

Still, he would have to be careful not to show too many of his cards.

But, honestly, he’d already shown most of them. Shaking his head, Rowan rephrased the thought. He would have to be careful not to show any new cards he might gain unless absolutely necessary.

He also needed a strategy against them. What he was doing was working for now, but if the bloodspawn continued adapting, it wouldn’t be feasible for long.

And, unless he counted the level 2 bloodspawn he’d defeated in a single hit, he had only been facing them in groups of two. If there were more, well, he’d probably just run. So he tried to figure out a strategy that would work well for taking out pairs of them.

They were wary of his chains already, but if he let them get close enough that they couldn’t react in time, he would be able to bind them. That had the downside of leaving one able to easily attack him.

However, if he were to split his chains between both of the attacking bloodspawn, he could [Bind] both at once.

It might not hold them for long, but if he could find an easier method of killing them, he might be able to finish them both off. Perhaps something to do with his mana constructs?

So far, they’d been the most effective against the beasts, as the blunt damage from his mace didn’t seem to do much against them.

He would have to work on improving his mana blades, but at the moment, he just didn’t have the mana to spare for experimentation; every time he managed to regenerate enough mana, he ran into another fight.

And he couldn’t just avoid the confrontations, either; he needed to defeat more enemies than ever to get his next set of rations and water.

At the thought of water, he turned his attention back to the faint trickle he’d been following. He was still wandering down the same tunnel, as whenever he turned into a side tunnel, the noise began to fade.

So the water, or at least whatever liquid he was hearing, was either directly above or below the cave he was traveling in. From what he could hear, he assumed it was above him.

But he still didn’t know how to get to it, and it wasn’t like he could just break his way through the cave ceiling—Rowan paused. Could he?

He looked down at his fists that were probably harder than some of the stones back on earth. And if his stats were to be trusted, he was many times stronger than he’d been back before the System.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Taking a moment, he calculated in his head. He’d started with three toughness, and now he had what, eighteen? That was an increase of six times.

But he didn’t think he was quite powerful enough to shatter stone. Or he could use his mace…Rowan shook his head. He didn’t want to accidentally damage the weapon.

Plus, it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to try and break through to the water. Despite being on their home turf, bloodspawn were relatively scarce in the area. Still, the noise might draw attention, and he just didn’t know what would happen if he succeeded. Would the tunnel flood? Something worse?

So, for now, he would keep searching for a way up.

Hopefully, it would be at least somewhere near him, rather than miles away, where he would never find it. With a sigh, Rowan continued following the sound of water.