The second match staring Ling was starting. Yet I was behind the arena dressed in the samurai armor I'd brought with me from the visit to the capital earlier and was looking down at the smart-dressed man who was on his knees and close to fainting from the pain.
"Y-you...even Filyn wouldn't do such a low blow..." - Blot
"It wasn't a blow, but a kick. And you'll get more if you don't fess up." - Mira
"Yes, yes, as you wish..., but about what?" - Blot
"The part where most of my memories have gone up in smoke, the part of why I'm working with you for reasons I can't remember, and the reason that I somehow remember hearing a rumor that you're an expert with the Heretic attribute, the attribute said to stagnate and destroy souls, and by extension, minds and memories." - Mira
My head feels worse than after I got my life punched out by the giant golem during my battle just now, and this guy got the ability to do so...I think. As I said, my head feels funny.
"E-even if I dabble with Heretic a little, that is no good reason to-" - Blot
*KICK!!*
"*Soundless noise similar to a dying pig*" - Blot
"Then tell me, who's this "Filyn" person you talked about? I don't remember her with my head, but something tells me that she's a pain to be with. Something that's far beyond what you could call a hunch." - Mira
"A-as expected of Filyn... Even when she's forgotten, she cannot be ignored..." - Blot
"You wanna talk? Or you want some more punishment?" - Mira
"I will talk! What idiot would not!? So please lower your leg, please? People like me can die from that kind of kick!" - Blot
You're the user of [Chasity]. A good kick toward's the family jewels isn't that bad...I think.
After motivating him efficiently, Blot started to talk about a place called...
"Invidia?" - Mira
"Oh, good demon god. She doesn't even remember the continent." - Blot
"Hey, don't call me stupid! There are six ground continents and seven in the skies. I know that much." - Mira
"........." - Blot
"...okay, now that I think about it, it does feel weird to have more land in the sky than down below." - Mira
"Yes, yes it is." - Blot
"Okay, so this "Finidelphia" place exists. Why can't I remember that?" - Mira
"That is what I was wondering about too. Forgetting people is one thing, even if you have a deep connection to them, but forgetting the continent you were born and raised on... You are not a secret agent from a different continent, are you?" - Blot
"You trying to take my "stupidest in the festival"-price from me? Be my guest." - Mira
"No thank you. I am just glad I do not have to experience that again." - Blot
Did he say "again"?
"In any case, something is going on with Invidia. Give me five seconds." - Blot
Blot then proceeded to create one of his handy portals-*PUNCH!*-...huh? Hey, what was that? A punching glove came out of the portal and hit Blot right on the nose.
"What was that?" - Mira
"Ouch... That, my dear Aureola, was a Dungeon's anti-teleport punishment effect. I have tasted it too many times in my long life." - Blot
"Don't call me dear... Why were you going to a Dungeon?" - Mira
"I didn't. Or, I think I did not. Let's try a different perspective." - Blot
Blot created another portal while keeping his arms to guard his face. But it seems he didn't violate any non-intruder laws this time, seeing how no punch-lines are coming at him. Not that we can use the portal ourselves. It's too small, not to mention high up in the sky...oh. Now I get it. A peeping-tom portal.
"If you didn't have [Chastisty] and all that, I'd so sent the police after you." - Mira
"Thank you for your honesty. Now, what is going on with the Invidia coast...uh-oh." - Blot
What's wrong? All I can see through the portal is some dark, scary castle. Sure, it's big and all that, but I don't see what's the big problem with that. Hehe...
While I was making jokes, Blot created more portals that showed...the same castle, but from different directions.
"...this is not good. Miss Mira, that is the Demon King's castle." - Blot
"...oooookay?" - Mira
"Ah, memory loss. Excuse me for that. That is the lair of Babel's worst enemy, the Demon King." - Blot
"He sure got the worst taste I've ever seen, this royal jerk...?" - Mira
"...yes, that is a good way to refer to him. However, that is not the problem...right now. The castle is supposed to be located in Solomar, a country on the Invidia continent. While this castle here? It is the Invidia continent." - Blot
"The castle's a continent? Or is the continent one big castle?" - Mira
"Neither! Or, that is what it was supposed to be. Even if this explains why I cannot teleport directly into Invidia anymore, now we have more questions to answer." - Blot
"How's that..., the castle doubles as a Dungeon, doesn't it?" I asked him, remembering his Dungeon-related comment from before.
"Indeed it does. A strange Dungeon that did not have any monsters in it..., but if the absence of monsters back then is related to the current increase in Dungeon areal, then I'd say it was a good trade." - Blot
Meh. I'd take treasures and servants anytime over more places that I'd need to dust.
"Stop the press. Was it the continent-turned-into-a-Dungeon thing that turned off my memory?" - Mira
"There have to be boundaries to the weirdness a single Dungeon can have. And I think I came up with a solution to your problem right now." - Blot
With a snap of his fingers, Blot did...just snap his fingers. Okay, when I'm done with this lazy butler, even Noire won't be able to...heal...?
"I...I remember. I remember! Garami, Noire, Alf, everyone!" - Mira
"It was nothing," said Blot while blowing his fingers, trying to be cool.
"First off, thanks! Second, only Filyn would be the only person who'd think you looked awesome there." - Mira
"That is a win in my book." - Blot
"And what's the big secret. Don't tell me it was you." - Mira
"it was not, so lower that foot! I simply used [Chastity] on you." - Blot
[Chastity]? It's improving your resistance, was it?
"Allow me to explain. [Chastity] is said to counteract any form of corruption to one's body and/or mind. It is tailored to be the opposite of the mind-controlling [Lust] skill. If your memory loss came from an outside source, me sharing the skill's effect with you would make your memories return." - Blot
"You can share the effects?" - Mira
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"Just do not tell Filyn. I'm keeping it a secret that it works on people other than her." - Blot
"Got it." - Mira
Call me Miss Cupid-sprite.
"And what do we do now? Dungeon-busting? The guys still on the continent has to be in some sorta trouble." - Mira
"It is more important than a single Treasure Tower, but only if we knew how this happened, and if there is a way for us to enter the castle grounds." - Blot
"Jumping in from the skies?" - Mira
"To do that, we need Ling and his Loongs." - Blot
"Meaning we can't do anything until after this freakshow?" - Mira
The other Loongs are fine if we make them join our Parties, but I doubt they would know the way to Invidia. I mean, they're stuck to their territory for their whole lives, so they can't know the outside world, let alone where a different continent is.
...stuck to their territory for their whole lives...? Why's that ringing my mental alarm bells all of a sudden?
"It seems like that, so let us do the most out of it." - Blot
"Oh, okay, fine. Let's go and bust some spirit-butts." - Mira
In the end, I didn't figure out what was causing that bad feeling, so I returned to the arena with Blot to cheer for Ling in his match. When we returned, we saw Ling in full Loong-mode, and he was fighting an equally large and elongate creature: a golden snake with crown-like, black horns on top of its head.
The snake was throwing evil-looking spells left and right while Ling countered them with large blasts of burning smoke before releasing a horn attack. The snake created a wall of gold that Ling-, didIsaywallofgold?!?!
"That is a Cursed Gold Dragon." - Blot
"It can be a can of expired peaches for all I care! Look at that dough!!" - Mira
"You mean gold, right? And gold created from Gold-type skills is not accepted by the banks." - Blot
...did someone hear a *crack*-sound? Because that was my heart.
"Besides, do you think Garami would accept such a creature?" - Blot
"Why did her name come up now?" - Mira
"Cursed Gold Dragons are former snake-type creatures who have evolved by being in prolonged contact with gold and curses. They are therefore close relatives to the Pure Lake Dragon, a race infamous for being related to one of the 12 Ultimate Disasters." - Blot
"...you don't mean..." - Mira
"Glavras. The Disaster that Garami defeated." - Blot
...no gold from that guy. Unless I want Garami to burst into another rage-outburst like the time when we fought the D-ranked sewer snake that almost shared the same origin in Velantas. And we already got spawned monsters who do have Gold-related abilities in Damavand already! My memories must be a little foggy. Probably some remains from the memory-blocker or whatever that was.
But man, that's a lot of gold. The snake's making walls and walls of the beautiful stuff to block Ling's flames. The flames gradually heated the gold and caused it to leak black, evil-looking smoke...hey! That's not standard gold behavior! And no questions if I know about it or not. I'll fillet the first guy who tries.
"I was afraid of this." - Blot
"You know that smog?" - Mira
"Normal snake-type monsters evolve into Cursed Gold Dragons when they obtain the [Casino Technique Master] title." - Blot
I want that one!
"It is an attribute-combination title that merges the Technique Master-titles for the Gold and Curse attributes. A secondary effect is that all the gold produced by the title owner will now come with a curse." - Blot
This snake is out to make me hate it.
"And like how its name "Casino" suggests, the curse is related to giving people bad luck." - Blot
...well, can't say they didn't hit the theme on the nose.
"So..., that "stalling-the-match" plan..." - Mira
"Yes, I'd say it will come back to bite us in 3, 2, 1..." - Blot
*Crack!*
"MY BACK!!" - Ling
A nasty sound and an ear-piercing shriek came from Ling before he returned to his humanoid form while hunched over. That must have hurt for the old bones. I wonder how much worse it is for a serpent-like Loong to have their back broken.
Blot produced a towel from a portal and threw it into the ring to signalized that we gave up this fight. We can't have the elderly fight with a bad back. That's too evil even for our organization.
"I will take Ling back to the cave," said Blot while directing the crystal golems carrying Ling on a stretcher. "And I will look into that other problem we discovered right before this."
"You do. But remember to return before your match comes up." - Mira
"No problem. But you might slap the girls awake. I think they are in a "overcome by awesomeness"-coma." - Blot
And there he goes, leaving me behind with..., what coma?
When I returned to the benches, I found the four temps just standing there with goldfish eyes and repeating "wha-, wha-, wha-, wha-,"... Oh, right. I was like that when I went along on the trip to see the Cereberus subjugation by the Solomar knights. Good times, good times...
I better break these girls' broken minds into the right broken state so they'll buy Blot the time he needs to return. They're already broken, so what worse can they turn into?
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Kigal-Note/Monsters/Dragons: Cursed Gold Dragon
Description:
The Cursed Gold Dragon is said to have evolved from a serpent-type species that has lived for more than 100 years while in contact with cursed gold, which by extension made it develop the "Treasure Horder" trait as a side-effect.
These dragons are wicked to a fault and a great candidate for skills, classes, and especially titles, that are related to greed and gold. They are also quite the scrooge and will curse and/or kill (most often both) whoever tries to touch their gold.
Since another requirement to allow their old snake-selves to evolve into this vile species is to have the [Casino Technique Master]-title, a title obtained by having both the [Gold Technique Master] title and the [Curse Technique Master] title, the Cursed Gold Dragons have a great interest in gambling. Even if the combined title is 100% unrelated to gambling, despite its name.
Appearance:
The Cursed Gold Dragon has the appearance of a serpentine dragon without limbs and golden scales. On its head is an evil-looking crown made from its black dragon horns. The shape of the crown varies between the different individuals.
Abilities:
Cursed Gold Dragons are incredibly crafty with their abilities to produce gold and curse it. The curses are the worst part of this dragon, as said curses produce bad luck to whoever, except the dragon, touches the dragon's gold.
This vile "former-snake" sometimes tricks people into taking its gold and waits until the "thief" has so much bad luck that all the stats in the world would not help them stop the Cursed Gold Dragon from taking their valuables and add them to the dragon's collection. Vile indeed.
Blot's comment: You know, some societies think of these creatures as guardian demons protecting ancient ruins.