Chương 77: BtWB Book 2 (A Malady of Mimics) Prologue

"Petyr! You keep holding that wall up or I swear to the Deep Lady I'll kill you before those bugs can! Kal! Hugh! You two get off your asses and help the others tip the carts on their sides to make a barricade! Everybody get moving if you want to live!" As Davin Welk glared out at the mass of monstrous insects barely held at bay by their sad excuse of a barrier specialist, he felt overcome by equal parts fury and dismay; continuing to call out orders even as a part of him realized that this might be it.

That these might be the last moments of both himself and the remaining members of his merchant caravan. With the truly insufferable part of it all being that he should have known better. The eight-node region west of Highpoint had been getting more dangerous for years, ever since a monstrous infestation had taken root deep inside one of the local mountains.

It had started out small, with the F-ranked pests largely just forcing travelers to keep a closer watch on their supplies; but that quickly changed once the first mining outpost had fallen. With a copper Node under their control, the creatures almost immediately transformed from minor nuisances, to a concern that required serious consideration before making travel plans.

With most of the smaller caravan groups – his included – avoiding the area for just that reason; unwilling to risk transporting goods from the local communities until the problem was taken care of. Unfortunately, the problem never got taken care of. With the species in question not tending to break past 'E' rank, none of the higher-ranked adventuring crews were interested in dealing with it.

And given the massive numbers they tended to swarm in, all of the lower ranked ones found it too dangerous for the potential benefits. Especially considering the only payment the locals could offer were ownership rights over the poorly-enchanted copper Nodes the monsters had already stolen from them. Still, for the last few years the situation had remained stable if unpleasant. Travel into and from the area had dried up immensely, but that also made for the occasional opportunity.

A near equal number of merchants gloating over how much money they'd made from desperate farmers in the region as there were bankrupt former colleagues despairing over their choice to venture into monster-inhabited lands. Previously, the numbers had never made sense to Davin; the risks involved too high for too little reward. At least until it was announced that the locals had finally coughed up the coin to hire a proper extermination run, one which had cleared out the nest closest to the surface.

The first few caravans through the route boasting of cheap prices and clear roads.

'Clear roads' that were now covered in an undulating mass of monstrous insects; both his group and the remains of a goblin convoy forced to take cover in the long-since-looted ruins just north of the main byway. The still-remaining enchantments left by the Cursed Ancestors allowing Petyr to greatly expand his usually twenty-or-so foot barrier to protect everyone there, wagons and all. Protection which Davin apparently needed to remind the Goblin merchant they weren't giving away for free.

"Oi! Greenskin! If you want any chance of surviving the next two minutes, you better put some steel in your slaves' hands and get them manning the walls! That wagon won't save you from what's out there!" The fat, higher-ranked goblin jerked upright at the sound of his voice, previously having been bent over screeching at one of its much-smaller servants.

The creature momentarily looked as if it wanted to argue with him before managing to still its features, merely replying with a grunt and a quick statement to the rest of its retinue; most of which nodded before grabbing spears and maces from the sides of the overbuilt wagon and heading towards the barricades his crew were forming up between the existing walls. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Davin noticed the two largest of the creature's slaves – most likely its direct bodyguards – stayed behind with it as they locked themselves within their enchanted cart, but left without trying to reason with the beasts. They were near enough to monsters themselves, no point in being surprised by any stupid or suspect actions. He just hoped chewing through the smaller ones distracted the insects long enough for his crew and him to get out of this alive.

Just as he was about to head to the barricade himself however, Davin realized he didn't see Kal or Hugh either shifting the remaining wagon or standing at the wall. The sight made him immediately change direction even as he ground his teeth together. He was aware that neither of the younger men had handled the monster attack terribly well, but if they thought he was going to let them hide amongst the luggage while the rest of them risked their lives, then they fucking thought wrong.

It only took him a few moments to get to their location, rounding a stone wall to see them both staring at the remains of a storage chest that had apparently been crushed during their escape. Their apparent nonchalance concerning the current situation leaving Davin feeling less than charitable in his reaction.

"KAL! HUGH! What the fuck are you two waiting for! We're about to get overrun out here!" He was about to continue on as he noticed the men turn to stare at him, but found the words frozen in his mouth when, in a moment of hair-raising terror, the box sitting between them did the same.

Davin raised up the club he'd already used to crush more than a few of the attacking bugs, quickly opening his mouth to shout a warning at the two idiots stupidly squatting next to what had to be an evolved mimic; hoping he could get out the words in time. And then the monster moved. A part of its crushed anatomy clicked open, shooting out what looked to be the nightmarish lovechild of a coil of hemp rope and a mess of still-living intestines.

Davin wasn't even able to blink before his most recent hires were snapped up by it. The two young men whipped about like ragdolls in the hands of a toddler as the creature raised them in front of itself. With just that single action he realized the situation was dire, the Strength and Dexterity scores required to move that fast placing it at least at mid D-rank. What happened next however, immediately elevated its danger level from 'dire' to 'regionally catastrophic'.

At first, when the creature paused and his men mildly dipped in the air, Davin felt hopeful; encouraged by the sign that its injuries were as serious as they appeared. Then, however, the creature suddenly shuddered in place; and Davin's mind went blank. Because he recognized that shudder. It was one he witnessed multiple times daily as his crew went about their tasks around the caravan. One that he himself had experienced unknown thousands of times over the course of his life, starting from his twelfth birthday.

One he had been trained to fight through and plan for in combat during his brief stint with the Regional Guard. And it certainly wasn't one that some random monster, especially one that looked to be made entirely out of scrap lumber, should be exhibiting. As the creature regained control of itself, a horrifying and unthinkable fear began to form inside his mind. An unthinkable fear that quickly proved itself true as the creature 'spoke'.

The mace in Davin's hand growing heavy as what sounded like the screams of a thousand damned souls were pulled together to form a single voice.

'EYe NooO WeeSh ToOo fIght. REEquESt pEEcful NeEegOciAtions.' As the 'voice' rattled around inside his ears, Davin found himself barely even conscious of the struggling men in front of him; mind beset by half-remembered cautionary tales from his childhood. The kind your Nan would tell you when you wandered past the village barrier one time too many. The kind you never really believed, even when the adults around you swore them to be true. The kind about there being things out there worse than monsters.

"Oh, holy lady of the roads…" He found himself saying even as he tried to force his body to move; to run away from the area or at least die bravely attempting to kill the atrocity while it was still injured.

"It's a fucking abomination."

"…PaardoOn?"