The day was going pretty well woke up. Ate some golden eggs. Had a coffee. The usual morning routine before I go and play in the dungeon.
I should clarify, by play I mean using cold weapons. I'm not giving up my advantage in firearms to have an adventure. Most of the men in WW1 that went looking for "adventure" didn't make it back home. So no, I will kill you then ask questions, to any survivors left.
I took a break from the dungeon and simply studied and practiced my Runes and Alchemy for the day. I was happy with the results of my progress. It's a lot harder than I thought. The studying was improved by the Yggdrasil Leaves. Damn that is some good shit. It was evening and I was enjoying my whiskey and smoke.
So imagine my utter disappointment when a giant black Goliath spawns in Rivira. I mean, I should've expected it, but some god or divine artifact is on the 18th floor. And I kill the god without confirming. I don't want to erase a friendly familia just because some idiot made me spill my 50 year old whiskey, not at all.
I cleaned myself up as best as possible with the ground shaking from the Black Goliath's rampage. Then I made my way over to the gagglefuck of idiots who couldn't take the heat. Lo and behold what do I see through my binoculars? Asfi and Hermes, trying their best to defend themselves. Asfi was using her dagger while flying around. With her shoes. I was wondering what happened to the grenades and launcher I gave her. I see them strapped to her back, but why is she not using them? I restocked her before I came into the dungeon. There were other adventurers trying to take down the Black Goliath. 'This is a good a spot as any.' I pulled out my M82/M107 and went prone.
The range was about 200 metres. So others are going to know I've shot this thing. I adjusted the ear protection in my ears, and lined up the shot. The rampage continued, there were smaller monsters in the mix as well. I say smaller, but compared to the Goliath they were mere ants. I lined up with the head and started shooting.
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
It took an entire mag to bring the thing down. So 5 rounds total. Damn that thing was tough. A level 5 adventurer went down with a single shot. But this monster took 5 .50 cal FMJ shots to take down, from essentially point blank range. The armour and resistance was unusually high. The normal Goliath should only takes 2-3 .50 cal FMJ shots to kill based what this shootout has shown me. The wear and tear on the M82 was negligible, even so I put it in my Warcage and the cleaning and repairing functions took care of things for me.
A white haired boy jumped and stabbed the core of the Goliath, dispersing the body. Thanks for that, now I can't get research meterial.
Standing up, the first person I noticed was Asfi. She was walking towards me with a bit of a frown. I just saved her sorry ass what is she mad about?
"Why are you here? I've been looking all over for you." She said quite irately.
I stepped closer to her and talked softly, "I have a base here, what's it to you?"
"There was a mission request issued. I needed a resupply on the grenades." She explained.
"I gave you a few hundred 2 weeks ago where are they?" I asked.
"I used them up. Practice." She said rather subdued.
"A few hundred grenades in 2 weeks. What do you mean practice? I gave you written instructions. It only takes 5 rounds to get a feel for how each one shoots. What did you get yourself into?"
Asfi, the usually stoic and calm captain of the Hermes familia was looking down and squirming. "I like explosions. I got carried away." She managed to squeak out.
What am I going to do with this one? "What do you have left?"
"Just smoke and flash."
Fuck, how do you manage to use a few hundred HE-AP grenades in 2 weeks. There shouldn't be anything at that level above the 27th floor. Only the Amphisbaena is worth a few grenades at most. Little did I know at this point that the entirety of the red light district was reduced to rubble, due to the power struggles taking place. The entirety of Orario simply watched as some uppity Evilus familias made a play for power and failed miserably. This also meant new additions to the Hermes familia.
"Whatever, we still have to clean up the remaining riff-raff." Stating the obvious lapse in judgement from Asfi, I equipped my spear and shield and played around for a while.
In the aftermath of the entire clusterfuck, it was revealed that Hestia, the adorable little munchkin, had a bad feeling when her 'child' did not return from the dungeon after a few days. So 2 gods decided to accompany the rescue party and caused more problems than they solved. Hermes simply requested more ammo, and a second suppressor. Acting like this little shit-show wasn't partially his fault.
After that I simply left them and headed back to my treehouse. I always wondered why I choose a treehouse instead of a log-cabin or something. Then I would get to the treehouse and my answer would be clear. Treehouses are cool. I cleaned up and went to bed.
****Asfi****
He just left, no inviting us to his secret lair or whatever. Asshole. I also need to request a proper launcher, he said something about this one being a prototype. I feel bad about not heeding his instructions, but explosions are so cool. They are an art unto themselves. Mere mortals couldn't possibly understand. Why stab someone when you can simply blow them up from a distance?
I'll have to be more specific with my requests. I do not want more smoke or flash grenades. I NEED EXPLOSIONS!
*****MC*****
I awoke and reflected on the fight yesterday. Giving away the Black Goliath core hurt my soul, but it was for the best. I needed a way to trigger and fight stronger monsters without delving too deep into the dungeon. The line of retreat gets farther and farther, and the rescue party will only find by bones being used as chew toy by monsters.
I'll look into it later, for now though taming a Ligerfang is my top priority. I want one from the 17th floor the ones on the floors above, although easily tamable are too weak initially to get right into the deeper floors of the dungeon. The amount of resources and time that would take would take a few months. setting me back at least a year. The shop had Tamer Collars. They allowed for a multitude of functions my favourite being mental communication between master and tamed creature. Can be a person, plant or animal. Kind of disturbing, the thought of putting it on a person, but the other two categories greatly interested be. There were Green Dragons on the 24th floor guarding Jewel Trees. I could effectively tame both and transport them to my residence.
Speaking of residence, it's still in the works. I need to 'acquire' adamantium and orichalcum for the construction. Knossos works well for this purpose but to get there I need to head into Daedalus street. True to the legends in my previous life that place is a maze and a cesspit of crime. I have an 'in' with Maria's orphanage but it still needs more mapping.
Taking my time, I got ready and headed up to the 17th floor. Time to tame a kitty.
The Wall of Grief was restored. The shadow was miniscule. I went past it and entered the 17th floor proper. The usual monsters were there and I didn't waste my time with them. Simply using the M27 which is basically a HK416, with AP ammo, I simply shot whatever didn't interest me. Any Ligerfangs I came across were beaten with an enchanted stick, some just died with a broken neck or skull, cruel but necessary for the taming process. It took an entire day of running around on the 17th floor to come across a much larger Ligerfang.
It was the height of an elephant, and the length of a bus. It was prowling the floor looking for it's next prey. I will tame you or turn you into a beautiful rug. We made eye contact and then it charged at me. I took out my stick and replied in kind.
Our fight was legendary. It will go down in history as one of the most epic battle of wills. It lasted 5 hours. The stick broke after 2 hours. So I was only using my hands and feet. I used my Runes as well but Cypher, I've decided to call him Cypher, was too fast. I wasn't using any harmful or lethal spells. I don't want to hurt my new pet any more than necessary. At 03:39, we were both too tired to continue. I willed myself to stand, and so did Cypher, our stubbornness the only thing keeping us on our feet. We were both bloody and bruised. I didn't use any potions, simply because I didn't have the time. We were at an impasse. Neither willing to back down.
Then almost as if by chance, Cypher stumbled, and his eyes turned blue. Success! I painfully made my way over to him. He was too tired by this point, so he just lay down on his stomach and awaited his fate. He kept looking me in the eyes, as if telling me to get it over with and just kill him.
"No boy, you and I are going to kick some ass together." I approached him and pet his snout. Then scratched behind his ears. I took a Tamer collar from my INVENTORY and placed it around his neck. The collar enlarged to fit around his neck, then turned into a harness.
He was pretty surprised at first. I mean, it's not exactly normal to fight someone for 5 hours and then give them ear scratches. Your opponent might let you go, sure. Maybe a third combatant enters the fray and kills both parties involved, happens more often than you think. One side is vanquished and the remaining side declares themselves the victors, possible.
I honestly don't know why I actually went through with it either. I mean, I killed the other Ligerfangs after 5 minutes. Well my boy is special.
A mental feeling of pain that wasn't mine came to me. So the mental communication works, great! I took out a few healing potions. I gave Cypher 5 to start off with. I took 2 before I started to feel much better. I took a Mind potion, just incase. I felt refreshed, so I gave Cypher one as well. He then projected feelings of tiredness and hunger to my mind. "I know my boy, I know" I patted him gently. I took out all the Ligerfang cores I had and laid them out in front of him. "Here you go boy."
I sat with my back resting on Cypher's side while eating a sandwich. He was purring away like a 427 V8. Tail swishing side to side. He was happy. He sent a feeling of contentment through the collar connection. I patted his side until he curled up and fell asleep. Funny thing was he curled up around me, so now I'm surrounded by the worlds largest and fluffiest purring machine. It brought a smile to my face. For the first time in a long time, I was at peace. I took out a thermos of coffee and took first watch. You and me boy, are going to do some serious damage to the dungeon.
With that thought I snuggled into the fur and drifted off.