I fell backward, still clutching the severed half of Clara’s arm.
Chapter 37
Worms and bugs and monsters surged, reaching forward through the open portal. They weren’t blocked by any sort of permissions. I took the butt of my rifle and smashed the head of a round, fleshy thing covered in long hairs. It squealed and fell back. I took that moment to grasp the round portal with my left grabber and pull it shut using all of my strength. An earthworm-like creature managed to pull itself halfway into the room, and I severed it in half as I slammed and spun the door.
The wriggling half parasite leaped at me, attaching itself to the flesh of my hip in the space between my breastplate and my pants. It was about three feet long and six inches thick. It whipped back and forth as it started scrabbling into me. I screamed.
I still had Clara’s amplification knife, and I pulled it, plunging it into the worm. It didn’t faze the monster. I cut the worm in half again. The bottom half plunged to the floor and started whipping about. I stomped on it with my foot and pulled the rest out of me with my left hand. I screamed anew as red meat pulled out of the wound, still attached to the worm’s ravening mouth. The worm thrashed in a frenzy. I squeezed. The remaining quarter of worm in my hand continued to thrash. I threw it to the ground and stomped it with my other foot.
My side roared with pain as I took the amplification knife and cut lengthwise on both remaining pieces of worm, slashing and chopping, trying to kill the damn thing. Both halves continued to fight. I now had several worm pieces thrashing about on the floor.
“Holy crap,” I said. “Die already.” I took a moment to heal myself.
Piece by piece, I picked up the remaining worm bits and crushed them under my claw. Finally, I felt the soul power seep into me.
I fell onto my back and stared up at the flesh ceiling of the large room. It was completely barren with no furnishings except a small sign hanging halfway up the curved wall.
It read Home Sweet Home.
The sign had a crooked nail sticking from the frame, and hanging from the nail was a branding iron. I didn’t need to examine it to know it was a branding iron for my home base.
I laughed.
I laughed, and then I started to sob. It came unexpectedly. I allowed it to overwhelm me before I sat up and wiped my face. I had so much to do.
Before I delved into the mountains of notifications, I pieced together what had happened with the mass parasite attack.
When you cast your antiparasitic talent, it has an area effect. Probably bigger and more powerful with each level. I suspected once it hit level 10, it would cover an entire guardian. All parasites—and this game’s definition of parasite was anything living within the guardian that lived off of its flesh—were poisoned. Depending on the level of the talent and the power of the parasite, they either died or just got really angry. And the angry ones immediately burrowed, dug, chewed, and whatever else they could do toward you as quickly as they could in a rage.
Clara and I had killed thousands of parasites in a large area of effect around us. But the remainders had exacted their revenge. Clara was now regenerating all the way back in Charnel, alone and probably pissed off.
We’d talked about this possibility earlier. She was going to head off toward the south forest on her own to collect a second and third familiar. I could only have one, but she could have three. The village of the fae was gone, destroyed in the original invasion. But she was going to attempt to enter and tame the panther-like Avvinik, her associated kaiju. We would meet back up at Charnel on the next ten, which would be in ten days, or 130 feedings left. That’s how we marked the passage of time. If we missed it, the first one to get there would leave a note saying they were okay, and we’d keep coming back every ten.
The hordes outside couldn’t get into here as long as the door was closed. And looking at the map, it appeared as if they were dispersing back toward wherever they normally lived. The Shrill’s health had taken a small hit, going down to 21% for a while, but it’d just ticked back up to 22%. His strength had climbed to 35% from 30%. If I could figure out how to control the damn thing, that would magically jump another 20%.
I pulled up the controls for the player base. Like the cockpit, I had multiple skins I could choose from. There were three different ones under the worm surgeon tab. One was some sort of dripping sex dungeon. There was a cave filled with weird, angular furniture, and there was the default skin with worm surgeon-sized chairs.
I chose the default skin, and I was surprised to see the room switched to a design remarkably similar to Anatoly’s base and his Seattle apartment. The couch, chair, fireplace, the kitchen, bedroom, the brick wall. That goddamned brick wall. It was all there, just jumbled up a little differently. The artwork was even the same. All except that Manet painting.
This couldn’t be what the default was in the original game. It was just something Anatoly had added. Either way, it was disconcerting as hell. Clara and I had spent weeks in this place, and I didn’t want to look at it ever again. So I scrolled through all the choices. I finally settled on a physicker skin. A white, plain room filled with simple furniture and a fireplace.
I could purchase upgrades using my teeth in the menu. I wanted to buy a food box for Clara, but they were way too expensive. I only had a bit more than 3,000 teeth, and the boxes were going for over 500,000 teeth. Most I could afford were some simple decorations, and I didn’t want to waste the money.
In the settings menu I could restrict access to just myself, myself and others who are traveling with me, branded individuals, or branded individuals and those traveling with them, or I could open it up to free access. I set it to myself and party members, along with those with brand access. I could also grant my pet free entrance, which I did. I restricted the edit functions for myself.
I could also route a vein straight through the base, allowing me to travel directly here from other parts of the guardian. Anatoly did not have this option turned on. I did. I placed the vein up against the wall opposite the bedroom. That way I wouldn’t have to go through that front door again unless I wanted to.
Sometime in the past several hours I had managed to level up to 20. I tossed my attribute point into durability. With the boost from that disgusting milk, my stats were now:
Strength: 21
Acumen: 15 (+2 from armor)
Durability: 20
Deftness: 13 (+1 from kneepads)
Charm: 9
I had 15 skill points hoarded, but I had been saving five of them for a spell I’d gained access to when I hit level 20. I spent the five on the Heal Familiar spell. Now I didn’t have to rely on Clara to heal Banksy.
I spent some time reading the notifications I’d received when I first stepped into the Shrill. They were mostly about my Gross Anatomy map upgrade, which I’d have received whether I had the skill or not. But it only worked in my own associated kaiju. It went on to explain how the purple, critical action waypoints worked. I could adjust the sensitivity, which is why I hadn’t known I was about to transport myself directly into the lap of a giant worm when I’d come here in the first place. That giant, pissed-off worm that lived right outside my front door was only of “intermediate” concern.
I could also see Banksy’s location. I turned on the tracker. He was a couple hundred meters below me, working his way upward by following the exterior of an intestinal tube. He moved slowly, and the way my experience was ticking up, I knew he was having a good time chomping on things. Hopefully he stayed away from anything too big. I was worried about how he’d deal with the dino worm. But at this rate, it’d take another hour or so for him to get to that point.
The cockpit for the Shrill was attached to the side of the base and could be accessed via a sliding closet door. But when I tried to open the door, it wouldn’t let me in. I needed to find the controller.
I mapped out my next moves. Now that I’d cranked up the Gross Anatomy map all the way, I had dozens of locations where I could easily heal the guardian and
gain some much-needed experience. So far my leveling process had been slow due to the lack of level-appropriate prey. I was either forced to grind my way upwards using low-level animals or get large chunks of experience through luck and boss events.
My priority was to get to Bernadette, but I needed another level of Antiparasitic before it would be feasible. I had no idea when it would level up again. The surgical talents leveled on their own upon player level-up, but they didn’t happen at predictable intervals. I’d leveled to Antiparasitic level 6 when I hit player level 20, so I probably wouldn’t hit Antiparasitic 7 until at least level 23 or 24. But I didn’t know for sure. Also, I didn’t know if Clara’s simultaneous cast with me had any effect at all. Or what would happen if I cast two times in quick succession. I would have to experiment.
After I rescued Bernadette, I would try to figure out how to get access to the guardian cockpit, and after that I would fertilize the donkey egg, figure out how to get it to the queen, get that rift key, return to Charnel, meet up with Clara, and get myself into Medina. We’d spend the next couple weeks power leveling, and when we were ready, we’d come back out here and try to break ourselves into hell, kill Baal or whatever it is you have to do down there, and win the game. Clara and I would wake up in some warehouse somewhere, we’d escape, and I would go home. Simple.
I sighed.
Outside, the Shrill calmed. It appeared the fight with King Vinea and his little red assholes was over. The floor bucked as the shape of the beast altered. I watched my map in fascination as the potato shape of the kaiju flattened out to that of an over-easy egg, low to the ground except for the center. The tentacles circled the outside of the egg, and the round brain comprised the yolk portion of the egg shape. The guardian encompassed a much bigger area in this form, but its height was lower than some of the taller buildings of Neo-Austin.
The kaiju could move in this form, and it slurped its way east toward the edge of the map, deeper into its own territory. It slipped between buildings instead of toppling them. This form explained why I hadn’t seen the monster until this point. It probably only reared up when it was being attacked.
Father. I am nearby, but the doorway to your base is too small for me to enter. It is also being guarded by a very angry worm I do not think I can fight. I know you can’t respond, so I will remain in the cavern I now reside until you come and find me. I like this place. It is large, safe and it gives me room to grow.
“Crap,” I muttered, eying the door. I should have realized.
I examined my familiar’s properties. He was now level 22. Just three more levels before he’d evolve again. He appeared to be in a cavernous sinus cavity that encompassed an area a couple dozen meters below and aft of the brain. On the map the chamber was indicated as Frontal Sinus Chamber 3. I pulled open the familiar menu and reset Banksy’s regeneration spot to there. I hoped the chamber didn’t periodically fill with kaiju snot or anything.
I realized with a start that the sinus area in which Banksy resided was within a vast bone structure I hadn’t noticed before. It spread underneath the brain, shaped like a colossal whale jaw. It was the only bone item in the entire guardian. Weird. This whole kaiju really was like a monster made out of pieces of other monsters.
I grasped onto the travel vein to see if I had the option to fast travel to the cavern. I didn’t, but I could to a place just outside of it. This time I thoroughly examined the map to see if I was stepping into another monster lair. I wasn’t. I shuffled my way off.
The trip took less than two seconds.
The ground heaved as the Shrill lumbered through the city. The movement wasn’t nearly as jarring as the badger or the lion. I spied the large, circular entrance to Banksy’s lair high above. I shot my hand and pulled myself in.
A glowing, green moss filled the cavern. Small mushrooms grew from the floor and curved up the walls. Banksy lay on the moss, writhing back and forth like a dog frolicking on his back.
“Wow,” I said, looking about. I wondered if I could move my base to in here. My voice echoed. “This place is amazing!”
“Father!” Banksy leaped up, as if embarrassed and surprised. He’d grown a couple feet in length, and the hooked nubs along his lower half had gotten longer. The twin fangs that gave him his underbite appearance had grown to twice as long. Half of his body was still splattered with blood. He’d been busy.
“Where’s Clara?” he asked, looking about.
“She got eaten,” I said. “She’s back in Charnel. We will meet back up with her when we’re out of here.”
Banksy hung his head for a few moments. He seemed to sigh. “Okay,” he said.
We sat in silence for several moments.
I sat in the moss, then I lay on my back, looking up at the green glow. This place was like an oasis. I knew to have moss and mushrooms growing inside of you was probably not the best sign of health, but at the moment I was thankful for it.
“I used to take Ruth to a park where the ground was like this, more moss than grass. We’d go at night and look up at the stars,” I said. “Sometimes she’d bring her telescope. She used to say she wanted to be a scientist when she grew up.”
“I would like to look at stars sometime,” Banksy said.
“I’d take you if I could,” I said. “You might scare the folks out in the real world, though.”
“Is Ruth your child?” Banksy asked.
“Yes. She’s all grown up now.”
“If she is your child, that means she’s my sister,” Banksy said. “Did she become a scientist?”
“No. No she didn’t. But she’s going to get a job and go back to school. Beauty school, not science. But you never know what might happen in the future. I would give anything to go back to that time and place.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about the last time I had seen her. It was a few days after I’d been kidnapped, and I watched through the viewscreen as she lit up a crack pipe. I felt a fresh wave of anger at Anatoly and all the others responsible for me being here.
It’s just as much your fault, though, isn’t it?
“Clara has a daughter, too. One other than Winky,” Banksy said.
“What?” I asked. “How do you know?”
“She told me,” said Banksy. “She had a son, too. But he died.”
“Did she tell you anything else?”
“Only that she had the girl after she came here.”
Holy shit. “Did she say how that happened?”
“No, only that she’d made a mistake and that she’s going to protect her girl no matter what it takes.”
Jenk seemed to be the one who had her baby. Did that mean he was the father? Or was she pregnant when she came in? If she’d given birth after she’d been tossed in here, and Jenk had the baby… what did that mean?
I suddenly regretted not telling Clara about Jenk. I resolved to correct that the next time I saw her. It really was crazy when you thought about it. Here we were, trapped. All Clara and I had were each other. Yet we hardly knew each other. I didn’t even know what her real name was. How old she was. What her job was in the real world. Nothing.
“Father,” Banksy said a minute later. “What do you want me to do with these?” He vomited a pile of hag heads onto the moss.
I laughed, happy for the change of subject. I’d forgotten about them. I picked one up, staring at the slimy, obsidian-colored heads with the giant eyes and hook noses. Dead like this, their odd cloaking ability was not active. I examined the pile. About half of them indicated I could upcycle their scalp.
“See this black, stringy hair?” I said, holding the head up so Banksy could examine it. I made a circle around the scalp area. “It doesn’t look too different than what I have, other than the dark stripe down the middle of their foreheads.”
“Their heads are a lot bigger. Their hair is grosser than yours,” Banksy said. “There are bugs.”
“Their hair is enchanted,” I said. “It creates a magic cloak about them that makes t
hem almost invisible in the dark. They can turn it on and off. It’s a skill, not a spell, so that means I can always wear it, and I can’t lose it unless someone cuts it off my head. Plus it gives me +2 to my acumen skill.”
Banksy looked at me dubiously. The upcycle had a 70% chance of getting rejected, but Banksy had collected eight heads with compatible scalps. I was no mathematician, but I knew my chances were good that at least one of them would work. My hairline would fall back. I’d end up looking like I had a skullet. But I wouldn’t lose anything else if it didn’t work. Except for my scalp.
Chapter 38
Feedings Left: 112
I cast my Detoxify talent on the small, car-sized gland followed by Reroute for the second time, allowing the blood to flow back into the area. That had been my mistake the last time. The gland glowed. A clear liquid began to swell into the sac. I sighed with relief. An hour of surgery, and it looks like it finally worked this time. I cast Cleanse to prevent infection and to keep the pigs from gnawing on it.
Behind me, the sounds of battle raged on. I siphoned off the soul energy. Dozens of the pig spiders swarmed, trying to get back to their eggs, which had been planted just underneath the gland. The pig spiders ranged from hamster-sized to, well, pig-sized. One on one, they were more a biting nuisance than anything. But they swarmed and the big ones had fangs, and they got especially cranky when you threatened their eggs.
I’d already smashed all the eggs. Banksy held them off while I worked. I pulled my cloak tightly around my shoulders. They hadn’t noticed me yet. If they did, they’d surge past him and descend on me.
I’d been damn lucky with the scalp upcycle. Of the eight available scalps, only the very last one worked. When an item was rejected, it brought you to near death. I’d had to send Banksy out multiple times to kill something in order to get enough soul power to heal myself.
I stepped back and examined my work.
Parathyroid Gland has been repaired!
Experienced earned!
Scanning…
Kaiju- Battlefield Surgeon Page 32
