"Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to divulge that information, as I have said before."
I narrowed my eyes at the spirit, who gave nothing up with their expression, as usual. I was still nursing my second glass of rum and they had not given a damn drop of useful information. Everything was the same answer, except for the very basics. "Caretaker, come on, you don't know anything?"
A kind (I hope) smile graced their lips. "That is not what I have indicated. I simply said that I am not at liberty to divulge that information."
A click of my tongue was the only response I gave to that. "Fine, then, keep your secrets." I swung my legs off of the stool and began to pace to begin getting my muscles ready for exertion again. My endurance reserves felt full, but my mana felt a little less than full. It would have been really nice to have a lens available in case I'd leveld up, but I supposed that would have been too much of a luxury. It was, of course, the first thing I had asked after taking a swig of the admittedly very good rum. I wasn't much of a drinker, but this stuff was hella smooth.
But what was next? Mammals? I should have a game plan, not like last time. If it was just two or three enemies, I should focus on keeping them from rushing me, but it would be much more difficult to fend off a large group. The beetles had been limited by their methods of locomotion, but mammals were usually far more adaptable, not to mention I had no idea what I'd be against.
Squirrels? Those beaver things? Bears? Tigers? It could be so many different things that it was impossible to really plan for it, and that also meant the terrain would be impossible to predict as well. As squishy as we tended to be, for the most part, mammals are very, very adaptable. Hell, we had representatives in the sky and ocean, like bats, porpoises and and whales. If I found myself dropped into the middle of a body of water, I was mega fucked. Absolutely no idea how well my Mana Bolt would do underwater, and Spark was probably fully out of the running for usable options.
So, if water was a lost cause, I would have to prepare for the other two possibilities. Aerial and terrestrial combatants. Flying foes would likely have to be taken care of mostly by my only ranged option, Mana Bolt, with whatever sparing opportunities I had to hit them up close. It would be less than ideal, never being able to engage on my own terms. With landbound creatures, they'd probably be much more powerful than me. Humans hadn't become top of the food chain on earth because of our strength, no, it was because of our smarts. And endurance.
I'd just proved that my endurance was far better than it used to be by making my dash through the city. If I could outlast a larger creature, or outwit a dumber one, I'd come out on top. So, the thing to do would be to come up with some basic plans for each scenario. "Let's say... two for aerial, three for landbound?" I thought about it, and nodded to myself.
If the aerial creatures were small, I should try to lure them in and Spark-Parry them. My aim with Mana Bolt was good, but not perfect, and exhausting myself on my more expensive spell was a quick way to end up dead. If they were larger, well, I should focus on them with it. I'd already experienced how much more difficult it was to Parry heavy creatures' attacks, so I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. I was happy I had my spear, either way. It had greater range than the sword and I could bring my grip up the haft if I needed to change how to apply force. Honestly, I'd always assumed that in this sort of situation, I'd be running around with some badass sword, but the spear felt nice to work with. I just needed to get better with keeping it in my damn hands.
As for ground assaults, well, it really depended on size and numbers. A lot of smaller creatures would have to be kited around and taken care of as fast as possible. I thought back to the beaver guys, and figured something like that would be better dealt with with swiftness rather than any sort of delaying action. If they were bigger animals, a battle of attrition would be more appropriate. Wear a bear out or something, or depend more on my Dashing versus fast creatures.
Something in the back of my mind told me that these are dumb ideas, but I shook it off. How the fuck was I supposed to know how to handle a wolf? A panther? An elephant?
"Oh, Christ, what if I have to fight an elephant or a rhino? A hippo? Do they even have those? What if I have to deal with some sort of vampiric antelope that can out-damage and out-speed me?" I could feel myself chewing on my upper lip, so I brought my hand up to force myself to stop. I would just need to think of my third plan with that in mind. "Okay. Fine. What do I do against bigger opponents? What can I do?"
My pacing grew heavier as I got more frustrated. "Legs. It's always the legs. Take it down so it can't move, and do what I can from there." Once immobile, most of their threat would be gone. I just had to make sure to not get trampled in the meantime. In the end, though, I was delaying again. I wasn't some master of tactics. I was a transplant from a peaceful time, and my best tool so far had been adaptability. I'm just... not the best at planning.
Heaving a sigh, I rested my spear against my shoulder and marched over to the Mammals door. Without letting myself back off, I opened it, and once again faced a changed environment.
It was similar to the entrance forest that the labyrinth started me in before. Thick trunks of tough-looking trees scattered through an area, and looking around, I couldn't really spy any walls or ceilings through the foliage. This place appeared to be much more open, so I was a little more worried about what would come. The biggest difference was how dark it was. It wasn't night, but the plants around me seemed to insidiously cut off the brightness of the ambient light, lending it a definite spooky vibe, one which did not sit well with me. I hated horror and this screamed 'killer in the woods.' I kept my senses open for cannibalistic celebrities in particular.
What would it be? Wolves? Monkeys? "Shit, if it's monkeys or some sort of ape, it won't be-"
A piercing shriek cut me off, its volume startling me. Strangely, it's not that it was loud; no, it was quiet. Very weirdly, it seemed to be from a relatively small creature, though I couldn't see it yet. Writing off the idea that I would be facing an elephant or other large beast (I was in a forest, not exactly good terrain for them), I prepared myself to move, and not a moment too soon. Instead of seeing the thing, I could sense its mana. A lump of violent chill was hurtling at my shoulder and I barely managed to swing up my spear to Parry it out of the air. A snarl hit my ear with the collision, and I was knocked off balance anyway as the momentum took me with it somewhat. I was supremely grateful for my skill, else that would have hit me.
I whirled around and looked at what had assaulted me and there was a schism in my mind. The small little squirrel creature stared at me with vicious eyes, its orbs glowing a deep purple that promised a malevolence I couldn't have previously attributed to such an adorable little thing. Past its evil visage, it was so fluffy. Like a plush toy, I could barely see its legs through the poofy fur, and three bushy, footlong white tails strung up behind it, providing a wonderful color balance to its otherwise dark brown fur. Oversized squirrel ears adorned its head and the whole thing was absolutely adorable. If it hadn't been trying to kill me, I would have wrapped it up in a big hug right there.
Hugs were the last thing on its mind, unfortunately. It opened its maw and I was taken aback as its mouth, glowing the same violet as its eyes, held vicious fangs that promised a painful rip and tear upon every bite. Overcome with aversion, I jabbed down with my spear, but it was too fast, ducking to the side and scrambling up a nearby tree. My eyes followed it, but I was forced to realize that it had been a bad idea to observe this thing so closely. A shock of pain shot through my leg as another squirrel creature latched onto my right thigh, scrabbling at it with ineffectual claws. "Shit!" I reached down to pull it off and screamed when it yanked some flesh with it. Blood dripping down my thigh from the small wound, I flung it as hard as I could at a tree, and started sprinting in a random direction.
Thankfully, it proved to be a safer one. Though it was difficult, I did manage to look back to spy my pursuers. There were at least a dozen of the mean little rodents hurtling through the treeline at me just as fast as I was getting away. I needed a game plan, and fast. There was absolutely no way I would be able to separate these things, with as fast as they were, and the terrain was very much not to my advantage. Their climbing and jumping was so much more efficient than me pounding through the undergrowth, and I was already injured. It wasn't enough to stop me, but every step made my leg throb with pain.
My time was up when I reached the edge of the forest. Instead of an open plain, or a river or something, instead there was simply an impassible wall of bramble and tree. There would be absolutely no way through. I growled in frustration and swung around, the squirrels hot on my ass. "Aaaaah!" I let out a yell of frustration and sprinted straight at them, instead, back into the woods. What the fuck would a plan do against these pieces of shit? They were tiny. Dangerous. Their numbers would overcome whatever I threw at them to try and be clever, especially as I realized that it was closer to at least two dozen of the bastards. Maybe. I wasn't going to count. No, I would simply have to throw the kitchen sink at them.
I glanced quickly down at my wound and breathed in a seething breath when I saw that it was not only bleeding, but also had some sort of dark purple sigil around it. Great. Magical killer squirrels.
I waited for the just the moment when a few of them launched themselves at me before I Dashed my way through, managing to spear one directly on my... spear with the attack. A spray of blood hit me as my movement pushed me through it but I ignored the sensation, because there were simply too many enemies around. At the end of my Dash, one of them vaulted at my leg again, but being ready for it, I brought my boot up and kicked the damn thing in the side. A sickening crunch sounded through the air as my strike impacted, but I had no time to bask in the success as yet another one latched onto me, this time on my left shoulder. Painfully, I gritted my teeth as I continued my run, transferred my spear to my other hand, and grabbed the little bastard.
How to get it off without tearing out a chunk of my shoulder? I have - duh. I released a Spark into the stupid thing and felt my shoulder buzz slightly from the contact, but it was enough for my to yank the thing off of me and acquaint it with the trunk of a nearby tree.
Some of them were getting ahead of me, despite the movement. I instead stopped as quickly as I could and Dashed to the side, completely altering the velocity of the chase. As they moved to respond, I brought up and hand and pinged a Mana Bolt at one of them, then another. The first was too quick, running along the branches as it was, but the second ate a ball of pink mana to the face and painted the leaves around it red. I snarled but had no time to stop and take any more pot shots. I waited a moment, flinching at the thought of reactivating Dash too quickly, and then used it just at the last moment to dodge out of the way of another bite, this one almost grazing my nose.
I used the momentum properly this time, once again breaking out into a run. I tried to take stock. I felt like I still had a little over half of my endurance, and the same of my Mana. There were too many of these things, and I couldn't rely on my skills to defeat them all. I would have to test my new fighting style and push it as far as possible. Once I felt I had a small distance from them, I slammed my foot down and swung around, hoping to clip any of the closest squirrels.
My weapon narrowly missed one of them, but it was enough to throw it off course and it landed behind me. My biggest advantages were that these things loved to just jump straight at me, and that they were small. My shoulder wound glowed at the edge of my vision, promising that even though I'd removed the pest, it'd left me a nice treat behind. I choked up my grip of the spear for greater control. I wouldn't need to be able to hit with particular power, so accuracy was way more important.
Another squirrel sailed through the air at me, but from straight in front of me, so it was easy to intercept it with my spear and toss it aside. They weren't weightless, but they weren't really that bad either. Another jumped out from nearby and latched onto my left leg, right above the boot, but I couldn't respond right away. There was another coming at me from the same side, so I Spark-Parried it from the air before managing to introduce my leg gnawing friend to the business end of my weapon.
I was picking up wounds and still using resources, with an unknown amount of combatants. But what could I do? I couldn't hide or run - the fight was the point of this place. All I could do was try. It also came as a bit of a strange out-of-body for me as I realized just how much noise I was making. Each strike against me elicited a scream from me, and growls and grunts came out every time I attacked. Is this what a fight is normally like?
A solid kick was delivered to a squirrel trying to jump at me from low on a tree, and my spear caught yet another. There were too many here, and I had to reposition. I looked around and Dashed to the side again, wincing as the side of my head unintentionally made contact with a leaping foe. I grit my teeth, knowing it got the worse end of the deal, but head injuries were nothing to scoff at. I was forced to use another Spark to pull a squirrel off of my leg near where the other one had bit, and when it hit I was struck by a cold, icy pain that seared up my leg and forced me to a knee. The rune near the previous injury had detonated somehow into a spike of pain. I didn't know if the damage was real or not, but it didn't matter. Instead of losing myself, I Dashed to the side again, falling ass over teakettle, but managed to right myself before I was attacked again.
A few were far away enough, so I took the risk to attack with Mana Bolt, and was rewarded with a nice splat when one of them was hit. I did grit my teeth, though, realizing I was close to my limit on spells. But there were many less of them. How many had I struck? It didn't matter.
My spear found another one of them in the air and I actually managed to use its corpse as a shield against its compatriot, knocking it off track and allowing me to swiftly stomp on its head. Another stinging pain hit me, this time just a bite, as one of them latched onto my left pinky finger. Bad move, you sack of garbage. I simply put whipped my hand around to grasp it and ran a Spark through its tiny body before squeezing the life out of it.
I whirled around in that spot, hoping to catch any of them out of position. I rushed forward and shoved my spear through one as it tried to scamper up a tree, but had to use another Parry to block one that had been just above it. It landed on the ground, but I put my foot down on its tails before it could run, and poked a large hole in it, too. I snarled as I was yet again struck, this time in the middle of my back. My arms couldn't reach it, not well, so instead I simply twirled in place and slammed my back against the tree I'd just used to skewer one of its friends.
Warmth sickeningly spread across my clothing, already starting to soak through, but I couldn't spare a thought as to what it must look like. The squirrels were dwindling, but not done yet. They were more cautious, though, with their numbers greatly diminished. I swung my eyes through the space, trying to pin down exactly what I had left, and managed to count five of them. Five foes. Nearly out of mana, low on endurance, and wounded. I let out a guttural scream and leapt at the closest one. It tried to escape but I managed to wrap my hand around its tails.
My makeshift flesh and bone flail screeched with its treatment, but I ignored it, instead trying to use my new "weapon" to bludgeon the other rodents. One of them did jump at me, but too far away, so I was forced to take a step back. I lashed my foot out as it passed and the force of my limb sent it crashing into a dirt. Realizing my new acquisition wasn't really helping, I applied newton's first law and had its skull meet a nearby tree.
Three left. One of them leapt at me and I couldn't react in time, so I Dashed away poorly. Unfortunately, whatever the wound was doing to me caused my trip and tumble to the ground. Another squirrel took advantage of my state and managed to latch onto my right forearm. I grit my teeth and left it there as I brought my spear up to defend against the second one, using its momentum against it to slice a third off of it. It did, unfortunately, wrench the weapon out of my hands. I had to leave the bastard attached to my arm alone as the first one I'd escaped scrambled up my form and bit down, hard, on my side. I screamed in pain, especially as the cold, inky agony exploded again through my right arm. My left was free, so I reached over and yanked the one on my side off, once again losing some flesh in the trade, and brained it against the ground.
One final enemy. I reached over and pulled, but this one was stuck fast, like some sort of lamprey. Pain shot through me, growing in intensity as the glowing rune at its mouth grew. "FUCK! SPARK!"
My mana pulled at my core and rumbled through my arm like a misshapen mass, but cooperated with me and buzzed through the squirrel, forcing it to stop. The pain already there was much too great for me to know if it had affected me too, but I didn't have time for that. I swallowed the bile down in my throat and finally crushed the life out of the last of the squirrels.
I fought against the urge to heave, and barely managed to stop myself from letting out my lunch on the forest floor. I slowly sat up, starting to check my wounds.
A sense of wrongness overtook me, once again heralding my return to the House. Unfortunately, my already overburdened core didn't like that very much, so I took the moment to introduce the floor next to me to my eating habits.