NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27 – First Blood (and Oil)
The alarm didn't ring this time. It screamed.
WWOOOOOP. WWOOOOOP.
Reed bolted upright in the Golem's arms. He had fallen asleep there again (it was surprisingly stable), and Terra was currently in "Sentry Mode," standing perfectly still in the center of the Iron Works.
"Alert," Terra rumbled, her chest vibrating against Reed's back. "Seismic disturbance. Upper levels."
"How big?" Reed asked, sliding down her leg to the floor.
"Big," Terra stated. Her eye-lights flared from dim amber to combat-red. "Heavy footsteps. Many."
Maira appeared in a flash of black silk. She wasn't holding a duster. She was holding a serrated knife that looked like it belonged in a butcher shop.
"Master," Maira said, her voice tight. "The perimeter is breached. It is not adventurers. It is the Dead."
"Again?" Reed groaned. "I thought we smashed the scouts."
"These aren't scouts," Grika yelled, sliding down the railing from the upper catwalk. She landed in a crouch, her harpoon gun already loaded. "I checked the cameras. It's a Meat Wave."
"Meat Wave?"
"Zombies," Grika clarified, racking the slide. "Ghouls. Stitched-together abominations. And they brought a siege ram."
Reed felt the connection to his Core thrum with a cold, sickly spike of mana. The Rival was pushing.
"Okay," Reed said, his voice hardening. "No mercy. No capturing. No pizza."
He looked at his team.
Seraphine had slithered down from Floor 2, her thermal suit glowing. She looked disgusted.
"Rot," she hissed. "I can smell it from here. It offends my nose."
Luma bounced in, wearing her Hydro-Shell. "I have the bleach! Gallons of it!"
Riva swooped down, clutching a bag of ball bearings. "Shiny rocks! For throwing!"
And Terra… Terra just stood there, a mountain of stone and iron. She flexed her fingers. CLANK.
"Smash?" Terra asked hopefully.
"Smash," Reed confirmed.
"Good."
The Kill Box
They didn't fight at the entrance. The entrance was too open.
They drew the enemy in.
Reed opened the main doors, inviting the horde into the long, sloping corridor that led down to the Iron Works. He deactivated the non-lethal traps (sorry, Spanking Paddle) and activated the new ones.
"Here they come," Grika whispered.
They watched from the blast doors of Floor 3.
The horde shambled into view. It was a nightmare parade. Zombies in rotted leather armor. Ghouls that scrambled on all fours like spiders. And in the center, a massive, hulking monstrosity made of stitched-together ogre parts—a Flesh Hulk.
"Ugh," Luma gagged. "They're squishy in the bad way."
"Unsanitary," Maira agreed, aiming a spray hose attached to a tank on her back. "Initiating sterilization."
"Fire!" Reed yelled.
Grika pulled the lever.
The floor of the corridor didn't open. It heated.
Reed had installed heating coils under the stone floor—intended for Seraphine's comfort, but cranked up to 110%.
HISSSSSS.
The wet, rotting flesh of the zombies sizzled as they stepped on the hot stone.
"GRAAAH!"
The horde stumbled. The smell of cooking meat filled the air.
"Now!" Reed signaled.
Grika fired her harpoon gun. It punched through three zombies in a line, pinning them to the wall.
"Strike!" she cheered.
Riva dive-bombed from the ceiling vents, dropping ball bearings on the floor. The ghouls slipped, crashing into each other in a pile of flailing limbs.
"Slip!" Riva laughed. "Fall down!"
Then, Luma stepped up.
"Bleach Bomb!"
She didn't throw a bottle. She projected. She formed a cannon out of her own slime body and fired a pressurized glob of bleach-infused gel.
SPLAT.
It hit a cluster of zombies. The chemical reaction was instant and violent. The undead dissolved into white foam.
"Clean!" Luma shouted.
But the Flesh Hulk kept coming. It ignored the heat. It ignored the bearings. It swatted a harpoon aside like a toothpick.
It roared, a sound of wet gravel.
"MEAT!"
It charged the blast doors.
"It's too big," Grika yelled. "My turrets aren't denting it!"
Seraphine stepped forward, raising her spear.
"I will stop it," she declared.
"No," Reed said. He put a hand on her arm. "You're light infantry. That thing is a tank."
He turned to the shadow behind him.
"Terra."
The Golem stepped into the light.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The ground shook with her steps.
"Target acquired," Terra rumbled. "Biological waste. Mass: Large."
She walked past Seraphine. She walked past the blast doors.
She walked right into the path of the charging Hulk.
The Hulk roared and swung a fist the size of a beer keg.
Terra didn't dodge. She didn't block.
She caught it.
CRACK.
The sound was deafening. Stone met flesh.
The Hulk's momentum stopped dead. Terra stood immovable, her feet digging inches into the stone floor, her hand wrapped around the Hulk's fist.
She looked at the monster. Her orange eyes flared.
"Soft," she judged.
She squeezed.
SQUELCH.
The Hulk's hand exploded inside her grip. Bone and rotten meat sprayed out.
The Hulk screamed.
Terra didn't stop. She stepped forward. She grabbed the Hulk by the shoulder with her other hand.
"Disassemble," she stated.
She pulled.
It wasn't a fight. It was industrial recycling.
Terra ripped the Hulk's arm off. She tossed it aside like a twig.
The Hulk tried to bite her. Its teeth shattered on her stone shoulder.
Terra grabbed the Hulk's head. She lifted the massive creature into the air, holding it kicking and screaming.
"You are messy," Terra rumbled. "Master likes clean."
She slammed the Hulk onto the floor.
SLAM.
Then she raised her foot—a massive block of iron-shod stone.
"Compact."
STOMP.
The Hulk ceased to be a Hulk. It became a stain.
Silence fell over the corridor. The remaining zombies paused, sensing that their heavy hitter had just been turned into pavement.
Terra looked at the zombies. She took a step toward them.
The zombies turned and ran.
"Cowards," Terra noted.
She turned back to Reed. She was covered in gore.
"Task complete," she announced. "Intruder… flattened."
The Post-Game
The team gathered in the Iron Works.
Maira was already spraying Terra down with a high-pressure hose.
"Disgusting," Maira muttered. "It's in your joints. I will have to disassemble you to clean this properly."
"Scrub harder," Terra rumbled, enjoying the water pressure.
Grika was staring at the smear on the floor.
"Did you see that torque?" she whispered reverently. "She ripped an Ogre arm off. I think I'm in love."
Seraphine crossed her arms. Her tail twitched with irritation.
"It lacked finesse," the lamia sniffed. "Brute force. No elegance. No squeeze."
"She squeezed his hand off," Luma pointed out helpfully.
"That does not count!"
Reed walked over to the remains of the Hulk. He saw something glinting in the mess.
He reached down (using a pair of tongs Maira handed him) and picked it up.
It was a black crystal shard. It pulsed with a cold, necrotic light.
[ITEM ANALYZED]
Name: Soul Shard (Necromancer).
Purpose: Remote Control / Communication. Status: Active.
The shard vibrated. A voice echoed in Reed's mind.
"…Stone…"
The voice was raspy. Angry.
"…You hide behind stone… and women…"
Reed gripped the shard. He focused his own mana into it, pushing back against the connection.
"I don't hide," Reed projected back. "I manage."
"…We shall see… Avatar… The harvest comes…"
The shard cracked and went dark.
Reed dropped it.
"He was watching," Reed said. "Through the Hulk."
"He saw Terra," Maira noted. "He knows we have Heavy Assets now."
"Good," Grika said, racking her gun again. "Let him be scared. Let him know that if he comes here, he gets stomped."
Reed looked at his family. They were strong. They were dangerous.
But the Rival was relentless.
"We need more than just defense," Reed said. "We need intel. We need to know where his Core is."
He looked at Riva.
"Riva. No more stealing signs. I need you to find the Necropolis. Find the entrance."
Riva saluted with a wing. "Find the Bone-Nest! Aye aye, Boss!"
He looked at Seraphine.
"Seraphine. I need you to train the others. Combat drills. Formation fighting. No more soloing."
Seraphine bowed. "I will whip them into shape. Literally."
He looked at Terra. The giant golem was now clean, glistening wet under the forge lights.
"Terra," Reed said. "Can you build a wall?"
Terra looked at the entrance corridor.
"I can build a mountain."
"Do it," Reed ordered. "Seal the lower levels. Make them work for every inch."
Later
Reed lay in bed. The adrenaline was fading, replaced by a heavy exhaustion.
Grika snuggled up to his left side. Seraphine claimed the right. Luma took the chest (as usual).
"Boss?" Grika whispered.
"Yeah?"
"That was kinda scary. The big guy."
"Yeah," Reed admitted.
"But Terra turned him into paste," Grika giggled. "So… we're safe, right?"
Reed looked at the ceiling. He felt the weight of his monsters pressing against him. Warm. Alive.
"We're safe," Reed promised.
He closed his eyes.
But in the dark, he could still feel the cold touch of the Necromancer's mind.
[THREAT LEVEL INCREASED]
Status: War Declared.
Enemy: Mobilizing Siege Units.
Time to Impact: Unknown.
"Bring it on," Reed whispered.
He pulled Grika closer. He let Seraphine wrap her tail over his legs.
He wasn't just a rock anymore. He was a Dungeon Daddy. And nobody touched his waifus.