Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 373: Boom

"Are they only coming from one side?" I asked.

"I only hear them on one side." Garm replied, while pointing with his left paw.

"We should fall back to the hole anyway. Actually, what if we make a stand outside?" Helena suggested.

"You mean we can see if we get a usable corpse and how many there are before Cassie collapses the tunnel?" I asked.

"Meow." Yoru made a sad sound while looking at all the uneaten corpse parts. Nyx grew to her full size and quickly dragged a larger piece of a bug outside.

"We definitely should be in a position where we can collapse the tunnel quickly. Do you know how much explosive you need, Cassie?" Skadi asked.

Cassie shrugged. "I am not an engineer but I do have a nice bomb made with vampiric nightshade seeds. I have some other explosives as well. If it does not collapse with the first boom just add more boom."

"Right… Ok, I will take the front. Will you join me, Hatsumi?" Skadi asked.

"It would be my pleasure." Hatsumi replied, while forming her blood claws.

Skadi was coating her axe in blood and both spellblades changed their runes to increase their durability at the cost of speed. All of us retreated back outside while the cats desperately tried to salvage as much food as possible.

"Don't risk yourself for snacks!" I warned them.

"I do want to alarm everyone but it sounds like a lot of bugs." Garm said, as we took our positions.

Hatsumi and Skadi stood directly in front of the hole. They were flanked by Garm to the left and Nyx to the right, who finally stopped grabbing food. The other cats dumped their snacks and readied themselves behind the front line. Kaito joined them, with Goro at his side.

I stood at the rear with Helena, who was already preparing an ice spell. Cassie was busy reading her bombs and Rose walked next to me.

"I will protect you, in case something breaks through." She said, while drawing her arming sword.

I nodded, then I contemplated my own options. Perhaps some necrotic water would go well? I would have to avoid splashing Skadi but I could throw it near Nyx, for example. I also readied a shield, in case there was some acid being shot at me.

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"INCOMING!" Skadi shouted, as the first crawler appeared. They were moving along the walls, all of the walls, even the ceiling.

Helena formed a sphere of ice in her hand and threw it. It sailed right over our team's heads and detonated inside the tunnel. It exploded into shards of ice while frost spread along the walls. The crawlers who were on the ceiling fell down as they lost their grip. They landed on top of their fellow crawlers, which created an opportunity for us.

I had a ball of necrotic water ready and I threw it. It sailed right over Nyx' head and landed on top of the pile. The ball burst and drenched the crawlers, who were still trying to entangle themselves. The necrotic mana did its job and started to wither them.

Next were Nyx and Garm, both of them used breath attacks. Their necrotic mist filled the tunnel and further harmed the pile of crawlers, but it also reduced our visibility.

Kaito and Goro unleashed blasts of frostfire into the mist.

"Careful, they are not all dead." Skadi warned as she used the head of her axe to intercept a blob of acid. It was followed by more acid coming from the mist.

Nyx covered her bones in a layer of ice while Garm opened his left mouth and a shield of ice appeared before it. Hatsumi intercepted the acid with her blood claws. They sizzled but she did not seem hurt.

Then more bugs emerged and the melee began. Our frontline began hacking, stabbing and biting the bugs as they crawled through the hole. The other cats joined in as well and protected the feet of our fighters.

"That is a lot of bugs." I stated, as I readied another attack.

"Yes, we should not risk it. Cassie, go boom!" Helena shouted.

"Bomb away!" Cassie shouted and threw a large round bottle, filled with a strange liquid that glowed blood red.

Our frontline took a step back…

A massive explosion shook the ground. Rocks and pieces of crawlers were thrown everywhere. Kasai, Yoru and Ivy were sent flying from the shockwave while the others managed to keep their footing. Acid was flung everywhere and I was grateful that I still had my magical shield. The hole was sealed again.

I looked at Helena, who had protected herself with an ice barrier, then I looked at Cassie, who was on the ground with Rose on top of her. I could see some sizzling spots on Rose's back.

"Rose!" I shouted.

"It's fine, I will heal. Cassie did not have a shield up." Rose said.

"Thank you." Cassie said. "But, that was an awesome explosion!"

"MEOW!" The cats complained, although none of them were harmed. They had even landed on their legs, gracefully.

"The bugs look dead but we should make sure they truly are." Garm's left head stated, while his right head was chewing a leg."

The cats immediately rushed towards the remains and began collecting snacks. It did not look like a single crawler was left whole, that meant no corpse for me.

"You forgot to shield yourself?" Skadi asked, as she approached her girlfriend.

Cassie did blush a bit. "Um, I know I should have. I might have underestimated how it would behave in a cave, an unstable cave. Oh, Rose, here have a blood potion."

"Thank you." Rose replied and drank it.

"Everyone alright?" I asked.

"It seems this went well." Kaito replied. "Only minor injuries among us undead."

"Will this rubble actually hold them? They can tunnel through rocks, right?" I wondered.

"They could but I am not sure if they will. They might consider this part unstable and avoid it. I don't think that they can reinforce tunnels but I am not an expert. We need to report this in any case." Helena replied.

"I do not hear any concerning movement, for now." Garm stated.

"I got some of their acid and could field test a new explosive! This is a great day!" Cassie said.

"And you forgot to shield yourself, we are training more when we have time." Skadi insisted.

"Ok…" Cassie mumbled.

"We are not done, there is still an unknown undead somewhere." I said.

Helena nodded. "True. We should make sure we clean all remaining acid from our gear and then look for tracks. Actually, maybe we should take a break for lunch. Then we can observe the rubble and see if it holds."

"Lunch does sound good." I agreed.