Monarch of Profound Toxin [Progression, LitRPG]

"Would it make a difference if I tried to stop you?" Ihasu asked him with a sigh as he pulled on a fresh shirt, narrowly avoiding smearing the clean fabric with the piece of toast covered in raspberry jam between his teeth.

"I'll be fine, babe. It's just an S-ranked monster," he said with a smirk.

"All right, cool your jets there, tough guy." she chuckled, but her face fell quickly again. "Just… please be careful, Eik. I know you're very strong, I do. And I know you have fought S-rank Awakened before. But I can't help but be worried. This isn't some game."

He pulled her into a hug. "I know it's not a game. That's why I have to do this. The stronger I can be when shit hits the fan, the more unnecessary deaths I can prevent."

"Eik, I know you blame yourself for those who died during the mission to bring back the oracle, but it wasn't your fault. It was a dangerous venture and they were all both aware of it and used to it. Death is an unfortunate consequence of the pursuit of power."

"Yeah, but—"

"But nothing," she bit. "It wasn't your fault and that's that. Like it or not, Eik, you're just some guy. Yes, very strong, and yes, very good at alchemy, but you're not some old veteran general with endless knowledge of strategy and tactic. As a matter of fact, wasn't it Andihar and my grandpa who planned the attack? You were just the money."

"I'm just the money to you, eh?" he asked, a smile peeking through.

"Oh, come on, big boy. Is the brave, strong man so easily offended?" she asked with a laugh.

"Not at all!" he insisted. "I'm the least offended man in the world. In fact, I don't think I could possibly be any less offended than I am in this very moment."

"Uh huh, sure. If you say so then I guess I will have to believe it."

"Please do. But I really do have to go," he said almost apologetically.

"I know. Want to drop off Bin at school before you leave?" she asked.

He smiled brightly. "More than anything. Speaking of, Bin, hurry up! We're going to be late!"

"I'm still eating!" came the answer.

"Just take it with you. We have to go!"

A few seconds passed in silence. "I have to feed Mis." It sounded almost like a question.

Eik rolled his eyes. "Don't come here trying to use your daddy's damn excuses, girl! Put on your coat and let's go."

He heard muttered complaints and grumbling from the kitchen before she shuffled out and sat down to pull on her shoes. A piece of raspberry jam toast was impaled on one of her tusks. The collar of her clean shirt was stained with the stuff.

"Like father like daughter," Ihasu sighed.

Bin grinned. Eik's heart was so full. He had never expected her to see him as a father. Eik had made sure she would never forget her biological parents, but that didn't mean he wasn't over the moon about her attachment to him. It made him feel like he was doing something right, even though he was fumbling his way through this fatherhood thing.

"Where are you going?" Bin asked him as they made their way through the neighborhood.

"Just a little bit here and there."

She eyed him. "You're going to fight?"

He returned her gaze, uncertain. "Yeah…"

"I hate that."

"I know."

"Do you have to go?" It broke his heart a little that her tone made the question sound devoid of hope from the beginning.

"I do. But I will be back soon and then I was thinking we could bake a cake together or something. How about that?"

"I'd like that. Aren't you bringing Goo?" Goo was what she had begun to call the Original Life that Eik had brought home. It was a pretty fitting name considering how extremely gooey the guy was. It still ran around in the shape of a cat but seemed to have grown at least a little bit more independent from Mis.

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It was insane how quickly it appeared to be evolving. Learn truly was an absurd skill.

"Not today. I don't think it's quite ready to leave the house yet. Maybe another time."

"He!" Bin told him.

"What?"

"Goo is not an it! He's a he!" she corrected.

He was a sentient blob of poison. He could be whatever little Bin wanted him to. And then when he grew up he could make his own decision. Whatever. "All right. He is not quite ready to leave the house yet."

The teacher, Ms. Morran, greeted Bin and Eik with a bright smile when they arrived and Eik told her that Bin's grandpa Gul would be the one coming to pick her up from school today. They were going to some kind of event the nature of which Eik wasn't really certain, but if it could take her mind off his monster hunt, then that was all that mattered.

Clan leader Gul always spoiled the crap out of her which made Eik happy. The more people who pulled that little girl into the warmth the better in his opinion.

Eik then made his way to Gimleh from where he would travel to the location of the mission.

For some reason, he had expected there to be barely any S-ranked monster extermination missions available. In his mind it had just seemed like it would the kind of thing that would be scarce. But as it turned out, he had been mistaken about a couple of things. One was that S-rank monsters needing culling would be few and far between for the simple fact that they were S-rank, but the Unified Mass was a large place and there were plenty of monsters to go around.

Another was that many of the S-rankers were often older by the time they hit such a high power rank. This meant that they often had many more responsibilities to deal with than just fighting. Men like Andihar Dayarunar and Gul Ougi barely had time to take care of everything on their plates in administrating their family businesses. Although Eik didn't doubt they wished they could run out and have some fun, it just wasn't a priority unless the danger was close to home.

The contract he had accepted today was to take care of a monster holed up inside a huge mine shaft. Some mining company had been excavating the area for a few weeks when the prospectors located and dug into what they had thought was a cavern leading deeper into the earth. Unfortunately, it had turned out to be a nest and more than a hundred workers had been killed in an instant, among which were a dozen guards, three of them A-rank.

A subsequent scouting of the site confirmed the monster's approximate strength and the need to bring in someone from the outside to take care of it. The hired muscle the company already had on hand just wouldn't cut it.

He received the information for the location from one of the many information hubs and set out to find the fracture chain that would take him there. A new camp had been set up far from the site of the incident and Eik quickly found the foreman in charge of his hire.

"I'm not sure about this," the foreman drawled, a deep frown on his face. "Look, Mr. Magnasen, I realize that you have come a long way to help us and I truly appreciate that." His voice was careful and respectful. He didn't sound comfortable speaking to an A-ranker.

"But…?" Eik asked, fishing for the rest.

"But I would really rather not have the life of yet another person on my conscience. Not to mention that a botched elimination attempt might trigger additional aggression toward this camp. I can't take that chance. I don't doubt your strength but you an A-ranker, Mr. Magnasen. This is an S-rank monster we're talking about here. I'm sorry."

"I'm fully aware," Eik assured him with a smile. "It's not my first time. I assure you, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of this for you. But," he said and fished out an envelope from his belt pouch of holding. "I figured something like this might come up. Here's a letter vouching for my abilities. Signed by both Gul Ougi and Andihar Dayarunar."

"Gul Ougi signed this? I've sold to the Ougi clan before. Isn't he their patriarch?" the foreman asked, eyebrows rising as he took the letter. He held up a metal rod with a flat head covered in swirling patterns and ran it across the signatures. Eik had no idea what it was. "They're real," he concluded.

"I know."

"S—… S-rank culti—… You— How did you—…?" the man stammered as he read through the contents of the note.

Eik shrugged. "As I said, I am perfectly capable of taking care of your little problem. All you have to do is trust me enough to let me prove it."

The foreman's jaw worked as he mulled it over. "All right, please help us, Mr. Magnasen." Eik seized his arm in a firm grip.

"Great! Here's a complimentary muffin." He slapped the pastry into the man's other hand. The foreman's beard wiggled furiously as his lips opened and closed while his brain worked to comprehend the A-ranker's strangeness.

The foreman didn't seem to have a clue who he was. That was quite different from the population of Gimleh and other combatants where rumors of his achievements flowed like rum on a pirate ship after robbing a distillery. It was kind of nice.

"I'll… I'll get one of the scouts to show you the way. Please be safe," the foreman said.

"Thanks."

***

"Can you see the opening there at the base of the mesa?" the scout asked. She was dressed in clothes and armor that seemed to blend into the environment like the ever-changing skin of an octopus.

"Honestly, no, but give me a sec." Eik sent a mid-sized Living Manifestation skittering across the terrain, getting close enough that it could see the opening while still remaining within Eik's effective range for Eyes of the Beast. "All right, I see it now. It's pretty big."

"There was a collapse during the attack."

"All right, and you're sure the monster is still in there?"

The scout nodded. "We have kept it under constant observation. If it's not in there, then it must have left through a different exit. We can't get close enough to make sure. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You've done an excellent job," Eik said, silently pressing a muffin into her palm with a gentle smile. "Leave the rest to me," he said as hundreds of Profound Toxic beasts poured out of his back and scattered throughout the trees. The scout jerked in fright at the speed of the summon.

With a finger pistol, he shot a drop of concentrated Profound Toxin into the clouds, seconds after which an Apocalypse Canvas spread out across the sky. The scout gaped up at the spectacle, resisting a shiver. "What the fuck is that?" she whispered.

"An Apocalypse Canvas," Eik chuckled as a crown of brilliant blue rose into the air above his head. "Do you want to stay and watch?"

She swallowed. "Yes."