Chapter 87 Tunnel solution (1/2)
With the colony as well provided for as I can manage for the time being, Tiny and I once again venture out from beneath the surface and into the forest, resuming our role as scouts.
I really wish I could find out why the forest has been so much more active than when I first arrived here. Is this a permanent increase in monsters or will it start to die down after a while? Because it is getting increasingly crazy up here.
When my fuzzy companion and I start to make our way through the forest we immediately encounter another Bear Tyrant battling furiously against a Lion Ogre. The two ma.s.sive monsters slash and bite at each other, every blow carrying their immense weight and force behind it.
The Lion Ogre leaps forward and attempts to bite with its impressive fangs, trying to rip a huge chunk out of the indomitable bear. However, the part lion monsters is shocked to find just how tough the hide of that bear can be.
Growling like a rumbling volcano the Tyrant bear shrugs off the Lion ogre with a toss of its head before drawing back one paw for a colossal strike. I can see the small puncture wounds on the bear's back closing over, even as it strikes savagely against its foe.
As impressive as this fight between these monsters is, are you guys really sure you want to be slugging it out in this place?
Sure enough, drawn by the roar of combat the scent of Bioma.s.s more monstrous beasts begin to show their faces. First a small pack of Dragon-Wolf cubs, then a t.i.tan-Croc thunders into the scene, followed by a horde of blade tailed mice.
Tiny is practically clawing at the ground, desperate to throw himself into what I can only describe as a monstrous blender of death. Only my indomitable stare and a few threatening snaps of the mandibles manage to prevent him from embracing his inner lemming.
At about this point I decide to NOPE the heck out of there. There is no way that melee stops growing anytime soon! If I thought I could get away with it I'd love to try and nip up a tree, charge a truly ma.s.sive gravity bomb and drop it on the lot of them. After two days of solid digging the gravitational energy gland is about eighty percent full, twice what I had available to annihilate the centipede nest!
In the end I decide to err on the side of caution. Some of these monsters may have been able to detect me as I charged up such a powerful magic, and if I were to be attacked with all of that energy stuck in my throat who knows what could happen?
With an increasing cacophony of sound rising in the forest, Tiny and I retreat and find another path. The scene does bring into the focus the biggest problem I have hunting out here on the surface. Any sort of fight is going to quickly escalate into a similar picture rapidly in this forest. Even moving through the forest undetected has elevated in difficulty once again, testing my stealth to the limit.
Eventually, I've had enough.
Enough!
I'm so tired of b.u.mping into monsters I could fight and win but having to let that Bioma.s.s and Xp slip out of my mandibles!
There has to be a better way to scope out the situation than this!
Grudgingly, I start to shepherd Tiny to towards the edge of the forest, where the trees and overgrown mushrooms give way to the sheer, craggy walls that support the colossal ceiling to this comically large underground s.p.a.ce.
It takes two hours of careful treading, during which I level up stealth once more, before we manage to reach the edge of the forest and take shelter amongst the stone outcroppings at the base of the wall.