Chapter 88: Ambush

It seemed to Kothar as if there were more and more junctions within the cube as he walked further inside, the maze becoming more and more complex, with the passageways sloping upwards and downwards, seemingly at random.

Sometimes, Kothar would be walking up a steeply sloped passageway, only to find the same passage sloping down all of a sudden. If not for the map that Silane had dutifully projected, Kothar would have been hopelessly lost within the cube. 

The map wasn't random as he first expected, it formed the beginnings of a complex pattern that was reminiscent of the glyph that he had seen on the outside wall.

As he drew near to the center of the cube, the electromagnetic field grew stronger and stronger, whatever was powering the huge structure would likely be found near the source of the field.

[What do you think this was all for?] Kothar asked Silane, he could do with one of her sarcastic comments right about now, the featureless walls and endless corridors were beginning to get to him.

[Whatever its purpose, it definitely isn't carrying it out now. The electric field is characteristic of an idling device, so when turned on, it must utilize an enormous amount of power. As for purpose, I couldn't say, it could be anything, a temple, a power plant, or perhaps even some kind of enormous engine.] Silane was slightly distracted, she had spent the past half hour trying to decipher the glyph they had found earlier, comparing it to the inscriptions on the rubble outside.

[I wonder if the powersource is portable.] Kothar said excitedly, the cube might just give him the opportunity to create one of the things he had been looking forward to the most.

[You want to stick whatever is powering this massive structure into that little spaceship schematic you drew up? It'll probably take up the entire thing.] Silane sounded half baffled, half excited. As foolish as it seemed, she loved to experiment with completely unlikely designs.

[Think of the possibilities Silane, and we'll be able to explore all of these planes so much more intensively. Even on Eclat, people have scarcely considered exploring beyond their home planet, since interplanar travel is so ingrained into their lives.] Kothar was completely swept up in imagining all the possibilities of endless worlds with virtually untouched space around them.

He was so engrossed in his imagination, that he failed to notice the slight fluctuation in the electric field around him, which registered only as a slight increase in the feedback from the belt.

Luckily for Kothar, Silane's attention was not so limited. She detected it instantly.

[Kothar! There's something around the next corner, and it's moving.] Silane yelled out before Kothar could continue further down the corridor. 

[You think it's alive, or some kind of machine?] Kothar asked, immediately wrapping his dark cloak around him and pressing himself against the wall of the tunnel.

[The field is fluctuating, I'm thinking alive. Whatever it is, assume it is hostile. We can't be too careful.] Silane showed Kothar a projection of what the creature might look like, and Kothar almost let out an audible gasp.

It was huge, almost filling the entire width of the corridor, which itself was already large, it would have to be at least four times Kothar's size. He could roughly see its shape, and whatever it was, it definitely was not humanoid.

Kothar crept forward slowly, inching closer and closer to the corner. Before he looked around, he channeled some mana to his left eye, hoping he would see a mana signature.

There it was, the creature's mana was sparse, but it either wasn't from this plane or absorbed mana actively from its environment, either of which were bad signs for Kothar.

Now that he could see its mana, Kothar could see the structure of the creature, it was roughly the shape of a praying mantis, except much larger, and much, much sharper. It had a pair of savage claws crossed at its chest, and its legs ended in pointed blades.

[Why is it always insects? First on Idwa and now here.] Silane groaned, insects were perhaps the type of organism she found least interesting, quite possibly because they could be found everywhere. It had been a rare moment for her and Kothar to find a planet without insects when they had been exploring for the Alliance, and it seemed exploring the multiverse would be the same.

[I'm going to get a proper look at it.] Kothar ignored Silane's rant about insects, he had heard it hundreds of times before, especially when they discovered a new beetle species on what they thought would be an uninhabited planet.

Kothar peeked around the corner, and found himself staring into the wide open, multi faceted, massive eyes of the mantis.

He almost threw himself backwards, but noticed the folded arms and neatly tucked in legs. The mantis didn't move.

[I think it's sleeping.] Kothar remarked, noticing its antenna were not waving about as they typically would.

[Or dead, I hope dead.] Silane replied, her inherent dislike of insects showing.

[It could just be waiting for me to get close enough, I mean, that is exactly how mantises hunt, well, the ones back on the Garden at least.] Kothar didn't dare to get any closer, he had seen first hand how a mantis would wait for its unsuspecting target.

Kothar began to send an enormous stream of mana to his left hand, his shoulder unit had been well supplied on Atla, and he could afford to even keep mana intensive spells prepared.

As the Bolt Barrage charged up, Kothar thought he saw one of the mantis' antenna twitch very slightly, and stared even more closely at the mantis.

"Oh s***!" Kothar yelled, as he saw the mantis gathering its mana in its pointed hind legs.

Kothar threw himself backward, as the mantis launched itself toward him, its massive claws scything through the air, propelled impossibly fast by its mana infused back legs.