Chương 43: Chapter Forty Two

The crabs within the Manor were not creatures that one would generally describe as 'intelligent'. Despite many massacres and multiple encounters with an entity that made something within their souls shriek; they remained broadly unaware that their hideaway was occupied by an enemy force. What they were aware of, however, was that they were hungry. The lesser crabs that the building's powerful usually sated themselves upon had suddenly disappeared.

This being unusual wasn't something they were consciously aware of, but as the first pangs of starvation began to set in, it nonetheless affected their lives. Especially when they noticed that the only local options for a meal had equal chance of making one of them. This left the Manor filled with a simmering frustration. One which slowly began to boil over some few days after an explosion had echoed from the floors above. When the tiniest, tinniest cry sounded out from the rooftops.

At first, while it had attracted attention, it had also more or less been ignored. The larger crabs calling out in response and lifting their claws high into the water; but doing little else. Something within them being aware that they couldn't reach the cry's location. That said, it didn't stop them from growing more and more frustrated as time continued to pass without the call fading. Instead, it strengthened. Multiple other small voices joining in to create a horrifying chorus.

One which left the crabs in the manor below literally foaming at the mouth in helpless fury. Until one of those calls suddenly cut off. Before then starting back up again from a significantly lower position. A position well within their ability to reach. The stampede always would have been frantic. But with the addition of their hunger – and the possibility that what was above them might assuage it – the rush of arthropods turned into something far more violent. Something approaching a feeding frenzy.

The first to fall victim was the lower-level D-Rank which had made its home at the foot of the first-floor stairway. Still nursing injuries from attempts to claim its own territory, it hadn't been as anxious to rush upwards as the rest of the ground floor's population. That hesitation and the slight drops of blood that still beaded around its wounds caused something to turn over in the minds of its stronger brethren. The first move to run away signing its death warrant. The resulting assault was over in seconds.

The chitinous armor which had successfully protected it against many foes being near-instantly demolished by the combined force in front of it. The crab quickly torn asunder and consumed. Fights over the scraps only set aside due to the continuing cries from above. The next victim was the lower-leveled 'Stalker' crab which now solely claimed the second floor. It had, in fact, also chosen to head towards the cries; but not in as frantic or efficient a manner as its siblings.

The charging group encountered it in a hallway leading towards the third-floor staircase. It seeming to have no idea it was in danger until a razor-sharp claw neatly cut it in half. The moment of feasting taking far less time with this victim, given its comparably lesser size. Despite their now fuller bellies, the rage filling the crabs only became more and more potent as they scaled the final stairway.

Hitting an explosive crescendo as they charged down the hall, certain they were seconds from reaching their target. Only to suddenly find their way blocked. The two elegant doors barring their path were soon met with an unrelenting assault. Mana pouring out of each crustacean as strange effects surrounded their bodies or the tips of their claws. Immortal wood rebuffing the barrage without even a shudder. Suddenly, two lines of attack cut off.

A misplaced strike causing a pair of the larger, more armored D-Ranks to enter into their own personal duel. That still left two remaining, however. Two furious crabs desperately clawing away at the barrier before them as the shrieks within the room continued on. Until one of them got lucky. A claw-tip snagged onto a masterfully crafted doorhandle. Pulling it downward just enough for the impact of another strike to slam it open.

Both near-rabid monsters then attempting to press their way through the small opening simultaneously. Desperate to feast upon everything within.

Bob came back to himself in bits and pieces. His mind occasionally brushing against consciousness before swimming back off into the void; seeming unable to fully grasp on to the physical world. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Eventually those 'brushes' became more and more frequent, however. And with them came a notable, piercing sound. One which stabbed through his groggy thoughts like a hot needle.

Slowly pulling him from the comforting fog of nonexistence. It took time. His every instinct being to turn away from the noise. To hide his head and cover his ears like it was a blaring alarm clock on the bedside table. He frequently found his mind clinging to the void just to escape it. But there was no escape. And as his thoughts grew more and more lucid, he slowly began to accept that.

Especially when the sound suddenly got closer, the hot needle transforming into a molten drill bit as the tinny, shrieking voice began ripping through his mind. Something which was shortly followed by the slightest stab of pain erupting in an odd-seeming portion of his body. An odd-seeming portion of his body that he was now suddenly conscious of. Alert! - 1 Health! Bob jerked into partial awareness. Clouded mind struggling to figure out what was going on as he stared at the System message in front of him.

That being the only clear image in the otherwise shattered kaleidoscope that was his vision. He was only at the beginning stages of questioning what had happened, brain seemingly slowed to a glacial pace, when – in what felt like a strangely familiar event – a lance of pain erupted from the endmost portion of his anatomy. Alert! - 1 Health! Bob tried to surge forward, to flip around and prepare to face his attacker, but found himself strangely unable.

His body only capable of a few, short steps before it seemed to just… collapse upon itself. A certainty filling him that any additional movement would go on to inflict damage. Damage it was becoming increasingly obvious he could not afford to take. Even now, as his form began to 'settle' into the impervious flagstones, he could feel pieces of himself fall away. Bits of damaged wood, or iron rivets, which couldn't endure the sudden burst of movement tumbling to the ground.

An observation which became even more horrifying when he realized that the rest of his body was in similar condition. Barely held together by hope and whatever energy powered his consciousness. Mind starting to clear as the very real threat of death set in, Bob quickly abandoned any reliance on his obviously compromised sight to focus on other avenues. Delving into 'Treasure Sense' in hopes of using it to fend of the attacks of his tiny opponent.

And almost immediately being distracted by something far more horrifying. Alert! - 1 Health! Bob reacted instinctually to the attack. His numb, damaged tongue almost limping out of his destroyed body to slap the crab aside. Unable to do more, with his mind so focused on other matters. Other matters like the near-entirety of the manor's heavy hitters on a b-line toward his position. Already half-way up the stairs to the third floor. For a moment, he nearly just gave up. He felt punch-drunk.

His body was nearly destroyed and he was about to be assaulted by a combined force filled with monsters he couldn't take individually on his best day and at full health. Much less as he was now. The situation seemed hopeless. Then he remembered two things: The first being that he had remembered to close the doors to the Master Bedroom behind him. Meaning he had two thick slabs of literally indestructible wood between him and the aggressors.

And the second being that he could probably end their little rampage before they even reached him. Simply by killing one tiny crab. His focus jerked towards the figure he'd previously ignored. What 'Treasure Sense' informed him was a level six 'lesser mad-crab'. One soon to be very, very deceased. His blow had unfortunately knocked it out of his immediate reach; having tossed the monster deeper into the bedroom itself.

Only five or so feet from his position just past the balcony's doorway, but enough that in his current condition it was an issue. On the plus side though, the monster seemed willing to do most of Bob's work for him. Already heading back to his location once it had gotten to its feet. That said, Bob didn't feel like waiting. His tongue beginning to slowly slug its way towards the tiny crustacean. Desperate to silence its screams as quickly as possible.

The two were inches away from meeting when the stampede finally hit the room's double doorway. The eruption of noise and sensation – the attacks causing the water within the room to literally vibrate – caused Bob's first attempt at grabbing his target to go wide. It being hard to hit something using 'Treasure Sense' in the first place. The cacophony continued to distract, however. With his second attack following suit.

As well as his third; though it came the closest, with his tongue at least brushing against the creature this time. It was his fourth attempt where he caught an oddly lucky break. With his attack still missing but, this time, the crab's not. Alert! - 1 Health! He nearly set himself back to square one by jerking away when he felt pinchers clamp down on the searching limb. Luckily, he didn't really have the physical ability to do so.

His tongue barely able to summon up a spare 'twitch' past what he was currently demanding of it. Which meant his overwhelming injuries were, for the moment, actually working in his favor. With that lack of reaction allowing him to easily wrap the crab within his coils. Its attacks quickly nullified by the strangling mass beginning to squeeze down. Unfortunately, while it was able to suppress the F-Rank crustacean, his grip still felt shockingly weak.

With long seconds of squeezing only causing what felt like a few legs to pop off the crab's struggling form. Bob attempting to pull every last ounce of strength from his body as the sounds beyond the door grew ever-more calamitous. Finally, he got the monster into a slightly better grip. Feeling the edges of its chitinous armor beginning to bend and flex as tongue continued to vice inwards. Bob exerting every bit of himself in an attempt to pulverize its tiny body. And, eventually, he succeeded.

With the 'pop' of its imploding form being echoed by similar noises around the room. One being the expected 'Ding!' of a system alert. And the other being the sound of the bedroom door blasting open. Revealing what Bob assumed to be a cadre of very angry crabs.