Chapter 3:
Toes!
Mongo hates toes! They scare him, but he doesn’t remember why. All he knows is that toes are his worst nightmare, and here they were, coming straight at him very quickly.
~
Upon waking up Mongo looked around, still frightened by the toes earlier. He looked off into the distance and he finally saw what was making the giant footprints. There were tiny people with big beards, but that wasn't what was scary.
They only had one leg! And with only one leg came giant feet!
Mongo couldn’t think straight because of the fear. He was usually much smarter than this. Mongo decided that the best course of action right now would be to find somewhere to hide, so he went towards a river that he came across and started covering himself in mud. He laid down next to the river in hopes of blending in with the surroundings.
[You have learned a skill- Camouflage]
~ The Next Day ~
Dean, Jordan, George, and Alex made their way towards the dungeon. The college roommates all survived the first day of the apocalypse. They figured out that the apocalypse was pretty similar to a video game, and they were all pretty good at those, so they assumed they could do well for themselves. The first day only proved them right, so instead of letting the monsters come to them, they decided they would take charge today.
Nearing the portal, Dean said to the others, “Okay guys, before we enter this dungeon we need to make a game plan. I am a mage and I have multiple healing skills along with this staff we got yesterday, so I will be in the back.”
“I will take the frontlines and hold argo with my taunt skill,” said Alex, holding a greatsword on his shoulder, “George, use the bow you just found to deal some damage from afar. Jordan, you can just stay back and try not to die.”
“Shut up, Alex, I can handle myself fine,” said Jordan, holding two daggers.
With that, the four made their way into the portal, ready to fight at any given moment.
They emerged on the other side and looked around cautiously, assuming that they would get into a fight immediately.
[You have entered Monopod Valley dungeon]
[Please kill the following to clear the dungeon-]
[Monopod (0/50)]
[Monopod (Elite)(0/5)]
[Monopod Leader (Rare)(0/1)]
“Monopods? What are monopods?” asked George.
“Well ‘mono’ means one, right? What is ‘pod’ though?” Dean continued.
“Based on the word ‘tripod’, which has three legs, I would assume that this means one leg, but that doesn’t really make sense. Wouldn’t a snake be a monopod then?” said Alex.
“Well, no,” answered Jordan, “since I think it implies that it has separation from its leg and the other parts of its body. A snake would just be all legs if it was a monopod, so I don’t think we are fighting snakes.”
“All this jargon is making my head hurt,”said Dean, “so let’s just go find one and figure it out once we kill it.”
“Yeah.”
“Alright.”
“Sounds good.”
The four then set off into the valley to find the monopods. Strangely, however, there were none to be seen even after walking around for over 10 minutes. It was definitely strange, but no one said anything about it.
“Wait guys, I think I hear something,” Jordan said. They all quieted down to try to listen. “I think it’s water splashing around. And like a whimper of sorts, maybe?”
They immediately set off in that direction. Just a short walk later, they came upon a stream. Towards the bottom of the stream was something that can only be described as a monstrosity.
First of all it had one massive human-like foot, except that the foot was almost 3 feet long, and instead of 5 toes like a normal foot, there were 9 toes with the middle toe looking like a big toe, and the others moving down on each side like a normal foot has. Apart from the feet, or foot, their bodies were not too different from a human, besides that it was almost 10 feet tall. Their faces were also warped and funky looking. Nothing major, but everything about it seemed to be a little off.
“That’s a monopod?” said Alex. “It’s disgusting. It’s like a failed version of humans.”
“Yeah I can see what you mean,” said George, “but maybe don’t relate them to humans when we are here to kill them?”
“...nooo…”
“Did you guys hear that?” said Jordan. “I think I just heard something say no.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” said Alex, “but I really wanna go kill those things right now. They gross me out so let's go.”
“Alright whatever, maybe I was hearing things,” said Jordan. “Yeah let’s go.”
They came across one monopod that was separated from the rest and saw that it was sleeping so they decided to kill it in its sleep. Being as quiet as possible, Alex snuck up to it, greatsword in hand, prepared to slice off its head in one go. He hoisted up the sword and then swung it down on it’s neck. They all got the same notification a moment later.
[You have killed Monopod Lv.15]
[You have earned 225 XP]
After killing the separated monopod, the four started walking along the side of the river trying to slowly approach the monopods so as to not alert them. As they were walking Alex tripped over something and fell on his face.
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“Owwww.”
“Owww.”
“What was that?” said Alex. “Did one of you guys say ow as well?”
“No.”
“Nah.”
“Nope.”
Suddenly the mud that Alex tripped over started moving.
“You hurt Mongo.”
“Ahh what?!?”
“Is that a monster?”
“Ruin Mongo hide spot.”
“Are you Mongo?” asked Dean. The thing shook its head up and down. Now that it was sitting up, it looked like a buff mud monster, but it was talking to them, and it wasn’t hostile so they continued questioning it. “What were you hiding for?”
“Mongo hate toes.”
Before any of them could respond, George brought them all into a huddle. “Guys, is this thing an NPC? I’m not getting any system notifications, but maybe there is a hidden quest that we can complete to earn its trust or loyalty. This thing looks pretty strong.”
“Ohh maybe it is, but what should we do to try and complete it?” said Dean.
“Let’s ask,” and they broke their huddle.
“Mongo do you have anything you want us to do or help you with?”
“Help kill toes. Toes bad.”
“Okay do you want us to kill toes or to help you kill toes?”
“Help Mongo.”
“Okay then Mongo let’s go kill toes.”
“Okay! Yay! New friends help Mongo!”
“Guys I think we are on the right track,” whispered Jordan, “Just a little more and we can have our own monster to help us fight.”
The four let Mongo lead the way towards the monopod they killed and showed Mongo.
“You killed toes?”
“Yeah Mongo, we killed toes. See? It’s not that scary,” said Alex.
“Mongo not scared now. Mongo is strongo.”
With that they led him towards the other monopods, wanting to see what he could do in battle. After making within 100 feet of the rest, they all stopped.
“Okay Mongo what is the plan?” said George.
Mongo did not stop however. Instead he sped up and started jogging.
“Friends go! ARGGHHH!”
“I guess no plan then,” said Alex, “Let’s go!”
Mongo started speeding up more though.
“How is this guy so fast?” said Jordan, who had the highest speed stat among them but was still falling behind.
Mongo got there first, and instead of going for the head, Mongo went for the one knee that the closest monopod had, and it caved in and went the other direction. Before the monopod had time to scream, Mongo threw another fist and obliterated its skull.
“What is this thing? Wasn’t it scared of toes, and didn’t want to fight them? What happened?” asked Alex. “Wait if this keeps up he’s gonna take all out XP! Quick guys get some attacks in before he kills them!”
Unfortunately, they were just two slow. By the time they made it to the first dead monopod, Mongo was already 50 feet ahead going on a rampage. He was killing them faster than they could run to keep up with him.
“Mongo, slow down!”
“Mongo, wait!”
Mongo did not hear them and was too busy on his killing rampage. A stroke of good luck came to them however, as one had snuck past Mongo and was making its way towards them. It was jumping up and down on its leg, each jump bringing it easily 30 feet into the air.
As soon as the monopod got within range, George released an arrow, accurately hitting its neck, but unable to pierce through. Seeing how that didn’t work, George decided to change his strategy.
Aiming again, George shot at it right as it landed in between jumps, and his arrow hit its mark, going right underneath the toenail of its big toe. The monopod stopped jumping and stood in place, wailing in pain.
“Dude, not cool,” said Dean.
“Yeah that was a bit too mean, dontcha think?” said Jordan.
“Good enough for me,” said Alex as he charged over with his great sword.
As soon as Alex got there he swung his great sword down on its knee, following the same strategy as Mongo. Although it didn’t go all the way through, it still destroyed the knee enough for it to fall on the ground as Jordan, who was just behind Alex, started slashing its neck. After a few precise cuts in the same spot, he finally broke skin and cut its throat open, killing it.
[You have killed Monopod Lv.14]
[You have gained 200 XP]
“Guys we need to tell Mongo to not hunt anymore. 200 XP per person is too much for us to give up to an NPC,” said Dean.
“What’s the progress at?”
[Please kill the following to clear the dungeon-]
[Monopod (49/50)]
[Monopod (Elite)(5/5)]
[Monopod Leader (Rare)(1/1)]
“WHATTTTT??”
[You have cleared Monopod Valley dungeon]
[Since this is the first time clearing it you be be given extra XP based on contribution and a bronze treasure chest]
[You have gained 200 XP]
“Did it just say the first time clearing it?” asked George. “Does this mean we can come back without Mongo? We can farm this spot for a long time!”
“Wait but if we get Mongo to officially join us, then his XP will be ours, and we can level up faster than anyone else!”
“How though? We helped him finish the dungeon and there is still no system notification.”
“We just need to ask him, I think. Where did he go though?”
They all looked around for Mongo but he was nowhere in sight.
~ Mongo’s POV ~
Mongo did not like his new friends. He could tell that they did not have any cereal with them.
After killing the last toe. A chest appeared in front of Mongo. He recognised it as the same thing that he opened up with Sue, which is where he got his gloves. So he decided to open it.
[You have discovered a Bronze Chest]
[Would you like to open it?]
[Yes / No]
[Yes]
[You have received Staff of the Mage God (Mythical)]
“Eh? Shiny stick?”
Mongo held the shiny stick in his hand but then set it down. He looked in the chest for more and was greatly disappointed that there was no cereal inside. He picked up the shiny stick and left the dungeon.
After leaving the dungeon, Mongo was lost. He struggled finding any kind of cereal that he would enjoy. He was not having a good time, so he decided that it was time to go home. Unfortunately, Mongo did not know where home was, so he just wandered around in the forest the rest of the day.
When it reached nightfall, Mongo decided it was time to sleep, so he laid down where he was and went to sleep.
The night passed peacefully, but in the morning, Mongo couldn’t find his stick. He sat up and turned around and saw his favorite thing.
“Puppy!”
There was a white dog with dirt all in it’s fur and an old looking collar on it’s neck holding Mongo’s shiny stick in it’s mouth and wagging it’s wail.
“What name?” Mongo asked. Apparently this puppy was not the talkative type, or it didn’t have a name, because it didn’t say anything.
“Mongo say you Bongo.”
Mongo then took the stick from his mouth and threw it with all his strength. The shiny stick flew high and above all the trees far off into the distance. Bongo started chasing after it.
“Go Bongo go!” Mongo said happily while clapping his hands.
Mongo stood there for 5 minutes waiting and looking off into the distance, waiting for Bongo to come back.
“BARK!”
Mongo looked behind him and saw Bongo sitting there, sticking in his mouth, wagging his tail aggressively.
“Bongo peek-a-boo.”
[You have learned a skill- Tame]
[You have made Bongo the Space Dog your companion]
Mongo then threw the stick a few more times for Bongo, watching him play peek-a-boo every time, until Mongo felt like it was time to go get food.
“We find cereal now.”
Mongo started walking in a random direction looking for cereal, now with his partner Bongo following.