"Okay, I think that should be good enough, it looks like it’s cooked through...alright, then, here I go," I muttered warily, as I bit into one of the Kappas’ arms, having roasted it with flas.
"So, uh...how is it?" Inquired Rosary, as I cautiously munched on it.
"Well...it’s not great. But it’s not terrible either. It doesn’t have much of a taste, it’s kind of a llow flavor. The at is a bit rubbery and chewy, but the texture is definitely a lot better than the Sli. Like, I wouldn’t eat this if I had a choice, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve tasted either," I surmised, as I continued eating it, before glancing at the others, "So, any of you want to give this a try?"
"Uh...I think I’m good. Maybe if we co across a stronger Monster," Ilex shook his head after a brief pause.
"Sa here, I’m gonna pass on this," Added Rosary apprehensively.
"Hm...I’ll give it a taste. I’m kinda curious about it," Chid in Prysm, stepping forward hesitantly.
I handed her a bone with so at at the end of it, before she tentatively took a bite from it, warily chewing on it as she tore the at off the bone.
"How is it?" Rosary asked her curiously.
"It’s just like Larrk said...not great but not terrible either. Yeah, it’s alright...though it does still feel really weird to be eating Monster at like this," She replied wryly.
"True, but I can get used to it...only because it’ll make stronger though, I definitely wouldn’t be eating this if there wasn’t anything to gain. Well, unless I’m completely starving and have no other options, I guess," I remarked, as I cooked up more of the at.
"Well, hurry up and finish it off, we should get moving again soon," Pointed out Rosary.
"If you stop to eat every strong Monster you co across, we won’t make much progress," Added Ilex with a nod.
"Hm...yeah, that’s a fair point, I guess. Well, in that case, from here on I’ll just put the Monster corpses in my Pocket Dinsion and eat them later. Might as well finish this one though, since I’ve already eaten most of it," I replied after mulling it over.
I wolfed down a good bit more of the at before stopping after a while as I felt a bit full. Don’t want to overstuff myself, or I’ll struggle to fight at my best, it’ll be tough to move freely if I overeat.
We then continued making our way down the Labyrinth, running into more Disastrous Grade Monsters at fairly regular intervals. This is going well, I can feel it...slowly but surely, all of us are unconsciously sharpening our abilities, with there being less margin for error against these more powerful Monsters.
We’d already discussed what to do if we co across a Monster that’s too powerful for us to handle...if such a situation arises, I’ll toss the others into my Pocket Dinsion before I myself drop down into the shadows and wait till the Monster leaves.
So far though, while we have encountered a number of tough Monsters, they’ve all been Disastrous Grades, and we’ve been able to handle them without too much trouble. I’ve tossed quite a number of them into my Pocket Dinsion, filling it with ice to keep them fresh and avoiding rotting.
Not gonna lie, this feels pretty daunting...to think that I’ll have to do this every single day for potentially a couple of years, it’s gonna be rough. Of course, there are so Monsters that I definitely don’t plan on eating...
"So, uh...you’re not gonna eat that one, are you?" Inquired Ilex in bemusent, as we ca across a large Monster.
"Yeah, absolutely not...," I replied with a wry laugh.
It’s a Giant Taratect, a Disastrous Grade. We were down to the thirty-third floor now, which is the deepest I’ve been so far in the Labyrinth...we’re gonna teleport back out shortly, this might be the last Monster we face.
I’m a little disappointed that this isn’t one I’d be willing to eat...yeah, bug Monsters are a major nope in that regard. Though I might consider it if it were a Catastrophic Grade. But since I’m not planning to eat this one, I don’t have to worry about destroying its body...which ans I can finally use this...
"It’ll shoot out its webs if we get any closer, we’ll have to attack from a distance with attacks powerful enough to kill it right away...now’s our best chance, while it’s still sizing us up and being wary," Frowned Rosary, as the Monster stared down at us from the ceiling.
"Let handle this, you guys hang back...I’ve got just the thing," I smirked, before unleashing a wave of blue flas in front of as I shot forward.
Sure enough, the large spider Monster imdiately fired out several streaks of webs at , but they all got burnt up instantly by the flas. Just a little closer...almost there...
As it then fired out a burst of its thick venom, a lot of the viscous liquid getting evaporated but so of it putting out a significant amount of my flas, I sprang up and raised my hand towards it...here goes, Heretic Spell: Black Hole!
Using my other hand, I swiftly swung my whip across towards a pillar, which struck and firmly wrapped around it, to keep from getting pulled in towards the black hole too.
The Monster let out an alard, agonized screech as its body got sucked into the imploding sphere, firing out its webs to the ceiling to try and pull itself away, but it was too late, with more than half its body already gone.
It was helpless to resist as it got fully drawn into the black hole, before I swiftly undid the Spell and dropped down towards the ground, landing with a sigh.
"Hey, a little warning the next ti you use that!" Suddenly ca Rosary’s voice, before I glanced back to see her and Ilex on the floor.
Rosary had her claws dug into the ground while Ilex had done the sa with his Soul Weapon, forming a Mana blade and piercing it into the ground.
Prysm was the only one still standing, looks like she went behind a pillar, she must’ve done so as soon as she realized what I was going to do...well, she’s the only one who’s already seen this Spell, so she knows what it can do and was able to react in ti.
If I’d created a smaller black hole, the force probably wouldn’t have reached them, but I had to make it large in order to account for the Monster’s size.
It’s definitely highly effective, but I should probably avoid using it unless I’m alone. Yeah, it might be just a little bit too effective...
"Oops, my bad. So, anyway, should we keep going a bit further or call it a day?" I asked them, as I stretched my arms up.
"I think we should wrap things up here and head back out. It’s gotten pretty late, we’ve been down here for over ten hours at this point," Responded Rosary, after checking the ti.
"Huh, has it really been that long?" I mused in reply.
With the Deatrio party, we spent eight hours in the Labyrinth each day, and it felt way longer than this felt today.
"Alright, I’ve set a Teleportation Point in this spot, so we can co right back here tomorrow or whenever we’re planning to go down the Labyrinth next," Prysm inford us.
"That’s really convenient, um...otherwise it’d take us about half a day at least to get all the way back up on foot," Remarked Ilex with a sigh of relief.
He seems to have gotten more comfortable around these two, that’s good...he still gets a bit nervous and stutters when they talk to him sotis, but it’s not as bad as before.
"Gotta say, you really caught off guard when your personality completely switched while fighting so of those Monsters. Never would’ve guessed you had such a dark side to you," Grinned Rosary, as she walked over.
"H-huh? P-please forget about that, I-I can’t help it," He muttered as he turned red with embarrassnt and buried his face in his hands.
"Yeah, that’s gonna be impossible," She laughed in response.
"Definitely, you really startled when you started laughing all crazy and stuff," Nodded Prysm in agreent, as Ilex let out a muffled groan.
"Co on, stop picking on him, you two. You’re gonna end up scaring him away," I smiled wryly.
"Heh, if he does that, we’ll just tell everyone about his hidden persona," Smirked Rosary mischievously.
"L-let’s just go back out, okay?" He groaned in dismay.
"Yeah, sounds good, I’m pretty worn out. Plus, uh...that Sli really did digest fast, I need to use the bathroom," I grinned sheepishly.
I’ve been holding it for a while now, but too much longer and I’m gonna be in trouble. Really need to get back to the hotel ASAP...
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