The Lovecraftian Monster 【Great Eater】

Hey, Shun here!

Have you ever experienced using some cheat codes to make your life a little more easier when playing games? You know, like when you're playing Pokémon games and such, getting that x999 Rare Candies to avoid the grind?

There was also those times when you accidentally trigger bugs that gives you unexpected gains…

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(Shun's POV)

I gotta say, it was really hard to make children pay attention to what you're saying when they're distracted by something. In this case, they were all raring to go and beat up the smaller versions of the [Great Eater], also known as the [Eater of Mythical Beasts], called [Beat Eaters].

I mean, to them, the video feed I was showing them probably looks like those boring picture books without any exciting stories written on it. However, by some miracle, Pochi, Tama, Fenny, and Tsuka decided to be such good girls and remain seated on their seats, listening to what I found out while exploring the underwater building.

"In conclusion, these monstrosities are after the young beasts and if they were to eat them, they'll be able to get stronger…"

"It's like that snakes game right? I wonder what will happen if the young animals gets eaten though?" Mutsuko-san muttered.

"Boy, I'm really interested at this underwater building that you're talking about. I want to go there and explore it. Maybe we could find more clues as to how to defeat the monsters that spawned…" Mikadzuchi-san said.

"Well, I hate to burst your bubbles but I'm afraid you can't go there all by yourself without a level 40 [Swimming] Sense. That's the lowest level you'll need in order to battle that boss monster underwater…"

Once I said those words, Mikadzuchi looked at me for a few seconds like I'm a lunatic. Even Shizuka-nee and Miu was doing the same.

"You… You leveled up such a useless Sense like [Swimming] so high? Who in their right mind would even level that thing up? Even in beta, people just took it so that they could swim in the shallow parts of a river. If they go to a much deeper part, they'll die after drowning."

"I just took it on a whim." I replied in a rather nonchalant manner while raising my shoulders.

"Shun-chan, that's… You took so many misshapen Sense huh…"

"Heh heh, atleast I'm in a much higher level than you, Sei-nee."

When I told Shizuka-nee that in a teasing manner, she just pouted cutely before turning her head away. What a childish way to show that she's mad.

"As expected of my Onii-chan…"

"Well, there's no time to be dilly dallying over here. There's a group of [Beast Eaters] coming our way. We need to defend it!"

In response to my words, the younger girls immediately stood up from their seats and got ready for combat. They were lead by the two bunnies, Tsuka and Fenny, as well as Tama and Pochi who just seems to be tagging along to have fun with their 'little sisters'.

"Tsuka can, finally, fight, Master~?"

"Yat-ta…???"

"Pochi is excited nodesu! We're gonna chop them up reaal~ good, nodesuyo!"

"Aye~!"

"I will go too! I want to practice the sword techniques that Shun taught me!"

The lecture took a few minutes to finish and, as if on cue, multiple [Great Eaters] began marching towards our direction. Our base is just barely on the very edge of the safe zone so we're the only players who are around in here.

The other players are probably on the other side, battling some [Great Eaters]. Anyway, whilst we were talking about the underwater building, numerous young animals came inside the safe zone for refuge.

However, for some reason, they chose to stay at our place, which is at the very edge of the safe zone. Right now, they are hanging out with our young beast companions.

Well, I wouldn't say hanging out though. Majority of them are trembling in fear.

Currently, Kaede-san is tending on them, along with Satania-san and Rikka. Shizuka-nee and Miu also joined them earlier and are now surrounding themselves with the fluffy and cuddly creatures.

Since the older girls said that they'll be joining in the battle once they get enough of the snacks and the cuddly paradise, it was just me, Rokuko, and the younger girls this time.

"Lieutenant Pochi, Lieutenant Tama, and Lieutenant Rokuko, I need your attention!"

"Aye~!"

"Aye nanodesu!"

"Y-Yeash!? What is it so suddenly, Shun!?"

The three girls lined up in front of me in a single file line in front of me. Tama and Pochi seems to be brimming with enthusiasm while Rokuko is really confused as to what's happening.

"You three will be the ones leading in this battle. Communicate with each other and come up with your own strategies, got it!?"

"Aye~ aye~!"

"Aye aye, nanodesu!"

"O-Okay. I got you Shun. I mean… Sir, yes, sir!"

Once the three girls have understood their roles, I turned towards Tsuka and Fenny who are looking at me with sparkles in their eyes. After clearing my throat for a second, I continued.

"Sergeant Tsuka and Fenny!"

"Tsuka, here, Master~!"

"Present… Master's Master…"

Although Fenny doesn't sound enthusiastic like Tsuka, you could tell that she's as excited, or maybe even more excited, than the ball of energy named Tsuka.

"You need to call me 'sir' for now."

"Master, sir~?"

"Sir Master's… Master?"

"Alright. Forget that I said that. Ku-hum! You two sergeants will have to follow the three lieutenants in slaying the [Beast Eaters] in the vicinity of our camp! Do you copy?"

"Ca-piché~, Master sir!"

"Copy… Sir Master's Master…"

Alright. I thought so…

After giving the girls instructions, they immediately went off to face their first prey, which is the nearest [Beast Eater].

As for me?

Well, I went out on my own, just near the girls so that I could help them if necessary, and aggroed a [Beast Eater]. I was planning to kill it all by myself but…

Just when I was warming up, checking out the overall power of this monster, the little white snake who decided to stick with me even though it's extremely afraid of these [Beast Eaters] did something that I was not expecting.

While I was firing my arrow and running in circles around the [Beast Eater] who seems to have no blindspots — there's no blindspot that I could detect during the time that I was dealing poke damage to this lovecraftian monster — the little white snake came out of my scarf to take a peek at the situation. It was just right on time that the [Beast Eater] let out a loud shriek before raising many of its tendrils at the sky and bringing it down towards me in a furious attempt to deal damage.

However, it seems like, to the white snake, I was at a disadvantage. Thus, it used some kind of spell to enchant my arrow, which I only noticed after firing the arrow in question.

The moment I released the arrow, it was followed by an extremely loud clap of thunder. As if it was a bullet fired from an extremely accurate sniper rifle, the arrow traveled at an extremely straight line, surrounded by strong wind currents and white streaks of lightning.

"What the… I don't remember ever getting a skill like that. Sara, was that you using a spell?" When I looked at Sarasvati for some kind of confirmation, I saw her unconscious, with its head dangling out of my scarf.

Alright. This just about confirms that she was the one who did it.

Once I confirmed that it was Sara who did that to my arrow, I looked at the [Beast Eater] to check what it did to it. To my surprise, the [Beast Eater] is already turning into digital particles.

There's a big whole on its body, with streaks of white lightning continuously consuming the body of it and turning it into digital particles.

"What the heck was that skill…?"

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After we all had our fun annahilating each and every [Beast Eaters] that we spot, with the older girls eventually joining us to wipe everything that we see on the map from the face of this game, we eventually stopped. Since everything was cleaned up around our vicinity, we decided to feed the seemingly tired and hungry young beasts that chose to take shelter in our camp.

There were literally almost hundreds of them around so we needed to join forces in order to make enough food for each and everyone of them, including our own portion. While we were doing this, their numbers continued to grow.

Unbeknownst to us, Mikadzuchi-san left for a while and came back a few hours later, accompanied by a few people that none of recognize except for Shizuka-nee. They seem to be members of their Guild, the [Eight Million Gods].

Accompanying her is Cloude, Lyly, and Magi-san who we also haven't seen for an hour or so.

"I see that you came here for something Mikadzuchi-san. How may I help you?"

"Well, as you probably know, these small [Beast Eaters] aren't the only enemies that we have for this Emergency Quest." Mikadzuchi-san said to open up the conversation.

"Uh-huh. I've seen the forums. There's [Great Eater] Bosses, aren't there?"

At my inquiry, it was Cloude who answered me after adjusting his spectacles.

"It is indeed the case. However, that's not just the thing that we came here for. We've seen and heard that your Guild have many [Cooking] Sense users, talented crafters, as well as powerful fighters like you."

"So?"

"So we need you and your Guild's help, Syuncchi! There's many young animals across the map who needs food and there's also many bosses for just one guild to handle!"

Continuing on where Lyly left off, Mikadzuchi-san said.

"Even though we are a powerful guild, we couldn't possibly handle killing 6 [Great Eater] boss mobs alone. Also, because you are the well-known Young Animals Guru, your help in tending to the young animals is also needed."

"Young Animals Guru?" What the heck's with that title?

"Yes. It's the nickname that the player base came up for you after seeing you and your guildmates take care of hundreds of young animals." That's… I don't know what to feel. I'm speechless.

"Of course, you and your guildmates wouldn't be doing these unpaid."

I shook my head at Mikadzuchi-san's words and, after looking at the girls who just nodded their heads at me. I faced her once again.

"We'll talk about the payment later. Tell me about the [Great Eater] boss mobs."

"We confirmed six Mythical Beast Eater boss mobs in total, the [Great Eaters of Mythical Beasts]. As for their weakness, although its their pupils just like with the normal Beast Eaters, they have an abundance of them on their huge bodies. Above all, they have an ability to generate Beast Eaters around them over time."

"So, the reason you're in need of fighters is?"

"We want your Guild to take on one of them while the other groups and my guild takes care of the other fi—"

"Leave two of them to us and then split your groups for the other four. We only need the two [Great Eaters] that's near each other and we're good to go."

"Shun-kun!?"

"What are you saying Shun-chan!?"

You might be thinking that I'm absolutely insane, wanting to take on two of the monstrosities with our small Guild, but no. With how strong the members of our Guild is, I think it wouldn't be a problem for us to face two of them at the same time.

Also, I already have a finishing move to use to kill them. There's also the fact that we needed to gather more popularity. People should know not to mess with us.

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※~To be continued~※

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Author's Remarks:

※ I wanted to finish it this chapter but yeah, I couldn't. We need one more to wrap things up here.

※ Don't confuse [Great Eaters] with [Beast Eaters]. [Beast Eaters] are those things like a mob that spawns anywhere around the map while [Great Eaters] are huge monstrosities that are considered as Raid Bosses.