The Iron Death Bear
It was empty. No enemies were standing in my way.
A sudden chill went up my spine.
This feeling is like a feeling where you go up against the boss. I can already tell this fight won't be like the one with the Ant Queen.
Eventually, I arrived in a large room. I looked up at the ceiling and there was no stalactite in sight. Damn, those were my weapons.
Stomp!
I looked to the side and there it was. The "Iron Death Bear."
Hmm, to my surprise, it looks the same size as the bear I had encountered after I reincarnated. Though it did look different as I could see a little twinkle coming from its back. Thanks to me being a demon, I can see a bit better than I could when I was a human. Like I had glasses, but without the glasses.
It looks like the bear has a coat made of black iron. Well, I guess that's where the iron comes from.
The bear was looking around, like it was searching for something.
Hmm, it doesn't look like it noticed me yet. Maybe I should get its attention. But before that, let me check my mana reserve.
[Mana: 170/170]
Ok, since I have limited mana, I'm going to have to use my mana wisely. It's not going to recover that quickly so when I do run out, I'll have to dodge it's moves.
Now.
Shink!
My claws protracted, and I walked up to a wall. Then I slowly scraped it, making a loud and squeaky scraping sound.
Oh no, what am I doing?!
Now my claws feel all numb. How stupid am I? It was supposed to look cool, but that was the dumbest thing I could've done. It's like that feeling when you scratch a blackboard with your fingernails.
Well, I'm glad there wasn't anyone watching me, well except the bear now that I've caught its attention.
The bear snarled at me as drool dripped onto the ground. These bears really need to go to the dentist and fix their drooling problem. Ha! Like there are any dentists in this world... I think.
The bear dropped down from the ledge, surprisingly making no noise, and started prowling. Heh, it thinks it can find an opening, well too bad.
Hmm, maybe I should try the [Lacerate] skill. But the real question is, will I be able to cut past its iron fur? Probably not, but you'll never know unless you try.
I charged towards it. Since my agility has gotten higher, it feels as if I'm running three times faster.
Whoosh!
Clang!
I struck the bear's back with my claws, but I didn't leave a scratch. Looks like its hide is stronger than my claws.
The bear turned around and swiped its claws at me, which I dodged. Now that I know that my claws won't be able to deal any damage, I'll resort to magic.
I made a fireball in my hand.
Hmm, since I can use fire magic, I wonder if I can do something else other than fireball.
Maybe like a flamethrower?
I aimed my palm at the bear who was charging towards me. Then I felt a sudden sensation coming from my palm. Then in a matter of seconds, a storm of red fire surged out from my palm and the flames swallowed the charging bear.
Fwoosh!
"Take that, you stupid beast! Haha..."
Then something unexpected happened, well actually not really. The bear was walking towards me. The flames weren't affecting it.
"What the f*ck?"
It's probably because of its armor. But metal has a melting point, if my flames are hot enough, I can melt it down.
I focused more mana into my hands and the flames went from red to orange and yellow. If I recall, orange and yellow flames are hotter than red flames.
From the corner of my eyes, my mana started decreasing.
[Mana: 146/170]
[Mana: 142/170]
[Mana: 138/170]
Every second that passed by, I used an average of 4 mana per second. If I keep this flamethrower up, I'll eventually run out of mana. Then I'll have to wait again.
While I was distracted, the bear had appeared in front of me, and it tackled me, biting my right shoulder and disrupting my flames.
[Health: 96/270]
"AHHHHH!!!"
It was painful. The bear's bite was so strong that it took off more than half of my health. I tried punching its face so it would let go, but it wouldn't budge. Red blood was dripping down onto the ground. F*ck it hurts.
[Health: 93/270]
[Health: 90/270]
Every second that passed by, I lost 3 hp.
Sink!
I could feel it digging its teeth deeper into my shoulder.
[Health: 79/270]
"Damn it, just get off me!"
I stabbed the bear's stomach with my nails and to my surprise, it went in easily. Then I realized that the bear didn't have any armor on its stomach. Almost every animal's weakness is their stomachs. The bear's coat may be made of iron, but when it reveals its stomach, it's completely vulnerable.
This is exactly what I needed!
Shing!
My claws extended and curled inside the bear's belly, and it finally let go. As it tried to escape, my right arm which was now free was clutched onto its fur.
And you know what comes next.
[Lacerate]
ZZNNNN!
In an instant, my hand zipped past the bear's belly and blood and guts spilled out. The bear roared in pain as it stumbled onto the ground, making a faint thud.
"Grrrr..."
It made a little growl. And then it died a few seconds later.
[Objective: 1/1 Iron Death Bear]
[Rewards: 10 stat points, Iron Hide Stone]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Lacerate level up! (Lv2)]
[Congratulations, you are now an E-rank demon]
Huh? I just ranked up? So I become an E-rank when I'm level 20. Since I'm an E-rank, I should get something for reaching it right?
[Rank reward: Soul Absorber]
Soul Absorber? What does that do? Is that an effect?
The system didn't respond to me. No messages popped up.
"Hmm... maybe I should check my stats."
---
[Info]
Name: Noctem
Level: 20
Grade: E-rank Demon
Health: 300
Mana: 250
[Stats]
Strength: 37
Resistance: 36
Agility: 47
Perception: 37
Aura: 24
(Available stat points: 19)
[Skills]
Fire Magic(Lv4)
Light Magic(Lv3)
Dark Magic(Lv1)
Jab(Lv5)
Leap(Lv1)
Lacerate(Lv2)
[Souls (0/24)]
Empty
[Effects]
Blessed by the Light
Cursed by the Darkness
Beast Killer
Ant Exterminator
Rehab Tenacity
[Storage]
Iron Hide Stone
---
I noticed that I got a new feature. Souls, huh? And I have none. Where do I get souls?
Suddenly, my body began flashing. Like it was responding to something. I looked around and then I saw a small little light above the bear's body. As I got closer, my body radiated a brighter glow every time it flashed.
"Could it be that this is a soul?"
I was now standing on top of the body. The soul just right in front of me. When I reached for the soul, my body suddenly stopped flashing and stayed glowing.
Then I made contact with the soul, and it entered my hand.
[Soul absorbed: Iron Death Bear]
[Souls (1/24)]
Hmm, the maximum number of souls I can get is 24. Isn't that the number my aura is? Could it be that the aura stat contributes to this soul function? So that's what the aura stat is for. But what use do I have for Souls?
[Souls: You are able to extract the souls of a deceased one and use it as your summon. When they die, they will not disappear and will return to your core. Be aware that if the soul is stronger than you, there will be a chance that it will not be extractable.]
I can summon the souls I absorb? Does that mean I can summon the Iron Death Bear that I just killed?
[Error! The user has not consumed the following item: Summoning Stone]
"What? I need a summoning stone? Where the hell am I going to get that? This is bullsh*t. And here I was gonna summon a large bear and I can't because I haven't absorbed one stone? Where in this world is there a summoning stone?"
While I was yelling my head off, a message appeared in front of me.
[Quest: SLAY THEM ALL... (100/100 Giant Ants; 1/1 Giant Ant Queen, 1/1 Iron Death Bear, 0/1 Lich)]
I wasn't finished with the quest yet, I still had to fight the Lich.
Lich...
A lich can summon the undead. If I kill the Lich, will I obtain the Summoning Stone from it as a reward?
Well, I guess I'll find out. I'm going to kill that Lich.
As I headed towards the entrance, I took out the Iron Hide Stone that I obtained from killing the bear.
The color of the stone was black and gray. My body started flashing, and I absorbed the stone.
[Iron Hide Stone Absorbed]
Suddenly, the black scales on my body gave out a little twinkle. I poke it and it suddenly feels like metal.
[Effect received: Iron Skin]
A new effect? What does it do?
[Iron Skin: All physical damage received is reduced by 10%]
So it's a defensive effect. That's going to be useful. Actually, I could've used that a while ago.
I took a look at my right arm and the wound that was caused by the bear was already healed. My health and mana had been restored.
[Health: 300/300]
[Mana: 200/200]
Hmm, I just realized, didn't they used to go up 10 points every time I leveled up? It looks like it did more. Must be because I became an E-rank demon.
Well, enough talking. I need to kill that Lich if I want to summon things and get this message in front of me to go away.
[Objective: 0/1 Lich]