Sacrifice Mage-Chapter 46: A Nest of Blood and Fangs

Khagnio was chugging down his health potion like he was lost in a desert. The wounds on him were healing, but slowly.
“This settles it,” he said in between gulps. “It’s time we got out of this creepy, Pits-cursed dungeon.”
“What did you to do the sheep for it to attack you like that?” Cerea asked. She seemed a bit annoyed at having her sleep so rudely interrupted.
“I didn’t
do
anything. I was just keeping watch. It was acting weirdly for a while, shaking its head and gnashing its teeth, trying to get loose. I thought that was just how cave-sheep were. And then it tore free from its rope—” At that, the Scalekin glared at me like I was at fault. “—and attacked me!”
“I don’t know, you must have done
something
to piss it off…”
“I’m telling you the truth!”
“I’m more worried that it actually managed to injure you.” Ugnash leaned in to inspect Khagnio’s wounds again. “It’s a cave-sheep, after all. A bite from that shouldn’t even have tickled.”
“That’s why I keep saying we get out,” Khagnio said. “We’re done here. We got the treasure, we’ve filled up Cerea’s Dimensional Storage. By all measures, we succeeded. Now it’s time to get back and cash in on our hard work.”
Ugnash rumbled, still bothered by the incident but clearly finding nothing to oppose in Khagnio’s suggestion.
“Not yet,” I said. “I think this just proves there are Thralls down here, and it’s clear they got to the cave-sheep.”
Khagnio’s coffed with a hiss. “Thralls can’t
make
other Thralls, you idiot mageling.”
“Nope. But Scarseekers can.” I looked at Ugnash. “You said a Scarseeker was the only thing that could have killed our bigger friend here, right?”
I nodded my chin at the huge Greater Brillwyrm behind us all, filling up half the chamber.
Ugnash slowly turned to stare at it too.
“What in the name of the Banished Gods’ puckered holes are you suggesting, mageling?” Khagnio asked in a low, dangerous voice. “That we’re supposed to go and tackle this Scarseeker trying to terrorize your neighbourhood?”
If I thought about it for a second, maybe I
was
suggesting that. Because yes. I had a lead that no one else had found in the week or two they had been searching for the Scarthralls and their whereabouts. A solid lead. It would be stupid to let it go without following up on it.
I kept my attention focused on Ugnash. “You said it yourself, big guy. We can’t do much without solid proof. Well, I think
getting
the solid proof is eminently achievable now. We just need to take advantage of the opportunity we were given.”
“This isn’t an
opportunity
. We’re not being paid to hunt Scarseekers and their pet Thralls. We’re on a dungeon delve for Pits’ sake.”
“Why are you so afraid?” I asked. “The sheep spook you that much?”
Khagnio finally got up, eyes narrowed to slits sharper than his daggers. The way his fangs were bared, I was pretty sure he was resisting the urge to bite into me. “I don’t want to get dragged into messes where I’ve got nothing to gain and everything to lose. I’m being
practical
.”
That was a more reasonable answer than I was expecting, but I still had a feeling there was more to his reaction than met the eye. It had been a bit too strong to be a normal one.
“I agree with Khagnio,” Ugnash said. “This isn’t our business here. A weird cave-sheep incident is just that. Weird. We will corroborate the incident if you choose to it to the city guard, who will hopefully then investigate the matter fully. Perhaps they will even requisition the services of the Adventurer’s Guild and we can look into the matter in earnest. Till then—”
“Ah, screw that. I’m not—” I took a breath to calm down. Ugnash’s mild response to the growing proof of Scarthralls in the dungeon was ticking me off, but it wasn’t like he was
wrong
. “I understand. I’ve got no business asking you to help me in what’s basically a personal matter. But since, as Khagnio says, our job here is done, I’ll take my leave and look into the matter myself.”
I began walking away, following the path that the cave-sheep had gone. It wasn’t the best decision. I knew it. I’d be in a much better place if I had actual backup.
But at the same time, I needed legitimate proof to convince the people I needed to that the dungeon held a nest of Thralls. A nest I couldn’t take on by myself, probably not even after turning into a Scarthrall or even a Brillwyrm with Sacrifice.
If I couldn’t fight, I could at least find the evidence I needed.
“Ross, wait—” Cerea’s voice made me turn around.
“Actually,” I said. “You mind handing me the head or snout of one of the Brillwyrms, please? I’ll pay you back.”
Cerea looked confused, and then a light went off in her eyes. Black-and-white threads sparked before depositing the crocodilian end of a Brillwyrm’s head. I accepted it from her gratefully.
“I’ll see you around,” I said.
Then I Sacrificed the cut-off snout, blood still dripping from the end it had been chopped off at. White energy pulsed through me like sizzling wires before threading out to burn away the snout.
[ Sacrifice
You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Nostril of a Brillwyrm. Windfall bonus activated.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. it.
Reward
: Inherent Olfactory Potency of a Brillwyrm now suffuses your senses for 1 hour and 40 minutes
]
I breathed in deep. The smells hit
hard
. Back when I had transformed in the big fight for the dungeon treasures, I had felt something like what I did now. But it had been more muted.
Now, it was intense. Sacrifice’s entire focus was on just that one aspect of the Brillwyrm, thanks to my very targeted tribute.
“Don’t get yourself killed, mageling,” Khagnio said as I was about to leave the party behind. “Although if you did, we’d have a higher share of the treasure…”
His mood had recovered enough that I heard him laugh as I hurried after the smell. I had located the stench of the cave-sheep. Wet, bloodied, earthy. A weird cocktail if ever there was.
“Take this with you,” Cerea said, quickly catching up before I disappeared.
She was handing me one of the Darkstick lamps. I didn’t have one of my own.
“Oi, those are expensive,” Khagnio warned.
“Shut it, Khagnio.”
That was Cerea, not me. I just thanked her for the lamp. It would be useful in the dark.
“We will wait for an hour at the entrance,” Ugnash said. “Be safe, Ross.”
“We’re going to
wait?
” Khagnio asked.
I just thanked Ugnash too, then raised an arm for a departing wave as Cerea called out to be careful too before following my target.
The tunnel was much narrower than the ones I had gone through so far. There was a different scent alongside the cave-sheep’s that was growing stronger the deeper I went. At least the Darkstick lamp was lighting up the way.
If I stopped to observe, I found little drops of blood on my path. I tried not to step on them. They had to have come from the injured sheep.
I knew the situation wasn’t ideal. It wasn’t like I was being extra careful. Being silent was very hard with the clinks of armour and with my footsteps on the rock. My muscles were tense, ready to react at any sign of danger. I was using Gravity to lighten my weight, and it helped for sure, but I was no rogue like Khagnio.
Eventually, I reached a very narrow section. The passage grew so thin, I wasn’t even sure if I could push my way through it.
And that was the trap, wasn’t it? Because if I did force my way through, getting out wouldn’t be so easy. I couldn’t see any Thralls on the other side, couldn’t hear anything from them, but the sheep had gone through this tiny section. More of its blood was smeared on the rocks, its scent leading me straight into the crack. So I had to follow as well.
I squeezed through.
It wasn’t an easy fit. I wasn’t bulky like Ugnash, but I still had to take off my armour and suck in my chest before could edge through. It wasn’t mentally fun either. Even if I wasn’t claustrophobic, my breaths and heartrate sped up. My spine tingled. My muscles clenched.
Spelunking had never been on my holiday bucket list. Maybe I even had to re-evaluate my status as a non-claustrophobe.
I was through after a while, though, and I pulled my gear in after me. Just had to tie them with a rope before going through the crack and then pull them in after me.
Putting my armour back on as quickly and quietly as I could manage, I took a look around. I had entered a different tunnel. Or rather, more like a long, wide, and tall chamber that stretched out in either direction from me. The second smell I had been following grew a lot stronger. A heavier stench of dried blood and rotting meat.
Despite the light from the Darkstick lamps, I couldn’t see much in any direction. I did note that there were what looked like rocky platforms over me. Ledges wide enough for people to stand on.
For Scarthralls to lurk on.
I edged forward carefully. Finding the bloodstains from the injured cave-sheep was my—
A scratching, scuffling sound made me pause. I considered the possibility of finding the cave-sheep again. But this was heavier.
Higher
. I was pretty sure even vampiric cave-sheep couldn’t climb rocks.
Another scuffling motion, and this time, I threw myself back. It was my new and improved monstrous sense of smell that had alerted me.
The smell of a decaying wound, of rotting meat and drying blood, of
hunger
, all fell from above.
I wasn’t at all surprised that a Thrall had landed in front of me. The monster turned, uncaring that it had missed, looking to lunge. But I had already jumped. Power boosted my upwards leap, and lowering my weight with Siphon allowed me to reach almost as high as the ledge. And then I was slamming back down with Infusion driving up my weight, bearing down like a crushing boulder.
Maybe I was lucky that Scarthralls didn’t have the strongest instincts for self-preservation. The Thrall didn’t even try to dodge. Two arms shot up, like the dishevelled, dirty former man really believed he could just stop me with brute force.
He hadn’t counted on me weighing about ten times what my appearance suggested.
My knees crushed his arms and hands like they were fleshy putty. The feeling of his bones cracking and splintering travelled out of his arms and chest to reverberate through my own body. A thrill of primal satisfaction coursed like a mini lightning bolt up my spine as I finally touched down, the monster’s torso partially mangled beneath my weight.
He was screaming of course, but I shut that up pretty quickly. It just took me bringing my mace down on his mouth and neck. More blood splattered everywhere.
All I could feel though, at that moment, was the lack of stomach-churning, bile-burning disgust that I had felt with the Brillwyrm massacre. It was still there, definitely not gone. But unlike at the end of my monstrous transformation, it wasn’t overwhelming.
I considered what to do for only a second. Asking him questions and learning about what was going on in the dungeon was my first impulse, but that was too dangerous right now. Especially with how I had let the bastard scream. Oh, and his mouth was destroyed.
Proof. All I needed was proof.
I pulled out a knife from my belt. Sacrifice burned through me along with adrenaline.
[ Sacrifice
You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Bladed Weapon. Windfall bonus activated.
Reward
: All blows with aggressive force will now possess a slashing effect for 25 minutes
]
The vampire’s eyes went wide when he saw my fist rise high. He was struggling to free himself, but all he could really move were his legs, which didn’t do much. I had already crushed his mouth and gullet and half the rest of his body.
Which wasn’t enough. I needed something legit I could carry off.
Loud claps made me pause. And steps. A lot more footsteps than I was prepared for. They were all around me, both above and on either side in the long chamber.
“Is that the one?” a raspy voice asked.
“We got him!” yelled another. “The only one brave enough.”
“A feisty one too!”
“I think he was one off ‘em killers.”
“That he was!”
There were too many of them. All mangy, bloodied, rotting figures, barely human anymore. I’d have called them zombielike, but they had too much alacrity and intelligence to be that. It was more like they had given up entirely on the vain idea of what their appearance was now that they weren’t human any longer.
My heartbeats were shooting through the roof. I had always known a situation like this was a distinct possibility. This had been a calculated risk.
They had crowded around me, slavering, licking their fangs, fingers working like mad.
“You going to come quietly?” the one in the lead asked. “Or are you going to make this
fun?
”
I laughed. The fist I had paused crushed down, stabbing not into my captive vampire’s neck but into his chest instead. When I pulled out my hand, I had the heart clutched in my grip, still pulsing, still connected to the rest of the Thrall’s body with rotted veins. Idiot vampire hadn’t even remembered to move his heart away.
“What I’m
not
going to do,” I said, getting to my feet while maintaining my weight on the vampire beneath me. “Is let you think you’re going to have an easy time of this.”
“Is that right?” The vampire in the lead raised his hand, motioning the rest of his group forward. “Then how about we—”
A spark of lightning arced through the air, faster than any of us could even react. It zapped into a Scarthrall’s eye, making her scream as she fell from a nearby ledge.
“I can’t see!” she shouted as she thumped down a dozen feet from me.
I was too distracted to note the distance between me and the fallen vampire. Zaps to eye. I
knew
that.
“On second thought.” I raise my mace. “Let’s have fun.”
I attacked, screaming out as I charged. I wasn’t the only one.