Tom Cat and Murder Mittens {LITRPG, Progressive, Anthropomorphic}

Chapter 86 – Rushing Forward


I tossed Shortnose to the side and rushed at the group of soldiers standing guard a checkpoint at a bridge that I needed to cross. It was the middle of the night, the perfect time for an ambush. The sky was overcast from the constant rain that came pouring down in fits and spurts.

The trek to get this far had been miserable, wet, and exhausting. My coated claws did not glint as I rushed forward. "Cat!" The cry when up from the soldiers as I darted past one. His neck was split open. Not a single a drop of blood landed on me as I moved to the next guard. One after another, they fell with ease.

The mix of creatures had brought up guns, but I kept moving and they were too slow. The group of twenty living soldiers was soon reduced to zero. A couple of gunshots had gone off, but I didn't see any approaching soldiers from either side of the bridge.

Flicking my paws, the blood and tiny bits of fur stuck on them flew onto the ground. I couldn't wait to get properly clean and rest. Turning around I saw Shortnose climbing out of the ditch I had thrown him in. He looked at the corpses in shock. Any creature not familiar with the power of a Covenant Assassin would act the same way at such quick and unrelenting brutality.

I wanted to check my EXP but decided to hold off until I was safe. I didn't want Mes to alert the Snakes or Apostates that were hunting me down. Also, these weak guards wouldn't be worth much EXP. This was the only group I had killed in several days. If possible, I preferred to go around, so as to not give away my position to other groups.

Killing one group of soldiers was easy, but it was the all the groups and stronger creatures that would be alerted that would wear me down to death. Unfortunately, this group of soldiers didn't have a vehicle available for use.

"Let's go. You can walk fast on the road," I said and gestured at Shortnose to get going. He gave me an exhausted look, but he had no room to complain after all the carrying I had done. While he was heavily bruised and looked more miserable than me, he was alive. I planned to keep him that way and he knew I was tired as well. One look at me would make it clear how exhausted I felt.

The heat, weather, terrain, and extra baggage had all been wearing me down. Shortnose let out a soft huff but started walking across the bridge at a brisk pace. It was slow compared to my speed, but I needed a rest after that short battle.

I followed right behind Shortnose, putting mental pressure on him to keep up quick pace. The dirt road was almost as miserable as the jungle since it had turned into mud. The snakes clearly didn't care about proper industrialization or infrastructure, at least in the more rural parts of their continent.

My sense of danger was growing and I felt a touch of nervousness. Looking behind us back towards where we had come from, I heard the distant sound of a vehicle. A shame I wasn't able to destroy the bridge or hide the bodies. But we needed to keep moving, that was the best way to escape. Getting caught up too much or trying to be too clever would only slow us down.

Unfortunately, the snakes had a lot of resources to draw upon. The levels of oppression of the snakes had come up with kept the population in line. Since the strongest got the most privileges and an easier life, rebelling was a struggle. The snakes themselves were also incredibly powerful as individuals, making it impossible for the peasants to kill them. They could only perform sabotage and slow things down. Killing a snake or even an Apostate was beyond them.

The sound of the vehicle was getting closer, and it was moving quickly. The river was on one side and the jungle was thick on the other side. While we could retreat into the jungle, it would just slow us down even more. We were running out of time to get back to the ship. I knew where I had stashed the motorboat. Once we got to that vehicle we would be fine.

But it appeared, we weren't getting away without one more fight. "Grab onto my back," I told Shortnose and carried him up a large tree. I left him near the trunk, out of view of the road while I made my way out over the road on a large branch.

The sun was just coming up, so the darkness was slowly lifting. A large truck came around a bend on the muddy road, heading towards me. The sense of the danger grew greatly. The truck quickly began to slow down. I noted a soldier driving it, and an Apostate in the front seat. The truck came to a stop a distance away from me.

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A total of five Apostates exited the vehicle and they looked up at me. This was not good. Two large rats were carrying swords. Two foxes had spears. And a large lizard carried a trident. They had clearly located me. I stood up on the large tree branch looking down at them.

I noted the soldier who had been driving the truck was using a radio. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but probably calling for reinforcements. Looking at the Apostates, I could handle two, but five in my current condition was way too much.

Waiting would just result in my death, and they were content to wait. We didn't say anything to each other. Nothing said would make a difference at this point. We weren't that far from the motor boat's location. Outrunning them while carrying Shortnose would be impossible.

I wouldn't be able to defend myself while running if I had to carry him either. None of my options looked good at the moment. This was the worst situation I had found myself in, since becoming an assassin for the Covenant Church. Every avenue was being cut off, there was no support, and I had to choose the mission or my life.

In the end the decision was simple. I couldn't take Shortnose any further. My luck had run out. All I could do now was escape with my life. I did a flip backwards off the tree branch. The Apostates hesitated as I landed on the muddy road for a moment, before they rushed forward to surround me. I took off, running away.

As I raced down the muddy road, I was chased by three of the Apostates, with one of the foxes rapidly closing in on me. The lizard was following behind the two foxes while the two rats stayed behind. A small mercy, but I had no doubt that after securing Shortnose, they would quickly pursue after me as well.

I leapt up into the air and spun, deflecting a spear trust at my side. The fox chasing me stumbled but kept his footing. I landed back on the muddy road and the pursuit continued. I heard the truck start up behind me. That wasn't good, but the only thing I could do was keep running away.

Sensing danger, I leapt up in the air to keep my momentum and grabbed onto the spear aimed at my side. I pulled, and the fox holding the spear went sprawling into the mud. I let go of the spear as I landed back on the muddy road and kept running. The other fox had moved to cover their fallen comrade. My legs felt like they were on fire with how much I was pushing myself, my regulated breathing was becoming erratic and uneven as I struggled to keep up my speed.

The truck came up from behind. A glance over my shoulder showed the two rats hanging on the outside. They were going to run me down. My combat skills were good, but I was wishing I had a shooting skill and a gun right about now.

I had about another 2 miles or 4.5 kilometers to go. My memory was good enough to know where I had concealed the motorboat. Getting it out into the river would take half a minute, during that time I would have to defend it. That wasn't going to be easy.

Running wasn't going to work. The truck was closing in on me. The two foxes had fallen back to the sides of the roads, ready to pounce if I tried to move off to either side to escape. The lizard had leapt onto the back of the truck, rather than running and exhausting himself, which was smart.

Looking to the side I spotted a tree, just the right size. The truck was getting close behind me. I kicked off the muddy ground as hard as possible and swung my claws as I dove at a tree. I used my momentum to carry me around the tree, making sure my claws dug deep. After swinging around two thirds of the tree my momentum bled off. I dug my feet deep into the ground behind me and pushed.

The truck had come to a quick stop when I darted to the side, so the Apostates could leap off. That was expected and a mistake for following me too closely. They should have kept their distance and exhausted me.

The portion of the tree I had dug my claws into, groaned and then with a loud crack, it fell over towards the stopped truck. I freed my claws and leapt on the falling tree trunk. The Apostates dove out of the way of the branches. The tree trunk slammed into the hood of the truck, crushing the engine. I leapt through the branches and flying debris, leaping at the lizard who had leapt off the truck.

He stabbed his trident up at me. I twisted in the air and then extended my claws. After cutting through his side I went into a role on the muddy road and came back up to my feet. That was one down. Spinning around, I deflected a sword slash from one of the rats and rushed forward.

My paw clamped down on his arm and twisted, shredding his muscles down to the bone. His hand went weak, dropping the weapon. I spun around sending the rat stumbling through the mud towards one of the foxes who was rushing at me. I released the rat and bent backwards as the spear stabbed where my stomach had been.

Balancing on one paw, I used my other paws to push the spear to the side and forward, sending the fox off balance again, while I spun around. My claws slashed out, gutting the fox. He stumbled backwards, gripping the spear and his guts. That was two heavily wounded and one lightly wounded. Just two and a half left to win this fight.

I was Mittens and I wasn't going to die here as snake food!

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