We still had some hours left in the day, and one of ours was still out doing her best. So Elma and I got Kanae in the wheelchair, and we went out to the <Observatory> where Svilran was. Kanae hadn't gotten to see what a Mission looked like yet, so she was beyond excited, and Elma was only hyping her up with the stories of what she had accomplished thus far.

I didn't really realize how much Elma would benefit from having someone like Kanae around. Dorthaunzee was sweet, of course, but Dorthaunzee, even with her shroom telepathy, was a little more solitary. Dorthaunzee also gave off the air of being extremely well-traveled. Little things that would surprise others didn't really surprise her. In contrast with Kanae, you could see how eager she was to learn about everything. Elma was, of course, happy to share.

We got to the <Observatory>, and Svilran briefed us on Dorth's Mission.

It was a D-Rank rescue mission. Some psycho-jester villain had gone and converted an entire town of civilians and adventures into a monster-infested labyrinth. The Hero was way out of his league. He came to the town on an errand and was caught up in the chaos. The chances of him dying were very high. So, Dorthaunzee's Mission was to rescue the Hero and remove him from the labyrinth.

Svilran asked Elma if she wanted to go in as well, but Elma responded with a cool, "Zee can handle it."

The way Kanae's eyes lit up when Elma said that--I had saved the memory in the "Cutest Moments" folder in my head.

Anyway, Dorthaunzee's arrival in the world was a little difficult, but that ended up leading to something really funny. She got placed in a really deserted end of the labyrinth. Now... for anyone else, that would be a problem, but for Dorthaunzee--a person packing over a dozen tentacles in that tiny body of hers--it was as easy as kicking a block out of the way.

***

"Yah, she's just been knocking down the walls," Svilran said as we watched Dorthaunzee summon her tentacles, make a hole, retract the tentacles, then hop through. "I think we got a really good Mission this time!"

"Yeah, I'll say," I said, wide-eyed.

"Wow..." Kanae said, her mouth dropping closer and closer to the floor with every passing second. "So this is... what an A Grade Physical Attack Score looks like... Wow."

"Yeah. But if you look closely, Kanae, you'll see that Zee is listening for sounds before she calls for her tentacles. She's being very careful and not causing collateral damage," Elma said.

"Ohhhh! Wow!" Kanae replied.

"Guys! Look!" Svilran yelped. "Dorthaunzee just came across--" Her excitement was replaced with disgust. "Oh. They're bandits."

A group of four shaggy bandits had appeared before Dorthaunzee. One of them was large, bald, and wearing an eye patch. Another was some lanky dirt rat smashing his cutlasses together. The third was a pig-faced, hook-for-a-hand loser, and the fourth was a super sickly guy wearing a flea-bitten pelt--ahh, he just stuck out his lesion-covered green tongue. Ahh, he just licked his dagger. No wonder he had so many open wounds on his tongue.

"Yup, those are definitely bandits," I concluded.

"Those are bandits?" Kanae followed. "I've never seen them in person before..."

"Poor souls," Elma said.

"They're jeering at Dorthaunzee..." Svilran sighed. "Why must men be so vulgar?"

"That one with the tongue is gyrating his hips," I followed, annoyed. "I hope Dorthaunzee knows she can wipe them out. I'll formally petition every higher power that dares deduct points for that."

"Don't get upset just yet, Fainn. Zee is sure to--oh! There it is! Zee just did her 'I can't help it if you're stupid' shrug." Elma tapped on Kanae's crusty shoulder. "Zee does that shrug whenever she runs into stupid people."

"Oh..." Kanae giggled. "I hope she never does that to me!"

"Oh, there they go!" I said.

***

"Come on, baby!" yelled Lesion-Tongue as he and his boys leaped toward Dorthaunzee, intent on ripping the clothes off her and violating her every hole.

Dorthaunzee, meanwhile, screamed. The tentacles born of her Abyssal Curse tore out from her body and attacked the four bandits.

Eyepatch bandit lost his last eye when one tentacle tore through it and slammed his body against a wall. Two tentacles followed and tore through his abdomen before pulling out his innards.

Cutlass Bandit may have been the only one that put up a fight. He slashed at one of the tentacles, only for one of his cutlasses to shatter. The tentacle--whimsical in nature--snatched the other cutlass out of his hand. Then, four tentacles appeared and hoisted him by his wrists and ankles. The cutlass-wielding tentacle then stabbed him many times in quick succession before smashing him in half.

Pig-face Bandit had tentacles enter his body through his large mouth and come out through his stomach.

Finally, for the dear Bandit Leader, Lesion-Tongue... The tentacles threw him into the air and played badminton with him as the birdie. They played for a short rally and then threw him to the ground. Lesion-Tongue was crying as he dragged himself away, but then, a tentacle came down like a nail and pierced him in the groin. He let out a bloodcurdling scream--one stopped by the tentacle that ripped out his tongue and jammed itself into his throat.

***

...

"Holy Christ--mother of god--holy spirit where for art thou," I said, surprised at the violence.

Svilran shuddered. "That was..."

"A pretty normal outcome if you ask me," Elma followed, looking at the carnage with a 'mess around and find out' appreciating face.

"If that Demon-masquerading-as-a-child were to appear... Yes... Dorthaunzee must be the one to greet him," Kanane muttered. It seemed she was okay with the violence too.

My eyes went back to the screen, and I watched as Dorthaunzee looked around--her tentacles back in her body--and watched as she did a celebratory hop before skipping away and through another hole in the wall. Her lantern was shining so brightly.

"Well, that hop was cute," I said, extremely appreciative of how cute she could be.

"Super cute!" Svilran followed.

"Zee likes ridding the world of evil. She also likes that she can use her tentacles so reliably now," Elma said.

"Yes, she is an incredible asset," Kanae concluded.

Elma smiled at me. "She thinks about you quite often, you know?"

"Oh? I'm flattered," I replied.

"Yeah, she must have a lot of good things to say. Sometimes we talk about you, and it gets overwhelming. It's like I'm being smothered. I'm sure she would sing your praises if she could speak."

"Wow... That's so nice of her."

Elma turned to Kanae. "Oh, Kanae, Zee has this problem with her tentacles. She can control them because the tentacles are afraid of Fainn. So, she thinks of Fainn to get them to calm down."

"Oh, I see!" Kanae happily replied. "She has experienced his power, no doubt."

Svilran suddenly yelled. "Everyone! Look! A wild clown has appeared!"

We all studied the screen while Svilran continued.

"I think that's the villain that erected the labyrinth!"

***

The jester that had appeared before Dorthaunzee had landed from above, having jumped from somewhere beyond the walls. Today's villain was unexpected, so much so that the ones watching from the Hero Hub voiced their surprise.

[Fainn: The clown's a woman? Damn. Unexpected.]

[Svilran: Stop staring, Fainn.]

The jester appeared wearing a tight, red-with-blue-stripes outfit. Everything was covered by this tight body suit. Extra fabric extended from the waist, making the skirt of the outfit. She wore a purple mask--one that almost completely covered her head and had four horns jutting out from it. Only the space around her mouth was visible, revealing green skin and jagged teeth. A little of her blond hair slipped out from beneath the mask, and a large orb sat on top of her breasts.

Dorthaunzee was puzzled by this person in the strange outfit. She looked at her own outfit and then stared at the jester again. Yes, the jester's outfit may have been flattering, but the colors were quite terrible. That mask left much to be desired as well. Dorthaunzee nodded to herself as she concluded that this woman needed fashion guidance.

[Fainn: She'll notice that's the enemy, right?"]

[Kanae: That's the enemy?]

[Fainn: Yeah, no doubt about it.]

[Svilran: It's positively radiating evil.]

The jester took a step toward Dorthaunzee. "You, what do you think you're doing?!" she said, shaking her finger at Dorthaunzee. "You're wrecking my maze!"

Dorthaunzee looked around and then pointed at herself with eyes that conveyed, "Me?"

"Yes, you! Who sent you?! Was it Raziel? Or was it that bastard Reshef?! Lord Hamon will hear of this! This is a violation of our pact!"

Dorthaunzee squinted at the mad jester, confused.

"Who sent you?!" the jester screamed.

Dorthaunzee shrugged and pointed at the sky.

The jester looked up and gasped. "Uria? Uria sent you? Bastard!" The jester looked at Dorthaunzee again. "No, go away; come again another day, bitch! Go tell Uria this was illegal! Uncalled for! Rude! A very jerk thing to do!"

Dorthaunzee pointed at herself again. "Bitch? Me?" She conveyed. Never in her life had she been called something so mean, so directly, with so much anger behind the words.

"Get out of here!" the jester yelled while stomping her feet. "You're wrecking my fun!"

Fun? This was fun? Dorthaunzee stared at the jester, and then her eyes went wide. She pointed at the jester and hopped in place frantically.

[Fainn: Oh, she figured it out.]

[Elma: This is going to be good.]

[Svilran: I have no sympathy for evil clowns.]

"What? What do you want? Use your mouth!" the jester yelled.

Dorthaunzee pointed her staff at the jester. The jester cocked her head, and her mouth twisted with disgust.

"You... are you Uria's assassin? Not just some hooligan?!"

Dorthaunzee just stared menacingly.

"Oh, oh no. Screw you, bitch!" The jester waved their hands, and many daggers with candlewicks at the end of their handles appeared around her. "You want to mess around? Fine, come on!"

The ends of the daggers were lit, and they flew at Dorthaunzee. She stood firm and struck the ground with the end of her staff. The tentacles spiraled out from her body, knocking away all the daggers.

The jester was about to speak, no, she was about to yell, "So you think that's all I got?" but she didn't get the chance. The tentacles were too fast. They flew toward the jester and made her bite her tongue.

One tentacle would have torn through her, but the jester disappeared with a poof, teleporting to a space 10 feet above the tentacle.

The jester yelped as she saw the next tentacle coming for her. She teleported again, 10 feet to the right, dodging the second tentacle. There was no time to relax. Yet another tentacle was coming for her. She clicked her tongue and teleported to the ground. Feet on the ground, the jester saw when a random tentacle whipped across the labyrinth wall, utterly destroying the section.

"Hey! Stop that!" the jester yelled.

That moment of rage--that moment when she reacted to her masterpiece being destroyed was the moment her fate was sealed.

A tentacle grabbed her ankle. It didn't swing her around--no, the tentacle outright crushed the ankle.

"Yeeowch!" the jester cried. All the armor, all the reinforcement magic--it did nothing.

Pain and confusion overwhelming her mind, the jester teleported away in a random direction. The tentacles were ready, however. They had figured out how far the teleport could reach. The moment she reappeared, a nearby tentacle whipped toward her, striking her in the abdomen and sending her into one of her precious walls.

"Grah! Curse it, curse you," the jester screamed. Blood poured from her mouth as she got on her knees and hands.

[Elma: Yeah, this is done. Never show weakness to those tentacles.]

A tentacle tore out from the ground below the jester and took her skyward. Then, it wrapped around her abdomen and squeezed, turning her abdomen into a twig, and ejecting her body's contents out her mouth. It threw the jester toward the ground, where a gang of tentacles began pounding her like she was a wretch with a gambling addiction, and they were the loan shark's helpful reminders.

Dust and stones were kicked up as the jester's cries died. When there were no cries, and only the sounds of the tentacles destroying walls, Dorthaunzee thought of Fainn. The tentacles stopped, their tips alternated from left to right like they were looking around, and then they returned to her body.

Tentacles safely tucked away, Dorthaunzee looked around and then skipped away through the path her tentacles ended up creating.

***

I looked at the screen while holding my chin. "Hey, was that okay for her to do?"

The Svilran and Elma looked at me, curious.

"Was that an enemy the Hero should have defeated?"

Svilran brought up the Mission screen once more. "No... the Mission this time just said that the Hero needed to escape the labyrinth. The enemy being defeated shouldn't cause a problem..."

"But what about the Hero's own journey? What if this was an enemy that needed to be fought later?"

"Hmm..." Svilran said. "Well, that's true... We may have removed someone that could have been a source of growth later. Only that world's Causality Module would know for sure..."

"We don't have to worry about it," Kanae said as she pointed at the screen. "The villain escaped."

We all watched, horrified, as the villain's head scurried away on bug legs.

"Wow," Elma said. "Oh, but the labyrinth is crumbling!"

"Dorth might have inadvertently completed the Mission by beating up the villain. Oh, Svilran, can we follow the villain?"

"Unfortunately not. We were lucky to still have a viewpoint that showed the villain."

"Hmm... Oh, Dorth found someone. Is that the Hero?"

"The would-be Hero, yes. Aww! She's taking him by the hand!"

Elma smiled and chuckled. "Okay, she's jumped out of the crumbling labyrinth. That's Mission Complete, right?"

"I think so..." Svilran replied. "She's running off, so she must think it's Mission Complete too."

We all kept watching quietly and watched the moment she disappeared from the world.

"Alright, that's it, Team!" I said as I grabbed the back of Kanae's wheelchair. "Let's go see, Dorth!"

"Yes! I want to congratulate her!" Kanae followed.

"Oh, Fainn! Dorthaunzee completed a Mission before this one! We should have everything we need to heal Kanae."

"Nice! Yes! Awesome! We did it all in one day! Thanks, girls!"

We all ran out of the <Observatory>, excited to greet Dorthaunzee.

"We're really winning this game now, huh?"

Kanae laughed. "My--how fun!"

"For all our efforts--it's about time we got into the groove of things," Elma followed.

"I love our heroines!" Svilran happily cried.

***

Dorthaunzee's Mission Report Round-UP

First, E-Rank Mission

Hero: Dothaunzee

Completion: 50

Rest Days Earned: 5 days.

 

xxx Hero Hub xxx

Hero Multiplier: 1x

E-Rank Mission Reward: 50

Bonus: 0

Total Hero Hub Points Gained: 50

 

Second, D-Rank Mission

Hero: Dothaunzee

Completion: 75

Mastermind Thwarter Bonus: 10

Rest Days Earned: 10 days.

 

xxxHero Hubxxx

Hero Multiplier: 1x

D-Rank Mission Reward: 75

Bonus: 0

Total Hero Hub Points Gained: 75

***

Updated Resource Points Total: 420