djarcher

The people of the alpha plane have made it their hobby to enter the dungeons of other worlds and conquer them. Naturally not everyone is happy with this as dark undercurrents begin to work against the conquerors.

As some people die in the dungeons they are made an offer. To give up their humanity in order to live on. 
Guy, a veteran carrier, is one of them, he can't bear to leave his family alone and accepts. From then on he must fight in the dungeons but as a monster while simultaneously continuing his life in the alpha plane in the shape of a human.
Jade, an elite adventurer, also accepts the offer but her intent is solely to get revenge on those who killed her and make humanity suffer for her life.
Monica, a little girl not native to the alpha plane is pulled into the happenings due to her childish innocence.

Counter Dungeon-Delving

I am dreaming and yet I'm not. My mind is telling me that I just fell asleep on a bed but my body is telling me that I'm moving around.


My eyes see other monsters, all fighting each other. And I am fighting too...


In a strange way that is. My body is moving without me doing anything. Biting, constricting, lashing out with the tail, and every other thinkable way of killing everything around me. 


Blood continuously flows everywhere. Both mine and that of the monsters killed. It begins to cover my entire body, drenches me to the point that it seeps into my scales, flesh, bones, and even my soul.


The sanguine liquid fuses with me and that familiar feeling of my blood boiling returns. This wonderful boost of strength runs wild in my veins and I feel invincible. I am the king of the world bathing in my enemies' blood.


The killing continues. On and on it goes. I grow tired of it but my body doesn't stop moving. Injury after injury I continue to rend a bloody path through the mob. My wounds heal but the fatigue remains and it continues until I'm about to reach the breaking point.


Then with a surge rushing through me, a barrier is overcome and my body ceases to move. Blessed silence sets in as the fighting around me fades into the background. Finally, I can rest!


I wake up with a jolt. The ceiling I see is the same one I saw before I went to sleep. Well, except for a few scratches that weren't there before. 


I sit up feeling a bit confused and freeze in shock at what I see. The walls are completely filled with scratches and other signs of destruction. Except for the bed I'm lying on nothing in this room isn't covered in them.


Having a bad premonition I hurriedly open my status and take a look. And indeed my guess was right.


universal humanoid language, universal monster language, dungeon map, thermal detection


Sanguine bite lv. 2; blood-stealing constriction lv. 1; weak sanguine venom lv. 2; enhanced stamina lv. 5; sanguine boost lv. 2; stealth lv.1; energy fang lv.1; hardened scales lv.1; tail whip lv.2; 


I evolved! Most of my stats had grown a little, I had gained the skill tail whip at level 2, enhanced stamina leveled up to level 5 and sanguine boost reached level 2. That feeling of overcoming a barrier must have been when I leveled up my sanguine boost.


But why did all of that happen? Darwin clearly said I would have to wait until the next day and get some rest.


<Let me shed some light on that for you. What the chairman said was that your evolution procedure would begin only after you had rested. He never talked about your evolution itself.


The first evolution is usually a bit problematic so we have adopted this method to get through it with the least amount of effort.>


What do you mean by problematic? What happened in this room? And what in devil's name was that dream I had?


<Okay, slow down. I have no idea what that dream you had is all about. As for what happened in this room, that I can tell you. Whenever one of us goes through their first evolution we do so in our sleep and primal instincts take over. Since most monsters are feral in nature, their initial reaction tends to be a kill-whatever-moves strategy. And once that fails they just rampage until exhausted.>


But there isn't supposed to be a dream where I murder things, is there?


<Darwin's evolution was before the records were made. We only have data on his last two evolutions and they show literally no change in his physical appearance.>


<It's not polite to ask that behind someone's back, you know. If you really want to know you'll have to either ask him yourself or rely on your own guessing skills.>


Guessing skills? Like appraisal, you mean?


I'll just ask him then. Now, what is that evolution procedure? As you said I already evolved so it can't be that.


<It's mostly about scanning your body to obtain data on your evolution. Especially you, with your new or undiscovered species are a valuable data input for our systems. After that, you'll be having a few mock battles to get used to your new body and potential newly obtained skills. I'll guide you through the whole thing so there is no need to worry.>


I stand up and notice that the scales that had previously been white had now all turned into a beautiful sanguine red. So had my hair and according to Navi my eyes too.


I was fairly confident that those three traitors would be unable to recognize me if we met in the streets. Assuming no one would try to murder me after they see I have scales on parts of my skin. I wonder how those three are doing. It would be a shame if they died before I could get my revenge!


Evolution