“Let’s go!” Brenda exclaimed, her voice echoing as she ran off into the distance.
I watched her, a frown tugging at my lips.
Obtaining a powerful monster had certainly altered her personality.
I could only hope that she wouldn’t morph into an insufferable braggart in the future. Hopefully, a loss would bring her confidence back to normal levels. The last thing I wanted was to see her bite off more than she could chew, risking injury or even death.
“Uh, do you mind if I join you?” The same guy from before approached me, a hopeful look in his eyes.
I should have made an effort to learn his name, but I saw no point. Once Brenda and I were finished here, our paths were unlikely to cross again.
“Sorry. I would love to,” I replied, “But, I prefer to work alone.”
His face fell slightly, but he quickly recovered. “Oh, okay. I hope you catch a super-strong monster then!”
“Thanks, same to you,” I responded, turning to follow Brenda.
As I walked away, I glanced back at him.
I decided to refer to him as the naive guy. He seemed to be teaming up with the same group that had forced their way through the crowd back at the bus stop.
Despite his naivety, he must have had some common sense. I could only hope they wouldn’t see him as an easy target.
Navigating through the harmless flames, I scanned the area for any dangerous monsters. There were plenty, but they seemed more interested in the other, louder people here.
Suddenly, a shrill cry pierced the air. “Keeee!”
A flying beak, a meter long, hurtled towards my head at a speed that cut through the wind.
I dodged it easily, watching as it shattered the ground upon impact. The back part of it split into four and spat fire at me. I leapt away, narrowly avoiding the flames.
I considered summoning a monster from Terrafall, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, I punched the ground with my left hand, releasing Biryan, a monster that was found in almost any monster zone that it could survive in.
Biryan took to the sky, its wings spread wide. Its powerful screech announced its presence to all.
I had promised it a reward, and I intended to keep my word.
The beak monster rose into the air once again, circling me as it built up momentum. But before it could attack, something pierced through its body.
It was Biryan’s beak, one of the first skills it had learned.
Turning my attention to Brenda, I was met with a sight that made me pause.
“Fuck, it’s chasing me!” she screamed, running from a ball of fire with a single arm and a red eye.
I stared in confusion. Why wasn’t she sending out the dragon?
Then I remembered what it had told her, ‘I don’t care for your friend! Nor do I care what you desire! Only what I want matters! Only those that are in agreement with what I desire shall live!’
It just… wasn’t going to help her?
What a damn useless monster! What, she had to actually form a bond with him for it to choose to aid her?!
That seemed far too civilized.
I was about to give Biryan another command, but it had already chosen to attack the fire monster of its own accord.
I contemplated giving Biryan the freedom it desired as a reward, but a glance at the other individuals in the distance made me reconsider. If Biryan had such freedom, it might choose to attack other Vlandos.
Suddenly, the fire grass began to sway wildly as Biryan used its [sharp winds]. With rapid flapping of its wings, thin, sharp blades of wind cut the fire monster into multiple small pieces.
It probably had some kind of passive skill due to its form, but we all knew that wind beat fire.
Ironically, wind attributes were stronger against fire skills. Since its body consisted of fire, it was extremely vulnerable.
Brenda, panting heavily with her hands on her knees, turned towards me.
“Thanks,” she managed to say.
As I walked towards her, I kept scanning the area for any approaching monsters.
“So, I’m guessing he’s trying to be Pikachu?” I asked.
She raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Pi…ka chu?”
“Next, say Pika… Pika… Pika!”
She took a deep breath before standing up straight. “No.”
I finally reached her. With my arms crossed, I asked, “So, he isn’t choosing to leave the seal?”
“Yeah… While heading to the deeper layers, that little fire monster attacked me. So I tried to…!”
Her eyes snapped behind me. I quickly turned to see a pack of dog monsters coming after us.
They sped towards us at full speed, their tongues swinging wildly in the air. I noticed their long tails which occasionally slapped their razor-sharp fur.
I immediately took out my monster encyclopedia and found a page on them.
I was relieved that the book information wasn’t regionally locked.
Heatogs.
Notable information: Heatogs always move in packs. If their entire pack dies, they would simply attempt to kill the alpha of another pack to replace it.
Height: 1.12 meters tall
Weight: 92 pounds
Family Tree: Kaines
Type: Null
Rarity: Uncommon
Attributes: Heat & Body.
Before I could take a good look at its skills, they had already covered the distance between us and were ready to claim our necks with their fangs.
As two moved towards me with their mouths wide open, Biryan swooped down without using a skill and drove its beak through one head, and dug its talons into the other one’s neck, before ripping half of the neck off and taking flight in the air.
When the other monsters saw this, instead of getting scared, they howled.
“Cover your ears!” I shouted to Brenda.
Unsurprisingly, she was too slow.
Her eyes widened as her body immediately became stiff. It was the same skill the bipedal fox had used on Nack’s ship - [paralyzing howl], a racial skill.
They weren't from the same species, but I guess they were similar enough when it came to the family tree.
The remaining six grinned.
Three of them aimed for my legs while the others tried to rip out my neck. To their dismay, I kicked off the ground, opposite of them, while taking Brenda with me.
Just like before, Biryan swooped down and killed them. Not a single level up. Well, I wasn’t surprised.
Once the skill effects had worn off her, she muttered depressingly, “I hate this.”
“Oh right, that makes me wonder. Did your father not have a monster farm?”
“On his main ship.”
Of course. I was hoping she was going to say, ‘Oh yes! I forgot! And it’s also empty!’
If that was the case, I could go wild with catching monsters and then just throw them there.
I asked her, “Would the dragon only choose to protect you if you are going to die?”
“I hope so. I mean, it would die too.”
Or would it? I wasn’t well versed on blessed monsters. I only knew that Balash would reward monsters that have overcome the corruption of darkness. And today, I learned that they couldn’t be influenced by a master seal. That made me wonder if the link could be formed.
But ignoring that, I didn't think he was going to let her die. It did choose to pair up with her for a reason after all.
This sounded like so much work!
I wanted her to level up at insane speeds, to the point she got EXP sick with that dragon.
I rubbed my chin as I thought deeply. Actually, we just had to be extreme to get what we wanted.
I told her, “Let’s keeping moving towards the second layer. We will send you in the den of some kind of wolf monster. Which would basically force the pussy ass dragon to help you.”
Based on her facial expression, she wasn’t fond of that. Was it extreme, sure, was it smart? Yes.
“Believe me. I am very trustworthy.” I smiled while also showcasing my teeth.
She rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t I try to win over his trust?”
“Uhuh. Some character development moment, right? Where he is going to go, ‘I see… I do want to see you achieve your dream!’ and you are going to smile while being bloodied and say, ‘Yes… we need each other…’ But, that already happened, kinda. So! You just have to make him your servant.”
“Sounds like slavery.”
“To be honest, what we do to monsters is worse, since we basically enslave their mind. It’s kinda fuck up when you think about it. Then you remember, monsters are monsters.”
“Ha. I thought you were going to say, monsters are evil, but no, monsters are monsters. I like that.”
“I know. I am really good with the words. Trust me, if I wasn’t considered a freak, I would have a mega harem by accident. Just say one word, and some guy would be, like, ‘OMG! I NEED YOU IN MY LIFE!’” I said while shaking my head with nonchalance.
She giggled before walking forward. “Whatever, to the wolf den like you said.”
I followed her. “Yep.”
As we proceeded, Biryan was just doing almost whatever it wanted. I told it that it couldn’t attack humans, but could enjoy itself as much as it wanted.
It went on a murderous killing spree to the point it was no longer black, and all of its six wings were now covered in multiple hues of blood.
It even tried to eat a monster… it felt so damn disgusting on my tongue. Ew…
Thinking about the taste made me want to scrap out my tongue. This was one of the rare times I wish I could disable the sense sharing via the link.
The other time was when the monsters I had out a year ago were mating while I was minding my own business.
Thinking about that experience made me want to kill myself. I wanted to seal that memory away and never think about it again.
Yuck.
Immediately, a bad feeling crawled over my skin as I felt Biryan gaze on another flying monster.
Immediately, I told Biryan, “You can’t attempt to mate with any of the monsters!’
That pissed it off a lot. It went into a screeching match and made erratic moves in the air out of anger.
Tough luck.
We stepped into the fourth layer.
The flames I now stood on were twice as high as we’d expected, presumably feeding on Qi.
However, there was no time to admire the spectacle. A three-eyed red deer monster, its massive antlers the size of my entire frame, had made its presence known.
The eye in the center of its head locked onto me, and it charged at full speed.
“Forget the den idea,” I muttered to myself. “The time is now!”
In a panic, I grabbed Brenda.
“What the fuck!” she exclaimed as I positioned her in front of me, hoping the dragon would fall for the trick.
But the dragon didn’t fall for it.
As its antlers came within an inch of piercing Brenda, I spun around, taking the brunt of the attack. The antlers punctured my body, lifting me off the ground and sending me crashing into a nearby tree.
As I rolled on the ground, healing my injuries, I could only utter one thing, “That fucking hurt…”
Perhaps I shouldn’t have given Biryan such freedom.
The monster then began to glow with a golden light.
It was preparing to use its racial skill, [Hyper chase]!
I didn’t go into detail, but my ribcage was essentially shattered.
However, as it drove me through the trees at high speeds, I pulled out the last remaining knife from my inventory and plunged it into its throat while healing my injuries.
After a minute, its pace slowed, and it finally collapsed.
I gasped for air, falling to my knees and surveying the blood scattered all around.
That was why armor was essential…
Brenda approached me, a pained expression on her face. “You sure you don’t want to start commanding Biryan…?”
With an exhausted expression, I looked at her and replied, “Don’t worry… I know what I am doing. It’s an investment…”
And it was. Believe it or not, it was a ‘power-up method’. I had said it before, showing monsters kindness made them more willing to go the extra mile for you. But it was more than that.
Without my command, they would do things to benefit me. It was considered a power-up method of a Vlandos because our actions influenced the psyche of the monster. Monsters on their own wouldn’t care if you showed them kindness, but the seal altered that.
I stood up. “I am honestly wondering if we are going to need you to go back to the fifth layer so you can use Birmall to train. But you would barely get a level up by the end of the day.”
Brenda thought deeply, then looked at her seal and said, “Can you please help me?”
Of course, it wasn’t going to help her. It had no reason to.
“Don’t you need to get stronger? We are in a monster zone. You can do whatever you want!” Brenda added.
Then her eyes widened. “I will power you up! I will use my 7 power-up methods to power you up!”
Her seal then glowed white, and a massive bolt of white shot forth into the air, taking on the form of a dragon surrounded by a white vapor aura.
It landed on the ground and stared at Brenda.
Using its tail, it wrote on the ground: ‘Use Humility to lower my level to 15 so that I can gain a greater stats growth multiplier.’
