Dead Rabbit was thankfully quick to reply. According to the roll of Bloody’s eyes, he was wailing a lot, but he did as he was asked.
Bloodless Sunset read the sentences out loud.
“The dungeon has two issues. Number one is the poison ivy, which gives you a debuff on skin contact. It’s everywhere – on the ground, hanging down like curtains, and even in some patches on the boss. There’s not much to be done except for taking antidotes and avoiding it.”
“The boss was cursed as exceptionally annoying, although not overwhelming. It’s got high strength but insanely low defense. Its agility is a problem, as it will jump around like a hare. It attacks with its claws and teeth as well as a shriek that can cause you to freeze for a second.”
“According to the guide, the best way to proceed is by keeping a distance and using ranged attacks. Whittle it down bit by bit. Hit and run, basically. It’s bad against fire, by the way.”
Bloodless Sunset stopped reading the message. His eyes focused on the rest. “Meaning I’ll pull the aggro and keep it running around. Spiderlily and Ice try to attack it – no crowd control, just hit it with everything you’ve got. Little Droplet will try to keep me buffed with speed most of all, then defense.”
“Gotcha.” The healer raised a thumbs-up.
“How do we get down there?”
Bloodless Sunset pointed at a row of conveniently placed protrusions in the uneven walls down. They’d end up right outside of the cage.
“What is this dungeon usually for?” Spiderlily couldn’t help but frown.
“Uh…” The beastman’s ears twitched as he scanned the message again. “Questlines related to the town hall. Seems that its horns, the ivory, is used for special tools of various kinds. You don’t need the horn completely intact though, so it’s rare for players to have to defeat it more than once. All in all, it’s more a quest that forces you to interact with and convince a mermaid. It was a story-dungeon for the lore of the Lythian Forest though.”
Undoubtedly because the cave showed the truth of the forest – all roots sticking out were coming from a single direction, spreading from a center.
“Oh. Interesting fact, this dungeon isn’t about killing that guy. He topples over before he’s dead. That’s why you’re not supposed to give the final blow – it’s like keeping a spider in your house.”
“What?”
“It might be an unwanted guest, but it keeps other, more unwanted guests away. This guy eats off vermin that would gnaw at the roots otherwise, so they’re letting it be even if it does drag off an elf or two sometimes. They’re not mourning, so it’s acceptable I guess.”
“If we killed it, we’d anger the elves”, Ice concluded. “They want its horns, but they don’t want it gone.”
As Bloody explained the matter, Little Droplet had already begun to chant for the buffs. A soft light rippled once over the beastman, leaving behind a thin layer of translucent shine that told everyone the buff was active as long as they looked closely enough.
Because it took a while, they made their way down as Little Droplet chanted.
From close by, they could finally see the thing.
It wasn’t too different from an armadillo but scaled like a reptile. There were little ivory horns growing on its head and out of its mouth. While the scales on its back looked rather hard, the rest seemed soft and easy to break through. Moss had settled all over its body, with ivy patches hanging here and there.
Since its body was brown, it looked like a little walking island. It didn’t even look agile – you could almost imagine it rolling its body together and tumbling everywhere rather than quickly moving around.
But the moment Bloody set a foot into the cage, their perception changed. The beast’s eyes shot open and it jumped up, taking on an aggressive stance before any of them had the chance to react.
The [Young Rootwatcher] opened its large maw, revealing the blunt but large teeth. The thought of getting squashed instead of skewered was arguably worse.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Ktf gjcufv qijsfgr jcv atf tfjifg xfqa ab atf rlvf, ktlif atf kjgglbg vlgfmais gertfv obgkjgv. Ktfgf kjr cb yfaafg kjs bo qeiilcu juugb atjc ajecalcu j yfjra ys mtjiifculcu la vlgfmais. Ktf rxliir atja lcmgfjrfv atf kjgglbg’r juugb kfgf atf qjrrlnf asqf, wfjclcu atja atfgf kjr cb cffv obg j mfgajlc jmalbc ab jmalnjaf la.
Summarizing it: As long as you pissed off the opponent, the skill would increase the chance of drawing and keeping aggro.
The beast’s head whipped around at first, body twitching towards the three players who were running as a group. Then it seemed to decide that running small-fry was less annoying than the small-fry that was challenging it, so it focused on Bloody after all.
The beastman’s eyes widened, his pupils dilating when the Rootwatcher moved with an agility that was unexpected despite the guide’s warnings.
The muscles on its hindlegs tensed, forming tight wires that explosively shot it forward. A loud curse escaped the player, who jumped forward and to the ground and instinct – barely rolling away under the body of the Rootwatcher, who skidded over the area he had just been standing on.
The beast turned around, annoyed at the pesky little intruder having avoided its pounce.
Spiderlily drew her arrows.
Faced with a boss, her concentration peaked – with every breath, her bow drew a beautiful arc before it released with a whistle. With a pained face, she began to use her active skills.
Admittedly, it was kind of funny to watch the straight-faced Spiderlily shout out “Athena’s Arrow!” over and over again.
Ice gave her face and focused on his much longer chants, while their healer was behind them, giggling. As long as nothing happened to Bloody, the healer would save their mana.
While Bloodless Sunset was just about ready to evade again, the Rootwatcher did something no one expected. The couple of arrows that struck its body infuriated it enough to surpass the passive skill, resulting in its huge eyes flicking over the ranged fighters.
Ice’s voice broke as he changed his chant in the middle. It wasn’t ideal – it drew more mana, which was rapidly lowering, and wasn’t as accurate, but it worked somehow.
The spear-like icicles he had planned to summon changed into a single, spiked block that fell right on the beast’s hindleg. It screeched, unhappy, and whipped its body around to find out who had hurt its back while it wasn’t watching.
As Ice took out the first potion, the warrior had already come close again.
Greenish blood was spilling, a thick liquid that almost caused the beastman to slip on it. He put a hand down to steady himself and duck under the Rootwatcher’s swiping claw. He hissed when a sharp pain ran through his fingers, like needles stabbing into them and climbing up his arm.
“Poison!”, he bellowed, not turning to look at Little Droplet who simply started their chant to detoxify their tank. “Agility buff afterwards!”
The monster clapped its huge teeth into the direction of the warrior as he was steadying himself. The beastman felt an additional burst of pain when his poisoned left hand just barely slipped out between the blunt teeth.
Scrambling backwards, he was relieved to find both a pair of arrows as well as icicles hit near the monster’s right eye.
Lightness returned to his limbs as the buff was renewed, allowing him to successfully get back to his feet and lure the monster away from his companions.
Spiderlily, who was much more agile than Ice, began to move to position herself better as well. Contrary to magic, she was forced to shoot in a straight line after all. Like a dancer, she avoided the poisonous ivy on the ground, her arrows flying endlessly.
When the Rootwatcher’s health reached the last third, the whole area started vibrating under its angry scream. The vines of ivy that had been wrapped around the roots over their heads fell suddenly, hanging down everywhere.
Ice felt the leaves tickle his neck gently for half a second, before the prickling pain settled in. He bit his teeth together, wrapping his fingers tightly around his staff to finish his spell before he pulled out a bottle of antidote. Little Droplet shot him a glance but he shook his head, correcting his position to keep away from the new danger.
The fight could not have been too dangerous, as their warrior on the field was screaming curses like water flowing down a river. Endless and without pause.
With his style becoming more reckless, Bloodless Sunset began to ignore the ivy both hanging down and on the Rootwatcher’s body. He dashed in, stabbing his knife and claws into the weak gaps between the scales and around the neck and belly.
At some point, the Rootwatcher retreated. It swayed, one leg breaking in first before it collapsed.
Everyone froze where they stood, waiting for several seconds to make sure that the fight was over. Then the beastman ran closer, using his knife to hack away at the horns while he could. Spiderlily expertly found the sparkle in the net of ivy on its back and managed to pull out a simple but sturdy key.
“Owowow-” Bloody was whining as he pushed everyone to leave the area, ensuring that even if the beast woke up soon, it wouldn’t follow them. Only then did he collapse against the wall, his ears pressed tight to his head. Where the ivy had touched an open wound on its arm, the blood was turning dark.
“I’m on it”, Little Droplet announced, beginning his spell that was focused on the other’s arm specifically.
Ice knelt down next to Bloodless Sunset, checking for more injuries. “Is it very bad?”
“Eh, my synchro isn’t full power, so it’s alright.” Bloody forced a toothy smile, but his ears stayed down. “The mix between bleeding and poisoned is kind of not very comfortable, though. It feels like there’s ants biting their way deeper into my shoulder.”
Bloody wasn’t suitable for playing tank. Even his clothes were a clear sign of that. What kind of tank would run around sleeveless?
“It must be painful”, the Ice Emperor breathed out. He raised a hand, using his fingers to stroke over the flattened ears and soft hair. An edge of the left ear had torn, only healing slowly with Little Droplet’s spell.
Bloody’s eyes turned a tiny bit wider. He stared at Ice, whose eyebrows were lowered in worry. His ear twitched under the gentle touch.
Hiccup.
The beastman’s body twitched.
“…”
Hiccup. Hiccup.
Bloody used his other arm to hold his mouth closed, embarrassed at the surprisingly loud sound. Little Droplet snorted at the sight of Bloody twitching again, accompanied by a soundeffect.
Hiccup.
“Hold your breath”, Little Droplet laughed. “Close your nose, hold your breath, and swallow all the air inside of your mouth. Then wait for as long as you can.”
“Okay-up.”
One ear flat, the other raised, the beastman concentrated on getting rid off his hiccups. Spiderlily didn’t join the mess, instead fixating the ivory horns on her back, while Ice watched the injuries heal.
“Is it gone?”, Bloody asked, still suspicious. He waited, then exhaled in relief when no more hiccups came.
He stood up, patting off his dusty clothes.
“Your ear is still torn”, Ice lamented. Because a piece was missing, it healed much slower than a cut. He didn’t have ears and didn’t know how it would feel, but it couldn’t possibly be pleasant. Lips pursed, he touched the ragged edge.
Bloody pulled his tail to the front, tugging out some stones and rubble. “I’m fi-iccup.”
“…”
“Oh, fu-ccup this.”
The hiccups persisted for another few minutes before they settled.
The merman was unexpectedly waiting for them. They had expected to use scrolls to return, but the young beastman was curiously peeking over the edge.
“I heard it scream”, he said, leaning on the edge with his bare arms. “I guessed you must have survived. How was it? Is it big? I’ve never seen the Rootwatcher directly before.”
“You know about it?”
“Do! They sometimes try to drag one of us off, but they’re too lazy for a serious hunt so you’re safe as long as you can escape. It’s not gonna go after you.” The tail splashed, sending drops flying everywhere. “You’re gonna go back? I’ll take you.”
“Thanks!”
A few minutes later, Bloody sat to dry his fur out in the sun. No matter what he did, his hair was simply too much like fur – he tended to smell like a wet dog. That was a detail he didn’t need to have in Haven.
Blackstone offered him a towel that he gratefully took. She listened to his tale of what had gone down. The little dwarf clapped her hands together. “That’s cool! I hope there’ll be a storyline about that tree sometime. Wouldn’t corruption and all that be a classic plot? I’d love it!”
“I would not like to see this place corrupted”, Spiderlily joined the conversation, placing her head into the back of her neck. Time was passing, and the sunset was beginning to dye the forest in a soft hue. She shook her head to herself. “I will go and see if we can talk to the administrator, but we might have to postpone it to tomorrow.”
“I’ll come along”, Ice said quickly.
The other three prepared dinner while the two elves made their way over to the town hall. They didn’t let people inside anymore, but when they explained the matter of the key, they were brought over to the storage.
Soon, someone had found the correct register.
Author’s Note
My cat hates me touching her ears.
Little Theater
Bloody: “Stupid fucking hiccups!!!”
Blackstone: “They’re kinda cute, don’t you think, Ice?”
Ice: “……Well, yes…..”
Bloody: “Man I love my hiccups.”
Dead Rabbit: “Where’s your shame?”
Bloody: “Where’s my boyfriend?! I’ve got no time for shame!”
Thanks for the chapter! I was being lazy and didnt read a lot recently so I got to binge some of the more recent ones just now 😀
Thank you for the chapter!! ❤️❤️
Haha, there was a bad roll this time xD
And that hiccups came unexpected lol
Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶
ahhh!! BLOODY!!! the head pat from Ice and then the hiccups omgggggg 😆
Thank you for the chapter!
thanks for the chapter <3
Thank you for the chapter <3