Cat Core 3, Chapter 34.

Chapter 34

Florence’s home expanded once more with the new level she had gained. The passage from the attic, where Spud lived, had opened, and a stairwell now led from the attic to the final area of Florence’s home: the backyard. First was the side yard that ran alongside the house. On the lawn there waited Spooky, Sun Wukong, Lizzy, and Scamp, all of whom looked overjoyed to be back with their kitty and gnome friends. Just past the side yard was the graveyard, where the final and most powerful champion of her home waited, Mortimer the Necrocatster.

“Finally, we’re back where we were supposed to be,” Florence said with contentment. The only change she made was to permanently move Mo from his pen near the pavilion to the living room. He had been placed out on his own as a warning to new adventurers, but given that anyone she was likely to meet in the near future would be hostile, Florence felt better having him reinforce an already strong position.

“It is a lovely home. I hope my defenders will fit in,” Sabrina said.

“I’m sure they will. My kitties are a pretty welcoming bunch to everyone who isn’t trying to kill them. George will get to spawn his new critters. Then you can take a crack at it and we’ll figure out where everyone should go,” Florence replied.

“This will just take a moment,” George said as his current defenders upgrading to level 6 and new defenders spawned in. On the front lawn, the number of wolves remained at six, but one of the regular critters had changed. He had turned into a scrawny and sickly-looking fellow, but George assured her that he was as powerful as the others and could inject venom into his victims, giving him a large damage boost over a regular wolf.

A pair of battle boars still roamed the first floor. Nothing changed with them, aside from the new level making them even more tanky and dangerous. The second pair of boars had been replaced with a pair of oversized deer that sported dangerous-looking metal antlers. Florence remembered seeing these things back in George’s dungeon and was having a problem figuring out where best to assign them.

“May I make a suggestion?” George asked, seeing that Florence was stuck on where she wanted the deer to go.

“Yep. I’m always open for suggestions.” Florence glared at Doug with eyes she didn’t have Doug when he snorted his disagreement. It wasn’t her fault that her companion usually had stupid suggestions that she ignored.

“They need space to get their charge attacks in, and while the front lawn would seem ideal, it’s getting a bit crowded in there. This new side yard seems like it would be a good fit for them. In fact, maybe I should make them wandering defenders like the boars. The backyard isn’t too large, so even if they’re in the graveyard when intruders arrive, they just have more room to build up speed for their charge,” George offered.

“I like it, and you haven’t seen Mortimer in action yet. Giving him more defenders to work with isn’t a bad idea at all,” Florence said, pretty sure that her champion could raise any defeated deer as undead, just like he was able to with the kitties on the side yard. The deer seemed happy enough to stomp around their new home, with Mortimer and the other kitties quickly welcoming their newest friends. Florence wasn’t worried they would attack each other, but she did want her babies and guests to enjoy each other’s company.

“The yeti is being replaced by a champion. Should I place him where the yeti was?” George asked, and the yeti disappeared from the library. He had been a good fit inside that room, having Fluffy and Fluffy Junior as backup against swarming enemies and buying time for Zeus and the magic missile traps to dish out ranged damage.

“Yeah, that’s good, as long as it’s a melee type of defender,” Florence said.

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed,” George said. Right where the yeti had stood, a new, even larger defender appeared. This here biggen was almost too big for the room. His head—or heads, she should say—were only a few inches from scraping the roof. The new champion was that two-headed, four-armed gorilla monstrosity from George’s dungeon. She remembered how it had torn up them hillbillies pretty good, and that was even with it deteriorating from being outside the dungeon.

“Oh, I think this’n will do just fine. I’ll work on getting the ceiling raised up a bit and make some more room for the big gorilla to move around,” Florence said. Her library had gotten a big upgrade and would likely be even more dangerous than the first-floor champion’s room now. To add icing to the cake, the oversized gorilla seemed to like the pair of Fluffies and their buddy Zeus. With four arms, the champion had no trouble petting all three cats at once.

“Okay, Sabrina, it’s your turn. Let’s see what you can do,” Florence said.

“This is odd. I have an option to summon defenders, and there appear to be several groups I can summon. There’s no information on which of my defenders it will be, so where do you want me to summon the first group?” Sabrina asked.

“Why don’t you summon them on the grass by the pavilion? We can see what we get and reassign them wherever we think they’ll fit in the best,” Florence said.

Sabrina concentrated, and four critters the size of a small dog appeared on the lawn.

“What in tarnation! I don’t know if them things are going to go anywhere in my home,” Florence complained as four dire rats appeared on the lawn.

“Hush, Florence,” Doug said. “You’re being rude. These are part of our home now, and they’re going to help defend us all. My apologies, Sabrina. Back when she was human, Florence had an irrational fear of rats.”

Florence held her tongue and thought for a bit, looking away from the rats so she didn’t get angrier than she already was. Darn it, Doug was right, as much as she hated to admit it. Sabrina had no control over what defenders she summoned, and her dungeon had been both a slime and vermin type, so rats being in the defender lineup was probably a given.

“I’m sorry, Sabrina. Them rats took me by surprise. Sorry, little ones. You’re welcome in our home.” Florence wasn’t too sure about them being welcome, but the rats couldn’t decide what type of critter they were, so she would try not to hold it against them.

“Apology accepted. We all have a few adjustments to make, I’m sure. Now, where do you want my little infestation rats?” Sabrina asked.

“Infestation rats? What can they do?” Doug asked.

“They have a nasty bite that is armor-piercing, but their real threat is that each bite can infest their victim with some rather hungry parasites that cause damage over time,” Sabrina said.

“Okay, even I’ll admit that’s kind of gross but effective, which is what we’re after. What do you think about placement, Florence?” Doug asked.

“Are them rats quick and agile?” Florence asked.

“Yes, they’re pretty quick and make for good ambush defenders,” Sabrina asked.

“Hmm, send them into the hall and see how they do popping out of the holes in the wall,” Florence suggested. The hall turned out to be a not-so-good fit for them. Sure, they could pop out bite quick enough, but they lacked the agility to leap across the hallway and hide in another hole like her kitties and could. They might get in one good bite but would be sitting ducks after that.

“I have an idea, but I don’t think you’re going to like it very much,” Doug said.

“Fine, let’s hear it,” Florence said.

“What about the kitchen? They can hide in the cabinets, and with the table, counters, and other obstructions, they’ll have a good chance of getting away for a second attack,” Doug offered.

“Not. A. Chance. Nope. As much as they’re welcome as defenders in our home, I will not have rats in my kitchen. Wait, I’ve got it. The second-floor walk-in closet. That place has lots of cover, and with Vala distracting attackers with her creepy puppets, they might do good work in there.”

“I think that will be fine. The rats like to hide, and the clothing and things stored in there will make a nice nest for them,” Sabrina said.

Florence also decided to expand the closet a bit, giving them more room to work. It still wouldn’t be as large as a normal bedroom, she wanted the space a little cramped to put larger invaders at a disadvantage.

“Here’s my next set of defenders.” Sabrina summoned four more critters: blobs of green slime that moved slowly about the front lawn. Thankfully, they were friendly defenders. Otherwise, they would have eaten up and dissolved all the perfectly manicured grass they were flowing over.

“Oh, we can use them with our new fortifications. Can they join the gnome home? I think they’ll love it there,” Fizz said, overly excited about the slimes for some reason.

“Maybe. What can these critters do?” Florence asked.

“I know, they can dissolve just about anything and even shoot out streams of corrosive slime to hit stuff at long range,” Fizz said.

“He’s right, but what do you have planned for my slimes? They are my friends, and I don’t want them abused in some gnomish contraption,” Sabrina asked.

“Hey, our contraptions aren’t abusive. Well, not usually. They’ll be perfectly fine, and in fact, I think they’ll rather enjoy themselves. Let us work with them, and if they aren’t happy, you can drop them somewhere else,” Fizz suggested.

“Very well. They’re on the way,” Sabrina said. The slimes started to slowly squelch their way toward the gnome home, but the gnomes flooded out to gather them up. Florence was a bit worried the gnomes would be hurt by the slimes since they weren’t full-fledged defenders, but the slimes didn’t harm them, even when the gnomes coaxed them into oversized buckets to carry them back home. If anything, Florence got the sense that the defenders were enjoying the ride.

“That’s weird, but not weirder than a lot of stuff I’ve seen on this world. Is that it, Sabrina, or do we have any other additions to the team?” Florence asked.

“There’s more. Let’s see what’s next.” Sabrina sounded excited to find out what defenders would pop up next. Florence just hoped it wasn’t more rats.

“That’s not exactly fear-inducing,” Doug said as four bugs started buzzing around the pavilion. They kind of looked like wasps that were the size of a fist. They were kind of creepy, but not exactly the defenders you’d think of when fighting off a horde of invaders.

“Don’t judge them too quickly,” Sabrina said. “These are traitor wasps. When they sting a target, they can often gain control of them, turning one of the enemies against the others. Anyone with high willpower won’t be affected, but they work great on animal companions and big dumb fighters.”

“That’s kind of great, really, and I think they’re in the perfect place right there by the pavilion. Most of the time, we get a flood of attackers charging the front lawn. While we reinforced it with George’s wolves, having these bugs join in the party and turn enemies against each other will really add to the confusion and whittle down the numbers of anyone trying to mess with us. It should also take some of the starch out of their shirts when they see how much damage we did before they even stepped foot inside,” Florence said. She wasn’t a fan of bugs, either, but if they were outside, that was perfectly natural.

“Good. I think they’ll enjoy not being cooped up like they were in my dungeon,” Sabrina said. “I’ve got one more. It’s tagged as a champion, so let’s see which one.” She summoned her final defender.

“What are we going to do with that?” Doug asked as a giant gelatinous cube appeared on the lawn.

“We’ll find something. It’s a champion, so it should be tough. What’s it do, Sabrina?” Florence asked.

“It’s called the Master Cube, and it can alter its shape to fit anywhere. In my dungeon, it covered the floor of the champion room, blending in until someone stepped on it. It can move slowly, stick to or drop from anything, and is corrosive enough to melt steel. If it gets a jump on a party, it can take the entire group out in one go. The only problem for me was that the adventurers guild sold a guide to my place, and they pretty much mapped out where it usually was and the way it fought.”

“That could be rather devastating to the unsuspecting. I can think of several places it would do well inside the home,” George said.

“Just where were you thinking?” Florence asked.

“What about on the ceiling of the attic?” George offered. “Anyone there will relax after battling Spud, figuring the champion was all there was. Otherwise, I think we should consider placing it in here, again on the ceiling, so it can drop down and pretty much fill the room.”

“I don’t want that thing dropping on my core,” Florence argued.

“It doesn’t have to. I can customize the shape of Blocky,” Sabrina said.

“You named it Blocky?” Doug asked sarcastically.

“Sorry, Doug. You have no grounds to complain with the horrible kitty names you keep coming up with,” Florence said.

“Yes, I call him Blocky. I think it fits. So where do you want him, Florence?” Sabrina asked.

“Hmm, I hate to have him hanging over our heads, but Blocky would make a good final trap for anyone lucky enough to make it to our core room.”

“I can’t believe you’re considering placing a gelatinous cube in our room,” Doug whined.

“Ha, that shows what you know. Let’s bring old Blocky in here, Sabrina. Do you think you can kind of thin him out to cover the whole place and leave a circle open over our core?” Florence asked.

“That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll unsummon him and resummon in our core room. He’s too slow otherwise, and it will take him hours just to leave the first floor,” Sabrina said.

In a few minutes, Blocky was happily clinging to the ceiling of the core room, which had been moved into the shed behind the graveyard. Florence didn’t like being so close to the graveyard, but it did let her spend more time with Mortimer. Blocky turned out to be quite the chameleon, altering his body so it matched the ceiling. Unless someone was specifically looking for him, Florence didn’t think they would realize the danger hanging over their heads.

“We’re all set up. Now what do we do?” Sabrina asked.

“Not much that we can do right this minute. Once enough time has passed, we’ll change from our home into our hybrid forms. Then we can check where the next corrupted core is hiding. As long as them rogues guild folks keep their word, we should be able to teleport over quickly enough.”

“Interesting. I’m kind of curious what my hybrid form will look like,” Sabrina said.

Florence wasn’t sure. She just hoped the poor girl wasn’t a pool of slime.