Chapter 37 – EVO
***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***
***Astra***
My partner coughed and took a step further away from the piece of misery lying on the ground. You know, I was once on a trip to Germany and got myself into a little culinary misadventure. They have this dish there which they call Mett which is essentially minced raw meat with spices plus onion. Sometimes they also allow it to ferment before it is served. Unfortunately, thats the version I got. At the time, my belly didnt agree at all.
He pointed a finger at the silently wailing woman and swallowed before sharing his final judgement. And she she looks exactly like Mett at least I hope it’s a she otherwise something very important dissolved before we came to the rescue.
I hit Magnuss upper arm for his lack of compassion. I couldnt hurt him in this way, but it felt like the right thing to do at the moment. Go and get our gear! We have to lend some first aid or she wont make it!
In fact, I wasnt sure whether she would survive even with our help. Or was Magnus right and we were dealing with a very unfortunate he? Could a human survive losing all of her… his skin?
I chose to tentatively settle on her. Although judging by the physique, we could also be facing a more androgyne he.
Wouldnt it be kinder to just put it out of its misery? Magnus asked, but he turned nonetheless to retrieve our backpacks from their hiding place. We had stored them beneath a large mushroom to not be burdened needlessly during the fight.
Maybe, but we wont be the ones to do it! I gathered my filaments and used them to lift the hunter out of the remains of her party. Gosh, I hoped she hadnt been soaking in the bodies of her friends or lovers.
Touching her caused the hunter to let out a tortured moan, but it couldnt be helped. We had to clean and wrap her in antiseptic bandages to give her at least a small chance of survival. I just hoped we brought enough supplies to do so.
The antiseptic cream which came with the standard survival gear was normally enough to treat a grievous wound or amputation. It prevented infection and stopped bleeding. Otherwise, people relied mostly on their mutations for healing.Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)
Unfortunately, I didnt know whether too much of the cream could have adverse effects. I had never tried to use it on someone who lost all of her skin.
In any case, we needed a lot more water than we had on hand to clean her.
Magnus, I addressed my partner as soon as he returned with the gear. Do you remember the large blue plant we passed on our way here? The one that gathers water?
Yeah, you mean the waterbulb? He looked in the direction. Should be ten minutes away if I run.
Please take the waterskins and fill them to the brim. Then bring them back here while I do what I can for her, I instructed. Sending Magnus off alone was a calculated risk I wouldnt have taken normally. But it wasnt far and we definitely couldnt move the survivor like this.
We ended up spending more time patching up the hunter than I wished to.
Thankfully, only small carrion eaters were attracted by the battlefield we had created.
The local version of zippers were carrionworms. Though they were far less dangerous than the little monsters with whom I had come to share some genes. Carrionworms were a union of a worm and a centipede without the carapace. They were magnetically drawn to dead biomass and started feasting on the bodies around us within minutes by burrowing into them.
Their main defence was an extremely nasty substance which they spat at anything interfering with their feeding. In stark contrast to zippers, throwing something like a stick at them with enough force to hurt was a sufficient deterrent in most cases.
Until Magnus returned, I was able to chase off any which came too close. Once he was back, he took over chasing away the critters while I cleaned the survivor as best as I could.
Before I was done, I had to step out twice so I wouldnt sully her with my own vomit. My parents had seen to it early on that I would be hardened against the gruesomeness of this world, but this was something which turned even my stomach. The smell of the matriarchs stomach acid was too overwhelming.
Almost an hour later, and me wishing I hadnt struck a deal with Magnus to be the one who digs through the matriarchs guts, we finally had our survivor on a stretcher. She was wrapped up like a mummy in all the bandages and clean cloth we had on hand.
I couldnt claim I had done a great job. But in my defence, it had to be said whole-body-bandaging was a technique that was normally restricted to the realm of comics and jokes.
Somewhere along the line, our patient had lost consciousness and was completely out of it. Which was a blessing in disguise. Having your whole body covered with the antiseptic cream must have felt like being dissolved in stomach acid all over again.
While I was busy with first aid, Magnus managed to retrieve most of his throwing spears.
When I gathered my equipment, I encountered a very annoying downside to my throwing stars. They were almost impossible to find if I didnt remember exactly where I had thrown them. My partners approach with ranged weapons was the better one. Disposable metal balls for small fry and large projectiles for the big stuff.
In the end, I had to admit that nothing could be done about me losing most of my throwing stars.
With our backpacks a lot lighter and a lot of our gear lost to the chaos of combat, I abandoned any hope of continuing our hunt and instead led Magnus to the closest shelter.
The changelings nesting area was still mostly untouched, but I hoped for the blow we dealt to their population to be grievous enough to make eventual survivors easy prey for any predator which came along.
That said, I found it very strange for the matriarch to leave the nest. Normally, I would have expected it to stay behind and guard the offspring. Its appearance on the battlefield almost caused Magnus to be injured. It was a sobering reminder that I shouldnt take a wild animals behaviour for granted.
I had no time to mope over my mistake because we were finally forced to leave the area due to the increasing number of carrionworms.
Between the two of us, we had no problem carrying the unconscious survivor on an improvised stretcher.
The shelter was a well-hidden bunker in the caves floor, located roughly in the Bellys centre. The single, large room was a lot better equipped than the shelters between the Old Camp and Mount Aerie. Which was to be expected, considering that only members of the family would know about this place.
Once the shelters trapdoor was locked, the first thing I did was raid the shelters emergency supplies to top up our gear. Miraculously, our survivor hadnt died during the trip an outcome which wouldnt have surprised me in the least.
She must have some mutation with an exceptional healing factor, I mused when I checked on the patient. I drew away a part of the bandages and found the flesh beneath still raw, but it had scabbed over and dried up, preventing further loss of fluids. She wouldnt be able to move any time soon or everything would break open again.
At least it didnt look like she was in any immediate danger of dying.
I wasnt a doctor, but common sense told me that loss of liquid would be the greatest threat to the womans life. So I did my best to feed her some leftover soup from a bottle. We had it leftover from yesterday boiled to an unrecognizable slurry of course.
Sounds like the regeneration ended up being a curse, Magnus commented. He inspected his spetum and pulled down the corners of his mouth in displeasure. It had suffered quite a bit when he used it as a jumping pole on the changeling matriarch. It looks like I need to have a new one made, but it should hold up for another fight.
My eyes were drawn to the missing tip. You wont be stabbing much with it in this state.
Its still good for slashing and I think I saw a file and a whetstone among our gear, Magnus mused. I am not a metal worker, but filing a new point onto it should be within my capabilities.
I left the service of his weapon to him and took care of feeding our survivor some liquid food. If her regenerative ability was anything like Thalias, then she would need a lot of nourishment and water to heal.
Then where could it have hidden on the clearing? Magnus mused. The changelings were meticulous about keeping everything tidy. There wasnt anything aside from the nests and the pile of bones which the matriarch sat upon and I doubt the mindflayer would have liked to be squished by that monstrosity.
I pursed my lips. I suppose it isnt out of the imagination for the mindflayer to hide inside one of the nests. The changelings naturally protect it and the mindflayer could eat the eggs which the changelings place inside.
One of the nests which I set ablaze, Magnus mused. Maybe its already dead? A lucky shot and the reason why it sent the matriarch after us.
I snorted. Oh, please. Stop dreaming. Then I stopped as I thought about it.
Why would it send the matriarch if not out of a knee-jerk reaction because it had been attacked? This line of thought fits the sequence of events.
I say, tomorrow we go back and set all the nests on fire from a safe distance. If we drive it out, we have a go at it with ranged weapons, Magnus spoke with absolute confidence.
Magnus, I dont know how to say this, but thats a seriously bad idea, I replied. We shouldnt risk it. Instead, we should hope to get home without encountering it. The mindflayer is an opponent we arent equipped for.
He sighed. Fine then. If you think we cant even take a look, then let others take care of it.
I could tell he wasnt satisfied with letting the chance go. He seriously wanted us to go for this evolution, but I wasnt in the right state of mind to discuss it. Just let me sleep over it. Lets revisit this topic in the morning when I am not dead tired.
The next day, I was admittedly a little bit frustrated when Magnus somehow convinced me to at least check out the changelings nesting area with his new plan.
I still think this is a stupid thing to do, I complained while I allowed my filaments to reach out as far as possible.
Then why are you here with me? Magnus asked while he launched another burning throwing spear into a changeling nest.
Sadly, I didnt have to perform deep soul searching to come up with an answer. Greed. I sighed. The answer is a simple wish for power.
And I had to admit the new plan which Magnus presented to me in the morning had something going for it in its simplicity, but I didnt say it aloud because I figured it would provide him with an unhealthy ego boost.
The plan was to kill any remaining changelings, set their nesting area on fire, and hunt down the mindflayer. The trick lay in how to do it.
Magnus wanted us to rely solely on our electric abilities. Which was a stroke of genius.
While the mindflayer could likely have us dream up any visions it wanted, I knew for certain that it couldnt stop our actual bodies from doing stuff. If we fired off electric blasts in regular intervals, we would hit it sooner or later.
Even if it created a hallucination to have us see each other as a threat, we would be fine as long as we stuck to our electricity for offensive moves. Magnus and I could shock each other all day long without causing actual damage. Worst case, the mindflayer would figure us to be more trouble than we were worth and run away.
When we arrived, we found three changelings remaining at the nesting area. Killing them was easy enough with Magnuss throwing spears. Then we proceeded to take out the nests one by one.
And that should be the last nest. Magnus lit his last wooden spear and fired it at the remaining nest. The dry vegetation used in its construction instantly caught fire.
I created another burst of electricity, keeping to our rhythm of twenty seconds and not relying on what my eyes, ears and nose told me. If the mindflayer wanted to get close, it was unlikely to do so without touching my filaments.
When I looked back to my partner, all I saw was the horrific maw of a changeling trying to kiss my face. It was so real, in any other situation I would have lashed out with all my might.
Instead, I closed my eyes and strained my muscles, creating as much of a charge as possible while I flayed my filaments around.
Something hit me in the shoulder and I went down before I felt an even stronger surge of electricity course through a few of my filaments and into my body.
I knew it could only belong to Magnus and answered with a power surge of my own while I kept flailing my filaments like a toddler.
Are you okay? Magnuss voice brought me back to my senses and I felt myself being pulled back to my feet.
I opened my eyes and found my partner grinning at me with a stupid expression.
We did it! he pointed at the charred corpse of a mindflayer. Sometimes, ninety percent of a fight is having a good plan.
The creature was a blob of brain-like, tumorous flesh with ten spider-like appendages. It lay twitching on the ground just three metres away from us. My shoulder was pulsing in pain, but I felt ecstasy coursing through my veins.
Then I sent another burst of electricity into the thing, and Magnus, just to be sure.
The jolt had him jump half a metre into the air. Hey! Watch it!
I smiled. Just because we were almost immune to electricity didnt mean a strong enough jolt wasnt unpleasant. I had to make sure its you. And I will keep doing it on the way back. Just to be sure.
Magnus looked mortified. I dont think-
And who tells you there werent two mindflayers? I asked. They are rare, but it wouldnt be surprising given how fucked up our little trip was.
Thats only logical. Magnus nodded and grabbed one of my filaments. Then I had to yelp when my muscles spasmed.
I growled and drew a knife, pretending to go after Magnus before I stabbed it into the mindflayers grey flesh.
Magnus interestedly looked over my shoulder. He always paid attention when I demonstrated how to process a catch.
When my hands were already soiled with the fluids which accounted for the mindflayers blood, Magnus asked, Will we really eat that?
I turned and looked at him with a strip of mindflayer flesh in my hands.
His eyes wandered to the fillet I had cut and his face looked slightly green. I am just saying it looks a lot like brain
You are going to tell me we gambled our lives on an untested strategy and now you want to go home without taking the spoils because you are squeamish? When I was the one who told you time and time again we shouldnt risk it? I narrowed my eyes at him.
Luckily for him, he got the hint and swallowed. Understood. Eat the mindflayer and shut up.