17. Rock Bugs Are Friends, Right?

The Mantid Stalkers were nothing to worry about compared to the Giant Mosquito. In fact, after figuring out that they were like exaggerated moths to a flame, she had an easy time slaughtering them.

“Hup~!” She casually tossed a ball of light in one direction, herding them together as she began stabbing them indiscriminately from behind.

Due to how huddled they were, it was impossible for them to distinguish friend from foe. It became a bloodbath, and Hatchling Red reaped the rewards with a diabolical smirk.

“If getting levels is this easy then its no wonder that people can become so strong!” Red exclaimed, poking nonstop at the enemies with her proboscis spear. “Atelier people probably used us to get stronger while we were kept in captivity.”

She spoke to herself again, opening the floodgates as gloopy flesh ran past her knees. The carnage was self-inflicted by the brainless insects, and she was proud that she got out far more than what she put in.

The goop drained into the many holes surrounding her as she wiped her forehead, smearing her face with sticky liquid.

“But I wonder if it was worth losing so many more friends. Maybe people are like insects. What do you think, voice?”

“There you go again saying something random.” Red sighed, munching on her food as the sound of chittering could be heard from behind. “Anything else to tell me?”

Mantid Stalker

“Voice. You know, how does Observation Level 2 even know what’s the insides of a creature is like? I know I kinda smashed their heads in and went ‘stabby stab’, but isn’t that like… cheating?”

“Yeah, yeah. Unknown. Stop agitating me. Maybe I’ll just call you Agate! Short for Agitate!” She said, stuffing her face with a mouthful of dirt-tasting insect flesh.

The feast, however, was not solely hers to claim.

The chittering from behind were the dozens of Rock Bugs that followed her, devouring carcasses in their wake. They were the ultimate bottom feeders, and Red couldn’t wait to crack their shells open.

“You Rock Bugs are gonna get fatter and fatter. So keep eating. That’ll be more levels for me!” She thrust a fist into the air. “If there turns out to be more rocks in you, then I’m gonna dip you all into molten lava.”

For some reason, this caused a few of the Rock Bugs to look up at her with their innocent, beady eyes. One tilted its head, teetering on being cute. But Red just saw them as a nuisance.

The cave was nearly pitch black, but her eyes had acclimated to the darkness by now. Also, further in the holes emitted a soft, orange glow.

“Don’t puppy eye me all of a sudden. Besides… the last thing I want to see in front of me is a dog.” She vented through clenched teeth, smacking the head of the Rock Bug.

She recoiled immediately in pain but didn’t show it in front of these little critters in case they saw it as a sign of weakness.

The last thing she wanted for these Rock Bugs was to mount a revolt against her.

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“T-Tch… That… didn’t hurt at all…”

* * *

Hatchling Red progressed further through the cave. A blazing heat wafted through the holes which she realized were vents. Breathing became difficult as superheated air burned her lungs.

But even so, she pushed forward in hopes of finding her precious weapon as the quakes intensified. The path winded down at a slope that increased at every passing minute until she came across a glowing gorge where a river of magma sputtered from beneath.

“I must have missed where the insects came from. Voice. No, Agate. Insects can’t live in this kind of environment, right?”

No response. She could barely lean over the edge without wincing in pain. A narrow path bridged the gap along the right-most wall. It was just large enough for her to cross with her back pressed flat against the wall.

Due to the amount of insects she had eaten, she had grown to the size of a very young teenager now.

“Size has become disadvantageous.” She scoffed, planting her blade into the wall as she tested her weight on it. “This will work. But the rocks are pretty soft. You’d think harder rocks would be closer to magma.”

Before she crossed, she took a short break as the Rock Bugs bumped into her from behind. She pulled out a fillet of Mantid Stalker meat and munched on it as she checked her stats.

Status.

LEVEL : 17

NAME: ??? HP : 950 ^3/Min

MP : 680 ^3/Min

AGI : 32 RESIST : 43 AGE : 0 ATT : 75 (+80)

MAG ATT : 5

O : 16 D : 0 ORIGIN : Original ATT DEF : 60 (+50)

MAG DEF : 15

S : 5 E : 6

(O) Huntress’ Slash I [4/10]

(O) Punch [2/10]

(S) Friends! [5/10]

(E) Appraise Object [6/10]

[Huntress’ Slash] had gained a weird symbol indicating that it had evolved. Looking deeper into her stats, she investigated just what changed since the Agate didn’t mention anything to her.

Until now, of course.

“Why does the Bleeding Condition have stacks in itself? I guess there’s different rates in which blood can flow. If I hit here…” She used the back of her blade to make a mock cut along the outside of her thigh. “Then not much blood is going to come out. But here…”

Then, she made one across her neck.

“Then it’s totally going to be, what, a hundred Bleed Stacks? I guess it’s useful for fleshy things. Rocky stuff?”

*Ding*

*Ding*

She tapped her blade on the head of one of the Rock Bugs.

“Not going to work at all. Hope you guys don’t come and eat me, cause I’m pretty much your benefactor at this point.”

Her friendship level had increased, but nothing else had changed in her Bonded status screen. She never thought about it till now, but the ecosystem of this cavern seemed halphazard, like someone had artificially introduced these creatures here.

It didn’t help that the vents didn’t seem natural too.

There weren’t any clues to hint at the purpose of this cave. The reason why she brought this up was because she was a huntress. Small things tended to be leads to larger things. She itched the side of her head with the tip of her blade, sighing as she tried to wrap her mind around it.

Unbeknownst to her, she was patting the head of the Rock Bug in front of her.

Suddenly, she felt the ground shift. What she thought was another tremor turned out to be the gathering of all twenty-four Rock Bugs, who eagerly stared at her with half-cocked heads, their beady little eyes dazzling with expectation.

“Huh?” She still had a piece of the filleted meat sticking from her mouth like a tongue, and she quickly slurped it up in case they tried to steal it from her. “This is mine. Go steal your own. Hey – wait – what’s up with you all wanting my hand!?”

One by one, they brushed their heads against the palm of her hand, utterly confusing the poor girl who interpreted it as a sign of an imminent uprising.

“So that’s how you declare me as an enemy… Just so you know – you’re never going to take me down you little pieces of –!”

“… excuse me? Agate? Don’t tell me you’re on their side too!” She wildly slashed at the prompt before her, smacking her blade across many rocky heads like a drummer.