Chapter 13: Fusion—I'm No Longer Human!
The underground caves spread out in all directions.
The further they went, the more tunnels branched off, and visibility from the helmet lights diminished.
Eventually, it became a labyrinth. After the group dispersed, they wandered with no hope of escape, only despair.
Juno walked ahead with her climbing axe and gun, saying this was all her fault.
Danny just needed to cover her from behind and didn't need to risk himself up front.
Juno didn't notice the several crawlers quietly moving above her head. Now they were Danny's most loyal subordinates, who would eliminate all threats for him.
Danny discovered a very interesting phenomenon along the way.
Even though these six crawlers had become his containment objects, their kin in these caves still treated them as their own.
Was it because of limited intelligence?
From Danny's perspective, his six subordinates encountered another crawler in the tunnel.
Neither side attacked.
The crawler made clicking sounds as if trying to communicate, but the six subordinates remained motionless.
Until Danny gave an order.
While that crawler was still confused, the six companions it thought were allies suddenly went berserk, pinning it down and tearing into it.
Juno heard the sound and looked up. A corpse rapidly fell toward her, and she rolled to dodge it.
Thud.
The body hit the ground, splattering dark blood.
Juno looked up again to see the creatures had scattered, and she stared at the mutilated corpse, wondering aloud.
"Why are they killing each other?"
Danny casually offered an explanation.
"Maybe they're hungry, or there isn't enough food?"
It was best to keep the containment cards secret as much as possible. Mainly because both Hillickers and crawlers were physical entities. If they were evil spirits or vengeful ghosts, there'd be no need to worry about this issue.
Juno certainly didn't believe it. If they cannibalized their own kind, there wouldn't be so many pack-dwelling creatures. But she couldn't refute it—maybe they really were starving?
This could only be considered a small incident on their journey.
Along the way, the two didn't encounter any danger. More accurately, all threats were dealt with by the six crawlers in advance.
Midway,
at a tunnel junction,
Juno picked up a bracelet. She remembered clearly it was the one Sarah wore.
"Sarah's in danger. I have to save her."
Juno's emotions became agitated, and she immediately ran in one direction.
Danny stopped at the junction, hesitated for a moment, then quickly called his subordinates to follow before chasing after Juno.
The six crawling creatures uniformly changed direction, following Danny's position and starting to move quickly.
If one saw this scene from above, it would be terrifying.
"Sarah!"
"Beth!"
"Sam!"
Danny could hear Juno's loud voice from a distance. She truly wasn't afraid of death.
But that was fine—let Juno attract attention up front while he preserved his combat strength.
Another part of the cave system,
on the rock wall above, Rebecca and Beth huddled together, not daring to make a sound, because there was a crawler right below them.
Fortunately, these creatures seemed to have lost their vision from long-term underground survival and relied solely on hearing to locate prey.
Juno's shouting came from the distance, attracting the creature.
The crawler quickly moved toward the sound.
Rebecca and Beth had no intention of warning Juno.
At this moment, they were in dire straits themselves. Friends and loyalty meant nothing.
After the creature left,
Rebecca and Beth immediately got up and left in the opposite direction, with no intention of going back to save Juno.
Juno's shouting was useful—it did attract nearby crawlers.
Most were torn apart by Danny's subordinate crawlers. The remaining few weren't a concern.
After Juno dispatched the creatures with her axe and a few shots, she knelt down and looked at the corpse in front of her. It was Sarah's... her neck was torn open, and she'd been dead for a while.
After her grief, she set out again to find Sam and the others. She looked back—had Danny not followed? Had he run away?
Fear was normal...
Juno pulled the axe from a crawler's chest and continued forward.
Unbeknownst to her, Danny was no longer acting human!
To better blend into the dark environment, he'd chosen to fuse with a crawler card, transforming into a creature that moved on all fours, following five subordinates, climbing along the cave ceiling, trailing Juno.
It must be said that while transforming into a crawler was difficult to accept, it brought a sense of security that didn't exist when he was human.
Perhaps the crawlers were already adapted to underground life.
Danny, transforming into a monster for the first time, was somewhat excited, testing his post-transformation abilities, climbing everywhere in the cave without worrying about obstacles.
His enhanced vision, abilities, and strength were still there, not disappearing because he became a crawler.
This was very good.
Danny even specifically challenged a lone crawler, finding it was no match for him, easily snapping its neck.
It seemed the fusion meant Danny's strength and abilities stacked and merged into a crawler form.
What a shame.
He could only fuse one card. If he could fuse all of them and stack them with the Hillickers, perhaps he could contend with the alpha crawler—the evil spirit incarnate.
After fully adapting,
Danny began crawling quickly toward Juno's direction.
A nest somewhere in the cave system,
Sam suddenly woke up. She turned on her headlamp and observed her surroundings, her heart pounding.
There were not only eerie bones but also pools of blood here.
Before Sam could get up, a juvenile crawler suddenly pounced from behind, grabbing her hair and clawing at her.
The intense pain on her scalp made Sam struggle wildly. She grabbed the small creature's head and slammed it hard onto the ground, then grabbed a bone and began beating it to death.
Just as Sam was striking with all her might, a muffled gunshot echoed from behind her.
Sam looked back to find another crawler lying there—seemingly the mother of the juvenile.
It was Beth who'd fired, her hand trembling slightly.
Sam excitedly rushed forward and hugged Rebecca and Beth. The three had successfully reunited in the cave, softly expressing their relief at surviving.
Just as they were discussing how to escape,
a massive shadow blocked the exit.
When Sam, Beth, and Rebecca saw the creature blocking the tunnel entrance, their hearts sank in despair.
Unlike other crawlers that couldn't see and relied only on smell and hearing, this creature's blood-red eyes were staring intently at the three women in the chamber.
As they moved even slightly, its pupils tracked them.
Clearly, it could see.
The alpha had found them.
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