A Guide to Kingdom Building ( Me Reincarnated 365 x)

Chapter 3 - 3- Servus 132-X

It has been more than two thousand counts when they started squeezing themselves in the jagged spaces of the tunnel's ceiling. Servus132-X 's back was cramping in protest to the odd position he stuck himself into. His hands slowly slipped as he tried to hold on to the edges of a stalactite hanging above the caves.

He held his breath as he tries not to slip further below, where a nest of monstrous centipedes await roaming the area. His hands and back now bleed as he pushed himself in between the stalactite and the jagged cave wall.

"Hey!" A voice whispered from the darkness.

Servus 132-X looked around but only saw the pitch black blanket that covered them.

"Yes, you!" The voice confirmed.

He squinted and saw silhouettes barely moving just adjacent to him.

"Do you have a plan?" The voice whispered.

"No. I don't." He clicked his tongue.

"Yeah, we're fucked!"

Suddenly they heard someone skidding down into the nest. He cried for help as he slowly fell into his doom. All the while, gibberish noises of people arguing were also audible.

"HEEELLLLPPPP!" another man plummetted to his doom.

The Giant Centipede raised its body and caught the man in mid-air. They could hear the sound of his bones--crushed in between the maws of the monster before being torn to pieces by its kin.

Servus 132-X took the opportunity of the distraction and devised a plan.

"Jump!" Servus 132-X took a deep breath and plunged himself into uncertainty.

"It's now or never!" He yelled.

"He's crazy!" The people from the canopy exclaimed.

Soon, a few of them followed his lead. People started dropping from the canopies like rain from the heavens. Some landed safely like him on the heaps of skin and carapaces on the nest while the others were not so fortunate.

However, he still took this as a sign for them to survive. As the Giant Centipedes feast on the flesh of their unfortunate comrades, the rest of them ran.

"Quickly!" Servus 132-X led them towards the entry tunnel.

From the other end of the dimly lit tunnel, they saw how the other slaves got decapitated, crushed, and eaten by the monstrosities. He was left with no choice but to collapse the entire tunnel and the cave along with it.

"All of you! Run towards the surface, now!" he cries out.

"What about you?" A woman's voice echoed.

"I'll distract them." He smiled, " RUN!"

The surviving slaves wasted no time and ran back quickly to the surface. As they did, the Giant Centipedes were done devouring their comrades and were looking for more.

Using a pole he picked up from their nest, he lured them by smashing it on the ground--taunting them with blunt sounds that irritate them. Soon the Giant Centipedes rushed over to him.

He ran fast towards the surface while dragging along the pole he had. Since these creatures resembled those of the one's he'd slain before in his 200th incarnation, he figured that they would sense their target by ground vibrations.

Dragging the pole to the ground will hopefully confuses them of his exact location and give him time to dodge their attacks. He felt the ground rumbling below him. One of the centipedes could've burrowed down to ambush him. He jumped to confuse the giant insect of his location then smashed the pole in front of him.

The centipede emerged from the ground exactly where he hit his staff. It worked! But now, the monster was blocking his only exit. He glanced back and saw the other centipede stalking him from behind. Both monsters opened their maws revealing his impending fate as their food.

As in any situation from before, Servus 132-X stood calmly between the two predators. He controlled his breathing to calm his heart. His stillness was comparable to a mountain during a storm, the winds may howl and destroy the trees, but the storm can never uproot a mountain.

With that in mind, he made his move. He rushed to the Centipede baiting it to grab him by its pincers. The centipede lunged forward at him. Seeing this, he shifted his direction and swerved back to the other centipede. The centipede from behind tried to reach him with its sharp maw, but just before it could reach him, he jumped away to the side causing the two centipedes colliding to each other.

The sharp pincers of the centipede from behind penetrated the carapace of the other centipede causing both of them to wrestle each other. Their violent waltz caused the narrow tunnel to shake as their bodies bash against the fragile posts.

Soon rocks and debris began to fall above them. This is his perfect time to get out of the fighting giant insects' space. Risking his fate, he moved quickly towards a narrow gap that the centipedes created during their wrestle. He went right through the small space in between the rocks and debris before finally reaching the surface.

The sun was already sinking in the horizon by the time he got out. He was met with heavily armored men who seized him away after witnessing the cave opening crumbled.

"Useless!" Lord Bieroff spat on his face, "You useless filth! Why did you let them destroy the pillars?" he slapped Servus 132-X.

The lord's slap stung, but he was fairly certain that even a woman can hit harder than he did. The slap never hurt him--his shrill voice did. He continued to curse at the slaves. Flailing his hands like a madman as he lividly attacked the slaves with his verbal ineptitude.

"Is this funny to you?" He barked at Servus 132-X and slapped him again.

"Forgive me, my Lord," he bows, "I didn't laugh at all and I did not find it funny. However, it was a matter of life and death for everyone involved."

"You! Y-you dare!" His nostrils flared.

"You DARE--"

Suddenly the ground shook violently. The confused Lord shrieked as the ground tremors. Men panicked and the horses kicked and neighed on their posts. It shook a little more longer, before finally halting in abrupt.

Everyone froze in confusion but Servus 132-X didn't-- because he knew what was coming.