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Chapter 140: The Balance of the Jungle
🕑 Added 2023-03-23 17:36:00 +0000 UTCQuick good news: This weekend, there will be a chapter both on Saturday and Sunday. Hurray!
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Jack and Nauja paced through the jungle. The vegetation was dense enough to limit their sight but sparse enough to allow easy passage, while the cave ceiling a hundred miles in the air remained filled with enormous, glowing, yellow mushrooms.
The soil was soft and porous, caving easily under Jack’s feet, and the incessant sounds all around them—from chirps, to buzzing, to rustling, to faraway roaring—indicated that the jungle didn’t care much about their presence.
Brock jumped from branch to branch overhead. This place reminded him of home, the Forest of the Strong. Jack felt the same.
“So,” he said, staying next to Nauja, “that’s all from me. More or less.”
As promised, he’d spent the last half an hour telling her his story, all the way from the first goblin to Trial Planet.
“Sounds infuriating,” Nauja replied, shaking her head. “All those Animal Kingdom people on your planet… They’re very similar to the ones I know. Birds of a feather flock together.”
“How do you know that expression? Shouldn’t it be, pterodactyls of a feather flock together?”
“Pterodactyls don’t have feathers.” She gave him a curious look. “You’re an odd man, Jack Rust. Sometimes I wonder if you’re actually stupid.”
“Wow. Where’s the enthusiasm you had when heading to the tribe?”
“That was before you messed with my life. Now, you’re suspicious again. I don’t believe that’s everything you told my father. There is no reason for…” She gestured around. “...all this.”
“I know.” He shrugged. “But hey, I don’t make the rules. He does. Go be angry at him if you dare.” She glared at him. Jack smiled back. “Now, I told you everything. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You promised to give me all the information you knew. About this place, the delvers, your Forbidden Cave, triceratops milk, your title…”
“I said I’d tell you after we survive.”
“Come on. I gave you a lot of information. Reciprocate a bit.”
She held her glare on him. Jack endured it calmly.
“Ungratefulness breaks the heart,” she finally relented. “Fine. But nothing sensitive.”
“Sure.”
“What do you want to know first?”
Jack considered it for a moment. “Let’s start from the other delvers,” he decided. “How strong are they? How many? What do they do here?”
“Plenty strong,” Neuja replied. She bent down to inspect an animal track, then continued. Truthfully, following the tyrannosaurus wasn’t difficult. It left footprints the size of a dining table. “Trial Planet isn’t exactly packed with delvers, but there are usually hundreds of them in our ring. Even worse, most of them are stronger than us at the same level. They come from the B-Grade factions in the outside galaxy, who stuff their students full of resources and send them here like velociraptors on steroids.”
“How the hell do you know about steroids?”
“We have contact with the outside world. We hear stories. Anyway, the point is that many delvers stop here to rest, recuperate, train, or gather allies. The terrain is much more hospitable than the ring above—or so I hear.”
“It is.” Jack agreed without a second thought. “Insects are terrifying.”
“I don’t understand that, but okay. However, our ring also has a quest: slay a level 115 enemy.”
“Which wasn’t the exact phrasing. It said, ‘defeat.’”
“Same thing. That is not an easy task. Most delvers enter Trial Planet around the middle of the Hill Breaker range, around level 80 or 90. It is the level their factions judge as optimal. They also enter alone. As a result, even if they’re a few levels stronger than they seem, hunting a level 115 dinosaur is risky. They have no reason to do it alone. To facilitate this, the factions have formed camps all around the ring, where delvers can find other people to team up with.”
“Wait a moment,” Jack said. “In the previous ring, I saw three delvers. They weren’t alone, obviously, and all of them were high E-Grades.”
Nauja paused momentarily to raise a brow. “That’s unusual.”
“So it seems. What do you think about them?”
She kept walking. They approached another tyrannosaurus track and angled their path to follow it. “It’s not unheard of. Remember what I said about the optimal level being around 80 or 90? That’s because their factions don’t want to invest more yet. Trial Planet has a high death rate, so they’re basically sending them in at the minimum level of preparedness, and only seriously invest in those who make it back with decent achievements.”
“A high death rate? How high?”
“Seven out of ten delvers never return. Or so I heard.”
“Spooky.”
“It’s because of arrogance. Starting at the Village Ring, everyone can choose to leave through teleporters. Even here, they can choose to backtrack to the surface if things get too difficult. But they’re greedy and arrogant. They press on until they either die or almost die, at which point they finally retreat.”
“But if they return early, they won’t be deemed worthy, and their faction will sideline them.”
“Exactly,” Nauja replied with a hard smile. “It’s what they deserve. They oppress us, but their factions oppress them. The world is merciless out there.”
“And in here.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way here. They are the ones making everyone’s life difficult.”
Jack nodded thoughtfully. “So the ones I saw were precious members of their faction.”
“Exactly. They raised them to a higher level before sending them in, which means their faction already invested in them. They don’t do that for everyone. It’s very rare, actually. And coming in as a team is even rarer. They would have to bribe someone at the outside to make that happen.”
“Why am I not surprised that the Hand of God accepts bribes?” Jack replied cuttingly, thinking back to how Vocrich had just stood by and watched the Animal Kingdom gang up on him in the tournament. “Fucking fuckers.”
“Everyone does.” Nauja shrugged. “There are no good people out there, only less bad ones.”
“There’s me.”
“Give it time.” Her crooked smile turned more twisted. “So, you ran into big-shots. That is not good…but it is somewhat expected.”
“Why?”
“There is an important event happening this time every year in the deeper rings. This is always when the big-shots come. That’s also why we’re hunting this tyrannosaurus now. The beasts of the jungle know not to touch our pens, but delvers grow more numerous this time of the year, so they kill a lot more prey. The large predators get hungry, and they either go after the delvers—which ends badly for them—or after our pens—which also ends badly for them. It is a shame. The delvers commit the same atrocities every year, ruining the balance we have to spend an entire cycle restoring. Why not respect nature just a bit?”
“Because they’re assholes.”
“Are you saying that because you mean it, or to flatten me?”
“Both.” He gave her his best smile. She rolled her eyes, then squatted next to a tyrannosaurus footprint and inspected it. “Why are you looking at these so intently, anyway? They’re so large you could probably see them from the sky.”
“Yes, but their size and depth hide information about the beast,” she replied slowly, still inspecting the massive footprint. “And more than that… We aren’t the only ones who can track a tyrannosaurus. With footprints this large, everyone can, so I’m searching for humanoid footprints near it. If there are delvers already hunting it, we shouldn’t approach.”
“Oh,” Jack said. “That’s actually pretty smart.”
“Of course it is. Why? Did you think I was stupid?”
She wasn’t looking at him, but Jack still felt a chill. “Not at all. I just admired your knowledge. So, is there anyone else hunting it?”
“Not that I can see,” she finally replied, standing up. “Let’s keep going. We’re getting close.”
“Mhm.” They walked on. “So…” Jack spoke again after a minute. “About that Forbidden Cave of yours…”
“What about it?”
“Well, what is it?”
“Forbidden.”
“I know that.”
Silence fell again. Jack considered his next words before speaking. “Is there a particular reason why it’s forbidden?”
“Why? So you can go ransack it?”
“I would never even consider that.” He had considered it. “Besides, if there was anything to find there, I’m sure some delver would have gotten it already.”
She stopped and glared at him, harder this time. Jack met her eyes calmly. He didn’t glare back, but he also didn’t look away, weathering her stare like a stone wall. Eventually, Nauja diverted her gaze sideways, then kept walking.
“It’s nothing too important,” she explained. “We have stories passed down by our ancestors. They mention that the cave should remain hidden and serene…but, as humiliating as this is to say, the delvers got wind of it long ago. They captured and tortured a few of us until someone spoke, more to protect the rest of the tribe than herself. There wasn’t much to say. We know nothing else.
“The delvers have investigated it many times, but there’s nothing. It’s just a deep, empty cave complex. Some of them disappear sometimes, but they’re delvers. They’re probably killing each other to steal their belongings, then blaming it on the cave.”
“Sounds like something they would do.”
“The point is, it’s just an old story. We don’t go into the cave for the sake of tradition. That’s all there is to it.”
“Mhm.”
“You want to go inside and search for your luck.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. And, in truth, that was exactly what was going through Jack’s mind. An empty, forbidden cave where people occasionally disappeared… This sounded too fishy. At worst, it would be empty. At best, he might discover something that everyone else had overlooked. It was a long shot, but it was a cave. How long could it take to explore?
“Of course not,” he lied. Then, after hesitating for a moment, he added honestly, “It does sound intriguing, but your tribe took care of me yesterday. I will respect your wishes.”
“Really?” This time, her gaze was earnest, like she believed him. Jack cursed. The girl was a truth detector.
“Really,” he assured her. It was true. Not being a dick was more important than betting on the one-in-a-million chance he’d find something.
A wide smile blossomed on her face. “Thank you, Jack!” she said. “This is basic propriety, but I know that even this much is challenging for delvers. I appreciate your sacrifice.”
He wasn’t sure if she was mocking him or not. Perhaps it was better not to know.
“How do you do that?” he asked instead. “How do you always know when I’m speaking the truth?”
“I told you. Words of the heart.”
That made little sense. Either she was lying and had a relevant skill, or she had simply gotten lucky so far. To be fair, Jack hadn’t really lied about anything, so getting him right wasn’t hard.
“Sure,” he said. “Then, final question before we get to reptile milk. What’s the deal with your title, the Direc—”
“Shh!” She suddenly stopped, putting a finger on her lips. Jack froze instantly. Above, Brock remained glued to his branch, frozen mid-movement. Nothing happened for a while.
Then, Jack heard it. A faint, deep, rhythmic sound. The subtle shaking of the earth under his feet.
“We’re close,” Nauja whispered, falling into a crouch and nocking an arrow on her bowstring. “Follow me.”
Jack obliged. He did his best to remain stealthy, though he had no relevant skill. Nauja obviously did. Her movements left the environment completely undisturbed and made no noise at all, making Jack wonder whether she’d turned into an illusion. In comparison, his slow footsteps echoed in his ears like war drums.
There are more animals in the jungle, he consoled himself. There’s no way it can hear me. It stomps like an elephant.
Following Nauja’s lead, they slowly crept closer. The small animals that used to flash on the canopy had disappeared now, and the bird cries had lessened, giving way to relative silence.
In it, the tyrannosaurus’s heavy steps were even more audible.
Five minutes later, they entered a sparser part of the jungle. The trees weren’t as thick here, and the bushes clung to their roots, not spreading up to block visibility. Jack could easily make out the lumbering beast that prowled through the woods, head scratching the canopy.
It was enormous. Long like an intercity bus and easily ten feet tall, with a thick tail, an oversized head, and a maw full of wicked teeth. Its two legs were thick and muscular, pressing heavily against the earth with every step, while its front limbs were short and stubby, ending in sharp talons that probably didn’t find much practicality.
It was just like Jurassic Park, but far less comical. And also magically enhanced, probably. No normal beast had the power to smash hills.
Tyrannosaurus Rex, Level 121
The Tyrannosaurus Rex is one of the strongest dinosaur species. They are bipedal carnivores reaching up to forty feet in length and twelve high at the hips, with tails strong enough to act as weapons. Though solitary animals, they are not to be underestimated. Elite specimens have been observed using passive Physical Daos.
Perfect. Daos. Just what a t-rex needed, because it wasn’t deadly enough.
At least this one wasn’t an elite specimen.
The massive beast was currently walking to the side and away from them, probably looking for prey in some deeper section of the jungle. A small, rocky hill was visible in the distance, standing out of the jungle like a bald head, and a dark cave mouth hung open on its side.
“Is that your cave?” Jack asked, but Nauja brought a finger to her lips again, signaling silence.
He had detailed his strength on the way. Now, she saw him as an equal hunter—though she pridefully refused to treat him as such—which made this battle not as suicidal as it could have been.
Watching the tyrannosaurus, Nauja gulped. Jack saw her eyes harden. She was ready.
And he… He had been born ready.
