STGB Episode 513

Natives(1)

“Erwin, cut the rope.”

First, we lowered the corpses to the ground and conducted an examination.

“The wounds are cleanly cut.”

“Judging from the injuries, the weapon was a sword. About this long.”

“Then it’s very likely that this was done by a human.”

The mage and the assassin, both professionals, agreed that the wounds had been caused by a weapon.

“But… aren’t there quite a few monsters that use weapons, too?”

Our sailor, a non-combat class, asked in an innocent voice, but no one on the team believed that monsters had done this.

After all, their bodies were hanging from the trees.

Monsters have never shown this kind of behaviour before, and I’m sure you’ve seen it yourself, Mr Roklov: monsters that go berserk with murderous intent at the sight of explorers show no interest in dead explorers.

“Ah… now that I think about it, that’s true.”

Versil’s explanation was convincing enough for Auyen to agree immediately, and it wasn’t entirely wrong.

But…

“Sigh…what the hell exactly happened here?”

“Who knows? Maybe there was a power struggle within the Silver Lion Clan? Or maybe these people have betrayed someone. But it’s definitely not the work of monsters.”

But we can’t just take Versil’s theory as 100% fact.

There could always be an undiscovered-new monster with unknown habits out there…

“Mental corruption.”

“…Huh?”

“Maybe they were affected by mental corruption. Monsters don’t do such things, but humans driven mad are capable of anything.”

This possibility also clearly exists.

And as the leader, I have no intention of ignoring that possibility.

“Versil, cast the ‘Calm’ spell.”

“Ah… yes!”

So, I took the basic precautions.

We didn’t use the ‘Soul Barrier’ spell, which is the most effective against mental corruption, because it consumes a lot of mana.

“Think you can keep up ‘Calm’ constantly?”

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

Okay, if problems arise later, I’ll issue additional orders then.

I lifted my head and looked up once more to where the bodies were hanging.

Then I asked Misha, who was standing next to me:

“Uh, yes?!”

“What was your first impression when you saw the bodies hanging from the tree?”

“Ah, um… well…? It seemed like a display. As if they were showing off their prey…”

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

“Emily, what about you?”

“More like a threat than a display. The fact that they were right in front of the exit, as if to make a point…”

“Like a warning not to come any further?”

“Exactly.”

Amelia nodded in response.

“And what about you? What did you feel?” Amelia inquired back, curious about my thoughts.

“Same as you. It felt like a warning to me.”

Just as I muttered that, a strange sound came from beside me.

“Ugh.”

“What’s wrong, Misha?”

“Nothing…”

Anyway, the conversation ended there.

I turned my attention away from the corpses.

Whoever left them hanging like that—whether monster or human—there were contradictions in both theories.

But so what.

‘We’ll find out if we go further.’

If you’re curious about the darkness, just go in.

As the old labyrinth saying goes, there are things in this world you can’t learn by just sitting around.

So…

“Let’s move.”

We set out into the jungle, with Auyen drawing a map to help us get a sense of where we were going.

And after some time…

“Ugh! The tree, it moved!”

We finally encountered our first monster on this island.

It wasn’t the ‘Diamont’ that the guys from the Hex Clan told us about.

“A new type of monster.”

Name and rank unknown.

Most likely a plant‑type.

After all, when trees move, they’re almost always classified as plant‑type, not beast‑type or nature‑type.

Whish—!

Its vines whipped around like a lash.

Hmm, is this its basic attack?

Thud—!

Judging from the weight transmitted through my shield, the impact itself wasn’t too strong.

If this was its basic attack, it might be around Level 5.

However, relying solely on that information would be reckless; after all, mage-type monsters are known for their weak basic attacks.

The branches trembled as if fluttering in an autumn breeze, and soon glowing orbs fell along with the leaves. At first, the light orbs were very small, but they quickly grew in size, becoming several times larger by the time they hit the ground.

“It’s summoning Seedria!”

A Level 5 plant-type monster, Seedria.

Small in size and making cute sounds, but it’s a monster that shares the same rank as a troll.

[Beep, beep, beep…!]

If it’s summoning Seedria, that means it must have a summoning-type ability, probably ‘Growing Seeds.

What other skills does it have?

As I was thinking that and taking out the seven summoned Seedrias, it soon revealed its next skill.

Thud, thudthudthud! Thudthudthudthud!

A rapid‑fire barrage of magic orbs, like a machine gun.

It’s Magic Volley, a skill used by Palpupura, a level 4 sea monster.

Chi-i-i-i-ik—!

And that fine-dust like spray must be [Charm Powder].

‘Overall, it’s about borderline Level 4 in difficulty.’

I waited to see if it had any more hidden abilities, but it didn’t use anything else. To be honest, I still had no idea what its passive was. And it felt pointless to drag it out, so I ended the fight there.

Crash—!

The moment I struck with all my might using a hammer, the tree split in half.

“Oh! Did we get it?”

But strangely, the corpse didn’t disappear into light.

What’s going on? Does it have a resurrection‑type passive?

I approached slowly to investigate, and right then—

Kkyu?

A tiny creature scurried out from the hollow of the split tree and started running away when it saw us.

As a veteran Dungeon & Stone player, my instincts kicked in.

“That’s the main body. Erwin, don’t let it get away!”

Before I even finished, Erwin shot her arrow at the fleeing monster.

Whoosh—!

Literally, a firework shot out and exploded.

「You have defeated a Guldar Squirrel.」

When the smoke and dust cleared, there were two things in its place: a magic stone (likely Level 4) and…

「No.9999 Beginner’s Luck has been activated.」

An essence.

***

“What now?”

“What do you mean? It’s a new species. We’ll put the Essence in a test tube and take it back.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Versil immediately headed towards the essence with a test tube, and I was lost in thought for a moment.

“This Essence probably won’t have much use for us.”Amelia muttered.

“True. Whatever passive it holds, it didn’t seem powerful,” Misha added to Amelia’s muttering.

It was a somewhat unfamiliar sight. She’d been silent most of the expedition. ‘Is she finally opening up?’

It wasn’t a proper conversation, but the fact that she wasn’t keeping her mouth shut like before was a positive change. Well, saying that out loud might make the atmosphere awkward.

So I just naturally accepted it.

“It might not necessarily be like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“These types often have their own unique abilities.”

Parasitic monsters can have different skills depending on the host.

Either enhancing the host’s own skills or, perhaps, adding entirely new ones.

“We’ll have to check this one’s abilities at the library later.”

“What about the name?”

“Well, does it matter? The folks who got here first probably already gave it a name.”

“…But we can’t be sure. I’d like to call it ‘Nanari.’”

“All right. Suit yourself.”

From the look of it, if she hadn’t named this one Nanari, she’d end up naming something else Nanari eventually.

“Hmm… Nanari is good, but since it summons Seedrias and uses Palpupura’s abilities, why not call it Seedpupura—”

“Enough.”

Versil, why does she keep doing this?

“This one is Nanari. We’ll call it that until the official name is confirmed.”

I cut her off.

“…Ahem!”

Fortunately, Amelia seemed quite pleased.

‘That’s enough about the naming. We should move on…’

After collecting Nanari’s (temporary) essence, we slowly resumed our exploration.

“…This is a truly bizarre island.”

Auyen was voicing what everyone on the team felt. This place indeed had a creepy aura.

The jungle itself was ordinary, and the darkness was nothing new for seasoned explorers. But the unsettling details made the difference.

“Ugh… I stepped on something again…”

While walking through the bushes, you occasionally step on something.

Something squishy, like mud.

 

When you push aside the foliage to check, you find lumps of flesh from some kind of monster—pieces so mangled it’s hard to tell what part of which species they came from.

“It’s so disgusting. Why the hell is this stuff lying around like this?”

“Well, at least it doesn’t reek. That’s something.”

Of course, this is only about the sense of smell.

Visually, even I found it a bit grotesque. It’s like someone combined different types of monsters, then crushed them all together under a hydraulic press.

‘And why the heck is there an eyeball sticking halfway out right there…?’

We kept finding things like that on the ground and sometimes stuck on trees, scattered at random.

It felt like we’d stumbled into the lair of some crazed alchemist.

As we continued to map and search slowly, it happened.

“Prepare for battle!”

A monster ambushed us from the darkness.

It was ‘Diamont,’ the one we’d heard about before from the Hex Clan.

「You have defeated Diamond.」

It wasn’t a particularly difficult fight, but we spent about forty minutes on it, conducting tests during the battle to gather information.

As a result, I was able to figure out its passive ability.

[Unholy One].

A passive that reduces the maximum number of Essences you can hold by one, but amplifies every active skill you use by 1.5 times.

‘All of its actives were Level 3, so I was pretty excited…’

Who would have thought the passive would be rank 5?

It’s a bit disappointing.

‘If it had a good passive, I could have used it as the graduation essence.’

‘Finding the right combination is really hard even if new ones keep appearing—’

“Mister!”

Just then, Erwin shouted urgently.

Another monster already? We barely had time to rest after the last fight.

I stood up, bracing myself—

“It’s not monsters! They’re people!”

She added crucial information:

“People?”

“Four of them. They’re running fast as if they’re escaping from something…”

“They’re not heading this way. What should we do?”

What to do?

“Let’s go. I’ve been curious about what’s been happening. They arrived on this island before us, so they must know a lot.”

As seasoned explorers, we swiftly packed up and shifted into pursuit formation, with Erwin leading the way.

“We’ll intercept them soon!”

Soon Erwin stopped, and shortly after, explorers appeared from beyond the bushes.

“Uh…!”

Gasping for breath, they showed a complicated mix of emotions on their faces.

“Baron Jandel…?”

Confusion, wariness, surprise, relief, hope…

A flurry of emotions in an instant.

But soon they came to their senses.

“W-We’re saved!”
“Please… help us!”

The explorers, without asking why we were here, threw down their weapons and ran towards us—exactly the type I can’t stand.

I mean, I get that they’re relieved, but there’s a proper way to handle things.

“What were you running from?”

“Ah… Ah… A monster! One that lives on this island…!”

“Is it chasing you? I don’t sense anything.”

“…We, we were captured by the monsters’ village and barely escaped. We thought they might be chasing us…”

Now that I had the information I needed, I relaxed my firm grip on his shoulder.

“It seems there are no monsters nearby, but keep your guard up.”

No need to relax completely; we switched from combat to alert mode. Then, I handed the explorers a glass of water.

And as soon as they finished drinking, I bombarded them with questions.

To be honest, there was something that made me tilt my head in confusion as soon as I heard it earlier.

“If you’ve calmed down, tell me now. What do you mean by a village?”

“I-It’s exactly as it sounds. It’s a village of monsters that live on this island…”

“You mean a colony?”

“N-no, it’s different from that. We’re not sure how to explain it either, but…”

The explorer, still disoriented, stammered. The woman next to him spoke up in his place.

“Baron, those monsters were completely different from ordinary ones.”

“How so?”

“First of all, they communicated using a clear language system. The mage said it seemed like they were using an ancient language… Oh, oh! But that’s not the important part.”

The woman shook her head and continued.

“The village where we were held captive was truly enormous. There were houses where countless monsters lived… and on the streets, there were children, families…”

“…”

“It was as if they were natives who had settled here and were living their lives…”

Natives, huh…

That was quite an interesting story.

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