Elias was minding his business, checking on his adorable monsters. It had only been a day or maybe two since he upgraded the Cricket and Termite Spawners. He was feeling very giddy because his bosses and the Elite Units were very adorable. Especially the Cricket Elite Units, which were SO adorable! They had hatched shortly after the whole evolving thing and they were glorious! He also noticed they were very sassy, as once they had hatched, they had started hopping on Hopps.
The boss had tried to act like he didn't care but Elias felt his embarrassment through their connection. Hopps had hopped and knocked off the Elite Units before wacking them with his forelegs. Elias told Hopps to be nice and Hopps calmed down before also telling the Elite Units to be nice to their boss, which they accepted the command, albeit disgruntled from Hopps hitting them.
Naming them came to Elias quicker than he would have thought, and that's because he's bad at names. The oldest, and the biggest, was named Clink because everytime it hopped, it made a clinking sound. You could argue that the same happens for the others but Elias would not listen to you because he can name his beloved monsters what he wants and you can't stop him.
He named the middle one, which was also the thickest when it came to the endoskeletons, was named Coin because coins were durable and so did this one seem. The youngest, and also the smallest but more eager and energetic, was named Gleam because it seemed to gleam and glimmer in the sun near constantly, unlike the others. Elias had been watching over them ever since they hatched and they're the reason Hopps gets to lay on his ass and do nothing.
They kill the spiders that pop around and try and attack, which are dwindling in danger because the Crickets are no longer organic and the fangs can't even penetrate them. It was kind of funny to watch the spiders scramble once they realize their biting has no effect on the crickets made up of silver and gold. Elias sent a fond feeling over to Hopps through their connection, who sent a happy one back as he hopped in place giddily. He seems happy with the Elite Units so far.
Suddenly, however, Hopps sent in a worried and aggressive feeling that knocked Elias out of his reminiscing state. Hopps? What's wrong? Hopps hopped from side to side and started making a low-frequency vibration instead of his usual cricket-like calls. "Hopps, you okay?" Elias asked the cricket boss and immediately got aggression back through the connection. Woah! What the hell?
Elias suddenly felt what was wrong because he felt the vibrations of steps...like someone was walking towards his front door. Someone like...a person. No, wait, there was multiple footsteps! They were small...perhaps four of them? He can't see...but now he realizes why Hopps suddenly became so agitated. Elias felt them come near his perception near the front door steps, where Hopps and the Elite Units were now on guard, and he heard small, child-like voices.
"Theo, I don't think this house is abandoned..." A small, anxious voice spoke, and Elias was inclined to think they were staring at Hopps and the Elite Units. "Yeah, look at those crickets! They aren't normal and are packed with mana!" Another, more boastful child voice called out, obviously talking to the group. "Relax! It's probably just a mana leak or something! Besides, we can take on a few crickets, right?" Another voice, more confident than really boastful, spoke to the others to soothe their worries.
"I think we should turn back, even if it is a mana leak, how are we going to get through that gold? I'm sure that boss won't let us just wack at its skin until we make it through." Another voice chipped in, this time lower than the first anxious voice but higher than the other last two. If Elias had to guess, these kids were probably pre-teens, maybe somewhat before that. "No! We got this! Plus, we could probably melt them with a fireball or two!" The confident voice, Elias thinks is Theo, had spoken.
"That's not how fire works..." "We're doing it anyways!" The anxious higher voice spoke before Theo interrupted them before he assumedly charged. Elias watched the kid go into his perception and immediately became discombobulated. Is that a wolf? No, it's like someone took a wolf and put it on two legs and put it in barely-held-on clothes. The clothes, mind you, looked more like armor if anything, there was a tunic and also some rough leather pants. The kid himself was holding a cleaver, God knows where he got it from, and tried to slice Hopps with it.
Hopps hopped back and dodged the initial strike before charging forwards and tackling the kid. The kid proceeded to slide out of his perception once more, presumably back towards the kids, and Elias couldn't surprised a short. "How'd that go for you?" "Shut up." The less anxious of the higher voices spoke and Theo had responded. However, the other lower voice that wasn't Theo spoke up as well. "I think the boss is faster than you, so just charging it won't help. Ria might need to make a slowing spell for the boss."
Ria, whomst is apparently the non-anxious higher pitched voice, spoke up. "While I do that, maybe try and aim for its neck instead of its head. Statistically, necks are less durable than skulls." After she spoke, she popped back up with another set of words, "but considering the boss is made up of gold, take my advice with a grain of salt." Elias then heard Ria speaking in tongues or whatever and Elias saw Theo and the other seemingly male child run back into his view.
The other child was indeed male and was a deer, which looked similar to Theo; like someone took a deer and put it on two legs. The kid had a shield attached to his side as well as one in his...hooves... Elias wasn't sure what the child was gonna do until he literally kicked at Hopps' head...and immediately started whining. "Ow! Why did that hurt!?" The boastful child yelped, only to yelp again as Hopps raised a foreleg to swat at him, only to hit the shield on his side. Theo took the opportunity and sliced at Hopps' neck, which did do damage but also sent the child back slightly due to the shock and vibration crawling up his hand.
An arrow also hit the spot Theo just hit and Elias hummed as it actually broke through and Hopps started bleeding. The blood looked blue, or at least some dark variation of it, but Hopps didn't seem to mind it at all. Upon giving a slight nudge through the connection, Hopps just seemed irritated, not particularly mad. The arrow also must have come from the anxious child, whosmt Elias set off as a ranger or something. Theo tried to swing at Hopps once more but the boss jumped up and jumped onto Theo, whomst fell.
The deer child proceeded to charge at Hopps but got tripped up by Clink, whomst simply hopped into the way. Elias had to give it to the kids, they were doing kinda good...for kids...but he doesn't think they're going to get past even Hopps, let alone the Elite Units...whomst weren't doing anything! At the pointed thought, the Elite Units finally hopped into action and the deer child got pounced by Gleam, whomst started biting him as he screeched. Coin hopped over to where Elias assumed Ria was and she let out a yelp.
Elias heard a squeal and saw a child run into his view, and assumed that was the anxious one, being chased by Clink. She looked like a very scrawny hyena, and guessing by her slightly thin belly, he realized why. Hm... Elias then had to watch Ria and the hyena child get chased by Clink and Coin whilst Gleam was getting the rodeo treatment of its life. Whilst the chaos was happening in the front yard, Elias drifted inside and saw Tinder waiting very patiently inside of her room, as if thinking that the kids would actually get past Hopps and company. "Don't bring your hopes up." Elias fondly said and Tinder drooped slightly but didn't move.
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Elias then darted back and saw Theo finally getting the upper-paw on Hopps and managed to drive the arrow further into the boss. Elias saw Hopps tremble and shake as he made a low rumbling sound. "Hopps, you can tag-out, it's okay." Elias worriedly spoke, trying to get Hopps to retreat, but Hopps made a sound that sounded oddly like a growl as he charged at Theo. Theo then proceeded to get airtime as Hopps charged into him and landed outside of Elias' vision. Welp. Finally, however, Ria seemed to make a fireball spell and aimed it at Hopps' neck. Hopps charged at her as well and he noticed that the boss seemed far too fast and strong as of now.
[Golden Cricket Boss: Hopps Has Become Enraged.]
A pop-up slipped into Elias' vision and he flinched as it startled him. Enraged? What does that mean!? As Elias thought about it, he glanced over and saw Coin, Clink, and Gleam back on the porch as Hopps gave the kids a run for their money. Literally, he thinks he saw Ria drop a coin or two from a pouch on her side from running so much. Speaking of Ria, however, Elias saw that she was a bird, some type of dark one, and he immediately thought of a raven. Isn't a group of ravens a murder? Cool.
Elias then got to feel Hopps chase the kids right outside of the gate before he finally came back. Gleam hopped over to him before snapping at his wound before getting the arrow and pulling it out. A ton of blood dripped out but Hopps didn't even seem to care as he sat down, exhausted. Elias could feel the kids skittering their way back over before he witnessed Hopps collapse. "Hopps?" The boss didn't get back up and his body suddenly dissipated into light?? HOPPS??
[Golden Cricket Boss: Hopps Has Been Defeated.]
[Golden Cricket Boss: Hopps Respawn Time: 5 minutes.]
If Elias had eyes, he would have slowly blinked at the thing on his screen. Respawn? What? This isn't a video game- well, actually, he's a dungeon and he's seen literally four kids that are basically anthropomorphic animals. This might be a video game. Elias then saw the Elite Units hopp up before getting an arrow shot at them. "The boss is down! The Elite Units are just left!" Elias heard Theo shout out in clear joy and he would have raised an eyebrow if he could. Hopps only died from blood loss (he thinks), they wouldn't have got him if anything else.
Elias then saw a fireball attack Gleam and the Golden Cricket screeched as it started rolling on the ground to put itself out. Elias felt like he should have been surprised that the cricket knew how to stop-drop-roll but he wasn't. "Damn! Ozzy! Do you think you can try and get their attention so me and Sori can get attacks on them?" Elias heard Ria shout and Elias assumed she was talking to the dear child, and she was, as Elias saw him charge and immediately do a circle as the Elite Units followed after him. The crickets were quite fast and they hopped and nipped at his ankles as he ran. Gleam, soldier he was, took an arrow to the side, whilst Coin took a lightning bolt to the head.
Coin was knocked unconscious, or Elias assumed because he immediately collapsed upon being hit. Gleam and Clunk were still kicking though and tried to attack the two ranged fighters but Theo got in the way and managed to hit Clink in the head with his cleaver. It sliced in somewhat but Clink then proceeded to bite Theo's arm, making the pup cry out as it started bleeding. Ozzy tackled Clink but got trampled by both him and Gleam. Gleam got another arrow to the side and he finally started showing signs of wear as blood trickled from the wound. Clink, however, was never better.
That was until Clink got a lightning bolt to the head as well and was knocked unconscious. Gleam, not one to want to go down without a fight, managed to bite at Theo's tail, whomst yelped, before dying to another arrow embedding into his side. The kids breathed heavily as the fight finally registered and Elias perked up as he got a bunch of mana from that fight. Woah, maybe he needs them to fight more people after all! This is a boat load of mana!
The kids finally gathered back as everything happened and they finally realized that they won. "That boss fight was way too hard!" Ozzy immediately started whining, checking on his shields to make sure they were okay. "Did you see that last one bite my tail!? I thought it was gonna be ripped off!" Theo held his tail to make sure it actually hadn't been ripped off, as Sori started giggling. "You don't wanna be like your uncle Rodger, do you?" At her words, Theo let out the most horrified gasp and Sori and Ria started laughing even more.
"Let's get the chest! There's gotta be some good loot in there!" Ria pointed to the chest directly next to the Cricket Spawner and the kids scurried on over, making sure to avoid the Silver Crickets that were pointedly minding their business killing spiders. They wouldn't attack unless Elias told them to, as attacking outsiders was the Boss and Elite Units' job, mostly. The kids opened the chest and Theo's jaw dropped. "Holy shit!" He immediately got smacked by Ria, and he rubbed his head as Ria squawked at him, "mind your language! But yeah, this is...woah."
The chest didn't have anything special to Elias' standards. Hopps, the Elite Units, and the Silver Crickets actually tended to shed their endoskeletons to make room for newer and more shiny parts. He doesn't know if actual crickets do this but he called it molting just cause. This meant that just pieces of pure gold and silver had been just lying around and Elias had them put it in the chest because he didn't want it just lying around. He guesses that it made pretty good loot. There was also like a hunting knife in there that Tinder had found in the kitchen. Tinder had wanted it but Hopps claimed it because the kitchen was most nearest to the front door and all of that rather than the Termite Boss Room.
As the kids were ooo'ing and ahh'ing at the silver and gold, Elias drifted back the the termite room and saw Tinder nearly buzzing. "That was just luck." Elias fondly spoke and she sent back a prideful feeling. If the kids were smart, they'd actually turn back by now, because he doesn't think they have anything for a termite the size of a large cat that can blast lightning with zero problem. Elias then drifted back over to them and saw them putting all the gold and silver into a pouch that definitely shouldn't have fit it. The gold and silver weren't just clumps, they were organized plates of it. Someone smart would recognize the plates look like an insect's hide rather than anything else.
The kids then opened the front door after closing the chest and they peeked inside. "Yeah, this is definitely a Dungeon." Ria spoke as she looked around, spotting the Lightning Termites on the walls, and Theo seemed to be the only one excited by this. "Do you get what this means!? If we report this, we'll get a prize! It's in the rules!" The other three gave him varying exasperated looks and he calmed down his excitement just a bit. "That is, if we can leave without being swarmed." Sori mumbled, glancing at the Thunder Termites just watching them as they watched first.
"I say we try and map out to place! Make it look nice as possibly for an inspector!" Ozzy spoke and Ria gave him a look that basically called him an idiot before even speaking on it. "Yeah, and get killed and eaten by a giant termite boss? That should be fun." Ria sarcastic bit out and Ozzy's tail and ears went down and Sori patted him gently. "We should go, we don't want the Termite Boss finding us." Sori spoke and the others nodded their head before closing the door. "We can split the earnings from out loot together! Imagine how much money we can get!"
Theo spoke and Elias started drowning him out as he glanced back at the Cricket Spawner. Kids are lucky they left when they did, Hopps and them were about to respawn any moment then. He felt them leave past his gate and sighed before leaning inwards into the house. They did good, really good. That was a pretty intense boss fight. Elias then drifted over to his core and saw it like the size of a dollar or something. Yeah, that's cool. It glowed softly and Elias can't help but feel rejuvenated or something similar, he just feels giddy because of that fight.
Hopps didn't hold back and neither did the kids but no one permanently died so it's a win-win! Elias then drifted over to the stairs and felt a pulse of the prompt just asking to pop up but he left it alone. That fight gave him like five cat's worth, so he was feeling very nice. Elias then drifted over to the Opossum Spawner and gazed at them softly as they perked up at his attention. "Do you guys want a boss? I feel like I should give you that." Elias spoke and the Opossums made their soft, adorable sounds before one of the younger ones put a paw on the older one's face. Elias didn't get the gesture until something popped up.
[Direct Boss Opossum Detected, officially turn Boss Opossum?]
[Y/N]
Woah? Wait, the big guy was a boss already? But then Elias looked over the message again and then he realized. No, the big guy wasn't a boss, yet. He was Boss-adjacent. Well, it made perfect and total sense to Elias, he was big and mean and probably stronger than the other ones. Elias then looked and saw the younger Opossum still pawing the older one's face. This happened until the older one opened his mouth and finally bit down on younger one's paw. The younger when yelped and whined and screeched out before the older one finally let go. It made dramatic sounds until the older one started grooming it's head; then it was suddenly uninjured.
Elias then clicked the Y on the pop-up and the older one started glowing before he suddenly didn't seem old anymore but he did get a little more bigger. The older one blinked, as if that didn't happen, before continuing to groom the younger one. However, now, when Elias looked at him, he registered as a Boss Monster. This made Elias happy, as he now had a connection with the elder Opossum. At least now he could finally interact more further with the Opossum boss.
He guesses he should thank those kids, if they ever come back. After all, their visit gave him tons of mana.
[Dungeon Mana Amount: 72]
[Dungeon Monsters: Termites, Crickets, Opossums]
[Termite Count: 36,875]
[Termite Boss: Tinder]
[Termite Elite Units: Sparky, Key, Conductor]
[Cricket Count: 30]
[Cricket Boss: Hopps]
[Cricket Elite Units: Clink, Coin, Gleam]
[Dungeon Core Size: 9 inches long, 3 inches wide]
Elias was amazed at how big he had grown just from that, he's like the size of a cereal box! He's kinda glad he's in this cabinet now, because he obviously wouldn't have fit in the little hole in the ground. The Bosses and Elite Units were chilling, as much as they could and would chill at this point.
