B4 Chapter 44: Diggy Diggy Hole
B4 Chapter 44: Diggy Diggy Hole
The men's march through the desert sounded far different now. Rags tied around the plates of their armor and weapons muffled their clanking and made their movements far less obvious.
A few men with stealth-related aura skills utilized them, though most of the sneakiest men were sent ahead with the other scouts.
The desert carried sound well, almost as well as water did, but that didn't mean that proceeding with caution was pointless. If they could manage to catch the enemy unawares for once, rather than the other way around...
Quintus listened to the near-constant stream of information relayed back to him by the scouts. So far, they had identified at least two of the humanoid commanders, one above and one below, as well as confirmed the presence of pits and tunnels leading deeper underground. There remained a significant amount of enemy forces above the sands for the moment, though only a handful of structures. It seemed that whatever value this outpost had lay far beneath.
It didn't take long to find out why. One of his most skilled scouting groups returned with another report. Earthenware pots. Crude ones, but clearly constructed with intention. Whether they'd been stolen or fashioned by this race of humanoids, he had no idea. But the tunnels below were absolutely packed to the brim with them.
Quintus nodded and turned to his own Primus Pilus. "Have the men swap gear. We're invading the tunnels."
As tempting as it was to simply collapse the tunnels altogether, Quintus wasn't quite confident enough in their ability to do so. Claude's experiments with earthquakes had yielded less than stellar results in the sandy terrain, meaning their best bet was to destroy them from the inside. If he could secure supplies for his men or at least gain insight into the enemy's plans, all the better. Plus, all of the commanders they'd encountered thus far had proven quite slippery. He wanted to try and capture one for interrogation.
He ordered the men into position. The Third Legion fanned out, working to establish a perimeter. The scouts repositioned and began setting up a slew of distractions away from their position.
"First beacon, set." Came the confirmation from his aide, followed quickly after by another. "Second and third beacons, set."
The man saluted and began quickly relaying the orders---quietly, so as not to alert the enemy. All around, men swapped their swords for long spears as they prepared to go beneath the earth. A phalanx formation with such long reach could prove incredibly effective and deadly in such close quarters, especially against monsters. If they played their cards right, such a move would let them take out the enemy without letting their powerful blows even rain upon a shield wall. Though they could certainly take such hits, avoiding them altogether would save precious stamina and allow them to better focus on offense.
A trio of Legionnaires hurried up to Quintus and raised their hands. A see-through map manifested in the air between them, showing the tangled web of tunnels below. Small dots illuminated the positions of various living entities that the scouts were able to sense. More dots filled the space between tunnels, indicating at least some amount of the burrowing worms hiding in the walls.
He surveyed the positions and pointed to a series of spots. "We will make our entrance here, here, and here. Have the earthshapers begin tunneling down."
The tunnels began to form with alarming speed. His earthshapers moved quickly, and he saw their tunnels begin to appear on the map. A few of the dots indicating worms began to stir as they picked up on the small movements.
Quintus gave a signal. A series of deep thumps reverberated through the air as the beacons were activated. All at once, the worms on the map began to move toward the sound, making a beeline for what sounded like a far more appetizing target. The Legionnaire tunnelers were left behind in peace.
He sent a cohort to follow the worms. They had enough specialists among them to ambush and effectively deal with them. No sense in allowing the worms to blindside the Legion in the middle of the battle.
Naturally, the worms weren't the only ones who noticed the distractions. The troops above ground began to shift as the two commanders moved to investigate the commotion. But the Legionnaires were already moving down the long tunnels, flowing into the enclosed spaces. A mage moved just behind each phalanx, shooting motes of light onto the walls to illuminate the way for his brethren.
Quintus drew his own spear and began to move down his own tunnel. He remained near the front, but not at the very tip of his own formation, keeping one eye on the map that his men continued to maintain. [Lead From the Front] activated, albeit a bit less strongly than usual. He continued disseminating orders as the Legion advanced, ready to pull back if needed or take charge and fight more actively.
The Legionnaires made contact. An alarm of screeches and chitters sounded. All at once, the motes on the map sprang into action, moving to intercept the intruders. The Legionnaires continued to press forward, pushing the enemy back even as the aboveground forces began to pour into the tunnels.
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Quintus's attention locked onto the map. He sent out a flurry of orders, commanding centuries to move forward and pull back. The motes of light moved and shifted like a roiling tide, their enemies being blocked into the tunnels and led about with no apparent rhyme or reason. Then, it happened. The motes lined up, the enemies stacked atop each other within the tunnels in a single pillar as the Legionnaires managed to jockey them into position.
"Claude. Now."
He didn't hear or see the grand mage, who was waiting above for his signal. All that he felt was a thump and a wave of heat ripple through the sand around him. The distant chittering and screeches abruptly quieted.
Quintus grinned as the pillar of motes froze. Those that still moved winked out rapidly as the Legionnaires began to dispatch them. He felt a wave of nausea at the sudden and violent use of mana, but nothing like Claude's previous summoning spell. They still had more in reserve, as was clear from the continued efforts of the other mages.
His group continued to push forward, striking down the remnants of the enemy as they moved, until they reached the site of the spell. A massive wall of smooth glass loomed before them, its surface reflecting the light of the mages' lamps. Inside, Quintus saw the countless forms of immobilized scorpions, worms, and all manner of sand-dwelling monsters.
How exactly the spell worked, he didn't know. Claude had attempted to explain it as some sort of incredibly efficient and precise transmutation, though when Quintus pointed out that it sounded like a simple superheating of a sand sinkhole, the mage had seemed quite offended. Still, regardless of how, it certainly lived up to the mage's promises.
Quintus examined the map. No emergencies that he could tell. Satisfied, he stepped toward the head of his formation, feeling [Lead From the Front] activate as he did. He let out a small sigh of satisfaction as the skill settled upon him.
"This way. Remember, we want the commanders alive."
He saw the twin spots on the map. One commander remained aboveground as a few cohorts of Legionnaires advanced on his position, hemming him in and surrounding the remaining troops. The other was below, moving swiftly down the tunnels. He hadn't been caught in Claude's spell, apparently. And that meant he would be their target.
Leading his men further down, Quintus increased his pace. They rushed through the tunnels, their steps hastened by [Warpath] as they hunted down their foe like a pack of wolves. Quintus felt the rush of pursuit---a different sensation than the heat of battle, but a welcome one nonetheless.
They rounded a corner to see the commander fleeing ahead of them, continuing to descend even deeper. The furred humanoid gave a bark of alarm as it hurried even faster. It waved its glowing staff back at them, sending what Quintus recognized as a mental attack their way. One of his men shouted and dispersed it with little effort.
Its eyes widened with fear. But rather than continue fleeing, the creature turned and stood its ground, raising its staff into the air. Its tip glowed more intensely before being slammed into the ground, sending a ripple through the sandy rock below.
They rammed into the humanoid, tackling it to the ground. The Legionnaires wasted no time disarming it and tying up its hands and clawed feet. It struggled, screeching unintelligibly until someone stuffed a gag in its mouth.
Quintus looked down at the creature and nodded. "Good work. Let's get this one aboveground for interrogation."
A contubernium of Legionnaires hefted the creature and began dragging it back up to the surface. This deep down, the caves were dimmer, as their progress had left less time for their own mage to light the path. But the sheer number of crates scattered about was still clear.
Curious, Quintus stepped toward one only to be stopped by his aquilifer. "With all due respect, sir. Maybe leave that for the other men to investigate?"
Quintus eyed the man. "I won't ask any man to do something I wouldn't myself."
"I would argue that the morale boost offered by seeing you poke about a bunch of jars is far outweighed by the potential blow of seeing you turn into chunky paste from some trap, sir. If I may say so."
Quintus chuckled at the man's dry tone. Before he could move, though, another Legionnaire swiftly stepped toward the earthenware pots and carefully shifted the lid off of one, peering inside.
"Sir. It looks like... sand. Just red sand."
Quintus stepped forward to look for himself. Indeed, the pot was filled to the brim with sand the color of wet clay. Far darker than the stuff they'd become used to seeing aboveground, and nothing like what the walls were composed of either.
Uncovering the other containers revealed similar contents, bizarrely enough. Quintus tried to imagine what the purpose of gathering all this sand was. It must have some value or practical use, otherwise...
A shout of alarm rose. Quintus's head snapped toward the source. One of the men had begun poking about inside a jar with his spear, looking to see if something was buried inside. The wood of the spear shaft dried and desiccated rapidly where it touched the sand, the effect rushing up its length with astonishing speed.
The man hurled the spear to the floor. It crumbled into fine powder, leaving only the metal of the spearhead behind.
They all stared for a moment, backing away from the containers. Quintus's eyes narrowed. He didn't know if the red sand would have a similar effect when touched by a person. Either way...
"We need to retrieve one of these as well. Carefully." He instructed. "Do not allow it to touch anyone. We need to---"
His instructions were cut off as a deep rumble echoed through the tunnel. The ground beneath their feet began to shake, little rivulets of sand sifting down from the ceiling of the tunnel above.
[Tactician's Awareness] confirmed the source of the rumbling. Something was coming from below---something big.
Quintus didn't hesitate. "Retreat!"
They began to run.