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World: MSS - Loading...
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
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The first hint of the creature I saw was its massive reptilian leg, covered in spike-tipped scales emerging from the green-brown portal. The scales were gray with bits of green moss growing on it, reminding me rocks that you'd find near freshwater. For me, that small detail was enough to identify the creature.
[Stone Tortoise] - Grade 8 Boss.
“It’s a Boss-class monster! Powerful but slow, aim at the legs and stick close!” I snapped the necessary info and took up a position next to L’teya.
Looking behind us, I saw that Clover was still reeling from her experience with the Goddess. L’teya didn’t question how I knew the monster’s identity when it hadn’t even fully emerged yet. In the past 24 hours, I had been the one who had been giving orders in all our battles and so far, we hadn’t had issues dealing with monsters. Except for the Beckoning Cat, our party had successfully hunted everything that this dungeon had thrown at us. But before, I had been giving mere hints, afraid of my companions raising too many questions. Now the situation was different.
Two boss-class monsters.
Even my duel with the Lucky Beckoning Cat didn’t feel as hopeless as this.
The creature could barely fit through the green-brown portal and it roared, trying to squeeze through. The portal actually warped and stretched to fit the tortoise. The sheer size of the creature had been enough to force the mana-gateway construct to adapt. As soon as the Stone Tortoise was completely through, it roared once more; the sound of falling rocks rumbling deep within its throat. The portal closed right as the last of its body stepped through.
I saw the other monster emerge from the black portal and took a step back in surprise.
The monster was a mixture between a rat and a bird. It had a rat’s face, except the snout had been replaced by a beak and the small mammalian eyes replaced by those of a hawk. The front paws had been fused with bat-like wings covered in sporadic tufts of feather The creature scratched the ground once with its hind feet and its furred tail swished, cutting the air. Its talons made a sound like claw scratching a chalkboard, loud and sharp. The blue marble had long thin grooves where the talon-claws had been.
“Ujo(寓鳥)… grade 7. Also boss-class…” I whispered and felt L’teya stiffen next to me.
“...How do we defeat it?” The fact that it was grade-7 and also a boss class was enough to make even L'teya think twice before rushing in without a plan.
Facing two boss-class monsters at once would be no easy feat. Thankfully, the two monsters weren’t paying us any attention for the moment. The Ujo sat on its hindlegs, grooming its wings and face. The Stone Tortoise stayed still, staring at us. Regardless, I couldn’t answer L’teya because as we were right now, there was no way we could defeat Ujo. Maybe the Stone Tortoise, we would have a chance once Clover got up and miraculously learned some spell to support us.
But Ujo?
The monster was famous for being one of those ‘gatekeeper’ bosses. To access certain dungeons, you would have to defeat a Ujo. It was one of the first walls that a lot of new players found themselves being stuck on, a difficulty spike if you will. The monster tested your party in every way; it had the passive [Dull Edge] which reduced all physical damage by 99%. In addition, it had a passive that reversed all debuffs; any attempts to reduce its defense would only increase it.
However the monster had no ranged or magical attacks to speak of. So a lot of people preferred to stay back and nuke it with spells.
But that was a trap from the game developers. The Ujo's last and third passive: [Disaster Sense] warned it of any spells that might do significant damage. The only real way to kill the creature was to bring magic weapons or characters whose Cores revolved around doing magic damage in melee. Even then, the Ujo excelled in close-up combat. To make matters worse, neither L’teya and I had those type of magical weapons handy or Cores that could do magic damage. The closest thing we had was L’teya’s poison.
Combined with the fact that the Stone Tortoise which boasted superior defense to both physical and magical attacks…
“This isn’t a boon. It’s a fucking death sentence.” I cursed at the goddess.
L’teya and I began to slowly back towards Clover, who had managed to get on her knees. But she was still gasping for breath and I knew it would be awhile until she would even be able to stand. Plus, it wasn’t like she would be any help in this situation. She was worse off than us. Atleast L’teya could strike at the two bosses and hope to inflict some poison damage, and I could do the same with my [Lucky Strike]. [Jackpot] might be able to turn things around. But Clover…
Unless Oung gave Clover some serious buffs as a priestess, I didn’t see a way out of this.
“Don’t be pathetic. Try everything first.”
“The tortoise.” I muttered.
“What about it?” L’teya was twirling the axes in her hands out of nervousness.
“We need to get under its legs.” That was the only strategy that made sense in my head.
The Stone Tortoise was large enough to host all three of us under its stomach and as long as we could be aware of its stomp attacks, we’d be relatively safe. If we stayed underneath the creature, we could hack away at it hoping to fell it. In addition, it would provide cover from the Ujo’s aerial attacks
“What about Clover?” L’teya said after a silence.
That was the issue, she couldn’t walk.
“Leave… me…” Clover gasped out.
I grimaced.
“How do I tell her if she dies, we’re possibly throwing away our best bet in this fight? Or that her goddess might take it personally? If facing two bosses at once is a boon, I hate to see what she gives me if I got on her bad side.”
“Stop talking, Clover.” I muttered. “L’teya, I’ll distract the flying boss, Ujo. You take Clover and get underneath the Stone Tortois and stay near one of its legs.. Beware of his stomping attacks. If he roars twice in a row, get out from underneath his stomach immediately. That means he’s about to body slam the ground… I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you what will happen.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Lock Slaveborn!” Clover yelled, and I wanted to tell her to shut up in case it agitated the otherwise peaceful boss monsters.
“This is my fault… just leave me.” Clover got to her feet, soaked in sweat. I saw the same dried blood near her ears that L’teya and I had. Actually she had blood stains near her eyes, nose and mouth as well.
“If it wasn’t for me… this wouldn’t have happened. I’ll distract the flying monster as long as I can.” She lifted her chin. “That’s the least I can do.”
“No Clover… It was me. I brought us here. I was using you because I knew that a Beastman made the dungeon easier… my plan just backfired.” Guilt and fear kept me from saying all that.
“Enough. We’re comrades.” I turned away from her. “Comrades don’t blame someone for their problems. They work on solutions together.”
“...well said, Slaveborn.” L’teya agreed. “I am ready. My axes are yours.”
“If we get through this-” Clover began.
“Don’t finish that sentence.” I snarled, cutting off the potential death flag that Clover had been setting up for herself.
As if on cue, the two monsters roared as one and the Stone Tortoise began to lumber towards us. Thankfully it wasn’t fast and I knew that L’teya would have no trouble dragging Clover underneath its legs. The real problem lay with me and how long I could distract Ujo for. The creature screeched, a mixture between a squawk and the scream of a dog, taking into the air.
Clang.
Clang.
I slammed my jagged sword against the ground multiple times, hoping to draw its attention to me and not the others. Ujo’s head swirled towards me and it tucked its wings, dive bombing me. The only consolation I had in this situation was that we were in an enclosed space, which limited the Ujo’s aerial attacks. Furthermore, there were pillars in all four corners of the room which I could use as a cover.
Quickly rolling towards the pillars, I watched as Ujo swerved away from the pillars at the last second. I saw it swivel its head looking for me, so I continued to circle the pillar opposite of its position. But the ruse didn’t last long and the creature spotted me. With its naturally high physical defense, debuff immunity and lack of ranged attacks the Ujo was a close ranged fighter. It spun around the pillar, descending towards me.
“Uoooooohhhhh” The low rumble of the Stone Tortoise followed by the sound of metal hitting stone alerted me that L’teya had gotten to work on the monster’s leg.
“I have to get over there now.” I eyeballed the distance between me and the Stone Tortoise, trying to see if I could make it before the Ujo could get to me.
The creature had descended low enough to see me and it spread its wings, covering me in its shadow. It’s long forked tongue flicked out and licked around the beak, akin to a person licking their lips before a meal. I guess I would be that meal. But I had to test out one theory.
It was something only I could think of.
Normally when people think of Ujo, they forgo melee attacks altogether. However, years of gaming taught me that high physical defense and status immunity to physical ailments were completely two different things. The jagged sword had left the previous monsters bleeding. With the lack of a skill to identify items, I couldn’t tell if that was because of its jagged and chipped edge, or the sword itself had a [Bleed] effect. Perhaps in MSS that meant the one and the same, but the gamer instinct in me said different.
“Time to put it to the test.”
A quiet voice in the back of my mind told me that I was getting too used to risking my life.
But that’s just how dangerous my first encounter with the real dungeon of MSS was.
I ducked low into a ball. I’m sure that a better swordsman might have been able to lower their stance and slash the creature’s underbelly as it swerved by. But at this point with my skills, all I could do was ball up, roll forward and get back up on my feet.
“Shit, too late.” I had been hoping to get up fast enough to catch the creature’s back, but I was too slow and the Ujo was too fast.
“C’mon, c’mon c’mon.” I waited for the next attack pattern. The Ujo would either do another dive bombing attack or resort to a ranged attack.
“Dive bomb me. C’mon. Give me a dive bomb.” My heart beat with both fear and excitement.
I knew from the first attempt that rolling wouldn’t let me strike the creature even if I had a thousand years. The only chance I had of making contact with my sword was simply ducking low and holding my sword up, letting the Ujo’s momentum do the work for me. But the risk was great. If I ducked too low, the monster would adjust its flight trajectory to hit me. Too late and I’d be skewered by its beak or claws.
I had to get the timing just right.
The Ujo didn’t disappoint me, it tucked its wings in at ceiling height and spun-tumbled towards me.
“Not yet, not yet, not yet.” There definitely must have been a stat related to combat that the Gacha Cat’s Spirit Core boosted because time seemed to slow in moments like these.
My bet was on [Reflex] but now wasn’t the time to find out. The creature was close enough for me to reach out with my sword and stab it if I wanted to. But that’d fix the blade in Ujo's body and I’d definitely be on the losing side of the following tussle. But it was so close…
I chickened out and rolled forward.
“Fuck!” I stood up and spun around at the last second, even though I knew that I missed the timing completely.
“Slaveborn!”
I turned to look at Lety and Clover.
Lety was struggling against the Stone Tortoise, chopping away at its legs but getting out of the way every time it stomped. Clover was up on her feet now and was trying to do something with her hands? I saw bits of mana that pulsed off of her. If she was going to cast something though, now was definitely the moment. Anything would help.
But neither of them had said my name. They were both busy.
So then what did?
“Oh shi-”
The Ujo did a fly by, slowing down in front of me and moving its talons like razors in front of me. I realized it a split second too late and it shredded my armor, leaving long bleeding gashes over my shoulder and arm. Luckily, it was my left arm but I reflexively raised it, forgetting that I had no shield. It flew by, leaving me soaked in my own blood.
“Slaveborn! Slaveborn! Slaveborn!” The creature’s eyes narrowed in cruel joy, its beak continuing to chant my name.
Then it landed on the nearest pillar, hugging it with its claw-tipped wing joints. Bringing its hindlegs close to its beak, the Ujo licked my blood off using the long flickering tongue. It began to shudder. I didn’t know that the eyes of a hawk could roll back like that in pleasure.
I had been too impatient and too scared. It had been almost impossible for me to make the correct decision simply because of nerves. I was feeling the physical effects of my emotions as well. My body was trembled with both shock from pain and nervousness.
“Again.” I muttered.
I should have ran back to the Stone Tortoise by now. But if I couldn't figure out a way for us to damage it, there was no point. This was my job and my responsibility, I had to find a way for us to kill this creature.
｢ Clover Weinport has cast [Sharpened Senses] ｣
｢[Reflex] raised by 5 ｣
｢[Proprioception] raised by 5 ｣
｢[Sight] raised by 5 ｣
｢[Hearing] raised by 5 ｣
｢[Smell] raised by 5 ｣
I felt it the moment Clover succeeded in casting her spell. Flickering lights of green descended over me and disappeared as soon as they touched skin. I had no idea what she cast or what it did, all I knew was that everything felt crystal clear. The moment that the Ujo started flapping its wings to take off, I was already in position at the base of the pillar. With me being so close to the pillar, it would limit the Ujo’s options to adjust its attack last second.
“One by one. Eliminate its choices.” I lowered my body slowly, leaning forward like I was about to run.
The Ujo could fly up to me and try to slash me with its talons instead of dive bombing me. But I made myself smaller, looking like I could hide behind the pillar at any moment. It had only one move in its arsenal that could hit me fast enough before I took cover.
“Come foul creature.” Interesting choice of wording on my part. Perhaps Arrosh had rubbed off on me permanently.
Then I touched the wound on my open shoulder with my sword and splashed my blood into the air. The blood must have been the last straw because it dived toward me, screaming my name.
I saw how its tongue was lolling back out of its beak in excitement. The way the pupils dilated as the creature shot towards me. Even the way the wings tucked in tighter to speed its descent, to get to me even a second faster was pronounced. I realized why I had chickened out before. Before, everything had been a blur but I now recognized that I was scared of this man-sized creature built to hunt humans.
Its beak was designed to rip apart meat while its tongue could lap up any pools of blood. Sharp talons to wound us, with powerful wings to carry us away to its lair. It was one of those things that caused an instinctual fear in people, because it was ingrained in our genes.
But now I knew what it was.
Fear is always the most powerful when it’s veiled in shadow, not so much when you get a closer look at it.
For the umpteenth time, I cast my fear aside.
My legs bent even lower, bringing my chest close to the ground. In a feat of supernatural flexibility, my spine twisted so that my chest was almost facing upwards. The bristly fur on Ujo’s neck slashed my face, leaving miniature cuts over my skin. But the stinging sensation was compartmentalized and thrown away for the sake testing out this one theory.
I stabbed the creature’s belly with my sword.
As soon as the tip of the blade made contact with the creature, the flow of time returned. The creature turned into a blur and shot into the air, out of my sight. Its own momentum should had caused the blade to cut into its stomach. All I had to do was keep my sword upright. I was doubtful whether it perked skin and was readying to repeat the maneuver when I heard a the clear sound of liquid dropping onto the floor. In my head I knew that my maneuver had done no real damage to the monster.
Yet the creature was bleeding from a shallow cut on its stomach.
It was not immune to status ailments. The creature was susceptible to [Bleed].
And if it could bleed... it could be killed.
I readied my sword.
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