[04:56 | May 11, 2035]
“Shin! Under there!”
Nightingale pointed at the underside of the monster in front of him as he channeled sparks and embers into his codex.
“Got it!”
Shin kicked a cloud of dust into the air as he slid along the ground and slashed at the monster above him. He went straight under the belly of the four legged creature. It shrieked in pain, causing the three of them to cover their ears. As Shin pushed himself off the ground, he quickly turned to face the backside of the beast.
He could see the full stature of the monster. It was a mix between an elephant and a lion. Standing at about 7 meters tall, long and wild orange fur covered its thick and loose skin. Ivory colored tusks grew from the joints of its limbs and out of the sides of its mouth. It wasn’t like anything else that they have fought before. However, its large size and slow movements made it easy to fight against. The only problem was its massive health pool. They had been whittling it down for about ten minutes now.
---------
[(BOSS) Ferocious Eneorath]
Level: 62 | HP: 11,764
[Status Ailments]
Blighted, Brittle
---------
“Whoah there!”
Shin maneuvered to the side, barely dodging a kick from the monster’s hind legs. Before the leg could return to its original position, Fuyumi seemingly fell from the sky and plunged her dagger into the beast’s leg, freezing it in place. It lost its balance, collapsing onto the ground and opening itself to an attack.
“[Infernal Flare]!”
The spiraling flames on his arm collected into his hand. Nightingale chopped downwards in front of him. As he swung, the flames slammed into the ground and traveled along the floor in front of him, creating a ragged gash that traveled underneath the Eneorath. The crack exploded upward in a deep red burst of death and hellfire.
A thin red line ran down the spine of the Eneorath. Its fur was burnt off along the cut, exposing the rugged and seared skin underneath. The beast stopped moving and its body split in half. Meaty insides and organs fell to the floor from the core of the beast. A thick pool of purple blood grew in size as the fire ate away at the remaining fur.
---------
[YOU REACHED LEVEL 63]
---------
[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 63 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: Manufacturing]
[Attributes]
Strength: 72 | Agility: 72 | Intelligence: 72
---------
Shin crouched down next to Fuyumi behind the beast, wiping the blood dripping down from his nose. The blood was smeared across his face like war paint. Nightingale came from the other side of the boss, panting heavily. He walked with a limp, supporting himself with one hand on the beast beside him. Noticing his struggle, Shin quickly came to his side and lended him his shoulder.
“Q-quite the finisher… huh?”
Nightingale struggled to smile as he stuck a thumbs up.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“You really didn’t have to go all out like that.” Fuyumi said, crossing one of her arms and sticking a finger up like a scolding mom.
“I wanted… to try… it out.”
“Did it work out like how you expected?” Shin asked, tilting his head to see his friend’s reaction.
“Could’ve been… better…”
Nightingale’s words were interrupted by heavy breaths.
“Oww oww ouch!”
Shin elbowed him.
“I’m kidding! It just took… a lot more out of me than I expected.”
Shin sat him down where he was crouching earlier and walked up to the beast split in two. An orb was suspended in the air between the two halves of the Eneorath by strands of muscle. Shin reached his arm out to grab it. As he got closer, the orb started vibrating intensely. Shin’s hand was barely big enough to grab it. The meaty attachments made a visceral sound as he pulled the orb out. Fuyumi stood a short distance behind him with a disgusted look on her face.
He turned around and held it out, presenting it to Fuyumi and Nightingale.
“I’ll never get used to that.” Fuyumi said, lowering her eyebrows.
“Here’s to more profits.”
Shin strengthened his grip. Cracks began to form along the orb until the outer shell broke into small pieces. The jewel on the inside glowed a luminant green hue. It was among one of the many jewels added to their collection.
The small party of three had been in Urumel for a few days now. They gained a ton of experience thanks to the update a few days ago. They went up at least 23 levels and collected nearly a hundred jewels.
Shin put the newfound jewel in his item pouch. Fuyumi and Shin walked over to Nightingale to pull him up.
A blue magical circle appeared in front of them. As usual, the lizard-man teleported them out of the labyrinth.
Back in the lobby, the party of three looked far more weathered than the other adventurers in the room. They gossiped amongst themselves as they walked past.
[06:05 | May 11, 2035]
The three of them sat down at a round table inside of Nightingale’s room. Shin pulled out his pouch and put it on the table.
“Let’s see the haul.”
Shin grabbed the pouch and emptied its contents on the table. The table was flooded with jewels of various sizes, shapes, and colors.
Nightingale perked up.
“Oooh… seems like more than what I remember!”
Even Fuyumi was a little more excited than usual. She ran her finger along the table, pushing the gems aside until she found one that interested her.
---------
[Sudden Impact Jewel]
[Equipment]
Appraise the item to learn its effects.
---------
“How many of these are we keeping?”
Shin scratched his chin in thought. However, Nightingale had the answer.
“Well, we should go to the appraiser to appraise all them and pick out the good ones. Afterward, we can probably just sell the rest of em’ to the appraiser..”
Nightingale held a jewel in front of his eye to inspect it closely.
“It’s pretty helpful to see the names of the jewels but appraising all these gems will be troublesome for our wallets.”
“We don’t have to worry about that. We’ll make a profit anyway from selling it.”
“Would she really take all of them?”
She paused, looking at the blank stares of her companions.
“Don’t you think that she already has enough of them?!” Fuyumi continued.
“Some of them are pretty rare but that doesn’t mean that she’ll take all of them. She probably has enough people throwing jewels her way.”
“What makes you say that?” Nightingale asked.
“She’s the only appraiser in the city that we know of.”
“There could be more.”
Fuyumi sighed as she realized that they were going to keep going back and forth like they usually do. Meanwhile, Shin sat idly with a smirk on his face.
“Why don’t you take a side, Shin?” Fuyumi pouted.
“It’s way more fun watching from the sidelines.”
“You can’t just be neutral every time!”
“I can, it’s quite fun to watch the chaos between you two. You have such good chemistry.”
“We don’t!”
The argument transferred from one pair to another.
Nightingale chuckled mischievouslywatching the interaction between his two friends.
“What’s are you laughing at?!” Fuyumi called out.
“Nothing, nothing!”
Nightingale dismissed her frustrations with a hand wave.
“Let’s just get going, shall we?”