Chapter 79 A Boss Unlike Any Other
Just like before, the group found themselves in an enormous cavern with mana stones lining the surface of the ceiling.
But unlike the previous scene where all of the stones were glowing with a bright blue light, these stones had already gone dim. In the center of the mass of stones was a dark black egg roughly the size of a mens shoebox. Bianca squinted her eyes as she stared at the ceiling and she came to a shocking conclusion. "That's a beast egg... and those are violet mana stones... did that thing seriously drain them all??"
"It would seem so... what the hell kind of beast can absorb that much energy?"
Beast eggs are another rare item that can be found in dungeons. Inside are various creatures with their own mystical abilities which are capable of forming blood pacts with humans. Through blood pacts, they can share senses, abilities, and even fuse together to act as one. They are so rare that it'd be easier to find a cluster of violet mana stones, gift wrapped with a note from Santa. Luna is currently in possession of the only one in the United States, a young kitsune she calls Shiro.
And almost every day, she receives offers of billions of dollars from those who are asking to buy her. Typically, beast eggs can only be found in mana rich environments that are extremely isolated. Finding one in a cave like this where there were hobgoblins and ogres walking around was nigh inconceivable. "T-The stream is back up and the viewers are going crazy! Everyone is saying that this is the most insane dungeon in history!" The camera man exclaimed. "Well... they certainly wouldn't be wrong." Mal muttered. It was still rather hard for him to be excited about all of this. All of these treasures and goodies being dangled so openly in his face made him rather nervous. This was only his second dungeon, and yet he could not shake the feeling that he had intruded somewhere that he did not belong. No sooner did he have the thought that a horrifying and scratchy voice confirmed his suspicions. "Humans? Here? Oh no, this will not do. This most certainly will not do...."
Almost immediately, the trio of blessed formed a circle around the vulnerable cameraman as they searched for the source of the hag-like voice. "Always intruding where you are unwanted, always trying to take what does not belong to you... You are a consistent stain on the world..."
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, a horrifying old woman appeared in front of Bianca. She had greasy grey hair that dropped all the way to her feet, and filthy cracked nails that were five inches long. The old woman had egregiously long limbs and stood nearly shoulder to shoulder with Malachi, although her body was seemingly made out of nothing but skin and bones. She raised her wiry old hand and prepared to slice Bianca's head off with her dagger like nails. "Bianca, get back!"
Malachi's body reacted on it's own, and he instinctively pushed his partner out of the way. Luckily he was able to save her, but unfortunately the cameraman was not fast enough, and his head immediately went flying. "One down..." She muttered. Aisha removed another weapon from her inventory, a shiny gold trident with blades made of some blue crystal. "You'll pay for that you freak!" She roared as she thrust her weapon directly at the head of the boss.
Tink!
Aisha's eyes went wide as her weapon was caught with seemingly no effort. "Pretty... but...useless..."
"We'll see about that!"
Her weapon began to glow with a bright blue light, and a giant volume of water shot out from the tip of her weapon.
BOOOM!!
The boss took the full force of a geyser head on, but she suffered no sort of discomfort other than suddenly becoming wet. "...It is as I said." The woman raised her arm and swiftly brought it down on the pole of Aisha's weapon, snapping it in half. In a display of great power and fluidity, the old woman lifted up her leg and kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her flying into a nearby wall.
Crackle.
Suddenly, the old woman let out a horrifying high pitched scream as her entire body was engulfed in vicious black lightning. "AAAAAGGGHHH! BAD HUMANS! VERY BAD HUMANS!!!"
Malachi continued to up the voltage on his lightning as if he were trying to overload a battery and make it explode. Realistically he knew that his best friend was tough, but he didn't want to see her get hurt and he would always avenge her if she was. Bianca finally recovered and slipped on her twin gauntlets that gave off a sweltering heat. Not wanting to waste the opportunity Mal had created, she lunged forward with eyes burning with determination. BOOOM!
A powerful right hook to the jaw was enough to send the old woman flying, and she rolled to a stop on the ground a few feet away. Bianca was about to continue her offense, when she finally looked down at her gauntlet and saw that there was a strange material clinging to it. "What... is this..?"
Upon closer inspection, she realized that what she was looking at was a mass of skin, but there was no sign of blood or any other tissues. It was as if it had been cleanly peeled off a surface and hastily glued onto another. Aisha finally recovered and came back to Bianca's side. "I can't believe that thing broke my weapon... I didn't even know that was possible."
"Something tells me that this boss isn't like normal ones." Malachi muttered. "And so far, we haven't seen half of what it can really do."
As if to prove his point, the boss finally began to stir on the ground.
"Disgraceful... disgusting..."
Taking her clawed hands, she began to rip away her own 'skin' bit by bit. "The treasured must be protected... mustn't allow them to get their hands on it..."
Once all of her skin was removed, the trio were horrified to see a creature unlike anything they had ever seen before. -
Outside the gate, Luna had a worried expression on her face as she looked at the last bit of footage that was captured before the cameraman was killed. 'That boy is practically bad luck at this point. Why does every dungeon he enters have to be so strange??' She glanced at the swirling gate a few feet away from her and wondered if she should go inside. Last time she ran in to help Mal, she ended up being completely unneeded. After that experience, she had started to trust in Mal's abilities a bit more and no longer saw him as a young man who needed her help. 'That's right, this is for the best... No man wants to be with a woman who is constantly checking up on him, right?'
Nonsensical though it may have been, Luna began looking for any sort of method to rationalize her decision. And after a few more minutes, she believed that she had finally dissuaded herself from going inside. ....So why did it still feel like there was a knot in the pit of her stomach?
Inadvertently, Luna made eye contact with Sei, who seemed to be looking at her with large brown eyes that were pleading sincerely. 'Damn it...' Before Luna knew what was happening, her body was moving on its own as it carried her all the way to the entrance of the gate. Tying her hair up, she moved forward to step inside, but instead of coming cleanly out the other side, she felt as if she had walked right into a closed door. "What...?"
It seemed like Luna and Sei would have no choice but to place their faith in Malachi, as the gate had been completely closed off to outside visitors.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶