Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 64 – Cat Dad and Mysterious Dream

“Of course! Actually, we are worried that we don’t have a psychological relief method for our mermen. Sending them to play elsewhere might be a better solution. Now that you’re the new dungeon lord, we can deploy our men to occupy the entire island and let them get a breather outside. How about it? Want me to send our mermen to patrol around the dungeon? We can’t have them stay in your dungeon cave though. They need to be wet all the time, so they can only live in the sea around the island.”

“Perfect, munya! Let’s do that!”

“Great!”

Xiaomao handed the last Chang’e model to Nymph. Then, she teleported away.

After being left alone, Xiaomao stared at Nymph’s stall, inspecting the gypsy orb. He looked into it and saw glittering stars inside.

‘I never had a chance to look at this before. What is in there? Why are all vendors obsessed with this orb?’

As he stared into the darkness, his fur stood straight as his sixth sense told him to stop. Soon, he saw something moving inside.

At the center of the stars was a fiery eyeball. It gazed at Xiaomao while its shape curved as if it was smiling at him.

“!!!”

Xiaomao jumped back from the table in fright. Just now, he thought that the eyeball had gripped his soul.

DING

<Unknown Cathulhu Ancestor smiles at you!>

<You have obtained the Unknown Cathulhu Ancestor’s blessing!>

<You have unlocked a new attribute – LUCK!>

<Your LUCK has permanently increased by 10!>

<Hint: LUCK status attribute cannot be increased by normal means. This attribute increases the critical chance, dodge percentage, gambling luck, item drop rate, and probability of a good encounter.>_.

“M-Munya?!”

Xiaomao was astonished. Instead of getting a curse for staring into the abyss, he got a blessing instead.

Because of gratitude, Xiaomao bowed toward the gypsy orb several times.

“Thank you! Thank you, senior! I’ll be a good boy, munya!”

<Unknown Cathulhu Ancestor laughs at you and pats your head!>

An invisible hand came out from the orb and patted Xiaomao’s head. He instinctively purred and let the hand do whatever it wanted to him.

For an unknown reason, Xiaomao got sleepy. It was too comfortable.

He fell asleep for minutes. For a short moment, he had a dream.

In the dream, Xiaomao was an old farmer in a rural area. He had a cat with a mark similar to Mu-Nyang. Funnily enough, its name was also Mu-Nyang.

The farmer always went fishing when he was done farming, and his cat always followed him to a shallow river. He helped the old farmers catch fish while he was playing.

The farmer always petted the cat when it brought him small fish. The cat also loved getting petted.

Their days were peaceful and tranquil. Every day was bliss, and Xiaomao didn’t want to wake up.

DING

Suddenly, a loud game notification sound woke him up.

Xiaomao snapped open his eyes and found that he had been sleeping on the shop’s table, next to the orb.

‘Eh?’

Something wet dirtied his face. He wiped his eyes with his tentacles and discovered that he had been crying.

“???”

He couldn’t remember what he was dreaming about earlier. But for some reason, the sense of bitter-sweet nostalgia lingered in his mind.

<Nameless Nymph has requested permission to transfer a thousand Merman Guards Level 750 to your dungeon. Will you permit it?>

The game panel brought him back to his senses. The lingering emotions vanished like smoke.

“750?! Yes, munya!”

Ding

<Nameless Nymph will transport the Merman Guards Level 750 to your dungeon soon.>

Getting the confirmation message, Xiaomao was delighted.

WHOOSH

Nymph also returned. Strangely, she could come and go whenever she wanted to.

“It’s done! Well, I teleported the volunteers to the surface for now. If they like it, I might allocate more units to get a breather on the surface.”

“Thanks, munya! You’re the best!”

“Hehe. If you like me that much, be my pet. I’ll take care of you.”

“… I’ll think about it.”

Xiaomao had no business left with Nymph. He returned to the boss room and fetched Lucky. Then, he backtracked to the surface and left the dungeon.

.

ZAAAA

Xiaomao and Lucky left the dungeon and came down to the abandoned port. Currently, a thousand green-named level 750 mermen already occupied the beach and the sea. They swam and celebrated that they got to relax under the moonlight instead of lurking in the sea or an underground cave.

It was already dark outside, but the massive glittering stars in the sky were so bright that they brightened the dark sea.

Xiaomao and Lucky stood idly on the beach, waiting for their ship to come back and pick them up. Xiaomao already ordered Shepherd to return, but he didn’t respond.

The menu showed that they were in the area, but the ship had been parking at the Cernun Island.

‘What’s happening to my retainer? I need to go back to the town and head to Yeet City and Siren City next. I even reserved a group of a mercenaries from that crook. He’s not mad that I’m late, is he?’

.

Cernun Island

The massive crocodile dragon and ten thousand fairies had a meeting with Magdalene and Shepherd. Two retainers of Butter Tank were also present.

The 200-meter-long crocodile dragon opened his mouth.

<Cernun wants the retainers to enter his mouth and stand on his tongue.>

“…”

The two retainers hesitated and sweated profusely, yet they followed Cernun’s instruction and entered his mouth.

As soon as the retainers entered his mouth and stood on his tongue, Cernun closed his mouth.

The retainers panicked and looked around. Fortunately, Cernun didn’t use his sharp fangs to crush their bones. Moreover, they were unharmed.

ZAG ZAG ZAG

Tree roots crept toward their legs and stabbed into their flesh. The two men jolted in pain, but they didn’t resist them.

The roots sucked their blood, but they injected something else into their bodies.

DING

<The curse of Nian has been removed.>

<The Mark of Pangu has been replaced with the Mark of Chaos Demon Goddess of Mother Sea.>

<You are now vessels of Chaos Demon Goddess of Mother Sea, Chang’e.>

<You have been freed from Butter Tank.>

The roots withdrew from the men’s legs, and Cernun opened his mouth, letting the men go.

The ex-retainers staggered out of Cernun’s mouth and gazed at the dragon with gratitude.

“T-Tha-n-ou.”

Their voice returned, but they couldn’t speak yet.

<Cernun wants you to stay on this island and work for him. Will you accept?>

“Y-Yes!”

DING

The two men read the system messages in front of them and shed tears of joy. They groveled in front of Cernun and swore allegiance to him.

They also glanced at Shepherd, who had brought them here. They nodded at the latter before they followed the fairies into the island.

From now on, they didn’t have to work for the otherworlders anymore.

.

Shepherd smiled and nodded at the two lucky men. He turned around and walked back toward the fishing boat.

<Magdalene wonders why you don’t remove the brand.>

Shepherd shook his head and snickered.

<Magdalene understands your feeling, but she is still puzzled.>

<Magdalene says that you could have been freed from the curse.>

Shepherd ignored her. He boarded the ship and drove it back toward the Gnoll Island.

DING

<Cernun asks you to bring in more cursed slaves to him.>

<Cernun has offered you a quest.>

“…”

DING

<You have accepted Cernun’s Scenario Quest: Liberation of Cursed Souls.>