The Brood Mother laid there limp, her death was not very heroic or climatic. She was killed by weaker creatures, like a lion eaten alive by ants. The worst part about the situation is at the end she managed to get free from the cave exit. If she just had a little more energy she could have crushed them all.
This fact wasn't lost on the group, it was another gamble and they just happened to be on a winning streak. One near loss and two wins, their luck was bound to even out.
They decided the best thing they could do was rest and regroup where they were. They had a very powerful ring of protection and were not going to waste this opportunity.
Elli started to retrieve as many arrows as she could from the bodies. Most were located in the Brood Mother's face and were easy enough to get out, the deeper ones required some wiggling and gentle pulling. All in all she only lost about 10 arrows from it, about a third of her quiver. It will take half a day to refill itself naturally, she placed the rest of the arrows into her storage to have extra later on.
Skye started to lay down roots where they were, finally back in some soil, even if it was very rocky. He was going to use that to help him recover as much mana as he could and make some seeds before they started to travel home. After learning that his roots could transfer water to him, he was ready to start testing what else they could do.
Kai was gone to the world. He really did put his all into this one. He deserved some rest after that. The accumulation of pain has a way of dragging the body down.
Nora slicked her hair back and regained her composure, a bit embarrassed of what happened but knew how to make it right. She started to venture into the cave and brought back the dead bodies. With the Brood Mother gone, the young went into hiding deeper into the cave, so nothing got in her way.
Trip after trip she brought back crushed and mangled corpses, dropping them, then wiping and shaking off her hands, only to go back in again. Once she was done there she started cleaning the bodies and retreating the slivers. She even did so with the Brood Mother, which required some digging around. Eventually she found it, pulling out a beautiful broken crystal, the size of a quarter of a full ball.
It was many slivers fused together, or maybe slivers were just weaker versions of this. Either way it was bound to be far more powerful, thus making it far more desirable.
Skye shifted his vision around, looking at every member, all but Kai who was still passed out saw it. This would be a true test of everyone's character. Would greed show its head now? Would Nora stab them in the back and take it all? Would he trick them into giving it to him?
Nora spoke first
"This looks important. Let's give it to the tall one, he seems the most damaged."
Elli replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah that makes sense he really saved us there"
Skye was shocked, sat there with his mouth open. What was this feeling? The one who was least likely to get it due to being asleep, the most vulnerable of them all, was getting it? Because he was the most hurt and did more work? It felt so fair and foreign.
He has only known greed and self indulgence, the type of situations that leave a bad taste in your mouth. This was like drinking water straight from the glaciers of the old world. So clean, so refreshing.
"I'm so glad I found you guys"
The words slipped out of his mouth in a moment of weakness.
"I'm glad too" Elli replied, giving him a soft smile
"What are you talking about? I found you. How could you find me when yuou were asleep and I was not?"
Replied Nora, her head tilting to the side as she drove her dagger into another creature. Pulling out a sliver while maintaining eye contact she continued.
"But I'm glad I found you. I would have most likely never been able to get out of there on my own."
She looked up at the sky and took a deep breath of air.
"It's nice to be outside. I've never actually seen the sky before"
Yeah it is nice to be outside again, wait..
Skye wanted to ask more, but that time would come. He has slivers to break and monsters to eat.
—-
Kai finally woke up and was delighted that he was awarded the bigger sliver, or maybe chunk would be the best way to describe it. He smirked to himself like it only made sense he would get it without a fight.
"It's only fair after all…"
He mumbled to himself while counting up the rewards. They each got a few handful of slivers and Kai got that plus the granddaddy of all slivers.
"This thing must be at least 20 put together!"
He exclaimed while throwing it up into the air and letting it land with a heavy thud in his hand.
They were back in the forest, and used the surrounding wood to create a fire, gathering leaves to make a bed they would all share. The plan would be to camp here until the morning.
Monster meat was being roasted and their water skins were full. Life was good.
Together, like it was Christmas morning, they started to crack and absorb their slivers. Each time feeling the high of power rushing into their body, their depth of power increased, and their abilities slowly evolved with it.
Skye used a few to feed to Thorn as well. He didn't know why but the bond he felt towards it got deeper with each one.
It seemed like no one was going to receive an Enchanted tool until Kai almost jumped out of his shoes, scaring everyone. He received a weapon. A pair of brass knuckles with long spikes that had leather straps that wrapped around his wrist.
"I didn't know you were a close combat kind of guy. What are they called?"
Elli said as she checked on the meat.
"If I'm good at one thing in the world it's hitting shit. The fact that I got a barrier power thing is a curse from god. If I had a 'punching shit' power I'd be unstoppable. They're called Unforgiving lessons."
He paused for a moment and looked off into the distance, obviously reading what they do. He carried on.
"The spikes break off and are hard to get out, like fish hooks. Alright, let's try them out."
He started to reach towards Skye who saw this outcome from a mile away, instantly getting ready to get out of the way the second he summoned them into reality.
She laughed and replied
"I don't know, I think our abilities are special to us, we just need to figure out how we best work within them."
Kai looked down at Skye why was rolling away
"That explains the worms I guess…"
Skye exited the roll and held up his hands in front of his face
This mother fucker…
Looking back up to Kai who was still standing, deadpan and without emotions he said in a calm and certain voice.
"I'm going to wait until you're asleep and send my roots crawling down your throat and create a seed in your stomach. And when you least expect it"
He brought his hands up and made an explosion motion
"Pop"
Skye sat back down and cracked another sliver like nothing happened. Kai stared for a moment, then pointed at Skye with his mouth hanging open and looked at Elli, who looked away, then to Nora who held his eye contact. She then mouthed the words boom with her eyes wide.
Kai has lived his entire life fighting for what was rightfully his, and because of that he knew when to sit back down. So that's exactly what he did.
Dubs was floating back and forth
"I know you're probably just bullshitting but I think you can actually do that and I kind of want to see it happen. Not on Kai, but like on anything, but also on Kai if you're set on it"
Skye thought to himself;
Maybe I'm really not using this ability to the full extent. I'll have to find some time to test some things. There has to be more to this.
Kai was nervously looking out of the corner of his eye at Skye, who was pretending not to notice. He decided to clear the air.
"I'm just joking, you know that right Kai? If I laid a seed in your stomach I'd do it consensually, not when you're asleep"
Everyone went quiet for a moment too long, then Kai broke out in heavy laughter, followed by Elli and Nora, Skye joining in as well.
"You're a fucked up dude you know that"
Kai said while continuing to laugh, pushing Skye away by the shoulder.
Elli broke through the laughter to say
"You're no better Kai, the first day I found you half dead you still tried to charge me rent"
Nora wanted to join in as well but didn't know how, but still tried.
"When I found you all I could have killed you in your sleep!"
She continued to laugh behind her hand. But for some reason everyone else went quiet. After seeing her today that joke hit a bit different.
Kai cranked his head stiffly to face Nora and said
"Did I ever tell you how beautiful your hair is Nora? I think you're great."
Dubs whispered in Skye's ear.
"This technique is called giving a candy bar to the school shooter, they used to do it in a place called Amer Rah Ca. You should do it too."
Skye was contemplating it as he cracked another sliver, this time hearing a weird voice whispering into his ear.
[You have obtained a mark specific upgrade]
[Mark Minion Upgrade: Squad Leader]
[Description: Single use object, use on a mark Minion to increase their capabilities. Others will follow their lead and be improved in their presence. Mark Minion will begin to think for themselves more.]
Skye read over the description a couple times, trying to wrap his head around it. What does others mean, other Mark Minions? Will there be more than the two now?
He spoke out loud to the group
"Sorry guys, I'm not crazy just need to ask my mark, who I call Dubs, a question"
He ignored Kai mentioning something about him being bad at names and spoke to Dubs.
"What does this mean, will I get more Mark Minions or are they something I can improve and upgrade?"
Dubs was silent for a moment, searching his memories
"I don't know what happens after you form a team, I just know it's important to get stronger as well. When we move on to the next phase I think I'll get more information. It's all blank for me now. But for now, let's get back to base and figure it out."
Elli waited for Skye to look away from his soul guide and asked
"Did you get something Skye? Any new information would help us all out"
He didn't want to hide anything, he trusted them and wanted them all to survive.
"Yeah I got something to improve my Mark Minions, you know the ability your soul mark has, and was just curious about it. My Mark Minions are flowers, I call them my Flower Boys, that can shoot balls of energy that they absorb through the sun and ground. Seems like I can improve one of them to a squad leader, so I was wondering if we'll get more. Two doesn't really make a squad ya know."
Elli nodded in understanding and replied.
"I hope so, for full transparency and cooperation, mine are called Yin and Yang, they can open a portal from one to another, but it's small and only opens for a moment and takes a while to recharge. I wouldn't mind having a few more."
Nora looked up from taking a big bite of meat.
"Mine help me find weak spots on a creature and guide my daggers there. They're called Guiding blights"
Then she looked down to continue chewing, unaware of anything else. Kai looked away into the distance and coughed.
"We should get some rest"
He said to no one in particular. If he just didn't say anything he probably would have gotten away with it, but he was too obvious.
"Hey Kai."
Elli said in a drawn out way. He didn't answer.
"Hey buddy."
Skye said in his friendliest tone.
"Why are you avoiding telling us what your Mark Minions are, are you ashamed of them?"
Asked Nora, interrupting Skye and cutting past the bullshit like always. Kai slowly turned his head around and put them between his knees. He replied to her in a shy voice.
"Mine are called Helpful Fairies… they improve stamina and mana regeneration. They've been floating around this whole time helping us out."
Elli was the first to reply.
"…. Did you name them that Kai, because mine didn't have a name at all"
He stood up to defend himself quickly.
"It wasn't me! It was my stupid soul guide that named them!"
Skye wanted to tell him that his soul guide was a reflection of himself, but his own soul guide had said some weird shit so he wanted to ignore that too.
They continued to crack the last of their slivers in silence, eating meat and taking in the night. Nora got nothing, Kai got the knuckles, Elli got nothing and Skye got the minion improvement.
All in all, a good night to still be alive.