Chapter 14: Natalie?
Walking(crawling?) through the underground, I squeaked, painting the nearby area with my sonar to navigate in the abyss.
And then, I saw it, a humanoid shape, my squeakerlocation wrapping around the man who was hunched over, clearly injured. At least from what I could tell from my ability. Outside my domain or immediate space beside me, I couldn’t see, hear, or feel, my safety entrusted completely to Slimey who held me close. The only way I could “see” was via squeakerlocation, the ability creating images and shapes in my mind but no color or feel.
I sent another squeak, making sure what I “saw” was correct.
And it was.
A living, breathing, human. One ripe with information, experience, and skills. Knowledge of the world outside this filthy hell.
One that I needed alive.
I quickly concocted a plan, pausing my troops advance and sending a slime out, one to test the man, to see how he would react and to lure him towards me if possible.
Slime 77, the one in my 20th minion slot went ahead, the blue slime creeping through the darkness where it-
[Minion: Slime 77, Deceased!]
Yeah, that's about right. I let out another squeak, this one causing the man to flinch and lift his dagger in his hand.
Must be a rogue type or something.
Hmmm.
Slimey began to wiggle beneath me, an odd feeling touching my mind from the slime. One that was… subdued, like a whisper I couldn't understand.
No, no time to focus on that, I needed to move, to capture this human before he got himself killed, or worse, escaped.
I sent Dave to double back, along with a few slimes. The tunnel I was currently occupying split off into two channels, only to reconvene on the back end and allow my minions to flank.
If I was going to catch him, I was going to need to cut off all avenues of escape, box him in, and capture him. Seeing as Dave was the fastest out of all my minions, he’d have to run down the man if he fled.
Hmm. Maybe I should try and tame some spiders. Silk would go a long way for trapping stuff.
Go. I put my plan into action, Slimey spreading out, coating the walls with its ooze and forming a wall of slime that blocked the entire passageway.
OH! AND NO DISSOLVING OR EATING HIM! I NEED HIM ALIVE! ALIVE!
I squeaked again, this time, my body so close to the man I could now pick up his expression of horror and shock as he stared at Slimey slinking from the darkness and into the light emitted from what I assumed was his light stone..
***** Lhikan****
Immediately Lhikan’s dagger was out, the fighter slashing at Slimey’s body to no effect as he screamed in indignation. Fury guided his hand, the man’s eyes wide with rage.
In reaction, the slime shot out tendrils, its blue tentacles attempted to take Lhikan who hacked them off with expert ease. He was no rogue, but he knew blades well.
Tsk! Damn it! Lhikan grit his teeth, his lightstone showing him that the monster blocked his entire way, forcing him to run.
Lhikan spun on his heel, taking one last look at the dress swirling in the slime with pained eyes before he ran for his life.
***** Hiro***
Everything is going as planned, it seems. The human ran off, well, hobbled, my squeak revealing to me that he was injured in some way.
Good. I chuckled inwardly, my plan unfurling to my design.
The man ran, my squeaks trailing behind him, my squeakerlocation letting me know that Dave was in place, sixteen slimes supporting him and coating the tunnels.
Seeing as the man was a rogue type with his speed restricted, this was an open and shut trap, an easy subject for my questioning.
Any time now.
***** Lhikan
Lhikan went wide-eyed, his jaw dropping as he came to a halt, his steel boots skidding across the soggy floor.
In front of him was a blighted Krocotaur, a ten foot tall beastman welding crude weapons of rotting wood.
Tsk. Lhikan gripped his dagger, eyeing what appeared to be a horde of slimes behind the hulking beast.
The man paused, taking a breath before rolling his shoulders, his eyes a glare as he stood his ground and pulled several syringes from his bag of holding.
Empty vials shattered on the floor, Lhikan taking a breath as his muscles constricted and his eyes glowed red, his body radiating invisible energy.
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Then he did something unexpected, that even Hiro didn't account for.
He threw his dagger.
Lhikan's blade cut through the air at swift speeds, the weapon aimed at the Krocotaur’s throat where it was diverted at the last second thanks to the lizard catching the blade with its scaly arm.
The creature's vision now obscured, Lhikan pounced into its blind spot.
Suddenly the Lizard was detached from the floor, the force of the uppercut it received lifting the monster several inches off the ground.
Lhikan kicked, sending the krocotaur crashing through the sewer, its large frame tearing apart the slimes unfortunate to be behind it as it boomed into the side of a sewer wall.
**** Hiro
[Minion: Slime 76, Deceased!]
[Minion: Slime 63, Deceased!]
[Minion: Slime 70, Deceased!]
[Minion: Slime 71, Deceased!]
[Minion: Slime 53, Deceased!]
WHAT?! WHAT?! MY BABIES!
Notification after notification hit my mind, multiple slimes dying as Dave was planted into a nearby wall.
The man was now in front of Dave, the krocotaur attempting to rise to his feet, and despite my plea to Dave to rise faster, it was too late.
The human grabbed Dave by the maw, lifting it's scaly snout up before delivering a punch that combined the Krocotaur with the sewer wall.
[WARNING! MINION DAVE, IS AT HALF HEALTH!]
It suddenly dawned on me that there was a reason this man was still alive, relatively unhurt in the demon Lord's castle as I “watched” him race off, tearing apart my slimes with ease.
[Minion: Slime 54, Deceased!]
He wasn't a rogue at all! Even my elite slimes were being torn apart as the man reached into their blobs, ignoring the skin burning off his body to grab their cores and shatter them.
[Minion: Slime 64, Deceased!]
“SQUEAK! SQUEAK! SQUEAK!” I let out in frustration. GAAAAAH! WHY CAN'T I TALK!
[Minion: Slime 61, Deceased!]
This is starting to stress me out! SLIMEY! GET HIM! DAVE! STOP PLAYING DEAD YOU LAZY BUM!! GET ON YOUR FEET OR I'LL FEED YOU TO SLIMEY!
Slimey activated bounce, my chief minion contracting into itself before launching forward, the slime taking me into its body to shield me as it engaged the knight.
Dave rose from the rubble, letting out a roar of indignation as all of my minions converged on the human in the darkness.
***** Lhikan
Lhikan ducked under the swipe of the krocotaur before backstepping, avoiding the acidic attack that struck where he'd just been.
The lizardbeast roared, continuing its charge, the monster rushing Lhikan only to receive three kicks in rapid succession.
One to the knee that bent the lizard.
One to the side that sent the lizard falling.
And lastly, the end of the three piece combo, one to the maw that knocked free several teeth.
As the krocotaur went down, something unexpected happen, Lhikan's foot was stuck, his steel boot stuck to the side of the beast, forcing him to do a double take at the slime latching on.
“Tsk.” Lhikan forcefully lifted his boot, smashing down on the krocotaur’s face and slime, the tiny slime core shattering from the force of his attack.
Lhikan lifted his boot up, preparing to finish off the pus ridden monster that was bleeding green blood, the creature down for the count.
But it wasn't dead.
He recalled his dagger and lifted his boot, preparing to end the abomination when suddenly-
Something struck his head, a rock that hit him in the eye and caused the veteran to flinch.
“SQUEAK! SQUEAK! SQUEAK!”
Lhikan turned to the offender, his bleeding face shifting to the rubber duck that was squeaking obnoxiously.
“A… rubber duck?” Lhikan muttered, his eyes tracking the bath toy that sat atop a large blue slime that coated every inch of the sewer south of him.
He clenched his fists, eyes wide at the monster Natalie had no doubt lost her life to. The monster being pioneered by the ball of condensed energy he detected from the duck riding the slime.
“SQUEAK!”
Lhikan ignored the monster, walking forward to tear apart the slime, to recover Natalie's remains. Even if she had no body, she still deserved a burial, even if spiritual.
***** Hiro
AHHHH CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP!!! He's approaching me! This was a mistake! Why did I summon a rock!
On reflex, I had used summon rock, a pathetic attempt to save Dave who was broken and bleeding. And it had worked, unfortunately this had caught the ire of the man, the berserker scowling as he approached me with ill intentions.
AaaaaaHHHHH. I should have just stayed in my domain!
Slimey shifted, liquid tentacles lashing out at the being who summoned the dagger back to his hand and severed the appendages aimed at him.
aH! Should I retreat? My instincts told me to run, to flee. But I also couldn’t just leave my freeloading minion! As much as I griped about how lazy Dave was, he was still one of my employees, one of my minions! TO ABANDON HIM WOULD MAKE ME A BAD BOSS! AND I AM NOT A BAD BOSS!
Stuck between a metaphorical rock and a hard place, there was only one thing left to do, one thing I could do!
Attack.
Or… at least I would have if not for something I did not foresee happening from Slimey.
****Lhikan
“L-hi..kin.”
At the words, the knight froze, his eyes going round at the distorted blue shape wearing Natalie’s robes.
It was only for a moment, a slight delay before his fist was compelled to rise and destroy the abomination before him.
“S-sss-top.” It gurgled, a voice out of the rubber duck, Lhikan’s fist an inch away from the monstrosity that radiated holy purity, light that was only capable of a being of divine nature or serving with absolute piety.
“Pw..pleas..zeeeeeesqueak!” The shape of Natalie gurgled, its form wiggling to and from as its hand reached out and touched Lhikan’s shaking fist.
Lhikan flinched, retracting his hand that was… healing!
Instead of burns, his knuckles had been grazed by a healing touch, one that injected holy mana to reverse the effects of the corrosive tissue on his skin.
“Natalie?” Lhikan murmured in disbelief, the slime’s form seeming to stabilize, solidify, with the rubber duck now firmly in the throat of the monster in the shape of the priestess.
“Yesqueak!” It let out, it’s hands reaching out to touch Lhikan’s shoulders, healing the man who allowed the creature to touch it.
“What… what happened to you?”” Lhikan demanded, his eyes narrowing, still suspicious of the monster.
“Isqueeek…” The being wiggled. “Fooound. Herrrooo.”
Lhikan’s eyes widened, the source of their mission, the impossible quest completed, their mission over! But this thing… this thing speaking to him from the mouthpiece of a toy, this abomination, the words of such a creature… could it be trusted?
The knight didn’t know.
All the veteran knew for certain was that he needed to report his findings, to bury Natalie, and to take that Rubber duck that was the source of power directing the monsters to attack him. He had never heard of a dungeon core communicating, or attempting to, but it was clear that this was related to their mission, related to the Hero, something that-!
“Uhk!?”
Lhikan looked down, a hardened tendril of slime stuck in his abdomen.
“Squuuuueakrrrrrrry.” The thing with Natalie’s face said before multiple tendrils pierced his arms, legs, and torse, all non-fatal attacks aimed at pinning him down.
“Shit!”
The large slime immediately attempted to pull him in, to cover him, devour him, but acting quickly, Lhikan tore his arm free of one of the spikes, his flesh splitting open to grab his trump card, his one ticket to safety that he reserved for Natalie.
His riftstone.
A/N remember to Heart react or leave a rating/review if u like the work! Every bit helps visibility and gets ppl to see the story! Something I want to share with more and more ppl!