[No Title] [Kaede]
Lv 18 HP 250/250 MP 48/48
STR [0 + 7] VIT [145 + 94]
AGI [0] DEX [0]
INT [0] LCK [//:Maple--wKwsD]
Actual VIT: 5736
Offensive Skills:
[Kicking] [Tail Whip (Equipment)] [Implosion] [Chaos Eater]
Support Skills:
[Provoke] [Shameless] [Red Herring (Attached to Shameless)] [Pressure Chamber] [Temperature Regulator] [Starved]
Passive Skills:
[Giant Killing] [Absolute Defense] [Tough Skin, Tough Soul] [Meditation] [Diving X]
[Poison Immunity] [Paralysis Immunity] [Filth] [Disgust Ignorance] [Dangerous Sleeper] [Pressure Immunity] [Careless]
Misc Skills:
[Kin II] [Swamp Girl] [Greater Skill: Sin Fragment: Vanity]
Equipment
Head [Greater Slime (Kin)] Vit + 5
Body [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
Right hand [N/A]
Left Hand [Horn of the Horned Rabbit] Str + 7
Legs [Dire Wolf (Kin)] Vit + 9
Shoes [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
Accessories [Horns Of The One True Lord] Vit + 10
Accessories 2 [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
Accessories 3 [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
Extra Slot 1 [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
Extra Slot 2 [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
Extra Slot 3 [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
Extra Slot 4 [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
Extra Slot 5 [Horned Rabbit (Kin)] Vit + 7
----------------------------------------
Master is taking quite a while doing whatever business she needs to do behind those closed doors. I don’t know what she is doing, nor why she is doing it, but it is getting quite lonely being here with the others, doing nothing but waiting.
Well, at least we weren’t the foolish ones who ran in after her. I’d take months of waiting over being poisoned to death so hard that your last lingering thoughts are the fact your legs are liquefying.
Honestly, I don’t understand what those fools were thinking, running after our master. I mean, I can understand devotion and all of that pretentious jazz but there's also something called blind idiocy. Anyone with half of a brain could tell that the wretched land that was revealed in front of us was inhabitable for us, so vile and infested that even the toxic slimes who dwelled in this cave refused to go forwards. We were practically standing in front of a door that led towards a death trap, a walk-in appointment with the grim reaper!!
Though I doubt that disturbed our master. In fact, she seemed quite thrilled at it.
The adorable look of recognition on her face when she witnessed the sight of that old archaic door, told me this door meant something to her, something important. Clearly our wise master knew what was behind this runic door and she walked on ahead knowing she would be immune to the traps and temptations that lay behind that doorway.
Our master is like none other. Unlike us lesser beings that follow her, she is strong. I witnessed this first hand as I stabbed her on her supple, bare flesh so very many times and she didn’t even flinch. There’s also the fact that she is the cutest thing ever, someone that just vibes out an aura that makes you want to protect her. Power and adorableness form an unblockable urge for us lesser creatures to follow, though not enough for me to forget the fact I AM but a lesser creature. Even granted master’s protection via the accessory I wear, I am not foolish enough to fall prey to terrain that would kill me. I am better than that, therefore a better servant for master, afterall, if you perish, you are gone from this world and as such you can no longer serve a purpose to your master.
“So… Is she back yet?” one of the direwolves behind me woofed.
“Nope.” I replied monotonously. They have been asking that question many times these hard months.
“...” A small chorus of whines waved from behind me. I rolled my eyes at the impatient fools.
“What about now?” another one howled.
“Don’t you have a better sense of smell than me?” I rebutted, tired of their nonsense. It had been several weeks since she had left us behind, waiting behind the closed door built by ancient beings we would never know about. We weren’t tired, unless you counted tired of waiting apparently, nor were we hungry as master’s energy could nourish us without food. Energy that told us she was alive and well.
“Maybe she abandoned us?” a heretic behind me suggested. The very thought enraged me.
In an instant I poked his eye out. A shining horn impaled deep within him. If only he wasn’t a slime, that would have been more satisfying and also might have actually harmed the heretic.
“SILENCE!! There is no way, master abandoned us.” I replied, devotion broiling in my heart. While I could tell some of the monsters had their doubts, I remained devoted. My heart was already taken that day when I saw her fall asleep like an angel, deflecting all of our attacks as she slept in peace. Her aura begged me to join her, and so I did. I was the first to fall to her charms and I have not been disappointed. I will never give up on her. Never.
Another voice came from the back. “Does anyone else feel rumbling?” one of my brethren squeaked.
At this point, I wasn’t tired of waiting. I was tired of the constant stream of complaints by the peanut gallery. Why are you asking me of all monsters? I’m a rabbit! Sure, a rabbit that was granted a gift by the angel we follow, but still I’m but a humble rabbit. “No. She’s no-” I started.
Wait a minute. I took another look at his words, this time with less annoyance and more focus. Rumbling?
Looking back at the others, I noticed a lot of them seemed slightly perturbed while looking at the ground they stood on. Upon closer inspection, the ground was indeed shaking, pieces of gravel shaking on the ground as well as small waves being formed in the shallow pools of toxic muck that surrounded us.
“Huh. That's odd.” I squealed to no one in particular.
I could hear idle chat in the background, some fools were claiming that it was a trap which to me was frankly a ridiculous thought. Who makes a trap that triggers after over 9 weeks of waiting in the same spot? Others, those who had more brain cells apparently, seemed to point at a more likely phenomenon, an earthquake.
Though that thought also puzzled me as well. In my lifetime, as well as the lifetime of my ancestors, not once had this natural disaster ever hit this area of the forest. I can remember my parents talking about flooding and windstorms, but earthquakes? We only even knew about them because of passing humans talking about it.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
But what else could it be? A highly unusual situation caused by something unknown. A situation of unknown ramifications and possible peril if unresolved. What a conundrum.
…
…
…
…
…
…
Oh.
It’s her isn’t it.
Master. You came back.
----------------------------------------
Kaede was angry. Shaking her fists around while kicking her legs like a child, she threw a tantrum far underground where no prying eyes could see the girl’s rage. A normal person looking at this situation would probably believe she was mad at the lizards who literally stuck her 6 feet under and more, but no. She was mad at the verbal abuse her new skills presented to her.
(A/N Well, also no normal person could actually witness this situation since she is still 6 feet under)
“Those.. Those… Uuuuu… What kind of skills are these?!” Kaede thought to herself in anger. The very words that were used to describe the skill were wasting precious text space just to bully her. Those skills were slander!!! It wasn’t true! She was a good girl! How did she end up with these dumb skills when she was just travelling through the world like a normal person?
(A/N HOW DO YOU CALL THAT NORMAL?!)
Kaede flinched back and pouted, crossing her arms and legs. Normally around now back in her world, her guildmates and other players would probably be yelling at her, calling out how in the heavens she believed what she was doing was normal. A wave of nostalgia quickly passed her as she staved off the memories of her past life.
Right now, no matter what she did, her anger would not subside. She needed someone to vent to. Normally, Risa or any of her other guildmates would have sufficed, but she had no access to any of them right now, so she had to think of an alternative.
It was then that Kaede remembered the entourage of monsters that didn’t perish. “Ah! They will listen!” she declared to herself. With precision unlike any other mud-swimming human… if any of those exist, she began swimming through the deep mud, plowing through the earth using [Kicking].
Despite her plan already in motion, Kaede knew that venting to her new friends would be a tricky thing to execute. She had to get the direction exactly correct, else if she went up, she would just enter the boss room again, likely ending up with thousands of lizards shoving her back into the ground. As she didn’t feel the need to play a game of whack-a-mole as the mole, she instead moved upwards at an angle, trying to get out behind the door instead.
However, this presented a new problem. As the dirt got harder and harder, Kaede knew she was getting close, though it was also getting harder and harder to swim through the mud. Likely this was because she was slowly getting into solid dirt and gravel instead of mud.
As she persisted in her attempt at getting out of the mud, she continued to slow down and down until she was barely moving. Her arms and legs were tired and she could feel the solid gravel around her locking her arms in place, lacking the fluidity of the mud.
She pouted. Anger already above Kaede’s handleable level, her need of comfort, cuddles and venting furthered. She decided to check her status screen again to see if there was something else she could do to get out of her situation.
That’s when she saw a skill. A skill known as [Implosion].
She didn’t bother checking how or why she received the skill. She didn’t even read the dang thing. All she saw was “plode” and instantly she assumed this random skill she happened to have would allow her to blow up her surroundings. So without hesitation, she activated it.
----------------------------------------
…
The silence that surrounded me compounded the situation exactly, an accurate representation of the formulation of the absurdity of the situation. I wasn’t the only one who was struck speechless at our master. Everyone who had a jaw, had dropped it and those who didn’t were just as speechless. A quiet chill began to form around us, slowly draining as the heat that was newly present in the hole in the ground spread out.
It happened just as I resolved to tell the rest of the peanut gallery my belief. My belief that Master had come back and this earthquake was nothing but a sign of that, another one of her amazing schemes. That’s when the ground began to cave in beneath me.
As a horned rabbit my agility is my greatest of my weapons if you discount my delightful masculine horn that hangs on my head. So with the combined swiftness that me and the other rabbits possessed, we sped up as fast as we could and piled on each other. Together, as the sinkhole in the ground began to grow larger and larger we pushed back the rest of our comrades who had yet to react. With our split second reaction, everyone kept clear of the new hole that was starting to grow in the ground like a growing sinkhole.
It was then that it happened. Someone pointed out a fleck of green slimy hair popping out of the ground. It was at that moment I knew I was correct and the mentally slower of our companions realized the situation in its full capacity.
Master was right there. A gentle smile laid on her face as she shook the dirt off of her head and emerged from the pit she had presumably dug.
That being said, honestly sometimes even I can't understand the machinations our master has planned. Though as a lowly follower, to be able to glimpse a little into our angel’s plans sounded like a tale too fictional to be true.
Through the bottom of the pit that had formed within the cave, which also miraculously didn’t also cause a cave-in, our angel laid down at the bottom, shaking dirt and… diamonds… off of her. Does our angel also have the ability to create beautiful gemstones as well?
Well, that doesn’t really matter, does it. All that matters is that she has returned to us.
…
…
...
Wait a minute, is that a half-statue of her head?
----------------------------------------
Kaede groaned as crystals and dirt fell off of her as she made slight movements to reorientate herself. Her new skill had been quite explosive, leaving her in quite a daze, her senses overwhelmed. She hadn't known what exactly was going to happen after she triggered her new skill, but this both exceeded her expectations and confused her at the same time. Expecting an explosion to rage around her, as if she was using [Machine God] again, she was completely flabbergasted by what ended up actually happening. With a swift response and practiced motions, she opened up the transparent menu again and took a look at the skill that she never fully read.
[Implosion]
Let’s the user build up pressure outside of their body and implode. Knockback is dealt in opposing direction. User takes damage equal to STR - VIT. User inflicts damage equal to VIT - AGI /2. Consumes a small amount of MP.
Requirements: Obtain [Pressure Chamber]
“Ah.”, Kaede had unfortunately forgotten that reading is a skill that she can use and because of that, she had only lightly skimmed over the skills text, only seeing that the skill would cause some form of damage to her environment. She had never actually taken a look at exactly what kind of damage would occur.
[Implosion] meant that all the force generated would concentrate onto her as everything from outside converges onto the inside, the opposite of an explosion. Naturally this process produced a ton of heat and pressure which ended up baking Kaede for a few seconds, though with her VIT, such heat and pressure meant nothing to her. The same could not be said about the plant roots that surrounded her in the dark soil that she was originally stuck in as her attempt to get to the surface caused heat and pressure to completely carbonize the plant matter, forcing them onto her body in a state where the pressure reformed them into diamonds.
Thankfully, most of the diamonds only reached her head and as her head was currently a slime, she had no need for breathing and she was able to slide out of the impromptu statue she had made of her head.
Taking a look around, momentarily losing her previous anger, Kaede surveyed the damage. From her angle, she was able to tell that the hole that she had made was right in front of the door she had entered months earlier and when she turned around, staring over the edge on the other side of the hole was her lovely entourage, well at least the ones who weren't defeated in the boss room. Looking back down, she realized that it wasn’t just her head that was encased in diamond and stones. Small diamonds littered the floor, along with gravel and rubble, the remains of her implosion causing cracks that scattered across the stones and dirt she stood on. She also noticed a slowly melting layer of ice that seemed to jut out of the top of the hole. Thankfully, none of this seemed to impact the door in any shape or form, nor did the cave look as if it was going to cave in the next second.
With her safety and curiosity satisfied, anger returned. A silent, yet damning anger that she felt burning up in the background of her psyche. She looked back up, noticing a few of the animals recoiled when looking at her. She momentarily wondered if they could also sense her anger, which saddened her a little as she really wanted to cover herself with them and cuddle for a few hours to vent out her anger, but then as she stepped forwards to call them, she noticed the floor underneath her began to melt and turn to slag. “Oh.” she remarked. Of course! She just imploded, so all of that heat energy that was sent to her from the implosion was still all over her which made approaching her impossible. It also meant that cuddling was not possible until she cooled down to a cuddleable temperature. With this in mind, Kaede quickly scoured her menu again, checking for a solution.
Of course, it didn’t take long for her to find her solution, a solution conveniently placed right beside [Implosion] as they were both derived from the same original skill.
[Temperature Regulator]
You can regulate and change your own temperature within a limit depending on your VIT without harming yourself.
Requirements: Obtain [Pressure Chamber]
A convenient skill for someone who happens to have VIT in a four digit statline, allowing for Kaede to basically be any temperature and also be immune to said temperatures. With this knowledge, Kaede activated the skill, feeling the air around her begin to calm down, the distortion of the heat that she was producing being reduced to nothing, clearing up the area around her. With that major problem solved and 2 new skills fully read and ready to be used in the future, Kaede finally called her entourage over. “Guys! I’m BAAAACK!!! Come down here and gimme a hug please!!” she called out to them. With the situation now stabilised, without hesitation, A parade of rabbits, wolves and slimes dropped down on her.
Puffing up her cheeks in glee, she lay down in peace as the swarm of monsters covered her up in their squishy, soft and cuddly cheeks. She really did miss this feeling. Pressurised mud holds no candles to the feeling of having soft, warm bodies all over you. In fact, it was so comfortable that Kaede could already feel herself drifting off.
“Suya….”
----------------------------------------
Adventurers like me find themselves at odd places at odd times. Though I, the great Rad’im Bad’d Theef, never thought I would end up here again.
There has always been this one cave that the elders of my village have always told the children to avoid. As a youngling, I have always listened to them, not because I am a sucker for authority, rather simply put, I cannot disobey them in good faith. After all, within the depths of the cave is a dungeon surrounded by a purple haze, a haze borne from plants, monsters and corpses that has taken many years off of the lives of the fools who dared to adventure within those wretched halls.
A legendary shrine, taken away from humanity. That’s what the elders believe that cave to be, nothing more, nothing less. The poisonous marsh that now surrounds the place moves as if it’s alive, slowly over the years, moving in a single direction, spreading it’s poisonous mass. The constant haze of poison that surrounds it, was once a lush forest, likely a place where civilization once made a home in.
But now, it stands as a skeleton craft, marred by toxins. Few who have wandered inside have come out, and those that did suffered greatly for their so called “adventure”. Poison is a troublesome thing, especially the ones produced within those desecrated halls. We do not have an antidote for such a poison and with the recent discovery of magic, the magicians of the high court of our country have barely had the time to come up with magic that could allow anyone to adventure within those halls. Though I highly doubt any of those stuck up jerks would bother making magic for the sole purpose of entering a deprecated old dungeon like this one.
However as a curious person myself I've always resolved myself as an adventurer to visit places that I should never be. I have nabbed many treasures in my life with this mindset, nevermind the fact that most of those treasures belonged to living people… that also are hunting me down as I speak…
But nevermind that, my attention is currently drawn to this ancient shrine of the past, not because I'm currently being hunted down or anything but because I heard a noise from within its wretched toxic halls, something I've never heard of before despite the fact that is well known that many creatures live within those halls, creatures that can withstand the poisons that lay within or in some cases are the reason there are poisons in there in the first place.
Well, with the guards on patrol for my butt, maybe taking a look inside isn’t a bad idea. A kind of murdering two swallows with the same brick, type of idea I think. Nobody will come searching for me in these halls, and as long as I don’t go too far the poisons shouldn’t take too much time off of me. If those foolish horned rabbits can venture on the first level, the level that most resembles a natural cave, then so can I!
And it's not like the monsters within scare me, the elders taught us all about what lied in that forbidden dungeon and a steel dagger does wonders against the majority of monsters that lay within and around the dungeon. And besides… it’s not like I’ll be entering so deep into the dungeon that some unknown eldritch abomination with multiple heads and limbs to tear me asunder will come out of nowhere to eat my soul or something like that. It’s simply baffling to think of such a specific scenario!
Monsters may exist, but there has never been proof that dates within the century that folks of the demonic race or angelic race exist in our dear world, only stories as old as the ruins that stand before me. And if they have no bearing on our world, then eldritch abominations are just as unlikely of appearing before me.
So onwards!!!!
…
…
…
Why do I have the ominous feeling I just cast a curse upon myself?