Chapter 67 : We'll see
The web– string– is stronger than it looks, and no matter how it pulled or twisted, it held tightly around the war chief's legs without letting go.
"Tch! Tch! Tch!" The spider monkey began to climb down slowly from the trees, it landed on the goblin's leg and began to climb down towards its head.
"Alright, do you want us to interfere?" Although Temur was enjoying the show, he knew it might not last long with the way the spider monkey caught the goblin in its web.
"No. Just watch." Jael smirked.
The spider monkey is a monster that likes to devour its meal head first, there is something about having to crush heads between its strong jaws. It weaved it more web strings around the goblin as it climbed down.
So by the time it leveled with the war chief, its hands had already been bound by the web, leaving only the head free. The spider monkey raised the goblin's head and stared at its burning eyes. "Tch! Tch! Tch!"
It gloated, and then it opened its jaws and revealed rows of glinting fangs.
The war chief goblin mirrored the spider monkey and also opened its jaw but instead of trying to eat it, the goblin breathed in sharply and let it out in a single piercing shout that came out like an arrow of shockwave.
It met the spider monkey fully in the face, and it froze. Its face was wide with surprise and muscles stiffened; it fell like a cut tree limb.
Jael snorted out a laugh. "That's what you got when the goblin has a master like me! Instead of just roaring when using its skill, I told it to let it out in a single blast! How do you like that directly to your face?" Don't miss chapters on m v l e m p y r
Litha shuddered. "Good thing it didn't learn this one before when we were fighting it. The internal injuries it would have caused! Look at how the spider monkey's nose and ears are bleeding."
"Can we kill it now?" Temur asked, his sword rested on the monster's neck, and when Jael shrugged, he cut it off with a single stroke. "This artifact is good. I should give it a name soon." He said to the black metal as it melted back to a band around his right hand.
Dile helped Jael free his undead goblin from the tree and it came to knee before him. "Somehow you managed to keep your intelligence, but it's all submitted to me." Jael put his hand on the warchief's forehead and watched it sunk into darkness.
"Will it grow? The intelligence. Able to fully function on their own?" Litha asked. She had canceled her shield and now stood beside him.
"I guess? I think it's different between monsters. Between what my Codex considered as 'unique monsters' or not. Hermit can move without my permission and I remember I have to bribe it with monster cores before we make a meaningful bond." Because of the low rank, he couldn't read what the whole Codex spellbook was all about.
Temur butted in. "Imagine a horde of undead monsters under your command! You won't even have to lift a finger to do anything by yourself at all! You'll just have to command them to do as you wish."
Jael looked doubtfully at his Codex and shook his head. If not that the goblins are already turned, and he just replaced the spell, who know if his Codex would allow him? With his lower rank, he didn't yet know all that he should, regarding the spellbook and what he could do.
So he said. "Well see."
With the spider monkey taken care of, they continued their exploration of the swamp forest uninterrupted. They were also more careful now because the monsters here seemed all strong. Everything seems even more silent now, and even the insects sounds have gone down.
Suddenly, Jael stopped and turned to the rest. They have been walking around for close to two hours, and he said what they had all been thinking. "Do we have a destination to go to? For all we know, this place stretches on for kilometers, and what we are looking for is at the very end. Or the monster might not even exist."
Temur frowned; he had been thinking the same, but what else can they do? "Litha do you recognize the monster we are to kill if you see it?"
"I've seen diagrams so I should be able to know it if I see it."
"Alright then. I don't think there's anything much we can do except to keep searching, but we can take a little rest while we are at it. I'll cook something good. Who knows, maybe the food will lure it out."
"Spirit doesn't eat physical food," Litha muttered as she joined the others in sitting down with a big sigh. Even then, she erected a shield around them. Spirit monsters might not eat physical food, but normal monsters do.
They made small talk as they waited for Temur to cook something good, he began to mix flour and vegetables, and the oil in the pot started frying.
Jael swallowed as the aroma surrounded them. One thing Jael was glad for when he met Litha and Temur was that the big guy was passionate about food. Frankly, there's little difference between what he always makes and what those fancy restaurants in the Tower sell.
"Thank you but it's because you are an amateur," Temur told him with a smile when Jael said his thoughts out loud. "Your taste buds can't differentiate between quality."
Jael and Litha exchanged looks and smiles, teasing their friend not to be shy and accept their compliments as law.
Cele watched the three of them go at it. There's an underlying ease with which the three of them relate with each other that she envied. Although Thayer's gathered team related well with each other, they were brought together because of money and sponsorship.
Temur finally served the food and they all forgot what they were all thinking and faced food instead.