But I understood, then.
Donut: I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT.
Li Na shrugged. “Similar concept with what you did with that gnoll. I had to waste a few healing potions to keep him alive.”
Li Jun looked ill, but he said nothing.
It was the second mantaur, but only his top torso and head. He’d been savagely ripped off his main, lower body, and his top two sets of arms had also been lopped off. She’d healed him after each amputation, ensuring he’d remain alive.
“He’s much easier to handle this way,” Li Na said matter-of-factly. “And now we can throw him into the portal instead of risking another accident.” She looked up. The portal cart came barreling into the trainyard, Zhang at the controls. He moved perilously close to the back of Grull, but the god didn’t turn. He had given up on his earthquake attack and was now melting through the other side of the trainyard with his heat breath.
“You best get punching,” Li Na said.
It only took five punches for the summoning to start. The moment it did, Grull cried out and turned in our direction. He roared and started galloping at us.
“Oh, fuck,” I said. We picked up the former mantaur, who mumbled under his breath about killing with honor and drinking mead at the table of kings. His blue face paint ran off his face in rivulets mixed with tears and blood. “Sorry, buddy,” I whispered at him as we tossed him up at the rapidly-approaching cart. We jumped out of the way as the body, with only one second left, entered the portal and disappeared.
Grull, who appeared to have been readying some massive, body-glowing attack, whiffed away, leaving nothing but a smoke outline in the air.
The music stopped. There was no additional announcement like there usually was. Suddenly the only sound was the chugging of the Nightmare as it pulled up to a stop a few tracks over. Tizquick the dwarf leaned out the window and gawked at the remains of the dead mimic. In the distance, a group of wide-eyed crawlers emerged from one of the crashed train cars. They turned and ran from the scene, not trusting that this was over. I didn’t blame them.
A whole page of notifications scrolled by.
“Glurp, glurp, motherfucker,” I said before I collapsed in an exhausted heap.
34
Time to Level Collapse: Five Hours
.
“I wish we could’ve used my bolt,” Katia said as we carried the portal cart, turned it and positioned it onto the employee track. The wheels fit just inside the wider track.
“It would’ve been a waste,” I said. “He was right. We couldn’t have hurt him. I’m pretty sure Princess Formidable giving it to you was more about sending a message to her brother than about actually getting us to kill him. Don’t worry. We’ll get to use it eventually.”
With the death of the mimic, even more ghoul generators had exploded. After the Maestro hit the abyss, we received reports of a few additional blown generators at a few station 72s, though I suspected and hoped we could do better than that. My guess was the Maestro had bailed on his sponsorship after getting teleported away, thus creating less destruction in the pit than I hoped for.
In the middle of the enormous, disgusting pile of dead mimic, a single object appeared on the map. The neighborhood bosses dropped the neighborhood map. The borough bosses dropped the field guide. I already knew what this was going to be thanks to both the cookbook and Mordecai. It was a little late to be useful now, but I figured I might as well grab it anyway.
I waded into the gore, picking up the prize. It was called the Map of the Stars, and it added boss locations and descriptions to a large area of the map. I zoomed out and saw nothing nearby except a few mantaurs who were moving in the opposite direction.
“I can’t believe that jerk is still alive,” Donut said. “At least you got to humiliate him all over again. I mean, really. He had unlimited power, and he completely messed it up. You’re lucky it wasn’t somebody who knew what he was doing.”
“You’re right,” I said. I looked up at the ceiling. “That had to be really embarrassing. I bet even the mom would’ve done a better job. Too bad she died instead of him.”
“What, exactly, are we doing here?” Elle asked. She floated just off the ground. She couldn’t normally fly as high or as fast as she’d just done. She’d wasted a precious scroll on the maneuver. I promised her I’d find another and give it to her. She’d laughed and kissed me on the cheek.
“We’re going to send the Nightmare into the abyss, and it’s going to blow up, and it’s going to kill loads of Krakaren monsters and maybe even that province boss. The whole ghoul system is already overloaded. One more big shock, and hopefully the whole system goes down.”
“But it’s way on the other side,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter. As long as it’s on the same floor. Enough things dying at once, and the rest of the soul crystals will pop, and no more ghouls will be generated.”
Elle cocked her head to the side. “Sometimes I think you’re cheating, Carl. How do you know all this stuff? It’s like you have one of those teacher’s editions with all the answers in the back.”
“He does,” Donut said before I could think of an answer. “His name is Mordecai.”
She grunted. “You lucked out with him. Our Mistress Tiatha is as useless as tits on a goose. You should figure out a way to use that nuke you have in your inventory. I bet that’d clear out the abyss.”
“I’m saving that for something very specific,” I said.
System Message. A champion has fallen. A bounty has been claimed.
We all looked at one another.
Imani: Are you guys all right?
Bautista: You okay?
Carclass="underline" Not us.
“What do you think that was?” Donut asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Believe it or not, Donut, there’s all sorts of stuff going on out there that we’re not part of. I’m too tired to care right now. It was probably that shepherd killing the goat because he wouldn’t shut up.”
“I hope it was Lucia Mar,” Donut said.
“I doubt it,” I said. “I really do.”
“Okay,” I said to Fire Brandy. “Let’s get you and your babies out of here.”
Tizquick the dwarf, who’d helped drive the train down to the yard exchanged a look with the demon.
“No,” she said.
“What do you mean? We’re driving it into the abyss. It’s going to explode. You’ll die.”
“Yes, Carl,” Brandy said. “We’re aware. We’re both aware. The dwarf and I have been discussing this, and we’ve decided to stay with the train.”
“Honey, what about your two babies?” Katia asked.
“It’s three babies now,” Brandy said. She smiled sadly. “They gave me three this time. I remembered. After talking with Tizquick. I remembered my babies from before. Last time I was in a boiler, in an engine that controlled the heat for a massive boat. And the time before that, it was for a castle’s heating system. Each time, I thought it was just a job. A way to earn money for my children. And I’d have them. I’d have one sometimes. Sometimes two. This time it was three. But then they were just gone. I had names for them. Each and every one. You’re not supposed to name them until the ceremony, but I had given them names. Each one is different. They’ve never returned to me. But I’m always back. Every time. But not anymore. They won’t use me like this ever again.”
“Nor me, lad,” Tizquick said. “Dontchu worry. I know how this works. I’ll make ‘er blow nice and big just before we hit the bottom of the pit.”
Donut: CARL. IF THEY BLOW UP THE TRAIN AND NOT YOU THEN YOU WON’T GET THE EXPERIENCE.
Carclass="underline" That’s okay, Donut. Sometimes it’s not always about the experience.