Chapter 71: Chapter 70: Vile Remains & Paplioterror

Nyx and Nala pushed open the doors for Aino and me as we entered...what is this room?

"Is this some laboratory?" - Aino

"If I had to guess...that'd be my guess." - Garami

We're not joking here. We went from a caterpillar hive into what looks like a sci-fi lab. The walls, floor, and ceiling are made of some metal-like material, there's electrical light, and a whole slew of different gadgets that are way above the technology level of the medieval-themed game world outside the swamp. 

The only difference between this place and the high-tech labs in sci-fi stories is that this place isn't colored in sterile white, but fear-inducing black. Plus there are lots of "red marks" all over the place. And please don't make me mention those flesh-colored lumps here and there. I'm doing my best to ignore them...

"Wh-why did we step into a horror game all of a sudden?" asked Aino while trying to keep her voice from cracking. She failed. 

"......let's take a look." - Garami

"Eeeehh!?" - Aino

"There should have been a boss here." - Garami

"Boss...oh. Yeah, the setting did feel like it was leading to a boss fight," replied Aino after thinking over it for a while.

We started to look through the mountain of junk in search of something like a self-destruct button, some kinda clue for why the caterpillars were here, or anything helpful at all. And forcing ourselves not to look at Nyx and Nala as they gobbled up the unspeakable lumps on the floor. I could order them not to, but..., I honestly don't wanna acknowledge those things at all. 

I flipped through some files that I found, but they're in a language that I can't understand. The skill level of [Lingusitics] doesn't seem to be the problem, 'cause that would turn the text all fuzzy like when old TVs get a bad signal. 

"...maybe this place's from another world?" - Aino

"Hmm?" - Garami

"No, it's just a rumor, but... I think we may have stumbled over solid proof that a Vile Queen is living here." - Aino

"A Vile Queen?" I asked as I turned to Aino who was messing with some gizmos. 

"Remember when I talked about following the White Order and that they were hunting Vile Queens? I managed to snap up some info on the royal majesties as well. Turns out that they're not of this world, the Vile Queens." - Aino

"So, the setting for the Vile Queens are "queens from different worlds"?" - Garami

"Something like that. I overheard some White Order members, high-ranking guys even, mentioning stuff like "pocket dimensions" and "encroachment"." - Aino

"...that does sound familiar." - Garami

Before I conquered the Darkland Fort, the place looked like it was half a dark fantasy castle, half a modern office building that had been exposed to the Apocalypse. The research notes back then did say that they were trying to leach off the energy from a different world...

"Wow, that sounds just like the rumors!" said Aino after I gave her a brief description of the former Darkland Fort. "Just that her majesty was dragged into this world instead of her invading it." 

"I'm believing in that too. But there are some differences compared to the rumors. I managed to remove "bugs" that were responsible for the half-assed encroachment or whatever, but that turned the Dungeon into a proper castle. If the Queen was dragged into this world, wouldn't the castle turn into the modern building instead?" - Garami

"Maybe it was the opposite? The researchers tried to drag the Queen to their modern world, but instead, they were pulled to the Queen's world?" - Aino

Which means...that Vile Queen I fought with that armor-demon was a Vile Queen that originated in this world? That's...not something I can deny. We know too little about these Queens from the very beginning. Making speculations around them in our current state is a waste of time.

After closing the talk, we continued searching through the junk, but to no luck. Until...

*Click*

"Garami!" - Aino

"I didn't push any red button!" - Garami

I'm serious! For real! The big, red button with a bug pictured on it pushed itself! I'm innocent!! .........okay, so I pushed the stupid thing, so what?

And while I was so unjustly interrogated by the gaze of the fox-woman and the two demons (who should have been on my side, dammit!!), the ceiling started to open. From the darkness inside the hole opened there, we could hear the sound of fluttering wings. BIG wings. ...maybe I messed up?

No, I didn't! I found the hidden boss for us, so it all worked out! No problem! 

"A butterfly!?" - Aino

Yup. As some may guess from the name (and the fact that this hive is one for caterpillars), the enemy is a butterfly-type monster. A gigantic one the size of a truck. Rather, it seems like it could grab a truck and fly off with it. 

Its body is mostly purple and black, a combination I could get by. But what catches my attention are the patterns on its wings. Are those...eyes?

"-! Spread out!" - Garami

I gave an impulsive order to Aino and the demons, who hurriedly went for cover behind the heaps of trash/equipment. Just in time as the eye patterns glowed venomously green and releases something like a death ray!

"This thing, it got Evil Eyes on its wings!" - Garami

I recognized the skill the butterfly used just now since I also got an Evil Eye. Even if I've been focusing on honing my web-related skills, I still remember that one. I've even got plans to upgrade said skill at a later date. 

"I know it looks evil, but what do eyes have to do with this!?" - Aino

"...Aino, you never read stuff like dark fantasy?" - Garami

"No way! Those are too freaky-, here it comes!" - Aino

The Evil Eye butterfly flew down from the ceiling, cutting our conversation short in the process, and crashed into one of the heaps of trash. Luckily, it wasn't where Aino or I hid. The bad news is that it was Nala's place. 

As the butterfly crashed into the squid, Nala tried to keep herself from being pushed back by stretching her tentacles towards the heavy equipment in the room. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The butterfly didn't stop, but Nala didn't let go of the equipment. The result: all that heavy stuff came crashing into the butterfly's back. 

"Wow! Unexpected bonus damage~." - Aino

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True. The stuff that crashed into the butterfly included various blades like scalpels, and they're stuck in the butterfly's back even now.

"Aino, plan W-B." - Garami

"Oki-doki~!" - Aino

Watching Nala and the butterfly's semi-wrestling match gave me enough time to calm down and start planning the latter's demise. Aino went into position while making sure not to attract the butterfly's attention. 

Meanwhile, Nyx jumped at the butterfly's back and started to twist the knife (not the actual scalpels) in the butterfly's back with some martial arts-related battle arts that I don't know the name of. It looks like she punched the bug's back three times in one strike. In addition, she was using [Dark Claw] to further gouge into the wounds. 

The butterfly tried to go into the air, but Nala stabbed one of its wings with her spear. She got damn long reach with those things thanks to her tentacles. And if that wasn't enough, I noticed that Nala kept on spamming [Taunting] to force the butterfly to keep its attention on herself.

Good job, but will her HP hold out? I better start looking into recovery measures soon.

While the two demons were fighting on the front line, I started to web the boss' wings with my web bombs and normal threads. I made sure only to aim at the wings so that I wouldn't hit Nyx. Nala noticed what I was doing so she stopped attacking the wings and focused on defending herself with her Defense Arts.

After a while, the butterfly collapsed on the floor due to its wings being useless with all that webbing. Nala crawled (or whatever she's doing) away before she got body-slammed and Nyx jumped away before the impact. 

"It's all yours!" - Garami

"Leave it to me~! Pyroball!" - Aino

Aino came out from her hiding place and released a huge, crimson fireball at the butterfly. A spell from the Pyromancer class!

The second the fireball hit the butterfly it got torched. I did cover it with highly flammable threads...

"...this is more than we expected." - Aino

You can say that again. Plan "Web-Burner" turned out to be too good. People would burn us for using this kinda over-excessive firepower.

But the butterfly didn't die from that. After my webbing turned to ash, the butterfly shook off the remaining flames and turned its ugly (yet somewhat cartoonish) face toward us. It spread its wings again, most likely to try another "Evil Eye-beam" from the markings on its wings.

HOWEVER! That's futile! Futile, futile, futile!

That's because its wings were burned off by the fire! Mwa-hahahaha! "Body Part destruction" is a thing in this game! I mean, getting your neck cut is enough to empty your HP-gauge no matter how large it is. This game's developers are too focused on "realism".

The butterfly tried to rise to the air, but as I mentioned before, its wings were burned off to the root. They must have been as flammable as my webbing.

Seeing as it couldn't fly, the butterfly tried to tackle us, but it is too slow on its feet to get any speed behind its charge. We just need to sidestep to dodge it, not that we wouldn't need to. We're not gonna lose any HP from such a slow charge. Heck, I'd be impressed if it could even scratch the HP-gauge's paint. 

...now that I think about it, isn't this thing harmless without its wings? It can't fly, the beam's no good, and it doesn't seem to have any other attack methods...

"...*sweat*." - Paplioterror Guard

"...leave this to me," I told Aino and the two demons while drawing my two deadly daggers as I walked toward the grounded butterfly who was covered in a cold sweat already.

Pal, a little hint. If you're losing SAN points just from this, you won't last till the end~.

---

"What was my time?" - Garami

"Around 40 minutes." - Aino

"Tch. That long?" - Garami

It took some time, but since the wounds inflicted by my Helheim dagger couldn't be healed by normal means, and then we have the Pandemonium dagger that dishes out nasty status ailments. With enough time (and the opponent not being able to fight back), I bet I could defeat even a god with these babies!

"...can we start shouting in happiness for the big reward?" - Garami

"No way. That would be below us as proper ladies." - Aino

Aw, come on!! I've barely got any girliness to my name! 

"It's a total of 15 AP to me alone! Why can't I shout out in happiness!?" - Garami

"...15? I obtained 20." - Aino

"WHAT?! ...oh. Maybe I got less because Nyx and the others got some too." - Garami

Damn, do we tamers/summoners/masters have to live with lower AP-rewards from now on? Tch. Blasted developers and their foresight. Now I can't amass a demon army with the same strength as me. 

"I wonder what we will be given after the event." - Aino

"Cross that bridge when you get there. Now, let's leave. I don't wanna stay here when the place blows up." - Garami

"...blows up?" - Aino

"Ain't that what happens to all the evil hideouts?" - Garami

"Phew. I thought you had pushed another button." - Aino

How rude! 

In any case, I'm taking all this trash with me before we leave. It may give me a penny with the Blackmarket. The stuff from the old Darkland Fort sure did. Also, I want to see this "preview"-thing. It seems to be some notification with info that I can access from my system menu. Let's see............

"Wh-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" - Garami

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