"How many more of these things are in this section?" 36 asked, directing the question to 34.
"six more cursed remain within the area."
"Alright, we probably need to increase the rate which we kill these things if we are to finish before sun set." 36 continued.
"I honestly don't think we will be able to be done before sun set no matter how fast we go. The next section will be harder and we have to do it fairly quietly so we don't wake up the horrifying creatures in the sections beyond." I interrupted.
"That's why I'm proposing that we try deal with multiple of these things at once. We can probably trap one and have another team try kill another." 36 explained.
'Ah, and of course I will be one of these people in the group trying to kill monsters ourselves.'
36 looked around for a minute contemplating what to do before deciding. "Alright lets have 4, 7, 5 and I be the combat group and the rest be the trap group."
'I knew it.'
36 continued. "33 will be the only one to slow the creature down so 13 will have to make the corridor in a way to slow down whatever creature is coming."
"And what will the plan for our group be?" I asked him
"What do you mean? We will be killing them."
"Yeah I get that but like what's the plan?" I questioned a bit more forceful in my tone this time.
"No plan, we just kill them. Where is the confusion?" 46 responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
'Fuck me.'
-
I stabbed my spear into a cursed laying near dead on the ground and as I did the others seemed to collapse to the ground.
"Come on guys, one more to go." 36 said encouragingly.
36 seemed to be a lot more kind and understanding now, but I didn't know if that was because he had a change of heart or just simply because we weren't making as many mistakes.
As I sat down on the ground my legs almost gave out from exhaustion, in fact every part of my body was right next to being unable to move.
I had never known just how much I could push myself but in the face of death even I was able to pull off seemingly inhuman levels of stamina but none the less a more deep fatigue was setting in. Instead of simply my muscles being exhausted it was like my very spirit was being drained, but in stark contrast my roh was in fairly good condition. I had only used it for elemental resistance and acceleration. I hadn't even used either particularly strongly either so my reserves still had plenty of roh.
It wasn't just me who was physically exhausted though. Everyone apart from 36 was in fairly bad shape, unharmed but in bad shape none the less.
Letting my body fully drop to the ground I laid on the cold surface of the ground and looked up at the roof but I didn't even have the energy to ponder anything like I usually would. I just laid there, my mind empty.
A few minutes later I stood up and stretched. "I think I can continue now. What about the rest of you?"
I series of grunts with people getting up on their feet before everyone got ready, these moments weren't without complaints though.
'I know that I can't say much but holy shit people like to swear.'
Suddenly looking over to 5 realised I hadn't actually noticed him for the last while. He was simply just standing there, seemingly no exhaustion along with the lack of expression. He simply stood there waiting for us all to recover, as if he had an inexhaustible stamina.
'I still cannot figure out for the life of me what he did to help, but I'm certain he helped somehow.'
It was like a word on the tip of my tongue, I just couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.
Walking up to the door I unlocked it and walked out. The last cursed in this section was just a few rooms down and last time we checked it was sleeping unlike the others we had to deal with.
The others followed behind me, keeping quiet so as not to wake the creature.
Looking through the broken door I saw the almost peaceful sleep of the cursed. It was by far the least monstrous we had seen, this one almost looked like a normal creature despite the fact nothing like it had appeared on earth.
It looked somewhat like a fox but with scales instead of fur, a small horn poking out its forehead and a tail which kind of looked like a peacock's but instead of something the thing could flourish like a peacock does it was just its tail, nothing more.
It was beautiful in all fairness, It looked like something you would keep in a zoo. The intent in the ground it slept in obviously marked it as a cursed creature.
We all aimed out weapons at the sleeping beast and as I loomed over the creature I considered how the cursed might just be regular animals wherever they came from, then ripped from their dimension only to be cursed to be one of these insane creatures who only kill.
'If all they do is only kill then why are they not all fighting each other here?'
36 raised his hand and held up three fingers, then two and as the last finger was left and then when I found myself stabbing the cursed in its head I found myself feeling pity.
Pulling the spear back I felt resistance and then I tugged out just to have blood and pieces of its brain hit my leg and then land on my shoe. Something in the back of my head shivered but I didn't move.
I stood there for a moment not sure what I was thinking exactly.
"Hey you alright?" 7 called out to me.
Snapping out of my head and realising I had been just standing there for a long time.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking how fucked up this all is I guess."
"Yeah, I feel you. I'm assuming you never witnessed an execution back on the station. Sights this gory were fairly common in those." 7 said while bending down and touching a scale of the creature to which like all the others it vanished without a trace. Not even the creatures blood remained. It was as if the world was being made clean again, and we help it dispose of the filth.
"Yeah I mean the executions were held in areas higher up in the whole status chain, us outer ring people weren't even threatened. If you saw one of the others disobey, they would simply be gone the next day. Never to be seen again." I said solemnly.
7 looked at me with pity then said "Damn man, I didn't know it was that bad for-"
Outside the room massive thumping could be heard coming from the side of the corridor leading further into the facility. Something massive was coming from a deeper section, and from the rising tide of pressure I was feeling there was no doubt it was something strong.
All of us hid as silently as we could. Not a single one of us made a sound.
'The trap squad, they don't know about this thing!'
There was no way for us to warn them though, otherwise we would die instead.
I didn't dare look at the form of the creature through the gap in the broken door. I was almost sure this thing was strong enough to feel my very soul if I looked at it. I even tried to empty my mind, afraid that it might feel my very will and come kill us.
The creature continued down the corridor, towards the exit... and the other group. We had to simply hope and pray they would survive.
Down the hallway I heard the creature grunt, almost in annoyance. Then it slammed into something which shattered.
The creature seemed to almost run after that, but I didn't hear the screams of the other group.
'That means none of them are dead right? God I hope so.'
After we all hid there petrified for a few minutes 36 took a peek outside and then said "I think its safe now."
"What the hell is that thing." I asked him.
"Likely just a monster finished with whatever they are doing here. We saw another one on our first day. Bastard almost killed us all, its why we asked for backup. Even that one we fought wasn't even close to as strong as whatever that thing was."
After making sure it was indeed safe we rushed over to the trap group. They were just now starting to poke their heads out of the rooms on either side.
'They are all alive.'