Unleashed 1 (1/2)

When the Mimic woke up the next morning, it did so in its traditionally violent manner. It accidentally kicked the sleeping gnome next to it in the head, albeit lightly. The abused Fizzy stirred, but failed to wake up. It had only been 5 hours after she fell asleep, so her condition right now was not too dissimilar to that of a rock.

Boxxy briefly considered the way it had been treating the gnome until now. It failed to realize it at the time, but using crude methods like that was a bit unreliable. While it’s true that they turned out to be effective, it still silently chastised its past, slightly dumber self for the way it used violence on this naive creature.

Well, that wasn’t a reason to suddenly stop though.

*SMACK*

“Ooof!”

It kicked her for real this time, which sent the gnome flying into the cave wall. She crashed into it head-first, then fell down to the ground. Fizzy then promptly stood up, healed herself with a Holy Light, and turned to greet what was essentially her owner.

“G-Good morning to you too, Boxxy,” she said with a weak smile.

Even if it was violent, this sort of rough wake-up call was simply her routine now. Besides, she had convinced herself somewhere along the way that the Mimic was only giving her all these beatings because they were for her own good. Vital survival Skills like Toughness, Holy Scriptures and Holy Mastery had all increased substantially over these past three weeks, after all.

Of course, if anyone of sound mind was around to hear her thoughts, they would point out she was simply deluding herself and that it was far more likely that the Mimic simply found the act of punting the gnome to be surprisingly enjoyable. And they would be correct.

Thinking back on the topic of discipline though, Boxxy had realized that fear and violence were perhaps not the best way to keep someone in check. After all, being deathly afraid of that detestable man called Edward might have kept it from acting out while he was around, but only fueled its desire to escape. If it had perhaps been shown a bit of leeway, offered a deal or maybe fed something, it might have had second thoughts about the situation.

Well, it would have still probably ran away with all its might, but it might have hesitated a bit beforehand.

The point was that fear by itself was probably unnecessary to control a monster. And that lich it had ‘captured’ wasn’t going to fall for simple things like that. She would probably behave while it was around, but would probably plot a way to escape its control. The same could be said about Fizzy, but that gnome had every last resistance thoroughly beaten out of her. A tactic that would ultimately fail if used on a monster.

It ordered Snack and Arms to stop their silly playing and come inside the cave. It had all the women line up and prepare for the confrontation with the lich. Even if it held what was probably her very life in its grasp, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t lash out in desperation. It’s what Boxxy would do, after all. And so, after confirming a few things with Xera, it took the gilded egg out of storage and hid it.

The lich’s body began to materialize a short while later in much the same fashion that Xera and Kora did, only without the lightshow. Brown dirt-like particles appeared out of thin air and swirled around. They began constructing what appeared to be a floating clay statue of a practically naked large-breasted woman. The spectacle took a bout 5 seconds to finish, at which point the brown-and-gray figure abruptly came to life as its pigmentation changed to what the Mimic had already seen twice before.

Valeria opened her red-on-black eyes and soaked in the scene around her. She seemed to come to some conclusion as her shoulders drooped in defeat. This was still check-mate no matter how she looked at it. Especially since her newly formed body had a grand total of 0 MP. However, it was plainly obvious that her captors wanted something from her. Otherwise the monster that appeared to be in charge would have probably destroyed her phylactery already. Granted, that thing was sturdier than it looked, but even a monkey with a rock could crack it open if given enough time.

The lich let out a dejected sigh, then forced a bit of vigor back into her eyes and stared resolutely at the chest.

“So, you caught me. What happens now?”

Boxxy somehow disliked being literally looked down upon. It was clearly in a position of power, so how come it had to have the lower eyesight? That just wasn’t right. Therefore, it sprang open its lid and the fully-formed pseudo-Xera made her first appearance in a long time. The suddenness of it all made both Valeria and Fizzy twitch a bit in response. They both shifted their gazes between the slightly pouting succubus and her dumbly smiling albino clone, obviously unable to deal with the situation.

“I want you to work for me.”

The albino exhibitionist’s strangely cheerful voice broke both the Paladin and the lich out of their respective stupors.

“... I’m sorry,” said Valeria, “but care to run that by me again?”

“I want you to work for me.”

Nope, she heard right the first time. Those were not quite the words Valeria was expecting, so she had to make sure.

“Alright, I’ll bite. Why?”

“Because you are strong. I need your help to get the things I want.”

It was an undeniable fact that a Necromancer was a formidable force on the battlefield, provided they had time to prepare. It was a sort of common knowledge that went double for a lich like her.

“Yeah? What things?”

“Levels. Gold. Revenge. Also other, equally tasty things.”

Boxxy crossed its arms triumphantly and nodded to itself. Needless to say, the lich was a bit dumbfounded as to what the hell it was going on about.

“When Master says something is tasty, that means it is a good thing,” pointed out Xera.

“Ah… I see…”

Truthfully speaking, Valeria could sympathize somewhat with goals like that. Getting stronger through level-ups was something she sought anyway. Money was low on her priority list, but she understood it had some value when dealing with others. The third one she was also quite eager to accomplish, although pursuing it was sure to create a conflict of interests.

“Hah! And why would I willingly do something like that? You’re the one who murdered me! A total of four times, I might add!”

“Pfft, amateur.”

The Mimic graciously ignored its succubus’s outburst and continued on with the discussion.

“Because you have tasty things you also want, right?”

Yet another response Valeria wasn’t expecting. She was sure this monster would threaten her life, but it seemed like it legitimately wanted to take part in some give-and-take. The lich honestly didn’t know what to expect at this point.

“Wait, what exactly are you offering?”

Boxxy’s head tilted dumbly to the side as it blinked its big red eyes a few times until it found the right word it was looking for.

“Partnership? Yes, partnership.”

“... And if I refuse?”

“I kill you and keep the shiny.”

“Geh!”

It’s not like Valeria didn’t see that coming, but hearing this creature put it so bluntly with a smiling face like that really struck a nerve. It left no doubt in her mind that it wouldn’t hesitate to do it if she forced its hand. Tentacle. Whatever. Well, at the very least it didn’t try to bullshit her and she had definite confirmation her un-life was on the line. So that was something.

But then, why was it offering a partnership? Surely simply threatening her would be enough, right? Ah, but if she was forced to work like a slave, then she would definitely resent it and plot its downfall behind its back. On the other hand, if they formed a mutually beneficial relationship, then perhaps it might not be so bad. There was one glaring problem though. The idea of working with her own murderer left a bad taste in her mouth.

Huh?

Wait, was that really the case? The last vestiges of her humanity seemed to argue that despising and hating one’s killer was right, yet she couldn’t bring herself to do that. While it’s true that the Mimic did strike her down, that didn’t mean it bore any ill intent towards her personally. In fact, she had actually obtained power much greater than anything she thought she was willing to reach for if she still foolishly clung to her humanity.

Ultimately, while she couldn’t particularly thank the monster for killing her, she also couldn’t really fault it. After all, if their positions were reversed, she would have probably done the same. Both her past self and her current self would have tried trampled over anyone who came uninvited into her home. That notion was perhaps the main reason she got so angry at being suddenly ambushed like that. If it wasn’t for that, perhaps the two of them wouldn’t have needed to fight in the first place.

Then again, that thought raised a very important question.

“Can I ask you something?” she inquired, and got a nod in response. “Why were you in that tower to begin with.”

“Had a Quest to defeat you,” answered Boxxy.

“A Quest? Really? I don’t think I’ve done much to get myself noticed by the guilds though.”

She had been keeping herself rather low-profile ever since she became a lich a month or two ago. While it’s true that she did attack some random travelers and passers-by, the number of her human victims since becoming a lich could be counted on one hand. The sort of numbers that could easily be explained away as monsters being monsters. Not nearly enough to warrant a subjugation Quest just for her.

“Wait, the short one said something about a God, right?”

“Yes.”

“... Well?”

“Well what?”

“Which God was it?!”

“God of Chaos,” it answered simply.

“... There’s one of those?”

“Yes.”

“And he gave you a Quest?”

“Yes.”

“Like, personally?”

“Yes.”

“So you… met a God?!”

“Yes.”

“Why?! How?! What possible reason would there be for a God to bother with lowly monsters like us?!”

“He was bored.”

“Gods can get bored?”

“Apparently.”