Chapter 338 Swaying Mooldra
'If… you give me so much food… and… protect me… then…'
"If you want, we can even become friends."
The Dark Beholder hesitated and floated nearer to Jack. 'What… are friends?'
Jack smiled warmly and hid a sigh among laughter. "Two or more people become friends when they work together and feed each other. And when there's a chance, they can have fun together, like how we were both laughing together."
Hoping to take advantage of the beholder's frazzled psyche, Jack chose his words carefully.
'Friends… We're friends now?' Mooldrat asked, tilting his head and body to the side in thought.
"Sure, why not? Don't you want a friend that can have fun with you and feed you? Then you'll never have to each your own kind again."
'That… sounds nice… I… won't run out of food anymore…'
"So, will you let your friend protect you from the beast on the other side of the circle? Then, I'll give you all the food we can."
While bargaining, Jack threw out a large sack. Mooldrat's nose may have only consisted of two slits between his mouth and eye, but he instantly caught a whiff of a scent the beholder had long forgotten. The beholder snarled and instinctively chomped down on the sack, tearing it and it's contents to shreds with his mangled teeth.
'This… What is this?'
"That's beef, a type of meat from the outside world. Do you like it?" Jack asked with a smile. "Since you like it so much, once we're out of here I'll give you all the beef you want."
'Yes! Give me more beef!' Drool cascaded out of the insane beholder's mouth, unable to resist such a temptation.
"We've only got one more sack left. We can--"
'I want it!' Mooldrat rushed Jack, stopping less than a meter in front of the hero with a crazed look in its one eye.
"Only if you promise to come with us," reasoned Jack. "I'll protect you after we travel through the circle and then feed you all you want on the outside. Do we have a deal?"
'Yes! Give me more beef!' The beast's rotten purple tongue licked the remaining blood from its lips. 'I want it now!'
"Argyle," Jack turned to his father-in-law, "Can you share the last of our meat with Mooldrat?"
"Sure." Feeling more comfortable and able to put on an act, Argyle lobbed another sack of their dry rations to the hungry beholder, who tore it to shreds in seconds with a look of bliss on its face.
Mooldrat moaned in ecstasy, 'Beef… good!'
"Great! Then show us to the circle. After we travel there, we'll be able to find you more meat, Mooldrat," reasoned Jack. "Argyle, put Dradich in your storage so we don't attract any other beholders and are forced to share food with them too."
'Yes… it's all for me!' cackled Mooldrat, as if he was about to start living his greatest fantasy.
Dradich complied and allowed Argyle to store him away.
"Vixus, don't forget your Flame Tiger." As Jack passed the beast tamer, he whispered, "Do you think you can control him, or should I take care of our new friend?"
"I… You can take care of him, Jack," Vixus nervously replied as he stored the Flame Tiger.
With that decided and only Jack, Bowzer, Argyle, and Vixus remaining, the party followed the eager and jittery beholder that towered over them.
"How much farther is it, Mooldrat?"
'Far… it's near the center of all the other circles.'
Puzzled, Vixus noticed a few different circles as they wandered through the tenth floor. "Why are there so many teleportation circles on this floor?"
'Those… are all broken… Only… one circle teleports…' answered Mooldrat, still licking his lips in anticipation.
Jack whispered a quick explanation, "Most are fake. Some take to random spots of the tenth floor, others will take you to the entrance of the dungeon."
"That… That's too cruel, Jack. Why would the Legend make such a floor?"
Chuckling, Jack shrugged. "Maybe he was bored and wanted to mess with everyone who dared to steal his stuff."
Argyle and Bowzer both smiled, overhearing the conversation. Both were feeling a bit fatigued, especially Bowzer, but they were at least able to calmly walk on this floor. And the danger was supposedly over, so long as Mooldrat didn't have a change of heart.
'Fresh… meat…'
A new voice started to echo within everyone's minds. It was jarring, distracting the party and forcing them to find the source.
'None for you! My friends!' Suddenly, Mooldrat bolted through the air. He then collided with a second beholder that was barreling into the view of the party.
'But--'
'I don't share!' Mooldrat was visibly larger than the second beholder, grappling the second's tentacles and taking a bite out of its face. 'They're all mine!'
Everyone stayed close to Bowzer, their only light source.
'Jack, how did Mooldrat know where that other beholder was coming from?' Argyle asked the walking, ancient encyclopedia that was his son-in-law.
'Don't you know about the legendary beholders? They have a legendary ability called True Sight,' replied Jack. 'They can see clear as day down here and can even see through invisibility.'
'Seriously?!' Argyle was baffled mentally by the confirmation of the ancient legends and by the cannibalistic sight he was watching. 'Were they always… so barbaric?'
'No, they've always been regarded as some of the most intelligent creatures in existence. But…' Jack guiltily smiled. 'But what else would happen when you trap a bunch of them in a pitch-black dungeon and not include much else to eat? Once people stopped coming through here, I think they started to go insane from hunger.
'Also, there shouldn't be away for beasts to activate the teleportation circles, yet Mooldrat is insistent that the circle to the boss on the eleventh floor works. That might have had a huge negative impact on their psyche as well,' reasoned Jack.
While Jack finished his explanation, Mooldrat was finishing a meal. The Dark Beholder was licking the skull clean, not even leaving a drop of blood or a scrap of skin on the corpse of the invading beholder. Mooldrat's depravity and lust for hunger became all the more apparent to the witnesses of the scene.
"Hurry up, Mooldrat, or we won't be able to find you more beef later," stated Jack.
'No! I need beef… I'll bring my meal with me…' Mooldrats ten dark tentacled wrapped themselves around the remains of the corpse, lifting it for Mooldrat to enjoy while he led the party.
'Jack, are we really taking that thing outside with us?'
'Don't worry, Argyle. I've got an idea.'
'And what would that be?'
'Just wait and see. Also, once we're on the eleventh floor, don't let Vixus activate the teleportation circle,' mentioned Jack.
Eyeing Jack, Argyle continued questioning the hero, 'Jack, what do you mean by that?'
'I'll confront the boss alone. Bowzer can come along since he's my companion, but I don't want you and especially Vixus ruining my discussion by doing something stupid.'
'You're going to have a discussion with the boss?! Are you mad?'
Jack chuckled softly. 'No, Mooldrat's mad. I've just got a hunch. We'll be sent to a teleportation circle on the eleventh floor which both can both receive and transport people. That's how you enter and leave the eleventh floor. But don't dare to activate it, so you'll have to keep Vixus from doing that. Just drag him to the side opposite the vault.'
'And what about you?'
'I'll be preoccupied talking with the boss, remember? That way we can enter the vault without worry.' Jack sighed. 'I'm still not lv. 50, but I'm really close. I'm sure I can level up outside. Then…'
'Jack?'
'Either way, don't wet yourself in fear and keep Vixus from doing something stupid. Got it?' stated Jack, seriously eyeing his father-in-law.
Argyle nervously smiled and nodded. 'Got it.'