T + 0:29 mission time
I am sacrificing two cans of coke zero.
L: I am recharged.
P: Should we go into direction the scorpion came from?
L: It would seem to be solitary. The other way, I think.
P: Very well
Dalek #2 is leading the way, mainly to draw attacks onto itself.
T + 0:35 mission time
Black oily liquid sprays in a circle around Dalek #2. Hulk form turns a surprised squeak into a manly roar.
I start firing with my assault rifle and my magical wand. This is a case where the wand does much better. A quarrel passes me by and does little damage passing through the blob like my bullets. Lisa suggests that the dark blob do something a blob is anatomically not equipped for and conjures her rotary gun.
L: Keep it off us!
I throw my flashlight with my third telekinetic arm. That turns the blob into a furious whirlwind attempting to extinguish the flashlight, while still shying away from the light’s business end. The senselessly enraged blob of shadow ignores my wand. By the time it notices its error it is too late.
L: Good thinking.
P: No. I did not think. I just threw it. We are alive by accident.
L: It pains me to admit it, but you are right.
P: We fought too hard to not loot this.
L: Put it into your storage.
P: It is only powder. Do you want me to make a broom and start cleaning the tunnel?
L: Well, what is the alternative? Do you have gas masks? - I should not have asked. Of course you are carrying gas masks in your storage space.
I use the opportunity to also loot the scorpion monster. We are getting a dagger from it and a staff with crystal caps on both ends from the dust. I give the knife to Lisa.
P: Your kill
We turn back.
T + 0:46 mission time
There is a rustling noise. It is coming from both sides.
L: Shit
P: I am going to build blockades
[Equip the Army] is not an ability to build a mansion with. But two walls in a relatively narrow corridor is possible. I give hand grenades to Lisa. The walls turn out to be pointing slightly forward and unbroken up to chest height with a wide hexagonal mesh above that.
--
T + 0:58 mission time
They are taking their time.
L: What if they don’t come?
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
P: We wait until [Cornucopia] comes off cooldown and then we make a dash to the ladder.
L: I suppose you are right.
P: In the long run time is working against us.
L: Unfortunately true
--
T + 1:00 mission time
Rats. That is at least their scouts are rats. I have had a spare flaslight. But only one.
L: Do you have something conventional in storage? If I use my crossbow on this I will exhaust my ammo qickly.
I hand her my old machine pistol and a spare magazine.
P: Is there any point in wasting mana on lesser monsters?
L: Yes, there is. In the medium term time works for us. We need a boost if we want to dash to the ladder. Make every shot count.
We killed about eight of them before the rest retreats.
P: I think they have leaders that are not lesser monsters.
--
T + 1:05
They are rushing us. About ten rat-human hybrids supported by three times the number of lesser monsters are running in from the direction we have retreated from. That is not enough against two automatic weapons, a wand and a staff.
P: If they had coordinated and come from both sides, they would have reached the barrier.
L: Yep. We have to assume that they will not make the same mistake twice.
P: I am afraid I’ll have to risk creating a gas barrier between us and the ladder. My own gas won’t hurt me. I am not sure what it will do to you.
L: Do it. You still have a regular healing potion, if it comes to that, don’t you?
P: Yes. The regular ones I still have.
L: Let’s don the gas masks anyway. Then you can loot the dead monsters behind us as a distraction.
P: Very well. And I will switch my looting for everything to go into my inventory.
I use two gas grenades to block the corridor in direction of the ladder. That leaves one.
T + 1:13 mission time
They have learned. But they have learned too late. According to the sounds gruesome things are hapening in the gas cloud behind our backs. We are both firing into a group of fifteen ratlings, as we are calling them now. The number of supporting lesser rats has not gone up. But they are still more trouble. Ratlings do not fit through our mesh. Lesser rat monsters do.
L: Now!
I trigger the loot. A lesser rat monster jumps me from behind. I rip it off myself with my fourth hand and whirl around. A small number of rats and ratlings with bleeding eyes are stumbling out of the gas. Its leaders have reached the wall.
P: You need to take the other side.
We brake their attack.
L: I am out of ammo.
P: Sorry this is it.
T + 1:17 mission time
Shrill whistles and hoots are coming out of the dark.
P: Four minutes
L: Ok. As soon as something comes, trigger the looting.
T + 1:19 mission time
Three rat gorillas. I have killed one with gun fire, which has healed and restored both of us. But now they are on us. The walls stopped them only for seconds. We are strong, but so are they and they have prehensile tails.
I am being dragged towards the monster, while my knife does little damage to the tail. Glimpsing behind myself I see Lisa running along the tail of a monster which has lost an eye to her crossbow.
The monster has finished hauling me in. I however have to free arms while still holding its arms away. That is enough to hold it by an ear while fire a wand directly into its mouth. Unfortunately the wand does little damage and I have not enough room to use my assault rifle.
T + 1:20 mission time
It has bitten down on my third arm, twisting its head out of my grip. This probably should hurt more than I am feeling right now but I need another option. I take a knife telekinetically and go for the monster’s eyes. It flinches away and lets my arm go. That will need a healing potion to become usable again. But the monster’s neck is where I need it to be. Shai-Hulud #2 starts the process of strangulation.
T + 1:21 mission time
The monster’s arms go for its neck. I reconjure my my assault rifle. Lisa’s scream changes my plan. I fire my last gas renade in her direction. I trigger [Immortality] to get use of my hand back. That allows me to twist one of the monster’s arms away.
[Cornucopia] becomes available. I use it. The monster is stronger than my servant and rips it off its neck, destroying it in the process. Just as it has had enough of me and uses its tail to toss me away, the sound of rarotary gun fills the corridor.
I follow her example with my assault rifle, hitting the monster in the lower back. Its tail becomes limp. It starts dragging itself towards me with it hands
L: Move aside
I oblige. The rotary guns sings the song of superior firepower.
Lisa is bleeding from a wound in the lower abdomen. That looks bad. I give her a potion.
P: This is bronze rank. This rules out more potions for you, but if this has perforated your gut, we are in deep trouble.
She screams. Nevertheless I put her on my shoulder. We need to get out out of here. We reach the ladder. I start climbing and trigger the looting.