[NR] Black And White - Chapter 461 (Patreon)

With about ten minutes to spare, Jason is in the dining room, eating the early bird breakfast. Though seeing as this was an inn relatively close to the dungeon, he is far from the only one there. In fact, even when he first got down there from his room there were already people leaving after having finished their meal.

Jason doesn’t have to worry about being ready that early today as their instance will have reset by now. A fact that proves true soon enough, as neither Rosha nor Courtney spend too long on their meals. So soon enough the three of them are once again smashing their way through the first couple floors.

Most annoying is that while they are making better time, it isn’t by much. The fights aren’t hard enough for them to develop their skills and it isn’t like they’re leveling up. Even Jason, the one who doesn’t depend on levels to grow, is currently bottlenecked as well.

Though with that slightly better speed, they do manage to complete the first three floors in time to explore a bit of the fourth floor. Well, maybe not explore. They know exactly what the layout is going to be. A gray stone cave with acute angle turns behind which the tardigroids are placed.

This time, however, the dungeon isn’t playing around. On just the third corner, the group comes across another variant tardigroid and this one has friends. Most likely because, unlike the glass tardigroid, this one isn’t depending on stealth to win.

Flanked by four companions stands a strange amalgamation. Until now, most of the humanoid parts have taken after humans, if only because they lacked fur. This fellow went in the opposite direction.

From even the smallest sections, with even the most tangential connection to a humanoid form, there was thick black fur. And not normal black, but rather the blackest of blacks. The kind of color you only find when using special nanotube paint and which you have to see to believe.

The only reason the group could even tell it was fur was because of how it showed up against the parts of the beast that were purely tardigrade in nature. Though speaking of those parts, they weren’t slacking either. They looked smoother than smooth and we’re a radiant white.

Quite literally, in fact. The white was not just reflecting light, it was even putting off some of its own.

Then the black and white tardigroid was knocked onto its back, Jason blasting its jaw with an uppercut. Though said chin was half furred. Said fur, in turn revealed itself to be more than a fashion statement.

Jason jumped back, holding the hand that punched the monster out a way from himself. This allowed the others to see that it was covered in black fur, stuck into his skin. Not by much, but the fact they were at all was impressive.

Rosha turns her attention away from the normal monsters and focuses on the variant. “I’ll take the panda, Courtney can check the damage.”

Jason shakes his head, “They’re just stuck into the surface layer. We can deal with it after the fight. I’m good to handle the small fry.”

And small fry they were. When battles started for the floor started at ten and went up, four tardigroids are easy enough to handle. Even one hand down, Jason makes easy work of them.

On the other hand, Rosha is having a particularly hard time with the variant. While her arrows are holding it at bay, it revealed that the white areas had their own special quirk. The seemingly random placement reveals itself to provide amazing coverage.

Coverage that is needed as those white areas are capable of reflecting even arrows. Not quite as straight back as a non-physical attack, but she still has to be wary of her arrows returning to sender, as it were.

It was immensely difficult for Rosha to get a proper hit in. There was likely a small amount of chip damage from each reflected attack. However, only a proper shot was going to end the fight.

A difficult proposition as while the tardigroid wasn’t the smartest of the bunch, it was more than capable of shifting its body to intercept attacks. It is only once Jason and Courtney join in to distract the monster for her to start getting shots.

Though she had to be quick about it as even after just a couple feints, the monster has begun to realize the two aren’t actually planning to attack. Good thing she made the best of it and ended the fight with an arrow to the neck when the beast looked away.

Fight over, the trio ignore the loot and focus on Jason’s hand. He keeps it still as the other two observe.

Courtney, in particular, seems interested. “So, are you taking damage from them now or what?”

Jason shakes his head, “I took some damage from the initial punch and it feels cursed. As in an actual curse. There is a sense around them that if more got stuck in me, I wouldn’t be happy.”

Courtney rolls her eyes, “Of course the darkness has a curse. Anyway, I can feel some connection to shadows on them, but it doesn’t feel strong. You’re the one pincushioned, can you feel anything like that?”

Jason frowns and takes a moment to feel the Energy flow around the fur. At first it felt like there was something, but soon enough it vanished. “I’m going with no.

“Just like you said, I felt something there, but looking deeper it isn’t actually shadow. Rather, I’m feeling the remnants of the thing’s tardigrade parts. The shadowed quality comes from an interaction between light and dark instead of actual shadows and will go away soon enough.”

Courtney sighs, “To be expected. Do you need help removing them? Now that I’m looking at them up close, I can tell they’re literally just in the outermost layer of skin so in theory they shouldn’t be hard to remove.”