Cat Core 3, Chapter 31.

Chapter 31

“So this is it? This is what I risked my guild for? What I spent resources on?” Scythe said, looking disgusted at the growing pile of loot on the floor. These were minor reward chests designed as special prizes for lower-leveled adventurers. Scythe’s people had cracked open over a hundred of them so far and found mostly copper coins, some common items, and the ubiquitous kitty doilies. A few weak healing and mana potions were in the mix, as well as a dagger with a minor sharpness enchant, about what you’d expect from this many crates.

“That is a lot of copper, you know, and those doilies are very nice,” Florence said, defending her loot.

“Lots of copper? This pile of coins doesn’t even cover a tenth of the cost of a teleport. If the other chests are more of the same, I’m going to be in the hole for this job,” Scythe complained.

“I believe what Florence was hinting at—very poorly, I might add—is that the true value of the reward chests is indeed the doilies,” Doug offered. “Should an adventurer find a complete set of the original cat defender lineup, the doilies can be transformed into a magic item tailored specifically to that person. Doilies with the newer members of our home can further enhance that item, making it even more powerful. These were some of the most sought-after items you could find in our home and should be very valuable if you market them correctly.”

Scythe seemed to think about it for a bit, telling her folks to gather up the doilies they had initially cast aside as junk. About every other reward chest contained a doily, so they had a decent stack of them when they were done. She handed the stack to one of her rogues, and the man ran back into the tavern with them. Scythe was silent, no longer interested in speaking to Florence, or complaining, which worried Florence a bit. If the guild was unhappy with their payment, they might seek to turn her in to recoup their losses. While they waited for whatever the rogue had run off to do, Florence kept making chests.

The rogue eventually returned, after Florence was in the home stretch for reward chest creation. Despite her normally acute hearing inside her home, she wasn’t able to discern what they were saying. Consarnit, these rogues were too sneaky for her tastes. What kind of person whispered secrets in front of someone? It was just downright rude, in Florence’s estimation.

“It seems your story checks out, little kitten. These have some value, enough to satisfy our needs, barely,” Scythe said. Doug had opted to stay in his kitten form during this visit to make the rogues feel a bit less threatened. He could change into his big kitty form at any time; all he had to choose was a defender type. Florence felt that he just liked being a cute kitten sometimes, and he was so fluffy that she wasn’t sure how the rogues weren’t cooing at the little guy.

“I’m glad you had it checked out. I’m not cheating you one bit. In fact, I’ll add a few extra chests as a show of good faith. Once I’m done, I have some work to do with the nearby dungeon,” Florence said. Each passing minute gave the other core, which had to know she was near, more time to prepare. It was rude to shoo away guests, but these rogues needed to beat it so she could get a tunnel made between her home and the other dungeon. If she waited too long, the other dungeon could get lucky and tunnel right into her core room, bypassing most of the defenders.

It took a long time, over an hour, for her to make all the reward chests, including an extra dozen because they didn’t seem all that happy with the results of their work. Doug warned her that the so-called disappointment was likely a negotiating trick, like when them shady car dealers pretended your trade-in was a piece of junk and the car that they were selling you was the best thing since sliced bread. Hendry was the last to leave, wanting to spend a bit more time playing with Bhargath, who had brought a ball of yarn over from the sewing room. Thankfully, Scythe wasn’t interested in staying after getting a quick tour, which was fine with Florence.

“Florence, do you know where you want to tunnel?” Doug asked as Hendry left their home.

“Yeah, I got a pretty good idea. That took longer than I wanted it to, but they were giving us mana the whole time,” Florence said, happy the extra mana inflow from the rogues had gone a good way toward offsetting what she spent on reward creation. Reaching out with her senses, she could feel the other core nearby. What she didn’t feel was the usual madness and rage the other cores typically directed at her. Once her mana had recharged completely, she began to tunnel down, toward the first level of the dungeon waiting below.

Strangely enough, the other core didn’t seem to be reacting to her presence at all, prompting her to tunnel deeper. If she could connect closer to the other core, it would give her a slight advantage. Her opponent would have to fight through her entire home while her forces would just have to clear a short, but dangerous, area of the other dungeon before they could reach the core. She eventually made it down six levels, where the final dungeon champion was located.

The chamber she was tapping into was huge, and while the other core still hadn’t reacted to her presence, she told everyone to get ready as the final bits of stone separating her home from the other dungeon dissolved. Mo moved from his pen in the starter area, going back to join the kitties in the living room. It wasn’t fair to force one cat to fight an entire enemy dungeon on his own. Other than moving Mo, Florence didn’t have anything to do but wait for the other dungeon to attack.

“What’s going on? Do you think some adventurers may be inside, keeping the other core occupied?” Doug asked. This was the first time they had gone up against a dungeon that was currently in use by the adventurers guild. George’s place had been in the middle of nowhere and gave out crummy loot, so it wasn’t seeing much action. The other core she had just destroyed had gone mad, causing the guild to shut it down.

“Hmm, I don’t know, and I think we need to scout around a bit. Doug, you seem like the best candidate. Get over to that dungeon and start snooping,” Florence ordered.

“Why me?” Doug whined. He was on the front lawn, waiting in his commando kitty form to ambush the first attackers.

“You can’t die, and besides, we have the strongest connection so I can see what’s going on over there. Now scoot, get moving,” Florence said.

“Fine. I hope this isn’t going to become a habit with you. Sure, I respawn after a day, but getting killed isn’t exactly a pleasant experience to have to happen over and over,” Doug complained.

“You’re preaching to the choir, Doug. I’ve done the whole dying thing five times so far.”

Doug seemed to realize that his complaints were falling on deaf ears and started to tromp his way past the welcome area and into the tunnel connecting their home to the other core’s dungeon.

“I can sense and smell some defenders, and let me tell you, it’s an odd scent I have no wish to experience ever again,” Doug said as he made it into the dungeon proper. Florence had been right on the mark, and the huge chamber he was in must have been the champion’s room.

Yep, she could see a big pool of slime in each corner of the room, all of them bubbling and gross. One was in a rocky area, glowing like a lava flow and throwing off some serious heat. Another was a frozen cube, but the slime was still able to move, despite its condition. A third was inside a mass of vines, its corner of the room overgrowing with vegetation. This one was green and looked more like Florence expected a slime should look like. The fourth and final slime was in a dark corner, the slime incorporating shadow magic into its form.

“Did they spot you, Doug? They have to sense you,” Florence said, a little concerned that her kitty hadn’t stirred up a reaction of any sort. Sure, Doug was hidden in the shadow cast by one of the many pillars supporting the chamber, but the other core and its defenders should have been a high enough level to see through her companion’s level 5 abilities.

“Hush. Something is happening,” Doug said.

Florence watched as the door on the opposite side of the room opened, revealing a party of adventurers who rapidly moved inside. There were six of them. A pair of burly half orcs in plate armor, carrying tower shields, led the way. Behind the orcs, a stealthy character dropped from view, but before it faded, Florence noted the pair of enchanted short swords the adventurer was carrying. What could only be a druid was next into the room, already casting a spell that he aimed at his animal companion, a huge grizzly bear. Rounding out the party was a human archer firing glowing arrows into the various slime pools and a mage who stood in the doorway, chanting and casting some unknown spell.

“Should I retreat?” Doug tried to hide and not get caught in the crossfire. Each of the slimes was moving, gliding across the floor toward the center of the room, where they were supposed to join and become even more powerful.

“No, stay there. We need to see what’s going on,” Florence replied.

“Florence, can you make me another of those television things you made earlier?” Patricio asked, wanting to watch the fight unfolding in the other core’s champion room. It was a reasonable request, even if making one took her attention away from the action for a bit. She also created a second set, placing it in the gnome home so they could monitor the situation. Given the cheers coming from that section of her home, Florence figured her homemade TV show was a hit.

She looked back in on the fight. It seemed to be a stalemate. The party had been prepared to deal with the dungeon champion, but they had only taken out the shadow slime so far. The green nature slime had taken a beating, but the fire slime had also done serious damage to one of the half-orc tanks. With a gross squelching noise, the nature slime shot a stream of goo at the mage. A shield shimmered over the mage as a contingency spell activated, protecting him from whatever horrible fate that green sludge would cause.

It turned out the spray of slime was just a diversion, allowing the frost and fire slimes to close in, trapping the last tank between them, who fell trying to hold them off long enough for the mage to do more damage. Their druid tried to take up the slack, sending healing magic toward the tank, but the damage was mounting faster than the druid could heal it. It was then that the hidden adventurer popped into view, driving her glowing daggers deep into the nature slime.

Normally, daggers and most weapons were useless against these types of creatures, but the enchantments on the blades burned and dissolved the slime as soon as they touched it. The gooey mess shuddered a few times, then turned all watery and started to drain away. With a second threat eliminated, the entire party focused on the two remaining slimes, which were joining into a more powerful form.

“I think the adventurers are going to win this one,” Florence said.

“No, I believe the champions will prevail,” George countered.

“Huh, want to bet?” Florence asked.

“What would our wager be? Oh, I know. If I win, I can move my fragment about any way I like, and if you win, I have to stay motionless out of your line of sight so I don’t bother you,” George offered. Florence could agree to that. She didn’t want him buzzing around her like he was an orbiting moon, but she was pretty sure she was going to win. These adventurers seemed to have this fight all planned out.

Back in the champion’s room, the two slimes merged and grew. A blue and red glow flashed throughout the now larger combined form. Without warning, a wave of frost flew from the champion, freezing the floor and every adventurer standing on it. Florence noted the party’s rogue had disappeared again, and since she hadn’t reappeared, it was safe to say she had evaded the attack. Following up the wave of frost, a stream of flames spouted from the slime, targeting the mage first. Whatever contingency spell the mage had created was enough to stop the stream of slime earlier, but it couldn’t hold up to the empowered blast of flame the combined champion was pumping out. With a pop, the mage’s barrier collapsed, and he only had time for a short scream before he was burned to a crisp.

The bear and wounded half-orc tank broke free of the ice and charged in, claws and blade digging into the dungeon champion. Wherever the attacks landed, either a blast of cold or heat met them, slowing and damaging the adventurers. Injuries were accumulating on the slime as the melee attacks slammed home, but in Florence’s estimation, the slime was giving more than it got in the exchange.

“Beware, the dungeon has additional defenders!” the rogue shouted, popping into view and stabbing into poor Doug. Florence’s kitty companion was surprised by the attack, but he reacted quickly, leaping back and activating his claw attack to drive away his assailant.

“I’m out of here!” Doug hissed, racing toward the tunnel opening, only to have his path blocked by the rogue. Without a clear route to escape, and with only a sliver of health left, Doug did the only thing he could: he ran as fast as he could around the room, the rogue hot on his heels.

“Watch out for throwing daggers, Doug,” Florence warned her companion. Rogues always seemed to have throwing daggers stashed away somewhere for just this type of fight.

“Don’t die, Doug. I need to see what’s happening,” Florence warned.

“I’m not trying to die, but it’s a little difficult to stay alive at the moment. I can assure you that your interjections are not helping!” Doug snapped back.

His appearance and the shouted warning from the rogue had proven enough of a distraction to allow the slime champion to gain the upper hand over the adventurers. It shot out two tendrils that wrapped the bear and tank up tightly, drawing them inexorably toward its central mass. Them there slime tendrils must have not only been strong but were also able to alternate between heat and cold, crisping and then freezing anything they touched.

“I think that Doug will have some respite. The champion has caught the rogue’s attention,” George said. He was right. The rogue broke off the chase and charged in to help the other members of her party. Hiding behind another pillar, Doug broke the line of sight from all the combatants and went back into stealth. Trying to help, the archer fired an arrow that unleashed a bolt of lightning when it hit, delivering mixed results. The slime shuddered in pain as the electricity coursed through it, but the spell didn’t discriminate between friend or foe and shocked the metal-clad half-orc tank badly.

“What are you doing, you fool,” the druid said to the archer.

“Saving your useless animal companion, that’s what. Get in the fight or we’re going to lose,” the archer chided.

“He is kind of right. Other than sending his companion to fight, the druid hasn’t done much other than throw buffs and protections onto his pet, and maybe a healing spell here and there,” Patricio said, giving his critique. It was strange watching another core’s champions fight, and Florence realized they were being armchair generals; in the heat of a fight, it was easy to make mistakes.

“If you don’t like my methods, perhaps you should hire another to do this job,” the druid snapped back, changing the pitch of his chant as the archer fired a barrage of arrows into the slime. Despite his weapons being enchanted, the archer didn’t seem to be doing much in the way of damage. The rogue finally arrived and started to attack the slime where it was grappling the tank. Her high agility allowed her to avoid most of the frost and fire effects that spouted after each hit. With a final scream of pain, the half-orc was completely engulfed by the slime, despite the rogue redoubling her efforts to cut him free.

Without missing a beat, the rogue switched and started to try and free the bear, but without warning, the bear simply disappeared, then reappeared beside the druid. Hesitating for a moment at the sudden disappearance, the rogue missed the pair of tendrils as they wrapped her in a painful embrace and pulled her into the slime, which was slowly healing as it digested the tank. Casting a final spell, the druid granted swiftness to him and his bear. The pair then fled the champion room, leaving the archer all by himself.

Seeing there was nothing he could do, the archer also tried to flee, only to be hit by another wave of frost from the champion. Bravely, the archer sent arrow after arrow into the slime, but another stream of flame put an end to his efforts, the slime happily gliding its way over the floor to engulf the fallen.

Dang, Florence had lost her bet and George’s fragment was already zipping all around her core like some crazy person was controlling it.

“You can come out now, kitty cat. I’m done with my other visitors, so let’s see what we should do with you, my uninvited guest,” the slime said, her voice coming through a gross-looking mouth that had appeared on its bulbous form.