Ancient Minotaur Habitat (3)

This was more distracting than I'd expected.

I still had no idea how it worked, but every time I scanned our surroundings, those white ears twitched upright.

The problem was that the rabbit ears' hearing bonus was turning out to be surprisingly useful. While we moved to avoid the elite monsters, it had already saved us from disaster more than once.

Was the fact that a Minotaur could move that quietly some developer's idea of a cruel joke?

From the moment we cleared the mid-boss, the monsters' specs had started climbing at an exponential rate. Just pinning down a single elite took both of our frontliners. And there were plenty of them — enough that fighting head-on had become effectively impossible.

Fortunately, we didn't need to kill them all. Infinity Black never produced a dungeon that was truly uncleared. Spec-wise, the game was especially generous. The accepted wisdom was that if your weapons could even land, a clear was possible.

Throwing enemies that strong at us meant we were never supposed to fight them in the first place. The first one they'd sent out had been a message — check the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠power gap. Which was how we'd found the magic cloak from the story.

"Can't we squeeze in a little farther?"

"This is as far as I can go. Ah— don't push."

"Shh. Quiet. They might hear our voices."

"Ugh…"

A cloak that let you blend completely into the surroundings and slip past a monster's gaze. The very one Nianbach had used with his family.

Except there were five of us. And between Sulbbang and Uncle Dolgwol's bulk, the hiding space was painfully tight.

Elderin's chest pressed flat against my cheek. A soft, cushioned warmth wrapped around me. We were packed in like rush-hour subway passengers — there was no way to pull free. The moment I tried to speak, our lips would have touched, so I forced my mouth shut.

The smell of skin… Ugh. Everyone's way too close.

Uncle Dolgwol's thigh was glued to my side. Something that felt like Sulbbang was pressed against my rear, though I couldn't see exactly what was touching what. Probably a thigh. Better for everyone if I just assumed that.

And underneath me was Sansaé, the halfling, which meant I was bent at the waist. Half-crouched between two people like that… the pose it called to mind was uncomfortably specific. The second the thought landed, my face burned.

"Daeun, are you really uncomfortable?"

"No. I'm fi…ne."

I had to endure it. If I turned my head to complain, I'd just be nuzzling around in Elderin's chest. Move the other way, and I'd be grinding my hips against Sulbbang. A complete deadlock — and my high Sensory Synchronization Rate only made it worse. The body heat against my skin, the sound of everyone's breathing, all of it came through with brutal clarity.

Especially the breath near my ear. Every tense exhale made those rabbit ears twitch. When the warm air actually hit them, a shiver ran through me and my toes curled tight. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I had to fight just to keep my body from trembling.

I don't know how many minutes passed like that. The elite monsters' footsteps gradually receded. I closed my eyes, measured the distance a little longer, and only then spoke with any real confidence.

"Hwah! I-it's fine now. They're gone — let's move, quickly?"

I shoved the men stuck to my back away at once. Checked the area, then strode forward fast — anything to keep them from seeing my face. Putting some distance between us cooled my head a little.

No more wandering thoughts. Right now I had a job to do as the party's scout.

This stretch of the approach was far more complicated than before. The early sections had been almost a straight line; now the path split in several directions. Searching every branch one by one would take us through nights on end.

But that was exactly what the dungeon's story was for — cutting down on trial and error. It took imagination. If I were Nianbach, what would I have done?

I have to protect my wife and daughter from the pursuers. Then of course I'd hide them in the deepest place I could find.

This cave would have started as the same straight passage we'd first seen. The dungeon had almost certainly expanded outward from the deep chamber where the family was hidden. He would have needed ways to mislead the pursuit party when they came. Important facilities are hard to move, so any side path dressed up to look like it held something valuable was probably a trap. The more lavishly decorated spaces especially — they felt far too staged. Like a mimic waiting to devour a greedy elf, they'd bare their fangs the moment you got close.

"This way."

Good. Decision made. The most ordinary-looking path — and the one that looked like it had seen the most years.

I don't know how long we pressed forward after that. In the final chamber, true to a final boss, a single massive creature waited for us.

It looked like an octopus that had crawled up out of hell.

"Gawol! Tentacle that way!"

"I see it. What the hell even is that thing?"

A deep violet limb came whipping toward me. Or maybe tentacle was the right word, the way Sulbbang kept calling them. Every time one of those octopus-like arms swept past, sticky fluid spattered in its wake, leaving a trail along the arc of its movement.

You couldn't take them lightly. The force behind those tentacles was no joke. Even a near miss sent enough wind pressure to nearly throw me off my feet. Every time they slammed into Sulbbang's greatsword or the cave wall, shockwaves cracked through the chamber.

But the real problem wasn't the power. Everyone else seemed fine with them, but those tentacles made my skin crawl on a purely physical level. Slick and sticky-looking — I didn't even want to touch one.

"Hyaaagh!"

The second one made contact, a scream tore out of me before I could stop it. I was supposed to drive my dagger in, but — hic! Goosebumps raced up my spine and I nearly missed the timing entirely.

I couldn't keep doing this. Focus.

This boss had thirteen long, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thick tentacles in total. The eye at the center of its body was an obvious weak point, but getting to it didn't look easy. Clusters of smaller tentacles were bunched thick around the main body.

As I ran along the wall, a tentacle slammed into the stone behind me with a krrrk, spraying rock fragments. I stopped for a beat at just the right moment, waited — then used the tentacle that had landed a step ahead of me as a slide.

Just as expected, the sensation was revolting. An unidentifiable, crawling horror climbed from my hips up my spine. I wanted to scrub the slime soaking into my clothes off right then and there.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could handle the bugs in my studio apartment well enough. I'd thought that meant my fear threshold was the same as before. Apparently I had no resistance to this. I had to grit my teeth and bear it.

"Urghhh…"

While I shuddered my way up the tentacle, the rest of the party wasn't sitting idle. Elderin's flames cleared a path ahead, and Sansaé's vines bound tentacles in place. The instant I leapt for the monster's eye, the cluster of smaller tentacles inside gave a sickening, writhing twitch.

Whatever that was, it was dangerous. I switched to defense with my daggers forward — and a grotesque spike erupted upward. From the brief glimpse I got, it was long and curved, structured like a scorpion's tail or a chain-blade. Not the kind of attack you dodge once or twice and walk away from. I knocked it aside with a dagger first.

"Ngh!"

Even with a successful parry, my wrist nearly folded. Without my unique buff, that hit might have taken the arm clean off. On top of that, something acidic must have splashed — the stocking on my thigh was melting away.

The unexpected attack threw my timing off. There was no way to break the eye before the other tentacles closed in. I pulled out cleanly and called for the person I needed.

"Uncle! Guard!"

"Uh, r… right!"

A clumsy answer — but the reaction was razor-sharp. The berserker braced the broad face of his axe with one hand. The moment I landed on the blade like I was settling onto a seat, he launched me skyward with everything he had.

My body hurtled forward in a dizzying rush. Maybe because I'd already gotten close to the eye once, the monster had marked me as its highest-priority threat.

That would be a mistake.

I might have been the best player in this party, but I wasn't the one with the strongest firepower.

The instant tentacles of every size reached to coil around my limbs, I calmly abandoned the attack and melted into Sansaé's shadow. Where I'd been standing a second before, a crimson magic circle unfurled.

In this game, mages usually held the firepower advantage — and among them, flame specialists stood in a class of their own. A massive sphere of fire condensed for a single instant, then returned. A thunderous blast and a violent shockwave rolled across the entire battlefield.

From the far side, the greatsword warrior advanced into the hollow heat. Sharp cuts sheared through several tentacles, but plenty remained. She'd pushed in too deep — her defense crumbled in an instant. Sulbbang's body went flying and slammed into the outer cave wall.

She wasn't dead. That was enough.

The body that had melted into darkness cut through the wind once more. I wasn't the kind of incompetent assassin who couldn't eat a meal when it was already set on the table. Both daggers drove into the monster's eye at once.

"Let's never see each other again, you disgusting bastard."

The small tentacles coiled gently around my arms — then went slack, leaving only sticky slime behind as they fell still.