Chapter 350:Six days.
His face looked worse whenever he checked it using his phone camera. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, he was unshaven and his hair a mess.
He imagined Ravenna seeing him like this. She would probably hug him first, then hit him. She would then ask what happened, probably complain after he explained.
Silver smiled tiredly.
"Something to look forward to."
He slept for forty-seven minutes inside a narrow elevated chamber, then continued.
The sixth day began better than expected. The passage widened, the slope remained consistently upward and the roots became thicker.
At one point, he found a small beetle that definitely looked more like a surface insect than anything he’d encountered underground.
Insight confirmed it wasn’t mutated. That almost made him emotional.
He kept climbing. The network module began detecting signals more frequently. It stayed at four percent for several seconds, then gone again.
He resisted the urge to send Ravenna another message. The first had gone through, she already knew.
He would wait until he had something more stable. He wanted to tell her he was nearly out.
Several hours into the sixth day, Silver reached a long tunnel lined with enormous roots. His headlamp illuminated soil between sections of stone. He could smell damp vegetation and the air moved continuously.
Silver stopped.
This was the closest he’d felt to the surface. He pulled out the network module.
[Searching for External Networks...]
The device beeped.
[External Network Detected.]
His heart accelerated.
[Signal Strength: 5%.]
He smiled.
"Finally."
He looked at his phone. Maybe it was enough for another short message. It suddenly increased to seven. He started walking slowly, searching for the strongest point.
Eight percent.
Silver stopped.
"That’s more like it."
Something moved behind him. Spatial Sense wasn’t active. Silver heard the sound instead, it was a wet scrape.
He turned.
A worm emerged from between two enormous roots. It was less than fifteen meters away.
Both froze.
Silver stared at the creature in disbelief. The worm’s sensory organs shifted toward him.
"Of course."
The worm released a piercing vibration.
He drew.
[Phantom Draw Lv3 Activated.]
Pfft!
The bullet struck its head but it was too late. He felt the answer through the ground. There were vibrations in the ground more than a dozen at once.
[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]
His expression changed immediately. There was a lot of movement everywhere.
"That’s bad... really really bad."
He ran.
The network module remained in his left hand while his handgun stayed in his right. The signal jumped to nine percent but Silver didn’t have time to use it.
Three worms entered ahead. He fired while running.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
One fell and the second recoiled. He Short-Stepped past the third.
[Short-Step Lv2 Activated.]
He reappeared beyond them. The tunnel shook as more worms crawled from openings.
He ran faster.
The route sloped upward. He followed it since it was basically the only good way. Spatial Sense detected five approaching from behind and two ahead.
He drew his sword. The first worm lunged, he sidestepped and cutting into it while running. He wasn’t trying to kill them anymore.
Only move.
A second worm blocked the route. Silver slammed into it with his shoulder.
[Primal Strength Lv2 Activated.]
The creature was thrown against the wall.
[Primal Strength Lv2 proficiency increased.]
Silver didn’t even check the percentage. The ground vibrated continuously now. The colony knew where he was.
He reached an intersection and activated Spatial Sense. To the left contained worms, so he went right.
A few moments later, something buzzed from above him. Silver stopped for half a second.
It was the buzzing of wings, not the usual clicking or scrapping. He looked upward.
A dark shape moved across the ceiling. He raised his headlamp, only to see something enormous dropping toward him.
He threw himself sideways. The creature slammed into the ground where he’d been standing.
He rolled further away.
His headlamp swept across it during that period. The creature had six legs, segmented body, dark hardened shell, long abdomen, two enormous translucent wings, and a head with curved mandibles.
It resembled a hornet, that is, if someone had taken a hornet and made it large enough to carry away a human.
Silver stared in complete shock.
"What the hell are you?"
The creature’s wings opened.
[Insight Activated.]
The notification appeared.
[Parasitic Sky-Borer]
[Tier: Two.]
[Classification: Parasitic Colony / Mature Mobile Form.]
Silver’s expression changed the more he read. Larry had once briefly said it but seeing was really believing.
The system continued.
[Primary Traits: Sustained Flight, Piercing Mandibles, Vibration Communication, Rapid Acceleration.]
[Secondary Trait: Colony Link.]
[Developmental Origin: Parasitic Burrowing Worm.]
He stopped breathing for a second.
"No."
The Sky-Borer launched itself, its wings blasting air across his face.
He ducked then fired upward.
[Phantom Draw Lv3 Activated.]
Pfft! Pfft!
One bullet struck its abdomen and the second tore through a wing. The creature crashed into the wall. He finished it with his sword.
Then he heard more buzzing.
His headlamp moved toward the tunnel. Three shapes flew through the darkness. Behind them, worms crawled across the ground.
His face hardened.
The problem in Death Row Valley had just become considerably worse. The worms weren’t merely reproducing underground, they were changing.
If these flying forms could reach the surface, they wouldn’t need tunnels to spread. They could leave the valley, find animals, find settlements, and find other breeding grounds.
Silver looked at the network module still clutched in his hand.
[Signal Strength: 11%.]
Another Sky-Borer appeared.
He fired and started running again. The signal increased as the tunnel continued to climb
Twelve percent.
The buzzing behind him grew louder. He shoved the module into a secure pocket rather than risk dropping it.
Spatial Sense spread through the tunnels. There were worms and now flying forms. This was more movement than he’d encountered at any point since escaping the queen.
He ran uphill while firing behind him. His exhaustion disappeared beneath adrenaline. He finally understood what the colony had been doing during the fifth day.
They hadn’t merely been searching for him. They had been changing. And if Silver was as close to the surface as the increasing signal suggested, then the things chasing him were close to the surface too.
That meant getting himself out was no longer the only problem. Somebody outside needed to know what was coming.