Will of a Prince

Slimo studied the ground carefully with Lidia still in his arms. He seemed to have finally found the tracks of something they could fight to try and consume for sustenance.

"I found something. Its paw print is larger than my body though. We may put up a hard fight to try and kill it."

Doc loomed over shoulder, studying the print himself.

"What do you say we should do then?"

Slimo looked thought to himself for a moment and started looking around. Eventually, his eyes fell upon Squabee who was stretching and scratching her back. She looked at Slimo weirdly.

"What is it? Is there something on my face?"

A devilish grin found its way on Slimo’s face. He slowly let Lidia down to stand up on her own. Even though she was visibly upset by this, she still allowed it so Slimo could carry out his plan.

"I have an idea. Does anyone have any rope I can borrow?"

Slimo tied a stiff rope around Squabee’s waist and tied the other end around a tall stone surface. He slowly hoisted her up hundreds of feet into the air. Squabee started calling down to him from up high.

"Why exactly am I being tied up again? This doesn’t feel safe!"

"Oh, it’s for a really simple reason. You are going to be used as bait!"

Squabee’s face paled and she started kicking around.

"Bait?! I don’t want to be a monster’s dinner!! Why am I being used as bait?! Let me down!"

"If you keep flailing, they will only try to eat you sooner!"

Squabee stopped moving but still held an expression of terror on her face.

"I should have never agreed to this."

"The reason you are being used as bait is because of that power you can’t control. Monsters could probably sense it from miles away. Honestly, the only reason we haven’t been found by a monster yet is most likely thanks to these rough terrains. That, or we have simply gotten lucky. Either way, I’ll make sure our luck won’t save us now! Now keep still so some monsters can come here faster!"

"I thought you said they come faster if I move?"

"Oh. Did I say that?"

Slimo started chuckling and kept her held high in place.

"Damn you! You’ll pay for this when I get down from here!"

Squabee continued to try and free herself from her binds to no avail. Slimo listened carefully to see if any monster was willing to take the bait. After three hours had passed, Squabee hung limp from her ropes, extremely tired.

"Can I get put down now? I don’t think anything is coming."

Slimo sighed to himself and started preparing to let her down. However, the moment he lowered her slightly, the ground beneath them started shaking. Slimo looked down in shock and climbed on top of a rock to see what was causing the vibrations. An astonished expression took over his face.

"Shit. I think we overdid it."

Across the landscape were hundreds of rat-like creatures stampeding their way towards the area where they all stayed. Their bodies were as large as horses, and they were moving at incredible speeds. Slimo tied Squabees rope to a rock and began preparing for the onslaught. He started setting up multiple rock traps using the tall structures around him and some left over rope.

"Doc, I need you to get to a high ground position. You don’t have to kill these beasts, just try to slow their momentum. Can you do that?"

Doc ran towards the tallest stone pile he could find.

"I’ll do what I can."

"Jacob, I need you to fight with Maria and Lidia on the front lines. Is that possible?"

Jacob walked up to him.

"What kinds of beasts are we facing?"

"Infant beasts. Hundreds of them."

Jacob felt like getting sick after hearing the news, but he steeled his resolve and steadied his heart.

"I can do that."

Slimo called out to three of them like a general.

"Prioritize your life! If the creatures start to overwhelm you, do not be afraid to retreat and regroup!"

Lidia smiled and started punching her own palm while looking at Slimo.

"Want to help me prepare for the fight?"

Slimo smiled and already started walking towards her.

"You read my mind."

He started throwing multiple blows into Lidia’s body. Each punch echoed off the stoned walls of the valley. Squabee started yelling down at everyone else, hoping they would hear her.

"What about me?! You can’t just leave me up here!"

Slimo looked up at her after finishing punching Lidia enough to charge her power.

"Oh, sorry. Can you fight?"

"I don’t know how to fight! I’ve hardly seen monster before, remember?!"

"Oh yeah. Well, it looks like you can be the designated cheerleader then. Just make sure to tell us when it looks like their numbers are thinning or if they try to pull some tricks or something."

"You can’t be serious!"

"Huh? What’s that? I think those things are squealing too loud for me to hear you!"

Slimo turned around to everyone one more time.

"Try to fight them head on. When you need a break, lead them back into the traps I have set. Each of them should take out a few dozen minimum. I’m going to sneak around them to see if they have a leader, I need to take care of."

He looked over at Lidia and nodded towards her.

"Please don’t die. Your family needs you."

Lidia smiled brightly.

"That goes for you too, you know."

Slimo gave her a small smirk.

"Thank you. Now get ready. I have a feeling we are going to be fighting these things a while."

Doc was already high above them giving them a thumbs up, indicating he was ready. Maria, Jacob and Lidia already started running towards the squealing beasts to slow their momentum. Meanwhile, Slimo blinked away to sprint around the horde in hopes he could take out a large portion of them from behind or destroy whatever may be leading these rats.

The further he got away from the frontlines, the louder the sounds of the creatures became. Not only this, but the horse seemed to be completely endless. It was possible he was highly underestimating how many rats there actually were. And if there were more than what their group could handle...

"... I need to come up with a backup plan."