NOVEL WEB Chapter 29 - Unexpected Submission
Dungeon Day 39 - Continues
“How exactly should we do that?” Eagle responded sarcastically.
“That's for you to figure out, ribbit.” Replied the frog chief.
Hearing that through Share Sense annoyed Dan, but it's not like the frog chief was in the wrong. Even if they were losing the war, submitting his entire species and all his lands wasn't what Dan would call a very appealing deal. Still, this wasn’t something Dan could pass up, and he began thinking about how to approach the situation. More specifically, Dan needed to find out how to deal with the problem right then and there.
He could always send monsters to do some sort of combat trial to show the frog chief they had plenty of power, but that would take even more time. Eagle the Hawk could provide a decent fight, but the bird wasn't necessarily the best at combat with other larger creatures like the frogs were. The best way to prove his point would be to get the chief to just agree to his contract and then show him there and there, but obviously, the chief was not going to agree to that. So, looking at all his powers again, Dan thought he could do something interesting.
He nudged Eagle to go and touch the frog chief. The chief was worried at first, but Eagle lowered his concerns when she told them that it was the best way to show the power of her Master.
As soon as Eagle made contact with the frog chief, Dan willed some of his power through the bird's connection with him. The power then contacted the frog chief, and the chief gained some rather interesting knowledge. Dan asked the frog chief to temporarily give up control of a few hundred feet of water off the island's shore.
Gaining this information, the chief weirdly looked down at the hawk, unsure what to do.
“What did you just do? Ribbit.”
“You said you wanted proof; this is part of it.”
Meanwhile, as the hawk and the frog interacted, the druid was just looking at them, puzzled as to what was happening. Even so, Dena stayed quiet and continued watching as the frog chief thought long and hard about something.
Eventually, the chief finally agreed to the terms. The terms were simple: the chief would give up authority over 100 feet of water, and Dan would be temporarily appointed as its owner, thus giving Dan authority over it. The claim would only last for a few hours, but it would be more than enough for him to show the chief the power he had access to.
After the chief gave over the hundred feet of water, Eagle the Hawk told the chief just to sit tight and wait for a few minutes. The druid, still extremely curious, was also watching the water intently.
As they all watched the water, Dan began to work on one of his new bosses who would deal with the underwater situation.
He was planning to make a shark for the lake. Why? Because sharks were cool no matter where you placed them. Lava sharks, land sharks, flying sharks. Sharks were an all-encompassing species. They were also scary. Running into a great white shark at a lake back on Earth would have terrified anyone, and Dan hoped to achieve the same result.
His shark was going to be large, and she would be awesome. As he made the boss, Dan gave her the Metal Affinity because metal teeth sounded awesome on a shark. Following that, and for obvious reasons, were the Water Affinity and Water Control abilities with a few body enhancements in speed and resilience.
Finally, Dan added two water-related offensive abilities, paid the 120 mana to create the shark, and chose to spawn her in the 100-foot area he had control over.
Dan saw through Eagles eyes as the druid, and the chieftain just watched in amazement as the large shark appeared from nowhere and splashed into the water.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Jaws the Shark.
Type: Beast.
Size: Large.
Hierarchy: Boss.
Mind: Intelligent, Sapient.
Arcane Mana: 100/100.
Arcane Mana Regen: +3 (0 Outside of Dungeon)
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 8.
Metal Affinity. Water Affinity. Metal Enhancement. Water Control. Body Enhancement - Speed and Resilience. Water Maw. Water Jet.
Innate Abilities: 7.
Keen Senses. Night Vision. Electroreception. Strength. Water Breather. Mental Resistance. Regeneration.
Respawn Timer: 5 Hours (10 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 60 Mana (120 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 120 Mana.
🔷
Jaws was also a beauty, her underbelly having a silver-like sheen while her upper side had a deeper blue hue. She was truly a beast to be reckoned with and came to after a few seconds. Coming to, she began swimming around in bursts, seemingly trying to figure out what to do. Thankfully, as she was in the water, Dan was able to contact her and tell her to stay still and float up to the surface, where Eagle and the rest were waiting.
The shocked faces of the druid and the chieftain grew even further as the shark used her Water Control ability to float above the sand and go right up to where they were on the shore. The frog kin were spooked by this sudden shark, a creature they probably hadn't seen since, according to the druid, the frog people lived in a swamp-like world. Or maybe they did see it, and they had swamp sharks. Either way, they all got ready for combat, at least until Eagle spoke up.
“Ha! You should see your faces!” The bird mocked the druid and the frogs before landing on the shark.
“Hey Eagle! Are these the frogs I need to eat?” The huge shark spoke gruffly, like what you would expect from a large and tough biker lady.
“Not yet!” Eagle responded, giggling as she saw the frogs tense up even more.
“What is this?” Dena spoke up, worry in her sweet voice.
“It's our boss’s latest creation,” Eagle replied proudly.
“What do you mean creation? I thought your master summoned these creatures for small durations. I saw many die in that battle around the tree.”
“Oh, that, yeah, they died. Don’t worry, though; our master brought them back to life.” This particular response from Eagle, however, was met with disgust.
“What! Your master is a necromancer!?”
Apparently, necromancers weren’t very well-liked.
“No. He can revive us.” Replied Eagle matter-of-factly.
“That's impossible. Even we can’t do that, and back on our planet, revival magic was of the highest caliber.” A comment from the druid that Eagle shrugged at as if saying, “Hey, I am just telling you how it is.” A response which quickly caused the druid to ask for the obvious.
“Prove it.”
That answer annoyed Dan but made sense since his hawk had made a bold statement. Still, he had just made a shark appear out of nowhere, and they were still unconvinced. Dan was considering how to go about the situation and was starting to get frustrated as he didn't really feel like sacrificing one of his monsters to prove a point. He was considering going through with his regional plan of sending his beasts through a carrier system and taking out the enemy shard without needing to consult the frog people. From there, he would reach D rank and move on to properly secure the rest of the factions.
However, he was taken out of his thoughts when Eagle spoke up.
“Ugh. I already died a few days ago, but alright, come on, kill me. Let's get this over with.”
This answer shocked Dan, and he immediately expressed thoughts and disapproval to the bird. He wasn't worried about the mana as he was getting a constant supply now and would have enough to respawn her. Instead, it was more about the principle of the thing and having his monster die for no reason. Apparently, the frog people and Dena were also shocked at the mention of death so casually that they just stared at his hawk, who, in response, just got annoyed.
“Come on! Hurry up, it's going to take like two hours for me to revive, so let's get this over with!” The hawk yelled as she flew above the 100 feet of water that were technically Dan’s dungeon.
After a few more minutes of contemplation, the frog chief and Dena just looked at each other, and they finally decided to believe the hawk. Eagle was just hovering above the water, and the decision was that in order to do it in one fell swoop, the druid would use her magic. Dena began channeling some of her magic as she chanted, then pointing the staff at the hawk, and with Dan watching in disapproval, a beam of dark green energy hit Eagle. The magic activated in a flash of green and quickly disintegrated the bird. This was quickly followed by the usual notification of having a boss die.
Skip to two hours later, and Dan quickly spent the mana and respawned the bird above the 100 feet of water. He then proceeded to go off on her for doing something stupid, but eventually, he just gave up as she clearly didn't care.
Eagle also quickly took off as soon as she appeared and promptly began jeering at the frog and the druid. However, she did thank the druid for killing her fast and pretty much painlessly. Seeing the bird appear out of nowhere left the druid and the chieftain wide-eyed and with open mouths. Then, surprising Dan, they both took a knee, and he quickly prompted Eagle the Hawk to go and touch them both.
The hawk passed by them and slightly tapped them with her wing, allowing Dan to proceed with the contract through his Dungeon God Connection ability. Both entities quickly accepted, and Dan’s dungeon expanded as it doubled in size.
Honestly, Dan was expecting the frog chief to submit, but the druid submitting had definitely taken him by surprise. He, of course, passed this thought to Eagle, who questioned the druid about her sudden submission.
“In all my years of life, I have not seen such a power be displayed. Stuck here in this place with no real way to go home, I believe my people's best chance of survival is with an entity such as yourself.” Dena spoke to the air, knowing the hawk’s master was listening.