NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43: Drake Water
Brod nodded and told Dyne that this would surely tempt many into betraying their current village as the current setup gives them very small chances of evolving.
Dyne’s pale expression remained, but a wide smile was plastered on his face.
“Very interesting. It looks like soon, I'll have my grasps on that Gobu Gobu village and get my hands on that Evil God Icon!” Dyne laughed excitedly.
Dyne tried to stand up but realized he was too weak.
“Ugh... It looks like I need to rest. Let's see... That room should do it. How was it that that room can allow Vahn to recover in this castle? But first, we’ll need to taste that Drake Water.” Dyne arranged his plan.
After using two Incense on everyone, Dyne began to move out. He was seated on top of Number 1, and the group moved out once more.
As before, the monsters and the Gimards ignored Dyne and his team. Dyne rushed towards the gate's entrance.
“If this is the stage now, I wonder how strong the Boss is? I think Caruban would be far scarier than imagined. I must prepare.” Dyne calculated in his head as he counted the number of creatures inside.
As they went inside, they found a rare Seru that stood above all the other Gimards.
“Gimard Level 2.” Dyne spotted the creature. Luckily, this Seru ignored the group.
A Gimard Level 2 was a common Seru monster that would appear later in the game. But this creature shouldn’t appear on this side of Drake Castle. Yet there it was.
Dyne guessed that just like the Gobu Gobu, who wanted to kill Gimards, the Gimards also sought to kill monsters to reach this level.
“Are they after the Evil God Icon?” Dyne guessed, but then Dyne decided to throw it aside. Since he couldn’t figure it out now, he best ignored it.
They moved deeper into the entrance of the large castle. The entrance of the castle was practically the same as it was in the game. Dyne sighed in relief.
“Thank goodness the main chambers headed to the throne are still the same. Otherwise, it would take hours to find that room!” Dyne sighed.
The main entrance had a large staircase that led upwards.
At the floor of the entrance were two canals full of rushing water.
Dyne urged the group to move nearby one of the canals, took his jar, and filled it with water.
“This has got to be Drake Water. But why couldn’t it heal Vahn in the game?” Dyne wondered.
Casting his worries aside, Dyne began to drink the water.
Dyne felt that while his body didn’t recover, his soul recovered.
The mental stress of his soul became lighter as he felt parts of his soul recovering.
There was a strange healing effect on Dyne’s body as the water surged in.
“Soul energy!” Dyne noticed it.
Immediately he began to channel the soul energy that the Drake Water gave and allowed it to replenish him.
“This is great! It's much better than the water at Hunter Springs!” Dyne was so excited that he could leap for joy.
His soul's recovery allowed him to recover that Dyne even allowed his mind and soul barriers to come down and see if he would succumb to the Mist.
Nothing occurred. He could still feel the Mist slowly affecting him, but the previously built-up pressure and effects of the Mist were gone!
“I can do it! I can do it now!” Dyne realized that with this water, he could move on to the next leg of his journey.
“Number 1, what of the Hunters? Are they done Hunting? I need you to send your clones here!”
Number 1 nodded and sent a soul message back, reporting what the Hunters did.
Dyne’s previous joyous expression stiffened, and it turned to shock.
“They have three Gobu Gobu and three more slimes?!” Dyne was so startled that he shouted. Halfway through it, he covered his mouth and glanced at the other sides of the room.
The nearby monsters and the Seru glanced back at Dyne but ignored them.
Dyne sighed.
“What do you mean three Gobu Gobu and three Slimes?!” Dyne was shocked.
Number 1 explained that the Hunters had captured three Gobu Gobu, who each had a Slime.
“Hunters asked me. Teach them Gobu Gobu.” Bertugo explained.
“What?”
Bertugo nodded.
“They ask words and meanings.” Bertugo explained.
“When did this happen?”
“Night at Hunter Springs.”
“Alright... So they must have basic communication skills. They must have written it down. But I'm surprised that they already caught so many Gobu Gobu. How did they do that?”
“Training. Hunters train and fight me to catch me.”
“You mean they trained and fought you as if they were trying to catch a Gobu Gobu?”
Bertugo nodded.
“Why didn’t they tell me about it?”
“Hunters say you have many plates. They want help, so they train.”
“Wow. They really said that I have too much on my plate? I mean... I just... Wow. Alright, fine.” Dyne was touched at the Hunter’s efforts.
“With a group like that, this game will surely be a lot easier! This makes it a lot better. Number 1, have your clones merge and come here. Follow the river just like you did with Bertugo. Make your clones wait at the dam.” Dyne gave his instructions.
“Before running out, write this down on the ground or anywhere they can see.”
Dyne wrote on the dust of the walls.
“Need my Slimes. He told me what you were up to. I will be back soon. Tell the Gobu Gobu’s you caught Sagak magak kagak yogak sagak agak mingak. Gagak wagak nagak mingak kagak yogak Gomboo. P.S. And thank you for your efforts. I really appreciate it. <3”
The Slime nodded and began to do so.
Somewhere near south of the Hunter Springs, the Hunters began to move.
The Jars they had were all being carried by the Slimes they caught.
Several Gobu Gobus were tied in thick ropes as they followed the Hunters.
The Gobu Gobus that were captured all had a strange expression. The Hunters kept trying to talk to them and wanted to learn many of the words they couldn’t understand.
As they traveled, an even weirder thing occurred as the Evil Flys they killed were offered to the Gobu Gobu for experience.
The Gobu Gobu wondered. These humans used to flee at the very sight of them, but now, not only were they not afraid, their teamwork was excellent! And they casually talked to them without fear and worry.
One of the Gobu Gobu actually leveled up in the process, and the two others were nearing level up.
The return trip was full of laughs and joy. Suddenly, three of the leading Slimes moved and slowly brought Val down.
The three merged into one, and the merging shocked the Gobu Gobu. They have never seen such a powerful Slime before. They knew that all three of them couldn’t kill that Slime!
The hunters saw what was happening and were amazed.
“That Dyne really knows how to keep surprising us! He was watching after us the whole time!” One of the Hunters exclaimed.
Rei read the words and turned to the Gobu Gobus.
“Sagak magak kagak yogak sagak agak mingak. Gagak wagak nagak mingak kagak yogak Gomboo. P.S. And thank you for your efforts. I really appreciate it.” After that, Rei made a heart sign with his hands.
“Are you an idiot, Rei? Obviously, that last part was for us!” Esto cursed, and the hunters laughed.
The Gobu Gobus was startled at those words.
“Togak Togak ogak?” One of them asked.
One of the hunters went back to his notes and found that phrase.
“He’s asking if it’s true.”
Rei nodded.
“Igak sagak Gomboo kagak egak bigak gangak.” The hunter then read his notes and answered back.
The Gobu Gobu was startled and glanced at each other. The strange things that Rim Elm showed them made them more interested.
Val rode one of the other Slimes as the Hunters carried the urns.
Slimey began to move and left the group as the Hunters waved goodbye.
The Gobu Gobu’s couldn’t understand where that Slime was going. But seeing the confident faces of the hunters, they knew that Slime would go back.
The Hunters began to ask the Gobu Gobu to command the Slime to do the same thing that the Slime did when carrying Val.
A while later, Val was seated on one of the captured Slimes. Unlike Dyne’s Slime, the Slime couldn’t move anymore, and the Hunters had to remove the jars inside and carried them.
“Ugh. I can’t believe I’m carrying this again.” The assigned hunter sighed.
“Come on! Soon we won’t be! But we should do this as part of our tradition!”
“Right! Let’s make a water jar carrying race in Rim Elm when we get back! Just for us to remember how bad we had it back then!” Juno cheered.
Back at Drake Castle...
Dyne led his crew up the staircases after drawing more water and putting it in the jar.
He knew the game, and he knew that the doors leading to the higher levels of the castle couldn’t be opened unless they had certain keys found on the nearby rooms.
Dyne was astounded as they reached the second floor and found a massive amount of Gimards sleeping.
But as they ignored Dyne, they moved cautiously and went towards the nearby room. He remembered that in the game, this is where the Sunrise Key was. As they entered, Dyne saw the possessed humans for the first time.
