Nyx looked at the atmosphere between Luna and Horo and narrowed her eyes, covering her mouth and letting out a faint noise.
"Oho~? I see..I see~"
Horo immediately snapped with a faint blush on his face, clearly embarrassed at the insinuation that Nyx was casually implying. Luna too had gone a little red in the face, her eyes radiating murderous intent as she glared at Nyx, quietly daring her to say another word.
Despite that, Nyx seemed unphased and was poised to open up her mouth to say something again when Leo desperately interjected.
"OKAY! Lets get back to the task at hand. Exploring the dungeon. Sonata, are you good on mana?"
Sonata was taken aback by Leo's sudden shout but quickly followed up with a quick affirmative nod and smile. She was getting used to the chaos
"What about you Lily?"
Lily nodded too and from her cleavage, Moku let out a soft squeak
"Moku says he is ready too~!"
Leo didn't know where to look so he just nodded his head awkwardly
"Uh-huh. Sis? Horo? You guys good to go?"
Luna, still a little red in the face, crossed her arms and huffed, clearly trying to regain her composure. She gave a curt nod, her voice a little too sharp.
"I'm fine. Let's move."
Horo grumbled something under his breath, brushing a hand through his bangs as if to hide the blush still lingering on his cheeks. He adjusted his gear with a bit more force than necessary before muttering:
Nyx, absolutely thriving in the tension, gave Leo a mischievous grin but finally held her tongue—for now. Her tail swished lazily behind her as she strolled ahead, acting like nothing had happened.
"Dungeon time it is~ Let's see what kind of trouble we can find~"
Leo let out a slow, silent breath of relief as the party finally started moving forward. He glanced down at Moku, who was now peeking curiously out of Lily's neckline as she passed him by with sparkling eyes.
Leo blinked before he turned his head away again.
'The lil guy is getting way too comfortable there'
Moku just tilted his head and squeaked again.
The march through the cave was uneventful, speckled with encountering a wandering kobold or wolf who disappeared into smoke once defeated. Strangely enough, there were no notifications when the monsters were defeated.
Luna had a frown on her face as she weighed the axe in her hand. She turned to Leo, Horo and Nyx who were floating equally confused expressions.
"Is it just me or are these monsters...."
"Yeah it feels like these monsters are incorporeal...like ghosts"
Horo also chimed in but Nyx shook her head at his words.
"Definitely not shadows. If they were, I would have felt it. This feels like closer to illusions"
Lily looked down and saw that Moku was trembling....as if he was afraid.
"Whats wrong my baby~? Are you scared of the big doggies?"
Lily cooed trying to comfort Moku but it was to no avail. When Horo turned to look at Moku, his eyes grew wide with shock, he frantically shouted
Before he threw his dagger in her direction. Panicking, Lily did as she was told and ducked into a crouch, while she held her hands to her head. She felt a gust of wind pass over her head before a loud clang.
Turning her head upwards, she saw that Horo's knife had been parried by an even bigger knife, wielded by a massive but terribly thin kobold. The gaunt expression on its face showed a trace of irritation at the fact that it's assassination attempt had failed.
She shouted in pure confusion, forgetting to stand as she frantically crawled away from where she had just been.
"This fucker was invisible! I could only see it because of it's heat signature!"
Horo explained as he tugged on his wire thread, retrieving his deflected dagger with relative ease. If it hadn't been for Horo's innate set of eyes, Lily might have died without knowing what happened.
Horo quickly cast Appraisal on the monster in front of him as before everyone's eyes except him, the Kobold faded from view.
BOSS : Genkiba- The Phantom Fang
Skills: Illusion Creation, Phantom Coat, Presence Detection, Backstab, Decapitate, Summon Phantoms, Lacerate, Blink
Note: Genkiba is the 3rd of the Four Successors. While it has increased Attack capabilities, it has traded everything else in exchange for it. In order to compensate for its apparent weaknesses, Genkiba has been trained in the art of illusions and stealth. It uses its illusion abilities to rudimentarily hide its presence from sight.
Luna's gaze faltered as she looked around yet was unable to see where the monster had gone.
"Where did it go? Horo! Point me in the right direction"
Horo in turn was about to say he was right in front of him but when he blinked, the monster disappeared even from his own sight.
"I don't know! He just disappeared! He is...Shit!"
A chill ran down his spine as he realized that the monster had appeared behind his own back. He ducked before he could say anything. Nyx seemed to understand what he was saying and swung her staff where Horo's head used to be. There was an audible thud as she felt her staff hit something and the feeling of something like bone cracking was felt through the staff.
There was a low rumbling screech of pain yet Nyx still felt wildly uncomfortable. The monster still hadn't dropped its invisibility.
"I have to say I really don't !"
Nyx complained as she swung her staff again but this time she hit nothing.
"Damn it's on the move again! Horo tell us where it is!"
Upon hearing her name, Sonata dove to the side as a gust of hot wind scorched her cheek. While not taking a direct hit, she felt just how close she had been to an instant death. However as soon as she dodged, Luna dove in, swinging her axe in a heavy chop.
With an audible crunch, an emancipated and fur covered arm fell to the ground. Its claws were brandished yet there was no blood dripping from the severed limb.
"Ugh. That's creepy.."
Lily remarked as she felt her stomach churn slightly looking at the grotesque limb. However she didn't have much time to dwell on it as Moku let out a loud cry
From his open mouth, a small seed was spat out, landing a foot or two in front of her.
Pet Moku has used the Skill [Seed Creation]
Pet Moku has created: Snare Vine
Lily's eyes widened as she stared at the notification for a moment before picking up the seed. It appeared that Moku had come up with a way to deal with the boss.
Lily shouted while everyone was both confused and a little terrified