Sleepy Cave shuddered. Monsters after powerful monsters were devoured by the cheating duo. Yes, it had dubbed these two outrageous intruders as the true monsters. It didn't know that one was a Sage God and the other was an all-powerful existence but even if it did, it couldn't do anything.
Sleepy Cave had sent its strongest creations only to be met with failure. It sensed great magical power coming from the old magician and was wary of it. The cave plotted to tire the magician by sending monsters with high magic resistance. The weaknesses of magic users are their weak bodies and Sleepy Cave tried to exploit that. Unfortunately, Merlin wasn't some normal magician. He conjured magic that acted like physical attacks and blasted everything apart.
Sleepy Cave was also frustrated that they didn't leave any corpses behind for it to recycle. The small brunet trailing behind the old mage kept eating them so Sleepy Cave could not resurrect the monsters!
What a huge loss!
Desperate, Sleepy Cave called for the Shadow Ant Army's help. Surely the brunet wouldn't eat insects... the Shadow Ants were monsters known to be crafty. If their queen wasn't taken out, they would continue to attack the enemy with their never-ending numbers. Surely this time, the intruders would die.
Satisfied with its evil plan, Sleepy Cave let the Shadow Ants grow in silence. It didn't want to forcefully kick the intruders out and go into hibernation if it could. That would mean Sleepy Cave had to start all over again collecting energy and trapping souls for energy. It was a painful process and after finally devouring the dragon guarding it, Sleep Cave didn't want to return to the painful days of working for scraps.
The Shadow Ant Queen hid in the boss room chamber as she laid eggs, preparing an army for the unsuspecting intruders. Sleepy Cave distracted the duo with twisting cave mazes and never-ending passages filled with low-level evolved monsters like Carbon Monkfish Warriors only to stall for time when they progressed too quickly.
"Bind!" Zero shouted and made the three Monkfish Warriors snap together under the invisible force. Merlin finished them off with an old-fashioned lightning bolt.
Zero refused to eat the Carbon Monkfish Warriors and Merlin didn't blame him. Firstly, monkfishes didn't look appealing. Secondly, they were literally dead and rotting. It wasn't anything safe for consumption. Lastly, their carbon armour was stuck onto them like scales, impossible to pry off or salvage. Zero couldn't find any good way to eat them so he settled for simply absorbing them and converting them into energy.
Mii had levelled up a lot in various areas with Merlin in the party, much to Zero's elation. Mii's upgraded Encyclopaedia function allowed Zero to tell how strong a new species was. It had ranking and the higher it was, the stronger the monster was. Of course, Mii explained that in addition to the level indicator, it had a rarity index. Rarity index worked like this:
1 Star: Common Grade (aka Trash)
2 Stars: Uncommon Grade (aka Useful Item)
3 Stars: Rare Grade (aka Very Useful Item)
4 Stars: Very Rare Grade (aka Super Useful Item)
5 Stars: Special Grade (aka Unknown Potential Item)
"So anything that is labelled five stars may not always be a five star?"
Mii nodded. "It can be a seven-star or twelve-star grade but since it's a pain to classify it, anything not within one to four will be considered five until after appraisal."
"What's appraisal?"
Mii grinned at Zero. "It's a new skill that's locked for now. However, I do have another skill for party members."
Excited, Zero demanded to know. Mii pulled up a screen and Zero recognised it as a map similar to the application on his communicator.
"This is a party map. It allows any party member to see what you can see on your communicator. Green dots are party members or friendly creatures. Red dots are enemies and yellow ones are unconfirmed non-hostiles."
Merlin looked at the party map in fascination. It was his first time seeing Mii and he found it odd how the strawcherry fairy didn't emit magic. It was an unknown existence just like his student. As Mii explained the functions of the party map, Merlin observed how the number of red dots was growing around them.
"Can we identify what kind of enemies are these red dots?"
Mii shook her head. "Not yet. I still do not have sufficient experience points to do so."
Merlin shrugged. It wasn't important. After all, it was good enough knowing where his enemies were. He didn't need to see them to kill them.
"Are you ready, Zero? It's an all you can eat buffet from now on."
The brunet grinned and patted his stomach. "I'm always ready! Let's hope it will be something yummy."
The wizard chuckled. "One platter of roasted monsters coming right up!"