Druid Wanted Omnibus: Books 1-3: A Cultivation Dark Fantasy by Steam Nicholas

Author:Steam, Nicholas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12 – Into the Undercity

We stood in the entry of the tunnel, arms about each other’s waist, waiting for the storm to pass, but it showed no signs of slowing. Neither of us was inclined to rest here, and with nothing better to do, I suggested maybe we explore the tunnel.

“Sana said that the city extends underground. How about we do some exploring?”

Pyrosia glanced down the dark tunnel and shuddered. “I hate the underground. Fuck it, why not?”

She hopped along next to me as we descended. We did not pass any goblins and saw no sign of any life. The tunnel continued downward in a slow spiral until finally we reached the exit, an open doorway above stone stairs dropping into a massive cave so large that an entire smaller town had been built within it. This was not a main passage; it led down behind the buildings, possibly an access chute for supplies to be delivered to the underground businesses.

As we moved between the buildings, I was struck by how different this part of the city was from the surface. Buildings were made more from stone incorporating wood, yet like that on the surface it was designed to meld with the environment, with those built closest to the earth utilizing caves. The workmanship was just as chaotically sloppy, and heaven help the goblins if they had an earthquake.

We moved through the alleys, many staked up with refuse.

“You know what this world could use?” I asked.

“What’s that?”

“Garbage collectors.”

She snorted. “Plenty of goblins collect garbage. If a goblin doesn’t want this shit, then nobody does.”

“That’s not quite what I meant, they need somebody to come hall their garbage away and take to a landfill.”

The alleys were poorly lit, and we moved cautiously, though no trying to act suspicious. When something stirred in a pile of rotten smelling refuse, Pyrosia hugged my arm.

“Probably just a dog or cat,” I muttered. We gave it a wide berth, though, just in case.

When the creature crawled out, we both tried to jump into each other’s arms.

The thing was a weird, two-legged creature, an oval-like body, and a too-large mouth filled with rows of nasty teeth, reminiscent of a shark. The thing was the size of a large dog, Saint Bernard size at least.

“What the fuck is that?” I asked, suddenly wishing for a weapon.

“It’s a chomp,” she said, wide-eyed, “Thank the gods it’s just a small one. It’s probably a stray.”

“Thank guh.. what?! A small one?”

She just nodded and the two of us backed away from it until we’d exited the alley, leaving the chomp behind.

The streets of the undercity were still active, and as we stepped out into goblin traffic, we found ourselves the only non-goblins present. They eyed us curiously, though no one stopped us.

These goblins were subtly different from their surface cousins, with bigger eyes, almost too large, in their green faces. They still reminded me of elves in many ways. They weren’t grotesque, which still surprised me, and thankfully, not as hostile as popular media would have had me believe.

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