NOVEL WEB Chapter 12: I Beseech Thee
It has been about five minutes since the Centibane appeared before me, and it's just.... standing there... staring at me.
"Skreeeee~"
The centipede screeched, but still did nothing.
What is going on?
As I tilt my head wondering, the monster followed my movement.
"Hm?"
I tilt my head to the other side next, and the Centibane did as well.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....."
I was confused. I was most certainly confused. Just what in the world is it doing?
It's definitely not hostile to me at the moment. That's for sure. But how is that the case?
...
Wait...
"Don't tell me..."
I opened up my skill menu and looked through every skill that I currently have.
If I recall correctly, I got a skill for patting Lampy several times, didn't I?
"Ah. Here it is."
Bug Lover– A skill that makes all Bug-type monsters less likely to be hostile towards me. I assumed that it's working on the Centibane since it is a bug.
Soooo... what now?
Looking at it, I could only think of one thing.
I want to touch it.
Hence, I approached the giant centipede calmly and kindly asked. "May I pat you?"
I had no way whether the monster could understand me or not. But upon asking that, the Centibane went "Skreee~ Skreee~" and somehow, that caused its carapace to change from a dark purple shade to an overall jet black colour. Afterwards, it lowered its head to me. Presumably allowing me to pat it.
But as mentioned earlier, I had no way of knowing. So, I moved my hand slowly and carefully. Reaching for the Centibane's head in a cautious manner until the palm of my hand finally touched its head.
"Oh wow." I let my voice out, amazed. "You're really hard, aren't you?"
"Skreee~ Skreee~"
The Centibane seemingly cried with joy as I gently patted its head.
Despite how it looks, it's actually pretty cute, huh?
Touching a bug like this, it reminds me of that when I was five, before Hikari was even born. I would go to the local park during summer and find some bugs like stag beetles and cicadas and sometimes even centipedes on the ground as I would then pick them up with my bare hands and show them to my mom.
She freaked out, naturally. But at least I got to keep one of the stag beetles I'd found. Which died not long after because it was apparently reaching the end of its lifespan. Rest in peace, Kabuto. I still have and will not forget you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Condition cleared: [Pat a bug aside from your Lamp Bug.]
Skill Evolved: [Bug Lover] → [Bug Admirer]
Bug-type monsters are even less likely to be hostile. (Does not affect Bosses.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh sweet. But I believe I have pat the Centibane enough, so I should continue with clearing the dungeon now.
I put my hand down from its head and asked the Centibane. "I have to go now. May I pass through here, please?"
The Centibane did not move aside to let me pass. Instead, it seemed to be, uhh... kind of sad that I'm leaving already? It's hard to tell, but that was the feeling I was getting from it.
"So you don't want me to go. Is that it?"
"Skreee..."
The Centibane screeched as if to say yes.
"If that's the case, you wanna come with me?"
"Skreee?"
I was not sure whether or not it's possible, but it won't hurt to try.
"If you don't want to, that's fine. But I really want to go through the path behind you. So, what do you say? Friends?"
"Skreee~ Skreee~"
The Centibane crawled around me in circles, as if it was celebrating with joy to be invited by me to be an ally.
This was confirmed when another window popped up in my face with the following text:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Elite Monster: Centibane] has become an ally!
You may give it a new name.
=========================
Condition cleared: [Successfully befriend a monster once.]
Skill Acquired: [Monster Tamer]
Have a chance to make a non-hostile monster an ally. (Does not affect Bosses.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Huh? That's neat. But this skill only works on monsters that are not hostile towards me.
However, so far, I have only encountered monsters that are immediately hostile to me. Asides from the Centibane, of course. And that's because of the Bug Lover skill I had, which is now called Bug Admirer.
So wouldn't that mean I can only tame Bug-type monsters going forward? Maybe I just haven't met any non-hostile monsters in my playthrough.
"Eh. I'm sure I'll meet them eventually. For now, let's go, Bane."
"Skree~!"
And so, we proceeded forward on the path ahead. With the goal of searching for more stone tablets left behind by Gaius, and aiming for the end of the dungeon where the boss awaits us.
Not long after we left that space, we ran into a bunch of Draugrs, along with some stronger-looking ones mixed in the group.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Uncommon Monster: Accursed Draugr
Lvl: 21
The evolved form of Draugr. As an undead that had cursed their death in life, they are much tougher than the regular Draugrs and can hit harder as well. They also have a chance of inflicting [Cursed] on their opponents when their attacks land, so be wary of that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh wow... Oh wow!
There's no snarky comment placed at the end of the description by the devs. Progress!
Or maybe it's just someone else who wrote the description for this monster.
"Alright. Let's do this, Bane!" I said to my new friend next to me. Its carapace, by the way, had turned back into its dark purple colour the moment it saw the enemies.
Then, it charged towards the mob of zombies. While I provide support from the rear.
"Multi-Thorn Bind!"
Thorny plants sprouted out from the ground and ensnared the enemies in place. Once immobilised, Bane was easily able to wipe the floor with them as it bulldozed, crushed and devoured those zombies whole. And apparently, the game classified that as me defeating them. Seeing as how a window popped up, informing me that I have defeated those enemies and have also levelled up to 17 now. Sweet!
"Good job, Bane." I approached my monster friend to pat it again. But before I touched its back, Bane quickly changed its carapace's colour again from dark purple to black like earlier.
Perhaps the carapace is actually toxic to touch whenever its carapace's colour is dark purple? The description for it did say to have countermeasures against its poison. So it's safe to assume that, I guess.
But if that's the case, then "Thank you for trying not to poison me."
"Skree~ Skreeee~" Bane cried happily.
We continued forward after that. Mowing down wave after wave of various undead. Even encountering the evolved form of the Ghasts called Wraiths. The two ghost monsters were apparently immune to physical attacks as Bane could not do a thing against them. So, I had to step in and burn them to astral ashes with my multi-casted Fireball spell, which had their range improved by the Sniped skill since I was quite a distance away from them. Because of those encounters, however, I got this skill as a result:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Condition cleared: [Use the Fireball skill 100 times.]
Skill Acquired: [Firebomb]
Cost: 50 MP
An intermediate fire-attribute skill. May cause a small area-of-effect damage to nearby enemies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This skill itself is great to have. Combined with the Multi-Casting skill, I would essentially be throwing magic grenades at my enemies at the same time. And if I combine those with my Snipe skill, I can hit enemies that are even further away with them. My foes won't know what will hit them.
I will test that once I'm outside. Since doing it in this shabby and gloomy catacomb of a dungeon doesn't feel atmospherically right for me.
But anyways, I've found the fourth tablet.
"I have lost everything after that. My men, my family, my country, the people I had sworn to defend, the people whom I had loved. All of it were gone. The only one left walking was me, whom the Umbra Lords had purposefully spared for their entertainment. They laid a curse upon me as some cruel joke; turning me into an undead which caused me to gradually lose my mind as I roamed of what's left of my country.
My men and the people of Romuli have all been laid to rest here. But without a priest to sanctify them and with my presence here, I fear they may become undead as well in the foreseeing future. But at least.... they won't have to suffer like I did, I hoped.
I, myself, am unsure of how much time I have left and thus, I write these records... to whomever finds them in the future.
May they be powerful and wise adventurers from an outside land. And may they fulfil my final request..."
I see.
"Let's go, Bane."
I have a feeling that we are reaching the end of this dungeon.
That feeling was correct. As Bane and I eliminated any undead that came our way, we eventually reached our goals for the dungeon; standing before two giant, heavy-looking doors that could only be assumed to be the boss room behind it. And sitting at the feet of those doors, was the final stone tablet for the hidden quest.
"And so now.... to the one who has made it all the way here, I beseech thee:
Please.... free me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hidden Quest: [Records of the Fallen Kingdom.] has been updated.
New Objective: Defeat the Boss of the Underground Catacomb.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Lampy, go into my inventory for the time being."
Lampy did as I said. Then I turned to Bane.
"Bane, are you ready? I may need your help a lot for what comes next."
"Skreee~" it screeches, as if signifying "yes" to me.
"Then, let's do this." I said, pushing the doors open to step into the boss room.
Upon my first look into the room, all I saw was a large empty space. Much larger than the space where I met Bane at. But besides that one, a large worn-out flag hung on the wall at the end of the room, which in the context of things, most likely bears the emblem of the Romuli Kingdom, there isn't anything else in this soulless boss room.
Well, that and the boss itself, I supposed, who is a crimson armoured knight shrouded in a dark aura.
"Hey there...." I began speaking to him. "I'm here to fulfill that request of yours." I said and entered the room with Bane, as the doors then closed behind us.
Red light glowed in the boss's eyes, as it gripped its longsword tightly and roared.
"GGGRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dungeon Boss: Fallen Knight, Gaius
Lvl: 27
A knight of the Fallen Kingdom once known as the Valiant Knight and is the last proof of his kingdom's existence. Although his mind has been lost, a spark of his chivalry still lingers in his undead consciousness. Not much is known about him, but may this Chad of a knight be laid to rest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looks like whoever was initially in-charge for writing descriptions is back for this one.
But I agree with you, unknown description writer.
It's time to let Gaius have his rest.
