Fizzlesprocket_Everybody Loves Large Chests [Vol.2]

by Neven Iliev

  [You have inflicted a minor stab wound. Target HP -84.]

  [You have inflicted a minor stab wound. Target HP -103.]

  Yet despite driving them down to the hilt, its attack was still considered a minor stab wound. Relatively speaking, poking something this large with daggers was like stabbing a person with a nail. It would take far more than two strikes to bring down a creature that, based on the shapeshifter’s previous experiences, had around 1,500 HP on average. Which was why the Mimic withdrew its daggers and struck again and again.

  [You have inflicted a minor stab wound. Target HP -136.]

  [You have inflicted a minor stab wound. Target HP -122.]

  Boxxy’s assault would do a lot more damage if it could hit anything vital like a heart, neck, lung or skull, but its current position meant it could only strike at muscle and meat. Then there was the fact that these things seemed to have some sort of defences which greatly reduced physical damage taken. It was probably due to their combination of passive Skills not too dissimilar to the Mimic’s Natural Armour.

  [You have inflicted a minor stab wound. Target HP -92.]

  [You have inflicted a minor scratch. Target HP -13.]

  The oversized lobster didn’t exactly sit still and let itself be stabbed to death, either. It thrashed about wildly, even going as far as rolling across the ground, which caused some of the thrusting attacks to veer off course and end up as glancing blows. That was just an unintended side effect though, as what the crabby crustacean was trying to do was shake its attacker off its blind spot. Unfortunately, its efforts only made things worse as it inadvertently drove the stubborn chest’s steel legs deeper inside itself. Being squished against mud or submerged in water was not nearly enough to discourage a dangerous mimic of Boxxy’s calibre, which just kept relentlessly stinging its prey.

  [You have inflicted a minor stab wound. Target HP -115.]

  [You have inflicted a minor stab wound. Target HP -87.]

  Growing desperate, the lobster reared up and threw its head back and sprayed a shower of corrosive acid into the air. The deep green liquid then promptly rained down atop the violent monster currently attached to the invertebrate’s back. But Boxxy had already taken countermeasures in the form of a large, rectangular bronze shield retrieved from its Storage. Bronze was a metal that, although not extremely tough, was naturally resistant to magic. And this particular shield had a special anti-corrosive coating applied to its surface, courtesy of the local Alchemist. The specialized piece of gear blocked most of the acidic deluge, but some of it still splashed onto the Mimic’s body, melting parts of its flesh.

  [You have been burned by acid. HP -124.]

  Boxxy’s prey, however, seemed to be completely unfazed by this. Its own corrosive spit simply washed over its grey shell as if it were water, but the relentless barrage of stab wounds didn’t slow down one bit. So it kept spewing acid all over itself as much as it could. What ensued was a frantic contest of endurance between two monsters. One just kept stabbing relentlessly while the other tried to flush it out with caustic fluids.

  This carried on for almost a full minute before the large crustacean’s four legs finally gave out. It collapsed in the shallow waters of the marsh, its green blood flowing freely from the countless holes in its lifeless body. The Mimic had no room to celebrate its victory, however, and quickly retreated from the body. The spot where it had been mere moments ago was then bathed in streams of acid that shot out from beneath the surface of the murky waters surrounding the fresh corpse.

  Such an attack might have worked against a less prepared monster, but this one came armed with a magical perception field twenty metres in diameter. The Mimic didn’t rely on simple eyesight to watch out for ambushes, so sneaking up on it was pretty much impossible. It was ironic that a monster which instinctively relied on deception and camouflage was so well equipped to deal with enemies that used the same approach.

  Boxxy skittered away from the scene with all due haste. It was confident it could take down one of those things in open combat. A two-on-one was also doable if it put its Warlock Job to work, although that would mean less XP would go towards the Mimic Job. Four of those, though? That was simply too much. It was far better to apply hit and run tactics when fighting this particular species of monster, at least in Boxxy’s personal opinion. Granted, that meant it would take a while to fulfil the quota for its current Quest, but that wasn’t a problem since there was no time limit involved anyway.

  Slay 20 Murk Dwellers

  Description: The population of Murk Dwellers that inhabit the marshes to the south of Erosa has increased to an unacceptable degree. Lord-Mayor Osorlov has commanded that these creatures be reduced in number to ensure they do not endanger the surrounding area.

  Difficulty: ★★★

  Deposit: 50 GP

  Reward: 400 GP

  Progress: 7/20

  The Mimic could take the slow and easy route, though that was by no means its only method of fighting. It still had a number of special surprises waiting inside its Storage, and Snack was currently circling overhead to provide magical support if needed. It didn’t want to use either of those options unless necessary. Killing a murk dweller and then escaping its inevitable backup was easy enough since they were horrible runners and had no chance of catching the highly adaptable spider-chest. The succubus was there just in case something unexpected popped up.

  *RUMBLE*

  *SKREEEK*

  And judging from that racket coming from the thick mist behind the Mimic, something did indeed pop up. Although Boxxy would be hard-pressed to call that unexpected considering it was already looking for one of those anyway.

  Slay 1 Murk Dweller Queen

  Description: The population of Murk Dwellers that inhabit the marshes to the south of Erosa has increased to an unacceptable degree. Lord-Mayor Osorlov has commanded that the source of this problem be culled in order to ensure the stability of the region.

  Difficulty: ★★★★★

  Deposit: 50 GP

  Reward: 900 GP

  Progress: 0/1

  Part Eight

  The murk dweller queen was about the size and shape of a two-story peasant house, with an appearance closer to that of a crab than a lobster. Her shell was much harder than the common variety and one swipe of her massive claws would probably crush a civilian into paste. The related Quest’s relatively high five-star rating was well deserved, though it wasn’t because of the monster’s strength. Although formidable in and of itself, the queen’s personal might alone was enough to classify her as a four-star target.

  In reality, it was her swarm of escorts that helped bump the threat assessment to the next level.

  *SKREEK*

  The towering behemoth let out another screech that echoed through the marshes, causing every murk dweller in the vicinity to stir and wake up. Dozens of them popped up out of the ground and started converging on the intruder that dared to threaten their mother. The sheer numerical advantage they had made it easy to see why the local guilds deemed this to be a Level 100 threat.

  So then why did a creature that was a Level 39 Mimic, Level 25 Warlock, and Level 12 Artificer willingly set off on such a Quest? Because it had a way of levelling the playing field, of course. But first, it had to make some preparations before the queen’s disgruntled subjects tracked it down. The thick fog wouldn’t help hide it though. These murk dwellers seemed to have some way of locating their quarry that wasn’t reliant on sight, as evidenced by how the first wave of them was already rapidly approaching.

  Boxxy had already accounted for that and was confident it could manage as long as they were bunched up. It opened its Storage and retrieved the apple-sized, twelve-sided Spell Crystal it had prepared in advance. It was a good thing that a queen showed up so soon or it would have wasted a focusing crystal. Those things had a cost of 120 GP each, and it didn’t feel like wasting that money by letting the Spell Crystal expire. Thankfully, the Level 5 Crystallize Magic Skil
l afforded it a generous thirty-minute window in which to use it, which had proven to be enough.

  *SKREEE*

  However, it didn’t look like Queenie was wasting any time either. The Mimic carefully tracked the stupidly tall and oddly spherical shadow through the fog with its catlike eyes. It didn’t sound like much, but that was an impressive feat considering the near pitch-blackness of this marsh during cloudy nights like this one.

  Thankfully, becoming an Artificer had given Boxxy access to the Perception (PER) Attribute, which helped sharpen its senses. This applied both to the eyesight it had copied from the janther and the magical perception field it was born with – the latter of which had been extremely handy in finding the submerged or buried murk dwellers. The semi-solid soil around these parts was quite ‘noisy’ and ‘fuzzy,’ so it wasn’t easy to pick out a slumbering monster in the middle of all that. Boxxy didn’t have anywhere near enough PER to completely overcome that problem, but it certainly helped.

  Right now, however, its natural senses were telling it about a pissed off gigantic crab that was rapidly approaching, prompting the spider-chest to break out into a run. It took a moment to reach into its Storage and take out one more thing: a flare launcher similar to the one the sweeper subjugation group tried to use about a month ago. It used the flesh tendrils spilling out of its mouth to aim it at the sky and trigger it, sending a bright red light screaming into the sky.

  “Snack! Arms! Come to me!” it commanded telepathically.

  “Yes, Master.”

  “On my way, boss!”

  Kora had been ordered to stay about half a kilometre away since she was the complete opposite of subtle. Having her around would’ve made it more difficult to pounce on the sleeping monsters, but that was no longer a concern. The size of her stride and her absurd physical conditioning meant she would reach Boxxy pretty quickly anyway. As for Xera, she swooped in from above not two seconds after being called and glided along the ground on her demonic wings, just above the Mimic. It was a good thing her moronic master remembered to send that signal or she would’ve never found it in this fog.

  “Snack, take the sucky thing and use it! Make sure you get all the small crabbies!”

  Boxxy stretched out its tongue and handed the pitch-black Spell Crystal to its familiar. The succubus grabbed hold of it, and a rather troubling twinkle appeared in her eye.

  “Do not get caught by the sucky thing! I will need your magic for the next part!”

  Her Master still wasn’t completely sure about the nature of her eccentricities, but it had already noticed how … enthusiastic she got whenever she handled items of great destructive power.

  “ … Yes, Master,” she replied, with a hint of disappointment.

  The succubus gave her wings a few powerful beats and ascended into the night sky, dyed red by the flare’s light bouncing off the thick fog. She was able to easily see the massive shadow of the murk dweller queen pass under her. The gigantic monster had no trouble keeping up with the agile spider-chest due to her massive gait, but her brood was slow and trailed behind their mother in a tight-knit group. Xera wasn’t sure exactly how many of them had gathered by now or whether the item she was given would be enough to catch them all, but orders were orders.

  “Master, I’m going!”

  “Okay.”

  “Banana,” she chanted.

  The pitch-black Spell Crystal in her hands shimmered slightly in response to the keyword, indicating it had been properly armed.

  “1 … 2 … Now!”

  She let the item drop from her hands and then rapidly ascended. The crystallized form of the Mimic’s Singularity Spell fell silently through the night sky. It landed squarely on top of the large queen, instantly shattering open and releasing its contents: a miniature black hole created through Ruin magic.

  The mud, the water, even the very air, got dragged towards a singular point. The murk dwellers following their mother unwittingly entered its effective range and began floating helplessly up into the air. Even the gigantic queen was unable to break away from the sudden gravitational pull and had to resort to digging her massive feet and claws into the mud in an effort to avoid being swept away. Some of her offspring did the same, but the vast majority of them floated upwards and coalesced into one gigantic ball of floating crayfish. Since the Singularity Spell Crystal’s point of impact was right next to the queen’s upper shell, it almost seemed like the giant crab had an afro made out of smaller crabs.

  Boxxy was also not exempt from the effects of its own Spell. The distance between itself and the point of impact was only sixteen metres, mostly due to the sheer size of its target, while the Singularity had an effective radius of over twenty. Twenty-two to be precise, what with the 10% area effect radius bonus from its Collateral Damage Perk. Either way, the Singularity’s pull wasn’t anywhere near as powerful this far out, allowing Boxxy to avoid getting caught up in it by clinging desperately to the ground.

  However, while Xera did indeed manage to hit the vast majority of the ‘crabbies’ with the ‘sucky thing,’ none of them were actually dying. Oh sure, the ones at the very centre of the floating lobster sphere were getting crushed under the weight of their kin, but the majority of them were left unharmed. The Singularity Spell did not do much in terms of damage. That was fine though, as it had brilliantly done its job of grouping up and restraining those murk dwellers after the Mimic rounded them all up.

  All things considered, the first part of Boxxy’s plan had been a great success.

  As for the second bit, that was far simpler. All the shapeshifter needed to do was open its Storage wide and let a series of eight brown cloth satchels fall out of it. The Singularity caught the lightweight hemp bags the instant they left the pocket dimension and swept them up into the air. They flew off and got lost somewhere inside the floating mass of angry crustaceans. They slapped against the writhing murk dwellers and slipped into the gaps between them as they were pulled ever upwards by the unnatural gravity source. They would probably reach the middle of that soggy mess if given enough time, but that wasn’t something Boxxy had. Not only was the Singularity about to dissipate, but the Mimic couldn’t afford to let its nasty surprises get too wet.

  “Snack! Light it up!”

  Xera had, as instructed, managed to fly beyond the range of the Singularity in time and avoided getting sucked into that angry mess beneath her. She hovered just on the edge of the Singularity’s range and pointed her staff downward, chanting her favourite Spell.

  “Inferno!”

  The towering pillar of magical fire illuminated the night and enwrapped the entire floating ball-o-crab. It clung to the monsters’ bodies, continuing to burn away at them. However, while it had been an effective area attack, it wasn’t nearly enough to kill all the monsters. Nor was that the Spell’s intended purpose.

  *KABO-BO-BO-BOOOOOOOM*

  The numerous Blast Powder explosives packed inside the cloth satchels were set off almost simultaneously. The already large mass of fire that was Xera’s Inferno expanded to become an even larger fireball as a slew of murk dwellers were ripped to shreds by both the shock waves and the shrapnel. The sheer force of the explosion sent charred lobster bits and green, sticky blood scattering in every direction, although only briefly. The strength of the Singularity’s gravity field quickly pulled everything back together.

  Boxxy’s mind was once again flooded by what seemed to be hundreds of damage notifications, but it ignored them and focused only on the important one at the end.

  [Level up!]

  [Congratulations, you are now a Level 40 Mimic! All Attributes +2.]

  *SKREEEEEEEEE*

  As for the queen, she was not entirely pleased with this development. Not only did that series of explosions hurt like nothing else she had ever experienced, but they also did a number on her brood. The shell protecting her upper body was mostly in pieces, and the succubus’s magical flames still clung to her.

  “Snack, finish off the cr
abbies, I’ll get the big one!”

  “Yes, Master.”

  The Singularity’s effects ran out a few seconds later, releasing both the queen and the few surviving murk dwellers from their magical prison. The massive monster angrily swung a claw downwards, aiming at the one who was undoubtedly responsible for all this – that infuriating half-spider, half-box, half … human?

  “Mind Blast ~♪!”

  [Your target has been stunned for 3 seconds.]

  The massive crab recoiled and wavered mightily as the Domination Spell assaulted her consciousness. Her claw strike missed her target by a wide margin, striking nothing but soggy swampland.

  “Frostbite ~♪!”

  Six icy fangs flew out from Boxxy’s sides, three from the left, and another trio from the right. They drew unnatural horizontal arcs as they flew through the air, almost as if someone had thrown a bunch of boomerangs. They struck the queen’s vulnerable upper body from both sides like a pair of icy jaws.

  [Your target has been pierced by the magical ice. Target HP -319.]

  Granted, they didn’t do much. That big-ass monster was sure to have mountains of HP at its disposal and barely even flinched. The size difference between her body and the icy fangs was like prodding a person with a toothpick.

  “Frostbite ~♪!”

  That was fine, however, as Boxxy could fire off as many of the fangs as necessary. This Spell was one of the more efficient ones in the Mimic’s limited repertoire. Its damage was comparable to a Dark Explosion, at only a fraction of the MP cost. The chant was also really short and could be completed even faster than a Shadowbolt.

  [Your target has been pierced by the magical ice. Target HP -319.]

  The only problem was that it was really hard to aim. The odd path the projectiles took, as well as their relatively slow speed, made it substantially difficult to hit a human-sized opponent with the full force of the Spell. And that was only if they were standing still. Hitting a moving target with this thing was downright impossible. That wasn’t a problem right now though. Not only was Boxxy’s victim as big as a barn, but it had also been immobilized by magic.