Spirit Taming

Immediately, Clark could sense that there were powerful monsters below them. But right when he expected to see some on the first floor, he was left with nothing but dimly lit connected chambers to see.

"The entire floor is abandoned?" this wasn’t what the group had expected to see. Ella was trying to search everything in her head for a reason that there would be nothing in sight.

"There shouldn’t be a species of beast that can hide in an empty place like this, right? Even if it was another chameleon species, I should be able to pick it out." With how Jerold and his partner had grown, seeing through camouflage chameleons was easy to them. Other beasts would be tougher.

"That’s not what this is. Everything here has been hunted and captured. Even if there were beasts still hiding somewhere in the cracks and crevices, they would starve to death trying to avoid monsters." There was a feeling of sadness in Maria’s voice.

The moment that everyone had realized nothing was here, was the moment that she had realized that there was nothing there because they had been hunted to extinction on this floor.

"That means that the cultists are not using this section for anything because they found it worthless. My soldiers will spread out and examine every chamber within this floor. We will continue downwards." The elven captain was making it clear that they would be leaving soldiers behind on every floor to maintain safety. To ensure that nothing came from behind to attack them.

"There are clear drag marks here. They move items through this section more often. That means the entrance to the second floor would be this way." Jerold took the lead song with a few other elves with tracking skills. They were murmuring to one another about tracks and how many might have come through.

This level of skill was what Jerold had been working on and was still developing since the elves were not sharing their own knowledge with him. It appeared that they could care less about his race. They found that someone shared their focus on growth when it came to natural tracking and hunting. Why wouldn’t they speak with like minded people? Especially when it was an ally that was going to help their entire city?

"There’s something odd over here. This side passage connects to a room full of rock poles. About the size of a small chest." one scout called out from just barely ahead of the front group. They had looked ahead and been surprised to find one of the side passages with a small chamber attached full of small stone piles.

’Stone child body- uncommon

This is a small beast that makes its body from stone. It is more closely related to a golem, but it is actually able to form a body entirely out of stone. When parts of its body fall off due to low energy, those pieces will often form together in to a new stone child. The one that loses pieces of its body will regain energy over time and draw more stone to themselves to become part of their body.

The stones from its body can be used to make unique tools that better channel earth energy. However, these materials from this body have been forcefully drained of all the earth energy and will be unable to reform at all.

The body has been completely ruined by chaotic earth energy...’

Clark spoke out loud describing what these beasts had been. He was sure that these were the smallest beasts within the domino dungeon that they had come in to. But that presented an issue. These were the size of a small chest already. Naturally, if they were the smallest beasts here, then how much larger would the beasts get?

There was a great chance that by the twentieth floor that the beasts were easily larger than a house, if not close to a mansion in size. That would present a harder battle because the forces that reached those areas would need to be further away. Even if the dungeon floor was larger, there were so many soldiers that had joined their joint army that it would make things hard to maneuver.

"We will need to pay attention to how many of our forces proceed behind us. We can already see the issues here." Clark pointed out the flow of soldiers behind them. The passageways were large, but the rooms were filled with soldiers at a standstill waiting for the chance to move forward.

"I agree, we will have the elite forces move ahead with us and then they will bring the supporting forces behind so that we can manage what we find. I expect we will have additional forces rescuing any victims we discover."

This was where the large number of soldiers came in to play. As much as they were here to destroy the blood moon cult, they were not just here for that. How many people had been kidnapped and dragged here? What number of them were even still alive?

They needed to be rescued as soon as possible.

Turning away, Clark kept pushing forward. The group in the front had surrounded the second floor staircase. They could move down but there was a more oppressive energy coming toward them.

As the small figure came out in to view of the dim lighting, everyone realized just how terrible the cultists were all over again.

"They used the stone child and children to make a monster..." The way Grace spoke was filled with horror and pain. She had never imagined that the cultists were so terrible that even the smallest children could be used as monsters.

’Pebble child- monster

An unthinking monster created by forcing a child and a stone child to fuse together using the spirit beast as a catalyst. This is an unstable form that will eventually crumble in to nothing due to the lack of proper energy flow through the entire body. The oppressive earth energy is just the loss of earth energy at a rapid rate due to the failure of a stable form...’

Clark spun his spear and beheaded the pebble child. He looked back with calm eyes. "If you see any more of these monsters, kill them immediately. They are falling apart due to losing all their energy. Eventually they will crumble in pain and suffering. Help them move on while we search for survivors and their attackers."

A larger weight than before formed on everyone’s shoulders. It was a weight that came from their very morals as respectable races. They had no desire to do such things as kill children. Even if they were monsters. But looking at the fact that rocks were falling out of the partially human body... everyone understood how one’s body should not break down in that manner.

The dwarves saw a child that could never lift a hammer. One that had no hope of continuing. The elves saw a being torn from the natural flow of nature. One cursed by evil beings who needed to be brought to proper justice.

The human soldiers saw what was left of the fallen cities. Some had even fled those cities while protecting the people. Now, they were where to hunt the ones that burned those cities to the ground. Bring them to death where they can pay for the sins they committed.

Stepping foot on the second floor, Clark saw many things. Dissected beast parts, smaller pieces of metal that had been roughly forged in to odd tools, and most of all, monsters.

’Terra claw cat- monster

This is a terra cat forced to fuse with elves to create a stronger earth being. Unfortunately, this caused them to awaken a more powerful instinctual fighting ability. They will only follow the orders of those with more strength than themselves.

Due to their fine tuned reactions, they are very adept in cutting things with their stone claws. They can cut through smaller layers of skin and even cut through layers of bone easily. Because of this, they are used to cut apart beasts bodies to be used in fusion experiments and dissection.

They are also forcefully fed other earth type beast parts to forcefully strengthen their sharp stone fur. Due to this, they are constantly in pain...’

The terra claw cats were larger than the stone children, but they were quick. They all reacted when Clark had stepped down the stairs. A few larger ones appeared to have some mentality as they were acting as leaders for them.

But there wasn’t any sign of a more powerful monster in this massive stone chamber. Whatever was ordering them to guard this floor right now was deeper down. These monsters were left behind just to attack and cause damage. Everyone knew that the moment that they reached the floor.

Clark stepped ahead, his speed matching theirs as he whipped his spear around to slash through the tougher stone fur. He could see the foam in their mouths as proof that they were always in pain. The bloodshot eyes were even more proof that there was some aspect of the elves within them still. Wishing for it all to end so that they did not need to suffer any longer.