"Surrender or Die!"
Caffeine opened his eyes when the belly scratchers stopped moving. Dearest Human was talking with his weird voice again. He did that sometimes and even though Caffeine didn't know what he was saying, he still knew what Dearest Human was telling the Not Dog. He was saying 'give up or I will fight you'.
This Not Dog one was smarter than the last few had been. It didn't want to fight with Dearest Human and gave up. That was good, it didn't smell very tasty.
Caffeine yawned and closed his eyes when the belly scratcher started moving again. "This is the best!" Riding on Dearest Human was so much better than the rumbly place. Dearest Human was smooth, except when he got bumpy, but usually smooth.
Caffeine woke up when a crunchy snack was held in front of his nose. It didn't smell very good so he decided to let Dearest Human eat it and went back to sleep.
"Surrender or Die!"
It didn't surrender but did smell interesting. Caffeine jumped up to taste one of the two pieces Dearest Human left behind. It tasted interesting too! But interesting bad, not interesting good! Caffeine sighed and ate only one piece, he was so hungry after all the long naps! Then he needed to rest and cuddled inside Dearest Human's jacket covers. It was nice and dark and warm and snuggly. A perfect napping place!
"Surrender or Die!"
Caffeine poked his nose out. "Tasty snacks!" The big snack didn't attack Dearest Human so Caffeine decided it wasn't food… but there were lots of smaller snacks everywhere while he followed Dearest Human back into the outside! So many snacks made him sleepy and Caffeine climbed back inside the covers. "Best day ever!"
"Surrender or Die!"
…
"Surrender or Die!"
…
"Surrender or Die!"
Caffeine crawled out of the covers and Dearest Human gave him more wonderful belly scratches.
"Surrender or Die!"
…
"Surrender or Die!"
…
"Hey Stanley!" Caffeine woke up. "Not Dearest Humans!" He did a quick sniff check on all of them. Just in case they were Bad Not Dearest Humans. "Hi Caff." "Hello cutie!" "Who's a good boy?" "Uh good dog… please don't bite me!"
They weren't bad. They were Friend Not Dearest Humans and they all gave him snacks and head scratches! "Friends are the best!"
"Everyone doing okay?" Dearest Human talked to them while Caffeine had snacks.
"Yea, we're alright Stan. Just waiting on regen before we keep going."
"The boss room has two big guards protecting the queen. Just a heads up." Dearest Human sounded like he was warning them.
"Thanks, we'll probably avoid the boss then. How many floors up is that?" The Not Dearest Human had Chicken!
"They are at the end of the floor, three more stories up. Should be safe to clear the next two floors at least. Want me to kill the guards and or boss for you?" The Chicken was all gone…
"Nah. It makes the mobs go all wonky and unpredictable. Plus, I think we will want to farm this Lair so leave the boss, if you don't mind…" The other Not Dearest Human still had Chicken! But he smelled like afraid… Caffeine laid down on the floor and gave him his best starving look.
"No problem. Nate told me about the faster respawn if the boss is still alive." One of the other Not Dearest Humans tossed a piece of Chicken and Caffeine decided to be his best friend.
"Yea and if you leave the Queen's guards and a few of the others then they usually start dragging the corpses back to the Queen." Yummy yummy…
"Cannibals…" Dearest Human got upset and Caffeine had to leave his newest and bestest Friend to make sure he was okay.
"Yea it's weird and gross, but whatever gets us the most Cores…" Dearest Human was Okay and Caffeine ran back for more Chicken!
"You're right. Be safe guys… and gals." Dearest Human turned and floated back towards the outside. Caffeine Howled his sadness at having to leave his new Friends behind and jumped back into Dearest Humans lap.
"Thanks Caff!" They were good Humans. And it was nap time.
…
"Surrender or Die!"
…
"These things are popping up everywhere, Caff, but I guess that's good for us." Dearest Human offered him some crunchy snacks and Caffeine ate one. They weren't as good as Chicken, he never got to swallow the crunchy rocks before they disappeared.
…
"Surrender or Die!"
…
"Almost there, Caff." Caffeine rolled over and Dearest Human belly scratched him back to sleep.
…
"Surrender or Die!"
…
"Surrender or Die!"
…
"That'll do, I think." Dearest Human stopped scratching. "Ready to go back, Caff?" Caffeine got to his feet and had a gooooood stretch. A quick shake, and he laid back down, ready for more belly scratches. Dearest Human made some happy sounds and gave him belly scratches. "Dearest Human is the best!"
…
Caffeine woke up when he smelled and heard lots of other Not Dearest Humans nearby. They were at the new home again! Caffeine jumped off Dearest Human and went to say hello to all of his Friends and also to check if any snacks had fallen on the ground while he was gone. They had! And even more were dropped when he pawed at the Not Dearest Human's legs in greeting!
Caffeine found WarmLight but he was napping. HopePain was there, though now she smelled like HopeAnger and she had lots of metal sticks to play with! She was a very good chaser when it came to the metal sticks! She also smelled a little bit like Dearest Human… He didn't know why and Caffeine didn't mind, it was a good smell and it got stronger when she was chasing him and play shouting about the stick!
Then NotThere was suddenly there and he joined in the chasing the stick game! HopeAnger got tired and stopped chasing, Caffeine won the stick game! But before he could chew on the stick, NotThere took it and the chasing continued until both of them got tired.
Best Human was sitting with Dearest Human when Caffeine finished saying hi to everyone and playing chase.
"...know you're op, right?" BestHuman had some Chicken too! "How many Lairs did you clear today?"
"Not sure, a lot? You could do the same thing you know." Yummy!
"I get tired! Why don't you get tired!" So Yummy!
"I do get tired…"
Best Human was shaking his head at Dearest Human. "I'll go see if anyone wants these Skills and how many Willpower Chips we've accumulated. You going to rank up today?" He ran out of Chicken and Caffeine helped Best Human clean his hands.
"Tomorrow, I think. I'll wait for Adrian, he should have some more Willpower as well." Dearest Human floated into the sky and Caffeine jumped into his lap.
"I'm going to go eat and work on my Soul… assuming we don't have any newbies out here?"
"Eat! Eat! Eat!" Caffeine knew that word! It was a magic word!
"You're good. Just don't go all night like last time, some of us still have to sleep and it's hard when you're doing that."
"But Meditating helps my Soul heal faster…"
"Save it for the Tower!"
Dearest Human left Best Human and went to the magical and wonderful food home! There they met the BestWorstHuman. He had sooo much Chicken, but never shared even very small bites with Caffeine. But he did share the Chicken with Dearest Human and Dearest Human always shared with Caffeine!
After the wonderful dinner Dearest Human sat down and was very still for a very long time. Caffeine had his after dinner nap, as is only right, and then went to check if any of his friends wanted to play.
He started with the very big dogs. Caffeine was pretty sure they were dogs. They looked like dogs, though some of them had big wide hats on their heads, big hats that they tried to catch him with. The hats looked like they would be good to chew on...
Caffeine found them. "Want to chase?" He barked.
"No!" The biggest dog made a loud, tired noise and kept eating a plant. They were strange dogs. The smaller ones did like to play though and they chased him around in a wonderful game of catch.
Caffeine had to leave when the big dog walked into the dangerous wet stuff and the others followed it. Very very strange dogs. Somehow it didn't kill them instantly and Caffeine howled a goodbye and a promise to come play later. Once they were safely away from the deathtrap, of course.
He found another friend nearby, also playing in the water but only doing it for fish. It was truly a very dangerous way to get food but Caffeine could understand. He wouldn't risk it for fish, but if the water was full of Chicken…
"Hello big Friend!" He barked. "Did you ever eat Chicken?"
"Beast Lord!" The dog roared as it stood up on his hind legs and raised its front legs in a very big friendly wave. "Have you come to kill me at last?"
"Do you want to play?" Caffeine jumped back and forth in excitement.
"I'd rather die." The big dog dropped back down with a huff and a big splash that almost got Caffeine! He was probably hungry. Fish were hard to catch.
"I'll bring you some Chicken!" Caffeine ran back to where Dearest Human was still sitting. There was a lot of noise and flying sticks when he got there and everyone was yelling with very excited noises while they ran around. Caffeine wanted to play with them but he had promised to bring Chicken to his friend.
"I will play later!" He howled and ran to find BestHuman. Then he did his best asking for snacks whine. It always worked with Dearest Human.
Lots of Not Dearest Humans covered their ears and whined along with Caffeine. "They must want Chicken too!"
Best Human was the Best and brought a big piece of Chicken with the delicious stick still inside it!
"You're just encouraging him to do that again!"
Caffeine gobbled up the tiny snack. "So yummy!"
"How can anyone resist that teddy bear?"
Caffeine gagged and dropped the chicken back on the ground. "Oops." He almost ate his Friend's Chicken!
"Plus it's a small price to pay to keep it on our side."
Caffeine gave Best Human a lick and very carefully carried the Chicken back to the big dog. It was standing up like a Human again as lots of little sticks went flying around.
"I brought you chicken!" Caffeine dropped the treat and backed up before he could accidentally eat it again.
"You fear the river and attempt to lure me to my death with meat!" The dog roared at Caffeine and his paws made shiny lights when he stomped on the water.
Caffeine jumped back from the deadly spray. He wasn't sure if he liked this kind of chase, it was too dangerous!
But something else landed in the dirt. It was a wiggling rope, and it tried to chase him too!
"Eat that if you dare, Beast Lord!" The dog roared.
"Is it food!" Caffeine could remember that Dearest Human sometimes played tug with ropes, tugging was very fun! But Dearest Human did also eat strings sometimes, though they weren't that tasty. This one did have an interesting smell, a spicy smell…
Caffeine grabbed the string when it tried to jump on him and gave it a good shake until it stopped wiggling. Then he ate it. It was tasty, and very spicy. So spicy that he needed a drink after.
The big dog was quiet while Caffeine carefully lapped up some water, then he growled and started walking towards the Chicken. "Very well, Beast Lord. You have accepted the challenge and so shall I." He took a small bite of the Chicken and then a bigger bite. Then he dropped down on his belly and held it between his paws while taking big bites.
"Chicken is the Best!" Caffeine wagged his tail and had some more water.
"Yes…" The big dog rumbled with his mouth full.
Caffeine tilted his head when he heard something in the distance. "Bye! I'll play more later!" Then he ran through the trees towards the sound he'd heard.
He found the pack of dogs that were lots of fun to play with. Sneaky dog was there, hiding in the shade. Why he didn't like to lay in the sun, Caffeine would never understand but his mate was there too and even better, her puppies were there! Puppies were lots of fun to play with because they never got tired!
"Caffeine." She huffed in greeting. "Are you here to train the pups again?"
"Chase!" Caffeine howled.
"Young ones." She yipped. "First to catch him will have first pick of the next kill."
The chase was on and Caffeine ran. Chasing was the best!
...
Caffeine was lying down and panting happily when he felt Dearest Human start moving away.
"Dearest Human is leaving so I'll come back to chase more later!" Caffeine barked at the puppies laying all over the place with tongues lolling as they all panted as well. Then he sprinted away.
"Farewell!" The dogs all howled behind him as Caffeine ran through the trees until he saw Dearest Human up in the sky and he jumped up into his lap. Dearest Human had the best lap!
"Hi Caff! Did you have fun playing?" Dearest Human was happy and scratched his ears just right.
"Chasing is the best!" Caffeine huffed and laid down, then rolled over for a belly rub. "Belly rubs are… the…"
His nose twitched and Caffeine jumped to his feet. "Fire dog!"
"Welcome back, Sir." The Everywhere Human was standing there but behind him was…
"Fire Dog!" Caffeine barked and jumped down to play.
"That is not my Name!" Fire dog yipped at him. She always said that right before the chasing started so Caffeine knew that she liked it!
"Fire Dog!" Caffeine howled. Then he sprinted away when she growled and started chasing him. Chasing was the best!
It was a long time later when Caffeine smelled the food and gave up on the chasing. Everywhere Human gave him some fish and Caffeine ate the tiny little fish in one bite. It was so small… But Dearest Human was the best and shared some of his fish, so Caffeine was happy.
"Maybe one more day." Dearest Human was talking to the Human who made the snuggly fire and the Human who made the tasty light that looked like fire. "I want to fortify my Willpower a bit more."
Dearest Human dropped a piece of fish on the floor and Caffeine helped him clean it up.
The Humans made sounds and all the food slowly and sadly disappeared. Dearest Human went to the water room and tortured himself. But then he dried off and went to bed. He held up the covers and Caffeine crawled into his favorite cuddly sleep place. Caffeine yawned and curled up with Dearest Humans legs. "Best day!" He couldn't wait to wake up and eat and play and chase and…
Caffeine woke up from a happy sleep chase. Something was wrong! Dearest Human smelled wrong, like someone else… Caffeine crawled out of the covers and looked around after giving Dearest Human a very good sniffing. He smelled okay but also like another Not Dearest Human, and that other smelled like hurting and fear.
Caffeine followed the Not Dearest Human smell to the door. It was closed and he leaned into it. Everywhere Human was here as well and would open the door or else Caffeine would have to open it himself…
The door opened and Caffeine followed the smell until he stood outside another door nearby.
"He is outside." Everywhere Human was also inside the room and he was talking to the other Not Dearest Human. "Just stay calm." The door opened and Caffeine walked inside.
A Human female gasped. It was the one that Dearest Human talked to sometimes and when she saw him she smelled guilty and a little bit afraid. "Can he understand us?"
"I honestly cannot say…" Everywhere Human spoke quietly to her.
"Did she accidentally tip over the trash?" Caffeine only did that once and Dearest Human got angry even though Caffeine had been doing his best to pick up all the Chicken sticks as fast as possible.
"Caffeine, are you hungry?" Everywhere Human had a plate of fish! No. Dearest Human needed to be guarded while he slept!
Caffeine pulled his attention back to the nervous Human and walked up to her for a better sniff.
"I think he noticed what you were doing." Everywhere Human said something in a quiet voice.
"Caffeine." She still smelled worried but not bad, not mean. "Stanley needs help. He wanted me to help him but I can't help Stanley when he is awake. His mind is a wall that my Skill can't get past." She looked away from Caffeine at Everywhere Human. She looked back at Caffeine. "Even though he gave me permission to use my Skill on him, he is still afraid. He fights me, without even noticing, I believe. All I can do right now is help him sleep, and I suspect only because I didn't tell him I would..."
Caffeine listened while she talked. She said a lot of things but nothing he understood except 'sleep'. Sleep was good. Especially with cuddles!
"I can help him sleep if you don't mind?" She kept talking about sleep. "It will help my Skill get stronger and in time I'll be able to help more. Is that okay?"
Caffeine jumped into her lap and her hand came up while he sniffed at her mouth. She smelled worried and leaned back slightly. "Caffeine, you know how strong he is, don't you?" She looked away at Everywhere Human.
"He almost broke my Domain and killed me during his last nightmare..." Everywhere Human sounded afraid and sad when he said something. "...He could kill everyone in this tower in his sleep. We must help him. We have to help... Dearest Human."
Caffeine looked at Everywhere Human. He had said... 'Help Dearest Human'. That was good! Dearest Human needed lots of help. If Everywhere Human and... Worried Talking Human wanted to help him... Caffeine gave her another good sniff. She petted him gently and Caffeine decided that she was okay. Dearest Human was sleeping good this time, he hadn't kicked Caffeine even once! And she did smell like friendly with only a little bit of worried.
Caffeine headed back to the warm bed, after he helped Everywhere Human clean off the plate of fish, of course. He cleaned it very quickly because Dearest Human was making sad noises in his bed again. But it was okay once Caffeine gave him some comforting face licks and a good snuggle. Then the Worried Talking Human smell came back and Dearest Human breathed slower and smelled more not sad. "That is good." Caffeine sighed and snuggled tighter against Dearest Humans chest thumping. "She is a good Friend."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Stanley
~~~~~~~~~~~
Stanley hung in the void. No sound, no smell, no touch, no sight. Well, technically no sight, he could 'see' the Souls spread out all around him and far into the distance. Like stars twinkling in an ocean beneath a black sky. "No Souls above."
More stars winked to life in the distance as Stanley stretched his [Soul Awareness] out further and further. Until he found what he was looking for. "There you are." A dense cluster of lights, dimmer than the ones around them but not undetectable.
Stanley stopped his [Soul Meditation] and shot across the sky until he reached the place he'd detected. Once he was above it the Lair was obvious and Stanley pushed through the canopy of tree branches to find a large pit leading down into the dark. "Ready Caff?" The pug was sprawled on his back in Stanley's lap and didn't respond except to open his eyes slightly when the belly scratches stopped. "I'm going to rush this one, so watch my back, okay?" Caffeine stretched, rolled to a sitting position and tried to lick Stanley's face.
Stanley smiled at the pug and rested his hands on the gray fur. "Here we go." He closed his eyes, sent his mind down into the pit and followed with his body a moment later.
You have entered [Lair of the Spider Queen]
Two spiders the size of basketballs pounced at him from small holes in the tunnel that he had over looked. Cut They fell in four pieces behind him as Stanley continued down the tunnel at a running pace. Or hovering pace...
A handful of lumps on the walls that his mind rolled over like just another rock, died before they could stand and jump on him. "It's too easy when I can see their Souls." Not that he really minded. Stanley also wouldn't forget about the ants that had been able to hide their Souls before an ambush. It wasn't a common trait. At least he hadn't seen it again in any of the countless Lairs he'd cleared in the last week.
Stanley sped up slightly as he fell back into the groove. Follow the tunnels, Cut the Souls, 'watch' for anything that moved without a Soul, and Cut that too. He didn't notice the webs at first, not until he accumulated enough to start piling up around his shield. The individual strands were too small and had slipped past his 'sight'. "Focus!" He told himself as thoughts of microscopic razor wire entered his mind. His shield would block it. Probably. And as for the webs piling up on him and resisting his attempts to simply push them aside...
Burn
They burned nicely from the sudden light and heat radiating against his closed eyelids. Stanley pushed the burning clump ahead of himself to catch the rest of the webs and didn't slow down.
He did slow just a bit when the tunnel split into three separate paths, and then only to kill the much larger spider waiting at a dead end just around a corner in the leftmost tunnel.
The other two tunnels extended farther than his mind had explored, so Stanley just picked one at random and continued on. More spiders died and more webs burned until Stanley entered a massive cavern. His mind was already expanding across the space, pushing to his limits until he finally touched the far wall.
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The entire cavern was a tangled mass of dense webs woven into a network of branching tunnels and small rooms. All of it teeming with spiders of varying size and shape. Stanley touched them all with his mind, his body almost forgotten where it hovered motionless just inside the tunnel mouth.
CUT
Stanley felt that one. His Psi Energy even dropped below 25%. But it was worth it when the entire mass of webs and bisected spiders started to fall. Stanley wasn't finished.
Burn
Light and heat bloomed against his face as another 20% of his energy vanished. Stanley opened his eyes. "Wow..." It was beautiful. Fire spread quickly from the center of the cavern, trailing out along the threads in an ever expanding flower of fiery death. It was beautiful... And hellish. Stanley closed his eyes again and pushed straight through the blaze. There were more Souls ahead. He would stop here on the way out to collect the Cores from the ashes.
It must have been an older Lair because he found two more similar caverns before getting to the boss. During his Lair spree lately, Stanley had noticed a wide variety in Lair sizes. The smallest being the size of a single family home. Sometimes literally inside what had been a single family home... Others though, could be like this Lair, a sprawling and complex cave system. Or a skyscraper. Stanley had eventually figured out that size meant age, at least in most cases, a few standouts hadn't fit the theory but for the most part the pattern held.
The Queen, when he reached her, had four large spiders guarding her and Stanley had wanted to leave them alive before challenging her. But when they started shooting webs that sizzled against his shield and his Energy began to drain at an alarming rate, Stanley killed them and burned the sizzling webs.
The last part was a mistake and Stanley was forced to snuff the fires before he choked on the acrid smoke they gave off.
The Queen's Soul was barely above the rest of the spiders and Stanley didn't have much hope that she would surrender. Nevertheless he gave her the same offer he gave all of the Lair Queens. He poured his Will, intent, and knowledge of how weak she was, into his voice and sent it to her.
"Surrender or Die."
Stanley had revisited Lairs where the Queen had surrendered. As well as ones where she had not. When the Queen lived, the Lair regrew its forces much faster. Where the Queen died, it was a slow recovery. And that was assuming he left something alive that was capable of becoming the new Queen. In the ones that he completely destroyed, they had either vanished or something new had moved in and the Lair had a different name to match.
The spider Queen didn't surrender.
She died.
Lair Destroyed…
Stanley immediately sank into [Soul Meditation]. He almost had to catch his breath after that run. Not because it was especially difficult but because he had run through the Lair faster than ever. Practically a speed run. "Too bad I don't have a watch."
Stanley pushed his awareness out from the meditation void and took the Core.
+1 All Base Attributes
+1 Willpower Fortification
+1 Intelligence Fortification
Stanley flinched as the Core was absorbed. "Damn it." The strain was getting worse with every additional point. He watched Caffeine sniff at the corpse and then take a small bite.
The pug didn't like it apparently and he jumped back to Stanley's lap without eating the rest.
"Status."
Status
Name: Stanley Cascade
Race: [Psionic Source-Touched Human](E Rank)
Traits: [Adaptable] [Source-Touched] [I Made My Choice] [Ruthless Soul]
Titles: [Solo Hunter]
Class: [Soul Psionic(Apprentice IX)](Rare)
Class Skills: [Mind Over Matter(Apprentice IX)](Epic) [Soul Meditation(Initiate IX)](Rare) [Psionic Soul Shield(Apprentice IV)](Rare)
Attributes:
Strength: 95
Vitality: 98
Dexterity 97
Perception 99
Intelligence 100(+10)
Willpower 100(+60)
Twin-Soul 210
Non Class Skills: [Still Mind of the Psionic Beast(Initiate IV)](Rare) [Soul Awareness(Apprentice III)](Rare)
[Source Regeneration]
[Heat Resistance I(Passive)]
[Cold Resistance I(Passive)]
Buffs: [Soul Support Tether] [Walter's Gratitude]
Debuffs: [Dangerous Soul Wound(Patched)(Shielded)]
A week of almost non-stop Lair runs had pushed him to edge of the next Rank, which he'd found out was one hundred, and Stanley was torn on whether he wanted to rank up immediately or try to fortify more of his attributes. Willpower at least he was planning to push all the way up.
It was his Soul, more specifically, the Soul Wound that was the main problem now and every Fortification increase came with a growing strain on it. He might have to delay the rank up until it was fixed. "Should have held onto that core." He really didn't want a repeat of the last rank up, where it had been almost accidental.
Progress was being made on the wound and at an accelerating pace, but it wasn't fast enough. He also had a feeling that Ranking up with a wounded Soul might have a negative impact on his Evolution options. "What if the patch gets removed during the Evolution..." Better to fix it first.
Still in his meditation, Stanley drifted slowly back through the Lair, picking up the Cores on the way. He didn't absorb the rest, only added them to his bag. They would be useful to trade for Willpower later if nothing else. He was also getting better with meditation and could now 'see' a decent distance around himself. Not enough that he would do this outside, but in a destroyed Lair he felt safe enough.
Stanley left the Lair some time later and dropped his [Soul Meditation], but not before he once again got a good look at the confluence of Souls in the distance. "I should really at least check on it…" He sighed.
It was obviously another Human stronghold, just based on how many people were there and the lack of monster Souls around it, but Stanley hadn't felt a need to go and deal with more people. Plus he was pretty sure that this group had rounded up all the random stray Humans in the southern half of the Dungeon.
Stanley cursed under his breath and took to the sky. As he flew away he felt a Soul dart beneath him and then fade slightly as it vanished into the Lair. "It's free real estate." This had started happening more and more after he cleared out a Lair. Some of it was just hungry scavengers going after the dead left inside, but some of the ones Stanley came back to later had gained a new name after the new tenants decided to stay.
The Humans were inside a stadium. Even from his great height, Stanley could see figures moving around inside. He approached and saw what looked like guards standing and walking around both near the entrance, the walls and a few towers that looked like add-ons built up from the walls. Stanley halted when people started yelling and he saw magic come flying his way. Nothing very powerful and Stanley just moved aside from the few that made it up to him. Then he Moved.
Stanley stopped a few feet from the guard who was preparing another fireball to throw into the sky. "What the fuck are you attacking me for?"
The man screamed and jumped back as his magic fizzled. "You… You're human!"
"No shit!" Stanley glared at him and held the squirming Caffeine in his lap.
"Sorry man. Haven't seen any flying people other than the boss and you can't miss… Hey, where are you going!"
Stanley was already flying further inside. "Someone is in trouble."
"You can't go inside without the boss's permission!" The man yelled and Stanley could feel a large number of Souls converging on their location.
"Then come with me." Stanley plucked the man from the ground and took them both further inside towards the only reason he'd decided to come here.
Inside the stadium, spread out across the field and some of the stands, were makeshift shelters and tents with firepits and their smoke trails spread all throughout. While the population, which had to number in the thousands, as a whole held a steady thrum of fear and anxiety mixed with the usual spectrum of human emotion, there was one spot of more urgent fear. Or rather two.
Stanley dropped the screaming guard outside one such shelter and the man finally shut up when he hit the ground. With his shrill screams silenced, Stanley could hear another voice screaming from inside the shelter, a woman's screams. "Get away from me!"
There were three Souls inside the small makeshift structure and two of them were terrified and one was… Stanley shuddered and latched onto something inside even as he glared at all the people nearby. "I know they can hear this… but no one is trying to stop it?"
A man burst through the fragile walls, back first and landed on the ground in front of Stanley.
"What the fuck!" The man barely touched the ground before bouncing back to his feet and whirling on Stanley. "Who the fuck are you?" He pulled two large knives and glanced at the guard Stanley had dragged along. "Why aren't you guarding the gate, Smith?"
"Capitan, I… He…"
"And you!" He took a step towards Stanley, raising his knives that started shining with a dim gray light. "I'll kill…" And then face planting when Stanley drove him back to the ground.
A woman scrambled through the new hole in the wall, pulling a young teenage girl with her, and they both stopped at the scene in front of them.
"Hi." Stanley tried to smile and gave them a small wave. Caffeine bounded off of Stanley and trotted over to them. "You okay?"
"I…" The woman was blinking rapidly and looking from Stanley to the pug now sitting in front of her and wagging his curly tail while whining sadly. "Yes. Thank you."
"You mother…" The man once again lunged towards Stanley from the ground, knives outstretched, and then slammed face first into the ground again. Stanley took his knives and the glow faded as they floated over to him. "Must be a Skill…" He'd been half hoping they were magic weapons but oh well.
Stanley looked back to the woman and found the girl was now petting Caffeine while the woman, presumably her mother, looked from her to the man on the ground with a worried exhaustion on her face and in her Soul.
"There are other safe places." Stanley said to her and glanced at the man groaning in the dirt. "Probably much safer. I can take you…"
The man screamed in rage, after spitting out a mouthful of dirt, and jumped up again. This time light flashed over his whole body and he blurred towards Stanley. And face planted again. He screamed and this time in pain, when Stanley drove his knives through the back of his hands, pinning them to the dirt. The woman paled and covered her daughter's eyes at that display. "Sorry…"
Something shot towards his back! "Incoming!"
[Still Mind of the Psionic Beast] Activated.
Caffeine blurred away from the child and brushed past Stanley as time slowed down. The force of the pug's nudge pushed Stanley aside and a glowing purple light flashed through where he'd been a moment before. It slammed into the ground and vanished beneath the surface, leaving a small hole behind.
"Three targets. Two are dangerous, one is a threat. Prioritizing survival."
Stanley lifted higher and a hairy form of claws and teeth slammed into the ground beneath him. Stanley added a mental punch to the thing's pounce and drove its head deep into the ground. "Not a threat."
Meanwhile Magic was coming from a cloaked and hooded figure nearby. The Magic was wrapping around Stanley in a way similar to the Raid Leader's chains. But it was weak.
Cut
He aimed for the arms but a magical shield flared around the caster and then shattered into pieces. The figure kept casting its magic chains.
Break
Stanley shattered the caster's arms that were waving in his direction and the Magic failed. He was unsure about killing these people outright, were they true enemies or just misguided fools? Either way, if necessary he would cut them down. Assuming Caffeine wouldn't stop him. If the pug canceled his Skill mid fight… the risk of that was enough for him to avoid killing blows, for now.
Though at the moment, most of his attention was on the glowing beams of light raining down on him and Caffeine. They looked like shards of glowing crystal when they appeared and then seemed to stretch into streaks of light as they were sent after him. And they were legion. Caffeine ate the first few and Stanley kept Moving to avoid the ones that were actively tracking and following him. He tried to simply shove them aside enough to miss as they approached but it felt like trying to slide a train car sideways off the tracks. So instead he shattered the few that came too close, but it was draining and based on how many were already in the air, not a good strategy.
The woman standing in the air was surrounded by a steadily growing cloud of those shards and didn't look like she was slowing down. "She is strong. Maybe D Rank already."
Her first strike had been aimed at his lower back. Whether she had been avoiding a killing blow or was just a bad shot, Stanley didn't know, but she was definitely going for killing blows now. Her Soul was giving him that much for sure, along with hints of anger and frustration.
Purple shards fell and flew past him in streaks of light, punching through his shield like it wasn't there with some close enough to slice open lines in his suit, until a trio of them managed to box him in with nowhere to dodge.
Shatter
He broke one into sparkling dust and dodged the other two. "Killing the source of the attacks is the only way." Caffeine would understand.
Cut
He felt a spark of fear as the woman somehow felt his attack before it actually could kill her and she did something… Stanley saw her thrown back behind a glittering explosion of purple shards but she emerged apparently unhurt and the shards continued to appear and fly towards him at blinding speeds.
Stanley hadn't expected her to survive and was busy dodging again before he could follow up with another strike. "I can take a few hits with my Regeneration if it ends her…"
Caffeine Growled and everyone stopped for a moment.
"Kill or run." Her Magic was fast and he didn't know how fast she could fly, Stanley was unsure if he could outpace it and her long enough to escape.
Caffeine Howled into the moment of stillness and the sound thrummed through everything like the world's biggest subwoofer.
You have heard the [Howl of the Beast Lord] +20% Effect of All…
"That will help." Stanley actually noticed the buff in his Still Mind state and used the increase to his advantage.
The other beast that had tried to jump on him earlier had pulled its head from the ground by now but wasn't looking his way. Its attention was locked on Caffeine and it wasn't moving. The Magic caster was summoning more Magic, this time without its arms. Stanley ignored them both, his mind was already closing around the shard thrower and ready to Cut her into bite-sized pieces. "Kill or be…"
"Wait!"
Stanley heard a woman's voice and felt the shard thrower hesitate. The deadly spears of purple light slowed and stopped all around Stanley and Caffeine. Stanley had his own attack poised and ready but also held back on the strike. With this opponent, he actually preferred not to fight. The outcome was too unpredictable. Also the strain of his Skill was building up. If she wanted to pause the fight… "I can rest…"
[Still Mind of the Psionic Beast] Deactivated.
"Explain!" The shard thrower's voice boomed across the stadium and Stanley staggered from the sheer volume as well as the sudden rush of emotion surging back into his brain. He really wanted to meditate but that was not an option in this situation. Instead he settled for slowly drifting out of the encircling purple shards. He was pleased to note that he had maintained his Soul Shield throughout the fight.
"He saved me from…" It was the woman who had been screaming inside the shelter. She glanced at the man Stanley had pulled away from her, once again on his feet, and Stanley felt rage bloom from the woman in the sky.
[Still Mind of the Psionic Beast] Activated.
[Still Mind of the Psionic Beast] Deactivated.
"Damn it Caff!" But it turned out that the woman wasn't mad at him.
"Owens!" The target of her rage suddenly slammed onto his back on the ground, now sporting a handful of purple spikes pinning him there through his arms and legs.
Caffeine started eating the shards of light hovering threateningly in the air around him.
The woman in the sky dropped down to hover above Owens.
"I didn't touch her!" Owens screamed. "Bitch is lying!"
"I Don't Care!" The woman roared, her voice still deafening. "I gave you an order to Stay Away From Her!"
"I didn't…" His words cut off when a purple shard planted itself in his head.
"Brutal." Stanley thought, though he wasn't 'that' bothered by it. The guy was an unhinged creep, maybe not 'death sentence' creep, but he probably would have worked his way up to it in time.
"This is My city!" The woman roared at no one in particular. "Obey me or get out!"
Stanley could feel the Souls throughout the stadium and knew that everyone could hear her from the way they all trembled in fear. "Is she a tyrant? Or a benevolent Dictator?"
Caffeine trotted over to him and grew big enough to reach the Magic shards hovering around Stanley where he floated at least ten feet above the ground. Caffeine started eating those as well.
"And as for You!" The woman spun to look at Stanley and stopped.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. Caffeine ate another shard and then tried to grab another. The woman waved a hand and the remainder all crumbled into motes of light and vanished. Stanley floated lower, next to Caffeine while the pug looked around for more magic to eat.
"Where did you come from?" The woman finally demanded while glancing between him and the once again normal sized pug. Her anger had cooled but it was still simmering behind a veil of caution and a very tiny bit of fear.
"North." Stanley said, with more calm than he felt. She was the strongest person he'd met so far, or rather the strongest Human. "There are more Human strongholds up there."
Caffeine trotted over to her and Stanley tensed, unsure about how she would react. Luckily she only watched the pug calmly as he sniffed at her feet.
"Beast Lord?" She looked back at Stanley. "A pug?" Stanley only smiled.
Caffeine left her and went to smell the other beast. It actually looked a lot like the werewolf option Stanley had seen in his rank up vision and he suddenly understood why its Soul felt so weird. It was a Human… or had been.
The Beast man was still frozen as Caffeine approached and sniffed at him.
"Oi! Snap out of it, Samuel!" The woman yelled.
Caffeine hopped back when the beast shifted and changed. His fur receded and his form became more human until only a very hairy and very naked, bearded human man stood there.
The man knelt in front of Caffeine and lowered his head. "Beast Lord. It is an honor to meet you."
Caffeine gave him some more sniffs and wagged his tail.
"What the hell are you spouting now!"
The Beast man looked at the woman and smiled. "You did not see what I did. The Beast Lord was only playing with us. Had we not stopped I think we would all have been devoured."
Stanley smiled wider and the woman scoffed, but he did feel a tiny bit of alarm from her Soul. "That's right. Don't fuck with Caff." She must have felt the Debuff from the pug or... Stanley wasn't actually sure. Did Caffeine even see them as 'Not Friends'? If he was only playing. But he wouldn't buff them in the middle of the fight with Stanley, would he? Maybe it was more of a warning howl to let them know they were crossing the line.
"Casper!" She shouted. "Stop cowering and come here."
The Magic caster had almost escaped from Stanley's notice and he was a bit alarmed by the fact. "Can he hide his…" There was something strange about his Soul as well…
The man approached, reluctantly, and Caffeine trotted over to meet him. The pug stopped a few feet away and his tail drooped. "What is it…" Caffeine kept his distance but leaned towards the man as he went by, trying to get a sniff without getting any closer.
"So… I'm Sam." The woman said. "That's Casper and Samuel. You are?"
"Stanley…" Stanley said absently, still trying to figure out what the deal with Casper was.
The man was completely covered up, full coat, gloves, hood, even his face was unseen under the hood, wrapped up in something. With two faint red glows…
"Undead!" Stanley's slowing heart rate instantly shot back up with a burst of adrenaline.
[Still Mind of the Psionic Beast] Activated.
The Undead man froze when Caffeine started growling, not his truly threatening growl, more of a cautious warning.
"Are they working with the Undead?" Stanley thought, once again calm as he did another sweep of the Souls in the area. He found no others like Casper, or any of the known Undead. That didn't help his heart rate slow back down and Stanley frowned at that. "I am calm so why would I still be having a physical reaction?" Maybe he still had some ingrained fears that could override even his still mind. Stanley did not like that. Not at all.
"Are you going to have a problem?" Sam said with an edge to her voice.
Stanley was ready with his power. "I saw the option to become Undead myself. It seemed to imply that I would be changing sides."
"Casper obeys me."
Stanley studied the man who still wasn't moving. His Soul was not exactly like the Undead, but it also wasn't quite Human. It shared similarities to both. There was also none of the hostility or hunger that Stanley usually felt from the Undead.
Caffeine stopped growling and stepped up to the man, giving him a very thorough sniffing. Then sneezed and trotted back to the other woman and her daughter with a wagging tail.
[Still Mind of the Psionic Beast] Deactivated.
Skill [Still Mind of the Psionic Beast] Level Up.
"Ouch." Stanley winced. "Maybe I should fortify my Vitality… or would Intelligence be the Stat that helps with Still Mind?"
"Well?" Sam asked.
Stanley shook his head. "It looks like I don't have a problem…" Not if Caffeine didn't. Stanley still didn't like it though, and could feel his heart rate picking up the pace a bit more without Still Mind active.
"Good. Now what are you and what are you doing in my base?"
"I am a Human." Stanley glanced at the still scared woman and her daughter who was once again petting Caffeine. "And I… 'saw' someone in trouble."
Sam looked down at the dead man. "Trouble solved. You can leave now."
Stanley watched Caffeine getting some attention from the daughter and felt the mother's fear still high even though the man who'd attacked her was dead. "I also offered to take them somewhere safer." He felt Sam's Soul gain a hint of anger. "The offer still stands." Stanley felt her anger flare but then she calmed while looking at the woman in question.
"Is it actually safer?" Sam asked, looking back at him.
Stanley thought of the tower and Walter. "Yea." He looked up at the open sky above. "It is. How do you keep flying monsters out?"
"I let people kill them." She waved broadly around. "It gives them something to stay alert for."
"I guess that would work…" Stanley floated slowly closer to Caffeine and the two women next to the pug. "Are you D Rank?"
Sam didn't answer, only studied him. "What did you attack me with?" She finally asked.
It was Stanley's turn to consider whether or not he wanted to reveal anything. "My mind. What were you throwing at me?"
She didn't like his answer and narrowed her eyes, not responding to his question.
Stanley was studying her Soul meanwhile. It reminded him of Zeke's but not golden. It did however have a similar kind of light in it, but with plenty of purple. He took a guess. "Is it some kind of light? Hard light? I think that's a thing, right?"
A bit of surprise in her Soul gave her away and Stanley did his best to not let on.
Sam looked away and walked to the other woman. "Do you want to leave, Martha?"
"I…"
"It's fine. I'll even go with to make sure he's on the up and up."
Martha nodded and Sam turned to Stanley. "How will you travel? No wait, let me guess. Your mind."
Stanley smiled at her and approached Martha. "Hi again."
"Hi… this is my daughter Jean." The girl didn't look at him, she just kept petting Caffeine. Her Soul made Stanley think that she was still in a bit of shock, whether from the fight just now or the whole world going to shit…
"I can carry you like this." Stanley lifted the two of them and Caffeine up a foot off the ground. "Or I can carry something for you to sit on. Your call."
That got the daughter's attention and she looked at the air underneath her with wide eyes, then up at Stanley.
"His name is Caffeine." Stanley said when she looked at him.
"Caffeine." Jean said to the pug and got a tail wag and face lick for her trouble. She laughed and Stanley felt some of the pain in her mother's Soul ease up with the sound.
"This is fine." Martha said finally.
"Need to grab anything?" Stanley asked and when she shook her head, Stanley took them higher, but slowly.
Sam gave some orders to her people and then followed. "How far is it?"
"Downtown Boston."
"Damn. How'd they pull that off?" Sam asked. "That place was a mess."
"Teamwork, I guess. Speaking of which… Have you seen the Undead lately?"
Sam only looked at him.
"Besides Casper." Stanley clarified with a suppressed shiver.
"No…" Sam said. "I don't like it either. One day we were fighting off the zombies and the next they were gone."
Stanley didn't sense any deceit or anything like it in her Soul and a small part of him that he hadn't even been conscious of relaxed slightly.
"Ever since a Raid Leader was Defeated…" Sam continued, now eyeing him more closely.
Stanley couldn't help the shudder that ran through his body and she noticed.
"You were there!"
Stanley didn't reply.
"Did you kill it? Or help kill it? How strong are they?" The questions came one after the other and Stanley looked away.
"Stronger than you." Stanley said, not looking at her. "Stronger than all of us."
Sam scoffed. "Yea right…"
"I'm glad I didn't kill you." Stanley interrupted her. "With you and the others… once we get to D Rank… we might actually be able to escape this place."
She scoffed at his statement about killing her but something in his words or on his face must have had an effect because she didn't say anything else and her Soul felt thoughtful as they flew north.
"I think they are somewhere near my city." Sam said eventually and when Stanley looked at her, she clarified. "The Miasma is strongest down there. Didn't you notice?"
Stanley shook his head. The only downside of resisting the Miasma was the fact that he couldn't track where it was stronger or weaker.
"They must be underground." Sam continued. "Otherwise I would have seen them by now."
"Yea…" Stanley sighed. "Can we even find them in that case?"
"One other thing." Stanley thought of something. "If you see a crow or a bat suddenly show up, don't attack them." The bat had shown up a few more times to tag along and the crow still randomly teleported onto his shoulder sometimes.
"A what?"
"Caffeine likes to make friends." Stanley smiled at the pug who was getting a belly rub in the girl's lap. "Oh also there is a giant bird on the roof of the tower. That one is also on our side." Sam just shook her head.
Stanley didn't go full speed, even though he did want to test how fast Sam could fly, but for the sake of his passengers he was gentle. "More helpless people being rescued… but maybe new strong allies gained." And if the woman and her daughter were willing, they would be able to level up in relative safety within the tower.
"Why are so many people in 'your' city so weak?" Stanley broke the silence. "Can't you 'order' them to fight?" He made air quotes on 'order'.
"They fight just enough to eat. All waiting for someone else to save them from this place." Sam growled. "They will all die and I say good riddance."
It sounded terrible but Stanley couldn't find any flaws in her argument. He did notice Martha cringing at the statement though.
"The world is growing fast. Keep up or fall behind." Stanley said.
"Or just fall." Sam said.
"Wait. How are all of those weak people surviving if the Miasma is stronger down there?" Stanley remembered so many people that looked half undead from the Miasma.
"Casper." Sam said. "He is keeping it out of the Lair. Though I don't know why I bother…"
"Undead can control the Miasma? I guess that could be useful…"
Neither the bat or crow showed up before they approached the tower. A screech and a pillar of fire from the roof announced their arrival and Caffeine offered up his own little howl. Sam noticed the ants still trailing into the bottom of the building. "You're under attack?"
Stanley smiled at her. "Some people do want to keep up." He landed on the porch and Adrian was waiting at the door with Walter behind him.
"Found some more people." Stanley gave introductions and they went inside.
He noticed Sam eyeing Walter as soon as she stepped through the door. "Good instincts." And Stanley realized that Sam wasn't the strongest he'd met. At least not while inside this tower.
Walter took the new residents to get settled in and Adrian started talking shop, base leader to base leader, with Sam. Stanley went to shower, his day mostly done and he was ready to spend the rest of it working on his Soul Wound. Caffeine took off howling through the building, likely looking for Princess.
Stanley enjoyed his shower and meditation afterwards. A very small smile on his face when he thought of that rain of purple shards pounding into the Raid Leaders. "Things might be looking up. Now I just need to fix my damn Soul…"
~~~~~~~~~
Unknown
~~~~~~~~~
The stadium was dark, lit only by the few cook fires still burning and the magical lights shining from the sentry towers. The stars of the night sky above were obscured by thick clouds.
A cloaked figure moved through the shadows on the field, avoiding the lights, until it moved inside the structure. Through tunnels and hallways, always avoiding the Humans and their lights, the figure moved deeper in and down.
Finally it stopped at a trap door and after a few silent minutes of waiting, it opened the door and dropped through into a rough hewn stone tunnel. There was not even a speck of light down there but the figure didn't hesitate or stumble, only moved quickly and quietly through an expanding maze of tunnels.
It stopped in a more natural looking cavern and stood there patiently. For hours it stood still and silent, until a pair of glowing red lights appeared at the other end.
"Why have you come here?" A voice rasped in a dry whisper. "You were ordered to stay away."
The cloaked figure had dropped to its knees at the first glimpse of the red glow and it spoke without raising its head. "My Lord. I have seen the one you asked me to watch for."
The glowing red lights blinked. "Speak."
"He is weak, wounded even." The figure said, head still bowed beneath its hood. "His pet is stronger than him. I am sure. Shall we take him my Lord?"
The underground was silent for a long time before the raspy voice spoke again in a whisper. "No. The plan is in motion, the pieces are in place. We will not deviate again." A note of anger could be heard in that voice now. "This invasion has been derailed by repeated failures and I will not allow it to fail again."
The kneeling figure's head rose slightly but stopped. It hung there without speaking and then bowed again. "As you command, my Lord." It rose to its feet. "For the Eternal!"
"Yes." The red glows blinked out and didn't return. "For the Eternal." The voice faded into echoes and silence.
