The smoke from the flames was visible everywhere. The heat was pervasive, making him circle further around that he would have liked.

  It wasn't like he could just go directly to them. The possum dragon had taken him out and back. He knew In general sense, wear meatball and Ashley were, because they were closest to the road and he was further inside Central Park. But that didn't mean much to him when he wasn't able to go there.

  They hadn't worked out what they were going to do if they got separated because that wasn't even an option before. No they were separated. They probably should have figured out this in advance. They hadn't but that would be okay, if they could reconnect.

  The mass of Vine monsters beneath him and his Omega rat were all all roiling, trying to attack the fast electric type. It kept dodging. He held on, which for once was easier on him. It would have been great if it had saddle. But he was following in a path that the chef had made. Every time he spawn a chef. It started with a knife and the knife was very good at stabbing things because of course it was.

  He'd appreciate it before but now, might it looked like the chef was going to be a ticket out, he really liked it.

  And it hadn't taken much. Just him thinking about how to clear a path without being attacked over and over again by Vines. His chef took two hits and he pullative potion and cast it on the shift but stories had points to full. Just because most bosses fought one-on-one didn't mean that this swarm of dungeon surge monsters. We're going to win if the deck barrel is going to win this. In the end, they're going to figure out a way get past all of these issues that the dungeon surges caused.

  Bagel can picture a large wall around Manhattan, stopping things from coming inside. And that was when he realized what was actually happening with the pigeons.

  They wanted to build a wall around a safe zone of their own. All they would have to do would be to close it down by destroying the bridges or tunnels into Staten Island and making it so the island itself was as self-sufficient as possible. And they could do it because they could fly. None of the humans would fly. They relied on other forms of transportation but it would be so easy to just have a disconnected Island as a great layer that you could defend from.

  He had wanted that for Roosevelt Island but now, he could make Manhattan that island for himself.

  That wasn't going to take all of his time either. All he need to do was figure out a way to pacify the people inside so he could cut off the exits from Manhattan. He hadn't even checked the bridges and tunnels. He probably should have because he was certain that he would find something where with his ability to affect it. Mobs did not spawn on Bridges or tunnels for whatever reason. Any wanted that to stay the status quo. That meant that he was going to have to figure out a way to wall them off. Bagel shook himself free. It wasn't time for him to plan out his empire but it did help himself. He had circled around the large flame to where he could see the squirrels moving to a safe location as fast as they could.

  Which is to say very slow. The squirrels are not going fast at all and actually in meatball were keeping Pace with them. He was absolutely certain that Ashley had one of those flying mascot mobs that would have done really well in this situation, but she hadn't pulled it out for whatever reason. Meatball looked tapped out, as she was just directing her mobs. And some places. Places the little Vine beasts were stacked three or four high. Either their bodies were like that intentionally or they were just trying to get over each other towards the juicy targets of the squirrels and Hume presented. There was no way that Ashley would let that happen and bagel allowed himself the possibility that he would actually get out of this and they would actually find the Vespa and they might actually make a deal How everyone likely that deal was at that moment, he was sure that he would do us all to make that reality happen.

  They dodged around a park bench and then a tree and then they passed by several uncontrolled fires as they made their way back. The Vespa had to be close by.

  Even if it had been overrun, he just wanted the security of being next to them. They could climb a tree and be safer until that's free, broke or in the case of what was actually happening now went on fire. He did not like fire. In fact he wanted to be as far from fire as he could. He wouldn't even mind being in water if you had to so long as he didn't get that hot. He could only handle so much heat and he was pretty sure meatball was going to say the same.

  Meatball was cooked.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  He could see it in her eyes, she hadn't been prepa paid for this and even though she'd asked to do a dungeon on the way in, perhaps it was the heat or something.

  Everything about this felt like it was going to come to a head as in a moment when he finally crashed into them, or rather he didn't. His mob jumped over several squirrels, alerting and surprising many of them is got into position.

  "I suppose you my prince here trying to save me from all this? I didn't ask for a prince!"

  "Thanks Ashley, but I really just want to support your dreams. Isn't that what your girlfriend says?"

  Ashley summoned a card as one of hers was un summoned violently. He wished it was part of a swarm but she was definitely using everything she had. Ashley usually had a swarm with her of the most recent things that she destroyed and it was curious that the swarm hadn't come with them on this mission because of the distance. He was caressing himself for not letting them ride on the trench of fire crab that entire way. But she had a eighty percent size gentrifier crab that her her crazy forge power had let her create once she knew the specifications of it.

  It was crazy to think that the crab would have made a big difference here, but also would have taken them on a long or circuitous path that would have left them far more exposed to the middle of nowhere. Bagel thanked his lucky stars that he was in the middle of a cadre of trained squirrels with fire squirrel summons that were keeping the beast at Bay. Even as they beat a hastage to retreat toward the street. He took a look over to see how the street looked and found out that it did not look any better. It was just that the at Central Park was keeping back mobs. What then should they do? Bagel looked back into the park and looked out. With enemies on both sides. They could just go in any direction and just try to carve out a path. He didn't know if the squirrels would buy his idea but he was willing to try.

  "There are more enemies on the street than there are here. I suppose that we start going that way and just clear a path!" He was yelling for the benefit of the group but he was really yelling to get Apollo's specific attention. With the attention of the main squirrel, maybe the rest of them would consider this worthwhile.

  "Back towards the park!" Apollo yelled. "Keep formation!"

  There had to be at least 60 fire squirrels on the outside of the year formation is they went to one of the walking and biking paths. One of the squirrels at the front of the pack or the other would use some sort of flamethrower attack and burn through a layer of vine monsters and then meatballs construction goons would just whack them out of the way. It didn't matter if they were alive, dead or on fire, they swept it out with an approximation of a metal pipe.

  She had two of them working in concert and her four ghost was taking a tax opportunity from larger beasts in the back. All in all it felt like they had done this before and they would be able to do this again.

  The squirrels world gorilla oiled machine and he realized it at that moment that he did not want to negotiate with them in bad faith.

  "Meatball are you okay? Ashley?" Bagel said.

  The took a few steps forward.

  "I'm fine boss," Meatball said. "I would love it if I could get more kills out here."

  "I'm great. Just great. I will need another Vespa at this rate."

  "You can put the Vespa on the expense account, but I don't think that it's going to be an issue. If we need to find one then we can do that."

  Ashley summoned another card. "Can I just vent about something and you just not try to fix it immediately?"

  "Absolutely. Speaking of vents..." His possum dragon vented hot breath into the crowd of vine beasts.

  It was easy to see larger beasts in the back further away and more into the park. It was also very warm as they moved.

  He wanted to curl up for a moment.

  He had to physically force himself to stop. The heat was too much. He was so glad that he had not gone into the fire deck archetype. It would not have been good.

  The squirrels pressed the advance as a lot of their summons were replaced. Bagel found himself calling up his possum dragon as he cycles through his deck.

  Ahead of them, several humans were fighting in a group. The squirrels banked left around their pathway and the humans jumped in with them.

  There was no discussion. There was no pause. They just scooped up the people that were there into the safety of their circle and the circle expanded.

  Bagel saw several people picking up cards and he wished that he had the hands to do so. But he had to cook doing important duties.

  It wasn't going to do what he thought it was going to do, but he really wished that the cook would be able to pick up all the cards that they were leaving.

  Bagel did not want to leave financial profits on the table. Not when he could do something about it. It hurt him that there were so many little cards that he would just be able to sell cleanly to any adventurer.

  It was like a dull pain in his chest.

  He will get over it but it would take time. Time and lots of naps on the best laps. Other than that, nothing would heal so it's a gross waste of potential. With all those Vine beasts they could have made dozens of people deck bearers at least, if not, hundreds of thousands.

  It was all on how they utilize their resources and that was when they found another group of humans who thankfully had enough numbers and sense to join their group. The circle of safety was now even larger and he felt like they could genuinely be safe in there.

  He could see what the squirrels were doing. They were making a beeline for the next group of humans trying to add their ranks as the additional numbers would make things safer.

  The only thing that made him think that this would be safer would be if he could finally buy up all the parks in the city and pave over them so we wouldn't have to deal with vine beasts.