Chapter 23: Parasites (Patreon)

The lions didn’t waste their time while waiting for the rest of the pride to arrive. They marked an area with their scent – meaning that the former-human had quickly disappeared into their mindspace when Leo had squatted down. 

By leaving traces of their presence all around a particular area, it should be clear enough to the rest of the pride that this was their territory for the time being. Leo expected the lead females to recognise that and stop the pride in or near the area. 

In the meantime, they went hunting. 

It felt good to take out some of the frustration Leo had felt on the local wildlife. Give me something I can sink my claws into over useless words anyday, he said to himself as he choked a creature to death. It was some sort of large bird, a scavenger which had been tearing bits off an old carcass in a small flock of six. 

The females had caught their own versions and were already chewing at the bodies, spitting out the feathers and ripping at the flesh. 

The birds had, of course, tried to escape, attempting to flutter up into the air, but the felines were too fast, their pounces accurate and successful. 

Dead, though, the birds looked less appetising and Leo decided not to eat it the traditional way. Instead, he nudged it with a paw and triggered Consume. To his surprise, several…things fell to the ground and started wriggling. 

‘Oh, ew, parasites!’ the voice of his brother came into his mind, the human having apparently returned from the mindspace. ‘I’d tell the others not to eat the birds either,’ he advised, sounding both disgusted and interested at the same time. 

He did make a good point, though, so Leo growled and chased the females off their kills. They moved without too much argument, though a fair bit of confusion. He understood: it was far less normal for Leo to chase the females off than a pre-System lion would. 

‘Why?’ asked Anuke in the pride chat. In response, Leo stood next to the still-wriggling pile of wormy things.

‘Because of this,’ he told them. They came and investigated, Neith actually nudging the things with a claw. The parasites reacted by all trying to wriggle towards her, so she quickly backed away. 

‘Have they been affected by the System too, or would they have acted like this before?’ Dominic wondered. Leo didn’t know and he didn’t really care. Just as long as none of them got inside his females. 

Having seen the nasty creatures within these birds, the females decided that they didn’t want anything to do with the carcasses. Even when he demonstrated that Consuming the bodies didn’t mean becoming infected, they refused to come near. 

In the end, Leo decided that it wasn’t worth wasting the carcasses, though he wouldn’t be storing them. If their cores held a decent Ability, he’d at least get some benefit from the birds. More than the Prey Points they’d offered anyway.

‘Not that those were anything to talk about,’ scoffed the former-primate. ‘Level 5 turkey vultures only gave us about four points each. We’re now sitting at…wait for it…a whopping twenty-seven points.’ The sarcasm was thick enough that it would need a claw to cut it. 

And yes, Leo understood sarcasm now, even if it seemed like a pretty stupid thing – to say one thing but to expect others to hear the opposite. Worthy of a primate species, really.

He eyed the Core that his bird had dropped, focussing on seeing the Ability it held within. The description flashed up on screen, but as usual when he was in control, the text was utterly indecipherable. Though….

Leo squinted a little at the box in front of his eyes. Were parts of it starting to become clearer? He could have sworn that certain bits of it were actually resolving into something that might make sense. Not enough that he could read it, but would he be able to do so in the future? 

When had that change happened? Recently? He couldn’t remember – it’s not like he spent nearly as much time looking at his notifications or status screen when he was in control as Dominic did. 

‘Yeah, let’s not take that one,’ the former-human said in all seriousness, breaking into Leo’s thoughts.

‘Why not?’

‘It’s called Projectile Vomit. I really don’t want to be doing that,’ he replied fervently, then continued reading a little. ‘Increases acid production when in combat, allows the user to send the contents of their stomach up to ten feet at level one. Yeah, no.’

Leo was tempted to agree with him, but then an idea occurred and instead he focussed on absorbing the core. 

‘What are you doing?’ demanded Dominic. ‘We are not adding projectile vomit into our combat repertoire!’ 

Ignoring him for a moment, Leo moved around, absorbing the bodies and then the Cores that they dropped. 

‘How many percent are we towards getting that Ability?’ he asked his brother. 

‘Didn’t you hear me? I said we are not getting it!’ Dominic shouted at him, the voice loud even in his mind. Leo sighed. Apparently he’d need to explain since Dominic wasn’t paying enough attention to his thoughts. 

‘I agree that we shouldn’t get the Ability as is, but do you remember what happened with Stunning Roar?’

‘It combined with two other Abilities to make Majestic Roar,’ Dominic answered easily, then paused. ‘Wait, are you thinking…?’

‘That perhaps something which increases acid production and can project it ten feet away might be quite useful? Yes, I am.’

The former human was silent for a moment. 

‘I still refuse to puke as a combat technique,’ he answered finally. ‘If we end up with an Ability which does that, I refuse to use it.’

‘Fine,’ answered Leo. In the back of his mind, though, he considered that if they were in desperate straits, he was sure that his brother would use whatever advantage he could to get out of them – even using projectile vomit if need be. Besides, he didn’t get what the human’s issue was: lions vomited hairballs all the time. Actually, if he could project acidic hairballs, they’d probably never need to worry about those hyenas ever again. 

*****

The little pride of four lions kept returning to the spot they had marked in between hunts, and finally their patience was rewarded: the rest of the pride had arrived. After greeting the rest of the pride, Dominic and Leo switched places again, Leo feeling calmer than he had before. It definitely seemed that taking frustrations out on his prey was a good way of managing the stress of needing to engage in more human-like behaviour.

Their hunting had had some other good effects too: Hathor had levelled up, as had Jenkins. That brought their whole hunting group to Tier 2. Both lionesses had grown, and become more muscular. The pride members, particularly the one from Dominic and Leo’s first pride took some time to rub themselves along the new Tier 2 lionesses. 

They had also earned their third Abilities. 

Jenkins’ one fed into her speed: Enhanced Speed. Not able to see the Ability description but having seen a bit of her experimentation, Dominic had to guess that it might be like the one he had gained from the Wildebeests – Enhanced Stamina. That one gave him a period of reduced stamina consumption and increased regeneration which could be extended with health points in return for a period of weakness. Perhaps it would be the same with Enhanced Speed? 

If so, it certainly seemed to suit the still-impetuous lioness, though Dominic was pleased that she hadn’t jumped the gun with the kesh. That could have been rather disastrous. Perhaps he should change her name to reflect her change in attitude? Nah, he decided after a moment. Give her some more time to prove that it’s a permanent change first.

Hathor had gained another new one: stealth. She’d also experimented a little with the new Ability and Dominic had found it rather disconcerting to basically lose track of her. It wasn’t that she went invisible, it was just that she became…less noticeable. She had less effect on her surroundings whether through sound, smell, or physical presence. It was weird. 

It was nice to have two more lionesses who could talk, though, even if the two new level 10s only did so very brokenly – not even as good as Sekhmet was when she started. And Jenkins actually refused to shut up now she could talk. Perhaps he should rather say that it would be nice to have lionesses who could talk once they’d improved and the novelty had worn off. 

He was glad to see the pride members again, and rubbed rather enthusiastically against Sekhmet, enjoying the presence of her mind. While not exactly calming, she gave off a very practical aura and Dominic felt more confident just having her around.

After checking that their journey had been fine – it had – they got straight down to business. 

‘The scouting was successful?’ she asked. ‘You have a plan?’

‘Kind of,’ he replied, then explained exactly what had happened. 

‘I see. You wish to attack them? To ambush them?’ Sekhmet suggested once he’d finished. 

‘Well, ideally yes, but I don’t really know how to do it. And I don’t know whether we should target the kesh first or the Place of Power. On the one hand, if we don’t take out the kesh, then we’ve got enemies surrounding us as we take on the sonic wolves. On the other, if we attack the kesh before dealing with the sonic wolves, we have the risk that we get hit by enemies on both sides anyway.’

These were the thoughts which had been running through his mind ever since the end of the meeting with the monkey-like creatures. It was well and good to not put the cart before the horse, but which was which in this case? 

‘And the problem is that we will have to catch as many in the first attack as we can,’ Dominic continued, ‘because afterwards they’ll disappear into the treetops and it will be almost impossible to get them out. And having an enemy on our doorstep is just as bad as, or perhaps worse than, having a poor ally.’

‘Like baboons,’ Sekhmet observed, then her eyes went distant. Dominic waited patiently for her to think. ‘Problem with baboons is that they can reach all areas of a lion, but a lion cannot reach all areas of a baboon. Treat like baboons? Eat if come to ground, ignore if not?’

Dominic huffed a sigh. 

‘I’ve considered it but then we’ll have to worry about them attacking anyone who comes and goes: if they hit a cub with one of those rocks, or attack someone who’s already low on health, that wouldn’t be good. I don’t think baboons tend to attack those around with rocks!’

‘You’d be surprised,’ murmured Leo in the background, proving that he was still paying some attention.

‘Need to take away advantages: drive them to the ground. Eat them there, no problem,’ suggested Sekhmet practically. 

‘Yes, but how?’ Dominic almost moaned mentally. If he had still been human, he probably would have considered setting light to the forest to drive them out. Or cutting down the trees. Though that probably would have some rather unfortunate consequences on the local fauna and flora. But as a lion, he was unable to wield an axe or create a spark: his paws just wouldn’t work that way even if he had the materials. 

He huffed again. Clearly this was going to be a long night.

*****

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Chapter 24: Death by Storage Space