I reaped 21 Biomass from the fighting so far, enough to buy a little something.
After instructing everyone to spend up, I settle in to glance through my menu.
Thank goodness! With this last feed, I’ve amassed just enough to take my antennae to +10!
[Would you like to upgrade Infrared Antennae to +10? At this level, you may select a mutation advancement from the menu.]
Awesome! The dream of all +10 will finally be realised!
My infrared senses have served me well since purchasing that upgrade. Having more information and more ways to sense enemies has made me feel secure in my travels through the Dungeon. My earlier sensory weakness has been well and truly overcome.
There are some upgrades to the infrared advancement that make it more sensitive or effective at a greater range, but I’m not particularly interested in that. Some of the other options are far more delicious, and I want to come back to some of those this time.
Precognitive Antennae, being able to sense a moment into the future. That is just a straight up hack. With multiple upgrades, I might be able to push the time I can detect into the future further and further.
Now that my ability to sense opponents is so high, it’s time to continue to build on my ability to defeat them!
[Do you wish to purchase this upgrade? It will cost 27 Biomass.]
YAS!
Oh… right…
SNAZIFAZZLE!
Why, dammit?
Five minutes of agonised flailing later we’re ready to roll. The others have made their purchases, and the decided lack of reaction to the irritating side effect of having your body rearrange itself at the cellular level is starting to irritate me.
Not much I can do about it.
Before we leave, I gather the crew for a brief war conference.
[“All right everyone, how do we feel about our attack on the crocs so far?”]
[These beasts lack the proper respect for you, Master!] Crinis pouts.
[Tasty,] Tiny grunts.
“Those tails are delicious!” Vibrant cheers.
[“Thanks everyone, that’s… super useful. Let’s go.”]
In short order, I get everyone lined up and ready to advance. Once more, we step out of the narrow, glowing tunnels and into the comparatively broad skies of the Expanse. This time I make sure to instruct Tiny not to charge in recklessly and to wait for my order.
He wasn’t happy, but he’s just gonna have to build a bridge and get over it.
Immediately I can see there are fewer crocs on this side of the Expanse than before. Where they were clustered quite thickly around this entrance, there isn’t any sign of them now. It almost feels as if they’ve withdrawn to prevent further losses. Maybe we’ll find them deeper into the marsh. Content not to have to worry about the stupid lizards for the time being, I get the gang moving.
In this way, we progress a little deeper into the marsh. The fauna and flora are more active here. Perhaps the thinner numbers of crocs have encouraged them to come out of their shells a bit. The ever-present aura of intimidation still hangs thick in the air, but the marsh is starting to show a few small signs of life.
Tiny, for one, gets spellbound by the mind-bending flowers and I have to try and hold him back while Vibrant mows down the offending plant.
Having warned Tiny away from the pretty flowers, we continue to creep in until we make it to roughly the four hundred metre mark. The vegetation is so damned thick—trees, hanging vines, flowers the size of cars and rolling humps of mossy earth rising high—visibility is incredibly weak. It’s hard to know if we’re coming or going sometimes.
As the soft sounds of the marsh ring through the air around us, I try to watch in all directions at once, wary for any traps or ambushes that may come our way.
As I creep along behind Tiny, Crinis riding on my back, I suddenly feel a strange sensation tickling down my antennae. It feels so weird I freeze in place, entirely unable to process what my brain is telling me.
CHOMP!
Which is precisely when I lose two legs to a massive hippo-turtle.
108. The Wonders of Nature
I realise now that my brain, or rather my fancy new antennae, were telling me I was about to have my legs bitten off in a savage and painful manner by a large creature emerging from the murky waters to my left.
Unfortunately, I was simply unable to process the information fast enough. I mean, when you start receiving sensory messaging from the future, it kind of wigs you out a bit. Up until this point, my new antennae had only been providing me with a mild buzzing sensation. When it lit up so suddenly, I was momentarily overwhelmed. So much so that even though I was aware my legs were about to be chomped off, it still happened.
Ouch!
The offender is a rather large hippo looking creature with rough leathery skin and a moss-covered shell. It’d been visible above the waterline, looking for all the world like a hump of dirt, much like any of the others.
Now the damn fatty looks decidedly smug as I fall to one side, cursing internally and triggering my healing gland. The cold fluid floods my system, rushing to the site of my lost limbs, which begin to regrow at an almost visible pace, and I scramble with my four remaining legs to get myself clear of the monster.
[MASTER!] Crinis shrieks. [What happened?]
[“Ambush! Fat hippo-thing on the left! I’ve lost a couple of legs, cover for me!”] I shout.
[AHHHH!]
My mind is overwhelmed by Crinis’ hysterical screaming as the little tennis ball EXPLODES with tentacles that start seeking the left side, latching onto and tearing at the hippo-turtle’s face at breakneck speeds.
Irritated at the sudden retaliation, the hippo rises out of the water and charges at us with surprising speed. Fast! Huge! FAT!
The monster is much larger than I’d first thought and certainly more bizarre. Small piggy eyes and those adorable little flappy ears sit above a typical broken-toothed, oversized hippo mouth. The head extends out from under a thick, dome-shaped shell on the end of a long turtle neck. The entire thing rests upon four squat hippo legs that pump at a rapid pace as the huge monster dashes out of the water, grunting angrily as Crinis continues to shriek in my head and tear at its face.
The ground rumbles under my feet. I push with all of my might but I can’t activate Dash without all of my legs. Great time to learn that. Thanks, Skill! Come on, legs, regenerate faster or I’m going to be building a more intimate relationship with this dirt than I was quite prepared for. Just before I get stomped into ant paste and served on crackers, Tiny Dashes in from the side and meets the charging hippo with one shoulder.
BOOM!
The impact is colossal and the ground shudders under the impact of these two titans. As more of the creature emerges from the water, I get a clearer picture of its size. Hippos are quite large creatures back on Earth, everyone knows that. Fast, big mouth, plump, grey-skinned killing machines that like to swim. This guy is a touch larger. I’d say he’s about the size of a minivan.
You hear what I’m saying?
A MINIVAN!
[Crinis, you need to try and get at his legs! Buy me a little time!]
My smaller pet, she of the ink chainsaw, is still screeching. Her earlier wordless hollering has given way to a deafening tirade that promises endless violence in the most graphic terms I can imagine. She’s so caught up in her blood-red diatribe, I’m not even sure she heard what I said.