Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (45 page)

After the bright flash of light disappeared, it was revealed that the Draugen's life bar only had (325,000/1,000,000 HP) left.
With the Draugen temporarily paralyzed, Smoke yelled out to his sea comrades. "Calamar, Requin, Cornu, finish it!"
The three sea creatures dove in after the Draugen, and prevented the sea monster from submerging away from them.
Through their joint efforts, the Draugen's body was forcibly revealed above water. Smoke quickly let out Igniz from his secret compartment. Equipped with his power chainsaw bow, the two of them showered their fire power on it.
The injured bull sharks mercilessly slashed their horns against the Draugen's scales, greatly reducing its defense and exposing its soft flesh to Smoke and Igniz.
The DarkElf and his symbiote efficiently targeted the injured areas and piled on the damage as the two of them remained in the safety of the skies.
Whereas, Calamar tangled all of its tentacles around the wide girth of the sea monster's body. Hundreds of small sharp-toothed mouths continuously gnawed on the ganged up Draugen.
Rapidly, the sea monster's life bar was being reduced to less than 2%. Yet, before they could finish it off, the Draugen let out a final hail storm.
The large chunks of ice pelted on Smoke, Igniz, Calamar, Requin, and Cornu. All of them were forced to stop their attacks.
Freed from Calamar's tentacles, the Draugen desperately dove down to escape from them. However, Calamar's long arms grabbed a hold of the escaping sea monster.
Calamar's dozens of jagged-teeth mouths drained the last remaining hit points from the Draugen. Finally, ending its reign of terror over the southern seas of Wysteria.
 

* * * * * * 

Smoke comfortably sat on top of Calamar's head. His mini-map indicated no close islands within gliding range by his Wings of Cologus.
Luckily, his friend from Saruras Lake offered to take him. Cornu and Requin, the twin bull sharks underlings of Calamar, followed them as well.
"So, you spotted me the whole time I was on the ship?" Smoke asked Calamar.
"GRAK GRAK GRAK GRAAKK GRAAAAK," was Calamar's only response.
Smoke surmised that the colossal squid was pleased to see him.
'It sure was a good thing I helped it escape that lake,' thought a pleased Smoke to himself.
"Say, do you mind taking me to Sawtorn?" daringly asked Smoke. "I'm not sure how far it is, but it should only probably take you a week—"
The DarkElf stopped talking as a tentacle grabbed him by the legs and ruthlessly plunged him deep into the water.
Smoke could do nothing below, and frantically tapped on Calamar's squishy arms as he begged for air.
The colossal squid pulled him out the water, and placed him back on its head.
"Okay, okay. A simple no would have sufficed," said Smoke between deep breaths as his lungs longed for oxygen.
"I don't suppose you could track down the ship I was on?" asked Smoke.
Calamar nor the two bull sharks did not respond to him in any way.
Smoke tried communicating with his three aquatic friends, but none of them answered to him.
Then, after an hour of swimming, Smoke saw a large island filled with green trees. He quickly checked his map to see what it was, but was surprised to see nothing reflected on his screen.
"Hey, do you know this place?" Smoke questioned Calamar.
"Ummuuuum muuuu," replied Calamar, and its tentacles formed like a shrugging shoulder.
Smoke let out a deep sigh. "Alright, maybe I can find a boat or somebody who could help me get to Sawtorn," he said to himself out loud.
Calamar brought Smoke as close to the shore as its body would allow, and its tentacles brought him to the sandy beach even closer.
As soon as Smoke and Igniz entered the island's territory, a notification window popped up.
 

"This place doesn't look so bad," said Smoke to Igniz. He then turned to Calamar, Requin, and Cornu and waved at them gratefully.
"Thanks for all the help!" yelled Smoke as his aquatic friends were now far from the shore. "I hope I'll see you guys again."
Facing the island, he found the trees to be wider than they looked. He took out his power chainsaw bow as a precautionary measure, and began to explore the unknown land.
His Cunning of the Dire Fox could not sense any monster larger than a meter in the immediate area. The largest monsters living here were only iguanas, gambian rats, and sea hawks. The rest were small insects that gave no threat to him at all.
"Be on the look out," he calmly said to Igniz, still vigilant despite the lack of dangerous monsters.
Searching for any semblance of intelligent life forms, Smoke decided to take to the skies.
The island was much larger than he anticipated. The bountiful trees that greeted him on the beach extended throughout the entire atoll.
Even while gliding, he still could not see where the island ended.
After flying for ten minutes, he finally spotted a clearing. Upon further inspection with his Telefax Vision, he discovered that it was a small village. It was surrounded by a thick wooden wall made of stitched up trunks.
Learning from his experience, Smoke landed some distance away from it for safety reasons.
"Time to hide, Igniz," said Smoke to his symbiote, and the dark ember sprite obediently followed his orders.
Switching to his brown-coated staff, Smoke ventured towards the village disguised as Faux, the Earth Elementalist.
When he was only a few meters away, he was spotted by one of the village sentries.
"Intruder! Intruder!" yelled a female villager, on guard duty.
At once, the wooden gate was closed. Smoke cautiously continued moving forward, prepared at any moment to put up his Manatl.
"Hello!" yelled out Smoke. "I mean you no harm. I'm alone and got marooned on your lovely island."
As soon as he finished saying he was alone, he regretted it.
'Now, the villagers are probably thinking of attacking me,' thought a perturbed Smoke.
"Yeah, sure you are!" shouted another girl on the wall. "The moment we open our gates, the rest of your crew will come in and attack us."
"No, no, no. I swear," explained Smoke. "Here, you can have this as a token of my sincerity." He hurriedly took out one of Prosjak's jewels and offered it to them.
"What are we supposed to do with a shiny rock?" asked the first guard. "We have thousands of those scattered inside Mount Luzid."
'Is it possible that these people have no idea how valuable these gems are?' wondered Smoke to himself.
"How about this?" he asked, as he tried to take out a stone deer's leg from his bag, several crude arrows came flying towards him.
Smoke reflexively used his Hyper Jump ability and leapt backwards.
"Hey, hey, relax," said Smoke as he raised both his hands. The leg of the stone deer was exposed for all of the resident guards to see.
"What kind of meat is that? I've never seen gambian rats that big," said a male guard.
"This is a leg of a stone deer," began Smoke. "It's a monster that lives on the continent of Wysteria."
"Wysteria? Never heard of it," stated the first guard, who spotted him. "Let me inform the chief about this."
The female guard disappeared, and Smoke remained standing where he was until she returned ten minutes later.
Then, a well-built middle-aged man appeared on top of the walls.
"I am Blöd Mensch. Chief of Schmucklos Village," said the middle-aged man. His face looked troubled as he stared at Smoke. "Forgive my rudeness, but why do you have purple skin?"
"That's because I'm a DarkElf," he answered quickly. "But is this really Schmucklos Village?" asked a surprised Smoke.
"Yes, yes it is," proudly said Blöd. "Have you heard of us?" He got excited at the fact that Smoke asked about their village, clearly forgetting about his skin color.
"Um. No, it's just that your village sounds really... interesting," said Smoke with a straight face as he tried to suppress his laughter.
Due to Smoke's shown interest on their village, Blöd appeared to reciprocate the same on him.
"Let him in, Schön," said Blöd to the first guard who greeted Smoke.
The moment Smoke passed through the village gates, a notification window popped up.
 

"Now, I presume that stone deer leg is for us?" asked Blöd as he welcomed Smoke.
"Yes, it is," replied Smoke with a smile and handed it to them.
Blöd eagerly took it, and took a whiff of the raw meat. "Hm. Smells a bit funny."
"By the way, what was your name again?" asked the village Chief.
"My name is Faux," answered Smoke, and gave him a small bow.
"Well, Faux, since this is our first time seeing this," said Blöd pointing to the stone deer leg. "Perhaps you can also show us how to cook it? Which is perfectly in time for supper."
"Certainly, I'd be happy to," said Smoke and accepted the leg again.
He was led a few meters into what appeared to be the center of Schmucklos Village.
"Wait here while we gather the rest of the village," said the old chief.
Those who were already there, placed several torches, and put up tables and chairs for the arriving residents.
It only took a few minutes for every villager to be gathered. As soon as all one hundred forty of them were assembled, Smoke immediately noticed that they were mostly composed of females. He estimated the ratio to be at least four to one.
He would have wanted to know more about it, but decided not to ask.
Then, Blöd gathered the crowd's attention.
"Everyone, a new friend has arrived from the land we only thought of as a myth," began the chief. "Faux has brought us a delectable dish from Wysteria."
Looking at the populace, he realized that one leg was not enough to feed all of them. He whole-heartedly prepared four more deer legs for them.
He dazzled them with his fast Cooking ability. He minced the vegetables and spices that he needed to grill the deer. Aided by Igniz sporadically heating up the flames, he finished the dish in less than twenty minutes.
After slicing up the meat and serving them to the masses, Smoke started talking to Blöd in order to raise his Intimacy with him.
"How do you like it?" asked Smoke as he sat next to the middle-aged man.
"It is really juicy. Much juicier from the dead carcass of the gambian rats," Blöd replied promptly.
"And what kind of food do you usually eat here?" politely asked Smoke.
"Well, we mostly pick the fruits from the trees outside, and sometimes we come across dead gambian rats and grill them," answered Blöd.
"What about fishing? Do you have any fishing boats?" probed Smoke as he searched for a way off of the island.
"Well, there are a few of us who like to go to the shore and spear fish, but with so few men around, we do not go there as often," explained Blöd. "Also, we have to stay here and defend our people."
"Huh? Defend them from what? Are there other monsters on this island?" questioned Smoke, intrigued.
"Calling them monsters would be an understatement," spewed out Blöd. "Once a week, they come here by the hundreds, equipped with sharp swords and thick armors. There is no way for us to fight them off."
Smoke stood up and briefly inspected their village walls. "But there doesn't seem to be any signs of struggle on your walls?"
"Well, that is probably because they are amazing climbers," explained Blöd.
"Exactly what kind of monsters are they?" asked Smoke.
"Iguarats!" exclaimed Blöd. "They look like the unlawful offspring of the iguanas and the gambian rats. Although, they are only a meter tall, they possess great speed, sharp claws, and deadly cunning. They loyally serve their Queen, Gehirnwäsche."
Smoke gave him a sympathetic look, and studied the village walls. "And what do these Iguarats do when they attack?"
"They loot the fruits that we've gathered. Even the rotting carcass of the gambian rats," responded Blöd.
"What day did you say they attack again?" asked Smoke. He looked up and saw the bright moon already in the sky. He was busy preparing the villagers their first decent carnivorous dish that he failed to notice it had grown late into the night.
"Monday. A few minutes before the sun rises," replied Blöd.
"Maybe I could help you against them as well," offered Smoke. "If you don't mind. I'd like to stay in your village and defend it."
"Really? You would do that for us?" Blöd's voice cracked. "But you just met us today?"
"My grandmother always told me, a stranger is just a friend you haven't met," began Smoke. "And I've already met you. So, please, let me do this for you."
"If you're really sure about this, then I would gladly welcome it," responded Blöd.
Unexpectedly, a notification window popped up.