Chapter 446 Fighting in the Shadows (1/2)

Having pushed my stomach to the maximum possible level quickly starts to pay dividends. After mutating, the three of us pick ourselves up and start to move to another spot. The usual method to traverse the coral reef is to climb our way back down to the ground and move from there. This has a few benefits. Firstly, we don't get hunted by monsters from above and there's no chance of accidentally b.u.mping into any leviathan cla.s.s monsters, which is nice. Safety first as I always say! Secondly, we increase the possibility of happening across a nest or den of monsters along the ground. The crabs proved to be such a tasty and delicious meal of XP and Bioma.s.s, one I have no objection to indulging in once more. We haven't stumbled across many such treats but if we don't try then we never will.

It just so happens that in the process of moving, always a careful and slow affair in this web of coral plants with their stinging barbs, I sense a signature of a nearby cl.u.s.ter of monsters. How delightful! A travel snack!

[Tiny, Crinis. I can sense a nest of creatures to the left over there. Can you see them Crinis?]

[Oh! Ah, yes! I have them!]

[You should have picked them up way before me. What's the story Crinis? Have you been sleeping back there?]

[I haven't been asleep! I was just … distracted.]

[Distracted? By what? Is there something else around here?]

That'd be the last thing I need, jumped by some monster leaping out of nowhere to smack me in the thorax whilst my supposedly omnipresent eye was dazed and confused. It's very unlike Crinis to be anything but perfectly diligent. She's almost obsessively careful in her scouting responsibilities. Her Ability to sense mana sources at great range and clarity is such a blessing down here. I haven't checked, but I hope that the first thing she mutated to +20 was her Mana Sensory Gland followed closely by her Shadow Eye. The latter of those two has grown to be quite the handy thing here in the Second Strata. It gives her the ability to see through shadows, and since shadow mana is literally everywhere down here, she's able to get a good look directly at whatever is in range of the thing.

[No, there isn't anything else here! I was just … thinking.]

Thinking? What sort of development is this?!

[What were you thinking about? If you don't mind sharing that is,] I hasten to add.

I've been trying to build a sense of independence in my pets for a long time, I'm certainly not going to try and squash this fleeting sign of development from my most dedicated pet!

[… It's nothing.]

[… Sure. Remember you can always talk to me, or not. Your thoughts are your own. If you decide that you'd like to chat to me, you can do so anytime. Okay?]

[Yes, Master.]

[Alright then. Now let's go annihilate whatever it is that's occupying this nest nearby.]

[I think it's Centipedes again, Master.]