SING CRIER CH.24 - Carp Diem We lock eyes. The magic circle beneath the orange kraken lights up with the same hue. At the same time, particles, translucent and fluttering, fade in and spiral skyward. And for a long second, the humanoid monster girl freezes in place. 「 ...⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤! 」 A reverberating high pitched scream rips through the air, even with the kraken girl's mouth remaining shut. We cover our ears- but in the time it takes for us to cover our ears, the girl becomes an orange blur flying back into the water. We can see the splash from the opposite end of the island. 『 ... 』『 ... 』 We slowly lower our hands... Our attention turns to the magic circle, now with double the number of floating particles. Accompanied by a glowing red X in the ground, and a rising cacophony of glass nearing its peak, the completion of the spell's casting is unmistakable. A split second silence. Kiifwoom! An X shaped spire of heat bursts from the ground reaching the height of the surrounding trees. Unlike wildfire, it holds its distinct shape, like that of a blowtorch, bellowing a deep hiss as a colossal blowtorch would. At the base, engulfed in traditional flickering flames, is the armoured meat, evenly cleaved into four slices. It's working... We pull ourselves up from the edge of the island, and hurry over to the spire, where the fragrance of burning, and simmering meat completely takes over our sense of smell. Our mouths immediately begin to water. Cooked meat... The slices of flaming foodstuff fall away from the magic circle, pushed away by the sheer jet-like force of the spell. Standing over one lone quarter, we can see the battle up close... Armour fungus regeneration versus being on fire. There are miniscule bursts of regeneration the fungus makes, but those bursts are finite, whereas the fire burns everywhere at once. The battle was decided from the very beginning. Ding ding ding! The fungus is exterminated! The ardent fire reigns victorious! But with no enemies left to burn the fire has no choice but to die. Sayonara, fire-senpai. Thank you for cooking the meat. A grey wisp of smoke rises from the still-simmering meat. The flat stone ground darkens as blood and juices dribble from the mass. The sight is almost enough to bring tears to our eyes... How long has it been since we've eaten cooked meat...? Too long... Way too long... Sing reaches out to touch it, but it's too hot, and Sing takes damage. There's actually a serious burn on her finger. ...Ouch. Well, the backsides of our bodies have fire resistance from being burned alive back in Sal'venakai... Maybe we can put these adaptations to use? If it worked against Agehatate, then... Sing touches it with the back of her finger, made distinct by a clear line between pale and mahogany skin. It feels manageably warm now. 『 Wait. 』 Crier is carving straight lines into the ground with her nail. 『 There's no need to fumble around with the backs of our hands. 』 Having drawn two rectangles, Crier carefully pinches them out, revealing two stone chopsticks. 『 Oooh... 』 Crier blows the dust off and hands them to Sing. 『 I carved them out, so you carve the meat. 』 『 Mm. Going to carve another pair? 』 『 In the meantime. 』 To think we would be using our mythical true damage effect in this way... What would our friends think? ...Well, it's not like we'd be on good terms after effectively deleting that Immortal Soul thing... It's hard to imagine them being anything but upset. ... Sing pierces the meat with ease, carving a circle, and pulling out a cone-shaped piece. After blowing on the chunk a few times, Sing points the meat at Crier. 『 Say "Aaaah." 』 『 You eat the first piece. 』 『 "Aaaaah." 』 『 We share senses, I can just- 』 『 "Aaaaaaaaaaah." 』 Crier sighs. 『 Aaaah. 』 Nom. Crier suddenly leans over and covers her mouth with both hands. She's making some involuntary noises. 『 ... 』 Sing carves out her own identical piece, blows on it twice, and then bites down. Our eyes immediately begin to water. Crier shakes her head. 『 Ish... sho gud... 』 Sing wipes her eyes, and goes back to carving out more pieces. The aftertaste lingers like sweet opioids. 『 I can't... 』 Crier bites the side of her thumb, jittery, with her eyes focused on the meat. 『 Keep carving. 』 Sing extends another piece to Crier, and it's immediately snapped up. 『 Yesh sish... 』 For us who adapted to a carnivorous lifestyle of eating only raw meat in Sal'venakai... The sensation of cooked meat is overwhelming. 「 ...◔◔◔◑◔ ... 」 A distant whimpering. We turn our eyes up to an orange blob peeking its head out from the island's edge. 『 I'll carve out the knife. 』 『 Wait. 』 There's still a whole week before those "visitors" arrive. A whole week of potential meat that could be encased in future fungi. Driving this kraken girl away could mean the end of it all. A small cut is a small price to pay for her to stay. ...Right? We look at each other. Crier holds up the chopsticks she just pulled from the ground. Sing twirls the ones she's holding between her fingers. 『 ...That cliché doesn't apply here. 』 Agehatate's inactivity is, for the most part, driven by ours. If we were to ask her to incinerate the fungi, or even just stay so we could use magic, as our "guardian" it's very likely in her best interest to stay and oversee us. The largest reason why we're having trouble right now is because we're snubbing her. So, dismissing this kraken girl, realistically, doesn't impact our ability to cook future meat. 『 But that explanation unveils a reason to keep her around, right? 』 If we dismiss the kraken girl we'll have no choice but to rely on Agehatate to cook any future meat she might bring to us. And faced with the decision between relying on this kraken monster girl, or relying on Nine-Tails, which do we prefer? 『 No real bond, therefore, no preference. 』 Agehatate and this kraken girl are strangers, acquaintances at best. The biggest difference is that Agehatate will likely help at some intangible cost, whereas this kraken girl will require a meat-tax everytime she helps us. There's no benefit to this kraken girl over Agehatate- 『 No, that's wrong! 』 『 Don't yell. 』 『 Gomenysai. 』 『 Apologize normally. 』 『 Sorry, I bit my tongue. 』 『 No, that was on purpose. 』 『 I fwubbed thit! 』 Bap. 『 Aya! 』 Crier holds her head. 『 What's the benefit? 』 She's cute. 『 ... 』 Sing rests her face in her palm. Crier sits patiently on her knees. The kraken girl doesn't move from her spot. Sigh. Sing takes up one of the four meat slices and makes the journey across the island. As she nears, the kraken pulls away from the edge a bit, presumably in caution. Still, we can get a closer look. Oranges tentacles with off-white undersides for hair, orange rings in black sclera for eyes, and two flat horn-like protrusions extend from the sides of her head. That's all of her that's sticking out of the whitewater anyway. 「 ...◔◔◔◑◔ ... 」 She makes a whimper-like sound again. 『 ... 』 Sing crouches down slowly to set the meat down... 「 If you must feed the fish again, I would advise a bit of restraint... 「 One handful at a time and you might enjoy their company for longer. 」 ...but stops when we remember what Agehatate said. Do we... want to give her the whole chunk at once? Is there a reason to do so? What else are we doing today? Sing sits down instead and crosses her legs near the edge, placing the meat in her lap. The kraken's gaze locks onto the meat and doesn't move. Sing carves a sizable piece out of the meat, enough to comfortably fill her hand but light enough to throw. 『 Hungry? 』 She lobs it into the water, but before it can touchdown a tentacle shoots up and pulls it under, the kraken's head going down with it. We wonder if we cut off a piece too big... ...but that thought is dispelled when the kraken resurfaces. 『 Hmm. 』 Sing cuts two slightly smaller pieces, and throws one as far as she can to the left. As the kraken surges towards it, Sing throws the other piece to the right. 「 ...! 」 The kraken dives into the whitewater... ...and suddenly resurfaces far to the left.

In one leaping blur, the kraken breaches from the left-most piece, catching it in the air, and crashes back into the water to the right, just barely catching the second. The explosive motion throws up a flood of water at both exit and reentry sending particles of water high enough to glitter in the afternoon sun. 『 ?! 』 Sing raises her arm to block a cold splash of water, it's not helpful at all. 『 ... 』 The kraken resurfaces, poking her eyes out of the water once more. Complete obliviousness is the kind of expression she's wearing. 『 Hah...haha... 』 Sing shakes her head, dries her face with her side tail, then carves a small piece to eat herself. 『 « Identify » 』

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LV.7 ▬ Setsyun's Progeny

Juvenile Kraken

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

HP ▐ 700/700

MP ▐ 86/700

SP ▐ 621/700

P.ATK ▐ 130

P.DEF ▐ 130

M.ATK ▐ 130

M.DEF ▐ 130

Effects ▐ ◈ Adaptive Armour

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ...A kraken is a monster. Monsters cannot say the names of skills they use. But if that's the case, how did this monster cast « Exalwick »? Sing carves another piece and casually lobs it. A tentacle bursts from the water, dragging it under. ...It's not as if the monster was casting its own « Exalwick »; it used our magic circle, that means it had to have said "Exalwick." Sing throws a piece a bit higher than usual, so when the kraken's tentacle goes up to grab it, her head submerges a bit as if to stretch for it. ...Is this really a monster then? Or... Has this monster fallen under the "player" category? Carving a smaller piece, Sing takes another bite. ...Or maybe this has to do with attack rotation breaking, like what Agehatate did in her battle with Crier to be able to act freely. 『 ...Mm. 』 There's only enough meat for one more throw, so Sing grabs it and stands up. ...We haven't figured out the answer to those questions yet. Maybe we'll never find out, but -- for now, just wondering is enough. 『 Let's try this. 』 Sing pulls her arm back, and whips the chunk as high as she can throw it. Admittedly it's not that high, but how long could these tentacles be? Looking around though, it seems... ...the kraken is already gone. Sing sits down. At the same time, an explosion of water booms from the river. Looking up, the kraken's full body has been launched out of the water. Her many tendrils of varying length, the black hole in her chest, her exterior orange and interior off-white colour pattern... Needless to say, she's much bigger than she first appeared. 『 Ooooh... 』 Crier stands just behind Sing. Just in time for both of them to get soaked. 『 ... 』 A few seconds of simulated torrential rain, completely drenches us from head to toe. The amount of displaced water, is completely beyond us. 『 Haha! This is nice! 』 『 Is that so. 』 After just a few seconds, the rest of the water succumbs to gravity, leaving only a floating mist and a rainbow at strict angles. We shake our bodies, then begin wringing out our side tails. Bouncing happily in the water, is that kraken girl, seemingly content with her leap. 『 Who's Setsyun? Her mom? 』 Setsyun's Progeny. The kraken's name; more of a monster descriptor than a name. 『 I don't think kraken name their children, 『 and that's why her "name" looks like that. 『 If I had to guess, Setsyun is just what 『 people called her mom... or dad, I guess. 』 『 Kind of sounds like Setsuna. We should call her Setsuna. 』 『 Wait, don't rush something like tha- 』 『 Setsunaa! Hi Setsuna. 』 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LV.7 ▬ 'Setsuna' Setsyun

Juvenile Kraken

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HP ▐ 700/700

MP ▐ 88/700

SP ▐ 584/700

P.ATK ▐ 130

P.DEF ▐ 130

M.ATK ▐ 130

M.DEF ▐ 130

Effects ▐ ◈ Adaptive Armour

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 『 Oh my god. 』 『 Oops. 』 「 ...? 」 『 Apologize right now. 』 『 I'm sorry, Setsuna-cha- 』 Crier covers her mouth. Setsuna's expression suddenly changes. Her eyes widen and her... orange iris ring things shrink. It's an expression of shock, although her mouth doesn't move. After a split-second, she spins and dives urgently, disappearing behind the whitewater. ... Our mana is rising again. Agehatate is returning. 『 Ahaha... will this be okay, I wonder? 』 ...We should head back. 「 ... 」 We slowly pick apart the last of the cooked meat silently. It's gone a bit cold, but its maintained its addictive juiciness. Agehatate stands soundlessly just a few meters from us. We're not sure if she's looking at us, but we know she's there. This situation has gone on for about a minute now... It's seriously uncomfortable... 『『 ... 』』 「 ... 」 『『 ... 』』 「 ... 」 Meat running low... Meat all gone. We sit quietly on our knees for a bit. 『『 ... 』』 「 ... 」 『『 -Mmph?! 』』 A giant white fluffiness rubs against our faces before pulling away, revealing itself to be one of Agehatate's tails. 「 Eating utensils, and as messy as to be without them. 「 This is fine, for now. 」 She lays down next to us, making sure not to lay on our magic circle, nor the holes we carved for our chopsticks. 「 Did you two get into a fight? 」 『『 ... 』』 We look down at the magic circle. It's stained red from when we cut our hair and it started bleeding. It's completely stopped now, but there's a small blood trail across the island. Thankfully, our regeneration has returned our hair to full length. 『『 ...No. 』』 「 An accident then. 」 『『 Yes. 』』 「 ...Then all is well. 」 She wraps her other tail behind us, cushioning our backs if we were to lean on it, then rests her head on her paws and closes her eyes, as if to go to sleep. ...That's all she does. She doesn't ask about our wet clothes, or the magic circle, or the puddles at the edge of the island, nor the cooked meat, nor does she bring anything else up. 『『 ... 』』 We return our chopsticks to the holes we carved them out of and lean against the soft tail Agehatate placed against us. It's almost enough for us to fall asleep immediately. 『 ... 』『 ...Agehatate? 』 「 ...What is it, Crier? 」 『『 Where are we? 』』 「 ... 」 Agehatate's ears twitch. 「 ...The same world you once knew, Myriad. 「 Although, you two have been gone long enough. 「 Mere fragments of this realm may look familiar to you. 」 『 Why is everything so different? 』 「 ...Hundreds of millions disappeared, and then the world shattered. 「 In an attempt to save it, the fragments were hastily sent hurdling back together, 「 but the rebinding was just as much apocalypse as the shattering. 「 This string of events is referred to as "The World Fall," in this day and age. 」 ...The hundreds of millions disappearing, was likely... the entirety of the Myriad Worlds' player base. Every player from every server across the world, would add up to a number of that magnitude. If we imagine the world literally falling apart, and being smashed back together with force, that also explains to an extent how Setsuna ended up in this river. As well, how Agehatate's mountain was intact, but everything else, unfamiliar. 『『 You know a lot. 』』 「 ...I have lived countless era, 「 long enough to be considered a goddess. 「 It would be unusual if I did not. 」 『 ...Why did the world shatter? 』 「 ...I am of the belief that no god or goddess can answer that question. 「 While we can all give our thoughts and myths, even I, my own, 「 there is no certainty as to how or why. 」 We fidget with our hands. 「 If someone should ask, withhold them this truth. 「 This world's inhabitants are plagued with enough fears. 「 The threat of an unknown, unforeseeable, and unstoppable apocalypse 「 beyond gods themselves is one that would throw many peoples into disarray. 「 And the proclaimed gods and goddess of this world, would not be happy.」 We nod silently. 『 Why are you telling us, then? 』 「 You two are pure of mind, taking no sides. 「 Unlike the inhabitants of this world that cannot agree 「 on so much as a simple name for the realm they inhabit, 「 you two have a history that goes back to the name "Myriad." 」 We yawn. 『 Is that so... 』 「 ...Your exhaustion at such a revelation, 「 is a testament to how far you have come to be here. 「 Rest for now... You two have all the time in the world tomorrow. 」 ... To...morrow... Huh... ... [END]