Gi and Poe headed back up the mountain, the two of them ensconced in his [Concealing Light] skill. As they dodged or pushed through the crowd, it swelled. The sounds of the various monsters calling their wears created a small symphony of chaos next to the occasional fight or murder. The wares themselves were surprisingly vast as well, weapons and armor, trinkets, medicine, bedding, and of course, food. The smells reaching Gi's nose were incredible and caused his stomach to growl with each new dish that he passed. Trying not to get distracted like he often did, he whispered to Poe.

"Can you share me your abilities again?"

Name: Poe

Race: Empathetic Dragonfly (Scoundrel - E)

Job: Rogue

Level: 0

Stats

Strength - E

Agility - E+

Vitality - F+

Wisdom - G

Traits:

Subordinate (from Boss Gi)

Flight

Web Shot

Trait Skills:

Minor Telepathy (Inherited)

Size Matters Not

Multi-Tool

Skills:

Sneak

Skullduggery

Sleight of Hand

It took Gi a second to figure out by sending mental requests to the system, but [Minor Telepathy] appeared to be his [Empathy] skill upgraded. [Size Matters Not] was the [Strength Boost] and [Multi-Tool] was his [Grappling Hook]. Other than [Size Matters Not] which still had the strength increase and added a size change function, most of Poe's abilities had moved more to utility or not been upgraded at all. [Multi-Tool] sounded like he could use his second jaw as an improvised tool of sorts which would blend well with [Skullduggery] a catch all for mischievous acts.

Not a lot of help in a fight though.

"Thanks," he said. From how long he'd been able to hold it when they fell, growing to a bigger size took a lot of energy. With that and [Web Shot], he might be able to get some help out in a pinch, but he couldn't expect more than that. The two of them continued onward, searching for their quarry, when the trade area started to shift. There were more buildings similar to the library further down, but these were anything but uniform. Some were only as big as a shed, but still had the russet brick that he'd first seen in the Fort. Many of them seemed to just be nicer shops, but one of them really stuck out as strange to him. Gi stepped to the side to study the strange building.

It was a long building and deep, not quite as big as the library had been, but close. The strangest part was a row of three glass tubes on the outside that reminded him of the spawning room except these weren't connected to any fancy machines. Each of these tubes contained a slime of various shades and the tubes would occasionally open on the side against the building for the slime to hop inside. Ten to fifteen minutes later, it would hop back into the tube.

As he tried to figure out what was going on, his eyes caught on a trio that was approaching more slowly than the rest of the crowd - the hound, the goblin, and the leaf monster.

"It's time," Gi said to Poe and then angled himself out of the wind that blew in off the water. Getting a clear shot, he aimed at the hound and paused. It sniffed the air as it walked, its chest heaving with each whiff. This monster was alive- just like him. Is this really what Danna wanted? She'd taken in the dopey follower and even himself. Could he really just kill another being even if they were a monster?

Another vision came from Danna.

They dopey follower was much younger in this vision, the youngest that he'd ever seen, and again Danna was nowhere to be found. He crouched over a toilet clutching a small shoebox to his chest. Tears openly streamed down the small child's face, but they didn't deter The Father who loomed over him. In fact, they just seemed to make him angrier.

"Why are you crying?"

"I-I don't... My g-goldfish... I can't-"

"You can't?" The Father's voice was laced with a chill of rage that seemed to just border on the edge of violence. This younger version of the Father with more auburn than grey in his hair was decidedly less controlled than the other iteration Gi had seen. "Then next time don't pour fucking soap into the aquarium, you dumbass."

"I-I-I was just t-trying to clean i-it."

"Well, you murdered it instead. Now man up." The Father ripped the lid off the box and there lay a small goldfish unmoving in a small wet stain on the cardboard. The dopey follower started crying anew. "You did that. It's not alive anymore because of you so take some responsibility for your actions for once and get rid of the damn thing."

The little follower tried to choke back his tears, but was unsuccessful as he slowly tipped the cardboard box over the toilet. The lifeless goldfish flopped into the toilet and lay unmoving on the surface of the water. The child couldn't look at the Father and instead stared at the goldfish that was dead by his hand.

"Now flush it." The follower couldn't argue. He couldn't do anything to defend himself as he knew the Father was right. He was always right. He pressed the lever down on the toilet and his first pet circled the bowl before disappearing. The Father tsked. "You'll never achieve anything with that soft heart. Kill it now and maybe you'll be useful one day."

The vision faded as the Father left the room and Gi returned back to the raucous market. The hound was almost past him at this point and if he didn't take the shot soon, he'd lose it. Kill my heart and be useful, Gi thought. If I do that, I can be strong enough to protect my new family. My new clan. He felt like he finally understood what Danna wanted from him. Light burst from his finger, each bolt embedding itself directly into the hound's skull. It didn't even have a chance to yelp before it flopped to the side just as dead as the follower's goldfish.

Sensory Hound defeated!

1 Soul Orb received. Current Soul Orbs: 2.

Gi's resolve wavered and he paused just a second too long. With his attack, [Concealing Light] had winked out and the goblin was swinging his giant sword towards him. Not wanting to die, he rolled forward underneath the wide blow which smashed into a building getting stuck in the side. Werewolf guards poured out of it to deal with the offending goblin, but Gi didn't have time to watch what happened because the leaf monster was already on him.

A branch-like limb struck him in the face, knocking him into a goblin that was tied with a rope to a giant preying mantis. The mantis swung down at both him and the leaf monster, but both of them were able to dodge and the attack gave him just enough space to activate [Celerity]. Gi dove across the street towards the tube building, looking to hide so he could reactivate [Concealing Light]. The leaf monster wouldn't let him though.

It closed the gap perhaps even faster than it had above. A flurry of blows from its bushy exterior shot out towards Gi. He managed to block one and dodge another, but he only had half as many arms as the attacking monster so a blow got through on his weak side. Strength clearly wasn't its strong suit, but it hit hard enough for him to stumble, tripping over an errant monster. Gi recovered quickly, but now he was on the ground scurrying backwards away from the leaf monster's continued assault.

The internal cooldown on his [Divine Bolt] came up and he sprayed out the three-shot burst towards, his bolts following as his opponent dodged. The first one singed its leaves a bit, but the next two missed as it kicked off the strange building from before. Gi's third bolt actually blasted through one of the glass tubes, killing one of the weak slimes there instantly.

More guards, including a monster that looked like a wereferret wearing armor, joined in. All of them radiated danger. Thankfully, they were after both of Gi and the leaf monster which gave him enough time to drop behind a slime filled glass tube and activate [Concealing Light]. From all the monsters getting enraged by their fight, Gi wanted to just escape, but his eyes caught the goblin who'd been shredded by the werewolf guards from before with his sword still stuck in the building. That only left the leaf monster alive.

Clearly not wanting to fight the angry mob they'd created, the leaf monster sprinted off down the mountain back through the trade tents that Gi had just left behind. Gi followed, but without activating [Celerity], he wasn't able to close the distance. The two of them ran for several minutes, passing the library before the leaf monster finally stopped, collapsing against a rocky cliff face between a couple of trade tents. Gi did the same across the street though he was still in [Concealing Light]. Poe had waited patiently on his shoulder this whole time, trying to make himself as small as possible.

Gi checked his internal energy and it was getting close to depletion. [Concealing Light] didn't take a lot to maintain, but activating it wore him down significantly. His stamina also seemed to affect either his regeneration of that resource or it also caused it to deplete as well. He wasn't sure.

He'd need to try and end this.

Raising his finger, he shot out another burst. Just as the first shot fired, the leaf monster twitched. [Concealing Light] actually dropped just before he launched the [Divine Bolt]. It wasn't enough time to dodge the first bolt though. A beam of light embedded itself in the leaf monster and stuck there. It let out a little squeal and rolled to the side to avoid the rest of Gi's barrage.

"Shit." It seemed to have figured out the timing on Gi's attacks and charged him directly. It was Gi's turn to run. He jumped backwards to avoid an attack and fell into a stall of coconuts that spilled out across the street. A gorilla monster roared at his disturbed product, but he wasn't sticking around to battle the monster. He fled down the mountain further and the leaf monster continued giving chase. Gi's breath was labored, but he couldn't afford to stop or turn off [Celerity]. That meant he'd only have one shot at this.

The leaf monster continued its pursuit until the trade tents fell away and were replaced by a huge open section of the mountain that was swarmed with the small hives that he'd seen earlier. They were everywhere. Some stacked on top of each other so their height was close to the next trade tier of Igna. Others completely split or blocked the road, creating new twisting turns within the mountain. Almost all of them had a single red curtain over the entrance. After only a couple turns Gi was starting to get lost, but his [Divine Bolt] finally returned.

He slid to a stop and spun around. The leaf monster, as agile as it was, halted before getting too close. Gi would have to close in and get these shots off in melee range if he wanted to win this. The leaf monster was just way too fast.

Gi pulled his rock out again, but didn't charge yet. "Poe," he whispered. "Fly up and see if you can get an enlarged web shot on it."

Poe nodded and whispered back, "Poe fighting," before launching into the air. Having caught its own breath, the leaf monster shot forward. This time, however, it didn't throw punches at him. It leapt and stomped only a couple feet away from him and roots shot outward. Gi attempted to dodge backwards, but the roots grabbed him and he fell instead.

"Now, Poe!" His shout might have telegraphed the move too much as Poe's web splatted against the ground as the leaf monster spun around. The move did release the roots from its control and they stopped writhing to ensnare him. It didn't mean he wasn't stuck though. The leaf monster dashed in and Gi whipped his finger around. Without waiting, the leaf monster flipped over him, dodging an attack that Gi had never fired. Gi followed its arc with his finger and fired just as it landed.

All three bolts embedded in its center adding up to five scorched holes in its body. It gave a skittering screech and stumbled, but to Gi's horror, it righted itself and stumbled over to where Gi was still wrapped up in its roots. He yanked at them desperately, trying to free himself, but he just wasn't fast enough.

"Poe fighting!" Poe shouted as he dove onto the monster's head and started chewing on its upper branches, but it had little effect. It raised up its branchy arm and slashed down onto Gi's chest, cutting him right in the opening on his robe. He cried out, trying to pull himself away from its range, as blood drizzled freely through his fur. It rose up for another attack and suddenly halted. It shook uncontrollably for a moment, squealing with a level of panic that Gi had yet to hear from it. Its mental voice shouted out even louder.

NO, PLEASE! I DIDN'T HURT YO-

It was cut off as a deep ripping sound was heard and the bush monster parted, leaving a familiar blue goblin holding its two halves. The goblins arms had swollen to an incredible amount but they deflated right before his eyes and he dropped both halves of the bush monster to pool in its own sticky bloodlike sap. It was the goblin that had been guarding the gate at the Fort. The blue goblin stared down at him with an angry glare, but didn't actually say anything.

Why would he save me? Gi felt genuinely confused by the goblin's reaction, but not enough to not feel gratitude. "Thank you. I was... in a rough spot." Gi drastically undersold the danger he was in and avoided looking at the ripped leaf monster. The goblin replied with a simple "hrmph" and then leaned down to rip off the roots that had ensnared him. The goblin started to walk away, but stopped and turned his head with the same distasteful expression.

"Well, come on then."

Then he turned to walk further down the mountain. Without a lot of other options, Gi followed.