Chapter 4: Ambush

“Have you ever experienced going out from this cave?” I asked Lumond, starting a conversation after I caught dripping Dairy Mineral using my hands and drank from it. 

My magicite storage has been raised to 10000. My current magicite status is 5600. And to maintain my human form, I need more magicites. My skill, Metamorphosis is draining my magical energy. So I need to drink more Dairy Mineral and make my magicite storage full for my human form to last longer. 

“Not yet, ma－” 

“Call me Luna. Don’t make it feel awkward for me,” I cut him off then I laughed shortly. 

“Okay. Not yet, Miss Luna.” I just drew a sigh. He’s way too formal. But I’ll just slip it. At least, he called by my new name. And it sounds like a music to my ears. 

“There are many monsters lurking inside the cave and all I can do is to drive them away from me by pretending I was a vicious monster using my skills, Rumbling and Growl,” he added. 

“Okay, I see. Why don’t we get out from here and let’s see what’s the world awaiting for us there?” I suggested. He looked at me for a moment. His eyes were suddenly filled with worries and a hint of sorrows. 

“I’m afraid we can’t get out from here unless we defeat the monster guarding all the gates of this place,” he uttered in a low tone. There’s also a ball of sadness in his voice. 

“Is that the monster who killed your biological mother?” I interrogated to confirm what I saw in his memories earlier using my skill, Omnicognition. He fixed his stares at me. It’s like his eyes were asking me how did I know that. It took him a minute or two before replying. Maybe, my question was too heavy to answer. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to look into your memories. It just that one of my skills automatically－” 

“It’s okay, Miss Luna. To answer your question earlier, it’s a yes. That is the monster that rule this whole place. It has a powerful spatial skill that allows it to manipulate space in this cave. It killed countless monsters already and ate them just before they could escape from here. My mother wanted us to be free from its tyranny so she tried all her best and used all her strength to defeat that monster, but to no avail, she got killed in the process. I managed to run away from that monster just before it noticed my presence,” he shared, heaving a deep sigh. 

I stopped drinking Dairy Mineral as my magicite storage has been already fulled. I walked towards him in a graceful motion. 

“Let’s kill that tyrant monster and get out from this cave,” I uttered him with full determination in my voice. He just stared at me while his mouth was gaping. My forehead creased as if I couldn’t fathom the expression on his face. 

“But, Miss Luna, that monster is too powerful and dangerous. Its EXP, HP, MP, and magicite status already exceeded 50,000 when my mother fought it,” he reported to me. I gulped as I heard that monster’s status points. We are no match for that even though I and Lumond combine our strength and power. 

“Is there something you can suggest us to do, Solomon?” I asked my virtual assistant. A sudden transparent blue glass in a shape of a rectangle has appeared on my vision again. 

“Report: Fighting a monster stronger than you is a big risk. There’s no guarantee of victory. But you can fight monster weaker than you and use them to power up and advance to the next level. Kill as many weak monster as you can until you exceeded the status points of the target strong enemy,” he replied. Just as expected of Solomon. 

I cupped my chin, thinking about it. He makes sense. This world applies the term “survival of the fittest” also, where strong ones have higher chance to survive and advance to the next level of life. But not all weak deserve to die either. It’s the responsibility of the strong ones to protect the weak; help them become strong so they can give back by protecting the weak ones too. Okay, I finally came up with an idea.

“I admit, with that given status points count, we can’t defeat that monster. So let’s gather more monsters and create a group against that tyrant. Let’s kill those monsters that see us as enemies but spare those who submit themselves to us and willing to be part of our lineage. This is my resolve. Are you okay with that, Lumond? Or you have something there better than my idea?” I said, telling him my decision, then asked. 

I was living my past life depending to myself only. Yes, I was extremely independent. I used to do things alone because I was afraid my plans would be compromised if I told them to others. I was also afraid I might put those people I treasured into danger if I told them what I was doing. But I was wrong. It didn’t change anything. They were still harmed. I got to admit it. I can’t do things alone. I need companion. I need friends whom I can share my burdens.  

I averted my gaze at Lumond after some time of internalizing my thoughts. He did not respond to my question immediately as if it was difficult to answer. He is just staring at me with deep fascination in his eyes. And here he goes again. He seems like very surprised every time I talk to him. Or is it just me? He cleared his throat first before speaking. 

“Wherever you are and whatever you want to do, I support and will always support you, Miss Luna,” he seriously uttered that startled me. 

“I’m just always here, supporting you, wherever you are and whatever you want to do.” A familiar voice resonated in my mind but I can’t remember whose voice was that. It wasn’t Solomon nor Lumond’s. But it’s too nostalgic for me. There’s also a figure of a man suddenly flashed in my head but his face was covered with blinding bright light, then after a second or two, he slowly faded away. Who’s that? He gave me a sudden headache. And just before I knew it, my forehead was creasing because of confusion. Ugh, nevermind! Maybe, I was just imagining things.  

“I something bothering you, Miss Luna?” Lumond asked that made me snap back into reality. 

“None. Don’t mind me. Let’s start accomplishing our goal: create a group of monsters and defeat the tyrant monster boss ruling this place,” I told him. He just nodded at me and stood up, carrying his giant sword on his shoulder. I wanna know how heavy his sword is but I might just drop it on the ground if I tried to carry it. I secretly laughed at myself because of that thought.

I and Lumond began exploring the cave; looking for some monsters to fight nor tame. But we stopped walking when a swift wind passed through us and we both received cuts on our arms. 

“Report: Pain Nullification has been activated automatically,” Solomon segued. The sudden sheer of pain I felt earlier had suddenly came into halt. My body has resistance to pain now. 

“Are you okay, Miss Luna?” Lumond asked me with concern in his voice. He crystallized his blood to prevent himself from bleeding. 

“Yes, I’m okay. Worry not,” I told him, assuring him I am very fine. D*mn, we were caught off guard there. I sharpened my senses, enhanced my omnicognition, and put myself into defense mode. Even Lumond did the same. He drew his giant sword and stayed alert. I need a weapon too. We don’t know what kind of enemy or monster we are facing. 

My sense of hearing was triggered when ripples of sound waves were unleashed on the air. I firmly stand and anchored both of my feet on the ground, putting all my strength there, then using my combined skills, Manufacturer and Crystallization, I quickly created a crystal shield to fend the incoming attacks from above. Good thing, I have fast reflexes with my omnicognitive ability. 

Three pointed daggers got stuck on my crystal shield but after few moments, they turned into black liquid and vaporized into thin air. The parts of my shield where those daggers hit suddenly melted as if it’s a metal corroding with acid. 

“Report: A strong poison has penetrated your body. Pain Nullification can only tolerate the pain this poison is giving you but there’s no acquired skill yet that can nullify its effect. You are taking damage from it. Your HP Status is decreasing,” Solomon stated. That explains why my crystal shield has been melting since those daggers turned into viscous black liquid. Damn, this is bad. Without healing skill or poison immunity, I can’t survive this. 

Lumond suddenly fell down to his knees and vomited thick dark red liquid. The poison is mixing with his blood and it is taking effect on him since he was also wounded earlier by an unprecedented attack. Even though he crystallized his blood, he can’t stop the poison from coursing in his body. 

He stood up with staggering legs and tried all his best to ward off several daggers coming into my direction. What am I even doing? Why I am just watching him protecting me? Think, Luna. Think! 

Where are the enemies? Are we dealing with some sort of invisible monsters? I can sense too many footsteps ringing on my ears but I can’t fathom where they are coming from. Argh! This is driving me crazy. My train of thoughts were cut off when I felt a thick liquid dripping from my nose. I almost forgot about the poison. Damn! There’s no more time to zone out. It’s either this poison kills us first or us, defeating the enemies. 

I tried to concentrate and sharpened my senses again. While meditating, my omncognition is working too, analyzing the surroundings. I see, they are not invisible. They are just running too fast as if they are one with wind. With my closed eyes, I quickly and strongly stomped the ground with my closed fist. Shards of crystals crawled on the ground until they hit one of the enemies. I confined it through wrapping its whole body with hard crystals. Got you! It’s a huge monster frog that dressed up like a ninja or assassin. It can walk or run like a human too. 

I came back into my senses when a hurling sound of wind coming from behind reached my ears. I swiftly pivoted my body and thumped the ground again but this time, I used my right feet. The earth rumbled and suddenly shook. Three cracks on the ground quickly crawled towards the vicious enemy, making it stumble down. Then I created two giant crystal fists, rushing to it from opposite directions and they had beaten the enemy into pulp. I crystallized its body to prevent it from escaping.

There’s still one of them. And I can say that this one is more vicious than these two. Lumond is fighting it and he has hard time defeating the remaining enemy. 

Daggers keep coming one after another. He continues deflecting those attacks while enduring the pain evident on his facial expression. It lasted for how many minutes until the enemy has stopped throwing poisonous blades for a moment. Lumond struck the ground with his sword and a strong earthquake trembled the surface and the ceiling of the cave. Sharp pointed crystals came out from everywhere. But Lumond’s attacks seemed futile. He didn’t get the enemy. 

I, on the other hand, suddenly got worried when I realized his HP is slowly decreasing. Well, it’s not only him. Even my HP is draining too. Wait, the Dairy Mineral has healing properties. Maybe, it can nullify the effect of poison within us. But we are too far from the lake’s location. We can’t make it. 

“Report: Poison Resistance has been successfully developed by your body. Want to share this skill with Lumond? Yes or no?” Solomon suddenly stated when I’m almost at the verge of losing hope. 

“Yes! No need for that to ask,” I answered immediately. 

“Copy that… Poison Resistance has been successfully shared to Lumond.” I drew out a deep breath as a sign of relief. I and Lumond’s HP almost turned to zero. I thought we were goner there already.  

“That’s amazing of you, Solomon. Perfect timing.” I rejoiced mentally. 

“Thank you, Miss Luna!” Lumond exclaimed. 

“No worries. Finish it off, Lumond!”

He nodded at me in agreement. Lumond pulled out his sword in the ground, creating a sharp scraping sound. He stood firm and then a thin piece sheet of crystal covered the ground. He’s concentrating and using his skill Crystal Detection to locate the enemy. He swiftly moved and swung his sword in the air. And in just blink of an eye, he managed to give the enemy six consecutive blows. The monster frog’s body fell off to the ground and the black aura cloaking its body slowly vanished. 

Lumond just knocked it down. He didn’t use the sharp edge of his sword to defeat it. He restrained the enemy by confining half of its body inside a crystal. 

“Wow. You did great, Lumond!” I commended him, clapping my hands as if I was a young child so happy having a candy given by someone. 

“Thank you, Miss Luna!” His cheeks lifted up and his eyes slightly narrowed as he smiled genuinely. I was stunned for a moment. His smiles melted my heart. They are too adorable to look at and now, I’m lost in them.