Knights Apocalyptica
Chapter 43: Tracks

“Tracks,” Gwen said as she leaned over; a small light from her helmet showed off the deep imprints. They belonged to an animal with four long claws that seemed to dig deep into the earth's surface as they would into the flesh of a living creature. "Some kinda reptile-like body structure?”

The tracks sprawled out a ways further into the wasteland—headed towards a rocky outcropping about half a mile away., as long as whatever monster left them kept its course. “Good observation,” Boldwick confirmed, crouching near the disturbed ground. “Erec, how many of these are there?”

Erec looked at the wasteland nearby. He hadn’t taken Tracking and Monster Ecology and regretted it now.

The world spread out in an endless terrain of dust and death. To think that the further out they got, the more monsters had free reign to breed and war with one another uncontested. He shivered. One day he’d set out into these unknown lands and dive into a world humans hadn’t seen for hundreds of years. Not since the world ended and the third Era began.

Whatever monster made these tracks hadn’t done it alone. It was accompanied by many more. The dragging claw marks weaved in and out of one another, vastly adding to the difficulty of guessing their number.

Erec didn’t have a clue. There could be somewhere between seven to fifteen.

[There are eleven.] VAL chimed in his head before Erec could answer.

Thank the Goddess for old-world wonders. Erec cleared his throat. “Eleven.”

“Nicely done.” Boldwick nodded, looking at the older members of the group. “You two, have you figured out what we’re dealing with?”

“Blister Crawlers.” Sir Alister groaned. “Ugh. I hate them; their blood reeks.” He pointed out a patch of dampened ground nearby with droplets of caked yellow on it. It might’ve been mistaken for some odd sort of moss if not for the fact that any moss like that didn’t have a chance in hell of growing here.

“Indeed.” Dame Robin shook her head. “Surely we don’t have to deal with them?”

“Wrong,” Boldwick said, looking over them all. “Two points, the first being that I want to see if these are dead silent—Blister Crawlers are typically loud things. Chatty fucks. Second, they’re within the power level of these two initiates, especially when supported by us. So, I think they’d be a good training enemy. Erec here has an uncontrolled talent he’s been working on, and I want to ensure it’s advanced sufficiently for use in a group fight.”

“Uncontrolled?” Sir Alister asked.

“Not like yours,” Boldwick added. “Less about it being complicated to figure out and use properly. More like, it puts the user into an altered state and removes the ability to direct it with purpose.” He shrugged in his Armor.

“So like me,” Robin said.

“Somewhat, but not quite. He’s an enhancer. You’d be the closest, even though you’re a shifter. I’d thought about introducing you two before. But you’ve been far too busy with your new rank for me to justify dragging you from your responsibilities to help train some new brat.”

Robin shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind offering a helping hand in the future. I’d wished I had another like myself when I was an initiate.”

“What’s a Blister Crawler?” Gwen asked.

“…Oh, you’re going to hate this.” Alister snickered.

— - ☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —

The opening to the cave was a jagged and ugly-looking scar on the natural surface of the outcropping. Claws dug into it and tore apart what had been a feature of nature to dig below and extend a network for the Blister Crawlers to make their home.

[Detecting high concentrations of various sulfurous oxides present below. Maintaining supplied oxygen content and disabling visor controls.] VAL warned him. Pausing for a moment. [Go gett’em, buckeroo! Make sure to retrieve a corpse to dissect and test.]

Erec sighed.

There wasn’t a single part of him that wanted to drag one of these things' reeking carcasses back to the surface if he could even manage it. Let alone cut into its awful innards so VAL could play biologist through him. No, from how Alister described these things, he’d already had enough nightmares for the next week to come from fighting them. Why did everything from the Rifts have to be so damned cursed?

At least the label of monsters fit them.

Alister gestured for them to follow inside. He’d been given the lead of their little foray. Boldwick told him it was time to gain experience leading other Knights.

Erec and Gwen followed close behind, and further in the party trailed Boldwick and Robin, who were busy discussing things quietly. Per Boldwick’s assessment of threat levels, the three of them should be capable of clearing the nest as long as they operated adequately and didn’t make too many mistakes.

If they did, then Boldwick and Robin would bail their asses out.

“So, has Bedwyr talked about me?” Gwen asked from Erec’s side. “Y’know? Since the ball?”

“Do you think me and him talk at all?” Erec asked, baffled that she chose to bring this up as they dived into a monster nest of all the places. Even if he ignored the fact that she thought it an appropriate line of conversation with his younger brother.

“You’re brothers, ain’t you?”

“You saw how we got along—“

“Yeah, I did. But I’m the same with my sibling sometimes, y’know. Little family spats are a thing—“

“Shush!” Alister turned. “Goddess above, was I this empty-headed as a teen?” He called out— his voice even louder than the two of them.

Boldwick shook his head. “Worse. Everyone, focus. Treat every situation as deadly, even if we know this one to be manageable—keep your blade and your wits sharp, all of you.”

Thankfully, Gwen dropped the topic.

With that, they transformed back into a silent expedition and dove into the rocky crags. As they made their way deeper, flecks of discarded skin were left behind, ground off on the sharp edges of the stone and rock. As if these creatures rubbed themselves all over to clear off the flakes. Dark splotches of pus and blood accompanied the dead skin.

[Clearly, a form of molting, though the excessive pus and blood indicate infection. A reaction to a different environment and bacteria?]

Alister paused at a split in the path before taking them down the right tunnel. Further into the dark.

He led them into a small cavern—three slithering things moved in the dark. Their forms were barely perceivable by the dim illumination from Alister’s helmet.

The Knight Errant tensed. “I’ll take the one in the middle. You two fend off the ones on the sides. Once I finish mine, I’ll help you slay yours, understood?” he asked.

Gwen and Erec gave a nod of confirmation.

And Alister charged into the cavern—both Gwen and Erec flicked their lights on to see, though they hadn’t needed to. With a crack, strands of lightning erupted from Alister, lighting the room in an ethereal purple and blue cast. The tendrils wrapped around the hilt of three swords, whipping them into the giant lizard in front of him.

If you could call it a lizard.

The description provided did little to encapsulate these creatures' horror. They had four legs, completed by claws as sharp and as long as small swords. But that wasn't the main feature that made them a blight on this world. No. It was their skin. Boils oozed with pus and popped randomly on their ever-shifting torturous scaly hide. Some of the pimples piled so thick that they formed into mounds of tortured flesh. Their scales seemed overgrown, forming almost tumorous growths over wrinkled skin designed to hold a creature thrice their size.

Alister tore into the monster ahead of him—slicing into the folds of skin to receive a reward of bursting bits of pus and sulfuric gas. The beast roared—turning to try to take care of the human that dared to challenge it.

Erec ran along the side of the cavern as he yanked the war axe free from his back. One of the blister crawlers was in a cavern divot and rapidly moving to get involved in the fight. Even with Boldwick and Robin as backup, Erec had something to prove. This was his chance.

The uneven landscape presented a good opening; he had a good seven-foot drop into the pocket the blister crawler was starting to leave from.

He let out a breath, letting those feelings of anger swirl and ignite. This fight was the first of a few, but he wanted to know.

No. He needed to know. Had his training made him capable of wielding the weapon that was Fury?

Erec jumped into the pit off a rocky outcropping, winding the war axe into a side swing to target the creature’s neck. He fell, using the momentum and his increasing Strength to tear the weapon’s heavy steel edge through the air. It slammed into the scales of the blister crawler. And slid. Unable to find purchase. The wrinkles and surprisingly durable hide made it far more difficult to slice than it should have.

His Armor boots crunched some poor creature's bones as he hit the ground. Pus and dark blood ran from where the axe met the lizard, but it was only a surface wound.

Annoying.

His rage spiraled as the beast scrambled to face him—its long stomach dragging across the uneven floor and pulling away pus and dead skin.

[Incoming, right.]

Erec adjusted his grip on the war axe—catching a heavy blow from the creature’s claw as it tried to kill him. His feet snapped more bones and dug into the ground as it applied pressure. It wasn’t just tolerant to damage; no, it was strong. He skidded across the cavern before that might.

The flame inside of him burned brighter. Rage consumed.

In three seconds, the blister crawler ceased its ability to push him.

A second after, Erec pushed the claw back.

He shoved the creature off with a grunt. His hate burned like a bonfire; the monster seemed surprised that he resisted its attack—equally surprised when he yanked the edge of the war axe through its face and easily cleaved it into a bloodshot eye.

The blister crawler howled a terrible death-warble before rearing up—only to slam its body down towards him.

It was a test.

Would his Strength let him push back?

Erec adjusted his posture to meet the challenge. He’d catch the blow and respond with a counter-attack.

It wasn’t enough to defeat the beast; it needed to know its place. He’d coat the cave in vile blood and paint everything in garish red—

Buzzing. That damn buzzing.

[—tail, tail, watch for the tail, it’s a feint—]

Erec broke the stance immediately, letting out a growl of anger as he started to swing his war axe at the spot the buzzing warned him the blow would come from.

Between the heavy swing of his axe and the momentum of the blistered tail, the weapon's edge tore through the scales and severed the appendage.

Meat flopped behind him as it cried in agony.

Erec slammed the axe into its stomach while it was distracted by pain.

Entrails and pus coated the pit as he finished off the creature. He dragged himself out of the divot. His heart raced as the call for more blood pulsed through his veins.

Hesitantly, two Knights approached. Their lights illuminated him; one had several swords held at the ready connected through sparking tendrils of lightning. The other was much cleaner and not coated in the half-congealed blood and pus.

Worthy enemies.

[Allies. Cease combat.]

The flames inside warred with the metallic voice. How dare it tell him what to do? He needed to taste more battle, to temper himself against a stronger opponent. Nothing compared to his Strength.

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That hot fire inside flooded with an equally cold flame. Those desires to conquer and kill fought with the image of hate for himself, for this power, for his inability to save those he needed to.

Erec’s fingers shook. His arms began to jitter like leaves on a weak branch.

The fires fought one another and burned each other out.

He wasn’t staring at another enemy to wet his blade against. No. Those were further in the cave; there would be plenty. These two were the ones who would lead him to them.

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