Chapter 36 – Hope (1)

Chapter 36 – Hope (1)

As Rowan walked through the tunnels, growing so close to the broodmother’s chamber that he could hear the waterfall in the distance, he thought about [Chain Manipulation]. In particular, the attack he’d pulled off against the last bloodspawn he’d fought.

It’d sheared off and crushed its head in a single blow, not even slowing down. And it wouldn’t have been possible back when he’d had [Bind].

He thought he might’ve been able to manage something close to it, but it would’ve taken all of his concentration and probably not have been that effective anyway.

He couldn’t test it, of course, since he didn’t have [Bind] anymore. But as he continued to use his new skill, Rowan gained something of an innate understanding of how it worked.

And though he wasn’t sure exactly why, he was certain he wouldn’t have been able to do things like the attack with his old skill; it just wasn’t meant for it.

After seeing how effective the chain-flail had been, dozens of ideas ran through his head.

But in the end, most of them seemed like they would either be less effective or just impossible to create with chains. Of course, though, he had mana.

He already made darts and daggers of it, so why couldn’t he expand his horizons a bit? Perhaps a hammer or sword? Maybe even an axe? The possibilities were endless.

His thoughts were cut short as the tunnel he was in opened up, looking down at the broodmother and her spawn. Despite it being mostly healed, his stomach was still in pain, so Rowan decided to take a short break, sitting down and observing the dozens of bloodspawn below him.

While some of them came and went, moving with purpose, most just milled about. But, as he stood up and prepared to leave, something caught his eye.

Squinting, he sat back down, trying to get a good look at what he was seeing. A group of four bloodspawn had just entered, and they were carrying…something.

With the sporadic lighting from the holes in the ceiling, Rowan just couldn’t quite make it out, but despite his curiosity, he remained patient. They were moving towards him, after all.

Speaking of the light shining down from above, it was dimmer this time, almost as if, far above, it was an overcast day.

Shaking his head, he refocused.

The creatures made their way through the domelike chamber, weaving through the countless other bloodspawn that were just standing around. Then they stopped before the broodmother and dropped whatever they were carrying.

Immediately, they turned and left, heading into a different tunnel than they’d entered from. With nothing obstructing his view of what they’d been carrying, Rowan instantly knew what it was: a deer.

Well, it resembled one, at least. It was far too big to actually be a deer from back on Earth and had two sets of oversized antlers. But aside from the obvious differences, everything else was the same.

A second later, more movement caught his eye as another group of bloodspawn entered the chamber. This time, there were seven of them, and their cargo was so large that Rowan could instantly tell what it was: a bear.

An unnaturally large bear, yes, but a bear nonetheless. Just like the deer, the carcass was dropped off before the massive being that was the broodmother.

This time, he wasn’t surprised when another group exited the tunnel, this one carrying another deer. One group after another, they entered, dropped off their prey, and left.

Most of the carcasses were those of unnaturally large animals, but every once in a while, a group would enter from a different tunnel with something else. Something very familiar to him: ants.

Despite being so huge for their counterparts back on earth, they were still small, at least compared to the other beasts being brought in. All it took to carry a soldier ant was a single bloodspawn, and some of the larger ones were dragging two corpses behind them.

Even though most of the groups brought in the strange, mutated mammals, there were far more ants than anything else. And soon, the broodmother began to feast.

The long, tentacle-like appendages that usually ran across the ground and consumed moss had moved to the bodies, plunging into them and sucking them dry.

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It was unnerving to watch, but he forced himself to endure it, at least for a bit; he wanted to know as much about the massive beast as he could, lest he had to fight it in the future.

After a full minute had passed of the broodmother feasting without another group entering, he stopped paying so much attention. He hadn’t learned much from watching the huge bloodspawn, and he saw no point in watching for any longer.

Still, Rowan felt hope and excitement building within him. If the bloodspawn were bringing back deer and bears, that could only mean one thing: the surface was near.

Throughout his time in the caves, Rowan hadn’t thought much about escaping and getting back to the surface. He hadn’t let himself. He’d had no idea where he was or what he was doing.

Thinking about it would’ve only made his mood worse and demotivated him, but now that he had a solid lead on how to get to the surface, thinking about it did quite the opposite.

Practically buzzing with excitement, he knew exactly what his next move was going to be.