CHAPTER 266 – EVADING THE HUNTERS
“Vidja thinks she’s an hour away from clearing her current zone.” Thor volunteered. “They’re finishing it in the dark.”
Tom hesitated. “That’s good. But before we go any further, we need them to understand that if they find her team, they’re dead. They can’t fight the insects. There is no choice but to run.”
“She’s aware of that.” Thor told him. “Very aware. I made that absolutely clear to them.”
“We need to somehow trick the insects into committing to the wrong zone.” Everlyn mused. She pointed at her map. “That looks like an underground gather quest. If anything is going to delay them for a day, it’s that. The question is how good is their tracking and can we send false tracks to that zone door?”
“Too good.” Tom told them still studying the map. “They have access to a trait that will reveal any sapients in the zone, so you’re not slipping past them that way. Even if you purchased a skill, I don’t think they’ll be able to acquire expertise in time to thwart it. Then there is the more mundane stuff. Their tracking skills are also advanced. Stuff like laying false tracks probably won’t be able to fool them, unless the whole team gets a tier 5 skill… That’s worth considering.” He concluded after a moment of thought. “But I don’t know how good their counter skills are.”
“I’ll research that and see if it is feasible.” Thor volunteered.
Michael tapped the map. “If she can’t fight, can’t hide, then she needs to outrun them. The best action is to give her a route that she can flee along.” Michael pointed at the parchment. “She can retreat down the path the insects have already cleared.”
“Four zones,” Everlyn reported quietly. “Then she hits a kill quest and will be slowed down.”
“Yes,” Michael said grimly, “but that’ll put almost a quarter of a layer between us and them.”
Keikain glanced at the healer in surprise. “I think in the circumstances that’s our best play. I expected to have to suggest it myself.”
“I’m practical,” Michael growled at him. “If they’re hunting in each layer, then we need to open up as much space between them and us. We’re protected here, but once we drop a ring, that benefit vanishes. There is no advantage to saving Vidja’s team’s lives only to have them and us die in the next layer.”
“They won’t be actively hunting anyone in future rings.” Tom told them. “After this, they’re heading toward the centre as fast as possible. All we have to do is find a way for them to survive a day and of course make sure none of us exit into the same ring seven zone as the insects. Rather than sending them into a dead end. They can do this.” he traced a line that went through five zones. Two cleared by Vidja’s team, two by the insects and one by Selena’s squad.
“That’s ballsy.” Michael said immediately. “Not drawing them away from us is dangerous. If your dream is faulty, we’ll be exposed to them hunting us on the next level.”
“Selena will.” Tom corrected. “We’ll be a sixth of the layer clear.” He pointed to where they were currently on the map. It was a long way from where the drama was going to play out.
“Will they be able to stay ahead?” Everlyn asked. “Or is that more skills that Thor needs to research.”
Tom snorted. “Yes, they’ll need to decide between movement or tracking skills. Even if they get enhancements, it might not be enough. If they can’t outrun them, then we, as a race, need to be strategic. We’ll get them to lure the insect to here.” Tom pointed at a zone that they had all avoided. It seemed to be a less artificial version of the puzzle zone where progress would be dependent on unlocking a series of doors and fighting monsters within the revealed areas.
“Could work.” Michael mused. “Vidja’s team will definitely die.”
“Yes, they certainly will… but… it’s the only zone that has a chance of trapping the insects for long enough. I could see them struggling for four days in there.”
“Has someone replaced you two when I wasn’t looking?” Keikain asked.
Tom shook his head in frustration at the accusation in the earth mage’s voice. “You, of all people, know how far I’m willing to bend to be practical.”
Keikain raised his hands apologetically. “It wasn’t intended to be an attack.”
“If they’re going to die, anyway.” Tom shrugged. “Then we might as well get the most out of it. But if they can stay ahead of them for a day, then the insects are going to go through to the next layer. If we find out where, either a dream or a more mundane check we can all progress inward safely. I think running has the best odds.” He finally concluded.
“I’ll tell her. But she will have to burn all their experience on movement skills.”
“That’s better than dying.” Keikain said quietly.
“Do they have reserves?” Michael asked. “Or have they been spending it as they earnt it.”
“They should.” Thor said uncertainly. “Or at least most of them will. They were doing what we were and saving for traits.”
“We have a plan.” Michael said. “Thor, tell them what we know. Get a breakdown on how much they can spend and we’ll spend the next hour researching the best set of skills for them. Tom, until this is resolved you need to devote as much time as possible to sleep.”
“Agreed.” Tom answered him immediately. He rested his eyes and focused on what he wanted. There was no way to trigger a true dream, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt. Anything to help Vidja and her team to survive. A true dream struck him the moment he drifted off.
Once more, he was in the insect’s champion’s body. It stood in front of a door to another zone.
Its decision had been forced. This was the best chance to chase down the Raots. Like the scavengers they were, they had scattered in different directions. His scout had failed to return from the two of them…. Almost certainly lost, and the third required the solving of complex puzzles that would take too long.
That left this exit and this group. At least there were eight of them. When he tracked them down, the feast would be adequate.
The dream fell apart and Tom forced himself awake.
“As expected, they’re going after Vidja.”
“That’s not good,” Michael said from where he was sitting up on his bedroll, ready to sleep but awake, probably waiting for Tom. “But what we’ve planned for.”
Curiously Tom assessed the cave Keikain had hollowed out for them to sleep in. Toni had taken over the guard duty and everyone else was fast asleep. Which made sense. Vidja drama aside they had their own deadlines they needed to meet. “How long was I asleep?”
“An hour and a half.”
That number shocked Tom. “It felt like an instant.”
“Who knows how your skill works.”
“I could have sworn it was less than ten seconds.”
“Tom,” Michael shook his head. “Who cares. How long something seems won’t save anyone’s lives. You need to go back to sleep to monitor them. It’s critical.”
“I know. Do you have an update to give me first?”
The healer nodded. “They completed the zone quest about forty minutes ago. Our skill recommendations were accepted and have all purchased a variety of skills to speed themselves up and bought potions to let them run at full pace for twenty-four hours. They’re going to run a loop around the five zones, as agreed.”
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Tom ran the numbers in his head. He didn’t know if their speed was adequate or not, but they were at least giving themselves the best chance to be successful.
He fell asleep and was woken up briefly for breakfast. As always, it was a spear butt in his side, but this time there was no teasing. Food was shoved into his mouth as they prepared the cart and golem combination. The entire process of waking, toileting, eating and then getting strapped onto the cart only took five minutes.
While he might have wanted to chat, it was not a good idea. Things could change quickly, so he forced himself to go back to sleep. He was unconcerned about being out of action. After two days in this zone, he doubted there were any enemies that could surprise them. As for the zones monsters, now that everyone was used to fighting them, they could all be easily dispatched.
He had a series of fragmented nightmare sequences which involved him getting a taste for human blood and joining a serial killer group with Keikain and Clare. They would capture the victims and then, after he had drunk from them, the other two would complete their sacrifice.
Everyone was deeply unsettling, but they kept coming. They were stalking their latest victim that Tom had located via True Dreaming when Tom’s surroundings changed.
Anger filled it.
Intense fury, a mad rage that threatened to explode. Without a doubt, he was in the insect champion’s mind once more. The body, the thoughts, the hatred were familiar.
Seven scouts were gathered in front of it. The fact it was not their fault barely modified the fury it was directing at them. The anger was palatable. They could feel it. If it didn’t believe that, they might be useful later in the trial, it would be treating this differently. “They’re running. Why? How? It’s like they’ve been warned.”
The main scout it was talking to chittered neutrally.
The champion hesitated. Puzzling out the problem. In the background, Tom could sense the collective hive intelligence working on the solution, providing a subtle boost to the champion’s ability to reason and crunch numbers. “They are scavengers. I guess there’s a logic to them having some sort of danger sense. What would they do but run. However, it is curious that they’ve done a loop rather than blindly run into an occupied zone. That worries me.”
There was a pause as the mind he was in examined what it had said to find any flaws. “The peculiarities, I guess don’t matter. By design or luck, they’ve discovered a loop they can execute. The question is will we catch them.”
“They’re moving very fast.” The scout admitted. “And they had a significant head start and we’ve only reduced that by a bit. If you give us a full day, we’ll run the scavengers down.”
The memory of that tasty blood filled its mind. The GOD would hate any deviation from the plan. Yet, choosing to take an extra half a day was very tempting. The memory of the blood was a good one. Would The GOD care if he took longer to hunt them down. Leaving two and a half days instead of three would hardly change anything. If he did it, would it notice? If it did, would The GOD care? It considered that for a moment. Would it? Its antennae dipped slightly. … yes, it almost certainly would. The GOD was not a tolerant type, and disregarding precise orders would be punished.
“We only have half a day.”
There was more chittering.
“We’re not splitting up.” It answered coldly to the non-verbalised question.
Tom was thankful for that. If they split in two, Vidja’s group would have been doomed. There was no way she would be able to escape and enemy coming from both directions especially when they were slightly faster than her team.
The champion he was in had thankfully objected to such an approach.
On one hand, it knew that it would work, but it didn’t like the risk. If they did split, there was the risk that its brethren could end up with the tasty prey, but the main fear was his worry about what the separation enabled. The zones barriers cut off their communication completely. Having them being fully separated for a couple of hours ran at too higher risk of losing their loyalty and they erroneously might think they could get away with it. While these zones did not give much experience, the ones closer in would. If a group broke from his influence, they would be lost to each other until the centre. If they farmed experience while he had to rush into the centre because of the GOD’s command it might put him in an awkward position.
It created the potential for a cluster to challenge him. Therefore, it was best to manage that risk. They would not split up.
There were more uneasy movements from the scouts in front of him.
The main scout hesitated. It chittered and the hive mind seemed to hum had a higher pitch. “There might be a way. The prey is running in a circle and the zones block communication. If we turn around and run at them, we will be able to surprise them.”
The mind Tom was in considered that suggestion and concluded that it could work. “Done.”
The dream broke, and Tom’s eyes snapped open. Vidja needed to be warned immediately.
Instantly, the realities of the waking world hit Tom. There was the sound of battle around him. A single hand unclipped the cords holding him to the cart and then he jumped up to assess the situation.
The group was being swarmed by monkeys. Not enough to threaten them, but it looked like it was going to be a long drawn out battle.
“Thor,” He thundered as he leapt forward to relieve the pressure the man was being subjected to. Almost a dozen monkey’s were attacking the hammer wielder, and it was clear that while Thor wasn’t in danger, he wasn’t making much progress. There were only a couple of broken bodies at his feet versus the dozen that Rahmat had slain.
The moment he drew level lightning Enrage crackled out. The sparks of the electricity burrowed into eyeballs and they turned to face him.
Tom retreated slightly to buy himself time to talk. “Tell Vidja to turn around now. Run the other way!” He screamed at Thor as not only Thor’s monkeys but just as much from further away rotated to charge him. Fate left the spear and even as they attempted to pile on top of him they stumbled and got in each other’s ways. He extracted himself and his weapon started to strike like a snake as Living Rock stopped dead a number of attacks and resulted in chipped teeth. Others threw spells at him and Reflective Shield redirected the magical missiles into allies. Fate from successful dodges replaced the burst from his spear.
When he glanced across, Thor was sitting on a dead monkey with parchment and pen out and was scribbling, furiously.
The attacks did not slow and Tom lost himself to the rhythm of the battle. The last of them on his side died.
“What’s happening?” Michael demanded, moving to block him from joining the ongoing fight on the other side of his cart.
“The insects worked out they were running in a loop and failing, so they reversed course.”
Toni’s face went white. “That’s going to halve their lead.”
“What? How do they know that?” Tom asked in surprise.
“They left watching stations near each door.” Michael explained. “They’re halfway through their third loop and have been monitoring how quickly the insects were tracking them. But Tom.” The healer pointed at the cart. “You have a job to do.”
Hurriedly, he rushed over to his sleeping spot. It was no longer connected to the golem.
“Don’t worry about it.” Michael ordered. “We’ll fix it. You get back to keep watch.”
Tom even with the adrenaline of the fight was exhausted. In moments, unaided by any skills, he was asleep. He wanted a True Dream, but desire was not sufficient to summon one. Once more, he was plagued by the nightmares, but he was not involved. Instead, he was forced to watch over and over as the insects caught Vidja’s team and butchered them in a new creative way.
Another True Dream occurred, and Tom was focused once more.
It was the same champion as always. It concentrated its attention on the scout. “They clearly know,” it hissed. “They changed direction when we did. How?”
“Precognition.” The primary scout answered.
“Can we stop it?”
The collective hive mind hummed as it considered that question. The scout hesitated. It clearly did not want to be answering this but also knew it had no choice. “We currently possess a tier five defensive skill protection. We’re already protected against everything up to tier seven. To do better, we will have to buy a higher skill and we don’t know how high we will have to go. It might need to be tier eight or nine to stop them. There is no way to tell.
“If we can’t block it. What do we do?”
“I have a plan. Reverse direction.” The scout said immediately. And the champion smiled at the suggestion.
The dream faded, and Tom woke. “The insects have turned around. Vidja needs to do the same.”
He saw Michael register the order, and he did not wait for him to say anything. Before he was reminded, he triggered his skill to knock himself out. He needed to get back to sleep. Everything was moving too fast for any other decision.
Tom was instantly shoved into a new true dream. They were flying. The scout ordered them to stop. Anger flared in the champion’s mind. “What’s the meaning of this!”
“We must reverse again,” the same scout stated, with only a slight edge of hysteria in its tone.
“Why?” the champion demanded. “We do that. We have lost five minutes of running.”
“Because precognition is almost impossible to stop. Using this method, if their ability has a countdown associated with it we have caught them.”
The champion accepted the recommendation, and the vision broke apart once more.
Tom wiped away the drool and shouted the new order.
He could see the worry in everyone’s eyes, and he didn’t blame them. It felt like an ice pick was going through his head. He was that exhausted. So many True Dreams in a row were sapping of his strength, but if it meant they survived, then the blowback was more than worth it, even if the headache kept getting worse.
“Tom,” Michael said, sounding concerned.
“I don’t have time.”
He slumped back into the cart and sleep grabbed him instantly. He didn’t even need to use his skill. Immediately, he could feel the difference. His slumber was deeper than usual and there were no annoying dreams frustrating him and he was spent. He was so exhausted that there would be no waking up for at least six hours.
Even if he got a vision Tom knew he wouldn’t be able to rouse himself. Vidja and all of her team were on their own.
Then he felt another True Dream begin and if he could have he would have screamed in protest. His body was clearly telling him that he lacked the energy to participate… a dream now, when his body was broken could end in the disaster… The pessimist in him was wondering if all their attempts were enough.