Chapter 19: You ate a banana, didn't you?
[You have entered the dungeon!]
"Haha! Here we are!" Michu exclaimed loudly, then rushed forward with the witch following him from behind. It seemed like Sandra already became too liable to Michu's excitement and she felt like jumping around.
Though it was not smart for the mage as they were soft and feeble class to any offense!
"Great… He's a great friend…" Lazy Bum whispered to himself after seeing the duo. He just got freed from a childhood friend and could tread slowly in the dungeon.
His arrow could cover a wide and long area so the archer allowed himself to be slower than the majority.
The one who didn't like this whole scenario was Venomous.
She threw her green eyes at the tank that had been chewing on the banana. Not only was he loud, but he also didn't seem to care about his job at all.
They were already in the dungeon, so what was he doing here? "Take out your shield and focus." She threatened with the voice laced in disappointment.
The man gulped down heavily, then said, "Yeah, sorry. It would be rude if I refused the friendly banana, though." He wiped his lips, then trotted to Michu and Sandra.
The monsters had yet to appear, but their excitement seemed to be limitless. By the time the tank reached them, the first creature popped out from the ground.
It was the mole.
Sandra exclaimed, "There weren't any moles the last time I was here!"
"Oh! Does it mean we might get special loot from them?" Michu caressed his chin, then uttered, "Nice…" in a long voice...
Sandra chuckled as that might be not the case, but she found no reason to break that dream bubble. Instead, she pointed her staff at the mole and sent out a water bolt. It extended like a snake, then barrelled into the mole.
Boom!
"Ah, that sucks!" Sandra dejectedly stomped on the ground as her water bolt literally did no damage to the monster. It even felt like it'd scoffed at her! She quickly explained, "It's the simple natural counter. Earth counters water and so its body has natural defenses against me!"
"That's bad, but you have me. Stay behind me and leave those moles to me." Like a knight in white armor, Michu used his hand to gently push Sandra behind him, then clenched his staff.
His weapon was different from Sandra's as it focused on pure physical damage. Its stats weren't remarkably high as it was one of the ordinary items on the market.
But each weapon was different in foreign hands!
Michu's wooden staff alerted the mole and it returned to the ground. Its claws dug way towards Michu while doing some detours. All of this was pointless against the monkey.
Why? Because Michu was a sharp monkey!
Just as the mole left the underground, extending its claws, Michu staff had been long in motion.
Shifting his whole weight to the side, Michu thrust his staff straight into the monster's head! A strength behind this attack forced the mole to absorb Michu's staff as its forehead sank deeply.
It was a critical strike!
BOOM!
The mole forcefully got pushed back to its lair, then Michu used one of his new skills.
It was a supportive skill called 'Monkey God's Staff Control.'
[Monkey God's Staff Control.]
[Whether it is to show off his skills, get the bananas from the highest heavenly paradises, or just to lift the skirts of phoenix's ladies, the monkey god knew how to use his staff and reach what his eyes had laid upon!]
[You can extend and shorten your staff!]
By extending his staff, Michu could increase the strength behind his blow. Each meter was around 10% and by doing this now, Michu increased his whole output to the mole by another 20% before it escaped somewhere.
Shortening his staff had another effect. It was just fast. He quickly could regain the normal length of his staff and return to the usual and strongest offensive.
However, Venomous already helped Michu with this supportive skill. First, she told him to always extend against the walls, ground, or any object. This was just for his sake and better results.
While the shortening had been found out by Michu during one of the common quests. What normally would be one thrust could turn into several weaker more! But even though these were weaker, if done properly and quickly, Michu could leave additional damage on his opponents without wasting much time!
"You literally shoved him back to his world! Is he dead?" Sandra asked, her eyes sticking to the hole where the staff just came from.
As there was no message from the system, Michu shook his head and focused around. The ground began to violently shake, then mole trails began to surround them.
A group of allies came in clutch to support their friend!
This time, Sandra showed off a confident smile, "It's not like I am useless against all of them. Wait for me to catch them, Michu."
"Yeah!" The support from his friend and joint battle against the monsters had been what Michu had already tasted with the soldiers from his territory. Although it was vastly different, the monkey had a lot of fun.
Now, the situation was reversed as the quantity was against him and his friend.
But he couldn't stop himself from believing in Sandra. Michu didn't ask any questions but just kept their surroundings safe.
In the meantime, the witch's staff shone with bright blue light. A blinding light faded in the next second, then stagnated within the staff's tip as if trapped inside.
Sandra looked at the closest mole trails, then swept her staff in an arc after they emerged out from the ground.
Albeit her reactions were slower, Sandra didn't fall off too much and her skill trapped the moles immediately. Just before the light blue arc faded away, the moles got stopped by the water bubble and trapped inside like hamsters!
Seeing this, Michu loudly chuckled, "That's a cool skill!" Even if the water was useless against those, Sandra turned tables at them and just trapped them inside the water that they couldn't dig at all.
Michu did a similar motion to her staff and swept those moles while combining his supportive skill with the bonk skill!
A series of incredulous system messages blurred Sandra's mind as she exclaimed in shock, "How much damage is it?! If you repeat it, then they are dead already!" It was too shocking and she couldn't close her lips.
At this point, Sandra began to suspect Michu of being the holder of epic class and this was the least he could wear!
But this just made her feel more excited as well, "You stupid! My bubble traps couldn't withstand this damage too, even though we are at the same party! Ah, this game's realism!" In any normal game, the traps would stay and Michu would be able to just pummel down the monsters.
However, The Four Leaf World leaned down to realism in unconventional ways. Sometimes, the residents did outrageous and immoral stuff, sometimes they were too real and followed morals and science. The same was with the spells and skills of both players and residents.
The witch just curled her lips and brought up more water bubbles.
At the same time, Michu faintly laughed, "Sorry! Hehe!" He didn't find any hate behind her words and that 'stupid' seemed rather friendly. It was certainly different from other people that genuinely insulted Michu in the past.
What mattered was that Michu didn't feel bad when Sandra called him stupid and that was enough.
As the camaraderie continued to deepen between them, another party member finally entered the battle. It was Lazy Bum and his arrows that actually helped the fighting duo.
"How long were you planning to make me wait?! You didn't even run!" Sandra waved her staff in Lazy Bum's direction, but she also drew a light blue arc yet again.
The moles around her stopped, then arrows descended with near-perfect accuracy. The damage behind those was less than Michu and the bubbles didn't burst out.
However, Lazy Bum's wish was to make the witch stop shouting at him. He used the skill immediately after her lips parted and magical arrows followed the previously left trail.
One by one, those arrows descended on the monsters and each spread the opened wounds wider.
[You have killed The Dungeon Steel Mole.]
[You have killed…]
[You have killed…]
"I got them, okay?" Lazy Bum waved his hand dismissively, "Let me regenerate some mana now."
"I can see your mana in the dungeon party." The witch called her friend closer.
On the other hand, Michu glanced at the lazy man, "Hehe! You have finally caught up! Good job!" He waved his staff, then added while caressing his chin, "Nice shot…" in a deep, long voice.
Looking at the monkey who was doing the usual and surely a stupid expression, Lazy Bum turned his eyes to the side and whispered, "Thanks…"
Sandra's staff fell on the ground… "Were you blushing?" She spoke with disbelief creasing her forehead, her eyes dilated in shock.
"Haha! We have more enemies on the road! Let's go, everyone!" Michu pulled Sandra by holding her hand as she was kinda frozen from Lazy Bum's blush. She woke up when her vision began to shake, then turned her eyes to a laughing monkey.
Even though his eyes were up ahead, greedy for more thrilling battles, Sandra felt like he was careful of her too, "Don't try to make everyone blush, Michu!"
-
"It seems like you weren't needed," The luck was on her side. Venomous was sure of it, but if the challenges were to appear on the early levels, then she would long give up on this path. Rather than a game, she would force her way in real life.
But it was a thought that she couldn't share with anyone yet.
Of course, the tank was also here to bring some 'normal' vibes to the party, but Michu's banana instantly broke that idea.
Venomous' voice brought the tank back to reality as well.
But even if it looked like he was lost in amazement, his hand was raised just above his waist. What did it mean? It meant that the man typed something on the keyboard and chat only visible to his eyes.
Venomous didn't miss that.
She also didn't plan to just let this man stay in her party and follow them without doing anything.
"You ate a banana, didn't you?" Venomous raised her voice.
"Eh? Yes, didn't you see it?" The tank asked with a question mark on his face.
"So move your ass and taunt those moles. Not the ones around my friend, but the ones further away from him." The green eyes turned snake and no questions could be raised! "My sword has yet to cut through their defenses. I want to compare myself too."
"Well, yeah… Of course…" The tank laughed awkwardly, then stomped his way toward the moles as fast as possible. His armor clattered along the way and this alone raised some attention from the ground overlords.
They made their way to the tank, but his voice also rang out loudly, "Lesser Taunt!" His broad shield let out red glitter that was like a red rag for those moles. Even though they couldn't see, they had a feeling that forced them to make their way towards the tank.
Their usual attack pattern was to jump off from the ground, then hack the opponents with their claws. They had been aiming for the same but to no avail!
Just after they left the ground, the tank's eyes blurred with white streaks obstructing his vision.
As those spread away and his vision cleared, the tank could see the moles laying dead on the ground. Their bodies just began to disassemble into thousand red particles.
"Five seconds… No… Tsk… Ten seconds… You just have to keep taunting each for ten seconds, so keep an eye on that and don't waste mana." Venomous stated in an orderly tone, then changed her location.
More moles began to surround the tank and as nimble as she was, Venomous just slithered around and matched herself with the tank's skill.
The more taunt he used, the more mana was sacrificed. The costs also increased, depending on the process. If the tank could keep taunt skill on the enemy, then it all depended on the skill's rank when it came to the mana costs and its process. If the opponent broke the taunt, then the second taunt would be weaker and would also cost more.
Venomous did her research and she knew at least this much…
But the tank was yet again shocked by her skills. Did she even use an ability? Did she increase her speed somehow? What were her abilities anyway?