The Roach

A swipe of my talon.

A kick of my spurs.

A bite of my massive overwhelming jaws.

Crunching through armor and bone alike I severed the warrior's hands, tearing the shield in twain as I did so.

With a gasp and a shudder, the last fighting human fell to their knees, head bowed awkwardly as he struggled to remain upright, the warrior looked up at me with gritted teeth and obvious hostility, bellowing out something as they glared at me.

"Strenga! Unker ra les! Arhht ril!"

Whatever the man said was lost on me, I could not understand his words or even hear him having no ears, the only thing I could sense was his intent.

'I Hate you! Rot in hell!'

The man kneeling fatally injured before me was likely saying something following that general thread of speech, trying to be defiant or brave in his last moments.

I regarded the crippled man impassively, his dying words meant nothing to me, 'I didn't care,' this man was of no interest to me save for what kind of meal he would become.

I walked forward my eyes watching for the injured man's reaction, eager for him to break down in fear, sadly the man did not falter.

The stout and profusely bleeding man spat at me as I moved in, unable to do anything else but glower as his hands shed a ruby rain.

The man was resolute and would not break down into a frightened mess, a pity as his terror would have made this all the more enjoyable.

'Too bad! I'm sure it would have made him taste better.'

Flicking the projectile spittle away with an antenna, I opened my jaws wide before biting down with a notable "shink" sound, freeing the man's arteries to flow freely from his neck and his head to roll from his shoulders.

Falling to the ground in a bloodied twitching heap, head staring unseeingly up at me, the shield-bearer crumbled to the floor, his mace lying useless by his corpse, the last man engaging me was down.

The man lay dead and soon the numerous creatures under my command were swarming over the cadaver, the beasts could have it, he would undoubtedly taste worse for failing to be afraid, I looked on at the feasting critters even as I received the exp, already beginning to clean my antennae free of human spittle, hygiene was important.

[Prime sapient killed 250 exp] 

'Prime sapient huh?... not human or Homo sapien? curious...'

I flicked the blood from my mouthparts as I thought on that last notification steadily cleansing my feelers in the process.

The laser mage lady also gave me this same notification when I killed her which was strange given the systems typical specificity when it came to exp gain notifications, normally it would list the species or generalistic name of the creature slain.

It was an oddity but one my glitchy and at times unreliable system could simply have as another quirk of its haphazard state.

Clearing my mind of the unrelated topic, I gazed around myself.

Not one human was still on their feet among my glade, all were either dead or in some state of dying, two of the humans were already being swarmed and presumably devoured by my hordes.

'Well, that went much smoother than I thought it would,' I remarked to myself glancing all-around at the dying or already dead humans,  the milling vermin anxiously circling the human bodies I had not allowed them to touch, their hungry littles eyes focused on the feast they were forbidden from spoiling, the other beasts ripping and tearing at the available corpses I didn't care about, fighting and clawing for a share of the feed.

'Ravenous little buggers,' I observed moving through the swarm as it split like water for me, every creature being sure to give me ample room, crawling out of my way in great haste, even scrambling over each other in an effort to give me room.

As I moved through the hordes admiring my new power over nature, the tiny vermin would go quiet, each staring almost reverently at me as I passed by, only returning to their noisy infighting over scraps when I was long past them.

And some even bowed! although... given the varying body types that could just be an optical illusion or wishful thinking, even then it felt...

...Nice, correct, like it should be.

'Yes, like it should be.'

This power I had over the animals, over the forest, somehow it came from me, not from the system, not from some outside source, it was innate, like a forgotten limb I had suddenly remembered I'd had.

It was a new feeling, yet so very familiar and like all limbs, I could flex it.

And when I did, the forest, my forest would bend to my will. 

I had not planned to acquire an army so soon, even if it were an army of small pathetic creatures, yet even then I was glad to have it, still, I knew that, much like how a limb would stop working when torn from the main body, this army of creatures would be useless outside of my domain.

I just knew it, my instincts were quipping off again.

"Interesting," I said aloud, consciously realizing for the first time how astute my instincts had been, so far they had never let me down.

'No reason to give it doubt now' I considered, I would test out my newly discovered power and its scope later, right now I had some familiars to attend to.

Walking forward on spindly limbs I came to the last visibly struggling human, it was the spearman and on his face, something wriggled and flexed, hiding the man's face entirely as it sought to strangle the life out of the hapless man.

Dewey.

I watched the blob work on the human, the slime had really exceeded my expectations.

At a few points in the battle, I was quite convinced I was in a real pickle of a situation, dead meat actually.

The blonde laser mage almost pierced my exoskeleton, twice, and that last attack from the one-armed spearman would have been serious if not fatal, if it had landed... 

The only reason that the one-armed man failed to hit me where it mattered, was because of a certain minuscule snot I was reevaluating my opinion of.

That same snot was still hard at work, 'The industrious little muck ball,' I thought, watching my smallest and most gelatinous familiar go to town on a dying man's face.

Dewey the slime was firmly wrapped around the spearman's head, the vast majority of the sludge's body lodged deep inside the slowly suffocating human's chestal cavity, probably filling the man's lungs up with mucus.

The man drowning in slime, still flailed about as he rolled on the floor with his one good hand trying to yank the slime out of his mouth, but to no avail, the little booger was not going to be evicted from its new home so easily.

'Yes perhaps I had been a little harsh on the little phlegm ball, it could be a useful minion, the humans had not seen or heard it coming, perhaps an assassin or ninja slime wasn't too far off after all.'

It was an invigorating thought, one that was swiftly reinforced when the one-armed spearman finally succumbed, his body going limp, only the characteristic after shakes of death being apparent.

Just as the man perished to Dewey's face-hugging I received a monumental notification from my menu.

[Level capped- Dewey]

"What! capped!" I blurted out, astonished and alarmed, if Dewey was truly capped his use was practically nonexistent, and if one really became capped out at Level seven than my plans would have to alter drastically.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

While Just my familiars alone would be insufficient in the long run, I had still been planning to buffer and boost their strength, as to assure my self of a sturdy powerbase, but... If it were impossible to grow beyond Level 7...

The ramifications were severe but fortunately, they were ones I did not have to deal with as the next notification blew some of those concerns away.

Dewey - gunk slime (quisquiliae gelata) has reached the genetic and soul capacity of current species and must Ascend to progress further.

Ascencion will commence upon the next rest.

Ascencion? was that like that trope from a certain popular franchise involving pocket monsters and balls?

I could not remember the name of that franchise as my human memories were still a misty mess but if I recalled correctly the monsters evolved in that franchise.

Was ascension like that, Was it evolution?

Would Dewey become something else? Change? This had to be investigated.

Dewey currently looked no different just as small and slimy as ever, but when Dewey finally settled down I wanted to be there myself to see the results.

I had to verify the results, I myself was almost at a full bar of exp, A few more kills or a meal or two and I would also be capped.

Thinking about how my own bar that was almost filled reminded me.

Wasn't there one more human missing? there had been eight but currently, I could only see seven, where was the last corpse?

I mulled over my fight with the humans and realized something.

'Ohh... that's right I didn't kill the last mage,' I reflected, alarmed, the mage with forcefield powers had run off after I killed the first mage, and so distracted by the spearman I had been, I had failed to notice the mages disappearance.

That had to be rectified, not one human was allowed to live after having seen both myself and Lescar, they had to be silenced or else my plans would be foiled even before they started.

Anxious I began my search for the last human and loose end, being sure to address my remaining functional familiar, Roulette and Dwayne still lying in an exhausted slumber. 

"Dewey, follow!" I commanded

The only conscious familiar, the slime, stopped wriggling around in the dead human's mouth, shuddering and wobbling as it received my words before with a wet pop it launched itself onto my back, clinging to my carapace.

"????? !!!!! !!!! !!!"

Something close to joy emanated off the blob as it attached itself to my shell, what was it so happy about?

There was little time for dwelling on that, the human mage had to be found and eliminated. 

Normally I would detest having the slime ride on my back as it oozed gunk every few intervals, but time was of the essence, I had to find that last human, and Dewey was the only familiar I had to call upon.

Roulette and Dwayne were indisposed, and Lescar was likely still dealing with her fit of nuttiness to which I had, earlier in the battle against the humans, quickly removed her to a safer spot in my cavern to keep her from the fighting.

She was unstable when under the effects of synergy and I was unsure if I could control her when she became like that.

I still had no idea why Lescar had such an adverse reaction to synergy considering Roulette, Dwayne and Dewey had seemed relatively unchanged by it, granted two of them were pretty much unconscious when I used it, but even so...

Lescar was a bit of wild card when I used synergy, she had not done anything yet but I was sure it was only a matter of time if I kept using synergy too often.

Putting Lescar on the sidelines had probably been a good decision, she was now likely cooling off in my homey cavern, well away from the fight.

So all that left me with only Dewey, hopefully, the slime would maintain its streak of victories.

I looked at my other two familiars lying in a heap on the sewer floor, Dwayne's burned away limbs were once again reattached if hairless and Roullette actually had a tail again, it was three feet too short for her previous lengths and lacked the heavy boney growths but it looked unfinished in its regeneration, so that was fine.

Both of them looked haggard but increasingly whole, synergy was good for something at least, although I was getting that little niggling feeling from my instincts again that such healing methods would not work outside of my territory, something linked to my power and influence over this place no doubt.

Assured that my more powerful familiars weren't in any immediate danger, I sent a compulsion to the horde of little scavengers to protect Roulette and Dwayne before turning away to search for the last human.

I scanned the glade, once clear and peaceful now filled with scurrying claws and corpses, blood staining the fertile ground turning the already dark soil a darker shade.

My home was now quite a bit more crowded and messy than I normally liked, perhaps the Mage had already been dragged under the surging tide of vermin now occupying my glade.

I approached one of the more violently churning mounds of vermin, the mound was practically thrashing with motion, perturbed and hopeful I ordered the creatures aside.

For a short time, I saw nothing but writhing insects, 'had the creatures already devoured the remains?' 

Then a wiry and badly swelling hand broke the surface of insects and vermin, flailing and flinging bugs aside as the person struggled to the surface.

It was not the mage I was looking for, it was that old crone, who's spear I had broke.

The old woman was a terrible sight, her eyes were gnawed out, her face was torn up and swelling from innumerable bites and she was covered in welts and bleeding cuts.

Despite the woman's obvious and grave wounds, the old woman reached out blindly searching for something, eventually touching a large spindly leg, my leg.

Bearing her teeth in a growl the old lady rasped out something while clinging tightly to my leg as if trying to strangle it, her efforts didn't hurt me at all, but her moxie was apparent.

This was one tough old hag.

I would have spared a moment more to regard her but I had a more pressing matter to attend to, this old fart was already done for.

I tried to lift my leg and pull away but the old lady held firm keeping me in place, she growled and coughed spitting out some insulting sentence I'm sure as she continued to hold to my leg.

"Persistent and annoying," I creaked rubbing my mandibles together in irritation, I lifted another foot off the ground and positioned it over the blind old woman.

"Get off!"

I stomped hard on the crones head, smashing her head into the floor with a crack, still, the hag refused to let go, I heard her mutter something as she coughed up more blood, her voice sad and regretful if her expression were telling.

"Ul ra Heather...Ul ra Naython... Ul ra enamarr"

I couldn't understand a thing she said but it didn't matter I had places to be.

Lifting the same foot from the floor I struck again and this time the old coot could not endure.

Her head split like a ripe melon covering my foot in gore, juices running down my leg onto the floor.

[Prime sapient killed 250 exp]

'Ugh! Just dandy,'

I would have to clean myself up later, while getting dirty was inevitable when one lived in a sewer I still liked to be clean but for now, I would persist, I had to find that mage.

I set my eyes on my surroundings as Dewey slugged slowly up to the base of my neck, I could not see any signs of the mages passing or movement.

Too many other creatures were interfering, I wouldn't find anything in this din.

"Out with all of you!" 

With a mental pulse, I gave the order and soon the various critters were dispersing, skiving off into the forest dragging the corpses of the humans I cared not for with them.

Almost every kind of beast in my domain had come when I called them earlier and so it was quite the spectacle to see them return, like watching a parade.

A parade of vermin and parasites, even then it was almost respectable.

Some of the many animals and critters appeared dispirited as they left my glade but all still left at a speedy rate, most notably the ones without a corpse to drag were the most sullen and slow to leave.

Despite that, it wasn't long before the clearing was all but empty, only three dead humans and a mottled collection of pythonpede's and fanged mice remained, the typical residents of my glade, these creatures stayed close to the unconscious Roulette and Dwayne as I had ordered, sentinels for my downed minions.

Even with all the hustle and bustle of the milling beasts absent I was still no closer to finding that human mage, not a single clue to his whereabouts remained.

"I should have killed him right after that laser mage," I muttered to no one in particular.

It looked as if that human may have escaped, and lacking a highly developed olfactory system at my size, it was unlikely I would be able to track the human down.

I looked at Roulette, it didn't look like she would soon be awake either and waking her early from such drastic damage could go very poorly, I had my doubts about whether she could even move at the moment.

"Just dandy! Just dandy! Arrrrgggh!"

I scratched at the hard plates on my head with my forelimbs, making a harsh grating sound as the chitin ground together, causing Dewey to shudder in discomfort, it was frustrating, I had seized victory and yet one human had evaded me, and now in all likelihood that human would report back to some higher authority and then I would be royally pooched.

A dedicated team of hunters would be sent out to deal with me and if that failed then the higher-ups would just send a bigger more powerful force, this would happen more and more until I was destroyed.

Humans were just that territorial and they didn't share if they could help it, if that mage made it back to other people...

Then things would get significantly more rocky for me and far more likely for me to end up dead, an undesirable outcome for myself.

"Dammmit! arrggghhhh!"

I scratched hard at my head plate, the grating screech resulting like that of nails on a chalkboard, then I stopped, my limbs no longer agitatedly scratching back and forth.

There was a possibility things wouldn't sour that badly.

Even if the worst-case scenario came to pass and the mage made it back to civilization, there was no guarantee the authorities would take a particular interest, with an ecosystem of dangerous monsters lurking under the city would anyone take notice? probably not.

What was one group of nobody mercenaries to a rich man, nothing that's what!

'It was possible that very little would result of this.'

It was a comforting thought but I knew it was better to be prepared rather than hopeful so I didn't let that thought carry me away.

Finding that mage was still a priority.

I lowered my head to the ground like a hound, my feelers dancing across the floor as I tasted the air, the floor and the scents that filled my Glade.

I may not have been as well versed in sniffing out my prey as Roulette but it didn't mean I couldn't do it.

With a studios effort, I swept the floor with my feather-like antennae collecting a thin plume of dust on them as I searched, I searched and I searched but came up with nothing, the various intermingling scents of the vermin that only recently departed was too strong.

I wouldn't find that human doing this, he would already be some distance away at this point. 

It would be better to prepare for the future than worry on this matter any further, I ground my jaws together still upset that a proverbial 'fish' had gotten away.

It was aggravating but irreversible at this point, the plan needed to change now.

'Perhaps it is time to leave the Sewers-'

As I had this thought something happened that jostled me out of those words.

A soundless scream reverberated through my mind filled to bursting with anguish, it seared my mentality with an unpleasant tang leaving a metallic aftertaste in its wake.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

The screaming continued but after a moment of adjustment it no longer pained me, something was very wrong.

I recognized that voice even if she was screaming.

"Lescar..." I said through clenched mandibles, she was hurting badly, I could feel it even through the link, her emotions had jumped from pity to surprise then to anger and then to fear, after fear was when the searing pain started.

I had not been paying attention to her emotional state, so focused on finding the mage I had been, but it seems that had been a mistake.

It appeared the remaining mage had opted not to flee but to attack, and he had chosen Lescar as his target, someone I wanted to keep alive above all others save myself.

"Humans..." I growled, they were just so troublesome.

With a slimy passenger firmly onboard I sprinted towards the screams of my first familiar, every bit of damage to my human would be paid for in triple the pain.

No one touches what's mine.