Chapter Twenty-Six - Biohazard

The black poisoned substance stretched and grew from within an organism submerged in the murky water. I could see a silhouette of a humanoid below because like Seiko they glowed. They glowed like a neon sign, fully illuminating themselves over time.

That made the plaque more apparent as it made every effort to cover everything solid and liquid. Including light. As soon as it finished enveloping a lily pad or a stone, it would release black spores into the air, continuing to decay anything in the area.

“Run towards higher ground.” Seiko yelled.

We ran making three distinct sounds of loud splashes alerting our enemies of our location. More shots fired from within the darkness, but thankfully missed all of us as we had been using the thick line and abundance of vines in the area to physically hide us from the sniper’s view.

I felt more exhausted. Having been in three fights in the last hour does tire someone out. And I thought I was a super soldier. I’m still clinging tight to that title. But then again, it might be my body attempting to regrow my lost limb.

“All we have to do is retreat! How do we find an exit?” I panic.

I have to regain composure. I’m sure I’m the leader of the Ocean Slugs, so I have to maintain a fearless facade. My bravery might be fake, but then again, this is not what I signed up for. I pray that if I survive this, this lie will turn to truth. I want to fight for what’s right.

“[Yellow Leaf Magic - Flash].” From a pouch that Olive had been carrying around, a collection of yellow leaves twirled out and danced in the air creating a formation of stars in the sky. Each yellow leaf shone bright, turning the night jungle into a day cycle. It sent a chill down my spine seeing the change of day and night cycle happen in an instant. But this was magic, and Olive’s doing. It wasn’t too bright to blind us, but it made the whole battlefield clear too. I could see the birdman running towards cover as Seiko aimed her sights on him. The humanoid beneath the puddle continued to spread its poison, but the light had slowed it down.

I looked up. We were in the Tower of Stars, so all we had to do was climb. If this was a trial it would have to wait. And I saw an opening. In the corner of this enclosed jungle was a way out of the fake sky. Through the ceiling and into the next stage.

But would these two enemies know of it too? Would that area be a trap?

As the bright lights dwindled down, I shot some lighting into the direction of the ceiling path. The raindrops acted like dividers to my lightning, redirecting the shot and making it go zig zag across the air. Luckily it hit the target and I could make out the trap mechanism with how the lighting dissipated. I think I can use it to my advantage.

All three of us approached the corner of the jungle as the black ooze kept spreading and covering the whole room. My floating tail and Seiko both glowed, so we were easy targets to the sniper birdman. But Olive has used her green leaf magic on us and she had quick reflexes on blocking more bullets. But when it came to the larger and powerful shots, we had no choice but to dodge. It was a tiring battle and my shots would not land due to my poor marksmanship and raindrops redirecting to other random locations. Seiko had to overexpend her mana to produce more bullets which was tiring her out too. Olive had a few stash of leaves yet as she also used her [Indigo Leaf Magic - Phantom] to provide aerial and long distance support and offense. The birdman would use his aerial maneuverability and natural tree cover to dodge our indiscriminate barrage of attacks.

But I had something else figured out. I tapped my tail on the wall multiple times using my electrolocation abilities to figure out the trap mechanism. It was like I’ve visited this place a hundred times before, so any hiding location was known to me and so was the trigger for the trap. After using the electrical current to short circuit the contraption I climbed the nearby tree as the girls followed along.

“Let’s go! We’ll go on ahead!” I commanded my team and taunted the enemy.

Probably not good sportsmanship, but it is the heat of battle, I’m tired, and my mental cognitive functions are not in the best state of mind. We all need sleep.

I got to the ceiling entrance and could see the next room. A white room decorated with statues made of marble and gold. This was a temple room designed like a lobby. As there were stairs leading to another room in the next corner beyond. If anything, we would need to clear this room, but hopefully sleep. There was also a gold glow near the statues. Hopefully, we could avoid that as it definetly spelled trap.

I used my tail to provide cover for the girls as they quickly climbed the tree. I could feel Longshots’ bullets hit my tail as they blocked for my teammates. I kept grabbing tight to the floor above me as I looked down below as the girls made one final leap each and entered the room with dramatic poses.

[0:00]

My tail transformed into a fully healed lizard tail as the electricity stopped the trapping mechanism from staying in its dormant stage. As the stun effect wore off, the series of sharp strings triggered and sliced up my tail. Poison seeped from the stump of my tail as it decorated the trap further making it more deadly. The black poison from the humanoid under the puddle finished covering the entire floor. Longshot flew and jumped from tree to tree trying to find another area to climb. But with the trap retriggered and poisoned, it would take him a long time to disarm it and find a way up to us. We could honestly take a breather.

“We have to keep climbing to a safer point. The mold will begin to climb shortly.” Seiko said.

“That was mold?” I stand up. I’m missing a tail and an arm, “I need to rest to be fully functional.”

“There should be safe areas up ahead, but we are still not safe.” Seiko said.

“She’s right. This whole room is just asking to fight us. But there is a Bank. We can probably stock up before the next fight.”

“Well, I trust you two. Finish it quickly, I need a nap.” I said, clearly tired, “The trap should hold for two hours.”

“We might have less time with the rate of mold rising.”

“How do you know about that though, how dangerous is it?”

Seiko checked her guns, trying to find the words that would end the conversation.

“Because that’s my brother.”