Chapter 9 - Anathema

  "System, where can I go to make absolutely sure I am safe?"

  - A common system question and response.

  Solis stared at the monstrous cricket, and it stared back at him.

  “God you’re ugly.” Solis couldn’t help but taunt even though the bug couldn’t understand him. He found it settled his nerves.

  He didn’t have much mana left, but he did have a gun. That was how he had killed most monsters anyway. He’d be fine. He’d be fine.

  Slowly, he made his way forward and out of the tunnel, and thankfully, the bug didn’t leap. His greatest advantage would be mobility, but still, the monster didn’t move to cut him off.

  Instead, it made a wide stance and began vibrating its wings. A buzzing sound reverberated through the cavern. Loud and all encompassing, but it didn’t attack.

  Solis’s eyes widened as he realized it was probably calling to its kin. If there were more down here, he was dead. He ran to his rifle, keeping an eye on the monster. He picked it up and, in a smooth motion, chambered a shot, kneeled, lined up the iron sight, and fired.

  The creature's head jerked back, and it stumbled. He fired again, and finally the cricket moved. It didn’t leap, instead choosing to unfurl its wings and hop in the air, wings fluttering at speeds he couldn’t see as it closed the distance.

  Solis activated [Resonance], time slowing slightly, allowing him time to aim at the exact spot he wanted. He targeted around the shoulder, the thin part where the wing connected to the carapace.

  He breathed out, held, then pulled the trigger, instantly deactivating [Resonance] after the bullet was fired. It slammed into the monster's wing joint and tore through, causing the limb to go limp. The cricket tumbled out of the air, twirling and spinning as it fell. Solis ran to the side, trying to keep as much distance as he could.

  When the sound of its body hitting stone reached Solis, he turned on his heel, aimed, and fired.

  Repeating the pattern. Run, chamber, fire, run. Solis circled the bug, which only grew more and more enraged. He made it a point to always keep one or two stalactites between them, dodging around as it chased and scrambled. Always sending a shot at it each time it ran out of cover to make it wary.

  He got five more hits off before it stopped trying to chase him directly. It curled its limbs in to leap. Solis targeted one of the joints, pressed the trigger, and—

  And he was out of bullets.

  ‘Curses!’ He screamed, dropping the rifle and diving out of the way. The cricket tried to course correct, but one of its wings was broken, and so it passed the prone Solis, landing not three feet from him.

  Solis rolled onto his back and pulled the spare pistol loose. Doing the fastest sit-up of his life, Solis aimed and fired twice, barely half a second between the shots. He got to his feet and repeated it again, circling left. Always two shots in succession, then some time to re-aim, then two more shots.

  The bug hadn’t tried to get back up after the initial two, but Solis was nothing if not thorough.

  Only when he ran out of bullets did he calm down. Looking left and right, he collected his guns and ran towards the entrance. He didn’t think any more crickets would come. The fight took long enough that if they existed, they would’ve been there by now, but he didn’t want to risk it. He had trapped one and killed another. That was enough.

  —

  Three minutes later, Solis arrived back at the spot Dimitri had left him to get Ira. Seeing no sign of the man's return, Solis went up the tunnel, lay prone, reloaded his rifle, and shone his flashlight down the path. If anything came, he’d be ready.

  Thirty minutes passed before Solis heard footsteps, but even so, he didn’t take his eyes off the tunnel.

  Only when Dimitri was beside him did his muscles relax, and he practically deflated straight through the ground.

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  “I know you can’t understand me, but I’m so happy to see you two.”

  Words were exchanged in Russian, Dimitri wanting to tell Solis something, but whatever it was caused Ira to yell and scold her husband.

  Eventually, she handed him a sheet of paper. It read, “My husband is happy you decided not to chase after the monster. I am unhappy he left you down here thinking you would, but time for that later. We need to kill the monster.”

  Solis took the sheet and pencil, forming a flat surface to write on with [Mana Manipulation].

  “I think they’re dead. I trapped one and killed the other. It called for allies, but none came.”

  Ira looked at the paper and back to Solis. To the paper. Back to Solis.

  Solis got the distinct impression that Ira was trying not to clap him on the ear. In the light of the flashlight, she looked furious, but said no more about it.

  “Guide the way.” She wrote instead.

  So, the three of them began walking. Ira led from the front while Dimitri brought up the rear, leaving Solis safe in the middle.

  Despite the earlier feelings of chastisement, Solis was giddy with excitement. Level nine! He brought up his sheet and cursed instead.

  He supposed it was only fair. If the monster was 1/20th of a level nine, then he should only advance 1/20th of the way there. Still, it left a slightly bitter note in his mouth. What did he risk his life for anyway then?

  Another three minutes passed before they arrived at the small cavern where Solis had fought the cricket. Its corpse still lay on the ground, dead and undisturbed.

  The cricket inside his metal wall was still chirping, and Ira walked over to inspect the walls. She grunted and nodded at the wall, which Solis found funny. The woman glared at him for his chuckle.

  Solis cleared his throat awkwardly and spread his arms wide. “One level nine monster, trapped with no way of defending itself. If we all come down we can stab it. I just learned it won’t bring us up to level nine, but it will get us part the way there. I can build a kill box around the entrance and we can keep killing them until we’re all level nine!” He tried to inject as much cheer as he could.

  Thankfully, Dimitri seemed to share his good spirit and, at some point, had activated [Translate] to hear him.

  “Fish. In Barrel,” Dimitri said in heavily accented English so thick it took a moment for Solis to process what the man said.”

  “Exactly!” Solis cheered.

  Ira just sighed, and the couple exchanged a few words before requesting that Solis activate [Translate].

  “Glad you’re safe. Be careful. Let’s explore a bit. Make sure there are no other monsters. If safe that’s good. We can maybe move down here. Check for monsters first, then we go back up and talk.”

  Ira actually smiled as she said that, and it wasn’t strained, which filled Solis with confidence he wasn’t sure he should have.

  The Russian couple scared him a little bit. Very serious people, but as far as he could tell, not unkind.

  Solis was about to turn off [Translate] when the cricket chirped again.

  Lost. Trapped. Anathema. Lost. Trapped. Anathema.

  Ira’s and Dimitri’s eyes widened along with his own, and they all turned towards the cricket.

  “What the hell?” Solis asked.

  “It’s talking?” Ira questioned at the same time.

  Solis brought up the [Translate] skill description.

  [Translate]: Understand any verbal language while active.

  Cost: One mana per second.

  He stared at the metal wall holding in the cricket with a sort of morbid fascination.

  Listening closer, he stepped forward, which is when his mana ran out completely, and the noises returned to chirping, yet the words still rang in his ears.

  Anathema.

  Trapped.

  Lost.

  Had that other cricket he killed been looking for it? What was Anathema? Was it talking about humans, being trapped, or being apart from the rest of its group?

  He wasn’t about to start thinking monsters were just like people, because they weren’t, they were monsters plain and simple, and unambiguously wanted to kill all humans – it was one of the first things people had used their system questions on back when the internet was working, and people were communicating.

  Yet, there was something deeply humanizing and frightening about hearing monsters. Solis decided he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all.

  They soon left the cricket and explored the rest of the tunnels. There were no more monsters, and at one point, while they were exploring, the corruption levels decreased yet again. Solis didn’t pay it much mind. It was likely just that corruption had been leaking in from the [Nominal] zone, and with it cut off, the area was returning to normal levels.

  —

  It was decided that they’d move their camp down to the bottom level. Solis would spend a few days building a kill box around the opening, and if there was no intense or obvious danger, they’d go in and explore beyond, hoping to find a source of food and water.

  Solis really hoped there were more crickets. Swarms were awful, but if he could isolate a few here and there, he could get an easy cap increase by two whole levels. He’d get his last skill [Domain], and from there all he needed to do was find a Palimpsest… whatever that was.

  Things were looking good.

  He had survived the outside of the mountain and found other survivors to talk to, keep him sane, and watch his back. That night, as Solis helped move supplies down, he smiled a big, beaming smile, and he meant it with all his heart, too.

  —

  Beyond the crack in the wall, the monsters chittered. One of their brethren had called and then gone silent. Where their lost siblings was, they did not know, but their siblings had called and spoken of the Anathematic things, so there was only one option.

  Tell the hive, and prepare for a war of annihilation.