Chương 61: Chapter Twenty Six

Bob, he would willingly admit sometime later, had been very stupid. It wasn't a hard conclusion to come to, honestly. Him arriving at it only a few minutes into his self-imposed 'recuperation' time. After he was unable to justify even a single one of his actions upon going over them inside his own head. Looking back, everything from his rude awakening to the fight with the larger crab felt like one singular moment in time. His initial fury had mixed with the elation of actually being able to do something for once.

To fight back. And it caused him to utterly abandon his own advantages and throw himself into the meat grinder. An action which nearly got him killed. In retrospect, he shouldn't have attacked that crab at all. Or even snuck a look down the hallway in the first place. He'd had no need to do either. He was a creature which didn't require rest or sustenance. One who could now passively sense his foes over extended distances; completely negating his need to verify their locations in person. He should have just waited.

It wouldn't have taken that long for the crab to make its way down one of the other hallways. And on the off-chance it decided to head up the stairs, well, it's not like that would have been any worse than facing it in the corridor. Heck, it might have actually been better; the crabs not being as stable afoot as he was on the steps. Which was probably one of the reasons they seemed to largely avoid them.

Something he felt he could state fairly affirmatively, having spent the last day-or-so basically unbothered while dozens of them skittered around directly underneath him. He'd been right about the corpse of his honored foe acting as something equivalent to monster chum. It hadn't taken long for the nearest crabs to catch the scent. And not much longer after that for the news to apparently spread to the rest of the building.

The truly monstrous crabs – like the one beyond the corridor – didn't seem to pay much attention. But it seemed like every other crustacean in the manor passed by at least once, despite the fact that Bob was pretty sure the corpse was picked clean after the first fifteen to twenty minutes. Though, to be fair, it could also have something to do with the fact that, after noticing their apparent desperation for food, Bob had shoved down the remains of the two crabs he'd killed upstairs.

Less, it should be noted, in an act of humanitarianism, than in hopes it would stop them from venturing any further upwards. An attempt which had, evidentially, succeeded. Seeing as he'd spent most of his time being bored, rather than terrified. The situation had allowed him to gain a firmer grip on 'Treasure Sense' at least. Now having a far better idea how to calculate where on his 'map' each particular 'ping' was coming from.

The crabs almost continual migration throughout the manor had also given him some more clues about its layout. Including the likely position of at least a few staircases. Unfortunately, that migration hadn't seemed to do much to thin their numbers. If anything, his battle had drawn more of them into the building. The better portion of which were still wandering around not terribly far from the base of his tower. Something which pretty much guaranteed his continued stay in its upper levels.

Though, to be fair, he would have still been stuck here even if the entire first floor had somehow cleared itself out. His health regeneration had improved by a fair measure since his evolution, but not enough to heal a major injury in a single day. Besides, what hours hadn't been dedicated to 'staring' at the crabs below were being spent equally productively. Mostly with long planning sessions and periods of testing where he tried to better understand his new Skills.

While his assault on a monster obviously outside of his league was objectively stupid, it also wasn't without its rewards. The acquisition of 'Constrict' almost making the insane act seem warranted. That is, if Bob ignored the fact that he probably could have picked it up crushing crabs slightly less able to do the same to him. If perhaps less quickly. What with 'the system' seeming to more frequently reward high-risk situations. Either way, he had it now.

And, upon his return to the tower room, had almost immediately started putting it to work. Bringing it from level four to level six in just a few fruitless attempts to crush the indestructible cauldron at the rooms center. After which point, he stopped. Despite his desperate desire to do otherwise. The feeling of leveling up 'Constrict' was a heady one. Not having yet evolved, it didn't have the passive 'always on' aspect that 'Toothless Grasp' had. But its active component almost made up for that.

The sheer surge of crushing might that ripped through his tongue when it activated was intoxicating. Especially shortly after a level increase. But it was because of that coming evolution that he resisted gaining any more experience. Not wanting to ruin what options he had available to him. While he didn't regret evolving 'bite' into what it was today, he also had no interest in repeating the procedure.

He'd already lost the first of his offensive skills by going down a pacifistic skill tree, he wasn't going to lose another just to speed up its leveling process. Especially when he was surrounded by an army of very 'crunchable' enemies who might well help him gain something better. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. At least, if he could kill any of them without being swarmed by fifty of their friends. Which, admittedly, was a bit of an issue.

The near hive-mind reaction from the manor's crabs during the fight had terrified Bob. He hadn't expected it. Which, in retrospect, was beyond foolish. Every single crab chasing him during his arrival here certainly hadn't spotted him independently. Assuming that they weren't capable of communicating between themselves was a fairly egregious mistake on his part.

Unfortunately, this communicative ability was going to make getting to the upper stories of the Manor, or anywhere else for that matter, far more complicated than he'd previously hoped. With a single prolonged encounter likely to spell his doom. Which was why he had to make sure to keep them short. And limited to a single opponent. Bob had initially been very confused by the differences between his first two encounters with the crabs.

When he'd escaped into the tower, the calls from the monsters outside had certainly immediately lessened, but it had taken a good ten to twenty seconds before they'd all finally died out. More than that, for the bastard who'd ripped him in half. This made the near-instantaneous silence which had erupted upon his most recent opponent's death seem… odd. Until he'd realized the differentiating factor. While it was true that not all the crabs screaming during his arrival had seen him, a good portion of them had.

And he would bet money that the same 'good portion' were also the ones who kept it up for a while once he was inside. Before they got bored or their tiny brains forgot his presence again. Something which seemed to happen near-instantly for the ones that didn't lay eyes on him. This realization made the best approach seem fairly obvious. Use 'Treasure Sense' to avoid the larger enemies, kill the weaker ones he was forced to deal with as quickly as possible, and otherwise follow the plan as already made.

Taking over the top floor before slowly grinding his way to success. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be so simple in practice. With him being forced to guess the Manor's layout by the movement of crabs, it felt almost inevitable that he'd eventually make a wrong choice or put himself in a bad position. That, or his attempts to ambush a 'weaker' crab along the way would fail.

Or the ensuing battle would take too long, allowing another nearby enemy to lay eyes on him; creating a domino effect he might not be able to outpace. There were any number of ways he could screw himself over. Unfortunately, it was a situation without an easily found solution. Bob spending quite a bit of time bouncing ideas off the wall – including a few mildly-insane plans involving 'Taunt' and the tower windows – before eventually realizing there was only one thing he could actually do.

And that was to grind levels. More specifically, Species levels. The only way to make the whole thing a non-issue was to simply get stronger. And while gains to his Class would be fantastic, they also required the danger of combat. Whereas gobbling up random bits of treasure, potentially, did not. He was also lingering just one level away from a new Trait. Something which could potentially be a game changer, whether through a potent combat ability or – better yet – something to improve his stealth.

He was a Mimic, after all, and Mimics were supposed to be innocuous. Hidden until they inevitably pounced on their prey. He'd eat his non-existent hat if there weren't at least a few options in the mix which would make him less noticeable. Heck, he remembered already passing on one which promised to give him an air of 'innocence and temptation'. The question was, would a trait like that work on monsters or not? That and, if it did, what exactly would a crab be 'tempted' to do to him.

Unfortunately, the answer to both of these was pretty important. Given that Bob really couldn't afford to waste a trait choice. He'd dismissed the option earlier due to its description hinting that it targeted your opponent's greed and avarice. Two higher-functioning emotions he wasn't sure the crabs could actually feel. This, combined with their apparently instinctive, on-sight hatred for him, made it feel like a bit of a risky proposition.

Especially when the other choices might include an improved prehensile limb That said, given that his next trait options would likely be in 'E' rank, who knows what he might have access to. Adding additional merit to this plan was the fact that Bob was pretty sure there was a 'blip' of treasure relatively close by. Though it was hard to be entirely certain due to its location; it seemingly being in the room above the giant Crab Behind the Wall.

The bit of sunshine nearly smothered just by lingering in the outskirts of its dreadful aura. He was already certain of where the stairs to the second story were. So as long as he could spot a moment when both paths were clear, it wasn't unreasonable to think he could get a quick powerup without much in the way of danger. Still, seeing as the entire first floor of the Manor was currently packed with hungry crabs, it was a plan that Bob eventually tabled.

Other than the occasional bit of daydreaming he distracted himself with during the longer hours. Usually once he'd grown bored of studying the, assumedly, magical sigils carved into the tower's floor. That or continuing to fail at reasserting the 'calm' he'd managed to grab onto during his last fight. Of the two, he concentrated far more on the latter; feeling it had greater chance to bear fruit.

With the flawless stone bookshelves sadly being free of books – and thus their purpose for existing in the first place – he had no way of attempting to decipher any of the glyphs carved across the floor. Whatever language they might have been written in apparently not being part of his original translation package. Unfortunately, time spent doesn't always guarantee results. And without activating the 'Dodge' skill, he wasn't able to reenter the correct state of mind.

Though he was able to come up with a few plans for things to try the next time he did. He spent what felt like an additional two or so days stuck in this pattern, absent mindedly watching the crabs within his range while he plotted and planned for his eventual escape. Until the moment he was waiting for finally arrived. A larger, apparently aggressive 'blip' had decided to slowly rampage its way through the ground floor; seeming to briefly encounter other crabs along the way before somehow driving them off.

Through, Bob assumed, attempted murder and would-be cannibalism. And while this behavior might not be making him terribly popular amongst his fellow crustaceans, it certainly raised his stature in Bob's eye. Most notably when the irritable arthropod cleared out several hallways directly adjacent to the tower's exit. Hallways which happened to lead straight to the stairway to the second floor. Bob didn't allow himself to hesitate.

He instantly moved towards the door even as he began 'scanning' the area between the stairs and the room the treasure was in. Feeling a nervous excitement start to buzz in him when there seemed to be nothing along the way. He still wasn't fully healed, but the two points off of max didn't really bother him much. If his – admittedly nebulous – plans succeeded, then he'd be regenerated back to peak form soon enough anyway. And, if they didn't, then a full health bar probably wasn't going to make much difference.

Either way, Bob was pressing forward.