Jack's party had just avoided a swarm of corrupted Blue Jay.
"H-how did you spot them?!" The young Centaur asked, his voice shaking. Had it not been for Jack, they would have been devoured clean!
"Watch the clouds. They're camouflaging as ones. Except their speed is slightly different." He explained. "Anyway, let's keep going."
At this moment, they were spies in enemy territory. They could hear their hearts thumping as they progressed ever so carefully.
"Woo!" (Suspicious cloud at front o'clock!)
The little wolf was on the task, pointing its little paw at the sky, sometimes salivating as it found food-shaped clouds. This was actually super fun!
By now, the Young Centaur was so quick to throw himself to the ground that he would have made a fantastic footballer! Just like that, they kept progressing until….
— Nervous Gasp! —
"This is it. Our old home." The youngster whispered as they finally reached their destination.
Before them stood a Gargantuan City, a wall-less one filled with countless enormous stone buildings, one the youngster had talked about during their trip.
The Centaurs were nomads and amazing hunters, always on the move. But, this City, Tribe-Gather they called it, was the one exception. The various clans would rotate and visit it alternatively and collectively once every few years.
This was the core of what could be called the Centaur civilization. Visiting this place was akin to a pilgrimage for their race, hence how vital it was. But there was an issue.
"How are we supposed to get there?!" The youngster asked, worried as he glanced at the empty plain utterly void of cover. Wouldn't they instantly get noticed?!
Infiltrating the place to gather information was one thing, but even reaching it was already stumpingly difficult.
Still, they had to by any means, not only for the Centaurs' sake but for their own too. After all, Jack was convinced the item they needed for Timber City's Event would be in there.
"Moon Moon, what do you think?" Jack quizzed as a teacher would.
"Woo? Woo? Woo?" (Distract them? Make ourselves invisible?)
The little wolf quickly answered. As for how to achieve those two things, it really didn't know. This felt like an impossible problem.
The place was surrounded by a dark miasma, not letting them see the inside of the City, but it definitely contained plenty of enemies.
Even on its edge, they could see countless corrupted birds and Centaur-shaped dark figures. This place was freaking air-tight defense-wise!
"Frankly put, it's impossible," Jack uttered.
"Woo?!" (What?!)
The little wolf yelped in shock. This was the first time it heard its master giving up. Had they hit a wall for the first time?!
"Or rather…It won't be us going over to them." Jack chuckled as he gave them a mysterious smile. Indeed the only way for them to potentially clear this was to trick the enemy AI.
As for how to do it….
Jack quickly got to work, the Centaur watching in complete disbelief. Why had he taken pumpkins out? How had he done it? And, why was he carving in the middle of nowhere?!
It didn't take long for plenty of gigantic pumpkin statues to appear. How had he even gotten so many of them?! Pumpkin Girl's magic was really getting OP nowadays.
She had given him a literal mountain of them! So many that it'd be possible to crush someone to death under the weight if the system allowed taking them all out at once.
The statues stood out like a sore thumb in the empty plain, as odd as flashily orange!
"Woo!" (That's amazing!)
The little wolf went from statue to statue. A troll? A dragon? A large horse? Ah, there was even a statue of itself: how freaking awesome! Should it request Thanatos too?
Finally, Jack gave a satisfied sigh, happy with the work done.
"What now?" The Centaur asked, utterly puzzled.
"Now we hide, and we wait." Jack simply replied, digging themselves a temporary hideout. Still, wait? What would that even do?
As they hid underground, the poor Centaur visibly uncomfortable, they heard the sound of galloping. They were here!
It didn't take long for them to hear a mighty pound and then the sound of splattering resounding repeatedly. They only came out once the silence returned.
Pumpkin Statues —> Pumpkin Exploded Bits
There was pumpkin pulp all over the place, everything Jack had painstakingly created destroyed to the last bit. Yet Jack didn't show any sorrow nor disappointment.
He simply grabbed his carving knife, redoing the whole thing from scratch! What was he even trying to accomplish?!
"Don't worry. We're just getting started." He reassured as he worked.
It didn't take long for them to be underground, galloping and splattering happening again. As they came out, the Centaur thought the human would stop by now…he thought wrong!
Jack resumed tirelessly sculpting.
"Why?!" The Centaur asked in disbelief.
"Why not?" Jack playfully answered. Had he lost his mind?! Initially, the Centaur feared so, but then he felt Moon Moon tugging at his leg.
"Woo!" (Look there!)
The little wolf pointed toward one spot that looked just like the others…but had slightly less pumpkin mush. Wait, there was one pumpkin missing?!
After a few repetitions, he finally understood everything as pumpkin statues (dark version) began appearing on the City's edge as if silent guardians!
Yet, jack kept sculpting.
He kept sculpting until the statues stopped appearing on the edge. Knowing they were still getting taken by the patrolling enemies, this could only mean one thing!
"There we go. We're all set now!" He finally gave a victorious grin, the Centaur still confused.
His plan would have been obvious to any human, but to the poor Centaur, it was a traumatizing experience.
"WHAT?! You want us to hide in the statue?!" He screamed.
"Woo!" (This sounds fun!)
The little wolf was already in the thing, sniffing the delicious odor with so much pleasure it was contagious. This smell reminded it of home so much!
Then they were all ready.
They kept waiting. Waiting as they felt a strong force grab the statue, waiting as they felt themselves moving, waiting as they entered the dark miasma area, waiting until they were in.
This stratagem was simple but actively exploited the flaws of their enemies. They had a consciousness/leader and were all corrupting Ephials.
There was no greater pleasure than to corrupt art!
Now the entire success of their operation rested on the shoulder of a very cramped-looking Centaur, the poor thing having trouble breathing.
"Dig your memory and relax," Jack reassured.
"How am I supposed to relax?! I've only been here once before!" The youngster cried out.
"Shhh, I'm sure everything will be alright. You talked about this place a lot on the way over. You just need to pinpoint when we're under cover, that's all, no big deal."
No big deal?! The Centaur was about to go insane. How was it not a big deal?! If they broke out of the statue at the wrong time, they'd 100% die or worse!
He glanced at the wolf and the man, both watching over him with a peaceful and kind smile. They seemed to have so much confidence in him. How?! Why?!
While the fact that they were technically immortal helped a bunch, Jack actually had full confidence in the youngster.
Seeing their attitude, the Centaur finally decided to man-horse up, focusing.
— Clip! Clop! Clip! Clop! —
They were still on the edge of the City.
By now, they had reached the outer ring perimeter.
Ah, they had just entered one of the smallest buildings!
"Now!" Following the Centaur's cry, they broke out!
— Splatter! —
Never in the history of Infinite had a Trojan Horse statue exploded from the inside so magnificently. Bits were sent all over, landing on the floor, walls, ceiling..and enemy!
Nex to them was a single Ephial, one that instantly made the youth freeze, all blood drained from his face. "N-no, t-that can't be…" he shivered uncontrollably.
It was Centaur-like but engulfed in darkness. The face was also gone, as if replaced by a shadow, one with nothing but large flickering eyes and a ghostly grin.
< Ephial: Corrupted Centaur 50! ?>
This thing was powerful! But Jack and Moon Moon didn't hesitate one bit. They knew that they would be utterly screwed if they didn't manage to insta-kill this one enemy!
The building they were in lit up like it was Christmas as the two went all in.
That's why they needed to go out at the perfect timing. Without cover, their flashy abilities would have instantly given them away.
Moon Moon's barbecue skill was especially strong against such an enemy as fire sprites were the natural counter to darkness…along with life energy.
The summoned flames ganged upon the enemy, quickly creating a wound in its side. Still, even that was all they could do, quickly disappearing as they ran out of energy.
"Good job!" Jack hurried over, grabbing one of Pumpkin Girl's Pumpkin Life-Bombs. This was one of the three he had on him, such a powerful weapon having carry restrictions.
He stuffed the pumpkin inside the wound opened by his sidekick, the three hurriedly retreating—Jack, dragging the shellshocked Centaur along.
3
2
1
Boom!
The life energy exploded inside the Ephial, sending shadowy bloody bits all over.
The mess was the undeniable proof that they had managed to slay the creature, and so was the XP prompt.
[Level UP!]
Jack and Moon Moon shared a victorious grin, only to hear sobs.
The poor Centaur was on the ground, grabbing the bloodied bits as if trying to put them back together. "T-that was my uncle. I know he was already gone, but…."
That's when the two turned solemn. As he saw the despairing youngster, Jack suddenly felt like helping him eradicate the Ephial Boss.
"Don't worry, kid. We'll avenge him." He patted the Centaur's shoulder. He would do it for his quest, for justice, and more importantly for the mad XP it would give…
