Chapter 47

  I’d recognized where the first three Mun’s Julius summoned had come from. But… the next one, left me more than a little confused.

  “What the hell is that?” I asked Guy as I looked over the Mun. He’d already said every one of Julius’s Muns was derived from the Gemstone Plains, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t seen anything close to what could have evolved into it. Above its head, the name was less than helpful.

  Wealth Cashfish.

  And it was just that. Back home, I’d found a show called ‘River Monsters’ where a fisherman went around and caught all sorts of creatures from the lakes and rivers, to prove the very real possibilities for various myths and legends of the area. One such, had been a catfish so large it could suck humans underwater, and well, kill them. He’d caught a catfish larger than he was, and mentioned that the creatures could get ridiculously big.

  Whatever the exact metric for ‘ridiculously big’ was in his mindset, the Wealth Cashfish in the arena exceeded that. The spinning Ancient Fortoise was no longer the largest Mun in the arena. Instead, it was the Wealth Cashfish, which could easily have been mistaken for a freaking extra large Class A motor home.

  Its mouth opened wide as it hovered just mere inches above the ground. From the sides of its massive, golden mouth, extremely sharp ‘whiskers’ made of precious metals and shaped like blades hung lazily. Across its back, gemstones took the place of fins, and its scales shone with every possible color imaginable. The thing was giant, heavy, and large enough to swallow the Gembra Stallion it had replaced in a single go.

  “Believe it or not,” Guy answered, his focus on the match below, “it’s one of the evolutions of the Shimmer-ish.”

  “That thing?” I asked as the battle continued. With the Gembra Stallion gone, it’s marker on the display screens had an X through it now. Turn order wise, it looked like the next Mun up was the Bolt-Charged Brutalist. Mikael selected whatever move he wanted, and the beast, which definitely looked like it had seen better days, considering it was missing a leg and was bleeding profusely. Considering a literal tank had landed on it, and then spun off of it in a very violent manner, it was fairly impressive it hadn’t returned to its crystal form. Though, it was definitely not long for this battle.

  Lightning crackled on its back as it pressed itself up with its forearms. It lowered its head, angling the two sparking towards on its back towards the collapsed form of the Lion King, and a glowing ball of pure white and blue power began to crackle into existence. That… wasn’t good for Julius. I was pretty sure the Lion King would not be able to move out of the way of that attack. Meaning, Julius would be forced to try and interrupt it, or somehow save his Mun, lest it be forced to endure what was surely a devastating attack.

  “You read the description,” Guy replied, “they can evolve into a variety of different Muns. If I remember correctly, Juluis uses multiple versions of their evolutions.” I saw the furrow on his brow as I glanced at the traveling merchant. It was apparent something was happening in the battle that confused him. But what? Was he trying to figure out what Mikael’s Amplifier did? Because I was pretty sure Julius had already hinted at that.

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  “Yeah, just, uh,” I looked down, it was Julius’s turn. His Herculean Diamond Beetle turning its head this way and that as the Keeper worked to figure out his next move. The AX-olotl was a problem. It was landing more and more attacks each turn. But he’d been focusing down the Ancient Fortoise earlier, and now, well, the Bolt-Charged Brutalist was a threat. He had choices, and I didn’t envy him the decision he had to make.

  “I must admit,” Julius called out, his voice calm and cool, while his eyes analyzed the battlefield, “it’s been a long while since I’ve battled someone of your caliber.” It wasn’t a cocky statement. It was an honest compliment. Mikael said nothing, but his lips twitched upwards slightly.

  “However, I’ll not make this battle easy for you. Gemstone Comet.” Julius made his decision. His Beetle spread its wings, and rushed towards the AX-Olotl. The wings fluttered frantically as it ran, the arena shaking with the weight of the diamond coated insect. It lowered its head, the damaged horn scooping the ground like a fork-lift once more. Was he going to flip the AX-olotl as well?

  …not quite. Instead of getting under it and lifting, the Beetle’s horn slid under the AX-olotl, and lifted slightly as its head arched back, nestling Julius’s Mun close to the beetle’s head, as it took flight. The AX-olotl’s long, surprisingly rubbery body twisted and turned on either side of the horn, but it couldn’t free itself as the beetle flew high into the air. The armored portions that served to protect its wings pushed forward, as did its front legs, as it locked the AX-olotl in place.

  Mikael’s previous ghost of a smile disappeared, as he took in what was happening. What Julius had planned, I didn’t know. But, that wasn’t a surprise. I had no idea what these high-level Muns were capable of, nor what skills they had at their command. But, I’d seen enough wrestling to get an idea of what may be about to happen. And I was all here for it.

  The crowd’s cheers grew loud as the indicator for the Wealth Cashfish slid into place on the turn order, just ahead of the AX-olotl. Julius’s new Mun was up. The Keeper’s smile reached his eyes as he pointed towards his Lion King. “Time to make a deposit.” He said with a chuckle. The Wealth Cashfish moved then, faster than something like it should have. It shot forward, almost like a snake, mouth ridiculously large, and sucked in the Lion King’s entire form, before closing its mouth around it before it swam back to its place in the middle of the arena. The Lion King was gone… but its marker was still on the screens, meaning it hadn’t been killed by that move… whatever it was.

  The Wealth Cashfish’s scales glowed brightly, a hum escaping it, as it floated there. The indicator moved to the AX-olotl, skipped it, and shifted directly to the Ancient Fortoise. I didn’t even have to ask. Guy began answering immediately.

  “Some skills can cause a Mun to lose its turn, or render it immobile. There are other abilities and attacks that will paralyze them, put them to sleep, and so forth. What Julius is using, is a move that takes a turn away from the enemy’s Mun, but at a cost. You’ll see, when it’s up next.”

  I didn’t press further. The games I knew had similar moves. I just hadn’t thought such things would actually exist here as well. The way these Mun battles worked continued to fascinate me.

  Mikael said nothing the whole time, merely watched the battle, and didn’t seem the least bit surprised his Mun had been skipped. Instead, he issued another order to the Ancient Fortoise. Instead of stopping its spinning… it started shooting the weapons on its back.

  “Guess he chose chaos,” I muttered, as the random blasts from its siege equipment on its back changed its trajectory, angling it away from the outer walls it had been circling, and towards the middle of the arena. Given he only had a very damaged Mun in the path of potential danger… and the bus sized Cashfish… I figured it was a pretty good gamble. Worst case scenario, he would summon a new Mun if his Bolt-Charged Brutalist fell now, probably with a speed that would allow it to still go before the turn order reset. Best case scenario... he was going to land some damage on Julius’s Mun and keep a bit of unpredictable danger on the battlefield that made it harder for the Keeper to plan. Either way… it was extremely clear Mikael was one hell of a Tamer… whoever he was.