209 The Final Crusade

"Pinky?"

"Yes, we need to locate him and make him join us in the fight … his rats are a force to behold… and with Rose and Dante out of the game, his information network is the best we can get for now…"

Hayley at my side nodded, she knew that if Rose and Dante were in their usual condition, something like last night would have never happened. We lacked high ranking scouts. And we didn't notice their importance until both of them were out.

"How do you plan to locate him? Without Dante, it will be difficult right?"

"Not really, his rats should be everywhere, if we notice one, we can talk to that rat, and Pinky will know that we are looking for him."

I looked around, but I noticed that the usual rats that were always peeking around weren't there. I recalled the heavy rain from last night and could only hope that they are fine…

"Maybe they are hiding because of the rain, but sooner or later one will appear, and at that time Pinky will know that we need to talk with him."

"If you want to talk with him, why are we still going to the command center?"

"There are two reasons I need to talk with Pinky, I need his network to locate the Alpha Cow and his help with the attack… I want to be sure that we go with all we got, so I have to talk to Blake… and if possible with Dr. Harting too."

Hayley nodded her head in understanding…

Fighting in our base could have some advantages in comparison to a fight in an open field where we can't limit the number of beasts we face. The problem with that, is that if we lose a battle, or one of their beasts manage to break our ranks, it can cause substantial losses, and in every attack, we are losing something.

We needed to take the battle to them, we need to finish their alpha to prevent those sneaky attacks, and with that, we should be okay… Being honest, killing all the beast was not possible, it would be bad idea to do that because they are a food source. There is a need for equilibrium, but the Alpha breaks that balance heavily in the beasts favor, and they already have the advantage in numbers besides that.

Hayley understood that. After the fight in the east gate and the assault at night, she has been thinking about it too, but she didn't dare to suggest a direct approach even if she felt that it is the best approach.

We arrived at the furniture store and were lucky to find Dr. Harting and Blake talking inside.

"…the morale is low because of it."

Dr. Harting was listening quietly, while Blake explained everything that happened last night.

I interrupted them as I arrived… I needed more information to make my case…

"I heard about yesterday's other attacks… how many we lost?"

Blake was so engrossed in discussion with Dr. Harting that he didn't notice our arrival until I was at their side.

"We lost two teams, and at least 30 civilians died, besides them, there is another couple dozen of injured… but it could have been worse…"

I nodded… I could see how heavy that was for him… he was the leader, so every death fell on his shoulders.

"Blake, we need to do something… we can't keep turtling here, that Alpha is too smart and since she saw that she can't handle a frontal attack, she will keep doing this…"

"But can she do it? From what I heard she had lost at least a dozen of their strongest beast too, the price they paid was heavy, and from our worst losses were just two team leaders and one Shielder…"

"Unfortunately, we don't know how many beasts they had, so those losses might be meaningless to them…"

Blake was in silence…

"You want to launch an attack?"

It was Dr. Harting that noticed my intentions. It wasn't that Blake didn't consider that possibility, but he didn't want to risk his people, and from the strategic point of view, this place was far better for fighting than the rest of the city.

"I want to coordinate with Pinky… We already noticed what the farm beasts are capable of… And what will happen if they wait till the next storm? What will happen if the Alpha shows herself here? I don't think that handling something like that in our base is the right choice, I have fought an Alpha, and if this one is as strong as the previous one, we are screwed."

The Alpha Snake wasn't that strong when looking at her killing potential, but his abilities were what made him annoying. Not the soul poison, that was most likely a secondary ability, but that weird multiplication/regeneration ability was enough to put him on such a level, that if Rose hadn't taken care of it, I had no clue how to defeat him…

I was scared of facing the Alpha Cow. Without Rose and Dante, the best we could do was try to use the rat's numbers, or somehow use our heavy hitters, Hayley and Blake, to deal a killing blow… While we hope that the cow doesn't have one of those absurd regeneration abilities.

Blake was in deep thought after hearing it… he needed a little push.

"If we fight together with the rats we have pretty good chances, but we need to do it soon… Additionally, with the fear, that Dante and me, imprinted on them with our abilities, there's a chance, that there are a lot of them that won't dare to fight us… The morale is going to keep dropping if we don't do something…"

Blake sighed… He didn't want to leave Green Shelter, as he felt that the risk was too high, but he knows that I'm right…

"I'll call the team leaders to discuss it."

"Good. I'll go try to contact Pinky…"

…

I little later I was in the middle of the street and still haven't seen a rat… I stopped on my tracks and laughed at myself.

"Did you see one?"

"What? No… It's just that now that I think about it, there's an easier way to make him come fast…"

"..¿?"

I smiled and put my hands around my mouth before screaming…

"THE SNAKE GODDESS WAS HURT!!!!"

My yell resonated and echoed for a while, and some people looked at me as if I was crazy…

After that, I sat down right there under Hayley's surprised gaze.

"Don't you think that's too cruel?!?!"

"It's not like I'm lying, she was hurt in yesterday's battle."

It didn't take long for a white rat to appear, from a nearby alley followed by a couple dozen of rats.

'Where is the evil mind that committed such sin!!!'

"She is fine Pinky… One of our… Healing priestess took care of her…"

I remember how he called Rose and decided to use something similar to refer to Dana.

'How is it possible that her holiness was injured by a mundane weapon!'

"You know that she is using a normal snake as an avatar, so her divine protection doesn't make her invulnerable to attacks… The Alpha C… I mean the Farmland Lord, sorry, knows that, and sent assassins, the snake goddess was injured while she was trying to protect humans from those demons."

I hope he buys that…

'I can't believe the plot of those evil minds!! Where is the sinner, that dared raise his hand against our goddess?'

"Of course, he suffered a long and painful death as he deserves, but we both know that he was just a pawn, so we should go to the mastermind behind the attack."

'Yes, we can't allow the Farmland Lord to act as she pleases!!'

"Exactly, we are rallying our troops to go against him on a final fight, are you with us!?!?"

'NO ONE goes against the snake goddess without paying for his sins!! I'll gather my people and march with you in this final crusade!'

That was easy.

"It's an honor to fight alongside you, Southern Lord."

'The honor is mine, Great Hero.'

"Also, we need to locate their base."

'Don't worry, my agents are already on it. I'll go to solve a little mishap, but as soon as we are ready and have located their base, I will come to find you.'

"Thank you, Pinky."

'Farewell Mighty Hero… Second Wife."

He bowed his head twice, to Hayley and me, and left the place followed by the rats that came with him…