When I started waking up, Goblin Village Wheat Farmer Sama began lighting the fire while I got dressed and fetched the feast. The sun is setting and it's time for breakfast! Thinking about it, I need to go secure the Crows of the Beastkin Kingdom, I need to go to the Forest of Witches to make my case, and I'll need to return to the Beastkin Kingdom in 12 days to gather intel on my potential Cat Crew as well. I would sure love to improve Goblin Village Wheat Farmer Sama's current intelligence network, but I don't know how without drastically reducing my war potential yet. I'll definitely hold off on that for now. I also don't have enough Candy to go about trying to recruit Crows, or to stand at the Forest of Witches with the power to actually escape if they turn out to be bad people.
What do I do?! I can't do anything that I need to do yet! I need more time! Geez. I wish that I were able to secure bonus Candy from the Candy Store on Una Street. There's no helping it, I spent all of my gold coins if you count my unfinished deal with Rudou. If I hope to gather intel on prominent Cats outside of the Beastkin Kingdom, I'll need to save all of my Silver Coins. So, if I have nothing else to do; I suppose raising my level a little to unlock the [Wailing Keep] might be beneficial. There are beds in there! 50 of them if I remember correctly. With all those bedrooms, I'd finally be able to live in comfort! Cetilla would no doubt appreciate it, too. Yosh! Okay. I'm going to raise my level!
I say that, but this won't actually be very troublesome or time consuming at all. I'm only one level away from unlocking [Wailing Keep] as it is, so I might as well push myself for something closer to level 30 instead. I'll need to be careful not to damage the ecosystem around here though. Having decided so, I quickly finished my Fish. Then, I took out my Broom and extended a hand to Cetilla while asking if she would like to join me. I made sure to grab my one bucket of Candy, just in case. Cetilla took my hand and we headed off while waving farewell to the 3 Goblin leaders. Some Villagers were waving to us as well, while looking somewhat tearful. Oi! I'm not going on some extreme adventure or anything!
Where are we heading, one might ask? Well, I decided that it seemed like a good time for me to finally figure out what lurks beneath the Chasm at the foot of the mountain before the Demon Kingdom. If it's a large population of monsters down there, then I might be able to go train without feeling totally responsible for the outcome. I never see any Lost Kingdom monsters go down there, so it doesn't feel like it's actually connected to the ecosystems which I protect. Even if it's generally nearby. Wholeheartedly convincing myself, we made our way south.
On the way, I decided to stop near the White Squirbbit Hollow and see how things were doing. I also wanted to inquire to Cetilla about whether or not she had ever witnessed such a creature. I would love to know the actual name of this beast, but Cetilla didn't actually know what it was either. Okay, with that frame of thinking then it probably came from the Forest of Fae or Demon Kingdom. It might have come from the Orc Mountains, but this critter does not look like it should be living in a Mountain environment. Nope. Sorry. This thing doesn't look that way. It's plausible that it might have come from the Forest of Witches, Human Kingdom, or the Elven City; but I doubt it. Those places are towards the opposite side of the Lost Kingdom. For this entire pack to have made it to the southeast of the Lost Kingdom without even being noticed by Goblins at all, just doesn't make much sense. To be fair, these critters are quite fast and they like to run from atop trees though; so I guess anything is possible.
With Cetilla knowing about as little as I do, it's time for the Chasm! After arriving, I began slowly descending into the Chasm without actually getting off of my Broom. My Crows are flying around and exploring the Chasm areas nearby. Good job! Lining the walls of the Chasm, I think I see coal. This place could be a mining deposit if the Lost Kingdom were more established or if the Demon Kingdom extended their territory slightly. I wonder why no one seems to want this land? It seems kind of valuable to me. Is it because one couldn't hope to gather here safely without the ability of flight? Is this place worth more as a dangerous trap to slow down invading armies than it is as a natural resource to harvest from?
After about 10 minutes of descent, no matter how I look at it... This place is riddled in precious ore and minerals. It's not just coal, I see gems of all sorts sticking from the walls in clusters varying heavily in size. Some of the gems help illuminate the way, but I'd likely be mostly blind if not for my Cat eyes. Cetilla does indeed seem to also be capable of seeing in the dark. Cat eyes. The Chasm seems to split into multiple natural paths downwards and to the sides. I haven't noticed any monsters yet, so maybe it's empty?
NOPE! After reaching what seemed to be the bottom of the Chasm, is a large cave system. Within it, are Harpies, Bats, Golems, Drakes, One eyed crawly things, Slug monsters, and Spiders. Gross. What an ensemble! I knew this place would probably have monsters, but to think that there are 7 confirmed races in only a matter of 10 minutes of exploration into the bottom of the Chasm! What a complex ecosystem! If I were to mess up the balance here, I might end up forcing some of these races back to the surface to rejoin the Lost Kingdom in search of food. I say that, but there's really no telling if these races were indeed once a part of the Monster Kingdom now dubbed Lost.
Should I purposely destroy the balance of this ecosystem to shorten the time needed for one or two of these races to ascend to the top of the heap? Thinking about it, Harpies might be a rather intelligent race. It would be nice if the Harpies were to vacate this Chasm and unify with the Goblin Village. Drakes might also prove to be somewhat intelligent if they can Evolve into becoming Dragons. Bats might just be my Clansmen, so we can ignore those for now. The Spiders set traps and entangle their prey, but they could eventually Evolve into becoming Arachne. That makes them a potentially intelligent race as well.
I don't mean to belittle the Golems, One eyed crawly things, or Slug monsters; but I just don't see a future where they develop wills of their own. I could be wrong, but I don't see it happening anytime soon whatsoever. They probably could in fact become intelligent if they attained vast power, but I don't see a future where this Chasm alone is enough to grant them that vast power.
The Chasm in itself is an entirely different ecosystem from that in the Lost Kingdom. Theoretically, I could conduct some experiments down here to help me make decisions for future of the Lost Kingdom down the line. If I can successfully have some races down here Evolve to the point of being potential allies by having them forced into a bloody death match for experience against the more evolutionary declined races while ALSO ensuring that the original ecosystem down here still functions intact albeit at a smaller scale, then I can prove that the situation in the Lost Kingdom can become drastically better without actually causing extinction between the races involved. Yosh!
I want to split up half of the monsters in this ecosystem from the rest. Exactly half. I want to have that half fight to the death. Not for food, but for experience. I want the gladiators who arise to join society on the surface, leaving this place to ensure that the ecosystem remains intact; yet on a smaller scale. By keeping half of the monsters in this ecosystem completely unscathed, we ensure the future of this ecosystem while still gaining some valuable allies and evidence that this idea can in fact work for the betterment of the Lost Kingdom. I feel like I'm definitely not the hero in this story, but more like the guy plastered on the propaganda poster. Yikes.
It isn't necessarily my fault that the Lost Kingdom is extremely weak when it comes to having their elite soldiers coming together. The Lost Kingdom was dubbed lost over 300 years ago, people! Get up and start working already, dammit! There's a Kingdom to reclaim over here? Maybe. Even I have to admit that actually reclaiming this Kingdom is an errand fit for a fool. While that may be the case, I don't see why they can't form an elite squad on the off chance that something does happen though. You don't actually need to reclaim this Kingdom as that would put a massive target on your back, you just need to stick together and make sure no catastrophes arise within the confines of what WOULD be this Kingdom. It's really not that difficult.
Getting back on topic, I decided to begin doing a census. I need to know roughly how many monsters of each race there are down here. They should all have nests somewhere, so if I find the nest then I can make a rough estimate. Explaining my plan to Cetilla, she seems to be onboard but doesn't understand my reasoning behind gathering the census. Oh. I didn't actually explain my plan, after all. I just explained what step I wanted to do right now. Oops!
After finding the Harpy's nest, I decided that I could try talking to them first. They might talk as is, after all. I could honestly just take all of these Harpies to the surface as is if so. On arrival, they indeed can talk. They're kind of snarky, the ones I'm talking to anyways. I asked if they had a leader which I could speak to, and sure enough... They do. Judging from appearances, it's really difficult to tell what Tier each Harpy is. They all have different wing colors, or body shapes. I think they might be more like Goblins who have multiple Evolution paths due to the class system. Their leader is a Matriarch, and she's relatively old. She's reminding me a lot of Goblin Village Wheat Farmer Sama. She's got that air of 'knows too much' about her.
"Hello, I am called Nero. I am the one True Halloween Cat, a travelling Cat. I hail from the surface of the Lost Kingdom, and would like to formally invite your flock to join the Goblin Village in unifying the more intellectual races or beings of the Lost Kingdom." [Nero] said while lowering his hood.
"Nero… I am the matriarch of this flock." [Harpy Matriarch]
Yikes. She didn't answer my question. At all. Oh? She's continuing!
"I… I have given up on the Lost Kingdom, I'm sure many of the other races around here have as well. You see, around 200 years ago... There was an attempt at reuniting the Lost Kingdom that only led to bitter failure. My flock has since rekindled their numbers, but we have not yet rekindled our strength nor our hope." [Harpy Matriarch] concluded while looking dejected.
"I understand wholeheartedly. Matriarch, if I may. That battle took place 200 years ago. While that may be the case for your flock at present, it does not need to remain that way for long. Did you know? The Goblin Village has remained on the surface, where they stood all of this time. They have not shirked whatsoever. Even with only the power of one Tier 3 Goblin, they continue to stand on their own. To this day, the Goblin Village bares the weight of keeping the ecosystem of the surface balanced..." [Nero] said to the entire flock before continuing as gasps and murmurs arose from the crowd.
"Recently, the strength of the Goblins has grown considerably due to the Evolution of two new Tier 3 Goblins to stand by the side of their Chief. Not only that, but you have my help as well. Representing the Halloween Clansmen, I... With the power of the one True Halloween Cat, can help you any time of night. My Clansmen are much more powerful than the Goblin Village, so I don't need help during the night. I just need help during the day." [Nero] said before continuing as more and more chatter began to emerge amidst the crowd of Harpies.
"If the Harpies and Goblins stand together, they will both Evolve much faster. They will be then sooner capable of actually reclaiming the Lost Kingdom. Make no mistake, I have no intentions of reclaiming the Lost Kingdom. Doing so would be like telling the Demon Kingdom that we're ready to be massacred yet again. No. I intend to unify the Lost Kingdom in order to maintain the balanced ecosystem within it while gaining war potential. That is all." [Nero] finished quite boldly. In response, the crowd went silent and looked to their Matriarch who let out a deep sigh.
"...to think that the Goblins have stood resolute for all this time, taking on the responsibilities of us all. Be that as it may, we also have continued to fulfill our duties as an intellectual race to the Lost Kingdom. Look around and you will find a perfectly balanced ecosystem of an albeit smaller scale than that of the surface. That is because we have been overseeing the populations of these less fortunate monsters. We can't possibly just leave them at the depths of these caves, praying that it all turns out fine; can we?" [Harpy Matriarch] said while gesturing to the nearby areas.
"What you say is true. The ecosystem here seems rather intact. If you have been the cause, then please. Inform me of the individual needs to each of the monster races within this Chasm. Nest locations, preferred monsters to hunt or food to gather, and regulated population sizes for each of the races should suffice." [Nero] asked nonchalantly.
"The individual needs of the monster races and their population sizes? Just what would you even need such information for? They're clearly all well populated races and are not starving by any means." [Harpy Matriarch] inquired.
"Well, the answer is simple. You think those other monster races are less fortunate and henceforth can not be intellectual races. I think otherwise. You think that you can not simply monitor this Chasm as well as even a part of the surface, but I also disagree with that. If we know the generalized population of each of those races, and we know their nest locations, then we can effectively cull them to a more appropriate population for monitoring. By culling their sizes to more appropriate populations for monitoring, we can effectively promote great growth in terms of Evolution among the monsters here. By doing so, we may result in some intellectual potential allies Evolving from these less fortunate monster races. If the less fortunate monsters Evolve into something that can't be reasoned with, then we can just kill that something and Evolve ourselves instead." [Nero] said while puffing out his chest at his plan to commit a rationalized massacre. Every single being nearby went utterly silent to the explanation for roughly 15 seconds.
"Ah. I see. It's certainly a well thought out plan, but do you not feel remorse for the hundreds of monsters dead as the results of such a plan?" [Harpy Matriarch] inquired.
"Regardless of whether or not I do anything, the results will still arrive. I'm just trying to speed along the process so that we can actually keep everything in a balanced situation. When these things happen in the wild simply due to the immense amount of time passing, the situation can become uncontrollable quite quickly. We must ensure that half of the population remains alive, no matter what. Before even beginning the culling process, then we must separate half of each pack from their former brethren. If these things happen in the wild, then the pack isn't separated and when one single monster just so happens to Evolve above the rest, the rest face potential extinction because that one single monster needs much more food to feed itself than the others. Because this is something which would happen whether I get involved or not, I have little reason to feel remorse. Besides, if this thing happens in the wild... There's a high chance that the monster involved will only Evolve one or two times. That might not be enough. If we want to give way to a new, intelligent creature which can actually be an ally... Then we need two or three Evolutions. Not one. In that frame of thinking, then leaving it to time alone is actually more cruel than anything as you're ensuring that none of them ever have a chance to attain that level of intelligence. Not all monster races are born equal, but I'm sure that all monster races would at least like to become equal. If we can raise two identical monsters to a much higher evolutionary path which has intelligence, then we can forevermore have a new intelligent race among the Monster Kingdom people." [Nero] said flatly as if it simply could not be helped.
"Oh. Now I think that I fully understand your way of thinking." [Harpy Matriarch]
"He's not wrong, but it's still a cruel truth." [Cetilla] chided in.
"What do you think of this Cat's idea?" [Harpy Matriarch] asked while gesturing to Cetilla.
"Well, I certainly had no idea of what his intentions were until just moments ago. It's an interesting idea. The way I see it, this so-called 'Kingdom' of yours has been dead for at least 200 years and you're all still going about your lives hoping for a sudden change. Why not incite that change yourselves and see if it works? You surely have nothing to lose, as it's already been 200 years with little to no results leading to any relatively positive change." [Cetilla] said amusingly. To which, Nero nodded his head and brought his fist down to his other palm.
Oh! Nice save, Cetilla! You're getting extra Fish tomorrow for sure! Even if my plan is absolutely inhumane, this world plays out more like a game than anything else. These people all want to have their Kingdom one day recognized as an independent, totally fine place to be. That's great and all, but they need to up their anti if they hope to reach that within the next millennia based on this world's physics. Seriously.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
"Alright then, I have decided to see your plan through to the end. If this fails and results in nothing but death however, then I vow for the future Harpies to never again trust the likes of a so called 'True Halloween Cat'. Sound like a fair deal?" [Harpy Matriarch] jestingly said as if giving in.
"I would have it no other way. You're on! So, details of nests and population numbers please!" [Nero] said triumphantly.
And with that, the Harpy Matriarch gave me some rough estimates on the details. First off, the Bats roughly number around 160. Not bad. The Golems roughly number around 60. The Drakes roughly number around 40. The Slugs roughly number around 90, the Spiders around 20, and the One-Eyed Lizards around 100. The Harpies roughly number 400, but that's not relevant to our culling. They're already intelligent, so there's little point.
With these numbers, it's okay to capture 80 Bat Clansmen, detain 30 Golems, 20 Drakes, 45 Slugs, 10 Spiders, and 50 One-Eyed Lizards. I'm not going to lie, I was hoping for a larger field experiment to test on. There should still be plenty of evolution to go around though. The plan is to use the numbers of the Harpies as well as my Clansmen to detain the monsters one by one before leaving them in the 'deeper depths'. Apparently, there's this massive hole in the Chasm called the 'deeper depths' which is essentially just a massive pit. By throwing the two monsters of different kinds into the hole, we force them to fight and we stay near the edges of the hole to keep them inside. It's pretty ruthless, but effective.
Starting the plan, we first began to abduct the Slugs and One-Eyed Lizards because they seemed easiest. The One-Eyed Lizards seemed to dominate the Slugs, so... Sorry, Slugs. Due to that, we ended up only needing to grab one One-Eyed Lizard and it had evolved to Tier 4 from massacring the 45 Slugs. Slugs are now out of stock, sorry. The Tier 4 One-Eyed Lizard is now considerably large, and has a black stripe running down its back. It walks on all fours, and has a tail looking somewhat like a spike cannon ball. The rest of its scales are green. The eye is white. It seems to have at least slight intelligence, but I'm honestly worried. If that thing evolves into Tier 6 before learning to properly speak, this plan will be a failure. I can't handle Tier 7 monsters. Tier 6 would be a stretch with my limited Candy.
I nervously decided to begin feeding Drakes to the Tier 4 One-Eyed Lizard, it seems that the Drakes are definitely being stomped down. Hard. After about half an hour of fetching Drakes for the One-Eyed Lizard to Evolve, it finally happened. We now have a Tier 5 One-Eyed Lizard which is considerably larger and also has two stripes instead of one. It seems to have grown claws, and thankfully... It spoke. It's alive! I say that, but I'm probably the only one who can understand what it's saying. Thank you [Language Comprehension]!
With 4 Drakes remaining in stock and a whopping 49 One-Eyed Tier 1~2 Lizards, we decided to feed the extra One-Eyed Lizards to the Drakes. I say that, but only 1 Drake in particular. The Drake champion likes to headbutt the One-Eyed Lizards in the Eye, and that's all she wrote! Down for the count, the Drake proceeds to devour the lesser Lizards. Yep, it's a working feeding plan! Let's ride with it! After about an hour or two of feeding our Drake champion, it has evolved into Tier 4 and learned to speak. Wondrous. It only required 32 One-Eyed Lizards! We have spares! The Tier 4 Drake champion is blue in color and has sheer black eyes. It stands on two feet and has quite thick legs, with short arms. It looks like a mini T-Rex, with two horns on top of its head. Cool.
With 3 Drakes and 17 One-Eyed Tier Lizards as our now preferred food to spend as extras, I want to feed a Spider next. I'm particularly excited for this one, because Spiders were known to eat each other as well on Earth. When we run out of Drakes and One-Eyed Tier Lizards to feed it, we can just feed it the now weaker spare Spiders. There's one problem though. We'd only have Golems left afterwards. Will a Spider even eat a Golem? Yikes. I'm expecting the route to Arache to be quite far down the Spider Evolution path, so this very well may prove to be our final Champion. We might not even be able to run this one, everyone. It could be too powerful for me to deal with if it needs to Evolve that much.
On the other hand, if I tried to raise a Golem into an intellectual... I might just fail. It might never even gain its own will. I don't know. Scarecrows were capable of gaining emotions, but what about Golems? Scarecrows are a type of Golem, I think? In that frame of logic, it's probably for the best to try and evolve a Golem instead of a Spider. Spiders are fast. If we fail and Evolve one too far, there's a chance that it could even become faster than me. It could escape from this Chasm and very well become a disaster class monster. NOPE! No huge mutant Spiders today! Let's try a Golem.
Er... Would the Evolved Golem even have the guts to continue to slay weaker Golems? Okay! New plan! Let's try starting off with a Spider having killed all of the Golems except one, and then have that other Golem kill all of the other Spiders and spare food before challenging the Golem murdering Spider. May the best champion win! This feels reckless. I might very well not live to regret this.
No use thinking about it! Let's go! I made sure to inquire to the Harpy Matriarch about whether or not there were any similar holes to this one, and thankfully; yes. There's one. It's a bit smaller, but it's fine. We should actually start with Evolving the Golem first, because the Spider's going to be fast after Evolving. I'll need to chase the Spider possibly by immense brute force in order to get it into the Golem hole. I should try and weaken the Spider first, that way the Golem who has eaten a considerably smaller number of monsters can stand a fair chance. Yosh!
Laying out the current plan for how to almost raise a monster only to transfer that power to a more suitable ally, we began almost immediately. Everyone else seemed kind of terrified, but it's my Clansmen who will be standing up to the Spider. Really, they have nothing to fear for themselves. Starting with the Golem, I'm led to a startling discovery. By nature, the Spiders obliterate the Golems. Dammit! It's this soon into the plan and I already need to intervene to make the Golems capable of surviving?!
Okay, this time I had my Tier 5 Scarecrows brutally hold down the Tier 2 Spider in a pin so that the Golem could nervously devour the Spider. It doesn't want to walk near the Tier 5 Scarecrows, so I guess I'll need to get even more involved. I had my Crows claw at the Spider until it was nearly dead, and then left it in the hole with the Golem. Sure enough, the Golem killed it. Yay!
Following this method, it took a considerable amount of time but after about three hours, the Golem is now Tier 4! It's a really big Golem, if I'm being honest. It's probably 40% bigger than Mr. Scarecrow. Maybe it just looks that way because it's bulky. I don't know. Regardless, it's time to begin with the Spider plan. After kidnapping the lesser Spider, we began throwing in the Golems as fast as we could. I have my Clansmen all emitting haki atop the hole so that the Spider won't approach. It seems to be working. The Spider lays waste to the Golems without trouble.
Every time that a new Golem is added to the pit, the Spider jumps on it and entangles it in thread before biting into it. It's masterful work, and I'm quite frightened for my time to shine which is quickly approaching. You guys are expecting me to handle that thing?! Just what is that thing?! Yikes. I signed up for this. Okay. After a measly 30 minutes, the Spider had finished slaying all of the Golems. It's my time to go lay a beat down and drag the nearly dead spider to my chosen champion. This game show might be rigged in favor of Golems, or it might be rigged in favor of a Spider escaping this Chasm and becoming a catastrophe level monster. Who knows?!
The Spider is currently Tier 6, one whole Evolution above any of my Clansmen. It's a furred Spider, with light yellow fur that have varying sized black spots speckled all over. The Spider is about the size of Mr Scarecrow, and I'm honestly fearful for my life right now. There's a chance that this Spider may very well Evolve into an Arachne if properly fed the Golem champion, because this Spider now clearly has fur. I have never witnessed an Arachne without fur, but there's also a chance that this Spider will still need several Evolutions to become an Arachne. It's already out of my league, so I can't freaking risk it, bro!
I say that it's out of my league, but I have one possible solution to this problem. I have a trump card, baby! If I can use my trump card called [10 Minute Makeover], investing even just half of my MP to gain perfect level 60 clothes then I can probably survive the attacks of this Spider monster. What I'm most afraid of is whether or not I will be able to avoid its threads, as well as actually deal considerable damage to the Spider. If I punch it and it's totally fine, then I'm screwed! Nowadays, Mr Scarecrow can deal more damage than me, but I can have higher resistance by far if I use [10 Minute Makeover].
Since it lasts for 10 Minutes, if I can sit down and relax for a little while before actually stepping into the ring, then I can recover some of the spent MP from using [Enhanced Meditating+1]. With [Barrier+1], all of my MP turns into HP and the Barrier fits close around me bending to my movements; so it's a good strategy for me to use before the battle. Okay! With my newfound resolve, I had all of my weaker Clansmen return to Halloween. We won't be needing weak hitters for this one. We need resistance and damage, baby! Everyone! Get into positions! I'll distract it while you deal the damage! Knock that fool out but don't kill it! If I get entangled in threads, White Wolf Lady; I will count on your [Flame Paws] to incinerate the threads! Yosh!
Going with my plan, I was shocked to find just how effective [10 Minute Makeover] truly was. My outfit? I'm currently dressed up in a plump Cow costume in which my face sticks out of the mouth spot. There's no pink nose for the Cow, instead it's me. Looking at my status currently, it's unbelievable. It would probably take me years to achieve these stats from [Disguise+2]. The Spider tried to jump on my Barrier, but I barely received any damage at all. It spun its thread on my Barrier, which might have slowed me down; but [Flame Paws] truly did come in handy. Threads just suck against fire, I guess. Luckily, my M. DEF. is too amped to even notice the flames. I'm currently punching the Spider, and it's working okay. My punches dont seem to deal much damage, but it is in fact damage. INT is my specialty, and it's amazing; but I truly appreciate the small STR bonuses probably granted by being a sub-class Tamer. When the Spider sinks its fangs into the edge of my Barrier, I proceed to grapple it by the pincers as if to hold it still. Meanwhile, Mr. Scarecrow and his potential abomination of a lover thrash at it from the sides.
White Wolf Lady is staying a bit to the sidelines in case her [Flame Paws] are needed. It's great having intelligent Clansmen. I can get used to this. Nevertheless, the night is coming to an end. I can feel it because there's flashing light emitting from my Lantern. It's signalling that the tides are about to turn. Yikes! Could you come at a worse time, day?! Seemingly noticed the change of situation, my high level Crows which were originally watching in case anything happened returned to Halloween to save our power. Good. White Wolf Lady picked up on that and returned as well. Okay. I guess we'll just need to manage.
If things go south, I can call her out again when needed;. That way I can save MP from just having her out all the time. The Scarecrow couple are still clearly needed though, so they're continuing to Thrash. Around 15 minutes later, the Spider let out a cry and attempted to shake me off by jerking its body to the side. No dice, you're mine! Another 5 minutes of desperately trying to keep my grip on the Spider's pincers while the Spider struggled to remove its fangs from the edges of my Barrier... Seemingly unsure of whether to continue trying or to attempt escape, it finally collapsed. It's not dead, for I have not leveled up. It is probably quite hurt though.
I decided to have my Scarecrows throw it out of the pit and proceed to carry the wounded Spider back to the pit with a waiting Golem. After a considerable amount of time, the Tier 4 Golem monster managed to slay the unconscious and deeply wounded Tier 6 Spider monster. Yup. What would indeed have never occurred in a natural environment happened on this fateful morning. A Tier 6 Weeping Angel was born and I would know, because after having inspected it... It was indeed a Halloween Clansmen. The Tier 6 Weeping Angel looks like a statue of a woman, but she has angel wings and is constantly crying. She is freaking huge! She's probably twice the size of Mr Scarecrow, and it was a wonder why she even chose to serve me... Seeing as how she's a whopping two Tiers above any of my other Clansmen. She can speak, and she honestly sounds like she's weeping whenever she does. Her status is as followed:
Name: Unnamed Monster
Race: Weeping Angel (Halloween)
Class: Siren
Tier: 6
MP: 579/704
P. DEF: 70
M. DEF: 150
STR: 32
INT: 320
DEX: 16
LUK: 48
AGI: 16
Titles:
[Stone Man+1], [Siren's Call], [Halloween Clansmen]
Abilities Learned:
[Stone Smash+1], [Pebble Storm], [Weeping Scream], [Return to Halloween]
Thankfully, she isn't too hungry. Having forcefully raised three new superior monsters from the ground up with our own hands, Harpy Matriarch seems to be more understanding of my methods now. Think about it this way. Currently in the Lost Kingdom, most leaders of packs are roughly Tier 3 to 4. We just helped bring about a Tier 4 monster, a Tier 5 monster, and a Tier 6 monster in one single night. Sure, it cost the lives of a couple hundred other monsters... But these three new monsters are all intelligent individuals which could massively change the future outcome of this Kingdom.
It's like three new monsters hailing from the Lost Kingdom who each hold the power to lead separate sections of the Lost Kingdom have now arrived from the origins of races which would normally never actually ended up with any considerable position within the Lost Kingdom. These 3 monsters now represent the other half of their brethren who currently reside in this Chasm. It's a massive win.
With these guys, we gain the potential to actually unify a large population of this Chasm. The Weeping Angel can communicate and lead the lesser Golems. The Tier 4 blue Drake monster with sheer black eyes can communicate and lead the lesser Drakes. The Tier 5 green One-Eyed Lizard monster with black stripes can communicate and lead the lesser One-Eyed Lizards. I say communicate and lead, but they don't actually need to stay here and can join us in regulating the ecosystem from afar.
Honestly though, even if the morning has commenced and I'm exhausted beyond mention... I'm still not done yet. I have one last thing to do in this Chasm before I leave. There are a considerable number of Bat monsters here and I need to know if they're potential Clansmen. There are roughly 160 of them, so I've signed on to try and capture roughly 80. I must say that I'm impressed with the intel gathered by the Harpy Matriarch. She was able to give accurate estimates on all of the populace on the spot. I don't even think that the Goblin Chief could have given that information. It might be easier to gather information in an enclosed space such as this Chasm though to be fair.
After arriving where the Bats live, it seems they all sleep on parts of the ceiling; huddled together. How cute. This works out nicely though, because I can just try and capture small parts of the ceiling until I've obtained 80. Nice. They're indeed Clansmen. If they weren't, I was going to need to cull them myself. Going with that plan, I began introducing myself to each of the huddled clusters of Bat creatures one by one. Performing a similarly extravagant entry on each occasion, Cetilla seems impressed with my role play. Haaah~ I know...I know...you want my autograph~
It took me about half an hour to obtain 86 Bats, they generally didn't want to join me because they were tired. I had to visit a considerable number of clusters. I think about half of them joined me each time. Looking at the number of clusters though, I can't help but feel as though the intel underestimated the number of Bats. It can't really be helped though, they do huddle up close after all. Before I left, I made sure to return to the Harpy Village to talk to the Matriarch.
I told her that I claimed some Bats as Clansmen, and that she was more than welcome to come travel to the Goblin Village anytime, even giving away the location. I explained that if she wanted to spare some time to help with gathering intel on the surface, I would greatly appreciate it. And with that, we parted ways. She had some of her Harpies help carry the Tier 4 Drake and Tier 5 One Eyed Lizard to the surface, to which they would join us on our journey to the Goblin Village.
Because I'm the only one capable of speaking to the two monsters, they have been entrusted in my care. I'm honestly excited about having two monsters not related to my cult within my party, so I'm happy! Now I can sleep with even more ease of mind! It all went well~ No catastrophe level monsters breaking out on this fine morning! Ensuring that I used [Daily Candy] on the way back, eating some spare Fish that we had brought along, the journey back took an exhausting 2 hours on foot. I was actually flying beside everyone with Cetilla on my Broom, but I needed to go at their own pace because I'm the only one who actually knows the route to the Goblin Village. I could probably easily have just told them to go north, but that wouldn't have been very considerate of me.
While arriving at the hut, everyone in the Village had been giving me strange looks. It seems that a considerable crowd of Goblins had gathered. Even Bloody Jester is awake and avidly gazing as if demanding an explanation. Jeez, you guys. I'm tired, can we do this later? No? Fine. First, let me just use [Soul Merge] on the Bats so that I can give more articulate results. Menu! The results of merging the Bats were one Tier 5 Bat, two Tier 2 Bats and one Tier 1 Bat. Quickly checking their stats before making my explanation and calling upon the Tier 5 Bat and Tier 6 Weeping Angel to return from Halloween temporarily~
Name: Unnamed Monster
Race: Bat (Halloween)
Class: Phantom
Tier: 5
MP: 42/352
P. DEF: 60
M. DEF: 60
STR: 16
INT: 160
DEX: 8
LUK: 8
AGI: 24
Titles:
[Bloodfiend+1], [Halloween Clansmen]
Abilities Learned:
[Leech Bite+1], [Aerial Maneuvers], [Paralyzing Shriek], [Return to Halloween]
Name: Unnamed Monster
Race: Bat(x2) (Halloween)
Class: Phantom
Tier: 2
MP: 12/176, 9/176
P. DEF: 30
M. DEF: 30
STR: 8
INT: 80
DEX: 4
LUK: 4
AGI: 12
Titles:
[Bloodfiend], [Halloween Clansmen]
Abilities Learned:
[Leech Bite], [Aerial Maneuvers], [Return to Halloween]
Name: Unnamed Monster
Race: Bat (Halloween)
Class: Phantom
Tier: 1
MP: 8/88
P. DEF: 15
M. DEF: 15
STR: 4
INT: 40
DEX: 2
LUK: 2
AGI: 6
Titles:
[Bloodfiend], [Halloween Clansmen]
Abilities Learned:
[Leech Bite], [Return to Halloween]
"I ventured deep into the Chasms, met with the Harpies and discovered that they had been keeping 6 lesser races safe and balancing a smaller ecosystem in the depths of those very Chasms. Having come to an arrangement with the Harpies, we decided that it would be best if we tried to inadvertently cull the population of those lesser races in order to make way for a few more elite monsters hailing from the Lost Kingdom to be born. This Tier 4 Drake, Tier 5 One-Eyed Lizard, Tier 6 Weeping Angel, and Tier 5 Bat are the results of the population culled. We ensured that around half of each race is still alive, so that their ecosystem would continue to thrive. These 4 greater monsters are now each intelligent, and can actually communicate. While saying so, many of us probably won't understand the Tier 4 Drake, Tier 5 One-Eyed Lizard, or the Tier 5 Bat's language. The Tier 6 Weeping Angel seems to speak in common tongue, however. Now, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight!" [Nero] explained calculatingly before returning his Clansmen to Halloween and going to sleep without taking any questions. Immediately before passing out, he placed his new Candy down.