Quest 2: Attack of the Killer Snails

  Me and Saphina have reached Bum’s Break. After discussing the snail extermination, we set off to begin.

  Lukey and Saphina woke up early in the morning, ate a breakfast of dried fish and rice, and quickly got their equipment on, as they intended to finally begin clearing out the beach today.

  The two were now standing outside Bohdi’s wooden shack, with Lukey in his bodysuit and chitin armor and Saphina in her revealing armor.

  In the distance, the oversized pool of water glistened from the morning rays. Gently waves rolled of the shoreline, while an ocean breeze blew in from the West. It was a perfect day to enjoy the beach. So perfect, in fact, that they couldn't even tell that the beach was crawling with monsters.

  “Alright, we’re ready!” Saphina proudly announced. “Now show us these snails!”

  “Sweet,” Bohdi said with a relaxed tone. “But I have to warn you. It might not be as easy as you think.”

  …

  “Those are the snails?” Lukey said with disbelief.

  Bohdi had taken them up to the shore of the beach, where a couple dozen shells were lying in the tide. The shells were a mix of light blue and white and were smooth to the touch. They took the shape of spirals that each looked like they were half buried in the dirt. If Lukey had to guess, he would say the shells were a yard and a half, only slightly shorter than him.

  “Your request made it seem like a crisis, but things are just lying in the sand.” Lukey gawked. “Are you sure they’re dangerous?”

  “One hundred percent, dude,” Bohdi confirmed. “One day everybody came to the beach like normal, and suddenly people were getting attacked. A few people ended up getting caught, and we had to pull them out, and one guy even got eaten.”

  “You’re telling me they just showed up overnight?” Lukey asked.

  “Yup. Back then there were only a few, but these things have been growing uncontrolled for months. No telling how many there are now.” Bodhi explained.

  Lukey shared a confused look with Saphina.

  They ate somebody? These things? They look docile enough to be kept as pets.

  Lukey was confused as to how they were capable of doing anything, but then he remembered their encounter with the terraclaws. Just because something didn’t seem dangerous doesn’t mean it couldn’t do some serious damage. Everything had its own way of fighting, and these snails were no exception.

  Lukey chose to use [Insight] first to get a better understanding of what he was dealing with.

  [Ogoronia Lv. 28]

  Woah… That’s a pretty high level. Whatever they are, they shouldn’t be underestimated.

  Then, another thought came to him.

  Maybe manual [Insight] might yield something.

  Thus, Lukey tried again, forcing [Insight] to go beyond its limited restrictions. Lukey could practically feel his aether bank draining as he unsuccessfully attempted to scan the monster for more details, but after a ton of effort and aether, he finally got something.

  Well… That’s nothing if not ominous.

  “Hey, Saphina, I think we should be careful with these…” Lukey began, but he was too late.

  Saphina had already expanded to her muscular form and readied her club as she ran out to smash the half-buried shell. Immediately, she began kicking the ocean from her stampede once she hit the shallow water.

  Crap… I’d better go back her up.

  Lukey began chasing after her, pole-spear in hand. Soon after, he reached the water just like Saphina, and once that happened, he decided to utilize his new art. He had not had any opportunities to use [Ripple Sense] yet, so this would be his first experience with it. Lukey only hoped it wouldn’t impede his ability to fight as he began charging up the aether.

  The aether in the air obeyed his will, but unlike his other arts, where the energy flowed through his body, this art forced the aether out of his body. Threads of aether poured from his skin, and everything seemed to turn dark as the world lost its color. The threads then gathered, swirling up into a ball that expanded to the size of a Lukey’s head. Once the ball settled down, it had gained the shape of a clear white sphere.

  Then, it burst.

  The sphere exploded, sending waves in all directions, hitting everything in the area. Immediately after, Lukey gained a different view of the beach, one that was felt rather than seen. The art was over in the next second, and the world regained its color.

  Lukey could feel the beach all around him; he couldn’t sense anything past the shoreline, due to the art only working in water, but hardly needed to know what was there. In his mind, he saw everything of importance highlighted in a light blue, revealing a world that was previously hidden from his senses.

  To the front-left of him was Saphina, who was still running straight towards Ogoronia. Meanwhile, the seemingly innocuous snail was directly in front of Lukey, and the more he sensed, the more horrified he became.

  Saphina is going to die! I have to stop her!

  Once Lukey regained his senses, he charged up the aether in his legs and pounced for Saphina. Fortunately, he managed to reach her just in time and immediately grabbed her waist to stop her assault. Shortly after realizing that she was being stopped, Saphina looked back with fury in her eyes.

  “Grrr, what are you doing, idiot! Why’d you stop me?” Saphina growled.

  “The snail!” Lukey cried. “It’s bigger! A lot bigger!”

  “What!” Saphina spat with disbelief. “How big could that pathetic thing be…”

  Saphina didn’t even get to finish that sentence before the sand began to shift from beneath them. It seems that the Ogoronia had sensed their struggle, and now that it knew prey was near, it wanted to go on the attack.

  “Split up and attack the sides!” Lukey yelled.

  Saphina was confused but did as he asked and veered left while Lukey veered right. Then, not too many seconds after they split, the ground below heaved up, and a mass of white flesh emerged from the sand; three times Luke's size and twice as large as Saphina.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  After raising its body up to full height, it threw itself forward and engulfed the place where they once stood. The form then began pulling itself into a ball, trapping its nonexistent prey within its embrace.

  “Attack it now!” Lukey called out.

  The next moment, Lukey began thrusting into the white mass with his spear, while Saphina simply started beating the fleshy mass to a pulp. Fortunately, after a string of solid blows, the mass finally stopped writhing around, and Lukey and Saphina enjoyed the flow of aether as it entered them.

  After taking a few moments to catch their breath, Saphina broke the silence.

  “WHAT WAS THAT!” she fumed. “THAT THING ALMOST SWALLOWED ME WHOLE!”

  “I tried to tell you guys!” Bohdi called out from behind them. “Their bodies are a lot bigger below the sand!”

  “Now he tells us…” Lukey eye-rolled.

  Choosing to avoid any more fights for the time being, Lukey and Saphina grabbed the dead Ogoronia and pulled it back onto dry land. After studying the body and discussing some details, Lukey managed to get a good idea of how the Ogoronia operated.

  “So basically, they hide those massive bodies beneath the sand and wait for prey to come by, after which they engulf their prey whole and eat them alive.” Lukey summarized. “And they also happen to be cannibals as well.”

  “In Cronar’s name… These things are dangerous, even for us.” Saphina said in disbelief. “How are we supposed to fight them if we can’t even get close enough to attack?”

  It only took Lukey a few seconds, but already he had managed to concoct a plan within his mind on how to approach this situation.

  …

  Quest 2: Attack of the Killer Snails

  The ‘Killer Snails’ are, in fact, Ogoronia; hyper-aggressive behemoth snails that attack anyone who set’s foot nearby. We need a different way to fight them…

  “Alright, just swing it a few times and try to aim near the shell.” Lukey called out.

  In front of him was Saphina, who had shrunk down temporarily to preserve aether. In her hands was Lukey’s crab lure, which had gone unused ever since Claw Cove. The crab lure was recently updated with a thick iron barbed hook to make the end more durable when getting prey to grab on.

  This was Lukey’s solution for how to kill the Ogoronia.

  Saphina swung the lure a few times, and at the peak of the third arc, she released her grip on the rope. The duo watched as the iron hook flew in an arc, landing a foot away from the target’s shell.

  The Ogoronia immediately sensed the object, and all at once the ground heaved up as its massive body engulfed the hook completely, then curled up.

  “Alright, start pulling!” Lukey shouted.

  With that command, Saphina used [Primal Muscle] and began pulling the rope back, along with the Ogoronia’s massive form. She kept pulling and pulling until eventually the massive snail was well out of the range of the other Ogoronia. It was then that Lukey pounced on it, driving his spear into its flesh. Shortly after, Saphina let go of the rope and joined in, beating the white mass until it fell still.

  “Well,” Saphina began, “that was certainly easier, but not exactly the fastest method.”

  “Yeah, I suppose.” Lukey sighed. “But at least it’s something. For now, let’s use this method, at least until we come up with something better.”

  …

  The process continued, with Saphina throwing the hook and Lukey jumping in for the kill. Sometimes, they would even decide to switch it up, with Lukey hauling the rope and Saphina beating them to death. The process was difficult, but it made great exercise for Lukey to help his muscles keep up with his strength attribute.

  “And heave!” Lukey shouted to himself.

  At the same time, Lukey kept shoving aether into his legs, just as he did during the terraclaw ambush. Each time he was about to pull, he used [Fisherman’s Stance] to charge up his legs for a brief boost in strength. He was forced to use it manually, however, releasing it over a longer period of time instead of in one short burst.

  Not only was he gradually building his leg muscles, but he was also getting better at using [Fisherman’s Stance] manually. Altogether, this was the best training Lukey could ever hope for.

  “I got it!” Saphina yelled, and then, as she ran up to the creature, she prepared another dart.

  “[Primal Thrash]!”

  Threads of aether followed her command, as strings of aether flowed through her internal channels and into the club, enveloping it in a red glow. Then, with all the force she could muster, she bashed the Ogoronia in the side, tearing through white flesh until the force in the club had diminished.

  After that, she began bashing it like normal until it died, after which they both picked up the Ogoronia and added it to the pile.

  “That art was impressive. How come you didn’t use it before?” Lukey asked with some amazement.

  “Because I didn’t need it before. Still don’t, in fact. I just figured that since we’re going to be stuck here for now, I might as well get some practice in too.” Saphina explained. “[Primal Thrash] uses a lot of aether, so if I miss, I could put myself in a pretty bad spot.”

  Lukey agreed that the idea was good. Right now, they were having a simple, albeit slow, time killing the Ogoronia across the beach. Right now, they had managed to kill thirteen of them, but based on what [Ripple Sense] told him, there were far more out there.

  Hundreds of sluggish masses below the sand, each highlighted in light blue, dotted the beach. Simply put, there was no way they were going to be able to clear this all in a day, so they were going to be forced to stay with Bohdi for the time being.

  Lukey looked up, and the sky already indicated the afternoon.

  “Let’s take a break and eat. I think we both could use the rest.” He suggested.

  “Agreed,” Saphina said. “My vitality might be fairly high, but my enhanced endurance can only sustain my arts for so long.”

  Vitality was the attribute that affected stamina, or in other words, how long you could do things without getting tired. The way it affected the body was by making you bulkier, or as some people would put it, fatter. To supplement your vitality, you need to eat a lot, which all gets stored in the body for future use.

  Based on Roman’s notes, Lukey now knew that all arts that use the internal channels had an additional cost to your stamina. Conversely, arts that used the external field had a cost as well, in the form of mental fatigue. This could be mitigated with the intelligence attribute, which lets you handle more information with less fatigue.

  That club too. The aether entered it and empowered it, just like it does for us.

  Roman’s notes also enlightened Lukey to how this worked.

  It’s only briefly mentioned, but all objects, natural or manmade, have their own internal channels as well. Natural objects grew it as part of their formation, whereas shaping an internal network is part of the creation process for many man-made items. Whenever you wield a weapon or tool, it’s basically considered an extra limb from the perspective of the art.

  Though, none of the notes explained why internal channels are formed. All I know is it has something to do with the nature of ether, but what exactly is it?

  Lukey shook the question from his mind for the time being. He would find out the answers eventually, but between his aether drive, aether bank, attributes, internal channels, and manual arts, he had enough to worry about.

  Soon, Lukey and Saphina reached Bodhi’s shack, where Bodhi himself was working on carving a new chair made of pieces of mahogany from the forest.

  “Hey!” the laid-back man called out. “Great job out there! You’ve really started to make a dent!”

  Now that it wasn’t nighttime, Lukey could get a full view of Bohdi’s features.

  He had deep blue eyes, along with the hair that waterfall-ed from his head down to his back. His skin was roughly as tan as Lukey's, but unlike Lukey, he was tall enough to almost reach six feet. This was largely helped by his legs, which were fairly muscular, all things considered.

  “You seem to get a lot of exercise considering your profession.” Lukey said, assessing his features.

  “My what now? Oh, you mean the woodcarving.” Bohdi realized. “Naw, I just do this whenever I need to trade for some money. My real passion is surfing, but I haven’t been able to catch the swell because of… well.” Bohdi pointed towards the beach, gesturing to the Ogoronia that dwelled near the shoreline.

  “A surfer?” Lukey said inquisitively. “By any chance, can you make surfboards?”

  “Hah! Can I? Brother, I got a whole shed full of ‘em!” Bohdi proudly said. “I lend ‘em out to anyone who wants to catch a wave.” Then Bohdi gave a look at Lukey that seemed to size him up. “Hey… Speaking of, do you surf?”

  “Me? No,” Lukey dismissed. “But I always wanted to learn. Any chance you could teach me once this is all over?”

  “Sure, man! Heck, I’ll even give you a custom board if you can clear out the beach.” Bohdi excitedly said.

  “It’s a deal.” Lukey confirmed. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get something to eat.

  …

  Lukey, Saphina, and Bohdi were currently sitting on the porch of his shack, eating strips of snail meat grilled with herbs and vegetables and served on a palm leaf.

  “Amazing! This is actually pretty good.” Saphina proclaimed. “Didn’t think something so slimy and disgusting could taste like this.”

  “It’s amazing what some salt and herbs can fix.” Lukey said. “Right after we took the mission, when I went to go get snacks, I talked to Kiran, and he recommended this.”

  “Wicked,” Bohdi said. “But it’s a shame we can’t eat it all.” Then, he pointed to the pile of Ogoronia that the duo had killed today. “The meat will rot if we just leave it there. Should we throw it out and let the other Ogoronia eat them?”

  “Then they might just get stronger from the leftover aether in their bodies.” Lukey responded, then lit up as he thought of something. “Oh, I know! There’s a village nearby, right? Why don’t we get the people there to take the meat? In exchange, they can disassemble the corpses and give us any materials they get.”

  “The Bluefin village?” Bohdi groaned, losing his jovial tone. “I don’t know, the village elder is kind of a giant pain. If he finds out you’re cleaning up the beach, he might cause problems for us.”

  “What can he do?” Saphina scoffed. “He doesn’t have a class, right? And besides, we were sent by the emperor of the island! He’ll have to respect us if he knows what’s good for him.”

  “Yeah,” Bohdi said after some consideration. “I hope you’re right.”