Chapter 15 – Those Squirrels are Nuts!
They set off early in the morning. As usual Billy and Lorna took point.
The day was quiet enough until they had reached the Induction Centre. Out of interest, Billy tried the door.
Yesterday Lorna had been reborn here. She said that upon awakening she had received a message saying she had to leave within two hours.
They moved on with little conversation. After all they had a clear focus today.
They had not gone far past the Induction Centre when Billy sensed the first signs of danger. At first, he could not understand what he was feeling. He felt dry mouthed and cold shivers flashed up and down his spine. Maybe his increased perception was paying off.
Then he spotted it. A huge lizard, nearly two metres long, clung to a tree, its green and reddish-brown mottled skin blended in almost perfectly.
He quickly used [analyse creature].
[Fire-tainted chameleon level 3. Favorite food: burnt flesh.]
He signaled to the others. Lorna nodded and waited, holding her hand up for the others to stop.
Billy moved close to her and said, “A chameleon is clinging to that tree. I will attract its attention. You guys go in for the kill.”
She nodded and moved back a little.
Billy slowly moved forward trusting in his [stealth]. It was a passive skill that required him to move as silently and slowly as possible. He was within five metres of the creature when a twig broke under his foot. The chameleon’s head lifted and its tongue scented the air. Immediately, its eyes went to where Billy stood.
It rapidly descended the trunk of the tree. Its legs propelled it faster than Billy would have thought possible. It stopped metres away from him, its mouth opening widely. Before Billy could react, a ball of flame surged from its mouth striking Billy in the chest and burning a hole in his robe.
“Shit!” Billy said.
He poked at it with his spear not wanting to over-commit – after all he was just the distraction. The chameleon snapped at his spear which just bounced off its scales. He withdrew and started to circle it, so that the others could get behind it.
Again, the chameleon opened its mouth and a ball of fire flew towards him. This time he was expecting it and dove to the ground in a tumble roll. The fireball flew over his shoulder. Billy quickly climbed to his feet. He prodded at it with his spear keeping its attention on him.
Crikey, only 2 hit points damage? The skin on its face was tough and leathery, obviously a natural defense. With that and the scales on the rest of its body this thing was a living tank.
He saw Lorna and the others run in to attack. Lorna thrust her spear into the back of the chameleon but barely managed to penetrate the scales.
Trevor and Yuki hit it with their staffs but the chameleon barely even noticed. It did notice however when Su Li dove onto its back and stabbed its eye.
The chameleon went into a frenzy, turning rapidly to try and get at its prey and lashing about with its tail. Red liquid oozed from its injured eye. Su Li held on with one arm wrapped around its neck. She tried to stab at the other eye but could not balance and strike with the creature moving so much. With a shriek she fell off its back.
Billy tried to distract it but could not get a good hit in. The creature now seemed intent on going for Su Li.
“Turn it over!” Lorna yelled. “Flip it!”
As she said that Su Li was hit by the chameleon’s tail. She landed heavily and the creature rushed towards her. Billy dropped his spear and flung himself at the monster, pushing its head aside as it tried to bite the prone girl. Its snapping jaws just missed her arm. Billy locked his arms around the jaw. With his meager strength he knew he would not be able to hold it for long.
To his surprise it was Trevor who reacted first. He thrust his staff under the creature’s belly and tried to lever it over. The creature was too heavy for Trevor to lift by himself but Yuki was rushed to join in. She thrust her staff next to Trevor’s and with a great heave the two started to unbalance the creature, it’s legs on that side leaving the ground. Lorna charged in yelling wildly, and together they managed to flip the chameleon onto its back.
Lorna thrust her spear rapidly into the beast’s belly. The soft skin there parted easily under her strength and in a few seconds the creature died.
“Only 4 experience points,” Su Li said. “Why is this so hard?”
Billy looked at her. After one battle, he was already drenched in sweat. “This is definitely not a game.”
“Billy, are you looking up my skirt?” Su Li said with a pout; still lying on the ground
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“What?”
“You are not my boyfriend, Billy and I am not that type of girl.”
“I was not looking!”
“It’s ok, Billy. I understand. Now help me to my feet.”
Billy gave her a hand and pulled her to her feet. “Are you ok?” he asked.
She dusted herself off. “Bruised and battered, but ok.” She then kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear. “A gentleman never looks! I forgive you this time but be more chivalrous in future. Girls want a shining knight not a creepy letch.”
Billy sighed. He suspected her teasing was a way of releasing tension. He looked at the dead chameleon. Now it was dead it looked smaller
.“We should skin it,” Trevor said. “We are short on meat and the skin could be useful.”
“Take the fangs and claws too,” Billy said. “Who knows what might be useful.”
It was not a quick process to skin the creature. Trevor slowly cut away the hide clearly not wanting to ruin it. While he did this Billy took the opportunity to scout around, mostly to get away from Su Li who seemed dead set on driving him crazy.
Their way forward led into a heavily wooded area. The trees here were straighter and taller than in the other parts that they had been in. But at least there was not much undergrowth. There seemed to be some sort of game trail leading forward – a gently winding path. He looked around for the plants that Trevor had shown to him previously but saw none of them here.
Lorna came over to stand with him. “Maybe we should avoid lizards too.”
“Only 4XP each as we are a group,” Billy said. “I think it is related to the highest level in the group. If we were all level 0 we would get more. Yesterday when we killed the rat-fiends the amount shared seemed to depend on whether we landed the killing blow.
“So, we either hunt in smaller groups, we be patient and hunt quantity or we look for higher level creatures.”
“I really don’t fancy hunting frogs in the marsh and those snizards are likely to be highly poisonous,” Billy said.
“Me neither,” Lorna said softly. “So, where then?”
They looked at each other and said together, “The squirrels!”
“I mean how hard can it be?” Billy said. “They are just rodents. They should be easily squishy and what’s the most damage they could cause? Even that level 5 one we should be able to take down together.”
“We just have to find them and squish them.”
Even in Billy’s head it sounded too easy. There was always a catch.
***
They entered the dense forest somewhat fearfully. Billy had given the spear to Yuki so she could get more XP. She was also better with it.
Lorna went ahead alone to try and find the squirrels with Billy and the others about fifty metres behind. They did not want to scare off the creatures. Billy figured the creatures would be more likely to attack a long person than a larger group. Given how fast they could move in the trees they needed the squirrels to come to them.
Trevor and the girls had found stones. The plan was to find the squirrels, hit them with stones, knocking them to the ground and then finish them off. That was the plan.
Unfortunately, minutes later that plan went out of the window. The squirrels had a plan of their own.
They heard a loud bang and then Lorna’s cry of pain. Before they could react, they saw Lorna running towards them with a group of squirrels not far behind, including the large beast they had seen earlier. Billy saw there were at least five others in the trees flanking them.
“Run!” Lorna said.
But it was too late. A pine cone flew towards the group and exploded, throwing them all to the ground.
Billy found his feet and lifted his spear to find himself facing squirrel fury. One furry creature leapt at him with claws extended, raking his face.
And then another clawed at his leg.
They were not going to last long at this rate. To his surprise, it was Yuki, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed, who was the first to strike back. With a fast swing of her spear shaft she knocked one of the flying squirrels so hard it thudded into a tree, and then she pivoted in a fluid motion and thrust the end of her spear into the face of the large squirrel.
The beast shrieked at her, its eyes flashing red. The distraction was all Lorna needed. She thrust her spear at the large squirrel, scoring a large gash on its back. The squirrel spat out another pine cone from its cheeks. This time Lorna was able to dodge it and the explosion did no damage.
Billy decided to focus on the smaller squirrels, keeping them occupied while Lorna dealt with the big bad.
With the agile, fast-moving creatures the staff was not much use to him. Once more he decided to trust in his hands. He dropped his staff, and when he saw a squirrel come leaping towards him, he punched it. The leaping squirrel was unable to change its trajectory in time.
He could see these creatures had little defense. They could do this.
Searing pain flashed up his back. One of the squirrels had run up inside his robe and was now clawing at his back.
Luckily Su Li had seen his predicament. She kicked out at another squirrel as it ran towards her. It dodged her kick, but Trevor was there for the follow up. His foot sent it soaring into the trees where it landed with a loud thud.
Su Li pulled out her knife and stabbed at Billy’s back. Within seconds a notification came through.
It was a steady grind from there to finish off the rest of the squirrels. By the end of it they all carried weeping wounds from the squirrels’ claws. Lorna in particular, looked disheveled. It looked like a squirrel had tried to yank out her hair.
Yuki was the hero of the fight. Her spear skills had kept the squirrels from doing too much damage. Although she did not hit hard, she hit fast and each hit seemed to stun the squirrels. Su Li was probably the next most effective as she quickly finished off any squirrel that came within reach.
“Exploding pine cones?” Trevor said. “What the fuck next?” He then paused and his eyes flickered. “Crap, only eight squirrels. I am still short of levelling up.”
Billy looked at the party interface and notifications. They had killed three level 2 squirrels, four level 3 squirrels and one level four squirrel netting 320XP in total. The majority of that had gone to Yuki who had killed the large squirrel as well as a couple of the smaller ones. Yuki had levelled up but Trevor was only 12XP short. He also noticed that two of Lorna and Su Li’s unassigned stat points had been used. Lorna had increased her strength and constitution by 1 each. Su Li had increased her agility and her constitution by 1 each.
He cursed under his breath realizing that the large squirrel had only been level 4. They had not even taken on the on the level 5 one they had seen previously.
So how?” Su Li asked.
“We need to level up,” Lorna said. “Just a few more and Trevor can get to level 1, and I am close to level 2.”
“Yay!” Yuki said wearily.
If Billy had any energy left, he would have looked around in disbelief. As it was, he just groaned and lay back on the grass.
“I need to rest, Lorna.” Trevor said.
Lorna through her mouth. “I will scout around while you rest.”
It was not long before she returned breathing heavily. “Come with me. There is something you should all see. We can pick up the corpses and level Trevor on the way back.”
They followed her past the spot where she had first encountered the squirrels and emerged into a clearing. In the centre stood a large wooden shack, painted garishly in pink and yellow. Perched atop the roof, a massive sign flashed boldly with purple neon lights, proclaiming this to be: “Dilchak’s Emporium.”
