"I suppose I should thank you...this is probably-...no, almost definitely...-going to be my last day alive, but at least I got to clean myself up after ages and change into fresh, clean clothes," Remarked Lumena, as she walked out of my portal, about half an hour later.

"Huh, you kinda went for the same kind of outfit you were wearing before, didn’t you?" I responded, shutting the portal as she exited it.

She was wearing a black tank top and black shorts, along with the boots I’d given her earlier.

"And? Does it really matter either way?"

"No, I guess not."

"Well, anyway...what’s the plan? I doubt we’ll survive, but if I’m going to die, I might as well die fighting. Then again, maybe I should just focus on making the most of the time I have left, since I’m no longer a slave," She sighed, as she plopped herself down on the ground.

"Let’s start by sharing what each of us are capable of. That’ll give us a better idea of what we can pull off between us. Earlier, when I fought against you and the guy commanding you, you only used Spells, right? What are your Skills, and what’s your Soul Weapon?" I asked her.

"Ah, in that case, I shall make myself scarce. Feel free to strategize without worrying about me listening in. I want to enjoy myself when we battle, and it’ll be more of a challenge if I don’t know what your plan is," Came Plasmuk’s voice, before fading away.

Guess we have no choice but to hope he’s telling the truth...not much we could do to prevent him from eavesdropping in the first place.

"I suppose there’s no point in being secretive, especially with such a high possibility that I’m going to die soon...alright, my Skills are Appraisal, Total Nullification Field, Copy, Replicate and Luck. Considering what I’ve been through, that last one is definitely bullshit," She frowned bitterly, before adding, "The only one I used while fighting you was Appraisal. I try to use as few of my abilities as possible whenever that bastard would force me fight with him. I was desperate to grasp at any semblance or illusion of control and choice that I could get my hands on...I know, pathetic, right?"

"No, not at all...in fact, I can kinda relate."

"Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind, we can talk about anything you want if we survive this. Let’s focus on how to survive for now."

Her Skills aren’t bad at all...Copy and Replicate are two Skills that come as a sort of package deal. They’re extremely rare to begin with, and all known cases of people possessing them have always possessed both. They’re more like one Skill that takes up two slots.

Passing up on those two Skills during my reincarnation was incredibly difficult...but giving up two Skill slots out of the three that I could pick was too much to part with, so I ultimately gave up on it.

It lets you copy and reproduce any object...in other words, you can turn a handful of money into an endless supply of funds, same with food and even Spells. Still, I don’t think it’ll be of much use against an opponent like Plasmuk.

Total Nullification Field is another highly powerful Skill, but again, not much use against Plasmuk...his slime body is a physical ability, so all that Skill would do is make us weaker while failing to affect him.

Hm...it might be able to do something about the glowing layer of sludge coating the entire cavern, preventing any shadows from being cast and therefore preventing us from escaping through the shadows.

As for Appraisal...

"You’ve probably already tried this, but I’ll ask anyway...don’t suppose you can locate the Monster’s core with Appraisal, can you?" I inquired hopefully.

"If only it were that convenient," She sighed dryly.

I’ll take that as a no.

"Alright, what about your Soul Weapon?" I asked her in response.

"Manifest Soul Weapon: Bong of Smoke."

Wait, what?

I stared in bemusement as a large black glass-like bottle formed on her back, with a long hose attached to the top of the bottle, the end of it strapped to her right forearm. It looks like a shisha bong, minus the charcoal on top.

"Wow, what a weird weapon...how does it work?" Inquired Izzy curiously.

Yeah, I thought my Soul Weapon was unusual, but this is just...

"I can use it to reproduce any kind of smoke I’ve inhaled before, and it also makes me immune to the effects of any kind of smoke, unless I don’t want it to. Poison smoke, flammable and explosive smokes, hallucinatory smoke, simple smokescreens, and so on. It works by inhaling on the pipe at the end of the hose after selecting which kind of smoke I want to use and then exhaling.

I can fill a space that’s about the size of an average bedroom with a single puff, it’ll probably take me a couple dozen puffs or so to fill this entire space. Well, not that there’s much point in doing that, it won’t accomplish much," She remarked with a shrug, before putting the pipe to her lips and taking a puff, closing her eyes as she slowly exhaled, tilting her head back slightly as she did.

Wait, this scent, I know it...

"Is that weed? Could I have a puff?" I requested sheepishly.

"You want to get high when we’re less than a day away from probably dying? Well, not that I can talk, since that’s exactly what I’m doing right now," She shrugged, before handing me the pipe.

"That’s exactly why...if we are going to die soon, I’d rather not spend my last day alive sober," I replied with a wry smile, as I took a puff and exhaled through my nostrils.

Wow, this is some pretty strong stuff, not bad.

"Why are you being so pessimistic? We may be at a disadvantage, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to lose and die for sure," Chimed in Izzy with a shrug.

"Well, aren’t you an optimistic Monster? Also, are you really the offspring of the Demon Lord and a Dragon King?" Responded Lumena curiously.

"Mhm, I am."

"And you don’t hate humans?"

"No, at least not all of them. I do hate the ones who’ve imprisoned and made my family suffer, but I don’t hate the ones I’m close to or ones whom I don’t know," She shrugged in response.

"I...I see," Muttered Lumena, a thoughtful look on her face...or she might just be stoned, the puff I took was pretty strong, and she took a longer puff than I did.

"Alright, now that we have an idea of what you’re capable of, the two of us should explain what we can do. I’m-...," I began.

"Wait...um, what are your names? I introduced myself, after all," She interrupted as she met my gaze.

"Oh, right. My bad, it slipped my mind...I’m Larrk Stryker, nice to meet you," I introduced myself.

"And I’m Izzozon. But you can call me Izzy. Nice to meet you!"

"Larrk and Izzy, huh? Hm, despite the circumstances...I suppose it’s nice to meet you too."

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