PLEASE READ: "Heya! Ayo_Nette here (yep, the author 😎). Just a heads-up — in this chapter, the Cropgores will be doing some chit-chat, but not in any human language. Don't panic! I'll italicize their dialogue so you'll still know exactly what they're saying. Cool? Cool."
Fun fact: the Cropgores don't actually use names like we do. Instead, they identify each other through sound — yep, it's all about frequency and pitch, made straight from their throats. Pretty crazy, huh? I will use symbols i.e ®£©, for their names The talking scene won't be too much so don't worry."
* * *
"Don't you find it funny?" a Cropgore is seen in a tunnel with two opposite sides. One side leading to more tunnels and turns while the other is just a wall of dirt. He speaks to another Cropgore in an unintelligible language.
They both seem to be on some sort of break as they aren't working.
"Ugh. Not this again, ¥€¢°, I have already told you already, molting in public isn't a form of self-expression." the other Cropgore rolled its eyes in annoyance.
"No, not that. I mean… how we can taste sound. Like, yesterday I heard a whisper and it tasted like fermented bark." ¥€¢°, the Cropgore said.
"...You licked the air again, didn't you?" the other Cropgore would have raised an eyebrow if it had one.
"So what if I did, it hummed like lunch. You would've done it too if your antennae weren't so uptight." ¥€¢° pouted.
"I'm one of the previous breed, I don't have antennae. Anyways, enough chit chat. Let's get back to attaching Virex Bile to the walls- Wait... do you hear that." a Cropgore looked to the direction of a wall.
"Yeah, it sounds like... it sounds like digging." ¥€¢° said with a confused look on his face.
SHFF!!!
SHFF!!!
BOOM!!!!
After shaking and quivering for a while, the wall collapse. Two silhouette came into view. They were covered with shadows making it hard to make out their facial expressions.
"So this is were the noise we were hearing was coming from." one of the silhouette said dusting the soil off its body.
"H-human?"
* * *
"Man, how long have we been digging?" Inno said pushing the edge of the shovel into the wall and removing the dirt.
"At least three and a half day if I calculated correctly." Florisha said also doing the same as Inno.
"At this rate, we may have to dig our way out after we are done digging out way in. We aren't making any leeway, digging alone won't cut it. We need a way to pinpoint their locatio—"
"@#$¢^°¥€¢°~¢`*%" some unintelligible and weird sounds were coming from a particular area.
"What is that noise?" Inno tried to listen a bit closer so did Florisha.
"I'm not sure, but our safest bet is to follow it. I know it stupid to follow some random sound but it's not like we have a better idea." Florisha said digging in the direction of the sound.
"True. Air is getting tight so we need to make our way through fast." Inno digging speed picked up as he plunged the shovel into the wall and took out a hefty amount of soil and sand over and over again.
Eventually, the wall become more brittle and less thick causing it to cave in and collapse clouding the area with dust. Their clothes were already soiled, but now even more so.
The wall collapse to reveal a tunnel and in it were some weird looking creatures.
"So this is were the noise we were hearing was coming from." Inno said with a curl of his lips. He got is guard up ready for a confrontation.
"Cropgores!" a smile crept onto Florisha face as she drew her dual blades. She flashed. In an instant, she scaled ten meters, reducing the distance between her and the Cropgores.
She moved in a ghostly way making it difficult for someone to catch her movements. She lunged one of her blades straight into one of the Cropgores mouth, going directly for its throat. This was to disable any means of calling for help. Green blood gushed out like a fountain.
She immediately used the second blade to take off the head of the second Cropgore with one swift hand gesture performing a backhand slash.
THUD!
The somehow gigantic body fell to the floor green blood dripping from the headless neck.
The smile on Florisha grew larger, as she stared at the Cropgore in front of her, her blade still in it's throat.
She dragged her blade out and stabbed it into its compound eye over and over again. Tears began to trickle down her face but the smile, unwavering.
She stabbed erratically, it was as if she didn't plan on stopping... at least not anytime soon.
"That's enough Florisha." Inno voice rang out in the tunnel.
She didn't respond and continued. She began stabbing it into other areas of the Cropgore's body.
"I said ENOUGH!!" Inno bellowed. His voice loud enough to cause breeze to blow. The tunnel trembled a little.
She froze.
It was as if his voice struck her. It was weird to explain. She stopped lunging her blades and sheathed it.
Her face went dark, void of any emotions.
She took one more look at the Cropgore corpse and curled her lips in disgust. She said in a whisper:
"I had nothing. Those kids gave me something. But they took everything, this is just the first payment of a debt soaked in blood— and I'm NOT done collecting."