Morgana: Everybody Loves Large Chests (Vol.4)

by Iliev, Neven

  Once class was done for the day, Keira hit the library, this time to study up on the various Gods and their respective taboos. The monster’s FTH Attribute would grow steadily over time thanks to the various All Attribute bonuses it earned on a regular basis, but it had to be careful of accidentally contracting Taboo again. Thankfully, the Consortium’s extensive library had plenty of information regarding the divine beings that made up Terrania’s pantheon. The only exception was Nobunaga, the God of Change. Boxxy’s patron was considered a minor deity shrouded in obscurity, so his motivations, likes, and dislikes were largely unknown to the general public. That was hardly an issue though, as a certain Champion of Chaos would be more than happy to regale Boxxy with Timothy’s lore.

  For the time being, however, the shapeshifter focused on reading up about the asshole that had given it so much trouble last night. The being was Goroth, the God of Earth and patron deity of artists, artisans and craftsmen. Much like Fizzy explained yesterday, he was the type that favored honest, hard work above all else, and despised those who sought shortcuts by perverting the earth’s most precious gifts. In practical terms, this meant that any mortal who permanently transmuted something into silver, gold, platinum, mithril, orichalcum, or sinium would catch Taboo because of Goroth.

  This was the part where Boxxy got slightly derailed, as it had never heard of those last two metals. The order they were listed seemed to suggest that they would be even shinier than mithril, so it was eager to find out more. Thinking this a good opportunity, the shapeshifter visited the forges and workshops of the Hammers of Horkensaft guild and started asking around. Apparently, orichalcum was mithril that had been altered by prolonged exposure to mana from its environment, which also infused it with an inherent elemental property. It was, for lack of a better term, a Ranked-Up version of mithril with over a dozen variants.

  This ‘sinium’ thing turned out to be something of a mystery, though. It was allegedly the ultimate in magical metal, also known as ‘god steel.’ Legends said it had been ‘suffused with the divine energy of creation’ or something along those lines. However, nobody at the guild had ever seen let alone worked with this mythical material. The only additional information that Keira’s continued inquiries managed to unearth was that its color was a pale blue, akin to a clear midday sky. That didn’t tell Boxxy whether sinium was actually shiny or not, which left it a bit disappointed.

  With that distraction dealt with, Keira headed over to the workshop, where Fizzy said she would be making a practical demonstration of what Artificers actually did. The catgirl used this lecture to openly express interest in becoming an Artificer, and to publicly befriend the radiant golem. This way Keira would have an excuse to linger around Boxxy’s favorite shiny while also making use of custom-made tools, gadgets and weapons.

  Realizing it had gotten a bit sidetracked yet again, Boxxy discretely asked the Paladin about their God’s Taboo. Fizzy revealed that the Goddess of Dice Rolls had a raging hate-bucket for anyone that dabbled in time travel. Whether such an act was actually possible was another topic entirely, but the shapeshifter didn’t care either way. All it wanted to do was keep itself from unintentionally voiding its Hero title, and something ridiculous like time travel seemed easy enough to avoid.

  Having obtained this information, the beastkin-shaped monster returned to the library and spent the next hour compiling a comprehensive list of things that would earn it a loss of FTH.

  Turning unshiny things into shiny things – Goroth, God of Earth

  Participating or assisting in time travel – That Guy

  Mating with monsters or animals as an enlightened – Nyrie, Goddess of Nature and Fertility

  Breaking an oath made in her name – Teresa, Goddess of Truth and Justice

  Using Hexcraft or creating cursed items – Lunar, Goddess of Learning and Magic

  Participating or assisting in the genocide of an enlightened race – Solus, God of Life

  War crimes (i.e. randomly killing prisoners of war) – Axel, God of War and Combat

  Desecrating the dead (eating them doesn’t count) – Mortimer, God of Death and Commerce

  Dealing irreparable damage to the environment – Zephyra, Goddess of Rain

  Overall, this had been a very productive afternoon, as Boxxy was sure it would have unknowingly violated Axel’s taboo at some point in the future if it hadn’t researched it. The rest were more-or-less easily avoidable, but there were a few sore points. One of them was Nyrie’s Taboo, which seemed to ban the sort of sexual relationship Rowana had with Keira. Though Boxxy was, for whatever reason, exempt from that rule, the elf most definitely was not. Yet, she clearly was not marked with Taboo, despite the fact that she repeatedly and eagerly had sex with a shapeshifting monster.

  A bit of further digging revealed that all of the godly rules Boxxy had noted would only incur a loss in FTH and Levels in Taboo if they were violated willingly and knowingly. In fact, the phrase ‘willingly and knowingly’ was present in all of their official definitions, but the shapeshifter omitted those words from its notes for brevity’s sake. In any event, this meant that Rowana was safe from being automatically branded a heretic because she wasn’t aware that her girlfriend was a shapeshifting monstrosity.

  It was also debatable whether what the two of them did could be considered ‘mating’ since it was impossible for them to conceive a child, but that was a moot point.

  What was far more important was that this ‘willingly and knowingly’ caveat had spared Boxxy from being branded as an incorrigible heretic for what it had done back at Monotal. It was pretty sure that wiping out over eight thousand humans in one go might have broken the ‘no genocide’ rule of the Sun God, Solus. This one was admittedly a bit iffy, since it wasn’t as if the shapeshifter specifically targeted humans. Regardless of that technicality, the devastating effect that detonation had on the surrounding environment would have surely been a major violation of Zephyra’s Taboo.

  But, since the nameless mimic at the time had had no idea what would actually happen when the overloaded dungeon core went off, it hadn’t knowingly trashed the environment. A loophole, yes, but not one that the shapeshifter could exploit. Boxxy was now fully aware of what an exploding dungeon core would do, so a repeat of that would doubtlessly earn it a substantial Level of Taboo. It also slightly berated itself regarding the Unholy Wealth thing. If it had just tested that cursed cup on an actual person instead of Kora’s conjured form, then it could have gotten a ‘free’ golden skeleton.

  At least there seemed to be nothing stopping it from keeping the one it had obtained the previous night, seeing as it had already been ‘paid for.’

  Boxxy just started walking home from the Consortium building when it realized that, much to its surprise, none of its three familiars had been sent back to the Beyond. After checking in with Ambrosia, it learned that there had been a violent confrontation between them, but one that had been resolved without any fatalities. She had, of course, recorded the entire thing, as per Boxxy’s instructions. Curious as to what exactly had gone down, the shapeshifter ducked into a public restroom and remotely reviewed the data through the dungeon’s Surveillance Net.

  The recording in question was about eight minutes long, and started with the succubus and the stalker fighting one another mere moments after Boxxy had given them permission to do so. The battle started with a good view of the arachnid’s Stalk Skill in action. The ability was like an upgraded version of Stealth, in that it both muffled sounds and obscured the user’s body in a thin layer of black mist that made it easier to hide in the shadows. Though Snack could see in the dark quite well, she still struggled immensely to keep track of Claws as she skittered all over the floor, walls, and ceiling.

  Boxxy watched the footage with increasing glee as both of its familiars showed off what they could do. Snack did an admirable job of zoning out her opponent with area effect Spells, despite not knowing her exact position. She also used her Molten Guardian to cover h
er blind spots and flew up into the air to keep out of the stalker’s range whenever Claws made a move. Her Pyromancer magic also rendered the spider-girl’s webbing a non-factor, depriving Claws of her main means of attacking at range.

  Yet, despite the stalker’s inability to land any worthwhile hits, Claws proved herself to be an incredibly elusive target. She hadn’t suffered a single direct hit from Snack’s magic, despite the ridiculous number of fiery projectiles being tossed around. The way she dodged around made it seem like she could predict where the succubus was aiming at even before she finished chanting her Spells. Even when it looked like Snack’s flames were about to envelop her, Claws would simply disperse the magic by slicing it apart with her claws and back-scythes.

  That particular feat was made possible by the Counterspell Skill. The ability did exactly what its name suggested, but worked by briefly imbuing the stalker’s limbs with anti-magical properties. This meant the Skill required a good bit of timing and precision pull off successfully. The demon called Drea was clearly an expert at using it though, so that hadn’t been a problem for her. The real issue was that Counterspell could not be used indefinitely, which had allowed the succubus to land a total of eight hits on the reddish spider-demon. Namely, two Fireball explosions, three magma Missiles, a pair of Infernos, and a point-blank Flamethrower that Claws had been goaded into. She would’ve surely died if not for her passive and self-explanatory Magic Resistance Skill.

  However, those eight were only but a fraction of the hundreds of Spells Snack had unleashed. She had done an impressive job managing her MP reserves while avoiding injury, but she eventually began running out of fuel, forcing her to reduce the frequency of her attacks. Eventually she was also forced to abandon her Molten Guardian, as she could no longer sustain it.

  Claws capitalized on this opportunity by using her webbing as a slingshot to launch herself directly at the succubus. The stalker effortlessly diffused the desperate Fireball Snack threw at her, after which she finally managed to get close enough to the slippery seductress to web up her mouth. With the Molten Guardian gone, Snack had no way of burning off the gag that prevented her from chanting, and was too physically and mentally exhausted to fly out of the way before Claws kicked her in the chest.

  Or rather, it was more accurate to say that Claws had stabbed the succubus in the chest.

  The spider-demon then proceeded to use her many bladed appendages to rip off Snack’s wings, cut open her belly, bite down on her neck and cut off an arm, all in the span of a few seconds. She then cocooned the thoroughly beaten succubus and dragged her off somewhere.

  The recording cut off at that point. Boxxy didn’t usually get a chance to scrutinize Snack’s fighting ability, so it was rather surprised at just how adept she was. Unfortunately, Claws clearly had the upper hand when it came to experience. She had cleverly applied mental and physical pressure on her opponent, making her waste more MP than necessary to defend herself. The stalker steadily and patiently exhausted her prey until a decisive blow could be made, and flawlessly seized the opportunity when the time was right.

  In summary, Claws was in complete control of the fight from the start. It was almost frightening to think that this was the same embarrassed, awkward girl that Boxxy had met earlier that morning. That cold, methodical, and calculating side of her was exactly the sort of killer her master aspired to be, and it genuinely thought it could learn a lot from her. Her execution hadn’t been flawless as she had taken a few seemingly unintended hits.

  However, as Faehorn liked to say, no plan survived contact with the enemy, and the stalker most definitely had one of those. In fact, the main contributing factor to her victory was without a doubt her overwhelming advantage in the information department. Claws was clearly intimately familiar with Snack’s fighting style, likely because she had seen her fight numerous times on the Boxxy Show. On the other hand, the succubus had been forced to spend time and energy studying her opponent. A second bout between the two would likely play out very differently.

  Which, incidentally, raised a rather vital question—was a rematch actually necessary?

  “Claws,” Boxxy called out telepathically.

  “Heeek! Y-yes, Master?”

  “What do you think of Snack after you had a little fun with her?”

  “Oh, she’s fantastic,” she said in a strangely chipper tone. “I’m starting to understand why you favor her so.”

  Boxxy was pretty sure it didn’t really favor Snack one way or another. Even if she was a skilled infiltrator and tasted great, she still had a number of downsides that made her unreliable and unpredictable at times. Arms, though inflexible, was a lot easier to control. All Boxxy had to do was point her at a thing it wanted smashed and the thing would get smashed, no questions asked.

  “So, are you going to get along with her now?” the shapeshifter pressed

  “Oh, most definitely. In fact, I think I may be falling in love with her!”

  Well, that was… probably a good thing. What about the other side of the story, though?

  “Snack, what about you?”

  “What do you mean, Master?” the succubus responded, confused.

  “Oh, right.”

  Each familiar had their own telepathic ‘channel,’ so Snack would not have been privy to Boxxy’s conversation with Claws. It was only a slight inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, but the shapeshifter had difficulty remembering that at times.

  “I’m asking whether you and Claws worked out your differences.”

  “I would say so, Master,” Xera calmly replied. “We’ve been talking and hanging out ever since I lost, and I think we’ll be able to work together quite well in the future.”

  “Excellent. And where are you now?”

  “The two of us are having a bath together in the dungeon. It’s quite enjoyable.”

  “Is having a bath really that tasty?”

  Keira had to take baths to clean herself, but it just felt like a chore.

  “It’s the dryad’s special Waters of Life that make it tasty for us, Master.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, apparently it’s potent enough to help regrow lost limbs in an instant.”

  “Oh? That is very good to hear.”

  As a shapeshifter, Boxxy didn’t have to worry about such things since it could move and mold its body mass around as needed. Its demons were also not greatly perturbed by the loss of body parts, as they could just be re-summoned. Even Fizzy said she would probably be fine if she lost an arm or something since golems could be repaired so long as their core remained intact. Admittedly, she’d need to find a skilled golem engineer to fix her up, but there were plenty of those in the Horkensaft Kingdom to the east.

  However, elves and humans were different, and something like losing a leg or an eye was a permanent injury in most cases. The only thing that could fully restore a lost limb, or at least the only one that Boxxy was aware of, was a Rejuvenation Potion. Even then, the concoction supposedly burned off a significant portion of one’s life force, effectively reducing their lifespan by an entire decade. It was quite expensive to boot. Alternatively, one could try to replace their lost limb with a magical prosthetic, which was more accessible but also far from ideal.

  But the dryad’s miraculous Waters of Life were different. Ambrosia herself said producing them was not too difficult for a tree of her age and size, so this opened up a lot of possibilities. Boxxy could potentially rake in a lot of profit if it opened some sort of spa or clinic, but such things carried risks of their own. It had to carefully evaluate how viable such a business endeavor would be, but that was a concern for the future. What it needed right now was the answer to a rather pointed question.

  “Snack, how did you find out about this property of the Waters of Life?”

  “The dryad let us know herself, Master,” came the immediate response.

  “Strange, she didn’t mention it to me.”

  “Perhaps Master didn’t ask?”<
br />
  “That is true.”

  Ambrosia had not yet taken up her position as dungeon master when the topic of the Waters of Life was discussed, and it simply hadn’t come up since then. So then, the fact that she told Snack unprovoked meant the dryad felt there was a reason to point that out. Quickly checking up on the pair of demons using the Surveillance Net revealed what that reason was.

  “Actually Snack, I think I will be joining you for that bath after all.”

  “Oh? Please do, Master. I’m sure both of us would enjoy that greatly.”

  The images relayed by the dungeon core showed that Snack was, as expected, submerged in the green-tinged water of life. And Claws was in there with her, taking huge bites out of the succubus’s delicious flesh, which healed back within seconds. It was a scene that left Boxxy with a rather un-tasty thought.

  How come I didn’t think of that?

  Part Three

  In the depths of the Dryad’s Domain, a certain pair of demons soaked in an impromptu hot-tub. Well, it was actually closer to a small pond, as it was roughly and hurriedly carved out of the wooden floor with Terrain Sculpting. Ambrosia provided the green-tinted Waters of Life, and Xera’s magical flames kept it pleasantly hot. As for the stalker the succubus shared this moment with, she was in the middle of exploring some rather… intimate relations with the blue-skinned Pyromancer.

  Unfortunately, said ‘intimate relations’ hadn’t been anywhere near as fun as the pair had imagined they would be.

  Xera was disappointed to learn that a stalker devouring her flesh did not bring her the same satisfaction as having Boxxy do it. The fact that her beloved was not the one performing this act was part of the problem, but it was also because Drea was just too neat of an eater. She would typically slice off a leg or arm and enjoy munching on it while submerged almost completely underwater. While it was deliciously painful to have her flesh and bones severed, it sadly didn’t last long as the Waters of Life quickly healed the otherwise-crippling injury in a flash. After all, the cuts Drea made healed much faster and smoother than the sort of horrific tear a certain ravenous mimic might make.