Frӧst grip on his sword was getting weaker as the monster’s face was getting closer and closer, and its stinky breath didn’t make the situation any more pleasant.

Knowing full well that he was losing this battle of attrition, Frӧst searched through his inventory for something useful. His eyes darted around as his brain spurn around in search of a solution.

The boss opened its mouth wide, ready to finish off the cornered intruder under it. But what it swallowed wasn’t its weak adversary, but a round object. However the slimey monster didn’t care about that. It still had more to eat…

A gurgle came from inside it. The boss stopped for a moment. It felt as if… Then a sizzling pain came from its insides. The creature shaked violently, falling on the ground during its struggle.

Meanwhile Frӧst sneaked out from under the boss when it started to flail around. His hands were trembling as he really thought that he wasn’t going to make it. However he became surprised as a new notification appearedbefore his eyes.

A component in the Tear Bomb reacted with the void element of Chtonic Emissary - Layla, dealing 83 damage.

He was only hoping to distract the boss for a bit, but unfortunately the bomb slipped from his goo-stained hand, as it ended inside the monster’s mouth instead of the ground. But it seemed like it was a blessing instead.

It was unfortunate that back then he only made two of them for a lack of ingredients and the one he just used was the last one.

Frӧst waved away all of the annoying notifications detailing his Hp loss after chugging down a Low-Health potion, the most quick and straightforward way to recover health.

There were Mid-Health and High-Health potions, however they were a rare find at the start of the game, and those few NPCs that sold them in the cities were overpricing them. He didn’t want to go broke over an Health potion, so he never even thought of buying one.

The potion recovered his Hp to full, and the boss was still flailing on the ground. He might not have any more Tear Bombs, but he could still poke the monster the old way.

With his sword ready, he threw himself against the squirming creature. Its purple markings blinked as they moved around all over the boss body, at times looking as if they were the ones feeling the pain.

Suddendly, a gelatinous limb shot out towards Frӧst’s dimming lamp. It tightly gripped it as it shoot it back towards itself. Frӧst felt a weak pulling force towards the boss, as it soon was cut off, and him like a tight string cut loose was bounced back. He opened his inventory, and as he thought, the lamp had disappeared from his inventory.

Normally, a rechargable item like the alchemical lamp would be returned to the inventory, exhausted of its energy. Now however, the item had completely disappeared. As if he never had bought one in the first place.

He had never heard of something similar happen before.

It was dark, but he could hear clearly the struggle of the boss becoming less and less. He didn’t know what was happening, but getting closer to it to deal a bit more damage didn’t sound like a great idea.

Then, the lamp was crushed. Frӧst could hear the mashing of the magical prism as the boss kept moving the fragments around. Then, Crinch. Something similar to munching sounds could be heard. As the creature had absorbed the lamp with its body, munching wasn’t certainly the best term. But it certainly looked like that as the purple marking stopped pulsating the more the creature ‘ate’ what remained of it.

Slowly he backed off. Fortunately the boss didn’t seem to pay him any mind, the lamp must have been a very tasty treat.

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Now in the dark, unable to see anything, Frӧst focused on the noises. Aside from his poor lamp getting eaten, he couldn’t hear anything else.

He really wanted to find that damned granny so he could give her a taste of her own medicine. How could she leave him fighting the boss alone!?

Soon the crunching stopped. Frӧst held his breath. He was scared that even a little noise would attract the boss again. Squelch. There was some movement as the purple markings weren’t lit up anymore. Blurb. Frӧst tighned his grip on the sword as cold sweat dripped down. Splarch. There were some slimey sounds and then silence.

An akward silence. It permeated the place with oppressive force for a long while. It could’ve been seconds, it could’ve been minutes for all he knew. The young player was starting to get cramps from keeping his position. “K-ack!” A suppressed cry was heard not far from his left. Then the slimey boss rushed towards the sound. He felt relieved. At least he could get a break now.

ᴥᴥᴥ ≈ ° ≈ ᴥᴥᴥ

Tacha didn’t dare to move around. As the boss didn’t have a nice luminous distraction in front of it anymore, she was unsure if she was going to be its target next. Tacha kept her ears open, and she could hear some kind of mashing. Did the boss kill the other guy? Maybe that was why there wasn’t any fighting sound.

Silence reigned supreme for a while. However Tacha didn’t have that much time to waste around by waiting. So she kept exploring the chamber, hoping to not make too much noise.

As she was walking with a hand on the wall, weakness enveloped her body, making her kneel over. “K-ack!” She almost let out a groan, but quickly stopped herself.

The Voidblight has grown worse.

All stats decreased by 5.

Hp will decrease by 6 every 15 seconds.

Corruption is starting to take root.

However it was too late, as she heard the heavy steps of the boss rushing towards her. As she lifted her head to look in that direction, golden bright pupils looked at her menancingly.

Even though it was pitch black, those irises could be seen clearly, as if they had completely absorbed the light that they seeked so much.

The two had a staring contest, but soon the golden eyed monster looked away, as if there was nothing to fight there. Tacha kept staring at it as it slowly got away, those purple markings of it blinking in and out of the darkness.

It was good for her as she was now too weak to even put up a fight. But she couldn’t shake off that dreadful feeling that crept up her heart after she had locked sights with those golden eyes.

Among the darkness, she could hear faint whispers, gibberish that made way into her ears. She waved her hand around, as if she was chasing off mosquitos, the buzzing not diminishing in the slightest. Then something passed by her, and a feeling of something creeping up to her, overwhelmed her.

It was suffocating.

Her eyes unfocused, and yet she could clearly feel, she could clearly see that pair of gold eyes looking at her. Or those aren’t the boss’?

A clear ringing sound echoed in her mind as her eyes focused on the latest notification.

You are under the effect of a mental attack.

Will check.

Value is lower than 86.

You have succumbed to the Mirage status.

Corruption is interfering. Mirage is reacting.

Your senses have been affected.

Moonblessing has been activated.

A Blight status was prevented.

She didn’t even realize that she was on the ground, her cheeks kissing the slimey floor. She got back up, her head spinning a bit. Maybe it was the after effects of the Mirage status.

As she checked all of the notifications, she thanked her luck in finding Lumashir’s necklance earlier. Without it she would’ve probably died without knowing how.

But still…

How could she get a Blight status effect? Didn’t she already have it? Then, were there more than one? A chill ran through her as she thought about it. If they were all terrible as the one she already had, then getting more than one at the same time was simply asking to die.

But Tacha now had a more pressing problem to think about. As her Hp were quickly decreasing, which of her mystery dishes was she going to eat?