Chapter 149.2: Ingestion
PART 2/2
I awoke to Index’s words. “Hey, Arlan. Wake up. Fifteen minutes until Dark Plate disappears. Probably want to go re-equip.”
I opened my eyes, head still spinning, but just slightly less so. And just as I moved to get up, I heard the thud of something hitting the floor. Looking over, I saw Jannin climbing back up to his feet, Bon looking drunkenly furious and standing over him.
“You flamin’ asshole!” he shouted. “Why in hell’s flames wouldn’t you tell me that there was a flamin’ hooker comin’ by?!”
Poppins, still obviously sober, stepped between them. “S-sorry, Bon, we didn’t realize—”
“Didn’t realize that I’m flamin’ lonely as flames?! Dry yourself, man! I know you could tell!”
Looking at the fact that another barrel of beer had been pulled out…these guys had probably had a lot more to drink. Not that I felt much better than I’d felt when I fell asleep.
Looking down, Erani was still lying on my chest, asleep. I gently lifted her up and got out from under her, lying her back down on the floor. Then I stood up, using the wall to steady myself with my impaired mind and still-broken leg.
“Hey, guys, quiet down. Don’t fuckin’ fight. She’s asleep,” I gestured to Erani, who stirred slightly. “Don’t fuckin’ wake us up.”
“Ugh,” Bon took a step toward me. “You Koinkarians and your flamin’ slang. Learn the flamin’ language if you wanna come over here. Least you can do.”
I groaned. My head didn’t really feel good, though whether that was from the alcohol or from the fact Bon seemed to be allergic to speaking at a normal volume, I didn’t know. “Just try to quiet down, man. The fuck’s even going on between you two, anyway?”
Jannin, now on his feet again, brushed himself off. “Flamin’ idiot’s mad we didn’t tell him about the hooker that came by, even though we know he would’ve just called it in and gotten us in trouble. Probably would've gotten the poor girl jailed, too.”
“I flamin’ wouldn’t have done that, dumbass!” Bon yelled back at him. “I just wanted to flamin’—I mean, hell, I would’ve even settled for a nice conversation. You don’t have to assume I’m this flamin’ jarhead by-the-books leader all the time. I can be your friend, man.”
“You aren’t, though!” Jannin said. “You always go and tell flamin’ command every, single, flamin’, thing! Why would I trust you with that?!”
“I just said! You’re my friend! Or at least I thought.”
“No, man, you obviously don’t think so. Otherwise you wouldn’t’ve gotten me in trouble for taking one too many hours on my break, or for eating just a bit more than my rations because I was sick!”
“I have to get you in trouble for that, or else you won’t do your flamin’ job right, ever!” Bon huffed out a sigh. “Listen, I haven’t flamin’ seen a woman in ages. Just thought you’d get it.”
Jannin snorted. “I mean, you just saw a woman today. Didn’t act like it was nothin’ special. Obviously it’s not that important to you.”
Bon looked over at Erani, still asleep on the floor, and rolled his eyes. “She’s a flamin’ cripple. Got no arm. Barely even counts as a woman. I mean, what, you really think I’d count someone who doesn’t even have all their—”
You have struck Level 9 Swordsman for 29 damage using Fist.
You have irritated an open wound. 22 damage.
Your Health is 283.
Bon flew across the room, landing face down on the floor from the force of my strike. I stumbled forward, my legs barely able to support my weight, and everyone in the room yelled out in surprise.
My arm ached, and I realized I’d accidentally punched with my dominant hand—the broken one. But I ignored the pain with the help of the booze and stumbled forward.
You have cursed Level 9 Swordsman with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, he loses 7.76 Health and 6.21 Stamina each second, and his Dexterity score is lowered by 15.5.
56.2 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 1289.
In what was effectively pure instinct, I sluggishly went through the typical list of curses to apply to my opponent in an attempt to debuff him into oblivion. However, I only actually got through a single one—Crippling Chill—before I collapsed down on top of Bon, partly because my broken leg gave out, and partly because I wanted to hit him again.
“Arlan!” I could hear Index shout at me, its words garbled in my ear from the intoxication.
Before I could mentally respond, I felt hands dragging me away. Looking up, I saw it was Poppins. “H-hey, leave him—”
“Fuck off!” I fought for custody of my arm with Poppins, desperately trying to wrench it free so I could land another hit on the seemingly-unconscious Bon. “He fuckin’ deserves it.”
“Father!” Ainash messaged me frantically, “should I kill them all?”
I looked back and saw her with her eyes aflame, whip in hand and ready to split people in half. That made me stop.
And it also made me look back at my damage notification. Level...9?! What the fuck?! This guy said he was high-Level! Multiple times, he said they were all high-Level. Why the fuck was he so weak? I thought he could take a couple punches, but…
“Arlan.” Index said again.
I also realized I’d had Noxious Grasp active this whole time, apparently having activated it at some point of my drunken fight. Hurriedly, I shut it off and let myself be dragged off of Bon’s still-unmoving body.
You have struck Level 9 Swordsman for 77 damage and drained 77 Stamina over the course of 3.7 seconds using Noxious Grasp.
19.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 616.
I blinked over and over, my ears feeling like they were still ringing from my quickly-fading anger.
“Father?” Ainash said.
“N, no,” I messaged back. “They’re okay. Don’t…”
Fuck. Bon still wasn’t moving. Poppins crouched down by his side, looking up at me. “What did you do to him?!”
“I…”
Jannin stumbled over, too, clumsily placing his hands on Bon’s neck. He shifted around for a moment before finding the artery. “He’s alive, at least.”
I swallowed, finding my balance with my hand gripping the table behind me. My vision swam. “Use…Jannin, use your healing thing. He’s cursed. Losing Health every second. Might not…might not survive, even if he’s alive now.”
“Flames…” Jannin hurriedly closed his eyes and began muttering under his breath while Poppins stood and placed his hand on his sword, facing me.
“What were you thinking?!” He asked angrily. “You’re trying to kill Bon over some petty insult?! I know what he said was mean, but he’s drunk! He always gets like this.”
Fuck. Was he going to die?
“Why did you guys say you’re high-Level?” I asked. “That’s…why lie? I thought he could take it.”
“We were scared!” Poppins said, seeming incredulous that I even asked such a question. “Some dude in black spooky armor, looking like a Demon, with a weird monster we’ve never seen before? Of course we were gonna bluff!”
A light flashed from behind him, and I saw Jannin activating his healing Spell on Bon. He reached down to check his vitals once again after, but before he could, Bon let out a groan, seemingly showing he was alive enough to speak.
“Oh thank the gods,” Poppins rushed back over to him, helping him up.
“I…sorry,” was all I could think to say.
“Father, I do not think you did anything wrong!” Ainash said, walking over to me. “Do not feel bad. Human was acting like bad guy! If made you mad, then deserve to die.”
“D-don’t kill them.”
Bon groaned again and drunkenly muttered, “I…I don’t…what’s…”
“Arlan!” Index said, even more sternly this time.
W-what? I managed to think. Somehow, forming coherent thoughts to communicate with it felt even more difficult than speaking aloud. I…I know…I was, fucking, uh, stupid. Shouldn’t’ve…uh…
“Arlan. You hit him with your broken arm, meaning he dealt damage to you.”
H…huh? Yeah…that was dumb. My…my mistake.
“No. When someone deals damage to you, they get a notification saying how much they dealt, and who they dealt it to. You’re a Human, which means it doesn’t just say your species and Level, it says your Class.
I…wait…
“Arlan, Bon just got a notification saying he dealt damage to a Level 20 Minute Mage. Now, my recommendation is you either wait a few hours until Time Loop refreshes at midnight and then instantly use it to go back and undo this, or, if you don’t want to use up precious resources, you kill them all. Right here, right now. The other two are just as low-Level, you can slaughter them all. That option is my personal recommendation.”
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