A Monster Returns To The Dungeon

I dropped into the dungeon, in exactly the same place as I entered it before. Summoning my daggers, I held them tightly in a reverse grip as I sensed my first opponents stalking toward me.

Just like the first time, the pack of Wolves appeared. Just instead of 4, there were only 3.

Smiling, which was more like a snarl to these wolves, I practically taunted the beasts as I dropped into a combat ready stance. The fight with Kalawarner wasn't long or arduous but it did teach me the basics of what to do:

Overwhelm your opponent with brute force and speed. Make them play to your tune, not the other way round.

The first wolf charged at me...but they were slow. Slower than the light spears, at least. I stepped to the side as the wolf lunged and I stabbed my dagger into it's throat and dragged it along the body against the wolf's momentum effectively cutting through the side of the wolf completely. It only took a second for it to happen and after my dagger left it's side, the wolf fell to the ground.

Limp and dead.

All sorts of complex emotions bubbled up inside of me. Part of me was roaring in joy that I'd proved to be the better of something that had terrified me in the past, while another part of me was roaring that I was letting off these mutts too easy with such a swift kill. And the worst part of it all?

I didn't know which part was human and which part was the monster.

...Though I suppose that it doesn't really matter in the end, does it? Both of those parts are me in the end.

I didn't have time to think for long as I dodged out of the way of another lunge before jumping other another. I landed with a light sound, my steps being barely distinguishable as the blood rushing past my ears drowned out everything else. I charged at the wolves, my adrenaline spiking as I felt the same thrill I did when I was fighting Kalawarner.

I lifted my knee into the snout of one of the wolves as I slashed at the one that was lunging at me with it's jaws wide open and filled to the brim with white fangs.

My knee came into contact with the wolf's snout but just as it did, I charged a blast of electricity into it's face, causing it to whimper as it pulled away. My dagger missed my target but still slashed away at the connected tissue between the jaws. Or if it been a human - the cheek area. But that did little to deter the wolf's lunge, so I ducked under it and spun my body round, planting an elbow right into it's throat. Accompanied by another blast of electricity of course.

The animals both pulled back and snarled at me, but I could tell:

They were afraid.

In this situation...I was the bear. The strong. The predator. And that made me smirk as I charged at them. As I was doing that, I raised up a dagger as I jumped at the wolf to the right, mimicking their lunges at me.

I covered the blade in arcs of electricity and I kept pushing more and more arcs onto it before it looked like the edge had gained another, brighter layer. It seemed slightly sharper as well.

Frozen by fear, the wolf didn't move in time as the imbued dagger slammed into it's forehead, cutting through the skin and bone like butter and completely frying the brain with the current the blade was holding. Not one to give a chance to an enemy, I swung my body round, releasing my dagger from the wolf's head, and lifted my leg and quickly brought it down in an axe kick onto the other wolf's head.

An audible crack rang out as the wolf's head lowered and it's legs gave way under my superior strength and it collapsed with the remainder of my force making a crater under it's body.

As it was down and completely out for the count, I took my dagger and stabbed it in the head.

Looking at the dead bodies, I wondered about something and asked DM a question, "Does eating them give me anything? Or is it a one-per species of monster?"

[You can eat these but the effects diminish the more you eat. 5 per different monster would be the cap, I assume,] DM said in it's usual monotone voice and I nodded before beginning to eat. I didn't cook the meat because...well, taste isn't what I'm trying to get out of this, and the raw meat doesn't seem to do me too much bad.

I remember the pain I felt the last time and simply ate a mouthful of meat and waited a few more seconds. Nothing happened. No pain. Not even a small stomach ache. So I just began to eat as much as I could.

Though when it came to monster, it seems, I have an insatiable stomach. Like a black hole or a bottomless pit.

So I just kept eating and eating until there was nothing left.

I felt myself getting stronger with each bite after the first and by the time I finished the three corpses I felt much stronger, but how much stronger..."Hey, DM, how much stronger am I now?" I said before remembering two things I should also probably ask, "Oh yeah...what's my mission, DM? And did I get any skills from those wolves?"

[You are approximately 70% stronger, Ikki. Your mission is to kill 3 Giant Bears - I believe you already know what they look like,] DM said and I nodded grimly, not knowing how I measured up against the bears but oblivious to my thoughts unless I directed them at it, DM just carried on, [You didn't gain any skills but you did gain some traits.]

"Traits...?" I asked raising an eyebrow at the air in front of me, "I'm not gonna grow dog ears, am I?"

[...No, you are not going to grow dog ears, Ikki,] DM said with what could almost be called a sigh toward the end before carrying on, [Traits, are exactly that, traits you get from a monster you've killed and eaten. The two Traits you gained were {Enhanced Senses} and {Enhanced Leaping}.]

Bringing a hand to my chin, I posed another question, "But what's the difference between a Trait and a Skill?--Wait, is it because Traits are passive and Skills are actives or whatever?"

[That is almost completely correct. But what separates Traits and Skills completely is that Traits are to do with the physical, while Skills are to do with mana. Hence why your {Iron Bones} skill is a Skill and not a trait - it's based off of your mana. Still, well done for figuring it out that far, Ikki,] DM complimented me but something felt off about it.

"...Are you treating me like a dog, DM?" I suspiciously asked.

[...I would never do such a thing, Ikki.]

I didn't believe a goddamn word but I just huffed before standing up and testing out my senses a little. Sniffing I found that I could actually follow the wolves' scent back to wherever they were before. It was weird. Same with my hearing. I could hear things dozens of meters down the tunnels like they were right next to me.

But it didn't overload my brain. Which I expected something like this to. God this was all so weird. Moving onto my other passive, I did a few jumps up and down and found that I indeed jumped higher with lesser energy than before.

If before I could jump 2 or 3 meters straight up into the air with a full-powered standing jump, then 5 meters would be my max now. My ability to lunge forward explosively had significantly improved as well. So, with a small smile, I began to walk forward down the tunnels, in pursuit of a Giant Bear. I wonder which one of us would be the predator and which one the prey?

Though if it turns out to be me...I guess I'd just have to switch it up and go hunt something else until I'm strong enough.

. . .

Dodging back I sent a slash at the bat-like creature trying to kill me. I hadn't had any luck finding a Giant Bear, so I instead went about trying to find new monsters to fight, kill, and eat.

Other than this bat, I'd killed 2 different types of monsters. One of them was a tiger-like monster, just bigger. Though it was smaller than the Giant Bear, it was bigger than the Wolves. The other creature was a Rabbit that gave me a very nice ability...

The bat flapped away and I leaped after it but it dodged me mid-air which is when I employed my new ability.

Stepping on the air, an invisible foothold came together under that foot and with my explosive power, I charged at the bat-like monster. I stabbed a dagger into it's wing and dragged it down to the ground with me as I planted a blade into it's head which would be around the same size as a German Shepard's head.

With it dead, I began to tear into it's flesh with my mouth as I thought about the ability I got from the tiger.

{Aura of Intimidation} was the skill and it practically allowed me to use my monster mana to impose my will on another being and intimidate it. This, depending on the strength of the person and my own mana, would give a variety of effects. They'd either be unaffected, if they were strong enough, or they'd be pissing themselves in fear, if they weren't strong enough.

The skill scaled off the amount of mana I had, just like my {Iron Bones} skill. Before it wouldn't be much but after the few corpses I'd eaten, my physical ability and mana had both increased, making the skill useful to an extent.

It was enough to cause someone to pause for a few seconds and while that may not seem like a lot, in a battle for your life, it's quite a bit of time.

"Did I get a skill?" I asked I swallowed the last bit of monster flesh.

[I'm afraid not, Ikki,] DM replied, causing me to sigh. This was by far the most annoying thing. After the wolves I'd killed earlier, I asked DM about why I didn't get three skills/traits and only got two instead.

It turns out sometimes you won't get anything from a monster. Other than the boost to my physical ability and mana, that is.

Throwing the corpse away, I turned to the end of the tunnel as I saw a lumbering shadow getting closer and closer. Unlike the wolves who were black in color, this shadow turned out to be white when I saw it appear, illuminated by the glowing mushrooms and crystals overhead. It's yellow, beady eyes looked over at me with it opened it's toothy maw and roared at me.

Though in reply, all I did was bare my teeth in a savage smile as I activated my innate ability, doubling my current strength and making me feel like I was invincible. After the tiger, the rabbit, and the bat, my strength had been brought up to around 2600kg and apparently I was nearing my first evolution. So my current strength was over 5 tons!

...But none of that mattered at the moment. My instincts were telling me that despite my inhuman strength...this bear was still physically stronger than me.

But that didn't deter me as I brought up my daggers and then charged. I would make the first move. I had to, honestly. Otherwise I'd be moving to the tune of the bear and I know that if I did that, I'd definitely be the prey.