Night hunt (II)

“Master, I won’t be able to hold him down for much longer.”

The bolstgron shook its body violently, and Limy, who was barely managing to hold it down, was nearly sent flying... It finally spread its wings, tearing Limy’s tentacles apart, and causing goo to splatter all over the place. Once it freed itself from Limy, it stared intently at her, with the look of someone that had something up his sleeve, and for some reason it stopped its onslaught.

‘Why has it stopped attacking? Don’t tell me…’

“Limy watch out! It is up to something dangerous.”

My gut was telling me that the Bolstgron had figured out that Limy was actually a slime, and physical attacks wouldn’t work on her. Turns out I was right about that. It rose one of its paws, and an energy darker even than its own fur started to coat its claws. It then took a swipe at the air, firing three black blades straight at my poor Limy.

“Don’t let that hit you!”

She wouldn’t be able to sidestep the attack, so the only option left was…

“Turn yourself into goo!”

Limy reacted instantly to my warning and reverted back to its original slime form. By doing so, she miraculously managed to avoid the blades, which missed their target by a whisker.

This signaled that it was time for me to spring into action. I shot the Fireball at the bolstgron, but it sensed the fiery sphere flying towards it, and effortlessly deflected it with one of its wings. Darkness engulfed the place once again, and the only things I could make out were its shape, and its red eyes locked onto me.

‘Looks like I will have to put up with fighting in the dark, on top of everything else.’

It became obvious at that point that this monster was smart and cunning. It probably even understood us when we talked. With that being the case, it would be easier for Limy to fight using its slime form, and as for communication, we’d be better of using telepathy, so the Bolstgron wouldn’t pick up on what we were saying.

—Limy, stay on that form for the time being. You can wield weapons like that, can’t you?

—I can.

The little slime extended a tentacle from which a sword emerged. I readied another Fireball. The bolstgron looked unconcerned. It looked at me, then at Limy, then back at me. Looks like it had sorted out its priorities after checking Limy’s sword and figuring that such a weapon posed no threat to him. And it was probably right about that….

“So, you’re coming after me… Alright, do your worst!”

We went into the offence simultaneously. The bolstgron sped up tremendously, leaving a dark and sinister trail on its wake. I stood my ground and used Impulse at the last possible moment to dodge upwards and shot the Fireball from above. The spell hit the monster on its flank, leaving a tiny, charred spot that did not seem to do much harm. Since I was in close quarters, I fired a Mana Bomb to push it away and put some distance between us. The bolstgron, more annoyed than harmed, let out a visceral roar and got ready for round two.

The monster then decided to change its approach. It spread its wings, took off, and started hovering above us, much like a vulture circles around its prey. It used the same attack it had used just moments ago against Limy, only this time, since it was directly above me, it fired the black blades in a vertical trajectory. I used Mold Earth to form a makeshift shield above me, but the blades cut through it like a hot knife cuts through butter. With no further obstacles on their way, the blades continued to fly on my direction. Just as they were about to hit their target, I felt a tentacle grabbing a hold of me and getting me out of harms way.

—Master, are you ok?

—That was close... Yeah, thanks, you saved me there

The bolstgron fluttered its wings and placed itself once again above us. Immediately, dark energy started to accumulate on its mouth.

—Hold on tight to me!

Once I ensured Limy had clung on to my small body, I jumped as far as I could to dodge the incoming attack. The monster had released a beam of dark energy from its ugly mouth as if it was a fire-breathing dragon, leaving behind a deep chasm that spanned a few meters. Unfortunately, instead of landing, it stayed airborne and started preparing for the next attack.

‘Well that’s not good. We cannot get a proper hit if it continues flying…’

While I was busy trying to figure how we could bring the Bolstgron down, I suddenly noticed Limy’s sword. It was an old sword that she stored a good while ago. If neither Fireball nor the Mana Bomb had managed to hurt the monster, the sword would certainly be harmless as well. And that’s assuming Limy would even be able to land a hit on the monster at all, which wasn’t looking very likely at the moment.

‘An old sword…’

—Limy, do you feel like learning how to fly?

—How to fly?

—Hold the sword above me and grab it tight. Let’s nuke this guy!

She did as she was told and held the sword above me. I charged an Air Bullet with maximum strength, aimed at the hilt of the sword, and fired it. The sword was sent flying directly towards the Bolstgron, who was still hovering over us.

“Take that!”

When the beast noticed the makeshift arrow flying straight at it, it dodged desperately, just barely managing to get out of its way. It then stared at me, its eyes oozing hatred, before going into a nosedive.

“And the weather forecast for today is… rocky rain!”

The Bolstgron was so fixated on me that it failed to realize that Limy was no longer standing by my side.

—Now Limy! Unleash hell upon this fiendish creature!”

Limy was sent flying along with the sword, so she was now positioned directly above the monster.

—Understood, master

At my command, Limy opened her internal space and let loose at the rubble and debris she had consumed while we dug Aeldrya’s new favorite secret room in her basement. Kilos upon kilos of rock, dirt, rubble and debris rained on the unsuspecting beast.

“Eat my ultimate final skill: Stone throwing slime throwing stones!”

It was at that moment that the Bolstgron noticed something was off. It turned around just in time to witness a huge rock falling onto him. I jumped away and stopped in a safe place, my back to the scene.

“There’s something you should know. Where a stone falls, many more follow!”

The sound of the avalanche we just caused echoed through the night, and caused a dense cloud of dust to spread through the area. Limy fall on top of it, but she just bounced a couple of times before coming to my side. She was a slime after all, unable to be harmed by physical damage. Once the dust settled, Limy, back in her human form, and I, got closer to the pile of rubble

“I hope you are reincarnated as a stone.”

The experience acquired after the battle was shared between the two of us, although Limy ended up getting the largest share of it. Well, that was fair enough.

‘There aren’t that many monsters near the city, but man, they are damn tough. I think I understand now why no one goes out after dark. Running into grade 2 and even grade 3 monsters in the dead of the night… not pleasant at all. Note for future self: nights are dangerous. Although I could perhaps take advantage of that…‘

“Let’s retrieve the corpse, just in case. We will ask Aeldrya if there are any valuable materials we can harvest from it, so don’t consume this one Limy. If nothing else, I reckon a grade 3 core should be rather valuable.”

“Understood, master.”

We rescued the corpse of the Bolstgron from underneath the pile of rubble. By the time we were done and started heading back home, dawn was fast approaching. When we finally made it back, Aledrya was up already, waiting for us with baggy eyes.

“Where have you been?”

“We went for a little night hunt.”

“Hunting... in the night… So what is it that you hunted?”

“This thing here.”

Limy puked out the corpse of the Bolstgron. Aeldrya’s tired face started twitching just like the time she found out about the dungeon.

“You hunted a Bolstgron… by yourselves… in the middle of the night…”

“What about it?”

“That Monster is deadly! Most people that are unfortunate enough to run into one are dead without even knowing what hit them.”

“Well…It did give us a bit of a hard time… Whatever, anything valuable we can salvage from its body?”

“Most definitely…”

The elf sighed with resignation, went to find a skinning knife, and started working on the corpse. I decided to check on the progress of my dungeon in the meantime. Surely the 8 hour wait was over already.

‘Alright, let’s see how my new creation turned out. Dear dungeon, did you grow big and healthy while I was away?’

I opened the dungeon control panel and checked on the status of the room. Remaining time: 7:52:32. It hadn’t progressed one bit since the last time I checked.

“What the hell is this damn crap?!”

[When the dungeon core leaves the dungeon it becomes completely inactive.]

“Helpy, darling, I will never get tired of asking this with all my love… WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER?”

[You did not ask.]

“Aaaaaaaaah!!!!”