Day 80 of the Necro Marine Labyrinth
Day 80 of the Necro Marine Labyrinth. Iris and the Hedgehog Summoner God, dispatched on a mission, returned safely.
[Return.]
"Good work out there, Iris."
[Duumba!]
"You too, Dochi."
He stroked their heads one by one. That's when Merino, who had been prepping food, finally noticed the dispatched team's return. She jumped in surprise, spread her arms wide, and came rushing over. Merino hugged Iris and the Hedgehog tightly in welcome.
"Welcome backyang, world-destroying Dochi-yang!"
[Duumba?]
"Missed you too, Iris-yang!"
[Yangyang.]
Next up after Merino, the other headquarters monsters gathered one by one to welcome the dispatched team back. Afterward, they all huddled together and enjoyed the meal Merino had lovingly prepared.
Once the meal was done, Kinogine Arachne and Blood Jellyfish Princess gathered a few items from the crystal orb's house and headed to a corner of the hideout.
[Princess, lie down here.]
[Ung.]
What they'd grabbed were sheet masks. Items Pruru had sponsored for Kinogine's skin care.
Kino carefully placed a sheet mask on the Princess's face. Then she applied one to her own face, closed her eyes, gathered her spider legs, and settled demurely in place.
Kino and the Princess, faces masked. One monster was staring intently at them.
[Skin care...]
It was Iris. Among the countless Irises, only the one back from dispatch today showed interest in the sheet masks. She wanted one too, apparently.
Kino had a few extra sheet masks. Just as she was about to offer one to Iris, patter patter.
Merino approached Iris with something in hand, toddling over. It was lotion.
"Iris want skin care too yang?"
[Care. Desire.]
"I got lotion. Let's share yang."
[Lotion?]
"Makes skin smooth and moist yang."
[Confirm. Request lotion.]
"Already fed it half to Zapan. Gave the rest to Merino."
Iris settled softly to the floor. Merino stood right in front of her, uncapped the lotion, and squeezed out a generous amount into her palm.
"Lemme apply it yang. Don't move yang."
[Confirm. Immobile.]
"Chub chub chub!"
[Chub chub.]
While a few monsters were deep into their skincare routines, I called over another Iris and checked the feed of the one with the Necro Puppeteer.
—[This one's useful.]
The Necro appeared on Iris's screen. In front of him stood a humanoid monster I'd never seen before, staring blankly.
Petite build. Pale skin, half-lidded eyes. A sedge hat on its head with four eyeballs attached. Weird robe, skull ornament jutting from its chest. These were its features. A monster measured at B-rank threat level. But with Necro holding my severed arm, real threat's probably S-rank.
"Necro. What's that?"
—[Hm? You were watching. Just captured this villager.]
"Oh right, you said you'd recruit undersea village residents if you had time today. Caught any other monsters besides it?"
—[This is the first. No time for others.]
Necro replied, then extended his hand toward the monster and used mind control.
—[Gauntlet. Tell me its red spot location.]
"Right in the center of its forehead."
—[Got it.]
Necro nodded slightly and attached my severed arm to the monster's forehead.
—[Don't move. Stay still.]
—[Uuu...]
Necro ordered the monster to hold the severed arm to its own forehead. Under mind control, it obeyed like a puppet. The red spot discoloration progressed quickly, of course. Iris had already shown my face, made it recognize me, and erased all hostility.
As the color shifted rapidly, I turned to the Necro Puppeteer.
"Necro. Haven't fully checked its abilities yet, right?"
—[Abilities confirmed. Subdued it on sight before it could use any, but read its mind to learn what it has.]
"Yeah? What is it?"
—[Corpse manipulation. Perfect for our village. Seems it can control any corpse S-rank or below.]
Corpse manipulation. A necromancer, basically. Just like Necro said, perfect fit for the undersea village. A puppet corpse village, after all.
While chatting with Necro, the monster's red spot had fully turned green. Taming complete.
—[Oh, its name's Necro Marine. Read it with telepathy.]
—[Uuuu...]
Necro Marine. Now one of my tamed monsters, so time to share my name. Gotta know who tamed you.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Gauntlet."
—[Uu...!]
As I introduced myself, Merino poked her face into Iris's view.
"Hi yang. I'm Merino Ulla yang. Handle meals for everyone at HQ yang."
—[Uu...!]
"Come visit sometime yang. Treat you to yummy food yang."
—[Uuuu...!]
Introductions done. I was about to start the monster compendium entry when Art Pega Unicorn sidled up.
[Explorer. Compendium complete.]
"What, you were watching Iris's feed too?"
[Yes. Through another Iris.]
Beaten to the punch.
...Well, can't be helped. I asked her to handle the next one and took the drawing to check.
*** Day 81 of the Labyrinth. Formed a new main exploration team. Four members. Hedgehog Summoner God. Azeras. Niara Nephensis. Iris. Thanks to the now SSS-rank Hedgehog, it was the strongest team yet.
Ah, but leadership went to Niara. Felt uneasy leaving it to Hedgehog. Guy's head's full of ass-dancing thoughts.
Anyway. Today's target: Passage 8. Beyond the door Rise and I found during his drifter days.
The team had already reached the door.
—[Son. This the door you meant?]
"Yeah, that's it."
Niara nodded and swung her arm lightly. A heavy gust slowly pushed forward, shoving the massive door open.
Kuoooong-!
The giant door swung wide. Beyond it...
...a single ultra-high-rise hotel stood tall.