Death's Disciple [Sys Apoc, OP Villain MC, LitRPG] Chapter 40: 1.40 Gross

Read chapter 40 of Death's Disciple [Sys Apoc, OP Villain MC, LitRPG] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

1.40 Gross Chapter 40 At this point, you might be thinking that these Tikkari are rather cute, maybe even adorable. With their floppy ears, small stature and penchant for making fun toys for their offspring. And, you know what, I get that. I can see why you’d have that impression so far. I mean, there is the fact that they are small and very close to green in color, which immediately means negative points in my mind. And their beady little black eyes were damn creepy, so that’s another item to jot down on the ‘con’ side of this list. But most of all, I need to explain to you how these freaky little bastards managed to not die of thirst out in the desert without a source of water. So… Kliktik took me outside and happily brought me to this Dunepit. Which ended up being a rather large sunken depression in the center of the settlement. Stone and clay scaffolding had been built around the side with a ramp that descended around the edge of the inside. The area was the only section of the desert, that I had seen so far anyway, had any plant life. Large stalks sprouted around the perimeter, the tops of which had small bulbs that I guessed were something like fruits. This was reinforced as I watched a couple Tikkari picking the bulbs off the plants and collecting them in sacks that hung at their hips. I doubted that the things were edible for humans, for the weird cyan hobbits, they looked to be happy with the haul. “The Dunepit,” Kliktik said proudly. “We found the Fitzbulb stalks growing here and decided to stay and pick them. Eventually I encouraged the rest of the family to come and Fitzgrand sprung up soon after that.” “Okay, and this Karlac?” I asked. “In the pit,” a boney blue-green finger pointed to the edge. I know this is going to be bad. Why am I doing this? And yet, against my better intuition, I inched my way toward the edge of the pit and looked down. The scaffolding and ramp circled the hole down further and further, small lamps lighting the way periodically. But the lamps barely gave light at all to see by, almost everything was covered in shadow at the edges and walls. Still, the sun was shining, and this was a desert, so a column of illumination fell down the center to the bottom of the massive multi-story hole. At the bottom, was a grotesque looking beast, whose nature I couldn’t quite understand. [Karlac - Lvl 12] It was covered in dusty grey skin that looked extremely thick. The skin was cracked and dry like that of a rhino’s. It lay on its stomach, head resting in a pool of bubbling liquid that filled the bottom of the dunepit. It took some moments for my mind to piece all the visual elements together. The monster was probably about fifty feet head to tail, with four legs, a thin tail, and looked like it would stand twenty feet tall if it wasn’t lying down at that moment, sleeping. Down its back were long tentacles, which moved and wiggled about as if they were awake and going through a learned dance routine, while the beast itself slept in the pool. At its front, where its chest presumably would be, was a large bulging fleshy sac which almost seemed to jiggle and flex every few seconds. Smaller tentacles sprouted from the sack, these ones ending in open holes which oozed a purplish fluid. A few of Tikkari were down at the bottom of the pit, each of them working slowly and carefully, positioning the smaller tube-like tentacles into a large, deep clay basin and squeezing the tube to release the purple liquid into it. It was like they were milking the monster, collecting its fluid into the clay vats while it slept. I squinted, focused even more at what was happening. That’s when I noticed the pool at the bottom of the pit was the same color as the liquid the Tikkari were milking. So the monster was sleeping in a pool of its own secretions. I guessed that then seeped in the surrounding ground and sand, which let the plants on the surface grow. This is just gross. How can they live off this stuff? “The Karlac has been