Splatter!
The last Scorpion-Spider had its head blown into pieces, blood spattering all over the ground. Cane sat down to catch his breath while Chuck and Abel performed clean-up on the battlefield.
I really do NOT envy them... Cane watched the seemingly endless bodies piled up. Even though Abel's dissolving potions could make light work of them, there were simply too many Scorpion-Spiders this time - the clean-up duty would take hours.
He swept his eyes across the field, before noticing something strange. A man was sneaking off - leaving the Border as the others also helped with the clean-up.
Anyone else notice this? He turned, saw Noelle compiling reports on the damages and loss of life. Krouse was sleeping on top of a mostly intact Scorpion-Spider, burrowing his face into its furry body. Chuck and Abel were still busy with the clean-up.
In the chaos of the aftermath, no one else was noticing this one man sneak off.
Picking up his tired body, Cane began to hiddenly tail the suspicious man in silence. No one noticed either of them leave the Border.
...
F*ck, I can't believe no one noticed me leave. As a new hire, it seemed that no one had noticed his absence. Dave felt nervous, palms sweaty. He couldn't very well contact Senhei at the Border, but there were also no hiding places either. Almost all of the Border was covered, and only during the aftermath where more people were called for clean-up could he find time to escape, since people could come back at any time.
Dave began to furiously write down everything he saw.
There seems to be a new addition to the Border Control's main team. This guy, I'm not sure of his rank, but he seems to be able to clone things.
He doubled all of the turrets at the Border, doubled our weapons, doubled his team's weapons. It was insane.
I think the best course of action to take him out, alongside the rest of the team...
Is to utilise the Mech Beast.
Dave finished writing the note, and was about to summon a contracted Hearth-Sparrow to deliver it - before he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Going somewhere, young man?" A somewhat youthful voice sounded out from behind him.
"AHHH!" Dave quickly spun around to find the newest member of the Border Control's main team. Dark brown hair, olive skin - younger than he'd thought, too. He was holding a dagger, staring at Dave's hand, which held the note.
Damn it... I gotta fight THIS guy? Reacting quickly, eight spider legs sprung out from Dave's back and pushed him away from the man facing him.
"Hearth-Sparrow!" Dave's contracted Hearth-Sparrow flew out of the taming space, a hidden dimension where tamed beasts would reside in when not in use.
Clearly, Dave also didn't follow the famous rule - never consume your own product.
Hearth-Sparrows were an interesting species. They actually never mated - instead, a Hearth-Sparrow could be born from burning a regular sparrow alive using hot coals, not fire.
In this way, Hearth-Sparrows, despite only being Rank 1, were the go-to for new beast tamers due to their cheap cost, ease in contracting, and the fact that they still held a minor flame control ability.
Some even based their entire fighting style on this - summoning a huge army of Hearth-Sparrows and then combining their weak, individual flames into one devastating attack.
Distract him with fireballs. Dave ordered his Hearth-Sparrow. I'm going for hand-to-hand.
Dave rushed in, his now 10 limbs moving like a well-oiled machine. Unless one also had more than two arms, they'd find it impossible to defend against such an attack.
This proved true as the assailant jumped back, cloned his dagger and shot it at Dave.
Reacting quickly, Dave blocked with his 8 spider limbs, losing 3 in the process. Knowing he couldn't let the man facing him do that again, he rushed in with even greater speeds, attacking the sides, torso, head and legs.
The attacker shifted his head to dodge the blow and blocked the attacks to his sides in the same motion. However, he suffered punches to his ribs and legs as a trade-off.
"ARGH!" Roaring in pain and anger, the man tensed his muscles and ripped off two more spider limbs. He then kicked Dave back with superhuman strength, slightly caving in the man's ribcage.
As Dave's assailant prepared to clone his dagger again, a fireball came in and hit his hand, burning him. The blow wasn't enough to damage his Supporter rank skin, but the pain and heat were still very present.
While he was distracted, Dave charged back over, holding his elbow out for a devastating strike. Seeing this, the man pushed past the pain and brought up his dagger - causing Dave to impale his own arm on it. He then sliced off the arm at the shoulder with a quick motion.
Unlike before, when he hadn't felt the pain as much due to his spider limbs being biological additions to his body, the pain this time was too much for him to think.
Taking the chance, the Border Control Officer grabbed Dave with one hand and lifted him, using him as a shield from the Hearth-Sparrow's fireballs. In the meanwhile, he used his other hand to quickly rip off the remaining spider limbs.
As Dave came to, he saw the situation at hand.
No... I can't fail here... Senhei still has my family... The thoughts drove him to turn and throw the note towards his Hearth-Sparrow.
"GET IT TO HIM!" HE yelled in pain, before turning around to strike at the opponent's head with his remaining arm.
It didn't work.
Stab! Slash!
The Border Control Officer's dagger first went through Dave's oncoming fist, before he pulled it out and slice off the rest of the arm in one fluid motion.
"What... what was in that note." The assailant's voice dropped to a dangerously low tone.
With his duty fulfilled, Dave could no longer stay awake - or alive. The bleeding had been too intense. With internal bleeding from a damaged ribcage, and blood pouring out of his opened shoulders.
Dave slumped to the ground, dying. In his last moments, he could only think of his family, monitored under Senhei's men - constantly facing the risk of death.
My wife... my son. I'm so sorry. I won't be able to watch you grow up...
...
"So? Where have you been, Cane." Noelle's harsh words rang out from the hall of the team dorms. Seeing her, Cane's eyes lit up.
"I need to show you something." He picked up the body of the man he had followed and fought. Seeing the man's unarmed dead body, including the 8 spider limbs, Noelle's eyes grew solemn.
"You found a monster trafficker's spy, I believe." Peering closer to the man's head, she nodded. "A new hire. I recognise him. I believe his name was Dave?"
"A spy? Makes sense. He had incredible fighting techniques - though it was probably more credit to his spider limbs than he himself. Additionally, I caught him about to send a note somewhere."
Looking down at his bruises, Cane continued. "I couldn't stop the Hearth-Sparrow in time. The man fought hard. I might not have been able to win if not for my increased physique."
Hearing this, Noelle nodded. "You still need to work on your fighting techniques. While you might still find it difficult to face multiple arms, it'll help you rely on your physique a lot more." Her tone became somber. "Now that the note has made it wherever it needed to go, we're in the light while they're in the dark. We can only train stronger to face whatever's upcoming."
She looked up abruptly, noticing Cane's exhaustion. That's right. He just went from fighting in a monster wave to facing off a superhuman.
"But first, get to Abel for patching yourself up. I'll file a report... can't have you arrested by that No Kill rule."
...
Flutter! Flutter!
The Hearth-Sparrow flew into Senhei's office from an open window. Seeing this, he smiled.
Finally.
As Senhei read through the note, his spider eyes narrowed. A new member, huh?
He stood up from his chair and walked to his warehouses. As he went, he grabbed the Hearth-Sparrow, crushed it to near death and forced it to take on a slave contract.
Using the mental connection, he interrogated the Hearth-Sparrow about its old tamer.
What happened to your tamer?
Dead. Replied the Hearth-Sparrow. As a simple minded beast, it couldn't transmit concepts more complicated than that.
Nodding to himself, he reached out to the Hearth-Sparrow and crushed it to death. He reached the doors to his most secure warehouse. Opening it, there was a large thing hidden by a canvas sheet.
Pulling down the sheet revealed a huge mechanical beast.
[The Mechanical Beast]
Rank: 4
Description:
A large mechanical robot implanted with the souls of multiple Rank 3 monsters. Can use lasers or bullets as its ranged attack. It holds a retractable sword in its arm, and has twice the physical strength of a Master. It cannot be taken down without attacking the energy core, which constantly switches place within its body as it fights.
Senhei took a deep breath. This was a risky gamble. Many things could go wrong - they might trace the mech back to him, the mech beast might get serious damage during the fight. But Senhei was nothing if not a huge gambler.
Ran in the blood, he reckoned. Senhei's father had also been a gambler - ran his family into the ground with debts. Funnily enough, Senhei himself was the one who called the police to bust out the family gambling ring.
Senhei knew what he had to do.
Wait until the next big monster wave. And then?
And then he'd activate The Mechanical Beast.