Marble is the first to notice the incoming vehicles, hearing the sounds of their engines well before they are in view, so she is able to point out the direction they are approaching from. With that, Rose and any other curious imps are able to keep an eye out in that specific direction.

Since I cannot see down to the street, I have to rely on Rose to explain what she is seeing when they are finally visible.

"There are three vehicles. The first one similar to the ones we have seen before from the Honey Badgers when they sent people to attack us. The next two are bigger…a lot bigger. Longer, wider and boxier. I don't like the look of them," she describes with a frown.

Troop carriers perhaps. If there are two of them, then they must be pretty serious about achieving whatever it is they came here for.

Rose leans over the edge of the edge and watches intently as the vehicles pull up beside the hotel. She soon steps back, brow furrowed in concern.

"That's…a lot," she comments.

How many is 'a lot'?

"I'm not sure exactly, they poured out of the troop carriers pretty quickly, but it looked like at least thirty I'd guess, maybe more. Most of them headed towards the main entrance, but some broke off into two smaller groups and separated from them and are moving around the building," she reports.

Did they have weapons?

"Yeah, armour too by the looks of them. It's a little hard to tell from up here, but it looked like they were wearing the same kind of equipment as the Honey Badger who attacked us before."

That is not encouraging. I would not expect people to be dressed up like that unless they are expecting a fight.

"So what will we do?" Rose asks.

Leave a few imps up here to keep an eye on things down below, but have everyone else wait for further instructions on the fifth floor.

While Rose rounds up the imps who are hanging out on the roof, I speak to Marble.

We may be under attack soon so I would appreciate you being ready to help us deal with it.

There is no response for a moment and I wonder if she is planning to refuse, but after only a slight pause, her wings begin to unravel. She stands up straight, stretching her arms above her head while folding her wings neatly onto her back.

She reaches down to pick up her crowbar, something she has kept by her side on the roof ever since she took down that drone, gives it a few test swings and indicates that she is ready.

Thank you. Please head down to the fifth floor with the others and wait there until we know what we are dealing with.

While Marble heads for the stairs, the imps who are going down have a different idea. Instead of the stairs, they elect to jump down the hole in the roof that was left from when my core crashed into the building.

I do not have vision on the floors above the fifth but I have been told that the hole it made between the seventh and sixth floors is also big enough for the imps to crawl through. After that, I next see them appearing in Room 7 on the fifth floor as they drop down through the hole that the Honey Badgers made with an explosive last time they came to take my core.

When Rose gets down, I have her get back on the radio to let the DMO's intercept team about what she saw of our 'guests' and they assure us that they will be here soon.

"Do you think we can really trust them to help us?" She asks after unplugging the microphone.

I do not know. I hope so, but we will not let our guard down.

The first humans who enter my perception do so by walking up the first few steps without any regard for the area that I have claimed. The first two walk right over the first step, each granting me a little bit of mana in the process.

The third human actually stops on the step and moves along it until they reach the wall and find the path upwards. Obviously this third human can sense mana, unlike the first two it seems, who just walked right through, apparently without thinking about the consequences.

It has been quite a while since anyone has made that mistake, which raises some questions as to their identity. I would have thought that anyone who knew enough to find us and come with such a large and well equipped unit would have known better. At first I suspected they might be more honey badgers, but they have never made such a careless mistake.

The one who noticed the dungeon path slowly moves ahead, getting in front of the other two, who step into line behind him. Three more humans step into my domain and the group of six starts moving up the stairs. I was expecting more to come, considering the numbers that Rose described, but no more appear after that first group.

Perhaps they are sending some scouts ahead first, which would make sense if they are lacking information like their first mistake might suggest.

There appears to be six humans coming up the stairs.

"How do you want to deal with them?" Rose asks.

I would like to try communicating with them if possible, but I cannot do so while they are still in the stairwell.

"I could go, I know the most English of anyone else here," she suggests.

That might not be a terrible idea, but I am concerned that if they are enemies, they might be the type to shoot first and ask questions later.

"Well, we can both make mana shields and in the worst case, you can bring me back the same way you did for Violet, right?"

We have not confirmed that that will work for you like it did for Violet, given your slightly different circumstances and I would prefer not to have to test it. But we can either wait for them to come to us or we confront them first and you are right that you are the best candidate.

"And if they do attack me, that won't leave any questions about their intentions, would it?" Rose growled.

If they do attack, I want you to run to safety while we plan how to deal with them.

As the humans pass the landing between the first and second floors, I put up a mana shield to delay them.

Rose made her way down to the second floor to meet the humans. Magentam was holding them in place for the moment, but if these were like the previous humans who attacked, that would only be temporary.

As she got closer to them, she created her own mana shield in a sharp angled triangle shape as the human William had suggested to give the best chance of deflecting any bullets that do come her way.

Rounding the last corner, she looked down at the humans with a scowl.

"Stop!" She demanded. "Why are you…" She is cut off as three of the humans raise their rifles and open fire without hesitation.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

They must have broken through Magentam's shield because she felt the impact of several bullets ricocheting off of her own. She scrambled back up the stairs away from the humans as quickly as she could, focusing on her shield and keeping the point of the triangle aimed at the humans until they were out of sight again. She didn't stop running until she was back up to the fourth floor, where she stopped to calm herself.

Rose had been practicing with her mana shields whenever she had the chance, but that was the first time she'd had the opportunity to test it against the human's guns. While she'd wanted to believe William's suggestions on deflecting bullets were reliable, she had still been nervous about actually putting it to the test.

Even though she was expecting to be shot at and she had prepared herself for it, it was still a nerve-wracking experience that made her heart race.

'Well, they attacked first so I think that confirms that they're enemies, right?' She reached out to Magentam telepathically to report the results.

She stood within the dungeon's boundaries so she sensed Magentam's presence as it appeared beside her.

What are the acoustics like in the stairwell?

"Acoustics?" she asked, unfamiliar with the word.

How well does sound echo? Magentam clarified.

"Pretty well, I think. The others sometimes like to shout and make silly noises in here because the echos amuse them, so…" Rose replied with a shrug.

Good. I have an idea. I am sending Marble down to where you are and the imps who will be participating to the third floor hallway. Once Marble is there, go join the other imps…and maybe cover your ears. I will give a signal when to attack. Try to capture one of the humans alive if you can. I would like to ask them some questions.

She waited in place until Marble arrived before moving back down to the third floor. Rather than using the stairs, she headed for one of the holes the imps made connecting the floors. Joining up with the other imps, she covered her ears as Magentam instructed, telling the others to do the same, and waited for further instructions.

Go now, while they are disoriented. Magentam directed.

Though Rose wasn't sure what Magentam's 'idea' was, she wasn't going to waste time with questions. At Rose's command, twenty imps charged through the door into the stairwell, immediately encountering the lead human who was just outside the door with the others still on the steps behind him.

Some of the humans were hunched over or holding on to the wall or hand rail for support. A few of them had a hand on their forehead and shook their heads slightly as though they were trying to shake off a dizzy spell. Two of them had even stepped off the dungeon path and one particularly unlucky human had lost his footing entirely and had fallen half way back down to the next landing.

Whatever had been done to them, they were not prepared for the swarm of imps that now descended upon them. Coal and Jet were, of course, the first to reach the humans, teleporting as soon as the door was open and they could see the first human standing in front of it.

Being at the front, that human was presumably the mage of the group, which would normally make him the one to be the most wary of, but this time he had the two teleporting imps clinging to him, biting and clawing before he could even react.

The others did not fare much better as they were quickly overwhelmed by the imps leaping at them. The one who fell down the stairs lasted the longest, but only because he was the furthest away.

He's the one Rose was focused on for Magentam's request of capturing one alive. Fearing that the extra distance might give him time enough to get a shot off, she gathered some mana and used it to pin the human's gun to the floor. Her technique was rushed and unrefined, relying more on brute force than the usual focus and concentration, so she didn't expect she'd be able to hold it there long when he was fighting against her. She could feel the strain against her mana as the human regained his bearing and tried to lift his gun to fire at the imps that were flooding the stairway above him.

Luckily, she didn't need to hold it long before he too was beset upon by imps who had finished off their first targets and were now seeking new prey.

"Don't kill this one," Rose commanded, "Magentam wants one alive. Take his weapons though, he doesn't need those."

The human gave up on his rifle and tried to stand up while reaching for his sidearm, a pistol holstered on his right side, but it was too late, there was already an imp leaping off the handrail towards him.

The imp landed on his upper chest, digging claws in wherever they could find purchase and clambering up to cling onto the helmet the human wore. They were quickly joined by several other imps similarly clinging to him wherever they could get a hold with more on the way.

Imps clung to the human's limbs and climbed up his body. The human grunted in pain as claws found the gaps in his armor and he stumbled backwards, tripping and falling further down the stairs with some of the imps holding on the whole way down while others let go for a moment and pounced on him again when his downward momentum had stopped.

Despite all the imps grappling him, he did manage to get his pistol out, but with three imps grasping that arm, they were able to ensure that it wasn't pointed anywhere dangerous and the few shots he did fire buried themselves harmlessly into the wall before one of the imps bit him on the hand to make him let go so they could take it from him, making him cry out in pain.

A few of the imps brought knives with them and were using them to cut whatever straps they could find to remove his armour when Coal appeared beside Rose.

"No eat?" He asked, looking down at the now restrained and struggling human who was slowly being stripped.

"No, not eating this one," Rose confirmed. "But you're welcome to start on one of those if you're hungry," she continued, gesturing to the corpses.

The few imps who were not helping to restrain the captive had made a start on stripping the dead humans of their weapons and armour and Jet, who had managed to remove a section of leg armour from the first human he and Coal attacked, had already taken a large bite out of the calf.

Two of the imps worked together to remove the helmet from their hostage.

"Hey, Give that back!" He demanded and one of the imps bonked him on the forehead with the helmet in response. "Ow, fucking bitch. HELP! HELP!!" He shouted in the vain hope that other humans might hear his pleas and come for him.

Growing tired of his struggling and yelling, Rose approached him to stand beside his head and slapped him on the side of his face and leaned down so her own face was right in front of his.

"Quiet. Or…We eat you," she threatened and thankfully that was actually enough to shut him up. She couldn't deny taking some satisfaction in seeing the fear in his eyes.

Rose stepped into the dungeon path and sensed Magentam's presence nearby.

"We've got one. What do you want us to do with it?" She asked.

Take him up to the meeting room on the fourth floor for now.

Rose looks down at the human and then up the stairs and frowns.

"Dragging him along the dungeon path won't be easy," she observed.

Do not worry about the path, just drag him straight up. I think I have an idea to make sure he will be fine even if he loses more mana. But better make it quick, there are more humans on their way up.

"We need to get this up to the fourth floor, quickly," Rose commanded the imps, pointing at the human. "We can come back for the rest later."

Before they started moving, she leaned in close to the human's face again.

"No fight or we eat," she sneered.

When you pass Marble, let her know that there are more coming and to wait for my signal.

With so many imps working together, dragging a single human up the stairs was not as difficult a task as Rose thought it would be. Though he did complain occasionally, particularly when moving past the bodies of his companions, another slap and a glare from Rose was enough to shut him up again.

When they were almost half way to their destination, the stairwell was filled with the sound of gunfire once again. The imps paused and Rose's immediate response was to create a mana shield to protect herself and the others.

Once the initial surprise passed, Rose looked around properly and didn't see any other humans and realised no one was shooting at them. In fact, the sound was coming from down below.

'Do we have anyone downstairs?' She asked Magentam

No, everyone is up here.

'Well, they're shooting at something down there.'

While Rose pondered what was happening, the human started struggling and screaming for help again, perhaps assuming that rescue was on its way. The imps all reasserted their grip to keep him under control.

Rose approached him again and placed her hands on either side of his face, digging her claws into his skin just enough to draw a little blood.

"I. WILL. EAT. YOU." She growled, silencing the human once again.

"Let's keep going, hurry," Rose commanded and the imps continued their march up the stairs, dragging the human between them.

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