860 Half-Human, Half-Crab
Here I am, inside a dungeon at the bottom of the ocean. Standing on top of corpses of fishes and monsters that have fallen down, surrounded by monsters that I see for the first time.
They’re all humanoid. Very similar to a human except for a pair of extra arms coming out of their shoulders. And those are not hands. But claws like that of a crab.
And they can easily cut the bones of a monster easily with those claws. And unlike humans who only have one elbow on each arms, at least normal humans, they have several elbows. Some have five, and some have three. My guess is that the older they are, the more joint they have.
With those joints, even though those claws are on their shoulder, they can move them freely. And the more joints, the more versatile they are in their claws’ movement. I think. I haven’t seen them fight yet.
They have males and females. They are not wearing anything except for some kind of shells covering their important part of their body. For the males, the shells only cover their legs below the waist. For the female, other than the shells below their waist, they have shells covering their chest.
And after I called out to them, they can summon those shells at will. So now, most of them are being wary of me as I can see them covering almost their whole body with a thick shell like a crab.
Between their shells protecting their body, and Jewel’s thick rhino’s skin, I wonder which one is stronger.
If these creatures have strong defense, then I’m thinking of taking one of them to be my familiar. Because my familiars other than Victoria are not specialized for defense.
Victoria is useful with her transformation skill and her cloning skill. And she can also fight on her own depend on the situation.
.....
Shelia is great at fighting. Leave her alone being surrounded by enemies, then she will be happy. Though I hope the enemies won’t be too strong or she will fight until she dies.
Graham is good at fighting as well. And he can use his shadow clones to fight. But he’s best at healing. Well, I think he’s around Kayla’s level at healing. Not at master level yet.
Ray is more like a ride and a support as I or anyone who is riding or touching him will be able to restore their mana and even Aura. With him, Victoria can fight using Aura.
And now, if I can have one of these monsters that I don’t know what they’re called, then I will have someone who can defend well. But that’s depend on how good they are in fighting.
Let’s see what will happen from now.
“Hello, my name is Roy. I came in peace!” I said to those monsters who have gotten closer to me.
It’s dark. Because we’re at the bottom of the sea. But for some reason, I can see some kind of light far from here.
There must be some kind of plants that can illuminate those areas. Just like in some dungeons I have been gone to.
One of them, fully covered in shell armor, approached me. He should be the leader of the group.
By the way, I have removed my magic armor. I’m just standing there with my shorts as swimsuit. I should have grabbed some clothes and change before I greeted them. But it’s fine like this.
“Who are you? How are fine after that fall?” he asked.
“Well, I can fly. Though that’s not how I landed here safely. But yeah, I can fly,” I replied.
We talked but they don’t seem to be putting their guard down. Just some light greetings.
“Is this a dungeon?” I asked.
“I don’t know what a dungeon is. We have been in this place for as long as we remember it. Though one of the oldest among us told us that they used to live above, but they fell down and unable to leave. So we know nothing about the outside world,” he replied.
I see. So in the past, a lot of their kind fell into the dungeon. Should I ask how long ago it was?
Well, I don’t think they know how long it has been. There’s no light to tell the time.
And maybe there’s no other way to escape from this place other than where I entered from. And since they can’t fly, they had no choice but to stay here and breed. That’s why so many of them don’t know how they get here. And they don’t even know that this is a dungeon.
As I was thinking of what I’m going to ask next, someone came over and shouted something.
“It’s here! That monster has respawned!”
“Really? Let’s kill it then!”
Respawned? As expected, this is a dungeon where monsters can respawn after their death. But monsters from dungeons usually disappear. I guess that’s why they came here and eat from whatever fell down to the dungeon.
“Wait, what about him?” someone asked.
Then everyone stopped and looked at me.
“It seems like it’s quite important for you. Can I follow you and see what you’re going to do?” I asked.
“...Fine. But we will keep watching you,” the leader said.
“By the way, what kind of race are you?” I asked again.
“We are called Kreiyb. I don’t know where that name came from, but that’s what our elders used to call us,” he said.
Kreiyb? As in saying crab in an accent? Something has worse naming sense than me.
“Is there anyone who remembered when your kind fell down to this place?” I asked.
“No. All of them died a long time ago. Those who are alive here were born in this place.”
No one has ever left this place? Then this could be a problem.
If they are satisfied with their lives here, then I can’t ask them to get out of here and live somewhere else. But if they have the slightest bit of curiosity, then I might be able to do it.
Asking someone to be my familiar, then get them all out of this place.
I’ll do that later. For now, it seems like they are going to fight something. I’ll see how well they can fight, then I will decide what to do.
Though they seem to still be hostile toward me. But they are still curious at someone who is still alive after a fall from such heights. So I guess they have curiosity.
Even if they are not good enough to be my familiar, I will still ask them if they want to leave this place. Maybe they will help us.
For now, I need to see for myself what kind of monsters they are.
I followed them entering a cave where some algae on the wall and the ceilings illuminate the place. It’s bright here.
With my Divine Vision, I can’t see far. But from what I can see, this place seem to be huge. But there’s no monsters other than these Kreiybs. I guess they defeated them all.
And now, one of the monsters from the dungeon respawned. And they will fight that one.
...How is there a spider monster in this place? This is underwater!
The enemy they are talking is giant spider. It’s so big that if I didn’t use Air Barrier to cover Victoria, her scream could be heard by everyone here.
Why is she scared of spiders? We fought even more disgusting monsters together.
“Kill it!” the leader said.
Now, let’s see how they fight.
All of them covered their body with shells. They can freely make those shells appear and disappear.
Their physical strength is quite good. They are about as strong as the werewolves. But they are slower. Though their defenses are stronger.
And their attack were quite strong as well. I feel like just a punch from the leader, a normal punch with his fist and not his claw, it could hurt me who is protected by Aura. That’s about the same strength as Shelia. Though she rarely used her fists in a fight. She has long nails after all. And she used them instead of fists.
These crabs, I mean Kreiybs, mainly used their four arms to attack. Their claws are so strong and so sharp. I bet the other monsters want to fight them no matter what.
But the spider is so strong. It took a lot of their effort to just cut down one of its legs.
They should have a lot of experience defeating that thing, right? Then shouldn’t they know how to defeat them?
The spider is quick. If that spider jumped to the wall or the ceilings, the Kreiybs won’t be able to do anything since they can’t fly. That’s why they surrounded that spider before the fight so it won’t try to escape to the wall or the ceiling.
Many of the Kreiybs got their shells destroyed. When I asked some who are taking a break, they said that those shells will recover with time as long as they are alive. So it’s fine if they break.
Seems like it will be some time until we can chat more. I guess I’ll help them.
“Hey! I’ll take care of three of its legs!” I shouted.
“You?! Whatever. I don’t want anyone here to die. So please help us!” the leader said.
The spider’s although its legs are thin compared to its body, it’s quite durable that even the Kreiybs’ claws have to attack it many times before the leg got cut off.
But if I put enough Aura into Victokatana, cutting them in one slash won’t be that hard.
And so, I joined the battle. Only for me to cut down three legs with one slash each, and leave the battle.
With this, they should be able to handle it. If not, I will be disappointed.