Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 28 – Cat Dad’s Trap

The fishing ship of Slave One came to a forest island. The fisher parked the boat at the abandoned port and went toward the designated site, where Xiaomao had ordered him to.

Slave One got on the rundown port and went to the entrance of the forest. While staring blankly at the forest, he unloaded all common fish in his inventory to the ground.

This was the fifth time that he offered tribute to this forest. It was a part of Xiaomao’s instructions.

These fishes didn’t give bonus attributes. However, Xiaomao ordered Slave One to offer fish here every time he passed by this island.

Slave One finished his job and walked away. He stood on the port idly for five minutes.

RUMBLE

He didn’t get to see what happened to the entrance of the forest, but the fish was already gone.

Ding

<Cernun has noticed your sincere action.>

<Cernun has blessed you.>

<All your status attributes have permanently increased by 1.>

<A young fairy is interested in you.>

<Will you form a soul contract with the young fairy?>

<Warning, by forming a soul contract with the fairy, you cannot form another bond with another animal, monster, or spirit.>

“…”

Slave One stared blankly at the system notification panels. Again, his pupils flickered._.

Ding

<You have formed a contract with the young fairy.>

<Please name the fairy.>

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“…”

<The fairy has been named “Magdalene”.>

<Magdalene likes the name.>

<Your Wood Spiritual Root has permanently increased by 10!>

<Your Water Spiritual Root has permanently increased by 10!>

<Magdalene suggests that you should increase your INT and WIS to increase her power.>

<Magdalene suggests that you should increase your level to the maximum and evolve.>

“…”

Slave One slightly nodded. He faintly smiled and gazed at the sea, waiting for something to appear.

As Slave One waited there as Xiaomao had ordered him, the corner of his eyes found the approaching cog with a black pirate flag.

<Magdalene warns you that pirates are dangerous.>

His dull eyes flickered as one of the conditions that Xiaomao had programmed him triggered. He walked back to the fishing boat and got back on. Then, he sailed the ship further east, heading toward the calm sea area.

…

Several minutes after Slave One had left, the pirates reached the forest island. The five men with red names got down from the ship and laughed.

“It’s a new discovery!”

“A new continent! We’re the pioneers!”

Although the forest island was roughly five square kilometers in size, they called it a continent.

Cai Zhong gazed at the forest and smirked.

“Forget that bot. We would have gotten nothing but useless fish from him anyway. Let’s explore this forest and search for treasures and hidden dungeons!”

“FOR TREASURES!”

“NEW DUNGEON!”

“FOR ONE PIECE!”

The gang cheered and brought out their gears to hunt some monsters. As soon as they armed themselves, their red names glittered and their levels were displayed.

Cai Zhong, Level 55

Yarr Hamster, Level 50

Yarr Rat, Level 50

Yarr Mouse, Level 50

Yarr Rodent, Level 50

Aside from Cai Zhong, whose NFT character was rare-grade, the other pirate crews were using a common-grade NFT character, and their level limit was 50.

A level-50 common NFT character had 250-260 total status points on average, depending on their achievements and titles.

Meanwhile, a rare NFT player like Cai Zhong had a better prospect and potential. His total stats now reached 900 points, including bonuses from his equipment and titles. In addition, his musket and equipment increased a lot of DEF and ATK, which gave him an edge over low-level super-rare and ultra-rare NFT players, who couldn’t equip better gears.

Cai Zhong led the team toward the forest.

But as soon as they stepped into the forest, they ran into a gigantic 200-meter long white crocodile with a scar on its face, whose jaws was larger than the pirates’ combined body mass. The dinosaur had been crewing fishes and sunbathing there, but the presence of five pirates annoyed him.

Cernun was its unique name. Its dark purple name was in clear view. Yet, its level was shown as [????].

The question marks only appeared when the monster’s level was at least 50 levels higher than the players. In addition, the purple-named monster belonged to world bosses.

World bosses usually had five times the amount of status points as an Ultra-Rare NFT character at the same level, and their HP was multiplied by 1,000!

Moreover, four question marks indicated that the monster’s level was in four digits!

It was not something that they could tackle head-on without an army and late-game gears!

Moreover, ten thousand small colorful lights hovered around Cernun. Yet, every bubble of light displayed red names.

World Tree Fairy, Level [????]

They were comrades of Cernun. Anyone that attacked him would become hostile to the fairies.

They were the army of a world boss!

“What the hell?!”

Cernun’s large eyes fixated on the guests. His feet, which were several times bigger than an adult human, kicked the ground. He opened his mouth and snapped on them.

CHOMP!

None of them could see the number of damage they had taken. However, they briefly saw six big digits of damage before their vision turned black.

…

Meanwhile, Xiaomao had been waiting on an abandoned port on the Gnoll Island’s beach. He gazed toward the west, where another dangerous place was located.

It was the place that Xiaomao had chosen as a dummy waypoint. He programmed Slave One’s personality that he would always lead pursuers to that island before coming back to the Gnoll Island.

He thought to himself.

‘I wonder how many coastal pirates will follow my slave’s ship to Cernun’s nest.’

In his previous life, Cernun was a world boss and the guardian of the Northern Seaside Island Chain. He usually rested at the largest island west of Gnoll Island.

Cernun was not a dangerous beast, who attacked everyone on sight. On the contrary, it protected the island chain and warded off all pirates and outlaws in the area.

Xiaomao remembered its name well as Cernun played a big role in one of the tragic main scenario quests.

At that time, Cernun was the key NPC who mobilized his sea army to fight against Pangu Faction’s players and destroyed Seaside Town. His soldiers captured so many coastal towns and cities, turning the sea into a hostile area for Pangu Faction’s players.

But strangely, Cernun captured local NPCs and let them go later on. He only killed players who resisted, but he didn’t kill a single NPC.

Nobody pointed out the major clue until it was too late.

As the guild, who was responsible for the main scenario quest, refused to share the quest content with the public, nobody learned about the background of this event and treated it as a monster raid event. Thus, the players thought that Cernun was just another monster.

Criminals and outlaws flocked to his island to join him, mistaking Cernun for someone from the Chaos Demon God’s faction. However, Cernun killed them on sight.

This enraged Chaos Demon God’s worshipers. Both factions waged war against Cernun and were blinded by the greed for contribution EXP and achievements.

After five months of bitter war, players of the Pangu Faction vanquished Cernun and conquered his island chain, only to discover the sad truth that the questers had never shared with the public.

Cernun, who everybody thought to be the bad guy, had been trying to restore a destroyed array to protect the mainland from the upcoming tsunami calamity of a prophecy. He tried to save the local NPCs and warned players not to linger around the coastlines, but nobody listened to him.

Moreover, the one who had destroyed the protection array was discovered to be an apostle of the Pangu Church!

The twist flipped the game lore upside down. People debated if Pangu was the good god or Chaos Demon God was right all along. People began switching sides, and Chaos Demon God’s Faction grew stronger than before.

A week later, a major tsunami occurred and half of the mainland continent became a part of the sea, triggering more main scenario quests. But that was a story for another time.

Xiaomao thought of the tragic events and sighed. He gazed toward the west, wondering if he could get his hands on the quest instead of selfish guilds and protect Cernun from the mysterious conspiracy.

‘I believe you’re a good guy, Cernun. But for now, please protect me until I’m strong enough to protect you.’

TA-TA-TA-TA

The fishing boat of Slave One reached Gnoll Island. The sound of the engine snapped Xiaomao out of his fantasy.

He hopped on the boat and touched the engine.

Ding

<Recharging the engine.>

All 900 MP of Xiaomao was depleted instantly, but the battery of the engine increased by 9%.

The current battery was only 43%. To charge it to the fullest, Xiaomao needed 5,700 MP to do so.

Recharging the magic battery was troublesome, but it would be easier once Slave One’s level was higher. After all, MP gradually restored when they were not in combat.

“Let’s go back to Seaside Town. We need to recharge your boat and check our warehouse.”