Two mechas popped out of thin air in a dark underground cavern deep underground, lit by a few lanterns with glowing blue crystals in them.
"And here we are, in the dark mines." said the dwarf. "Down here, monsters hide at every corner. Let your guard down for a second and you might be headless in the next."
The golem on Yue's mecha was very unnerved. It had always been used to the vibrant light of the sun, the sound of the wind, insects, birdsong... anything would do. But here, there was only darkness that seemed to stretch endlessly and an oppressive silence. The only thing that stopped it from freaking out entirely was the soothing sound of gears grinding. What was once a nuisance was now music to its ears. Buggy nuzzled the golem reassuringly.
"But we ish in machinn. How ish we lose head?" the bunny tilted her head.
"It was just a metaphor little one. Now, follow me!" said the dwarf as he pressed a button in the cockpit. A crystal lantern much like the ones surrounding them (but bigger) popped up on the headless torso. The mecha grabbed the lantern with both hands and twisted it a little to the left and right to make sure it was on tight, then walked onwards into the darkness.
So the smaller mecha followed the larger one timidly, their footsteps echoing loudly in the dark despite their efforts in walking slowly. It wasn't that they were making a lot of noise; it was just so silent you could hear even a pin drop.
Yowi had woken at this point and was listening as hard as he could for the sound of monsters along with Yue. But he could hear nothing but the sound of footsteps. As a feline with the ability to hear the breathing of creatures in the forest from metres away, not to mention in total silence, Yowi felt doubt. Not to mention that he didn't see anything with his exceptional eyes except for rubble, cracks and holes all over the ground.
"Ish dwaf sure ders munsters?" asked the cat.
"Near the portals, there aren't many of them. Thousands of us dwarves hunt them, you see?" explained the dwarf. "Heck, even if they were around, you wouldn't notice them till they attacked!"
The golem got even more unsettled.
"But Yowi ish haz gud heearing!" insisted the cat.
"Yue ish hear nuthing tuu." affirmed the bunny.
"You mean them being restless and making noises? No, they stay perfectly stil-"
"Whut about bweeave?" Yowi interrupted the dwarf.
"What do you mean 'bweeeeave'?" the dwarf found it hard to understand the two little critters. If only they spoke clearer!
"Bruh-eeeth!" Yue tried to say 'breathe' clearer.
"Oh, that! Well, they have-"
"BANG!"
-16,593 MHP
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With a deafening bang, a huge claw punched out of the rocky ground and clamped onto the dwarf's mecha, denting the armour of the machine.
The golem and the bunny screamed. The cat jumped in fright and hit his head on the roof of the cockpit. The beetle took off in panic for a second before landing back on the machine awkwardly.
"Speak of the demons, a cavern lobster." said the dwarf nonchalantly. "Party Scan!"
You are not in a party.
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The claw began to squeeze harder and start to pull the mech downwards into the ground.
"Drats! I'll send you all a party invite later! Just use Scan on him for now!" shouted the dwarf. Unfortunately, the quartet was too shocked to comply.
The mecha of the dwarf pointed the hole in its palm towards the claw of the monster's claw.
"Bang!"
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A bullet shot was lodged in the claw, drawing blood. The claw loosened, starting to retreat back into the ground. The monster was in pain and wanted to escape!
"Not so fast!" yelled the dwarf.
His mecha grabbed the claw just in time and pulled hard. The ground began to tremble and make crumbling noises as the tug of war began.
"What are you waiting for? Help me out!" shouted the dwarf to the stunned quartet on the smaller mecha.
"Okie!" shouted Yue, directing her mecha to pull as well.
The monster was strong enough to resist the pull of the dwarf's mecha, but only barely. Yue's pulling tipped the scales, sending the huge three-metre long monster flying out of the ground and crashing onto the ground on its head hard.
[Monster Stunned!]
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Urgo invites you to join his party!
Accept?
Yes No
Poopy, Yowi and Yue got an invitation from the dwarf, Urgo. Buggy, however, did not receive an invite as the system doesn't let pets receive party invites. The trio hastily hit 'Yes'.
Party formed!
Leader: Urgo
Members:
Poopy
Urgo
Yue
"Great! Party Scan!" said the dwarf.
Striped Cavern Lobster
Grade: Super-Rare
LVL: 50
STR: 36,000
MAG: 5,000
DEX: 500
AGI: 500
DEF: 90,000
INT: 70
HP: 500,000
MP: 5,000
Skills:
Pincer Crush: Deals damage 50-100% of STR. +50% damage if the skill is used as a sneak attack
(10 MP) (No cooldown)
Pistol Pincer: Shoots an incredibly fast bullet of air that does damage 200% of STR.
(500 MP + 1,000 HP) (10s cooldown)
Poopy was shocked. It had never seen anything that powerful before! If not for the sheer strength of the dwarf's mecha, they would have been instantly destroyed!
"A striped lobster! Holy crap! I never thought I'd ever see one of them!" cried Urgo in his excitement.
"You mean its rare, don't you?" spoke Poopy for the first time in quite a while.
"Very rare indeed! The striped lobsters are one in thousands or something, don't quite recall. They'r bigger than the normal ones and have really tough shells! Great for making armour I say. Oh, and I heard their meat is quite tasty." said Urgo.
The golem was relieved. Good thing these monsters were not normally that strong!
The lobster finally got back on its feet, wobbling slightly.
"Oh, its finally getting up. No time to talk!" Urgo's mecha walked toward the lobster and grabbed its head using both hands.
"BA-BANG!"
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Blue blood oozed from the head of the lobster. It wobbled a few final steps before collapsing on the floor, dead.