Individual Rankings

Nilbog (60) Iris The Ferocious (50) Mandrela (40) Sai Of The Enchanted Flame (30) Obley The Untouched (30)

First. It didn’t feel like Nilbog won anything with the condition he was in.

The tree did not completely fall apart with the completion of the Dungeon. Only the flesh and blood running in its roots vanished, leaving behind a colossal tree with its internal tunnels mostly intact.

The storm vanished too, but not without dealing its fair share of damage. The rest of the trees in the forest were effectively uprooted, with even the largest of them being hurled across the distance of the Dungeon. They fell all around Yasargil one on top of each other, almost as if serving as a barrier to the garden.

Nilbog climbed up one of its branches, each step sending agony through his ankles. The throbbing burned through his quads and spread throughout his back. He used the bottom of the spear to give him the extra push he needed with one hand, while the other covered his eyes from the sun, its glares falling straight into his eyes.

She gets to have all the fun, while I get to deal with all the pain, he muttered under his breath. It was a fine deal for Nilbog, but that wasn’t going to stop him from complaining about the pain. And then there was that thing with him booting her out of his body. I don’t think she was happy with that.

At the very least, the view within the garden was as gorgeous as anything can be. A variety of bright flowers and herbs bloomed under, creating every color Nilbog ever seen in his life, and then some more.

Not all the thorns vanished. Some were still enveloping the tree and its garden, and though it gave Nilbog the shivers, none of them seemed hostile, letting the survivors walk past the garden without tearing them apart.

That could not be said the same for the two fools that attempted to set fire to the garden. It would certainly be a boon to Dlar, and while Nilbog can fully understand why some people wouldn’t like that, there were still smarter ways to go about one's revenge.

Idiots. Do you not see the thor—

The butt of Nilbog’s spear struck a dent in the wood, causing it to slip off. He fell forward, but neither of his legs seemed intent on catching his fall. He closed his eyes, resigned to his fate.

A hand caught him by his arm, keeping him from falling onto his face. He coughed, turned around, and said his thanks.

Iris nodded, swiftly turning her sights back to the flora. She didn’t seem to have half the trouble he was going through, and from the way she bounced off her feet, Nilbog could almost say she was enjoying the hike.

Neither of them said anything for a while, the throbbing in Nilbog’s shoulder serving as a great deterrent. Not that he was complaining about it; being poked with a knife was reasonable and kind of her, considering that Kara, that he, had killed Sai.

Fortunately, being gullible went both ways.

Lady Olivia also told you to protect me. It took a bit of work to remind her of himself, but once that got through, she was thoroughly conflicted. After a few minutes of her arching her brows and working her brain, she figured that the two orders canceled out each other. She ended up following him just by asking her to. Her incapability to make decisions was down-right impressive.

Just what kind of life did she lead to become like that? He wouldn’t go as far as to call her broken, but it would be a lie to say she was a fully functioning individual. Nilbog left it at that, and got back to the more important matter of getting those fruits. They were large, pinkish balls the size of a small watermelon.

When they reached one of the top branches, the fruit hung off by a thick green cord. They attached to the green vines that ran from one branch to the other. They stretched all around them, almost blocking out the sun.

Nilbog got close to the edge, wishing that The Game would have been thoughtful enough to install a railing. He reached for one, pulling on it from the bottom. It was abnormally cool and surprisingly firm like a hard peach.

It didn’t pluck off as he pulled. With a sigh he glanced at Iris, then quickly remembered who he was talking to after she simply stared back at him. “Can you cut this?”

“Yup!” she said, stepping forward to hack at the vine with her dagger. The fruit dropped onto Nilbog’s hands. A few seconds later, its flesh began to mellow.

Life Fruit

Rank C Advanced Food.

A highly nutritious fruit that will increase HP, Life Force, and Overall STM regen by 30%.

Duration: 2 hours.

Just don’t think about how it was created.

So she does have desires. Her tone sounded very much like she wanted the fruit too. The issue was that she didn’t act on them. Nilbog stored that bit for later—if he wasn’t below devouring the Souls of Sentients, then taking advantage of their flaws were the least of his worries.

After the fruit stopped transforming, he nudged it towards her.

She hesitated for a bit, making Nilbog realize how foolish that move was. She probably thought he was testing whether the fruit was safe or not on her.

He was about to take it back before Iris grabbed it. One hand held it from the bottom while the other, the one that was holding the dagger, held it at the side. It was somewhat...funny that her hands were not big enough to hold the fruit by themselves.

No, funny was not the right word. It was much nicer, and rather than making him laugh, it rather tugged at his lips and made him want to ruffle her head, just like Jack did to him.

Not looking to pressure her into biting first, Nilbog reached for the next fruit. It didn’t budge either. He swallowed, his saliva pounding heavily in his ears as it went down his dry throat. He thought about just biting it off, but he quickly dismissed that idea. Dying that way would be just embarrassing.

He turned back towards Iris, whose lips were pressed together and her cheeks pulled back. He was about to ask her for help when he realized the fruit kept both her hands full. He would have asked for the dagger, but with the spear keeping him up in one hand, and the dagger in the other, who was going to catch the fruit?

“Ah,” Nilbog finally realized, “I’m the idiot.”

She doubled over, the giggles shaking her body. Nilbog stood by, feeling increasingly foolish as her giggles turned into high chuckles. He faced away, feeling more and more of his weight on the spear. He should have just taken the fruit for himself.

Thinking of her as an empty shell was wrong. She was just enclosed within it to a fault.

“I’m glad,” she said, wiping a tear-off on her shoulders and somehow smiling. It was such a pleasant sight that Nilbog almost took a step back, which would have been truly tragic considering they were a good hundred meters high in the air. He never knew Sentients could look…postive.

She stepped forward, pressing the fruit against her stomach, and just as awkwardly hacked at the fruit’s leathery material.

He studied her features, curious as to what made her pleasant to look at. Her face was dirty, covered with spots of soot, and had cuts and bruises all over. Her hair was a chaotic mess, but unlike Nilbog’s dark bushel that stopped at his ears, her’s was a pale yellow that went down her shoulders.

When the air blew, ruffling her hair, he noticed she had a scar on the left side of her jaw. A large cut seemed to have craved some of the bone out, though it was well covered by her hair. Was that why she grew her hair out to such an inconvenient length? To hide her weakness in having once taken a mortal wound?

Something heavy and round fell onto his hand, and would have nearly slipped off if his Seventh Sense did not activate, catching it and bringing it closer to his chest.

“That was a clo-” Iris began to say, but flinched noticeably when she faced Nilbog, almost jumping back. Her blue eyes, though small and not perfectly circular, were as clear as crystal. It was the only part that the dirt did not touch, causing it to almost glimmer.

“What?” Nilbog asked. She stood still, her pale face turning red, which was odd considering the temperature was not sub-zero, and the wind rather warm. The further they had gone the more the air carried cool wetness with it.

“You’re...standing really...close,” she said in a whisper, looking down slightly and to the left.

“Oh,” he said, almost taking a step back-- again, he found that to be a bad idea. “Let’s find a spot to eat.” Humans, and by extension their Souls smelled delicious to him, but the opposite was likely not true for them. Over the past few days, he’d non-stop heard of people complaining about each other’s odor.

Nilbog limped behind Iris as they went back towards the cave entrance. Iris sat first, though when she looked at Nilbog, she stood back up and held a hand.

Is she learning or is she used to helping Lady Ovalia move around? He was just about to drop to the ground like a limp doll and hope for the best, but he took it anyway. She helped him balance as he squatted down, letting his back rest against the wood behind him.

They sat cross footed with weapons close on each side. Without saying anything else, they dug into the fruit.

Juicy was an understatement. Its insides were a bright yellow, jelly-like material. He didn’t as much as bite into it as he simply put it into his mouth before it melted into a liquid that was slightly heavier than honey and somehow sweeter.

It didn’t just taste good; it nearly felt as good as Souls. With each mouthful, the aching of his body and Soul lessened and rather began to feel better than he had ever felt. A notification appeared, informing him he had received an Advanced Food buff. He slapped it aside as he slurped out the juices running down his fingers, a moan or two escaping his throat.

He stopped chewing and began to swallow, his stomach forcing him to squish his face against the juices. Half-way through the Life Fruit Nilbog realized he forgot to breathe, and with difficulty removed himself from the fruit for a few gasps of air. His mouth almost dived back into the fruit before he heard a sound to his side.

Iris was there. It had momentarily escaped his mind, but humans held strange etiquettes when it came to consuming food.

When Nilbog looked he found her face completely submerged into the fruit with three-quarters of it gone, and if there was a core then she would have already devoured that too. Not only did she use her mouth effectively, taking huge, wide gulps, but she also utilized her hands, pushing out the juice from the other side and tunneling it through her mouth. She avoided eating the skin, focusing on the flesh inside. It was delicious too, of course, but eating it before the insides would cause the entire fruit to simply melt through the fingers.

She flinched suddenly, somehow noticing Nilbog’s gaze. She slowly lifted her head from the fruit, the ends of her hair sticking to her cheeks and lips from the sugar. The flesh of the fruit, mostly melted, ran down her panting lips, the sticky juice falling onto her chin.

She swallowed, smacking her lips together, but had to open them to breathe faster. “I’m...a messy eater,” she whimpered, doing her best to wipe her mouth with her forearm, still panting hard enough for her chest to noticeably expand with each breath.

Nilbog doubled over, laughing with such brutally that he took a point of damage. He felt Iris bending towards him, a hand on his back, saying things that were blocked by the ringing in his ears.

He thought she childish, but he didn’t mean it in the literal definition. Only now did he realize that their roles were flipped. Neither of them acted anywhere close to their actual age.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” Nilbog said, sucking in a breath. She looked at him for another second before she jumped back into the fruit. By the time he finished his first one Iris had already fetched six more and was half-way through her second.