Merchant Crab-Chapter 226: Bone Mass Hysteria

The group came to a screeching halt, and Balthazar turned around.

“Let’s go back!” he exclaimed.

“What?!” Leah said. “Did you forget the horde of savage skeletons coming for us from that direction?”

“Nope! But I’d rather take my chances with them than with—”

“Mr. Balthazar! I found you! I finally found you again!”

The crab’s eyestalks sagged as he rolled his eyes. “Ah, crabapples…”

A freckled boy with bright ginger hair came running toward them, a dim lantern in his hand and a rucksack bouncing up and down on his back as he approached with arms open as wide as his grin.

“Isn’t that… What's-his-name from Ardville? The kid who was fanboying all over you and caused all that commotion?” said Rye, his brow knitted in bewildered surprise. “Taffy, I think it was?”

“The very same,” Balthazar sighed, turning around slowly. “Just when I thought this dungeon couldn’t become any more of a nightmare.”

Leah squinted at the boy as he reached them and stopped to catch his breath, putting both hands on his knees.

“Hey, Jack, didn’t we meet this guy on the road a while back?” she asked.

“Huh? Oh, you’re right. He was the one trying to find Balthazar while we were coming back here after the dungeon emerged.”

“And you told him I was back home?!” the crab blurted out.

“Uh… yes?” Jack replied reluctantly.

The merchant slapped the space between his eyestalks with the side of his pincer as a pained groan slowly escaped him.

“And oh, I am so thankful for pointing me in the right direction, dear adventurers!” Taffy excitedly exclaimed, standing back straight and moving to vigorously shake Jack’s hands before giving a courtly bow to Leah.

“What the hell are you even doing here in the middle of a dark dungeon, kid?!” Balthazar snapped.

The ginger boy turned his freckled face and toothy grin back to the crab, his hands clasped together.

“Looking for you, of course!” he said. “It took me a while to find my way back here, since I had never been any further from Ardville than Joshua’s farm, and the roads were so confusing. But when I finally reached your bazaar earlier, you would not believe my excitement when your business partner, Mr. Tristan, told me where you had gone!”

Balthazar grumbled under his breath. “Tristan, you blabbermouth…”

“Oh, what fortune to have made it back home in time to catch the great merchant crab and his companions as they delved into this new dungeon!”

Jack frowned and leaned closer to his partner. “Did he just refer to us as the crab’s companions?”

“The adventure! The riches! The excitement!” the ecstatic boy hollered. “I could not wait. I headed straight inside to find you! I didn’t even go into town to say hello to my mother first. I just knew I could not miss out on this opportunity to join in and help!”

“Help?! How in the world are you going to help us?” Balthazar asked.

“Guys…” Rye called quietly.

“In any way, shape, or form you ask me, Mr. Balthazar!” Taffy squealed. “It would be my honor to serve the famous merchant crab. Ever since I first heard the tales about you, I knew you were my idol! Did I ever mention I have a stuffed crab I always sleep with? I made it myself!”

“No, and please never mention that again,” the merchant said from behind a locked jaw.

“Do you need me to carry your backpack for a bit, Mr. Balthazar?” the boy asked. “Perhaps you want me to hold your monocle for you? It would be an honor! Oh! Or maybe you’d like me to follow you with a crate of Potions of Hydration at all times in case you get thirsty or a customer shows up!”

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“Uhm, maybe we could just throw him at the skeletons as a distraction?” Jack suggested under his breath.

Leah gave him a scolding glare, but the crab tilted his eyestalks in consideration.

“Hey, I mean, he did say anything I asked, so…”

“Guys!” Rye insisted.

“What?!”

Balthazar turned to the archer, who was peering into the darkness with his back turned to them.

“Did you all forget the skeletons haven’t stopped chasing us? Because they sure didn’t.”

A stampede of rattling steps grew louder at an alarming rate, making everyone tense up again.

Everyone except Taffy.

The boy, whether from excitement or simply from being unable to hear anything else under his own fanatic ramblings, continued prancing around and gesturing wildly while praising the crab, his companions, and their feats, both past and future.

“Oh, the wonders I undoubtedly will see at your side! The treasure someone like you must find daily! The legendary personalities you must meet all the time! It’s been my lifelong dream to join someone famous like you!”

Bony shapes started becoming visible in the darkness as the crowd of skeletons finally caught up to them, no doubt following both the light of their torches and Taffy’s loud hollering.

“Crap,” said Leah, drawing her axe. “Looks like we’re going to have to fight.”

“Hey, kid, get back!” Rye yelled at the ginger boy.

But Taffy was too busy in his own rambling world to hear anyone else. He sang Balthazar’s praises, he made pledges of being the best and most loyal fan of the crab, he even did a couple of pirouettes, for whatever reason. All while a horde of skeletons quickly approached behind the oblivious boy.

“Damn fool!” said Leah. “Someone pull him back before he gets cut down!”

“Wait!” exclaimed Balthazar, squinting past the small human. “Something’s happening…”

The horde of undead, now fully visible inside the halo of lights produced by the torches and lanterns, was slowing down as they came near the boy.

Over a dozen savage skeletons had chased them down through the dark halls, all old and dusty as the others. And just like those before, these skeletons were wearing peculiar accessories. Half of them had old party hats still strapped to their skulls, a couple had bright-colored tinsels wrapped around their necks like scarves, and Balthazar could swear he spotted one in the middle of the group wearing a green wig.

“What… the hell?” Jack said, looking completely baffled.

“I told you back in town,” Rye said to him. “These are not normal skeletons.”

“Right, but when you said ‘party skeletons’ I just didn’t expect… this,” Leah said, looking just as gobsmacked as her friend.

Jack stretched his neck forward and his brow pressed together as he squinted at the skeletons. “Wait, are they…”

The undead horde had come to a full stop behind Taffy—who was still too busy waxing poetic about a certain crustacean to notice anyone else’s existence. One by one, each of the skeletal remains had slowly begun moving in an odd, erratic way, like a contagious rhythm was taking over them. Some bounced from side to side, others bobbed their rattling skulls up and down, and a few were even clapping.

The skeletons were dancing. Dancing in pure excitement.

Just like the boy standing in front of them.

“Hang on,” said Rye. “Doesn’t this feel a lot like what happened to the townspeople in Ardville on that day we had to escape through the sewers, Balthazar?”

The crab grabbed his Monocle of Exposition and looked through its lens, focusing on the overly excited young man in front of him.

[Nitwit - Level 2]

After another second, the monocle picked up on something else, and another system line appeared above the prancing boy.

[Mass Hysteria Aura]

[Causes those vulnerable to the aura’s effects to experience the same extreme emotion as the caster. Aura range scales with intensity of the emotion experienced.]

“That’s what it is!” Balthazar said, clacking his pincer shut. “The kid has a special skill.”

Jack looked down at the crab with a cocked eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Rye interjected. “We need to take advantage while the skeletons are like this.”

“Alright, but how?” asked Leah. “There’s over a dozen of them, and none of us is really suited for crowd control, not even the big stone guy over there. I doubt whatever effect has gotten into them won’t break as soon as we start attacking them.”

Balthazar brought the tip of his pincer to his chin, his expression turning into one of deep consideration.

“She’s right. We need to take them out swiftly and in one go, and we need to do it quick.”

A tug came from the merchant’s side. Turning both eyestalks, he saw Druma standing next to him with wide, bright eyes, both hands holding his magical staff.

“Boss, boss! Can Druma make big kaboom?!”

The crab’s eyestalks perked up and he smiled at his assistant. fгeewebnovёl.com

“Druma, you’re a genius!” he said. “Yes. Yes, you may!”

The goblin readjusted his hat, tightened his grip around the staff, and turned his gaze to the dancing horde of skeletons. A wide, mischievous grin spread across his face.

“Druma make big kaboom for boss!”

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