Chapter 318 Fleeing south again (1/2)
We had to delay our escape for a few minutes until Crinis had come back to herself, but we didn't dare allow her the extra time to evolve right now, we needed her fighting strength to help us in the tunnels. If we managed to break free and make it to the surface then she could probably evolve whilst riding on my back if it came to it, but until then we needed her alert.
Once everyone was prepared we enacted our plan, such as it was. Bust out into the tunnel, kill everything we see, bust back into the escape tunnel, kill everything we see, break out to the surface in the church, kill everything we see.
There was a sort of simple elegance to the plan that quite appealed to me. At any rate, we were successful. Relying on the simplest and most direct methods, we chomped, stabbed, punched and tore limb from limb everything that came our way. We were lucky though, the seemingly bottomless horde of monsters that had been sent after us was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it felt as if the zombie monsters had done us a favour by killing the sp.a.w.ned monsters that had crowded the escape tunnel. We had to contend with far less monsters on the way out than we did on the way in. So that's a plus!
Things were a little less simple when we reached the surface.
I'd like to say that it was me who antic.i.p.ated the ambush and foiled it with my brilliant tactics, a lie I don't even believe Crinis would have been able to swallow. It was unfortunate, but it Morrelia was the one who made us pause in our escape, not one hundred metres away from the surface entrance beneath the church.
[You know they'll have an ambush in place, right?] she asked as she eyed me askance.
[Of course] I lied.
She nodded to herself as if relieved. Not having a human face helped a lot when deceiving humans, I decided. My antennae had waggled like crazy as I'd spoken the obvious lie, my face, which was literally a part of my skeleton, had remained silky smooth.
My own pets were a little more wise to my deception. Crinis s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably on my back and Tiny looked at me with slack jawed astonishment. Stupid pets! Don't give the whole game away!
[So how do you think we should deal with it?] I prompted Morrelia, hoping to keep her distracted.
She rubbed her chiselled chin with one hand as she looked towards the exit and contemplated. Whoever her parents were, they had some serious jaw genes going on. Morrelia was a solid unit for a woman already but her jawline was so d.a.m.n sharp it could probably cut steel.
[Do you think you could rustle up another one of those giant bomb things?] she asked.
I clacked my jaws with joy.
…
[You have slain level 22 Garralosh Commander]
[You have gained experience]
[You have reached level 32]
[You have reached level 33]
[You have reached level 34]
HA! None of your fancy tricks this time you idiot crocodile!
After charging up my Gravity Bomb to a ludicrous degree once more, I unleashed it at the entrance from a safe distance away, Morrelia helping to ensure that proper planning was executed for once in the deployment of this particular magic.