Chapter 399

“Er, come again?” The party had all begun to back away, cautiously, from Sergeant Jenkins the moment he uttered those words. Z had stayed somewhat close though, considering he was the one having the conversation with the massive, extremely powerful and threatening, fifth floor boss.

Sergeant Jenkins chuckled. “I didn’t stutter.” He said as he pulled out one of his Alien Kits. The kits looked like a strange, flesh like sack, within which one could just make out the swimming, multilegged creature within, which would turn someone into a host for the Predator’s alien prey. “I require a sacrifice.”

“You’re sure you wouldn’t just go for, I don’t know…a good old-fashioned shrubbery?” Z offered up, with a small grin. “Surely we don’t have to go all Ridley Scott up in here.”

“One way or another,” Sergeant Jenkins said as he lightly tossed the Alien Kit up and down in his hand, “one of you is going to become the host for my ideal prey. Honestly, I’d be happy to just kill all of you if you were a bit stronger, but as it stands, you’re just too weak to even offer me a challenge.”

“He’s not wrong.” Oak muttered quietly from behind Z. “Definitely getting the whole, will murder you and all your loved ones vibes from him.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Z said back to Oak. “You just don’t want to tank him.”

“Dude, if I tanked him, knowing my luck, I’d end up with one of those kits on my face. No thank you at all.”

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else we could do to help you out?” Z continued addressing Sergeant Jenkins. “Obviously, the level gap is huge, so you’re right, we couldn’t really put up all that much of a fight against you. But will that kit really create a prey worthy of your skills?”

“The creature that will emerge from whoever I use this on, will be five levels higher than it’s host. Meaning, just barely, it will be within a range that I deem worthy of hunting.”

Z did some quick finger math at that. “Well, what if you used it on one of the random mobs around here? They’re already higher leveled than us. We could help you capture a bunch of those for your hosts, and then we go on our merry ways, and you have your prey to hunt?”

Sergeant Jenkins shook his head. “No can do. These particular kits are picky. They won’t work on dungeon created creatures. Sad to say, only the five of you right now would work.”

“Well, huh. And uh, what happens to the sacrifice?” Z had already scoped out the area, and James could tell he knew they weren’t getting away without either party wiping or making a deal with Sergeant Jenkins.

“The individual will be incapacitated for 10 seconds, while the egg is implanted within their system. After 30 seconds, they will die, and an alien brood will emerge from their body. Then, that alien will spend the next ten minutes growing in size and capability, after which point, it will reach full maturity, and I will begin my hunt on it.”

“That…sounds unpleasant, to say the least.” Z said as he glanced back at his teammates. “And uh, you only need one sacrifice?”

“Technically, I have the ability to make 3 of them at one time. Though, I’m offering your party the chance to only offer up a single sacrifice, in order to survive. If you keep wasting my time though,” Sergeant Jenkins let the words hang in the air.

“Noted.” Z said. “One last question. I promise.”

“What?”

“You said it just has to be a living creature not from the dungeon…right?”

“That is correct.”

“Follow up question.” Z continued. “If uh, we gave you more than one sacrifice, would you be able to give us anything in return?”

Sergeant Jenkins looked down at Z, and then the rest of the party, seeming to ponder that for a second. “If you give me three sacrifices,” he said slowly, “I would be willing to allow your party to hunt one of them after the ten-minute mark. And, in doing so, allow your team to take whatever prize from it you received if, you’re able to bring it down.”

“Alright. I think that sounds doable.” Z turned his back on Sergeant Jenkins, the boss seeming a little more than surprised at the turn of events.

“I hate having to do this,” Z started, “but would either of you be willing to sacrifice yourselves for this? If not, I will. But, the two of you just leveled…” Z trailed off as he glanced between Med Ic and Faust.

“That still leaves the need for two other-“ Faust started, and Z shook his head.

“Just need one of you to agree.”

The two magic users offered Z a confused look, but then glanced at each other. A moment later, they were playing rock paper scissors. And a second after that, Med Ic let out a sigh, and stepped forward. Having lost the game.

“Guess the healer is the sacrifice.” He said, defeated. “Kind of ironic, no?”

“Just figure your sacrifice is to save the rest of us. Besides, you’ll respawn in no time.” Z said, offering his friend a small smile.

“Alright Sergeant Jenkins.” He turned back to the boss. “We’ve got your three sacrifices.”

“Oh really? Because as far as I could tell, only one of you have agreed.”

Z chuckled and whistled, and a second later Turk and Badgy were at his side. Both of the creatures, thanks to his latest class upgrade, had levels, classes, and skills of their own.

“You said any living creature not made of the dungeon would work.” Z said with a smile. “So, I present to you, your three sacrifices. If its no different to you,” Z continued. “I believe my party would be willing to take on one of the lower leveled Aliens, once it forms. You can hunt the level 74 one that will spawn from my good friend here.”

The boss remained silent for a moment, before it began laughing, dark, raspy, and twisted.

“Very well,” he said after a moment, his voice still filled with dark amusement. “At the very least, I am honor bound to my word. Now then, let the hunt begin.”

To his credit, Med Ic only let out the slightest sound of dismay as Sergeant Jenkins approached him, Alien Kit in hand. Badgy, and Turk, on the other hand, both offered Z their equivalents of curses and protests, but to their credit, allowed Sergeant Jenkins to affix a FaceHugger to each as well.

Then, everyone stepped back and waited for the creatures to hatch.