Chapter Text
Regmont; the tall mountain the who’s shadow the people of Venia city made their homes in. As with any mountain, it was old and tall, and had a complex network of caves and tunnels running through its insides. Thought it was no volcano, Regmont did have veins of magma running through it deep within its bowels. Because of this, rare and pretty stones could be found deep within the mountain, gems that were excellent (once polished and cleaned) for the use in magic spells and the like. But the mountain was home to many diverse species of monsters, making it tricky to collect the precious gems, as such adventurers found good work in Venia, both in killing monsters and escorting miners to the veins of precious stones.
And that is how a certain someone found himself taking a literal path towards an unusual fate.
The tunnel was just tall enough for his sword to make full down strokes as he hacked through hoblet flesh. The monster let out a high shriek as its arm was severed, blood spraying the walls and ground in scarlet. Its companions were unfazed, charging at him despite how easily he’d de-armed their brethren. He huffed in amusement before darting forward, the tip of his sword points to pierce through flesh. He skewered two of them, then easily pulled his blade free to decapitate a third. The fourth was cut down equally as quickly.
Hoblets were small goblin-like monsters that were visibly smaller than a human child. Their ruff brownish grey hide gave them some camouflage in Regent’s many caves, but they were weak, even despite the fact they move in groups of at least 5. The only time hoblets were a threat was when an adventurer was up against swarms of them, but that was rare and instances were far between.
Wiping the blood from his sword, he sheathed the blade and placed it back against his right hip. Content with his handiwork, the young adventurer quickly scanned the bleeding bodies for anything of potential value. Finding nothing of worth, he shrugged and continued down the tunnel.
Adair was a newer adventure, he’d only arrived at Venia about a month ago. But he was good at what he did, and had a reputation for getting his jobs done quickly and efficiently; something anyone taking these sort of jobs wanted to be known for. Because he was still inexperienced, he hadn’t been given any of the really hard jobs; mostly he was just asked to take care of weaker grade monsters, but he was alright with that. It would be foolish to ask for harder jobs when he was still establishing trust with the adventures center. At the moment he was carrying out a tier 8 mission that requested him to clear out some of the tunnels in preparation for an expedition that was happening soon. He’d done missions like this several times, so he felt confident in his ability to remove a few hoblets and lesser ariacts.
He’d traveled these tunnels hundred of times in the past, so he knew where he was going. Or so he thought.
Because of how deep within the earth the tunnel systems were, natural light rarely was available. The only reason he was able to see in front of him at all was thanks to the charm light he’d received from the center. It was a magic light that gave off a decent amount of illumination, enough for him to fight with in any case, and usually rested at the hollow of his throat to free up his hands. Thinking he was heading towards the surface, he was caught by surprise when his foot landed on a downward incline, causing him to lose his footing. Adair fell forward, tumbling down the steep incline before landing flat on his back with a groan. He mentally smacked himself as he heaved himself up to his feet. His right hip and thigh throbbed angerly at him. The fall and mashed his scabbard into that leg several times on the way down, but thankfully it felt like he was just bruised, badly bruised, but nothing more.
Hissing in pain, he almost missed the wet squelching sound off to his left. Snapping his head in the direction, he peered into the gloom, the sound hadn’t seemed all that far away, so whatever it was might be close by. Pulling free his sword, he was just in time to defend against a green blur charging at him. The thing crashed into him full force, sending him stumbling back, before darting back itself.
Blinking, he found himself face to ‘face’ with a slime. Its round body was about waist height for him, but it was much wider than it was tall, and undoubtedly the green slime was much larger in mass than he was. Cursing his luck, Adair raised his sword. Slimes were a pretty high tiered monster; its gelatinous body was practically impervious to physical weaponry, and certain types of magic were ineffective against them.
He knew no magic, and the only weapon on him was his sword. He was greatly outmatched by the slimy monster. Keeping his eyes honed in on it he started moving back step by step. His only hope was to try and flee from it and find a way out of the tunnel. Perhaps realizing what he was intending to do, the slime zipped to the side –that was another thing about them, they were fast – to cut him off. Tendrils shot out from the slime's body aimed right at him. Yelping in surprise, he ducked and rolled back, grunting as his leg protested.
His back was to a steep incline, and with the state he was in, it was unlikely he’d be able to run up it fast enough to escape his attacker. His only chose was to run in the other direction.
Leaping to his feet, Adair ran in the direction the slime had come from as best as his battered legs would le him. He didn’t like having his back to the green monster, but it was his only option for fleeing. He heard the telltale signs of the slime chasing after him. Why was this thing after him in the first place? He racked his brain for any information he had on the monster, but because he usually never went deep enough to encounter any, he only knew the basics about them. That was another thing, slimes usually lived deeper in the caves, closer to the magma veins. Why was this thing even here?
He didn’t have time to really question it before something wet ensnared his ankle, sending him tumbling forward. His sword broke from his hand and skidded forward out of reach. A second tendril wrapped itself around his other leg as a cold sweat broke out on his brow. He peered over his shoulder to see the green slime inching closer to him rather quickly. Scared, he attempted to kick his legs free and crawl away. Unfortunately, the grip on his legs was firm and didn’t give an inch.
More tendrils wrapped around his body; one on each arm and a fifth around his middle. A finale tendril was forced against his mouth and nose, cutting off his air supply. He didn’t resist as he was pulled against the slime, resisting would use up the air in his lungs faster. His chest burned in protest as the slime dragged him away deeper into the tunnel system, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Blackspots began dancing across his eyes, warning him that he wouldn’t last much longer without a new breath. Letting out a desperate whine, he allowed himself to try and free his face in one desperate attempt to break free.
It didn’t work.
Fear enveloped Adair’s mind as unconsciousness took hold. The last thing he did before blacking out was try and scream.