Plummeting down from four stories was quite stressful. Not for the fall, which I knew I could handle, but the monster quickly moving on the knocked-out sheep in the alley. While he was a nip dealer, this monster was horrific. It was about the size of a car, and I counted twelve tentacles spinning around as it floated in the air.
I landed in the alley, on my hind paws, easily absorbing the impact. I rushed forward, my claws extended. The monster didn’t have any eyes, just a mass of glowing red flesh, its maw, and tentacles. It was quite stressful, as I rushed in, but there was also a thrill that raced through me.
Forcing it down, I focused on the task at hand as I ducked under a tentacle, and swiped at it. My claws passed through it, but there was some damage I could see, left behind. The monster recoiled, and my danger sense spiked.
Tentacles came flying at me, as I dodged them. I knew they were dangerous, but they just past through the ground and nearby buildings. I delivered some more slashes to the tentacles, but I focused on dodging.
I saw Southpaw moving behind the monster and he was squinting. Mes had warned me this might be an issue. Mes was helping me out slightly by making the creature clearly visible to me. For Southpaw, he would just see a blur at best, and maybe something where my claws were striking. Again, this was something I couldn’t exactly say.
He was still a Master Assassin, just behind my father, and had clearly sensed something was off. He threw a dagger, right after I slashed another tentacle. The blade hit the flesh mass of the creature with the maw and the tentacles from behind. I could see the knife move much slower as it sank into the monster’s body.
It began to thrash about even more and clearly in pain. The main advantages this monster had were stealth and being completely unexpected. With those advantages negated, it was nothing more than a weird beast, lacking the intelligence of a creature.
I became more aggressive with my attacks and three more daggers were thrown, aimed at the previous one. “I am out!” Southpaw shouted.
“I got it!” I shouted back as the monster began to fray apart. With a rush of putrid air, the glowing flesh disappeared, as droplets of smoking dark red blood fell to the ground. I avoided the drops of monster blood, not wanting to risk what they could do.
The daggers clattered on the pavement of the alley. They were intact, but the blood was smoking more heavily off of them. “We got it,” I said while looking around just to be sure. ‘Combat Log.’
COMBAT LOG
1 Ethereal Beast (Low): 9,812 EXP
‘Close,’ and the screen disappeared. That was all the confirmation I needed. Southpaw was approaching the smoking blood and looking at his daggers with a frown on his face.
“Thanks for the support,” I replied.
“I could barely see it. Impressive dodging and sense,” he replied but was clearly focused on his weapons. Giving them an intense look. “What a hassle, but well done. Very well done Mittens.” Southpaw pulled out a piece of cloth from a pouch at his side.
He then carefully went over and collected his daggers making sure not to touch them himself. I agreed with that approach, better not to take risks. That was why I had my claws still extended and began looking them over.
‘All clear, you didn’t get any of the blood on you and you should be all set,’ Mes said while working on a tiny table in front of themselves, chopping up a tentacle. ‘You are also in the positive finally. Keep up the good work! No more threats that I can spot in the area.’
‘Thanks Mes. You were a big help,’ I mentally replied as the floating tiny cat gave me a grin and disappeared, tentacle covered table and all. My nose scrunched up as a wiff of the smoking blood entered it. The smell was terrible and made me want to gag. I would be washing my claws at least five or six times once this was all wrapped up.
“You good?” Southpaw asked me as he wrapped up all his daggers in the strip of cloth.
“Yes, I want to wash my claws out though,” I replied.
“Of course. Let’s go, grab that sheep as well,” he told me. I nodded at this. I grabbed the sheep we had used as bait and carried him out to the end of the alley. Screws was just down the street with the van. Other creatures were walking about and gave us looks. A pair of mice moved across the street to avoid us. It was frustrating to be treated like this after what I had done, but I was used to it.
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“Call in the police. Have the alley sealed. Alert the cleanup crew that there is a toxic substance. Some sort of invisible beast.”
“Wait really? Mittens was right?” Screws asked and Southpaw nodded. The mouse gave me an impressed look.
“Yes. Her instinct was spot on. The daggers need to be fully cleaned. Also, Mittens’ claws. Break out the disinfectant for her,” he told Screws.
“Of course, right away.” Screws replied and quickly took the bundle from Southpaws.
“Set the sheep to the side,” Southpaw told me. I put the sheep down and he began to stir slightly. Screws put out a bottle of disinfectant and a rag at the back of the van. I quickly began to wipe my claws down along with my fur. I didn’t want the stench from the monster to settle in.
Police showed up along with Detective Glintpaw. The police cordoned off the alley on both ends while the Detective came over to us.
“So, the issue is resolved? What was it?” the detective asked Screws.
“Classified by the Covenant Church under the authority of Division Eight. But I can confirm that the threat has been neutralized. A clean up crew will be arriving within one day. Until that time, no creature should enter the alley, due to the toxic blood that has been left behind.”
“And the body?” the Detective asked.
“Has already been taken care of. If you have further questions, you can contact this number, but for now you should consider this case closed under the authority of the Covenant Church,” Screws explained and handed the detective a card.
“And public credit. This story got some traction?” he asked.
“You can take the public credit as long as you mention the assistance of the Covenant Church in a respectful manner,” Screws replied and the Detective cheered up considerably at that. The church didn’t want to advertise it had bad creatures working for it to kill monsters and other creatures in a war against the other great powers.
So, no public credit for Southpaws or myself. This happened on the mission with my father as well. The Covenant Church would claim direct credit if it was serious enough, like the massacre of cultist ducks, since there was a lot of death. But for something like this where a lot of creatures hadn’t been killed by us assassins, credit would be given to the local forces, only citing the Covenant Church’s involvement in the affair as support personnel.
Being too public led to questions and would make creatures overly curious. But the clean up crew also cleaned up the narrative that was given out as well. I listened to Screws explain to the detective he should work with the clean up crew and that he could prepare for a press conference tomorrow afternoon.
I kept cleaning my claws, trying not to yawn, since it was quite late. Once Screws and the Detective were done talking. We all got into the van and Mousethief showed up as well. Southpaw just shook his head slightly as we left back towards his boat.
“Well, let me be the first to congratulate you Assassin Mittens. You easily passed the investigation portion of your evaluation and showed competency while not under your father or with an experienced Chief Technician helping you.” Thank you, Mes. You really just made this entire thing so much easier.
I knew that I would have gotten a massive headache trying to figure out this mission without Mes’ help. Mittens, investigation zero out of ten, murdering ten out of ten. I mentally sighed at how lopsided I was, but with the threats I had faced and was going to face, my combat ability had to remain my priority compared to anything else. Survival was the most important.
“Thank you, Master Southpaw. So, we are going back to the island?” I asked while glancing at my claws and sniffing them, just to be sure there was no monster left on them.
“Normally that would be the case. And there would have been a small ceremony. But I suspect you will be immediately sent out on another mission. They are already starting to pile up unfortunately, as you know.” I retracted my claws as much as they could go, since they were clean. I would probably wash them off with soap and water once more just to be safe.
“That’s unfortunate, or fortunate?” I asked.
“Both. Honestly you are too good, and Maximilian is right. We need all hands on deck right now. The gathering after you were promoted to Neophyte will have to do. It would have been nice to do another mission together, but you clearly understand this job.” I nodded at that.
“Thank you Master Southpaw for showing me how you handle things,” I replied. He smiled at that statement.
“Your welcome Assassin Mittens. When you are killing elder snakes, make sure to remember us elder assassins,” Southpaw joked.
“I will try to.”
“I do have to ask, how were you able to see that monster?” Southpaw asked me.
“An acute sense of danger and sharp eyes. You know us cats can see partially in the dark,” I replied.
“Hmm, some creatures have all the advantages. Next time I encounter a similar string of deaths, I will be ready for sure. Will need more daggers, so expensive,” he let out a groan.
“You mean points?” I asked.
“Yes. They aren’t easy to get. Even for me. The missions that hand out points are few and far between. Celestial ore is incredibly rare. If I had ten daggers, I could easily defeat anything. But after all this time, I have worked up from one low quality to four high quality daggers or pure celestial ore.”
That was probably a lot of points, since my claws only got a coating of high-grade ore and cost a point each. “That probably cost a lot,” I diplomatically replied.
“They did. But they haven’t failed me since. Lesser daggers would have been destroyed after the fight. While the ore could be salvaged from the ruined metal. Paladin Stormsong will string you up with your whiskers if that happens. He gets very upset if people damage their equipment,” Southpaw replied.
“I definitely don’t want that to happen,” I replied. “My claws should be fine unless I break one.”
“Your father never told me, do they regrow?” he asked. I felt heat go to my face. One does not ask that of a cat. It was just improper.
“That is personal,” I replied. Southpaw shook his head and grinned.
“Your father said that as well. Now I really am curious. Keep your secrets, I will figure it out eventually,” Southpaw said. I nodded at that. I wasn’t going to share. It was a cat secret and would remain that way. It touched too closely on the subject of declawing to be shared with just anyone.