When I’d dropped these things, we’d been, mostly, in a vertical line up and down the building. It wasn’t perfect, which was why I’d dropped several. The result was something akin to multiple shotgun-blast patterns in the ceiling, all the way up.
Either way, rubble did fall, but it was mostly smaller-sized pebbles and a whole lot of dust and smoke. In a half-second, I created a jagged, almost straight path all the way to the roof. The size of the holes was strangely proportional to the size we were now, so three times bigger than I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise.
The moment the roof blew and Osvaldo disappeared, we fired three potion balls at Bruna, designed not to hurt the slaughter gnu but to save her life. A liquid drop shield, an explosion blanket, and a smoke curtain to obscure her from sight.
Just as the liquid drop shield started to coalesce, smoke billowing, Donut landed atop the bewildered mount, and she cast her own shield. A moment later, she caused multiple trees to sprout all around the unattended gnu, further blocking the creature from sight. A few moments after that, a half dozen emergency gremlins sprouted all along the gnu’s back.
Osvaldo had left a grenade designed to kill poor Bruna. But the man wasn’t taking any chances, and it appeared shehad already been poisoned as well. The explosion blanket had stopped the grenade, which was the first threat. Osvaldo had also dropped several poison dart bombs as he ascended. The deadly weapons dropped one after another on the line of shields, sparking and exploding.
One of the emergency gremlins was already in his toolbox, pullingout medicine. The gremlins were well equipped to help both mechanical and biological mounts, and they would work to keep Bruna alive.
High above, Osvaldo would have just attempted to jump through the portal. It wouldn’t work.
Karl: Who has eyes on him?
Donut: I have him. Don’t worry, Carl. It looks like the wall at the portal stunned him. He has bugs coming for him, too. Tracking, tracking.
Louis: Britney just jumped away!
Florin: Protect Louis! If she kills him and the car, she can get out the gate!
Britney: I’m not running, you idiot. Give me a second. Osvaldo is stunned from hitting the gate at speed.
Donut: BRITNEY, GET OUT OF THE WAY.
And then the notification came.
A champion has fallen. A bounty has been claimed.
Crawler Osvaldo has been killed by Crawler Britney Proskurina.
Team Three, Team Flamengo, has been eliminated due to the death of their last racer.
You are the sole remaining team in your heat.
A moment later, the corpse of Osvaldo hit the floor, followed by Britney, who landed directly atop the body, smashing it farther into the ground. Britney’s eyes glowed as the golden player-killer skull appeared over her.
I sighed, the sound more like a whimper.You stubborn idiot,I thought.Why did it have to come to this?
Above, pieces of the floor continued to rain down. The bugs, which had been stupefied by the explosion, started to reappear. They were comparatively much smaller now since we’d tripled in size. The bugs were now wolf-sized, as opposed to bear-sized, but there werea lotof them, and they would soon be on us.
Imani: I am casting a wide-area stun that’ll temporarily stop the bugs again. Those of you in single heats, you’re free to go. The rest of us, we’re meeting back in Hungry Eyes. Carl, you and Donut get through the gate. We got this.
Donut: WE’RE NOT LEAVING UNTIL WE MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALL SAFE.
Donut returned to the truck, bursting back in through the window.
“Did you see that? Britney moved just as fast as Osvaldo! What’s...” She stopped and made a disgusted sound. “Carl, your red rocket is out again! Put it back this instant!”
“I saw her,” I said, watching Britney, my paws up on the dash. The barbarian crawler casually sauntered back toward the gecko and Louis. “She has the memorial crystal from Ysalte now.”
Samantha was there next to me, watching, her voice suddenly serious. “She needs to get to the Basilica or the Vulgar Temple and place the gem in the plinth, and she’ll be back for good. I’ll be curious to see if that actually works.”
“What?” I asked. “What’s that?”
Multiple cars and mounts burst into the air, racing up toward the eleventh floor as stunned bugs rained down, crashing around us, slamming into the lobby. Above, a few giant humans and shells poked their heads out from their apartments, lookingdown at the destruction, unsure of what to do. One of them I saw was the giant Imani, tightly clutching Gucci the Maltese.
I started to growl and wag my tail before I realized what I was doing.