Chapter 20: Memories of Her_The Hiro is a Rubber Duck?: A Dungeon Core Adventure LITRPG.(Stubbing?)

Chapter 20: Memories of Her

Hmmm.

[Quest Complete!]

[The Heart of your Dungeon is now live! Protect it with your life!]

CHAMPION DESIGNATION UNLOCKED!

[New Quest!]

[Every Facility has a manager. A champion, these champions help to enforce your will and desires, gaining unique abilities and a stronger relationship to their master.]

[Designate your Champion!] [0/1]

2 Minions Viable For Champion Designation!

Slimey: Holy Super Slime LvL 14

HP: 1700/1700

MP: 310/310

Skills: Dissolve LvL 6. Slime Shot LvL 5. Cleanse LvL 5. Foam LvL 2. Solidification LvL 5. Bounce LvL 3. Physical Resistance LvL 4. Cold Resistance LvL 2. Mimic LvL 2. Blend LvL 1. Duplicate LvL 1. Shape Change LvL 1. Slime Bullet LvL 1. Holy imbue LvL 1. Mend LvL 1.

Dave: (???) LvL: 1

HP: 500/500

MP: 30/30

Skills: Bite LvL 6, Iron Tail LvL 5, Blend LvL 5, Swim LvL 4, Endure LvL 2, Pain Resilience LvL 3, Minor Regeneration LvL 3. Strong Body LvL 1. Heavy Constitution LvL 1. Human Potential, Darkvision LvL 2, Iron claw LvL 1.

Between Slimey and Dave, it was obvious that I would choose Slimey to be my champion right? After all, the slime was my first companion and minion, my steadfast if, overtly zealous friend.

However…

I was worried, the slime, while fiercely loyal to me, also somewhat terrified me with its jealousy. I wasn’t sure what Slimey would become if our… “relationship” deepened according to the system screen. In fact I was on the metaphorical fence.

I could take the time to promote a different monster to gain that level of competence to be a champion, but I had a sinking feeling that If I didn’t appoint Slimey as my champion I would die, especially since I was being held by the slime that had sneakily taken me off of Hector’s head with a tentacle and wrapped by body in it’s jelly.

Am I being held hostage?

I feel like I’m being held hostage…

Sigh.

[MINION SLIMEY DESIGNATED AS CHAMPION]

I relented, selecting Slimey as my champion.

Suddenly, an explicable feeling emerged in my gut? Like a leash or rope constricting against my core, an invisible line that connected me to my minion that seemed to grow thicker, stronger, until it was visible in my mind’s eyes. The emotions transmitted between me and my newly christened apostle grew in strength, awakening and undergoing a metamorphosis as my entire being seemed to be probed.

I wasn’t sure what was happening, but what I did know was that my entire life flashed before my eyes. Memories once dormant, faces once lost, all coming back to me as the images of my past life as a human, first in my own world, then in this one, sped through me.

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They were fleeting, with any attempt to halt the stream, to stop and focus on any one particular memory being blocked by some unknown force, like a light in my eye that wouldn’t allow me to focus. I was stuck, my mind victim to the tide of a lifetime of memories that were my own yet weren’t. A screenplay of someone else’s life played in fast forward.

And then, I saw something that jolted me from the motion picture. An image my mind fixated on, forced the reel of my life to come to a crawl.

Images. Of Hector, Chloe. And… Ana? Who? A woman. One that I spent a life with, a friend? No, a lover? Memories of someone I had forgotten.

Please. Stop.

Memories of a caring, fierce warrior who fought by my side, sword and shield in hand since Adam had sent me to this world. Her wild hair was golden brown, perfect sapphire eyes that twinkled with intellect, and a radiant smile…

Who… why? How could I?

Please. Stop.

I could see us at a campfire, at the foot of a mountain, the demonlord’s castle in the distance with the cold wind forcing she and I to huddle for warmth.

There was hesitation, fear, doubt in the air but also desire. Desire for each other that was rooted in…

Love.

Trust.

We had both been sent here, that… was our mutual bond. Our proof of our having existed in another world being each other and the memories we shared.

I could smell the faint scent of Oris lilacs, the perfume she liked, the touch of her soft skin, the warmth of her wet lips as her mouth sealed onto mine and…

Please… stop.

The memories shifted, the cozy campfire replaced by a darkened chamber. Chloe and Hector lay dead, my army in shambles, my weapon shattered, and in my arms…

Please…

So much blood.

Please…..

I could see that same face, staring blankly, the light of intellect gone, the blonde-hair matted with viscera, and her warm lips leaking crimson ichor…

“Don’t leave me… please don’t go…”

A quivering voice, one of despair.

Was it mine? I… can’t… I can’t remember. The memory shifted again, this time, with Barbaroll standing above, the one-horned demonlord smirking, its black eyes in the shape of crescents as it mocked my pain and ran me through with a crimson spear.

Pain… so much pain…

I could see my hands, blood-stained dented claws wrapped in wrought silver reaching out, gripping the shaft of the spear embedded in me to pull myself closer, a voice filled with rage, reaching out to the one who had killed…

Who? Someone dear. Someone. I… I can’t… I can’t remember! I can’t! Why can’t I?!

Please! Don’t! Don’t go… please…

And like that, the ordeal ended, leaving me alone in the darkness to grasp and reach out for memories that were no longer there. To try and piece together the jigsaw of my life.

I was alone. The only survivor of an ordeal who couldn’t even remember the names and faces of my dearest comrades.

My greatest failure. My greatest shame.

Hundreds of years later I still persisted while they all faded, lost to the annals of time on a mission for an uncaring god.

And I’d forgotten them. A hundred years of isolation. Loneliness. Madness. Filth.

I… who…

Why am I spacing out suddenly?

I turned my attention to Slimey, observing the monster as notification after notification hit my mind.

[CHAMPION SELECTED!]

Slimey: Holy Super Slime LvL 13

Title: Hiro’s Champion

HP: 2050/2050

MP: 400/400

The Slime wiggled, its status updating to gain a multitude of my resistances and some skills, a part of myself imprinting on the monster.

Slimey began to move, shift, its cores glowing with iridescent light that was blinding to my senses as they merged.

Before long, I was held in the blue arms of a golden-haired woman, one with sapphire eyes, who held me close, the blue skin on her body shifting into a light delicate pink that was so familiar to me yet so… painful.

“No one will ever hurt you again.” A voice spoke, gentle and kind, one I understood, words I could hear, words I didn’t know I needed to hear.

How can you be so sure?

“I will make sure of it.” Slimey said, holding me close to her dress with eyes that shook with fury. “No one shall take you away from me.”

[QUEST COMPLETE]

[+500 EXP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

Chapter 20: Memories of Her

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