Chapter 32 – Opportunity
Chapter 32 - Opportunity
Fate had a way of being twisted.
Valmyst couldn’t begin to count all the coincidences that must’ve happened for her and Henry Morrow to be on the same opening in this vast mountain system. Away from her only ally, and he’d split from his party.
One of the targets she needed to kill. Unlike when they passed in the street or when she simply stood in the crowd, a thick decision emerged that spoke of consequences and temptation.
If she just pushed him, he would fall into the pit of bugs and be eaten alive. There appeared to be no one around to watch her do the act; everyone was focused on their own survival and retreated further down their own tunnels. The large opening still had many bugs even after the second shockwave of flames.
I…
This single moment grabbed the scorpion’s heart tightly and refused to let go. The opportunity to kill seemed to be right there, the perfect, evidence-free opportunity.
Her body slowly pushed itself off the ground. Her foot shook as the pressure pushed down on the stone below as the prophetic vision of her act played in her mind. A motion forward, push, then let fall. Simple, effective, clean.
What if…
After the idea formed, next came doubt and fear.
Success, completion, repayment.
Failure, death, loss.
Her emotions chose different sides. Excitement and happiness were screaming to kill the man. Finally, they would achieve something and make progress with their goal. On the other side, fear screamed that she couldn’t risk this now; if anything went wrong, she would be left to face a man many times stronger than her alone, or at best be hunted the moment she left the mountain.
With a shaky leg, she took a step forward.
Her lungs devoured as much air as they could, her heart focused on every semblance of bravery it could find.
“Which way is the exit?”
She was unsure if her words finally alerted him to her presence, but his head moved slightly and didn’t turn.
“Retreating?” He asked without looking back.
“Low on energy; party recommended meeting with those outside.”
“Intelligent.”
“Do you know the path?”
“Follow where you came.”
The conversation almost didn’t feel like a real one between humans. Valmyst replied to simple questions. She needed to escape from here as she was currently useless.
It’s better if I’m not here.
She swallowed all desires to try to complete her task: revenge for Sarah. The spark remained; however, she chose to keep it in a box. When it was within a box, it wouldn’t cause a problem, and she couldn’t deal with a problem at the moment.
The big downside of this quiet interaction was the scorpion still had no idea where the exit was. There was a small panic that she was more exhausted than she originally estimated, which had caused her to get lost in this cave, but was it really that simple?
The next few minutes were almost hell. The noise of bugs flying always sounded nearby but just out of sight. Every turn of a corner could result in an ambush, and any hole in a wall could contain something ready to jump out. The noise was the worst part. The loud ring of metal wings grated her ears and worsened her headaches.
Eventually, hell decided to not just be sound.
Following tunnels further, she ended up sliding down paths she was confident didn’t slide in any direction before. Moving towards where she hoped the outside was, the loud ringing intensified as she looked behind as a swarm of bugs approached her.
One flew ahead of the group and tried to latch onto her. Its speed meant its metal claws already began to enter her flesh before she could counter in her human form.
Get away from me, vermin!
Valmyst’s body was engulfed in an obsidian rage. Her form rapidly morphed through her in-between into her monstrous scorpion body. The metal insects jabbed at her body but couldn’t immediately break her outer shell. However, there was no moment of relief, as the bugs simply swapped methods.
A bug bolted itself onto the scorpion's shell, and mandibles dug deep, then with a powerful force the insect ripped a small chunk right off the shell. Painful, but now the swarm had caught up, and they were ready to eat.
Argh!
Her mind was already strained from the intensity of the attacks she had to defend against with her shield earlier, but her body still had more it could give. With a small blast of [Barrier] to tear the bugs off her body, Velasteros began to rampage around, swinging the massive weight of her body around, claws and tails, body slamming, everything she could do to remove these pests from existence.
Iron Army. A swarm of bugs that on their own weren’t the greatest threat. Each one could still kill a normal human, but only when in large numbers was their true threat known. These things continued to swarm her, and Valmyst quickly relied on her instincts to dodge and counter.
She didn’t bother using her only first offensive skill. The bugs could be destroyed with her body’s strength alone; even in a normal situation, using the skill would be more efficient, as it would take less of a toll on her body. Her focus couldn’t handle spamming [Crush].
Constant retreat and bug swatting was hardly an effective strategy, especially when every delay caused a brutal attack to land, and that didn’t count all the ones that had just happened.
She ran in what felt like circles. Barely far from when she transformed, unable to find a proper path that wasn’t just the way she came.
At the ten-minute mark, her brain barely functioned, and too many parts of her black shell had been ripped off to reveal a purply mess underneath. Weak flesh pulsed purple, with chunks of it being pulled apart by bugs choosing to attack the revealed parts.
Then a large swarm rushed towards her in a javelin formation.
Now!
Her claw opened wide, and the group of bugs was pulled together before a powerful snap clamped down
[Crush!] She tore the mountain wall apart as the bugs were clamped between her claw, which she also slammed into the wall. The stone began collapsing all around her. Bugs were squashed, and she retreated further. Her body bled, her mind screamed, and instincts had to be forced back so they wouldn't completely consume her.
The fighting continued, and Valmyst couldn’t say how long it lasted besides saying long.
Her saving grace was that her timed attack had destroyed a large majority of the swarm. She had no idea what made them take that manoeuvre, but it presented her with an opportunity. The remaining bugs weren’t easy to kill, and they weren’t going to run.
By the end, all that remained was one very injured and exhausted scorpion.