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Energy Eater - Chapter 78 - The ruined city of Butte
🕑 Added 2025-02-18 12:59:24 +0000 UTCIt took everything I had not to act like a tourist in one of those old movies. For the first time in my life, I was walking through a city. A ruined city, yes, but an actual city. Not just a random village like the one I grew up in, or a settlement like Madison or the place we had just left. Then again, I was not entirely sure which one was which. What was the difference between a settlement and a village? Just the amount of people who lived there, or was there something more structural that gave it the definition?
Nevertheless, that did not change that all of those places paled in comparison to what I was about to see. Even Ennis was, by all accounts, a city. But it did not have the same look. There was one major difference between everywhere else and the City of Butte, the sheer size of the city and the presence of tall buildings. I called them tall, but they were four stories high at most. It was nowhere near as grand as the skyscrapers you could see in the great capitals of the old world. Even so, seeing this many houses so close together was amazing.
Even more impressive was the existence of the damages that we were able to notice on the ground. Unlike Ennis, which was mostly overgrown and showed no signs of actual combat during the fall of the world, Butte was not so lucky. There were clear signs of military presence: marks on the ground created by massive vehicles, holes on some of the structures that I assumed came from bullets, and even one crater in the distance where an enormous explosion took place. It was an awful, especially knowing what caused these marks. A war that we lost against an enemy with an unfair advantage.
But the others seemed to be less affected by this. After all, without pictures or movies, they had no way of knowing what a city was supposed to look like. I was not much better since my knowledge only came from pictures and books, with the occasional TV show. But still, I felt like I was a bit ahead in terms of understanding.
Our first stop was at a store near the edge of town where they could gather some paint buckets that survived all these years. The buckets themselves were horribly rusted, but the contents inside were still perfectly fine. However, the scout team did not take those paints along, instead opting to leave them behind near the entrance.
That way, when they returned, we could just drop the store again and pick up the things that we needed. The scouts moved like a well-oiled machine, going from shelf to shelf and debating the colors they wanted. They even got to the point where they had to stop and think about color theory and which combination they should make to create the colors they were looking for.
It was honestly a bit strange how they were risking their lives for something like this. It was just paint, not something necessary for the lives of those who lived in the village. Then again, I did not know much about their situation. Maybe the paint really was that important. Or more likely, it was just an extra benefit since they were coming here already, something they were getting because it was on the way.
After that, we moved down the street, following a specific path which they were clearly familiar with, and reached a large warehouse that was overgrown with several plants. Just outside there were more signs of battle, showing that in the old world people truly tried to maintain the city somehow, but unfortunately, just like they did everywhere else, they were unable to stop the Eaters.
There were bullet holes here and there, some large gashes on the walls and on the floor clearly created by one of the tentacles of those creatures. Some of them were much bigger than anything that I had ever seen, even bigger than that giant Eater that I saw back in their hive. If it wasn't for the way the damage moved through the street, I would think it was just natural erosion. But no. One entire street was now a gigantic scar that would never heal. The concrete on the ground forcefully pulled apart from sidewalk to sidewalk. What was left had become a pile of rubble at the end of this mark. Meaning we were standing where the large Eater was when it attacked.
But the one thing that truly caught my attention was the presence of a broken-down wall with a car embedded into it. The truck was old and clearly had been here for a very long time. Not only that, it was utterly destroyed, but the hole in the wall did not share the same shape as the vehicle. There were a pair of long openings on the sides of the wall, as if sometime very large was forced through the bricks. My best bet was that someone tried to run over an Eater and managed to do so, even if the end result might not have been what they hoped.
'Sys, are you able to tell if something came from an Eater?'
[System is unable to do so unless user is able to acquire a skill related to tracking or related to information gathering]
I just shrugged. It was at least worth a try, but it did feel like a shame that I was not able to get any more information about what happened here. Even if it was something minor that would not make that much of a difference, knowing about how people fought in the past could give me some insight into how to better face those creatures.
We continued walking towards the large warehouse, and the scout leader gestured for everybody to gather. We had been mostly quiet during the entire time, making sure not to attract attention to ourselves and make too much noise. After all, Eaters were not the only things that could be living in a city like that. All sorts of monster and animals could make nests and lairs in the broken-down houses now that they had been abandoned for so long.
"Listen up. The entrance to the cave network is inside the warehouse. It's on the east side, which will be to the left of where we enter."
"We already know that," Jose groaned.
"I don't give two shits if you think you already know what I'm going to say. I'm not leaving any of this to chance, so you're going to shut up and listen to what I consider important information."
The gruff man mumbled in protest but did not say anything else, just waited for the scout leader to continue.
"Tunnels are to the east. What we are going for is the west, to the right. Try to avoid getting close to them. We still don't know the kind of things that come out of there, people only saw this big scary-looking monster."
"Was it an Eater?" I asked.
"No. From the reports, it was closer to a spider or something of the sort. At least it had a bunch of legs."
Once more, I was thinking that my gut feeling was correct. This tunnel was leading to another lair or whatever that belonged to the same type of creature that I fought back in the Ice Devil lair.
"We need to get the manure and the seeds. The seeds are by the entrance, the manure is all the way in the back. So, let's move together first for the manure and take the seeds on the way out. Do not go running off on your own. Last thing we need is someone getting lost inside the tunnels," Mason looked each and every one of us in the eye while speaking. Making sure we were taking in the information he was giving.
"Astrid and I will move in the back and keep a lookout. If we signal run, you turn to the exit and run. Do not stop, just go. No matter what you hear behind you." I added.
The scout leader looked at me and nodded. "Since you were able to trick an Eater, I'm going to trust you know what you are doing. But at the same time, I am not going to leave anyone behind."
I sighed, "If you want to try to be a hero, be my guest. If we see an opportunity to save someone, we will take it, but if we see that we do not have a choice, we are running."
The scout leader glanced at me with angry eyes but did not say anything. Instead, he just turned back and gestured for everybody to follow. We entered through a broken-down hole to the side that was covered by long vines with big leaves. The System pointed out that there were particles on those plants, but there were a very small amount of them. It told me the only thing they were doing was increasing the speed at which they grew, but it was hard to say anything else without literally taking a bite out of those stems.
We entered the warehouse that looked more like a jungle than a human-made structure. I was half expecting the System to say this was part of a dungeon, but, for now, it was silent. The group slowly moved towards the back of the warehouse. I was a bit confused why we didn't enter through the back, but maybe there were not any proper doors or anything else to get inside.
We struggled to cross the warehouse while fighting off the constant tangle of vegetation that seemed to try to stop our every step. At one point, Astrid pulled forth the axe with the intention of cutting open a path, but the young man called Frederick stepped in with worry in his eyes.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. The plants will start attacking if you do that. We need to pass by without hurting them."
I frowned, and so did Astrid, but Mason and Jose nodded in confirmation. On one hand, the fact that the System was able to create plants that were able to defend themselves was fascinating. On the other, knowing that the environment could start attacking us in any situation was, frankly, terrifying.
After another 10 meters [32.8ft], the foliage grew too dense on the path that we were taking, forcing us to take a small detour to our left, getting closer to the area where the cave network was discovered. Instead of going over at once, the scout leader moved first, making sure that nothing was going to jump out of there. We passed by a small gap that brought us close to the entrance to the left wing of the warehouse before looking back to the right.
Then came Jose and Frederick, with Astrid going next and I picking up the rear. The moment I passed that small gap very close to the passage to the left wing, the System piped up.
[You have entered the Caves of Skiariot Dungeon]
But just after I reached the other side of that curve, there was another notification:
[You have exited the Caves of Skiariot Dungeon]
That meant that the dungeon started a little bit after the entrance to the left wing of the warehouse. Astrid and I exchanged a glance but did not say anything. It was not the time for that kind of conversation, even though I was really curious about what we might be able to find there.
The scout leader pushed ahead, guiding us to the very back of the warehouse, where we found a massive pile of manure. To the side were a few dozen sacks containing various amounts of the fertilizer. Everyone moved quickly, gathering the sacks before starting to move back towards the entrance. The three men picked up 10 kilogram bags each, but Astrid and I took the 50 kilogram ones, figuring it would be better to just help out properly.
Once we reached that curve that put us closer to the east wing once more, the group moved as one instead of individually. That was our mistake. Mason and Jose were able to pass without a problem, but after them, Frederick was suddenly snatched by ten white threads coming from the passage. The boy barely had time to scream before he was yanked into the other part of the warehouse.
Despite all my talk about not helping and saying that they should be able to take care of themselves, my reaction was different. Without even thinking, I jumped towards the passage, going after the kid, with Astrid hot on my heels. Both of us dropped the 50 kilogram bags of fertilizer that we were carrying.
By the looks of it, we were going to explore this dungeon after all.
