Chapter Text
Breathing hard, Dokja leans against the cave wall. Seriously, he’d increased his stamina for what?
Sooyoung catapults down from deeper in the cave, dragging a semi-lucid Sangah; somehow with both care and speed.
“YOU UGLY BASTARD!” She yells. Except she’s slightly out of breath, so it comes out ‘YAH UGGY BASTAAARR!’. Dokja gets the gist, he really does, but he’s too tired to care, so just holds up his hand in a placating gesture, nodding, whilst Sooyoung continues to ricochet toward him.
Sooyoung, and Sangah as a result, barrels into him. They all heave on the floor for the moment, like wriggling, wrestling worms. Then, upon hearing pattering of many legs from the cave opening behind them, Sooyoung and Dokja freeze. Sooyoung blinks at him, Dokja blinks back. Sangah collapses more completely on the floor, mumbling something about colouring books. Or maybe coloured books. Dokja really doesn’t have the brain space to comprehend.
He’s trying to formulate a plan that ideally won’t involve Sangah or Sooyoung’s death.
[Constellation Demon-Like Judge of Fire is nervous]
[Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Demon is looking forward to the blood shed]
[Constellation Secretive Plotter has gleaming eyes in anticipation of Incarnation ‘Kim Dokja’’s plan]
[Constellations who don’t like reptiles are looking forward]
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“If you sacrifice yourself again you squid, I am hand-feeding your liver to that eight legged lizard monster and shitting on your grave. ” Sooyoung said gravely, pushing a boulder over the cave opening as subtly as possible.
Ahh scratch that then. Dokja knows she absolutely would do as she threatens, the wild cretin she is. A plan that ideally won’t involve him digging himself out of Sooyoung’s shit would be great.
The pattering of feet is closer, but has briefly stopped to sniff the environment. He can hear wet snuffling. Sooyoung has managed to heave the boulder into the gap with a heave and a worrying crack, but thankfully the monster inside doesn’t seem to have noticed.
The Beithir. An eight legged cave dwelling giant lizard with a voracious, carnivorous diet. Fortunately, a beast with a poor sense of hearing and sight. Unfortunately a beast with excellent smell. It was mentioned very briefly in TWSA. In is 187th regression, Joonghyuk had slayed one by stabbing it in the neck.
Unusually for the novel, this was a fight with not a lot of detail. The methodology, the philosophy of Joonghyuk unfortunately was like a freight train.
Fight. Loose, regress. Fight. Win, next fight.
Usually Dokja could rely on the repetitions of a fight garnering up information, but the Beithir was a strange creature in that Joonghyuk had only fought it once, when taking a strange detour, and one that Joonghyuk had defeated at once. However, upon finding that this strange detour was actually not helpful, and a waste of tim; Joonghyuk, master of efficiency had cut it out, and thus the Beither was never seen again. Until now. Damn the protagonist and all this stupid tendencies. The sniffling was drawing yet closer. Dokja has an idea. The metaphorical light bulb, yadah yadah. He shoves Sooyoung, Sangah and himself into a near by bush.
Sooyoung is about three seconds away from biting him. Not metaphorically. Actually biting. Owchy. Dokja can see it in her eyes. He feels a bit scared, to be honest.
[Constellation Prisoner of the Golden headband is picking his nose]
Great to know, Sun Wukong.
Dokja opens his inventory, scrolling down. Gosh, he’s got a lot in there. He is a hoarder, through and through. There must be something… Aha! He has an idea.
Here’s the gist. Sooyoung, in her usual impulsivity and general idiocy had decided it would be a Very Good Idea (TM) to abandon the rest of their crew (Group? Gang? Milita? Random assortment of people? Maybe-friends? - Dokja isn’t sure what to call them) overnight upon discovering that Yoo Sangah was missing. Dokja, being the chronic insomniac that he was had found her attempting to clamber out of the camp, and followed her. One thing had lead to another, and eventually they were running away from this giant lizard-spider thing. What a life ey?
Dokja has spotted Elder Dew Funk-berry in his inventory. A very foul smelling reddish berry with white spots with immense power as a component of a healing potion (his purpose for buying them) or as a bone liquifying agent when eaten raw (something which he had to remind himself often, was probably not a good idea to inflict the protagonist with). He pulled it out of the inventory, and both he and Sooyoung wrinkled noses.
[Constellation Secretive Plotter is smiling knowingly]
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“Yeurgh” says Sooyoung, eloquently.
Sangah, still half-conscious, lifts her head weakly.
“Are we… talking about painting?”
“Sangah,” Dokja whispers.
“Yes?”
“We are being hunted by a monster.”
“Oh.”
A pause.
“Then perhaps we shouldn’t paint.”
Dokja decides not to question how she managed to sound completely reasonable. He squashes the seeds into a paste, and holds some out to Sooyoung, whilst applying the rest over his face, back, neck and underarms. Hopefully his legs don’t stink too much. He is not taking off his trousers.
Sooyoung just looks baffled, and so Dokja rolls his eyes, explaining about the monster’s very good sense of smell. She very reluctantly applies some on herself, and then upon Dokja’s gesturing, on Sangah also, blushing slightly. The boulder is creaking by the time they finish.
The Beithir, in all it’s scaled glory, creeps out. 5 pale eyes blink at the sun, hissing slightly. Nose bends to the ground, sniffing.
[Constellation Demon-Like Judge of Fire is holding their breath]
[Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Demon is disappointed by the lack of immediate bloodshed]
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The monster approaches them, creeping, crawling. Dokja involuntarily holds his breath. Sooyoung is wide eyed, not blinking. Sangah is silent, but breathing. It walks toward the bush. Dokja can feel the warm air from it’s breathing brushing his face. Sooyoung is trying hard not to flinch, and as a result looks a bit constipated.
The Beithir slinks closer. Dokja can hear it’s scales rattle, it’s claws crunch, even if his vision is partially obscured by the bush.
Closer still. Dokja can count the monster’s nose hairs. It has quite a lot of nose hairs.
It snuffles near to the bush, and then into the bush itself. The warmth of the breath is joined by a wetness to the breath. All three of them are frozen, rooted.
[Constellation Prisoner of the Golden headband is tugging his hair in excitement]
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The monster takes a deep inhale. Both Sooyoung and Sangah’s hair fly toward the monster’s nostrils. A thick, multipronged leathery tongue slips out and licks the bush. And Dokja. And Sangah. And Sooyoung. Sooyoung looks slightly catatonic, dazed, mortified. She’s covered in rotten egg smelling berry juice and slimy, gloopy monster salvia. Time of her life, really. Dokja would laugh, if he were not in the same situation.
The beast brings the sample to it’s maw. It swallows. Then promptly recoils with an unfitting squeal. Shuffling back into it’s cave. That’s right, Dokja thinks triumphantly. Not only is the taste rather disgusting, but also the taste is familiar to many animals of this ruined world as causing bone liquidification, which can cause them to become vulnerable to predation/ hunting.
[Constellation Demon-Like Judge of Fire is joyously clapping]
[Constellations who like indirect war are delighted]
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Dokja lets out his breath, and Sooyoung blinks finally.
“Oh hells” she sighs. She’s wiping the gunk of her face. Dokja feels some regret for putting the disgusting berry mash under his armpits.
“There’s a lake north east of here.” He says. Sooyoung scowls but understands, moving to pick up Sangah.
“Hold her legs.” She mutters. They carry themselves and Sangah north-east.
[Constellations who like comradeship are pleased]
Reaching the lake. Sooyoung dives head first, fully clothed. Dokja gingerly puts Sangah down, and joins Sooyoung in the lake, scrubbing his face, back and armpits very thoroughly. He’d rather not be called Ugly and stinky, thank you very much.
Next, they grab Sangah by the head and legs once more, and wade toward the lake again.
“Sangah?”
“Mmh?”
“Hold your breath for 10 seconds”
“Mmmh.”
They dunk her, back first into the lake water, submerging her then pulling her out. Dokja frowns disgustedly at Sooyoung’s unrepentant glance and subsequent blush and aversion at Sangah’s wet body.
“Shut up” she says.
“I didn’t say anything?”
Sooyoung shrugs.
“Oi squid,” She asks, when they are back on land. “D’you have anything to fix her?”
Dokja does not. He is not entirely sure what has happened to Sangah. Her pupils were sluggish. She kept muttering about colours and colouring books being the key to relationships. There wasn’t a visible wound on her.
“I think our best bet is to go back to Seolwha.”
Sooyoung sighs, and piggybacks Sangah. They both trudge back to the camp, were inevitably there would be some pandemonium - 3 members are missing after all.