Chapter 92

The heavy weight of the exertion was lifting. His struggle to breathe normalised.

The zombies beyond stopped roaring. Hunched over, Daniel waited for the aftereffects to reduce. The extended use of speed and strength had knocked him for six like they usually did.

More zombie cores were the only answer. More magic, more capacity, more training to make the most of what he had.

If he ate enough of them, hopefully, his boosts would last more than the five seconds that it currently managed. While they were incredibly powerful, as the ultra had discovered, it would be nice to have more staying power in a battle.

There was a smattering of excited sounds. Apparently, there had been a couple of level ups. Daniel ignored the noise and focused on recovery. Priscilla, rescue humans, he thought.

Priscilla moved and shared a close-up image of Tamara’s face, and then a moment later, she was moving down the corridor. Ten seconds later, she reached out again, and this time, Tamara, Carly’s dad, and an archer were following her.

Daniel relaxed, thinking about the coming fight. When he opened his eyes, he could still see Luke’s legs still guarding him.

The next level was filled with slugs. They had felt powerful, and he would need someone to get identification on them.

“Ivey,” he whispered.

“Yes.” She knelt down so her face was at his eye level. Concern filled her face. So cute.

“Can you get an identification of the slugs upstairs?”

“What do I need to know?”

“Strong, but not fast. Doors, covered, can peek.”

“I will go.” She got up and moved away.

Once they had the detailed information, they could plan the coming fight more carefully. He was not willing to commit them against something so alien just based on his Animal Sense skill. The creatures were weird. They appeared to be slow, but he was not about to underestimate them. Even though there were only four of them, they had taken over the floor. That screamed power just like the empty floors above them did. Ivey would be careful, but maybe he should call her back. Then he stopped himself. He needed to let others take risks too, and he needed Ivey’s advanced identification to help with the planning. He should not have let go, but then again, she was not stupid and would probably drag some fighters up with her as protection.

There was movement above him, and Dave’s hairy legs replaced Luke’s.

Finally, the impossible demand for more oxygen relented, and Daniel’s unresponsive, trembling muscles stopped. He sat up and only Dave was still around. Everyone else had gone upstairs to clear rooms and save humans. Thirty seconds, Daniel decided, and then he would go protect Ivey.

“Rivy.”

Daniel startled and looked at the big man. The mutated human nodded, and he turned and saw that Ivey was on the way back.

“Eggercough slugs,” she called out to him. “I have sent a runner downstairs to get more information.”

“What?”

“Richard, through his class, has more information about monsters. All I got was the name and that they do poison and acid damage and can heal from almost anything. Physically, they are like overgrown caterpillars. The ones I saw were moving at a fast walk. I got the impression they could move faster, but . . .” She shrugged.

“Oh.”

That was something, but not enough to plan. The real question was how did they fight. Did they swarm, use hit and run? If they smelt you, did they keep tracking you forever?

Questions without definitive answers, unless Richard could fill in the gaps.

Priscilla, he thought hopefully. A firm no came back. There were still some of those horrible weasels around and while they existed, Priscilla was sticking close to people who could protect her.

He imagined a packet of chips.

There was a brief spark of interest. Of course, she could be bribed.

Two packs.

A sharp spike of excitement, quickly suppressed, followed by a firm no.

Damn. She had learned to negotiate.

He formed an image of three chip packets.

Suddenly, he could feel her zooming from Tamara’s shoulders and down to him. The requirements that he had to follow was crystal clear. Carry her to the door. Make a mouse-sized gap. Why he had to do that instead of her was a mystery. Then stand guard while she had a look.

It was all very reasonable precautions, apart from the three packets of chips, which formed the bulk of the payment.

Sometimes he thought that his relationship with Priscilla had not gone in the direction it was supposed to. Druids in the stories commanded their pets, and they obeyed instantly. There was none of this consistent need to bribe them.

On his shoulder, Priscilla was patting him in a manner he was sure she intended to be comforting. She pushed an image to him. It was a hierarchy of sorts. Ivey and Priscilla on top, then him, Tamara and Dave on equal footing, then the fighters followed by everyone else with Beau’s three accomplices on the lowest level.

What? No! There is no way Ivey is above me.

Surprise! Confusion! Ivey dropped a level, leaving the mouse alone at the apex.

“You think you are the boss?”

A firm nod.

“Maybe partners.” He imagined them being on the same level.

Priscilla seemed thoughtful for a moment, and the image changed. It was him, Tamara, and Priscilla on the top level with everyone below them. Priscilla now had a chip packet open in front of her.

“You like Tamara, hey.”

An immediate image of lots of chips flooded him and pats.

“You love the extra chips.”

An excited nod. They were at the door to the thirty-ninth level. A touch of his hand and a hole opened at ground level. Priscilla moved.

Wait, he instructed mentally. She paused just outside the tiny hole.

Animal Sense.

There were none of the ferret creatures present. Priscilla dashed out.

An image of one caterpillar appeared. It looked ugly, a bright yellow slug covered with patches of bristly brown fur. Then the mouse set about using her identification to get extra information.

Don’t fight was the immediate message she sent back. Images of the poison killing people quickly assaulted him, then the level of healing which was so extreme it meant if you split it in half, it would stitch itself together in literally seconds.

Then she was on his shoulder, looking him straight in the eye. Don’t fight. It was weird making eye contact with a mouse that was that close to his face. It was almost leaving him cross-eyed.

Casually, he glanced down the stairs. She might not understand the words, but he knew that if he spoke out loud, she would get the intent. It was like his brain was no longer his own between the Ivey, Priscilla, and Blood Drinker links.

Daniel hurried down to the next landing so that the strange caterpillar things would not hear him. “Currently, they are four. If we leave them, there will be hundreds.”

Priscilla looked at him, then shook her head. Don’t fight. The images of the poison killing him and the monster reforming after from being cut in half thundered into his head. She was resolute in her determination. Then an image of her passing one of her chip packet back to him.

She was trying to bribe him.

There was a lot of sadness across the link. The image changed to splitting a packet in half and Priscilla eating the other half. Hope and happiness. Daniel smiled.

“We can’t ignore them.”

She stamped her foot.

The slugs were deadly, but there were humans above them that needed saving, both the floor above and the penthouse. And if this hotel tower was going to be a long-term base, they had to clear out the slugs.

With a shrug, he went downstairs. It was time to consult and prepare. They were slugs. How hard would they be to squish?

‎