"Yeah..." Gloria began talking. I'm not sure whether she forgot I could still see and hear them or if she just did it on a whim. "When he saw that guy there touch you and say those things... He kinda flipped out."
"What do you mean?" Mihara looked up towards her. Her pain subsiding for a moment.
"He... lost his shit, and did something he should never have done. Long story short... he killed himself in the process."
"Wha—"
"Don't worry. Some girl showed up and fixed it up. But... I..."
"Don't cry," Mihara touched Gloria's face. For some reason, the goblins had stopped moving for a second. I think because Gloria stopped walking. "I'm sure he'd do the same for you too, right."
"Yeah." Gloria chuckled. Her smile contrasted beautifully with her teary eyes. And her expression was one I'd never seen before... A very adult one. "I guess he does like us both quite a lot, doesn't he."
"Um!" Mihara forced herself to smile, her body cramping once again excruciatingly. "He does what he thinks is best. Even if it hurts. We just have to take a little more. Before everything gets better." She squeezed some words, before curling in the stretcher once again.
"I hope you're right..." Gloria muttered to herself, as she combed Mihara's hair with her hand, and set foot again, the goblins moving too.
I held myself from crying. I don't know why I got this attached to those two, but I did. Now that I think about it, it's probably because I had nobody. From having nothing and no-one. To not even having somewhere... Only for then, out of nowhere, having someone I could count on... even if she did behave like a bitch at first. And someone that legit needed me for something, and actually went out of her way to please me. That was a first.
A small smile grew on my face as I slowly walked towards the entrance of the cave. From the subspace, I could see the girls had already gotten to the core room... but how was I gonna deal with all that shit ahead...?
I bit my lip as I felt my palms sweating. I could see the silhouettes outside the cave from where I was now. My steps growing heavier and heavier.
Detaching myself from my materialized point-of-view I could slightly see what was expecting me. I swallowed dry. That was no hobgoblin... I felt its eyes scanning into the dungeon when I read his status.
< Foreign Monster Status >
< >
< Name: Abzuban (NAMED MONSTER) >
< Title: Commander of Hordes >
< Race: Goblin King >
< Job (AUTO): King >
< Lvl.: 86 >
< Rank: Ø >
< State: Normal >
< Attributes: >
< ◘ VITALITY(VIT): 89 >
< ◘ MANA(MAN): ØØ >
< ◘ STRENGTH(STR): ØØØ >
< ◘ AGILITY (AGI): ØØ >
< ◘ STAMINA(RES): 99 >
< ◘ INTELLIGENCE(INT): ØØØ >
< >
< Passive Sills: >
< • Regeneration ØØ >
< • Magic Resistance ØØ >
< • Mental Effect Resistance Ø >
< • Ø >
< • Minor Health Increase >
< • Ø >
< • Mana Conversion >
< • Ø >
< • Exceed Limits >
< • Ø >
< >
< Active Sills: >
< • Dagger Technique Ø >
< • Slinger Technique II >
< • Ø >
< • Siege Technique I >
< • Torture Technique ØØ >
< • Sexual Technique ØØØ (Ø) >
< • Ø >
< • Ø >
< >
< Unique Skills: >
< • King of Globlin-kin I >
"Holy fucking shit..." I muttered with both my selves, as I read the status page of the monster. This was no run of the mill monster. Let's not talk about all the other goblins out there... This was something.
'Scary.'
'What am I even doing here?'
I thought these things as my heavy steps echoed, walking towards imminent death. I gulped. Cold sweat rolling down my spine.
'This ain't gonna work! What am I? Stupid.'
And almost as if drawn by my words, time itself ground to a screeching halt.
'The hell!? Why now? It's not like I wanted it...' I Thought, realizing it had happened inadvertently.
"Fuaaa" I let myself sink into a chair I materialized in the divine subspace. Apparently, provided you have sufficient "knowledge" and "belief", not sure what those meant, you can materialize whatever you want for free. 'I guess that's how Glory made her room back then... We should be able to make something like a home later.' I thought, imagining our daily routine once she came back here. And almost as if it hadn't happened at all, time slowly started speeding up. Maybe because my tension went down, who knows. "I should get myself some help, right?" I said, as I scrolled through the menus. "Huh? Where's all this EP coming from? Oh, right, the torture guys." The unexpectedly high number of EP threw me off guard. But remembering they had only been doing their stuff for half an hour before the whole fuck up thing made me realize something. The dungeon was pretty powerful. "Yeah, I have this under control." I said to myself, relaxing, on my materialized body, as a dozen dark hobgoblins and dark shamans started walking behind me. 'I need to somehow talk to them too... I don't think these can.
"Hey, you. Can you talk?" I asked the shaman, who simply nodded denying it. They could understand me, though. "Why can't they speak?" My other self wondered while scrolling through multiple entries at once, my multi-thought stuff finally being used for something worthwhile. "FOUND IT!" I stopped on my tracks as I found the reason. "[Insane] isn't it..." I mumbled, as I realized why none of the goblins I'd spawned could speak. Apparently that was also why those were so much cheaper despite being stronger and higher tiered. "How much do I still have?" I asked myself, checking the EP and figuring the best option.
< Goblinkin Negotiator - S CLASS MONSTER>
< This goblinoid creature is a highly feared Noble-Hobgoblin. Allowing the Goblin King to unify tribes without the use of force, it potentializes the breeding potential of the species as a whole. >
< EP Cost: 48000 >
"Interesting." This single monster cost almost a tenth of what the high tier blood did. But I could just barely afford it. 'Guess the [Pleasure Dungeon] trait is really overpowered.' I thought, as the monster slowly rose from the shadows in front of me.
"Schlaiher, prawlst kahti shti?" I watched in awe as the monster spoke. The monster in front of me did not remind me of a goblin at all. It was a large-build human, taller than a regular one, with buffed muscles and a serious expression. It wore clothes that could almost be comparable with roman senators. I had expected a flimsy monster, but this thing looked like it could snap my spine with a single hand, yet, it knelt in front of me, resting its weight on a single fist as it stared at my feet.
"Shjapaj za" an unknown language escaped my lips as I addressed the monster.
Thank you
Some help with that proofreading thing
"I'm sure he'd do the same for you two, right."
Took me a moment to work out this should be "too", since in context it could be referring to two as in the two of them.
"Hey, you. Can you talk?" I asked the shaman, who simply nodded denying it.
Shouldn't he shake his head to deny it?
my multi-though stuff finally being used for something worthwhile
Missing letter on thought.
"I'm sure he'd do the same for you two, right."
refers to two in two of them
Shouldn't he shake his head to deny it?
Welp, yeah, but he didn't shake it side to side. I meant it as in moving the head up and down, but in a way that meant a no, like when someone says something you can't agree, so you move(nod) slowly your head up and down just once weirdly at an angle, it's not yes and also not a pure no. He didn't shake his head, so that's no it.... I'll see if I can come up with a better word that is neither "shrugged" nor "shook", cus that's not the idea...
Oof...
@DarkGodEM "Head tilt" hehe
It feels slightly awkward to phrase it with two like that, since it's verbally ambiguous, but ok. I guess the only other thing I can think of is something like "I'm sure he'd do the same if it was you two", since that parses the way you intended
@kaithar you meant "it were you two", but then I'd be inferring that it was about both at once, not individually, and it also wouldn't feel natural. Remember this is a conversation, it's written how the person would say it. While ambiguity is not ideal in formal writing and should theoretically be avoided in a book, it isn't that much of a problem when people are speaking... idk
@DarkGodEM urg, you're right, plural... I'm blaming that one on my dyslexia, many of my least favourite words start with a w. Who needs "whom", really?
But yeah, it's spoken so I guess it really doesn't matter so long as it fits the character. On the plus side, no one else should try to suggest it's wrong
@kaithar
@DarkGodEM "I'm sure he'd do the same for you two, right."
Well personally I'd write it "I'm sure he'd do the same for the two of you, right."
@Darkness_rave sounds a lot better, think I'll go with it, yes
I'm too indecisive, changed the whole meaning and went with you too