Chapter 22: Mouse of Doom?

An eye about the size of a small car was staring at Lucas intently through the window. Instead of a normal pupil, however, it looked more like a sea of endless stars.

Lucas instantly activated <Ancient Sense> On it only to realize that it was still evolving.

'I ran out of time! I should have been quicker!' Lucas thought to himself as he rolled to the ground, beneath the window.

The massive eye however remained fixed on Lucas despite his efforts to hide.

<User may not be hidden due to the curse <Hunted>>

As soon as the system prompt finished Lucas felt a warm tingling sensation fill his body. Lucas stared down at his hand and realized he was glowing subtly. Not bright enough to disrupt him in any manner that he knew of but bright enough to prevent him from hiding from his foes.

Lucas flinched at the notification and sensation that flooded his body but remained still.

He slowly turned to the side and peeked his head out of his hiding spot to find that the eye had seemingly disappeared.

Lucas felt a light tugging sensation on his pant leg and he instantly recoiled and looked at the sight only to notice a small black mouse yanking on his pants.

Lukas instantly shooed it away, but the mouse remained insistent, as it continued to yank at his pant leg.

"What is it?" Lucas whispered at the little mouse, reaching for his bat to be ready to crush the creature if it kept disturbing him.

The small face of the mouse scrunched up and seemed to understand what he was doing before letting go of Lucas's pantleg and crossing his arms together. The mouse's disgruntled face seemed rather cute despite the situation and Lucas felt a warmth fill his heart looking at the thing.

'Didn't all the beasts turn into monsters?' Lucas thought to himself as he motioned the small mouse to enter his left pocket.

The mouse seemed to be pondering for a second before reaching his hand out impatiently.

'Does this mouse plan to extort me for his companionship?' Lukas asked himself before pulling out a piece of a cracker and handing it to him.

The mouse seemed to gobble it up in one bite and nodded in satisfaction.

"You should do human!" The mouse squeaked before jumping onto Lucas's shoulder in one quick movement.

As soon as the mouse touched Lucas's shoulder a shiver ran down his spine and Lucas saw a notification from the system appear.

<Users curses are currently being repressed by <ERROR>>

Lucas looked at the mouse in startlement not only because the mouse could speak but because of the magnitude of what that message meant.

"W-what are you?" Lucas asked as he saw his hands slowly stop glowing.

The mouse chuckled slightly before releasing more squeaks that were just as human-like as the ones from before.

"You mean who am I kid?" He said with a chuckle. "The names Lee! Lee Bybee!"

The mouse reached out its small hand for a handshake and Lucas awkwardly accepted it with his pinky finger.

"And what about you? Aren't you gonna introduce yourself to your new best bud?!" Lee said jokingly.

Lucas shivered a little and felt like there was something else lurking within the pitch-black slits that were the eyes of the mouse in front of him. There was something familiar about them...

"My name is Lucas. Lucas Walker to be exact." He said shakily.

Lee nodded in understanding before rubbing his palms together and sniffing at the air.

"Seems like you pulled quite a number of monsters this way. They will get here in about 4 minutes so I recommend you do something about that." Lee said without a care in the world.

"Now how about one more of those crackers you got?"

Lucas frowned at the Mouse's casual tone but tried to remain calm.

Lucas fumbled his hands into his pack and pulled out a pack of two crackers and began to open it before Lee interrupted.

"Nah kid, just give me the bunch!" The mouse said with a mischievous look in his eyes.

Lucas shrugged and brought out a bag of roughly 10 of those two packs of crackers.

Lee's eyes grew about two times in size as he gawked at the mountain of crackers.

"You know kid... I might have a way to get you out of here, or at least give you some extra time, if you give me that there hill of crackers."

Lucas raised one brow before considering the deal.

'It's only a meal or two's worth of food and if he can really do what he says he can do... then it is worth it!' Lucas concluded before nodding.

'I mean he nullified my curse somehow so why not trust him...' Lucas thought a dangerous thought before pushing the pile of crackers towards Lee.

Lee's smile filled the mouse's face as he dived into the crackers head first.

"So first kid... Nom, Nom, Nom... Is that you got to either fortify the place... Nom, Nom... or enter the sewers below the street."

Lucas looked at the little mouse with confusion before understanding dawned upon him.

"The sewers! Why didn't I think of that sooner?! It should be one of the fastest ways to travel around the cities with its current state of decay." Lucas said aloud as he suddenly stood up and peaked outside.

The street remained relatively empty, with only vines to fill the road and no cars in sight.

Lucas looked to either side of the road but came up empty on his search for a sewer grate or entrance.

"Though... It will be pretty hard to pull off the manhole but it seems like you won't be having that problem you hunk of a guy." Lee said with obvious flattery.

Lucas was about to smile at the compliment before realizing that the mouse was just after more crackers.

"Hmm..."

"You know... Nom, Nom... If you owed me a favor I could just fix this all really easy for you..." Lee said casually.

Lucas cocked his head to the side and began to reply before he heard a wolf howl in the distance.

"If you could help I would do anything to survive tonight," Lucas said without believing a word the mouse had said.

Lee stopped eating for a second and a look of seriousness appeared on his face. He looked at Lucas with a grin and laughed slightly.

"So... Is that a deal?" Lee asked.

Lucas looked at the strange mouse and nodded.

"Nah kid, you ain't tricking me! Say it." Lee said with obvious pain in his words.

"Sure I guess... I owe you a favor if you can fix this situation and make it to where I and Lina survive the night." Lucas said in passing before continuing to look at his panel of skills.

"Your my kind of kid!" Lee said with obvious excitement.

"A deals a deal then! I'll get them off your back and you get a good night's rest after tinkering with that 'tool' of yours." He said while gesturing towards the system interface Lucas had in front of him.

"Wait Wha-" Lucas was rudely cut off as the mouse escaped the room through a crack in the wall and slowly changed into the monstrous-sized beast that was looking into the room previously.

"But isn't that impossible-" Lucas began to ask out loud before he heard a squeak that shook the entire laundry mat they were staying in.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER NYX. COME DOWN HERE SO I CAN GET A SWEET TASTE OF THAT ELEMENTAL ENERGY YOU GOT!" Screamed Lee as he reared on his hind legs and easily grew 100 feet taller.

The darkness in the clouds began to distort as a face slowly began to appear in the sky... but this time wasn't like the last time... It was different. This time the face didn't appear willingly. It was dragged into the world by force!