A Hungry Elf, Boss Fights, And Their Encounters (4)

Hey, Shun here!

Have you ever played an RPG game and got a shitty item after battling a really strong boss? I don't think I've encountered that situation up until this day…

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(Shun's POV)

As I looked at the items I received expectantly, I was stunned by what I saw. There's no way, there's just no way those devs are seriously giving me this…

After wrestling with such a strong and unique boss monster — within its own territory no less — all I would get is this…???

'Why the heck is the reward for killing a tuna with a fancy name like Devonian Yellowfin a set of cooking tools?!'

I shouted internally while looking at the fancy kitchen set I got within my hands. There's just no way that a game developer woke up one day — after arduously designing such a creature the previous day — and thought, "Hey, why don't I make the reward for beating this strong monster I made a bunch of kitchen utensils?"

If there was a person like that out there, then he needs to be checked. I mean, don't get me wrong, such a huge selection of kitchen utensils are good and this might just be a treasure to another player out there but still…

Anyway, I wasn't kidding when I said I received a ton of kitchen utensils. There's a tool that turns pasta dough into pasta(a manual pasta machine), a bunch of bowls, a stock pot, a large magical stove, just to name a few. Like I said, there were various tools in it.

Moving on, I should just check that building under the lake bed. That's what I came here for, after all. Let's just set aside the depressing stuffs for now.

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"Phew, that really was a rough battle…" I murmured after surfacing. After that battle, I actually felt a little mentally drained.

It really took some time before I could defeat that tough boss.

'Only to receive a bunch of kitchen utensils, yep.' I thought to myself.

"Ahh, let's just get this over with. I'll go and confirm what's underwater before going back and telling Kaede-san and Tsuka what happened…"

I once again dove underwater to look for any more rewards I could get my hands on. A few minutes later, I finally arrived at the stone building that I saw the first time I went underwater.

'This building only have one entrance. I hope there weren't any maze or something.'

After looking around for a bit, I finally entered inside it to check it out. The whole interior of the place was dark so I couldn't help but grumble a bit.

"Hey, what gives!? Eh? I could speak? Wait, I could breathe inside this place?"

Although I want to question how and why I could speak in such a space filled with water, I decided to just shut up and not force real life norms inside a game. Since this is the case, might as well try something stupid.

Since it was dark inside this place, what item do I need for me to be able to see? The answer is a torch. To be specific, I need to light up the torches that are decorating the wall of this underwater building.

And so, I tried to light up a torch using the lighter that's mostly used in lighting up a grill… and it did. Alright, I'm just too tired to make a retort right now. I'm not in any mood to fill in the role of a straight man right now.

It's a game. What more would you expect?

As I proceeded to light the torches, I was finally able to see the entire room. The entire 'room', if you can even call it that, is long and narrow. All I could see is a long passageway made out of stone, even while utilizing my [Hawk Eyes].

"What's this?" Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there are many pictures on the wall. You could probably even call it hieroglyphics.

Inscribed on the wall were the images of various animals. There were wolves, tigers, large bird creatures, elephants, bears, foxes, and dragons, just to name a few.

Beside them there were multiple people coexisting with them. There wasn't a text written in it, but everything was vividly expressed in those hieroglyphics.

As I looked around the room, I found a passage leading to another space, but I was unable to pass through it as the ceiling has collapsed.

I explored the surroundings carefully, but all I found were pictures of animals and many more images of them. I'm honestly amazed. If this wasn't inside a game, I would probably be screaming in awe by now.

One by one, I took screenshots of it in order to show them to the girls. Even the ceiling pictured coexistence on it.

As I proceeded to explore the place, I gradually advanced before noticing a change on the pictures. The message they were conveying changed.

If the last images depicted humans and animals coexisting, this one depicted animals being tamed by humans and how the said animals cherished their ties with the humans. While that was all fun and all, there was a particularly conspicuous image in the picture that bothered me.

It's some kind of, for lack of a better word, 'organism' with a gaping maw, sharp fangs that comes with irregular sizes, and countless tendrils extending out of its pitch black body. The image depicted whatever creature this is as something ominous.

'Man, with its torso twisted in such an awkward angle like that, I'd say this is not any animal I know.' It was such a mixed bag of everything that's disgusting to look at. You could probably say that it's characteristics is a mix of every hideous creature that you could find in the deep sea.

Even the location in which its pupils should be had gaping cavities! Like, seriously? Also, what's with the numerous slits all over it's body? Is this one of those lovecraftian monsters out there.

Anyway, continuing on with the image, this lovecraftian abomination is capturing the helpless little animals with its wiggly tendrils before throwing them inside its huge gaping maw. There's not only one of these abominations, there are many.

As the number of these creatures increased in the murals, it began to overrun the animals, ruining the idyllic impression that the mural gave off the first time.

I'm going to take an educated guess and bet that this monster will be the main boss of this event. The natural enemy of the animals.

"Many monsters, young animals, the opportunity to befriend many of the younglings, too many things align and it's hard not to arrive in such a conclusion."

I walked and walked while looking at the images inscribed on the walls. I even turned on the recording so that I don't have to take so many screenshots.

While I was doing that, I received a message from Kaede-san saying that she will be helping out Miu and the others who encountered a unique boss, along with Pochi and Tama. It seems like, while I was away, Rikka's party met Miu's party, as well as Tsuka and Kaede-san who wandered off inside the forest while waiting for me, met each other.

As a result, Kaede-san left the party while the others who didn't want to or couldn't join the fight joined our party, filling up the six party slot. There was Rikka, Mutsuko-san, Rokuko, Fenny, Tsuka, and me in the party now.

Anyway, back to the story. As what any decent story would do, people will begin fighting the bad guy, and that's exactly what happened. People held weapons in their hands, attacking the enemies simultaneously.

Unfortunately, the lovecraftian abomination had hidden eyes behind the slits it had all over its body. Everytime it opened it's eyes, people will die off if their in its path.

By the end of the mural that started off as a fluffy animal focused story and ended to a fierce fight against a whole slew of lovecraftian monsters that haunts people's dreams, there was a huge treasure chest.

"Ha, I knew those devs wouldn't reward me with only a set of kitchen utensils."

The treasure chest that was enshrined in the deepest part of the passageway was more decorated and overall looks waaay better than any of the treasure chests I've encountered up until now, giving it a dignified feel. In terms of design, this one is even above the treasure chest I got after killing that menace of a boss called Humming Tempest.

Considering that I literally managed to come all the way here after battling that Devonian Yellowfin Tuna, there's a good chance that its contents would be good, or even great. As long as this defies my expectations in a good way, I'll take it.

I decisively approached the treasure chest before opening it.

Although I say that I would probably receive a good haul from this, I honestly don't expect much. After all, I just received a bunch of kitchen utensils. It's hard to get your hopes up if you were in a situation like that.

After opening up the treasure box, I found six weapons inside it that I couldn't appraise. A staff, a rapier, two different pairs of daggers, a huge broadsword, and a kodachi.

Before I could inspect the items even further though, an azure colored wiggly creature appeared in front of my eyes, almost making me jump in surprise. What the heck?

When I focused on this stick-like azure creature, I finally recognized what it was.

"What's a snake doing here? Wait… Is it a snake or a catfish?"

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※~To be continued~※

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Author's Remarks:

※ Alright. This ends the long four parter chapter. After this, I wanna skip to the juicy parts, but we'll see.