Another Friend in Amphibia

Chapter 81: Terror Below the Tides

Anne stared in awe at the massive palace before her. It might be larger than the castle in Newtopia. The strike team entered through the front door where a wall of air prevented the water from rushing in. There were three hallways. One in front, one to the left, and one to the right.

General Yunan was first to speak. "Alright, we're in. I don't think they've detected us yet but it's only a matter of time before they figure us out."

"This place is huge. How are we supposed to find the box? It could be anywhere," Anne said.

"I don't know but the more time we spend here, the harder it's going to be to get out," General Yunan explained.

"Maybe we should split up. We'll be able to cover more ground that way," Hop Pop suggested.

"No! If we split up, we may get lost and have to send search parties to find each other. We should stick together," Marcy protested.

"Very well Master Marcy. Let us be off!" General Yunan said.

The team walked off in a random direction. There were a lot of tunnels off to the sides at seemingly random locations, this place was rather confusing. Marcy paying close attention to the surroundings trying to make a mental map, but she couldn't find any rhyme or reason for the layout of the rooms. Anne and Marcy led the way, using their cellphones as flashlights.

Suddenly the group stopped as a figure was up ahead. Glowing white eyes could be seen on the other side of the dimly lit hallway. A low groaning could be heard as the figure began shambling towards them. The figure looked human in stature but was abnormally thin. Then its face appeared as it approached. The face was completely blank save for the two glowing eyes. The creature raised its arms towards them. There were more on their way.

"What are those things? They're like zombies!" Marcy backed away.

"I don't know but they don't look friendly!" Anne had to yell in order to be heard over the groaning of those creatures.

Sprig launched mud at the face of the nearest creature. It took the hit without flinching and continued to move forward. "Uh guys? This isn't normal!"

Hop Pop looked to one of the other hallways and noticed more of these creatures climbing out through the tunnels. "They're coming from the side!"

Marcy moved to one of the tunnels and launched a crossbow bolt at one of the creatures. It hit the creature in the forehead. The creature's head tilted unnaturally far back from the impact but then it turned to look at her. The crossbow bolt was slowly pulled into the creature's head as it continued marching forward with no sense of self preservation. "I can't stop them!" Marcy yelled as she loaded another crossbow bolt.

Bog ran at that same creature, hitting it with a large hammer. The creature fell to the side and onto the wall from the blow, but it recovered quickly. It stood back up and shambled back towards the group. "We need to do something quick before they overwhelm us!"

"They have to have some kind of weakness! Nothing is indestructible!" Marcy yelled as she backed away to look inside her pouch for a spell that might help them.

General Yunan sliced at the nearest creature, effortlessly cleaving it in half from the stomach. The creature fell down, tendrils sprouted from the stump as it began to regrow its legs. In the meantime, it crawled forward on its arms, determined to reach the team. The legs on the other hand sprouted another set of tendrils and began growing a new torso.

"Well that can't be good," General Yunan said to herself. She sliced off its head causing the torso to stop moving while it grew a new head. Meanwhile the head was stuck where it was until it grew a new body.