Fizzlesprocket_Everybody Loves Large Chests [Vol.2] Read online

  [Your target has been crippled by fear for 6 seconds.]

  [Your target has been crippled by fear for 7 seconds.]

  [Your target has been crippled by fear for 6 seconds.]

  [Your target has been crippled by fear for 8 seconds.]

  [Your target has been crippled by fear for 5 seconds.]

  [Your target has been crippled by fear for 7 seconds.]

  [Your target has been crippled by fear for 8 seconds.]

  [Your target has been crippled by fear for 5 seconds.]

  [Proficiency level increased. Crystallize Magic is now Level 2. INT +2. WIS +2.]

  Boxxy was extremely satisfied with the results of its first field test of the crystallized Mass Panic Spell. The spike in MP cost was well worth the additional range the combination afforded. The duration of the effect was somewhat random since it varied from person to person. At the very least it stuck to a range between five and eight seconds, so it wasn’t entirely unpredictable.

  As for the actual impact the Spell was having on the Mimic’s targets, it was just as tasty as the monster expected.

  “Aaaah!”

  “Save me! I don’t wanna die!”

  “Mommy! I’m sorry! Mommy!”

  The ensuing chaos of that distraction was both scarily effective and effectively scary. About a third of the red-clothed humans were either curled up in a ball and wetting themselves or running away at full speed due to the magically induced panic attack. And fear was contagious. Even if it wasn’t ‘real,’ the sudden wailing and crying, combined with Kora charging at them like a gigantic woman-shaped battering ram, made the rest of them visibly shaken.

  And speaking of the muscular fiend, she seemed to have finally reached their panicking front line.

  “Here comes the pain, bitch! OOOORAH!”

  At that point she ran the bandit scum over, clotheslining two of them with a double lariat and decking a third one with a boot to the face. Being crippled by magic left them wide open to her attacks, allowing her to forego defence and hit them as hard as she could. She then jumped on top of the booted one’s face heels-first, using her enormous weight and powerful legs to smash the human’s head open against the ground, killing him instantly.

  “Ora! Ora! Ora ora ora oraoraoraoraoraora!”

  Next came the immediate barrage of fists and kicks aimed at the few bandits who still had the courage to stand up to her. Some of them tried to strike at her unarmoured torso while others tried to stall for time by blocking and parrying. However, being ambushed themselves had made their actions sloppy and anxious. If they were calm, they would be able to quickly pick up on her simple attack pattern and either counter or avoid her blows. But the Mimic’s new toy had taken a massive dump on their composure.

  Judging by the eleven bandits it had silently disposed of just a while ago, Boxxy concluded they were tougher than the rabble it had dealt with until now. It estimated their Levels to be around 30 or 35 to 40 at most. But even if they were stronger than the other prey it had faced so far, hiding out among the tree branches and watching the caravan with a keen eye made them easy pickings. In the end, all their higher Levels did for them was raise the Mimic’s Job and Skill Levels as it quietly picked them off one by one.

  But it appeared that a few of the rats were making their escape. The Mass Panic Spell Crystal was a bit too effective and had made them abandon what loyalty they had in favour of running for their lives. The Mimic would therefore have to hunt them down and kill them. After all, the last time it let someone escape like this, the result was a punitive force being organized to hunt it down. Needless to say, it wanted to avoid a repeat of that situation, as it might not escape with its life the next time around.

  “Snack,” it called out telepathically.

  “Yes, Master?”

  Xera was currently scouting out the situation from high in the air without worry of being spotted. Even if someone were to look upwards it would be difficult to see her light blue body against the clear sky. Her eyesight might not have been as keen as a Ranger’s, but she had still spotted both the caravan and the bandits from her vantage point, well before the fight broke out. That was why Boxxy had been able to take advantage of the situation.

  “I am going to hunt. Do not let any of the food survive.”

  The succubus furrowed her brow as the gears in her rotten head were already hard at work. She was thinking about how to best accomplish such an order. A particularly devious idea then dawned on her when she saw how things were going on the ground.

  “Master! I need something from you if I am to fulfil that order!”

  Back at the battle itself, the adventurers were already locked in combat with the bandits. Their leader, Ranger Borona, had directed her comrades to assist the mysterious red-skinned demon. It was a risk to get too close to it, however. Even if that fiend was beating down on the bandits with lethal repercussions, it wasn’t clear if she was still under contract or not. Borona had taken the lack of ranged attacks coming out of the forest as a good sign though, as it implied the violent demoness had allies. She wasn’t clear on the details, but this was still her only chance. It was better to act now and catch the bandits in an improvised pincer attack rather than – as her second-in-command named Winchester put it – ‘sit down, have a pint and wait for this whole thing to blow over.’ Bloody dwarves and their alcoholism.

  “Miles, support Eric and Logar,” she ordered through her Whisper Wind Skill.

  The effects of this Ranger Skill made it so her words would reach any target within two hundred metres or so without fail.

  “Haas, you have two of them on your left. Nora, don’t get near that rampaging demon just yet!”

  The Skill also made it so only her target would be able to hear her speak, which made this an excellent tool for relaying instructions during a hectic battle like this.

  “Winchester, how are you already out of MP! I swear, if you put whiskey in your mana potions again I will rip your liver out and feed it to you!”

  She kept giving out orders while firing her bow from a distance. Even if the enemy was more numerous, the adventurers had magic support on their side, which made them the superior force. As the fight dragged on, her only worry became making sure no more people in her charge died to this scum.

  Just then, she saw a Fireball fly out of the treeline. Her initial thought was that more bandits had shown up but quickly changed her mind when the magical projectile struck one of the bandits in the back. It enveloped him in flames, making him panic and roll around on the ground, screaming in agony. The Ranger quickly tracked the Spell’s trajectory back to its point of origin: a youthful woman who was emerging from the treeline. She had auburn hair tied in a long ponytail and wore long, grey robes common among magic users, although it was torn and bloodied on her right side at the arm and thigh. Deep gashes were visible on her exposed leg and shoulder, which she had cauterized with fire magic, but her heavy limp made it clear she was by no means okay.

  “I am an adventurer from Monotal and that fiend’s master!” she yelled towards the Ranger. “Let us join forces!”

  Said demon threw two thumbs up high above her head while her other pair of arms were crushing some poor soul’s head like an overripe melon.

  “Understood! We welcome the assist!” came the immediate reply.

  Borona was glad she and her companions wouldn’t have to face off against that fiend. Honestly speaking though, she still had some doubts whether that creature was actually leashed. She knew demons were brutal by nature and that bandits were to be killed on sight by law, so she could accept a certain amount of violence under the circumstances. However, ripping off a guy’s arms and beating him across the head with them while repeatedly yelling ‘Stop hitting yourself!’ was perhaps a bit too violent. It seemed her master didn’t even try to restrain the demon under their charge, which was not the sign of a promising Warlock

  Her assertion had been right on the money, though. Kora’s actual master w
as currently busy stalking one of the two deserters from earlier. It had neither the time, opportunity, nor desire to reign in its rampaging familiar. In fact, ‘run wild and mow them down’ were pretty much the only orders it had given Kora. Well, aside from making her cooperate with Snack’s latest scheme, but it had already put those details out of its tiny mind to focus on what was immediately ahead.

  A bandit panted heavily as he leaned against a tree, desperate to catch his breath. He was a young man, barely seventeen years of age. The Mass Panic from earlier had hit him hard since it was his first time experiencing that sort of depthless desperation. When he finally regained his senses, however, he had already deserted the battle. And he knew full well what that psycho called Makren did to deserters. So he just kept running. His reaction was understandable, though. Fighting people was one thing, but he never signed up for that freaky monster shit. He’d much rather turn himself in than –

  [Assassination Skill triggered. Your attack has dealt 250% more damage. Target HP -563.]

  [You have slain your target in a single strike. Assassination Proficiency increased.]

  [Proficiency level increased. Assassination is now Level 6. AGI +2. DEX +1. STR +1.]

  The mithril dagger was then casually withdrawn from the back of the bandit’s throat, pulling his body down in the process. Boxxy immediately activated its Cadaver Absorption, which should be the last time it needed to use it in order to advance the Skill to the next Level.

  [Your Cadaver Absorption was a minor success!]

  [12% of the target’s highest Attribute has been added to your own. AGI +10.]

  [Proficiency level increased. Cadaver Absorption is now Level 5. All Attributes +1.]

  And indeed it was. It even got some tasty Attributes from it as a bonus! Taking part in that little struggle had been the right choice. Even if its Jobs weren’t getting a lot of Experience Points (XP) due to the difference in Levels, it could at least train up some of the Skills it had been neglecting recently. Such as, for example, Stealth.

  [Stealth]

  The practice of thinning out one’s presence in order to avoid detection.

  Requirements: AGI 15, DEX 15, INT 5

  Type: Toggled (ON)

  Activation Time: Instant

  Cost: 10 MP

  Range: Self

  [Effects]

  Suppresses all sounds made by movement.

  Drains 2 MP for every 1 metre travelled in any direction.

  The noise suppression effect of this Skill improves with each Level of this Skill.

  Strictly speaking, Boxxy found this entire encounter to be rather nostalgic, as it had been almost an entire week since it was last able to pull off a string of lethal ambushes. That may not have been a long time in the grand scheme of things, but it felt like forever from the perspective of a monster barely three months old. Even the cataclysmic core meltdown earlier that day already felt like a distant memory to the Mimic.

  Ah, but now wasn’t the time to space out and reminisce about the past. It had hunted down one of the rats that tried to flee the sinking ship, but the other one had escaped in a different direction entirely. Boxxy wasn’t very good at tracking so, realistically speaking, its chances of finding him now were catastrophically low. It could keep looking around blindly, but that would probably be just a waste of time and energy. Wouldn’t it be better to go check on its familiars and the tasty buffet they were supposed to prepare for it? It had already been seven or eight minutes since it last saw Snack, and Boxxy hadn’t heard from her since, so it felt it would be prudent to go check on her progress.

  A stream of messages then flooded the Mimic’s mind, interrupting its train of thought. It began with ‘Your familiar has been banished,’ signifying its pet succubus was no more. That was followed by a flood of notifications telling the monster it had either ‘obliterated’ or ‘blown away’ over a dozen living things, dealing anywhere between 600 and 900 damage to each of them in the process. It even got reinvigorated for 144 HP and 128 MP as a result of its Butcher of Humanity Perk.

  The truly tasty part, however, was the last group of messages it had received.

  [Proficiency level increased. Power Overwhelming is now Level 4. INT +4.]

  [Proficiency level increased. Crystallize Magic is now Level 3. INT +2. WIS +2.]

  [Proficiency level increased. Ruin Mastery is now Level 6. INT +2. WIS +1. END +1.]

  [Level up!]

  [Level up!]

  [Congratulations, you are now a level 24 Warlock! INT +4. MNT +4. END +4.]

  Boxxy was still taking in all the information when it heard the echoes of a thunderous explosion wash over the forest.

  “Arms, any survivors?” it called out to its sole surviving familiar.

  “I don’t think so, Master. That bitch blew up good! She took out the whole lot of them in – oh, wait! One of them’s still twitching!”

  [Proficiency level increased. Summon Familiar is now Level 7. INT +2. WIS +1. MNT +1.]

  [The slaughter invigorates you. HP +19. MP +18.]

  “There, all done!”

  “Good. Guard the place, I’ll be there later. I have prey to hunt.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  The Mimic felt oddly satisfied as it began its search for the last survivor. As expected of the Snack, it came up with a truly tasty plan. Boxxy would never have considered gaining the trust of adventurers just to explode them all at once in a suicide attack by detonating a Big Bang Ball. That was the nickname it had given to the potent combination of Power Overwhelming, Dark Explosion, and Crystallize Magic.

  Incidentally, the Bang Ball was the same, only without the Power Overwhelming, and the Mass Panic Spell Crystals were referred to simply as Boo Balls. Granted, the containers conjured via Crystallized Magic weren’t technically balls, but Boxxy had decreed them to be close enough. Besides, there was absolutely no way it could actually say something like ‘dodecahedron,’ no matter how many times Snack tried to teach it, so it would stick with ‘balls’ for the time being.

  The Mimic was still somewhat confused about one aspect of the succubus’s anti-adventurer plan, though. Surely there were better ways of hiding a Spell Crystal on one’s person, right? Then again, Snack had carried out her task flawlessly, so it had no choice but to conclude that jamming the ten-centimetre wide object up the succubus’s asshole had worked out for the best.

  [General Information]

  Boxxy T. Morningwood

  Mimic (Greater), Genderless, 3 months old

  Level 33.52 Mimic

  Level 24.38 Warlock

  953/968 HP (+2.2/sec)

  314/900 MP (+1.1/sec)

  [Attributes]

  STR 113, DEX 124, AGI 113, END 171, INT 180, WIS 110, LCK 58, MNT 113, CHR 35

  [Mimic Skills]

  Assassination - Lvl 6.02

  Storage - Lvl 4.53

  Cadaver Absorption - Lvl 5.00

  Biomass - Lvl 3.46

  Natural Armour - Lvl 2.23

  [Warlock Skills]

  Summon Familiar - Lvl 7.00

  Power Overwhelming - Lvl 4.44

  Demonology - Lvl 3.19

  Crystallize Magic - Lvl 3.31

  [Other Skills]

  Shapeshift - Lvl 6.83

  Stealth - Lvl 5.13

  Sword Mastery - Lvl 6.39

  Projectile Mastery - Lvl 2.44

  Dagger Mastery - Lvl 4.53

  Ruin Mastery - Lvl 6.31

  Domination Mastery - Lvl 3.86

  [Spell List]

  Ruin - Shadowbolt, Ebonfire, Frostbite, Dark Explosion, Shadowbind

  Domination - Mass Panic, Delirium, Dark Infusion, Mind Blast

  Part Four

  With one of the deserters taken care of and the caravan escorts turned to meat soup, Boxxy turned its attention towards finding the last survivor of that failed ambush. Or at least it would have liked to, but it had no idea where to even begin. It was confident it could outrun or at least keep up with humans at full speed, but t
hat would require having a line of sight with its quarry. Such a thing was clearly not going to happen in this thick, overgrown forest. Even if the trees weren’t there, the numerous ridges and boulders would still hinder its view. In fact, it had nearly lost track of its latest victim several times due to the terrain. The Mimic’s AGI had risen quite a bit recently, but that young man appeared to have a good deal of the same Attribute himself. He probably also had some kind of movement assisting Skill, as he was faster than Boxy. He might have even escaped if this were even ground, or if he hadn’t stopped to catch his breath. Thankfully he made a good deal of noise as he ran, allowing the monster to track him through the brush by sound. Unfortunately, such a method wasn’t going to be of use when its next target was long gone.

  Then how about following his trail?

  Boxxy had already tracked a number of things during the few days spent in the forest, so it already knew what sort of signs to look out for: trampled grass, broken branches, torn clothing – that sort of thing. It was the same knowledge it applied when it left an ‘invitation’ for those punitive force members to come find it. Admittedly that ambush hadn’t quite worked out as it would have liked since, much like the scuffle from earlier, the adventuring party’s scout had been on their toes. But the setup for it had been as good as could be expected.

  The Mimic turned around with that in mind and headed back towards the last spot it saw the lone survivor, near the caravan ambush site. After several minutes it arrived at its destination – a place that was only about a dozen metres from the edge of the forest, beyond which was the road and the nearby canyon. Boxxy started investigating the area, using its magical perception to look for even the smallest sign of the man passing through but soon realised that was a pointless effort.

  After all, the direction the soon-to-be-dead man was headed towards was obvious. There was a faint path of trampled and dried up grass on the forest floor that led away from the road and deeper into the woods. Humans had a fondness for travelling over such flattened and relatively smooth terrain, so there was a good chance the man ran through here. Boxxy just needed to follow this path and see where it led. But first, it decided to bring its familiar back to life. There was no point to delay it any longer, now that it was back on full MP.