Chapter 22: Under the Sky of the Universe (2)

Receiving the compliments energized the Plague Doctor. He cut the tentacles in half. When Raydel fell down, the Plague Doctor walked in and grabbed his hands to help him stand up.

"Thank you," Raydel said.

The Plague Doctor nodded.

Raydel examined the Plague Doctor and saw the scratches and bruises. He cursed at Cthulhu in his mind. Is he trying to kill him for real? he thought and patted the Plague Doctor on the shoulders. Raydel continued using his leadership skills.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Let me see."

[Additional translation of The Plague Doctor's words.]

[It doesn't hurt much…']

"You should fight back, you know. You can't just let yourself be bullied like this."

['I understand, Master.']

"But I'll try to talk some sense to him as well. I know that you'll be fine even if you get just a small space. You probably will never complain like Cthulhu."

['I'll do whatever Master commands.']

"You're so compliant. I'll summon you often then," Raydel said. "It must be because you considered me your guardian now, right? That's why you protect me like you protected the guardian in the underground graveyard. Well, great job, you're such a nice boss."

He complimented him till he started to look better.

"Now, what should we do next?"

Raydel looked around before noticing the message box floating above his head.

[The condition to escape from this realm: punch the realm's owner in the face]

Raydel frowned. I really have to punch Cthulhu in the face, huh?

It was probably due to the fact that Cthulhu's realm could be considered the arena of the dungeon, resulting in the said condition. Raydel looked at the strangers in the black coats that had been surrounding him for a while now. His instinct told him that these guys must have been the monsters in Cthulhu's dungeon, which meant that he had to deal with them first if he wanted to see Cthulhu.

[To unlock the condition to converse with Cthulhu, you need to pass the secret level: defeat the worshippers]

[Start the countdown.]

[59:59 minutes]

The monsters started to move closer. They radiated such bloodlust aura, ensuring Raydel that they would never let him walk out of here easily. Each of them pulled out a dagger and charged right at him!

Raydel dodged the first attack.

The body strength skill let him know which way he should dodge, but it was not enough to avoid all the endless strikes from the monsters. Raydel planted his feet firmly on the ground and twisted and turned as much as he could to duck all of them. Still, he was hit by a dagger that ricocheted sometimes. However, the pain in the dream was not so bad that it made him scream out loud.

The others would not attack? raydel thought.

Only one single monster was attacking him. The rest still stood still. Raydel tried to push the attacking enemy out of the circle. He kept his guards up for a moment. A new monster began attacking him while the rest still stood in their spots.

Attacking one by one, huh?

Raydel concentrated again.

As the monster attacked, he summoned the Plague Doctor in front of him!

Clang!

The Plague Doctor parried the blow with his dagger just in time, forcing the enemy to jump back and get in his position again. This was Cthulhu's realm, an S-rank dungeon. He believed that the monsters in here must have been on the same level and not something that the Plague Doctor could defeat easily with his A-rank power. So, Raydel, who was standing behind the Plague Doctor, stared at the surrounding monsters. He counted the number and tried to guess how many of them the Plague Doctor could handle.

A new monster charged at him after the other one retreated.

The monster clashed into the Plague Doctor. The two took and punched each other at the same second. Raydel, who was waiting for an opening, jumped in and hit the monster's wrist, sending its dagger flying away.

Grab!

Raydel jumped and caught the dagger.

"I'll help you fight," he said to the Plague Doctor.

['You don't have to.']

"These are all S-rank monsters. You should have someone watching your back. But don't worry, I'll use this opportunity to level up my skills as well."

The Plague Doctor remained silent.

['Okay…']

[The Plague Doctor respected you even more as his master.]

In fact, Raydel did not intend to level up his skills. He actually was practicing summoning the Plague Doctor. He was just an ordinary human, so he had no way of fighting against the S-rank monsters. The only thing he could do was dodging their attacks. If there came moments that he was going to be stabbed, he would summon the Plague Doctor and have him take the dagger instead.

He wanted to practice summoning the Plague Doctor in a short period of time.

Raydel felt exhausted in just a few seconds as if he had just finished a marathon. He could not breathe. His sight became blurry. At the same time, he began to think that this arena was a part of Cthulhu's plan. The monsters just stood there and challenged him one by one as if to let Raydel practice his skills. Cthulhu might want him to really improve his boss summoning skill.

I don't know anymore, Raydel thought, all it does is making me even angrier!

He kicked one of the monsters right in the stomach!

I want to punch Cthulhu's face so bad!

More than ten minutes passed. Raydel was panting. He did not have to fight directly against the monster that much since he kept summoning the Plague Doctor to fight for him. Right now, the boss was covered in bruises and bloodstains. Raydel patted his partner on the back and used his leadership skill again.

"That's my good boy. You fought so well."

It was like the Plague Doctor glanced at him.

['Please, compliment me more.']

"You like being called a 'good boy'?"

['Yes, I like it…']

So, he likes being called a 'good boy'? Raydel held his chin and slowly collected all the information about the boss summoning skill. This means that each boss has a particular compliment that they like. If I use the right compliments, it'll improve the relationship between the bosses and me and heal them as well. In the Plague Doctor's case, he must have really considered me his guardian. That's why he acts like a kid wanting a compliment from his parents. Then, Cthulhu probably likes…

Raydel looked up.

"Seems like they won't stop that easily," he said.

The Plague Doctor and he had just defeated three of the monsters when a new group of people in the black coats appeared.

Raydel smirked, annoyed. He ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair and cursed at his fate in his mind. Instead of getting some sleep, he was forced to practice his skills. If that takoyaki wanted him to be angry so bad, fine. He would practice so much that he could run up to him and punch his face!

Clang!

The dagger in his hand fell to the ground.

Raydel put his hands on his knees to steady himself. He was now standing with his back against the Plague Doctor's. Both of them were worn out by the endless fights. About thirty minutes had passed. Raydel could feel his real body breaking sweat and tossing and turning in his bed. Until he got the hell out of this realm, he would never really fall asleep.

Still, because of the intense practice, Raydel could use the boss summoning skill much more fluently.

All he needed to do now was think and the Plague Doctor would appear at any spots he wanted.

Of course, the problem was still his lack of power. He was now so tired that he could no longer summon even a bug. But Raydel completely got the hang of the skills now. If he could escape this realm and still remembered what he learned here, he would be able to summon bosses better in the future.

But how can I strengthen my power?

He felt like he was a character in a game with such a low stamina.

Sweat streamed across his eyelids. Raydel shook his face before realizing that time was running out.

[5:21 minutes]

There were still about four monsters left, but Raydel knew that he had done enough already. He almost fainted now, and Cthulhu would never let him pass out that easily.

[The condition to converse with Cthulhu is changed. Pass the secret level: defeat the worshippers in 55 minutes.]

There.

The countdown stopped.

[Passed the secret level.]

[Unlock the condition to converse with Cthulhu.]

The monsters suddenly disappeared. A person who appeared not far from Raydel was Cthulhu.

I only need to punch the realm's owner's face now.

Raydel thought and took fast steps toward him. Cthulhu looked at him in a way that begged for his feet. But huge tentacles shot out of the water before Raydel even got the chance to get near Cthulhu and raised themselves high up, ready to attack him at any second.

Raydel used his last drop of power to summon the Plague Doctor to fight with the tentacles. He felt as if his consciousness was pulled out of his body. Everything went black for a moment before he found himself lying on the ground.

Raydel forced himself to stand up against the exhaustion. He walked past the Plague Doctor and the tentacles and clenched a fist. Then, he punched Cthulhu in the face with everything!

Silence.

Then.

"Ouch!" Raydel screamed. His knuckles reddened. He felt like he had just punched a rock!

"?!"

The tentacles had stopped fighting with the Plague Doctor. Cthulhu punched Raydel's forehead with the ridge of his hand. He staggered back and almost fell down. When he looked at Cthulhu again, he realized how wicked Cthulhu could make his face to be.

"Your punch was too soft."

"I wasn't born good at fighting."

"Humans are weak."

"Oh, that's why you prepared this arena for me to practice, so I could get stronger?"

Cthulhu narrowed his eyes.

Raydel patted his hands and stared at Cthulhu till he became aware of it. Cthulhu stared back with his piercing gaze. Raydel needed to test a lot of things before getting out of here. He, at least, had to make sure that he could summon Cthulhu in a real fight. So, he wanted to learn what kind of leadership he needed to heal him.

First, he tried the compliments that the Plague Doctor liked.

"You did very well," Raydel said.

Cthulhu stared at him.

"What?"

Sounds like he wants to punch me!

"I mean… for the arena that you prepared for me. And for the little fight just now. You did very well."

[Cthulhu doesn't trust your words.]

Why won't you trust me? I just compliment you!

"You don't want to be complimented?"

"Why would I want a human like you to compliment me?"

"Then, how will I heal you? Think about it. If you fought to death, would you still be acting dumb and not accepting my compliments?"

"Your words… are so bad."

"..."

Raydel crossed his arms and snorted loudly to let Cthulhu know how annoyed he was with him.

He looked down at the ground which was covered by several puddles of water. Tentacles rose up from under the water and slithered around like a snake. They were so close to his feet as if to watch his reaction.

Raydel tapped his arm with his forefinger and fixed his gaze on Cthulhu for a while. Then, he said,

"Preparing an arena and a condition for me like this, you planned ahead so well, my lord."

Cthulhu glanced at him. Raydel repeated his words.

"My lord is the best."

"..."

If he wanted to talk to a cat, he had to talk like its slave!

Cthulhu did not reply, but the tentacles that had been watching Raydel for a moment began to move. They snuggled up against his feet and slid themselves up across his legs.

"Your words have no impact on me."

However, a message box appeared behind Cthulhu.

[Cthulhu satisfied to be called 'my lord.']

Raydel smirked. The more he spoke, the more his expression said otherwise.

"If my lord stays beside me and guides me, I'll survive for sure."

"That's because you're weak."

[Additional translation of Cthulhu's words.]

['Always complimenting the Plague Doctor. How annoying.']

['Compared me to human food instead of summoning me and calling me his lord.']

[This kid is so weak and annoying.]

['So annoying… When will this endless praise stop?]

['If he doesn't stop speaking, I'll kill him.']

So many thoughts of Cthulhu popped up and made Raydel realize how bad his mood swing was! He did not know anymore if he liked being called 'my lord' or not.

Still, Raydel eventually came to the conclusion that Cthulhu must have been the kind of person who said one thing but meant the other thing. Even though his mouth kept complaining, the message boxes behind him revealed his true feelings. Even then, the message boxes were not really showing what he was really thinking. The way to truly understand what was inside Cthulhu's mind was to watch the tentacles.

Now, the tentacles were all up over him. Their suction cups sucked on his skin like they had their own minds while Cthulhu who stood crossing his arms and was looking the other way seemed not to be aware of what his tentacles were doing. Raydel snorted. This was the true feeling that Cthulhu was having. He complained a lot but actually liked being called 'my lord'.

Then, he needed to finish his last test.

Which was to find out if his assumption was right.

He patted the tentacles. They all instantly froze. Cthulhu turned to look at him, his eyes glaring.

"If you ever touch me again, I'll kill you."

[Cthulhu doesn't like being touched.]

[Cthulhu hates your face again.]

Cthulhu had just realized that the tentacles were all over Raydel's body. He ordered them to go back underwater.

Raydel knew right away that his life from now on would be challenging if he had to deal with this S-rank boss. He crossed his arms and said, "I'll think about giving you a human body. In the meantime, I want you to act friendly toward the Plague Doctor."

"Time?"

"Sacrificing my lung isn't an easy decision to make. I need at least… half a year to think about it."

"Half a year."

"Yes," Raydel replied. "In the meantime, if my lord is bored, my lord can always summon me here. I'll even give you a shoulder massage…"

"Get out now."

After his words, Raydel vanished.

Among the white ruins under the sky of the universe, only Cthulhu and the Plague Doctor remained.

"I'll allow you to stand there and not anywhere else," Cthulhu said. A gleaming circle suddenly appeared on the surface of the water puddle on the ground. It was to tell him that his place in this realm existed only inside the circle.

Cthulhu turned to look at the spot at which Raydel had been a while ago.

'Nothing. I was just thinking that you may have learnt something… like the future.'

The human's words came back to his thoughts.

The future?

He had no power to see the future, but when he opened his eyes, he heard Nyarlarthotep's voice.

'On September, the 26th, you'll have a human body of your own…. The day will be the moment everything completely changes. The old rules will be no more when 'he' takes control of everything. Then, it will depend on you… whether you will still let humans have an effect on you again...'

'...When you have already lost someone, Cthulhu.'