Day 7
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It's been a week since the incident with the moose that resulted in my current state of being. And several days since the last time the rat/rabbit stole my berries.
I've been working hard these few days, well my ants have at least, and now all that is about to pay off! That's right, ratface is back. I can see his smelly little shape sniffing around the dungeon entrance again.
I order all my minions to back off and hide. So they do. Okay, initiate stage 1, follow the berry trail...
——— POV: Ratface ———
It's been a tough few days for this little rodent since he last visited the berry cave. He had been desperate for food and snuck into the nearby village only to be chased, clawed and almost caught by a ferocious feline monstrosity!
Food had always been scarce and the competition is fierce, so the discovery of the mountain of berries had been a godsend! Too bad it didn't last, the bats and bugs there gave him a weird vibe too so once the food was gone it was back to life as usual.
After his recent close shave though, he remembered the bliss of chowing down on those juicy delights. Maybe some berries had grown back? It was worth a shot anyway. Crawling carefully up to the entrance he paused to sniff and check for enemies. Nothing, seems the bats had left too which was a relief. Now to check for food.
Bingo! Would you look at that! A little berry just lying on the ground a few hops further in. It wasn't long before the rodent popped it into his mouth and enjoyed the sweet flavor. Sweet, sticky, delicious! Just as he remembered. As he licked his paws clean something caught his eye.
Oh what do you know! Another one! Yum!
Following the trail of single berries a faint smell caught his attention. What is that? Looking around while sniffing before following the scent. The occasional blueberries he passed were ignored and pushed aside.
Arrive at the very back of the berry cave, his eyes almost popped out at the sight of the most impressive and delicious looking thing he had every seen! A giant berry, surrounded by a faint glow and giving off an aura of mystery and majesty was perched on top of a pile of blueberries.
Jackpot!
At this point instincts and hunger overrode everything else as the rodent dashed towards his target. Grabbing it with both paws he bit into its juicy flesh. Deep purple juices dyed his whole face and dripped down his arms as his mind buzzed with delight!
——— POV: DM Blueberry ———
And the target has taken the bait! Initiate stage 3: Caged rabbit!
A swarm of spiders rushed to build a thick web near the entrance. Double and triple thickness strands crisscrossed along the path ratface would need to use to escape.
I've spent so much DP and mana on these little guys, buying around 50, upgrading their thread's strength and stickiness, upgrading venom. Their price in the store has more than doubled.
Once the webs were in place, I had the spiders positioned to latch onto the enemy as he flees.
Initiate stage 4: wait for the poison to kick in.
As much as it hurts to see that rodent eating all my hard work it'll be worth it if I can unlock them in the shop! I carefully keep track of how much the target has eaten.
When half the berries are gone the rodent suddenly realizes that there is a problem. The berry in its mouth gets spat out revealing red fungal crumbs.
Surprise!! Enjoy those secret ingredients!
It starts spasming and barfing but it's too late, it's already ingested too much poison. It looks clearly weakened and it's limbs are shaking.
Panicking it decided to run away. Too late sucker! Initiate stage 5: get him boys!
Ants swarm out of hiding and charge like a wave. I've upgraded their size and mandibles so this time it'll hurt!
Stomping through the ants, things seems to be going similar to last time until it runs through a few webs. Each web has over 5 spiders whom immediately bite and inject more venom.
Stumbling forward the beast kept plowing through the webs with it's front paws flailing and clawing to clear a path.
The sticky webbing builds up until ratface is covered with spiders and thread. The sticky threads get caught on things slowing the target down until it is forced to stop and deal with the ants and spiders crawling over it.
Clawing at its assailants and rolling around the rodent struggles for its life. Although many spiders are lost, they've done their duty and bought time for the ant horde to catch up. The ants built up like a wave and crashed down upon the enemy.
The flailing thief slowly succumbed to its wounds as the poison caused its mouth to froth. Finally it's all over and things quiet down. The mound of ants slowly sink down as the rodent is dissolved and absorbed by the dungeon.
Victory!
"Ding! New purchase unlocked!"
I thought I disabled that...
"Ding! lowest level magic core acquired, absorb?"
What?
As the ants scuttle off to resume working I notice a tiny glowing rock the size of a pearl. Curious I roll over to investigate. It's not that small... it's about half my size!!!
Suddenly it pulses with mana and emits a soft white glow. It starts rolling towards me, surprised, I dodge out of the way but it is still coming for me! As we roll a misty tether made of mana is forming between myself and the pearl, eventually the pearl is pulled by what should be my own mana and bump into it.
"Absorbing!"
What?! Argh! It's a trap!
Pain suddenly assaults me and I lose sense of what is happening. As if by instinct I begin swirling mana around me. It seems effective as the pain lessens, so I focus on that. Vortex cultivation!!!
This must be one of those bottlenecks described in novels where it's vital to maintain lucidity. I slap those distracting thoughts to the side, send out a quick command for my minions to rebuild the web defenses, before focusing on the vortex.
Round and round!