[Chapter 13. Long Way to Go]
The walk to the car passed in silence. Neither of them spoke, and it didn't take long before they reached it. He placed the bag carefully onto the backseat, tugged the seatbelt across it, and only then slid into the driver's seat.
"If anyone asks, it's cosplay," he muttered as he started the engine. "I'm sure it won't come to that… though now that I've said it, it probably will."
The engine rumbled to life, and Iris's wolf ears twitched at the sound.
"Cosplay… okay," she said after a moment. The drive stretched on long, quiet, and uneventful. No small talk, no idle chatter. Just the steady hum of the engine and the low murmur of music drifting from the radio. Every so often, he glanced at his phone to check the navigation, then returned his eyes to the road.
Nearly four hours later, their destination finally came into view: a heavily walled property dotted with large, utilitarian buildings. "Iris," he said as he pulled to a stop, "today we do things differently. We won't be in the same location. Kill as fast as you can. If you get spotted, deal with it. The longer we avoid the authorities, the better."
She nodded once, calm and focused.
"I will do my best."
She stepped out of the car, vaulted the wall in a single fluid motion, and vanished from sight. He exhaled, then summoned his drones.
Two shapes rose silently into the air and streaked toward the building farthest from the entrance. Glass shattered as they breached a window, and moments later the drones opened fire, cutting down everything alive inside. The chickens scattered in blind panic, running in frantic circles before being mowed down by relentless, methodical gunfire. The experience flowed in slow, but steady.
`Don't show me each kill separately. Group them. If there's a pause between kills, show the total number and types of slain.′
He almost wanted to think of them as monsters… but they weren't.
`They're chickens. And maybe the occasional human… That's what they are.′
The drones fire rate felt sluggish to him, painfully so, but there was nothing he could do about it. One-hundred-twenty shots per minute, two shots per second. Still, every round hit its mark. Slow, precise, efficient.
`With two drones active, I lose 6 TP per minute and gain 2.′
The realization made his stomach tighten.
`That gives me about thirty minutes before I'm dry.′
He gripped the steering wheel his knuckles white from the pressure of his grip.
`6,480 experience per summon… then an hour cooldown before I can bring them back.′
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He opened the car door and stepped out onto the gravel.
*No time to sit around, time to get physical myself.*
He sprinted forward, vaulted the wall less gracefully than Iris, but he made it and dropped down onto the other side.
`Let's hunt.′
He kicked a door clean off its hinges and strode inside. The chickens scattered, squawking in terror. He lunged, moving faster than he ever had before, his new Dhampir agility granting him an unnatural swiftness. One by one, he drove his gauntleted fist through their bodies. Bones cracked, blood sprayed. The sheer, visceral brutality of it was dizzying. The experience trickled in far less than from the drones, but it was there.
`There are around two-hundred-thousand chickens in this facility. We can take our time. But humans…′
He paused, took a slow breath, and steeled himself.
`Let's hope there aren't many.′
The smell of blood was just as intense as the smell at his side. His pupils constricted as soon as he perceived it. His tongue touched the bloody glove before he even knew what he was doing. After tasting the fresh, steaming blood, he tore it in two and let the blood run into his mouth. He jerked his head back and grabbed the nearby fence for support. It was messy, and it took time to kill one chicken.
`This is... too slow.′
He broke off a fence board and used it as a paddle, the wet splashing and cracking sound when it hit their heads was grotesque. He slammed the board into the ground and switched to a more direct approach. Each swing sent a spray of blood and bone fragments through the place.
`Much better.′
He had lost all track of time, consumed by the relentless slaughter, when he heard a loud crash from one of the other buildings. He turned just as a terrified guard stumbled out, clutching a bleeding arm. The guard's eyes widened in horror at the sight of him, covered in blood, surrounded by mountains of dead chickens. Then the guard's gaze flickered past him, and he screamed. Iris appeared from the shadows behind him, her claws dripping, her silver mane streaked with blood.
`She works fast.′
The guard fumbled for something, but before he could pull out what ever it was, Iris lunged. There was a sickening crunch as her jaws closed around his throat. He gurgled, then went limp. Iris dropped the body and turned to Searanox. Her amber eyes were calm, almost dispassionate.
"There were three humans inside this building," she said. "I eliminated them. There may be more."
He nodded, then raised a blood-soaked fist and gave her a thumbs up.
The connection to his Drones vanished as they stopped existing, he turned back to the task at hand and continued to kill by hand. The experience flow during the next hour was painfully slow, before he could resummon his Drones. A scream broke his routine swings as worker burst in surprising him mid-swing, it was a Lady in her later years of live. He turned his head, and a few meters in front of him, a drone appeared, fired once, and disappeared in a cloud of blue sparks. It was quick and painless, without hesitation or remorse he did what he has to do. The moment his TP were full again he summoned his Drones again.
He sent them away with the mental command to continue what they had been doing. Just a few minutes later, he walked out the building. He stepped into the next one just to see that it was already avoid of live. His gaze took in the scene before him and saw the carnage that Iris had left behind: a handful of dead people and a pile of flesh and feathers.
