I pause for a moment, glancing side to side, before pointing a thumb at myself, knowing damn well that they do indeed mean me.
“Yes, you, fool.” They all but snarl, their muzzle twisting in barely concealed fury. “Your monster-” please mind, they practically spit the word out. “Had a few words for me.”
“Did they now? Good things I’d hope! I do try to be entertaining company.”
The Kobold’s face twists again, first into an even deeper scowl, but then into a cruel, cruel smile. One to rival my own, I think I’m in love! That or I just love screwing with people. Probably the latter, it’s tried and true after all.
With a little huff-half grunt-somewhere in between there-it’s a kobold whaddya want from me-A CHUCKLE, I will settle on. With a little chuckle, their grin finally solidifies, a manic look in their eyes as they walk the span of the hall towards me.
“You’re not going to take this seriously at all, are you?”
“Well, I’d be a little more inclined to if you didn’t come out shouting at me.” I shrug as impassively as I can manage. “And, get this, if I knew what you were shouting at me about? Crazy thought-”
“Hrrk-”
54!
Oh.
Ouch.
Not quite sure what exactly they did, but I do believe it’s something along the lines of firmly planting their knuckles somewhere between my lungs and colon. Yes, this kobold just punched me for over a third of my health. In a single hit.
…Right, level twenty seven dungeon!
Standing over me as I topple to the ground from the immense force of the blow, the four foot tall menace continues to smile down at me amidst the silence of the room. Or, well, silent except for two things. The first of which being my spine colliding with the stone that my feet previously laid upon-2!-and the second of which being a low growl, echoing through the hall mere moments after fists flew.
The Kobold turns to face the latter of those two things, turning back to me a moment later, rolling their eyes as they do. I do believe I have a theory as to who just reprimanded them, but I can’t really see from my current position on the floor.
“Get up. Surely such a strike isn’t enough to put you down for the count? I’d be very disappointed if that’s all you can take with how highly she’s spoken of you.”
“Uh-huh…” I grunt, sitting up as I stretch forward, still feeling the placebo of the impact despite there being no lasting physical pain.
Right, all’s good… now, what happened to Screech? She was perched on my shoulder just a moment ago, so... she probably got knocked off-yup, not here. I certainly hope she reacted fast enough to simply jump off of my shoulder, but with how zonked out she is right now…
Oh, jeeze, yup…
“Screech, are you alright?”
She hit the floor pretty hard from the looks of it, wings sprawled out, not even bothering to try and push herself up-or whatever it is birds do. I don’t think wings have much in the way of physical strength after all.
“What… happened?”
…Oh.
I’d just [Recall] her, but… I don’t think she’d take kindly.
I hop to my feet near immediately after hearing that lull in her voice, flipping the Kobold the bird before they say anything, and instead pivot to scoop up my poor girl.
Crouching down, ignoring the immediate retort from the Kobold, I gently reach down, cradling her in the palms of my hands. She’s definitely too big to scoop up with one hand, but she’s not particularly large without use of her skills either. At the least she’s small enough for me to hold up, and apologize-
“Sorry! I got knocked… over…”
I’m not sure if any of my summons have been wounded like this before, perhaps they have and I just never saw it cause I haven’t had gore on for the majority of my playtime so far…?
But…
Her beak is flaking, cracked, broken. Her chest rises slowly, far too slowly for something of her size. She’s dazed, not just unfocused like she has been as of the past thirty or so minutes. However she hit herself on the landing… I don’t think it was a good angle.
“Everything's so… blurry… so many… colors…”
…
[Recall].
“Recover for a moment, I know you want to experience everything but… just take a moment… alright?”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“O…kay.”
At a certain point, the little shit stopped speaking whilst I was checking on Screech, which is good, I don’t think I’d have stood still even with a twenty level disparity if they were still talking after that.
“...Are you done?” They ask with a surprising amount of calm as I rise back to my feet, given the near outright screaming they were doing a moment earlier.
“What did you say your name was?” I ask as calmly as I can manage, trying, and also failing, to prevent the corners of my lips from trending down as I turn to face them once more.
Without breaking eye contact, or letting their voice break for even a moment, they state it as clinically as one could possibly fathom.
“Firliam El-Nial. Yours?”
…No.
“What do you want?”
Their eyes narrow ever so slightly, but I can’t say I see any anger in them this time. Regardless of what they may perceive as a slight, they answer my question either way.
“Much the same as you right now I’d imagine.”
…Shit, with a level difference this high I’m not going to stand much of a chance, was I too flippant, should I have just sucked it up and sucked up…?
“Come with me, we have outlets available to us.”
Without another word, Firliam turns on their heel and faces toward the flame, or more accurately, to one of the passageways adjacent to it.
…Running away isn’t going to do me much good right now. I’m not necessarily in enemy territory with how calm Jasper is… assuming she’s still on my side, which I believe she is, I haven’t gotten any notion of a betrayal from her thoughts. And on top of that, any encounter with a monster dwelling in this dungeon that isn’t a friendly one will absolutely rock my shit without question.
Jasper is, at the very least among friends, and Screech isn’t currently present… so the only person at risk from me following after this asshole right now… is me.
“...Fine.” I grind out with moderate difficulty, steeling my nerves and taking a step forward.
—
Stepping through the passageway, it quickly becomes apparent to me that this is less of a passageway and more of a wall. Because there is no travel time, I’ve simply been led into another room.
This room being some sort of… storage room, I suppose? There aren’t any boxes or food or whatever, but if I had to say, all the stuff here strewn about? They’re probably items. Weapons, rings, articles of clothing, armors, various trinkets line the floor, tossed about with what seems to be an absence of thought.
Stepping forward towards a particularly large pile, Firliam walks with a clear purpose in mind.
“While I’m sure you’re in no mood to converse, I don’t care,” they state matter of factly, before proceeding to snatch a bracelet of sorts from the hoard. “I’ll now be explaining a few things to you.”
I’m tempted to run my mouth again, but I do seriously need to consider my mortality. Although, if they say something stupid…
“I see that our issues cannot be resolved through words, which is to be expected given what you’ve made of Ar-Felniel. I would sooner have you split open and hollowed than hear what you have to say on that matter, regardless of how it happened. But, on a different front, I admit my judgment may have been too hasty from what I'd heard of you.”
“...What the hell are you even talking about?”
“Hm.” They merely grunt in response, slipping the bracelet onto their furred arm a moment afterwards. Breathing in and out, they give me a look, one that I’d assume to be a raised brow… if they had one. “Your Strength, Agility, and Dexterity?”
…I give it a quick once over, mulling over both the stats and if I should actually answer that or not.
Well, I’m definitely weaker than they are by a landslide either way, so what’s the harm in knowing my attributes?
“...Ten, forty, five.”
Firliam blinks confusedly for a moment, but nods slowly, in a sort of dawning comprehension.
“Indeed, you are an odd one.”
“What is that?” I jab a finger at the bracelet on their arm, not caring to figure out whatever it is they're talking about.
“...An interesting trinket, found in one of the dungeons around these parts. Manacle, an artifact capable of reducing the wearer's stats to a level that they see fit. With this, we’re now on completely even terms.”
“Oh.”
Oh! Now, I’m-
Cracking their neck and knuckles, just like how you’d see somebody do it straight out of an anime, they speak my exact mind.
“Now, I’m going to beat you within an inch of your life.”