Chapter 463: Vengeful

Ah, another jolly good day of freedom! Leon exclaimed to himself.

Ever since he had left that island with the bossy spider and that eldritch slime abomination, things had never felt better. He could sleep in when he wanted, experiment whenever he felt like it, and he no longer had those goblins coming to him to ask for tasks, as if he was somehow their boss.

Although I will admit I might miss that last one an itty bit, if only they were less full of beans.

He wasn't entirely sure why he was suddenly banished, something that stuttering buffoon had done to earn the ire of both the spider and slime, but in his eyes, it had been nothing but beneficial. As far as he was concerned, if they never got whatever it was they wanted, that would be the perfect outcome!

He had spent days traveling away from the island, and when he finally felt out of range of the slime's minions, he felt much more relieved. Not only that, but now the bountiful ocean was all his to claim, since those troublesome mermen were taken care of, too.

At first, he spent days collecting any resources that tickled his fancy and storing them for later use; then, as he got farther away, he began tinkering with his new toys. He had made some headway with the electric orb, the slime he had given him, and no, he didn't feel the least bit guilty about taking it with him. As far as he was concerned, he earned that for all the labor he was forced to do, building unnecessary buildings all along the island.

Perhaps I should have procured more metals before my departure. Bah! Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk.

And so the days continued to pass by, with him enjoying his time alone. Yes, the food was notably worse after his initial supplies ran out, but that was a small price to pay for his freedom from the nagging, which had become considerably worse ever since the spider evolved. As far as Leon was concerned, he was more than capable of feeding himself, as even though he was averse to fighting, he was perfectly capable of dispatching some easy monsters for their sustenance.

More days passed, and Leon kept to himself, tinkering with the random items he had inside his makeshift home. He built a small underwater fortress using some of the dungeon bricks in his reserves; nothing too fancy, since he didn't want anyone to spot his new home at a casual glance, and so far he had remained undisturbed.

Odd, is it just me or do the waters seem darker than usual?

Leon wasn't sure what was going on, since at this depth there was very little in the way of natural light. Even more peculiar was that his [Darkvision] was somehow failing him, which seemed impossible. At first he thought he was just tired, maybe he had stayed up too late tinkering, but then he noticed one of the darker shadows moved.

"I found you!" an ominous voice said.

At first, Leon thought the spider or the slime was playing a trick on him, but when he saw the shadows around him take shape, he realized he was gravely mistaken.

Defenses activate! Leon mentally cried out as his simple underwater fortress suddenly reinforced itself through the power of his Bastionwright class.

The shadows coalesced into tentacles and lashed out, somehow giving the insubstantial physical form as each strike caused the fortress to tremble. Leon couldn't believe what was happening; how had he offended this shadowy creature? Why was it after him?

Hoping to settle this amicably, Leon pulled out one of the devices he had created during his newfound freedom and activated it. It looked like some kind of strange speaker, something he devised after realizing he lost telepathic conversations without the slime's presence.

Leon was hoping to create some kind of text-to-speech device, but he lacked the means to create a functioning keyboard; however, that didn't stop the device from operating if he forcibly juiced it with his Artificer class. He could remotely activate devices he personally created, giving him a brief moment to act as the interface they required.

"Why are you attacking me? Have I accidentally intruded on your domain? I can leave if you'll cease your hostilities!" an almost mechanical voice blared out from the device and was broadcast from the fortress.

"Why? Do you think I have forgotten what you did to my beautiful dungeon? You're even using its corpse as a home!" the voice cried out in rage.

Leon had a sudden epiphany as he realized why he recognized this voice. It had scolded him in the past when he first escaped the mermen and dug himself a nice hole to hide in. Then, by sheer chance, he found valuable resources lying around, and under the unspoken rule of "finders keepers," he took a fair portion.

Later, the slime said it had defeated the ruler of that location and even had him come take what resources they could before it collapsed. Now the owner was coming to him to seek compensation.

"Why me? Why not the slime?" the mechanical voice broadcast.

"That slime is beyond me, for now… But it looks like the gods have smiled upon me by delivering you to me. I watched carefully for days, and it seems you've been abandoned, since there is no sign of that slime or its creations."

Leon gulped; he had no idea he was being spied on, and unfortunately the shadowy creature was right—he was alone. Suddenly, he regretted not having the protection of the island and its guardians, but how was he supposed to know the ocean held such a dangerous foe? The mermen were gone, and he had thought the slime had defeated this one.

"Good sir, I apologize for what happened to your dungeon, but I was coerced into it by the slime. I can give you these bricks if it will make some amends."

"Oh, don't worry, I can take them off your corpse."

Leon's hope for a peaceful resolution was obliterated, but in his despair he had another sudden epiphany.

Wait! Didn't this shadow thing mention something about being unable to attack me the first time? That's why I was able to stea—I mean, requisition, so many bricks before.

"Good sir, I'm sorry if this is a bit forward, but won't you be punished for killing me? I vaguely recall you mentioning the gods did not allow it."

The manifested shadows paused for a moment, and Leon had thought his quick wits had saved the day, until the shadowy apparition burst out into an uncontrolled fit of laughter.

"That rule only applies to [Dungeon Masters]. Now, tell me, foolish crab, where is my dungeon?"

Leon trembled in his shell. "Oh…"

The attacks immediately continued, and since diplomacy had failed, Leon tried his best to fight back. Unfortunately, his recent peace had made him reckless and foolhardy; he had neglected to build up enough defenses, believing it would draw less attention. But it didn't matter; this shadowy octopus creature was even harder to fight than the spider, and none of the cannons or [Tinker] ammo landed a hit.

At this point, Leon's only hope was to reinforce the defenses and hope that the creature would grow tired, but at the same time Leon kept trying to build a solution of his own. If only he had some kind of emergency escape procedure, like he had done for his volcano fortress. Leon kept cursing his own foolishness as the defenses of his mini fort were bypassed one by one.

I should have stayed closer to the island… At least within range of the patrols. Or I should have fled the ocean entirely!

That was when Leon felt it, and never in his life had he felt such dread before. The entire world around him felt twisted, as if the rules suddenly no longer applied. At first, he thought the shadow monster was doing something, but then he saw it cautiously looking around. Whatever had happened, it felt it too.

"Ha! Now you are going to get divine punishment!" Leon broadcast from his nearly crumpled fort.

Although… Why am I feeling it too then?

Leon suddenly had a horrible thought, and as he did, reality shattered like broken glass. The cracks in space spread out rapidly, before an entire hole was formed and out stepped an elf, wearing an amazing-looking big hat. Leon shook his head; this wasn't the time to fantasize about a luxurious hat. The slime had arrived, and it looked pissed.

"Oh, it's you," Syl said, looking at the shadowy creature. "I was wondering when you'd show up again."

"You wretched usurper! I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do! And if I can't take you down, I'll at least kill your pet crab!"

Leon wanted to cry. Why are you bringing me into this!?

The wrongness of the world seemed to get even stronger with Syl's presence, and despite being holed up inside the remains of his mini fort and his shell, Leon suddenly felt naked. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like whatever defenses he had somehow no longer applied to the slime.

I haven't even been gone that long; what happened while I was away!?

Suddenly the entire oceanic abyss trembled, and all the surrounding darkness began to bleed out as it manifested into even more tentacles, all of which viciously attacked both Syl and his fortress. Again, Leon wanted to cry, to scream at it to focus on the slime instead of him and leave him out of this, but that was when a dazzling light erupted from the slime, banishing away the supernatural darkness.

The octopus hissed, and its shadows seemed to burn, yet it kept attacking, putting even more effort into the slime. Syl waved her arm, and suddenly one of the tentacles was cut at the root, the water and anything nearby joining the slice that seemed to cut through reality itself.

Yet that wasn't enough to deter the shadowy monster, which had flown into a rage, and that was when more spatial cracks began to emerge. Like some otherworldly entity, hundreds of glowing tentacles burst from the spatial holes and fought the shadows. It seemed like the slime was winning, and Leon wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, until he noticed a massive eye forming above his fort.

"Nooooo! Save me!" Leon cried out, abandoning all pretense as his fortress broadcast his desperate cry for all to hear.

Then the eye vanished and reappeared right next to Syl, with an orb of multicolored lights flashing wildly above her shoulder. The eye of darkness widened in disbelief, as if it never expected to be teleported.

"Even if you can teleport me, you cannot kill me or even keep me confined!" the creature taunted. "Which will run out first, your Mana or patience as I escape through the shadows?"

Syl seemed to pause, even nodding as if agreeing with the shadow octopus. Leon couldn't believe it; was the slime going to just give up now? Sure it might have been the logical option, but this was his second life on the line!

"Hey GLOTO, I've got something to show you," Syl finally said.

For some reason, Syl's body began to shift, her legs becoming a serpent's tail, and two additional arms sprouted. Leon had no idea what was happening; it was over as soon as it happened, and Syl thrust her now-four arms forward to show her palms.

"Ahhhh!!!" The massive eye screamed, like never before. "Why do you have that accursed ability!? You shouldn't! You're a mere insignificant slime!"

Leon had no idea what was happening, but the shadowy monster immediately tried to retreat, only to be brought back face to face with Syl. Its eye trembled in fear, and it merged into the shadows, only to reappear in front of the slime. It tried to retreat twice more, but Syl kept four arms out, staring directly at the creature.

"No! Let me go! Stop it!" the creature demanded, and shut its giant eye closed.

That was when Leon noticed what was happening. It started at the shadowy tentacles and worked its way back to the main body; inky blackness was now being replaced with gray stone. Whatever it had tried to do to escape or survive was too late.

It tried a few more times to run away blindly, its eye still shut, but each time it was teleported back within range, as if it were dancing in the palm of Syl's hand. Leon shuddered as the stone kept advancing, and soon it was inches from reaching the eyeball itself.

Leon thought it was finally over, but the eye suddenly opened wide, bloodshot and fueled with desperation and rage. It gazed right at Leon, hiding in his fortress, and flew at him with its last remnants, ripping away from its stony tendrils. It was moments away from reaching him when, for the final time, it was returned face to face with Syl.

"Goodbye, GLOTO," Syl said, as the last remaining shadow turned to stone.