Chapter 1394: Demon Rat Researchers
As the hours continued to drag into the night with lots of senseless fighting and the Demon Rats defending every inch of the Undercity, the Night Foxes were not able to go through the battlefield in subtlety.
Even a distraction was not capable of distracting their targeted audience mainly because of the chaotic fighting that was happening all around the place. But that was assuming they were going through the route that had been cleared by the Zombie Horde and the Pandawans.
Kraft had decided to pay extra points to the System for a straight drop right into the defensive bunker those Demon Rat Researchers were hiding into. Yet what irritated Kraft was that the System demanded more System Points for the portal if Kraft wanted to teleport right beside the researchers as if it had a hidden agenda making the Night Foxes walk through the undergrounds.
“You rascal. This amount is basically the same as Jin’s rewards offer.” Kraft cursed under his breath and decided to take the initial offer for teleporting at the top of the defensive bunker. Why bother paying so much when all they were going to take was a minor detour?
“Be warned Original Bellator, the System has detected a few formidable guards in the area. While the System had determined that the Night Foxe are more than capable to defeat them, it is paramount that speed is-”
“Stop yapping System. Why are you always stating the obvious?” Kraft forcefully closed the System’s Channel and moved his Night Foxes into the portal the moment it was opened.
“Here we go again…” Tinda said as she shrugged her shoulders knowing that Kraft was going to force them to fight a bunch of crazy stuff as usual.
“If only we will have things going our way for once,” Narris said to her as both of the Dark Elves entered right after Kraft.
And to their surprise, all of the Demon Rats that were supposed to rush towards them in frenzy were standing in wait. In fact, they were actually holding their weapons in such a way that it was denoted as if they were welcoming the entire group.
“Took you long enough, we have been waiting for your group for some time.” the loudspeaker said as the lifts at the far end of the corridor were opened.
“Wow, if this is a trap, this might be the first time I had seen such a welcoming one,” Tinda replied as she and the rest of the Night Foxes placed their hands near their weapons waiting for an ambush.
“Relax. They do not have any killing intent in their eyes.” Kraft said as his hands were in his pockets rather than near his holsters. “Let’s take their invitation earnestly.”
While the Night Foxes were relieved that they did not need to fight for once, they could feel that if things were too peaceful, their Devilish leader would have a chance to make it worse. Thus, even when they were attempting to follow the orders from Kraft, all of them kept their alert in case things went south.
The lifts they took went deeper into the complex and it never stopped until it reached a basement where it was not even in the selection of buttons at the side of the lift. And yet instead of panicking, the Night Foxes and Kraft stayed their cool and waited for the lift to reach its destination.
Once it stopped, the lift doors opened slowly and a group of Demon Rat Researchers were standing behind a row of Demon Rat Variants similar to Corney Gatling in case the invaders knew no reason.
Thankfully for both sides, Kraft was not as bloodthirsty as they thought he would be and stepped forward to even introduce himself. It was then the Head of Research who decided to do the same and make his presence known to his enemies despite the risk.
“I make things short, are you planning to defect?” Kraft asked as he immediately conjured up a table in the middle of the two groups, asking Transquick Foulscratch whether his intentions were sincere.
“If not, I would have caused the alarms to go off by now and alert the Demon Rats High Command.” Dr Transquick said and with a snap of his fingers, the Demon Rats Guard behind him brought a group of Birth Mothers to the front.
“As a gesture for peaceful negotiations, I had gathered all the Birth Mothers in the facility. You can take them.” Transquick, as his name suggests, had already proven to be smart enough to know what the invaders wanted from this particular research facility.
“Hmm. Thank you.” Kraft said as he too had a few of the Night Foxe to take the Birth Mothers away but instead of fully trusting the Demon Rats, the Night Foxes were already searching the Birth Mothers with both magical and physical inspection to ensure that there were no explosives on them.
“Interesting and I might have done the same as well.” Transquick chuckled when he saw the scene that denoted their distrust for the Demon Rats.
“Not just for you. It’s a routine check we always do.” The moment Kraft laid back, Tinda proceeded forth and conjured a set of tea for the two to partake. Once she poured the 2 cups for the leaders negotiating the meeting, she drank from Transquick’s cup.
The Research Leader was at first surprised by their actions and understood that they were doing that to ‘show’ that the cup was safe to drink. Yet, Kraft also gave Transquick the opportunity to let his subordinate have a sip at the cup to determine that there was no poison in it.
“It’s okay. I might not look like it but I have some magical tools to discern whether the drink was poisonous or not.” Transquick said as he pulled out a piece of glass meter and placed it in the drink.
He apologised for being discourteous but Kraft was not stopping him, in fact, he found it amusing to see the Demon Rats in a different light. They were usually barbaric in nature and yet the one in front of him was a copy of all those science nuts he knew.
Once he was happy with the results, Transquick took a sip and continued with the negotiations even though it seemed like it was a move to delay more time.
“Reason for defecting?” Kraft asked straight to the point after the niceties had been performed.
“Insufficient materials to research. The curiosity about the coexistence between man and monsters. We thought that we were the best but it seems like the quote `the world is bigger than we know’ applies here.”
“Oh? Not blatant abuse of staff, lack of money?”
“We have everything and can do anything. Like these chimaeras. We still have a few at the back in the process. All those lost arms and legs that you humans left behind during the fight, we took them and tried to replicate them with the Demon Rat Variants.” Transquick said but a few of the researchers hoped that he would restrain himself from saying such things to the invader.
“Bold of you to say all of this right in front of my face.”
“I would like to see how far you humans are willing to go with the research. If I have to dissect my stomach, I will do so to find a breakthrough. In our eyes, there are no boundaries to research and if you are not able to stomach this, then we are not compatible and rather fight to the death right here and now.”
Kraft laughed loudly and clapped his hands at Transquick’s assertiveness but all the Night Foxes knew that there would only be a thought brewing in the Devil’s mind.
A group of knowledgeable rats that holds no bars when it comes to research? It merely spells disaster.