Return to Jorgaldur

Eldi was running desperate, trying the impossible, to arrive before the tiger. He tried to delay it, but it dodged Walls and arrows easily, and quickly shortened the distance with its prey.

There seemed to be nothing that could save the mole-men, unless they were able to dodge the big feline while in their state of confusion, but when it jumped over the hole they had been defending, a huge mouth attacked the predator.

It was a gigantic snake the color of the earth, which had managed to find one of the tunnels of the mole-men, and had found a group of travelers with escort. These, in a desperate decision, had chosen to excavate their exit to the outside, while giving the warning to seal the tunnel. They had bet everything in being able to contain the snake in the narrow tunnels they were creating, then go outside, and locate another of the tunnels that would take them home. But the tiger had surprised them before they could complete their escape.

The snake bite wasn't poisonous, it was only intending to cling to the feline while the rest of its eight meters in length were emerging from the hole. It coiled around the predator, and began to contract its body in order to strangle its prey.

The tiger didn't stand still. It couldn't get to bite the snake or attack it with its claws, but it could roll over the ground, damaging the snake with blows while it still had air in its lungs. However, the reptile's grip was tight, and the damage to it was reduced by its Shock Resistance.

It wouldn't have been such an unequal fight if the snake hadn't taken it by surprise, despite being a level 35 Underground Anaconda. In fact, the feline would have had an advantage in the open ground, even being two levels behind, but once it had fallen into its grip, it was sentenced.

However, the snake made a fatal mistake. With all its attention on its succulent prey, it had forgotten about the other lower leveled beings that were in the vicinity. It didn't consider them a threat, and one of them showed it its mistake.

Eldi didn't care if they killed each other, but whoever survived would probably attack them, so he took the opportunity to attack them first. He used Piercing Impact on the snake, followed by several hammer blows on the spear, and while dodging the movements of the contenders. The spear ended up penetrating the body of both predators, perpetuating their mortal embrace. And he repeated it once more, while they continued their fratricidal struggle.

Since the tiger was still fighting desperately for its life, and rolling on the ground, he also put some Burning Walls to damage them both. And when the feline finally died, the snake couldn't separate from the corpse, so it was difficult for it to fight who was damaging its body with fire and axe. Caught in its victim’s body, unable to move and unable to use all its length, Eldi killed it with relative ease.

With the bodies of both predators being collected by his assistants, and in front of the surprised look of the mole-men, he arrived next to the one who was injured, and who had practically recovered. Since Regenerate recovers his entire health in ten minutes, for someone of lower level it is even more efficient, so he was going to be completely cured soon.

They were grateful for being saved, but they also feared him. He was an inhabitant of the surface, a being with whom they didn't usually meet, and who was present in many of the dark tales and legends of their people. There were numerous accounts of hostile encounters, while friendly ones were scarce. They didn't know what to do in front of the approaching being, a being more powerful than them, and who had saved and healed them.

“Mom, why is he so ugly?” The boy asked suddenly.

Frightened, his mother tried to silence him, to hide him behind her. Everyone feared the reaction of a stranger who, in their tales, belonged to a group of merciless beings with easy anger. In fact, that the man were approaching and making a strange grimace wasn't reassuring to her, and she hesitated when he crouched down at the height of her little boy, some distance away, and spoke to him.

“Surely I am as ugly for you as you are for me. But that doesn't mean we can't be friends.”

Eldi was wearing his best smile, the same that the mother was seeing as a strange grimace. The adults doubted the stranger's words, but not the kid.

“Okay. I'm Cato,” the boy introduced himself, being still held by his mother while watching the strange and ugly surface dweller with curiosity.

“I’m Eldi.”

The adults kept doubting. It was a long tradition what had driven them to hate those who lived on the surface. But one of them went forward, the one who had been injured on the ground.

“My name is Lato. I owe you my life,” he offered his hand.

“Nice to meet you,” Eldi shook hands.

These were somewhat strange hands, with long fingernails that allowed them to dig the earth, and that made some manual labor difficult for them. Although reluctant, the rest also ended up introducing themselves to the foreigner, and shaking those strange soft and almost fingernailsless hands. They were having a hard time understanding the facial expressions of the man, the same for him trying to understand theirs, but he had saved their lives, and they had begun to trust him a little.

They could only be grateful by his offer to escort them until they found a tunnel, because the sky and the forest scared and puzzled them, and they knew they were surrounded by dangers unknown to them.

The mole-people also felt quite guilty when the stranger asked them if they knew a path to the other side of the mountains, because they didn't know the caves, but they knew tunnels that could take him there easily. However, allowing a surface dweller to use their tunnels was something that, even if they wanted to, their people wouldn't allow.

It was when they finally reached a tunnel, after Eldi got rid of a pair of level 32 enemies along the way, that they began to say goodbye. But when he looked closely at the boy and examined his stats, something caught his attention.

“Do you know that Cato could learn magic smithing?” Asked Eldi, who didn't expect all the people–mole to stare at him, eyes wide.