Hope in Despair 3 (Patreon)

Hope in Despair 3 - or ‘’ (Fear & Hunger SI)

D’arce didn’t trust the mercenary, but I was pragmatic enough to know we needed the extra blade.

I had secured some silver coins which I already knew wouldn’t be too useful within the Dungeon. Cahara took those as a ‘guarantee’ as I promised him that any riches I would find in the dungeon would be his to claim as I had no interest in keeping those.

I wasn’t truly convinced of his loyalty, but he was compelled to tag along a bigger group as ‘he had seen some terrifying things down there’. And, as we boarded the elevator and went through a rather claustrophobic experience, we found ourselves down below the dungeons’ built area.

The large dark cave was a new level of dread altogether. And while I was reasonably dreading the new sight, I could tell there was more to it. It wasn’t just the darkness and unknown that created dread. It was the irregular flapping of wings. In most part, it was ‘small noise’, but I could clearly hear a louder pair of wings deep into the shadows.

“We need to get out of there. Fast,” I hummed, nods coming from the whole group as we started to trail around and-

“W-What is that?”

D’arce’s shock was aimed at the large pile of rotting corpses that were placed right in front of the elevator’s door. The shadows were so thick that we had to take a few steps forward to notice it. The display was quite concerning, but it wasn’t anything new- only a new sight of macabre reality within this dungeon.

Hence why the shock was brief, and why our pace increased in the effort of getting out of this cave. It was massive, the shadows hiding how big it was, but not holding us from seeing the edge of the path as the fall was… terrifying.

The flapping grew intense, it was clear that whatever was hiding in the darkness had detected us, but was too slow to rush us. We walked on the path on the right by the elevator, swiftly making our way through the intricate way that led to an arched column. Right there, I realized one thing-

“The weird stones,” I hummed nervously.

“Eggs,” Cahara was quick to call it out himself. “Which means there’s a ‘mother’ there.”

There was no way out there, but I found what looked to be a gem with some magical power.

You have found a Soul Stone.

A fucking what?

I gave it a long look, with D’arce taking charge and leading back from the crossway we parted from earlier on. From the looks of it, this item could absorb the souls of fallen foes, copy them and then allow the user to… ‘equip’ those souls for additional power.

That’s neat.

What wasn’t neat was the loud screeching that came from the abyss on the right as we marched back, our attention aimed at the angry flapping of wings that approached us. The source of it? A monstrous beast that resembled a golem of sorts, with skin made of gray stone-like texture, eyes ‘shut’ closed, and saggy tits. It was holding itself up through its winged arms, struggling to keep a coherent focus, but still succeeding in flying about.

“It’s too distant,” D’arce lamented and I nodded in agreement.

“And I have a solution to that,” Cahara replied giddily, retrieving a few daggers and aiming those at the monster before throwing them.

The first one landed on the beast’s neck, another to its left eye, the third one stabbed firmly on its left breast and the last one on the other one. Despite the damage inflicted on the broodmother, it wasn’t enough to kill.

That was until Cahara retrieved a vial and hurled it at the monster. It was an instantaneous reaction, with the vial shattering on impact and its content detonating against the monster. A loud screech resonated as numerous gashes opened on its torso, but it was the wings that got shredded to pieces by it.

It retreated briefly before seemingly falling into the shadows. We all turned to a smug Cahara.

“As I said, I had a solution to that.”

No need to be a dick about it though.

Biting down that response, I noticed how the girl had been holding my hand tightly during the confrontation. I glanced down at her and saw her a bit distraught. I picked her up, hugging her a bit as we wandered back to where we came from, the child

“So, you had it?”

Cahara shot me a glare, but there was a degree of embarrassment at not getting the kill done.

At the very least, the mini-boss was weakened and standing on solid ground. But while we were all ready to engage it in combat, we were surprised when something came rushing from behind it and bit on its back.

Screeching in pain, the monstrous broodmother tried to shrug off the creature that attacked it, but it was all in vain as the unknown entity tore into it and then forced it on the ground. The sight of a mutated wolf with four eyes and a considerable amount of fangs mauling the broodmother kept us on edge.

It focused on munching in on the dying monster’s flesh but seemed disgusted by it as the lupine entity started to spit out what it was eating. It had attacked the fellow monster because it was… hungry?

It was clear that the mutt was going to focus on us once it fully accepted its current meal was too stale to devour and… I had an idea.

“D’arce, do you still have that rotten flesh you saved up?”

The knight frowned at my question and nodded, retrieving one of the bags with the disgusting thing in it. As she did that, I saw the monstrous wolf turn its attention to the bag. Baring its teeth to us, it almost wanted to fight for it but… it paused as I reached for the bag, allowed the girl back to the ground and took a step forward.

Then, I sat down, perplexing the beast as it approached, but instead of attacking, its attention was centered around the bag I settled on the ground before opening it to the creature.

It approached some more and soon her snout was pressing down on the flesh, teeth munching on the rotting meat with gusto while some of its eyes were aimed at me. I continued to stare at it but-

“Do you have some more?”

D’arce shared a confused look to Cahara, but didn’t seem trusting enough to approach. So, in a surprising display, it was the little girl that walked up to retrieve the bag and came to sit beside me before giving me the bag.

The beast noticed and tilted its head, less angry and less vicious-looking.

It feasted on the content of this second bag, happily enjoying it and… soon it calmly stood before us and I reached for its chin. It was tense at the palm, but allowed me to reach. I started to carefully scratch there and.

“Arf, arf,” It noised with delight, sitting and allowing me to pet it.

The little girl, almost spurred by the sight, did the same. This time there was no resistance and soon the wolf was resting on the side, tail wagging happily as it allowed us to pet it properly. Actually, I was quick to realize this odd doggo was a she.

You have domesticated Moonless. She will join your party if you ask her.

“Hmmm, want to join us, girl?” I asked, the wolf perking up and.

“Bark~!”

Atta girl.

—-----d–d-d-d—-------

AN

As a ‘New Dad’, John has to take care of an important thing for the little girl: having a best friend in the form of a loyal and cuddly wolf monster such as Moonless.

Ain’t she the cutest~?