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"So is this actually real?" said Roman. "Or is it mythological likes the ones Voreese was talking about?"

"Garovel said it really existed like two thousand years ago," said Hector.

"Hmm. Doesn't really sound like a forest-dwelling monster, though, so why does he think it might be this 'Beast of Lorent?'"

"Supposedly, it could goo-ify almost any kind of environment to suit its needs. And it was known to migrate to new regions when threatened by hunters."

"Did you look this Yigorosk up on the internet?"

Hector hesitated. "Y-yeah..."

Roman cocked an eyebrow "And? What'd you find?"

"Uh... not what I was looking for."

Roman seemed confused.

Hector considered how to explain. "...Tentacle monsters are really popular online."

Roman no longer looked confused. A smile flickered across his face as he attempted to maintain his composure, but it didn't take long for him to start laughing outright.

"It's not that funny," said Hector.

Roman settled himself. Mostly. "Sorry. Heh. So, I guess, the term Yigorosk didn't help to, heh, narrow your search?"

"No." Hector frowned. "It sure fucking didn't."

Roman snorted again. "That's still a little strange, though. If it really does exist to this day, then you should've been able to find some actual academic articles about it."

Hector scratched his chin. "Maybe I'm just bad at searching for stuff online."

"You think so? I thought all young people these days were well-versed in using the internet."

Hector smiled. "Hey, maybe you should look it up."

Roman just stared at him a moment. "I see where this is going, and I don't like it."

"I'm sure you'd be better at it than me."

"Alright, y'know what?" Roman pulled out his phone. "I'm willing to walk over this land mine if we do it together."

At that, Hector's enthusiasm waned a little. "Eh..."