Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 344 – Cat Dad Visit Jormungand Palace

It had been 30 minutes since Undine and her group got arrested and imprisoned in the palace dungeon. As a former worker of this dungeon, Undine couldn't help but worry about Xiaomao.

The border palace dungeon was similar to Slave Dungeon. In front of the dungeon was a prison area, which was harmless to outsiders and intruders. However, deep down below the prison was where the real [Dungeon] was located.

This place was the nest of water drakes and dragons, who directly served Chang'e. Even the castellan, Cernun, or Alice didn't have authority over this dungeon or local creatures.

All death-row prisoners were always sent to the dungeon to become food for the water dragons. When Undine worked here, she recorded over 3,500 criminals that were killed in this dungeon.

Undine's concern grew. She couldn't stop imagining the worst-case scenario.

Because of her paranoia, Undine thought of a plan to break out from the prison. However, she remembered that the Castellan here was not a pushover as he was a grandson of a deity. Offending him might ire the hidden deity in the water dragon dungeon.

While Undine was worrying sick, a group of mermaids arrived at her cell. They opened the door and politely invited her out.

"Ma'am. Please come out."

Undine looked at a group of wardens. She was nervous.

"Will there be a trial or will you throw us into the dungeon right away?"

The group of mermaids sweated profusely even though they were underwater, "What are you talking about, ma'am?! This is not a place for a joke!"

"Huh?"

"P-Please come with us to the palace, ma'am. Lord Jorm has summoned you and your followers."

Jorm was the nickname of the Border Town's castellan. His full name was Jormungand the Third. As his name implied, he was the grandson of Jormungand, aka the dragon god and the dungeon master of the Water Dragon Dungeon.

Hearing that Jormungand's grandson wanted to see her, Undine was relieved. She followed the guards out of the dungeon.

Along the way, the guards also freed Nymph and other subordinates. Everybody cheered as they survived this place.

However, when the group reached Xiaomao's cell, a problem arose. As Xiaomao was too absorbed in training and was in a trance, nobody could wake him up.

Undine volunteered and entered the cell. When she got close to Xiaomao, he snapped open his eyes.

"Huh? Why are you here, munya?"

"We've been released. Stop cultivating and let's follow them."

"Err, okay, munya." 𝙛𝚛𝙚ewe𝗯𝓃𝗼ѵ𝚎Ɩ.𝒄ｏ𝐦

Xiaomao pouted. He just lost to Wei Huang's upgraded sword domain, and he was in a bad mood.

Undine carried the catopus in her arms as usual. Xiaomao purred and boldly nudged his head against the soft mountains.

The wardens glanced at Xiaomao and snickered.

"He's so cute. Where did you find him?" Asked the warden.

"I didn't find him. He found me."

"You sound like he's your master."

"He's my husband."

"…"

As soon as Undine revealed their relationship, the wardens' expressions turned dark. They gazed at the huge head of the catopus and pondered how they had sex.

Undine noticed their weird expressions. She teased them, "I know what you're thinking. Yes, I slept with him, and I used his tentacles."

"…"

The wardens' eyes widened as they were in disbelief. They sized up the chubby furry tentacles of the cat and imagined how they did it.

Because of the distraction, the scylla warden woke up. She looked at the mermaid wardens and clicked her tongue.

"What's the problem? Why are you releasing the prisoners?"

The mermaid wardens explained to the scylla. The tentacle girl knitted her eyebrows for a moment before she smirked. Then, she looked at Undine.

"I briefly heard that you two are husband and wife. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Undine nodded.

The scylla looked at the curious mermaid wardens, "You girls must be thinking about how they had sex, right?"

"…"

"Listen here, noobs." The scylla wiggled her tentacle legs. One of the tips transformed into a red head without an eye, ear, nose, or mouth.

The lazy warden explained, "My race and the catopuses are similar. We use these."

"…"

"If you're curious, want me to show you how [Tentacle Play] feels?"

"N-No, thanks."

The scylla snickered and shooed them away. Then, she continued sleeping on her duty.

The mermaids broke a sweat and hurried Undine to follow them. They soon left the prison area behind.

.

Undine, Nymph, and Xiaomao got their equipment, clothes, and their weapons back from the prison wardens. Their captain guided the group through the checkpoints and the palace maze.

The palace looked like a medieval fortress from the outside. But when Xiaomao, Undine, and the group entered the perimeter, they discovered that the fortress was an illusion.

Deep inside the palace, a stone wall maze surrounded the lone marble palace at the center. The walls were engraved with weird array patterns, which disabled everybody from swimming over the maze. They were forced to swim through the stone wall formation and various dark tunnels.

Minutes later, a notification message appeared when Xiaomao crossed the boundary between the outer palace and the inner palace.

DING

<You have discovered a new dungeon – The Jormungand Palace Dungeon!>

<Warning! This dungeon is suitable for high-leveled players. Recommended level range: 9,999 to 20,000!>

<You are the first to discover the Jormungand Palace Dungeon. Please choose one of the rewards from the list.>

<1: Increase the monster drop rate by 50 % for 72 hours.>

<2: Increase the EXP from hunting the dungeon monsters by 72 hours.>

<3: Increase your status attributes by 50% for 72 hours.>

The old-school choices appeared. Xiaomao snickered as he missed this type of reward.

'This takes me back. Before I cultivated, I was crazy over this perk. Now, it doesn't matter anymore.'

Xiaomao raised his tentacle, planning to choose the third choice. However, the list was longer than he had expected.

<4: Teleport to the Safe Zone (Mermaid Kingdom Faction Only).>

<5: Contact the dungeon master or a worker of this dungeon (Require a guarantor from the Mermaid Kingdom with at least 6 stars impression).>

<6: Enter the dungeon as a guest (Require a guarantor from the Jormungand Palace Dungeon) (You cannot attack the local monsters).>

<7: Visit the dungeon's treasure room (Require the permission of the dungeon master).>

<8: Take over the ownership of the dungeon (Require Lilith, Lilim, Chang'e, or Jormungand's approval.>

"…"

Xiaomao pressed the 8th choice without thinking. Even though he hadn't asked for permission from the deities on the list, he wondered if Chang'e would help him.

DING

<Your request is pending approval. Please wait…>

<Lilith is not present in this world. The request is automatically declined.>

<Lilim is not present in this world. The request is automatically declined.>

<Jormungand the Second doesn't know you. The request is declined.>

<Chang'e has noticed your arrival. She is now chatting with Jormungand the Second.>

<…>

30 seconds later, a new message arrived.

<Chang'e and Jormungand the Second conclude that you're too weak and inexperienced. You are not ready to manage a large dungeon yet. The request is declined.>

Xiaomao deeply sighed as he had expected it.

It would have been too easy if he could conquer the dungeon of another deity. He could have offended Jormungand and other sea deities around here.

DING

<Chang'e has changed your status to a guest of Jormungand Palace Dungeon and Water Dragon Dungeon.>

<Slave Dungeon, Mermaid Sanctuary Dungeon, Water Dragon Dungeon, and Jormungand Palace Dungeon are now linked. You may access the dungeons through your dungeon teleportation devices. Vice versa, the authorized personnel from Water Dragon Dungeon and Jormungand Palace Dungeon can now visit your dungeon.>

"Oh?"

It seemed that Chang'e did all the work. Xiaomao thought of Meowmeow, wondering how he would react to the changes.

<<MUNYAAAA!!>>

His surprised voice immediately showed up in the game notification message. He seemed shocked.

<Chang'e and Jormungand are chatting with Meowmeow.>

Xiaomao had fun watching the interactions between the deities. He couldn't stop smiling and reading the messages. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the detail or the conversation between these entities.

10 minutes later, the group swam through the hidden hallways. They went through a portal and arrived at a throne room, where Jormungand the Third had been resting.

The chubby lizardman struggled to stand up. He walked down from the throne and the counter to greet the guests.

"My deepest apologies, my dear guests. I didn't know that we would have guests today. If my subordinates offended you, I hope you can overlook this incident."

Despite being in a higher position, the castellan was polite. Xiaomao's impression of him rose to 3 stars.

Undine also politely bowed, "It was our fault for trespassing in the restricted area. We were running away from pursuers. We're the ones who should apologize."

"No, no. The festival must have been inconvenient for you. Come here and sit down. You girls over there, bring us some food and the best wine for our guests!"

Jorm ordered his subordinates to prepare a banquet for Undine, Nymph, Xiaomao, and their followers right away.

Within five minutes, the mermaid crew of the palace arrived with two hundred tables of food. Although they were underwater, the tables were glued to the palace's floor, and the food didn't float out of the plates and bowls. 𝐟𝘳𝑒𝗲𝘸e𝒃𝘯𝒐𝐯e𝚕.c𝒐𝒎

Xiaomao was curious about their technologies. He inspected a plate of food, which a mermaid had served him.

No meat, fish, or seafood existed on the plates. Half of them were stir-fried seaweed while the rest were tofu. Xiaomao hated the food.

Undine, who had been seated next to Xiaomao, whispered to him.

"Please bear with the local food. I know it sucks, but most sea folks are vegetarians."

"I thought we were all carnivores, munya."

"The locals treat seafood as cannibalism. We can only eat meat and fish when we go to the surface."

"Ah, that's why."

Xiaomao remembered that the tuna-head mermen often hunted for sea monsters and ate their meat. When he shared Cookie's meat with them, they happily took it and started a party.

But here, everybody followed the local traditions to show respect to none-meat eaters.

Since Xiaomao couldn't eat meat here, he mustered his courage and put a piece of cooked seaweed in his mouth.

"Hmm?"

It was actually sweet and sour. The texture was crispy despite being wet. Moreover, his tongue recognized one of the ingredients.

"MSG?!"

Jorm laughed, "Hahaha! How is my country's MSG seaweed, young catopus? We have the most refined MSG in the world. We even exported 500 tons of MSG to Midgard last year!"