11 Chapter 11- Stagmites

As Ivan opened the hatch to the surface, the three heard a loud voice call out from down the stairwell.

"Ivan, you're heartless! How could you leave me behind?"

Dubs looked back to see Clark panting and sweating as he stumbled his way up the stairs.

Ivan rolled his eyes and sarcastically replied,

"If you don't wanna be left behind then why don't you keep track of time and stop spending all your time eating?"

Lilith let out a giggle, and the mood lightened.

Clark laughed and looked forward, ready to press on.

"Were moving out, be on your guard at all times. Newbies, stay behind me if we encounter an enemy. Don't be eager to fight, your time will come."

Dubs and Lilith acknowledged Ivan and the four of them stepped outside. The dusty trapdoor closed with a squeal followed by a click as it automatically locked.

The sun glared in Dubs eyes, and he squinted and hid his eyes with his hand. This was the first time he had seen daylight, and this was not a common sight among even the citizens of the empire. Only mercenaries ever went outside, so the existence of the sun wasn't common knowledge.

Lilith spoke out astounded, "What is that?! It must be a fire spell, right? How could there exist a person powerful enough to cast something so huge?"

Ivan and Clark burst out in laughter, and wiping tears from his eyes, Clark spoke.

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"That's no magic. That is the sun, which is a giant ball of fire that exists millions of miles from us. Its a natural object."

Lilith became even more surprised, hearing that it was something natural. "I suppose the surface is indeed a strange world. And look at the surroundings! I've never seen anything so green and luscious before!"

Looking around, Dubs noticed that they were in the middle of a plain, that spanned as far as the eye could see. Grass spread out like a blanket in all directions, and aside from a few small hills, the area was flat.

There were no roads to be seen, but Ivan seemed to know what he was doing, so Dubs didn't fret over it.

The trapdoor became transparent, and eventually vanished from Dubs' eyes.

"Is this some sort of concealment magic?" Dubs asked.

"Yes, that's right. Our HQ needs to remain hidden from the empire, and so we've taken as many precautions as possible to avoid our exposure, Including disconnecting the base from the city tunnels, and having the only entrance be from the surface." Ivan replied

Ivan began to walk, glancing to the right and then to the left every few seconds. He was being very cautious, as if enemies could appear at any moment, however after a minute of scanning he picked up the pace and started lightly speed walking.

Clark took the read guard, and held his crossbow in his right hand, loaded and ready to fire.

The group's footsteps seemed to echo across the plains, as they treaded silently. Dubs began to feel anxious, and remained silent so Ivan could concentrate.

An hour of silent walking passed, and the scenery had remained more or less the same. A marshland appeared in the vast distance, and Ivan held out his hand to signal a halt.

"In that marshland, a contact of the resistance resides. We will stop by there when we arrive to restock our supplies and rest for the night, however around the transition to the marshland there are typically creatures waiting to prey on travelers like us."

Ivan began to cast a spell. A map appeared in front of him, and he called out [Scan Area].

On the map, a radar like beam scanned the area, and a number of red dots appeared, all scattered around their location.

"Clark, Prepare for battle! Recruits, stay behind me!" Ivan called out.

Ivan unsheathed his blade and took a fighting pose. Clark took aim at the ground with his harpoon crossbow, and the ground began to rumble from underneath the party.

Clark fired the harpoon at a spot in the dirt, and before Dubs could comprehend what happened, the ground had opened up, revealing an insectoid creature. It had the form of a centipede, however with only 6 legs on each side. On its face, which was peeking out from the dirt, were a pair of large pincers, similar to a stag beetle.

Clark's harpoon pierced the mouth of the creature and a splatter of guts and blood exploded from the creature when Clark pressed a button to retrieve the harpoon. A brown aura covered the harpoon, and Clark caught it in his hand as it flew back to him

He quickly slid the harpoon back in the crossbow and with a spin turned a full 180 to attack another spot on the ground.

Meanwhile, Ivan had crouched over, waiting for the enemies to strike. He held his shortsword with his left hand, and rested the blade in between his right index finger and thumb.

Three of the creatures emerged around Ivan, simultaneously attacking. The ground shook and rumbled, but Ivan kept his balance and bent to his right side, where one was attacking him from.

With a thrust of his right leg, his body flew towards the creature, while it was caught in the air. In the blink of an eye, the sword had stabbed in and out of the creatures throat, and the tip of the blade had returned to its original position between his fingers.

The creature let out a squeal before dropping to the ground, and Ivan did a roll to realign himself towards the other two monsters.

The other two began to squirm towards him, their legs twitching and wriggling. Ivan let go of the tip of his sword and tossed it into his right hand. He grabbed a dagger from under his trench coat with his left, and jumped into the air with his weapons crossed on his chest.

Performing a flip, he gracefully slid the weapons across the necks of the creatures on his sides before he landed on one knee. Guts spurted from the creatures and they began to tremble and twitch until they drew their last breaths.

"These guys are amazing," Dubs thought. "If I were to go up against either of them, I wouldn't stand a chance. Isabelle said that I have a complete resistance to magic. Even assuming that is true, their physical abilities would be more than enough to finish me off. I had better improve my physical abilities quickly, as well as learn how to use magic."

Clark finished off the second creature that had emerged, and wiped the guts from his harpoon with a cloth.

"Good work Ivan, we should be in the clear now." Clark stated

Ivan agreed and pressed forward into the swamp.

"What were those creatures that we encountered, Ivan? How strong were they?" Dubs asked.

"Those were Stagmites. They're insectoids that have been radiated with magic energy, and their life forces are strengthened by magic of the earth class. A normal human would have no way of dealing with these monsters, as just being near them is enough to cause some radiation poisoning. Since you guys have gone through the experiments you should be fine."

Ivan thought for a second

"However, Lilith, if you were to get bitten by one, you would probably die. They inject a lethal amount of energy into their targets through their pincers. So take care to stay away from them."

A shudder went down Lilith, but she nodded quietly and the four pressed onward.

Ivan looked at her and reassuringly stated

"We shouldn't have any more distractions until we reach the checkpoint. Lets go."