Chapter 21 Resolve leads to...

Chapter 21 Resolve leads to...

"Alright I'm ready," Damian said stretching his arms above his head and leaning from the side. Taking a few steps forward he noticed a few changes, one is his body felt lighter while his rippled with power at every step turning back hid party he noticed them giving him a strange look. That's when he noticed the few steps he took had taken him further than he expected like every step was now worth five of his old ones. "Huh, I guess I need to learn to control myself more, now that I have increased my stats I should see what my new body can do." He thought to himself tapping the side of his face.

"Sorry we didn't mean to be so slow." Lisa said her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open.

"It's not that we just didn't expect him to be so fast after having a hole in his chest a few minutes ago," Ben said with a small grin on his face the glow in his eyes had disappeared. It was as if it had never happened.

"Right what was up with his eyes and that stuff about losing control, even that strength was monstrous I wonder if he can rage. If he can't control it isn't he a berserker that's a double bladed sword." Damian thought still tapping the side of his face.

"Why do you look so annoyed?" Marrissa asked, Damian noticed her smile seemed forced almost like it was hiding the pain she felt at the end of her and Bens' fight.

"Hmm, oh sorry." Damian replied nonchalantly, sadly that didn't seem to stop the stares from his party "I have a bad habit of doing that while I'm in deep thought, sometimes I don't notice and tap so hard I leave a bruise, guess it's something I have to work on." Turning around he started taking more calculated steps trying to control his strength and speed he realized that the power of his muscles could send him forward further than before. And since his stepping speed was faster he would step twice when he meant to step once. It took a while but after around ten minutes of walking, he started getting it under control.

They turned the corridor into an open room with the bodies of multiple Cadaver Dogs their bodies were badly beaten limbs were torn off, some even parts of them seemingly cut away cleanly as if the parts just disappeared. "This was that masked persons' doing," Marrissa said eyeing the scene. "I saw them fighting a few of them before I came back but to think one person could do such a thing in a gold rank dungeon is absurd."

"The strangest thing is they didn't even take any of the cores they just left them here. Why would someone come to a dungeon and take any cores?" Sam asked his eyebrows knit in thought while holding his chin.

"For fun," Damian said suddenly the scene was brutal but was one he recognized after all he did the same type of thing in the beast den he had found. "Or perhaps experience?" Damian thought to himself, "If I can make others level up with the party system is possible for them to do it themselves as well? That is something I will have to test later."

*GRRRROOOOOWWWL* Damians' head snapped in the direction of the sound at the other end of the chamber was another tunnel coming out of it were three Cadaver Dogs, but something was different instead of the normal gray skin that hung on them these ones had a purple coating, the slime that dripped aff the decaying scales hissed as it touched the ground.

In a flash Damian was before them, his body moved without hesitation after all these were just stronger versions of the creatures he had spent a year grinding to get to level ten. Dozens of ice shards were floating around and behind him, they were thin, bright blue, with a malevolent glint to their edges like floating razors of ice ready to shred anything that got too close. Damian stretched as he did the small razors flew through the air at high-speed slicing into the beasts. The creatures shocked by the speed of the attack were too slow to react. one of them died as its head fell from the body severed cleanly. One charged at him but it was too slow with his new speed Damian easily sidestepped the beast only to kick it into a wall at the side, Ben was nearby readying his shield as it hit the wall he pinned it there. Marrissa appeared next to him and sunk a dagger into its heart through the rib cage. The beast was flailing around trying to escape as its life slowly seeped out of its body along with the thick purple blood that gives it life.

Meanwhile, Damian had finished off the third one by crushing its skull with his fist it was quick as the beast was stunned after the first blow. After three more there was nothing more than a smear of purple on the ground where a head should have been and a crystal a little bit bigger than a fist in his hand that he tossed towards Sam. "Looks like it's time to start moving have we collected all the crystals? Damian asked without looking back he could hear more beasts further down but they didn't seem to be moving toward them yet. "It's best if we take the initiative from here on, they're scavengers and we're strong, they will most likely try to flee instead of fight if we go after them." He said standing at the entrance to the tunnel they came down.

Or we can lure them here," This time it was Sam who spoke up. "After all, they're scavengers right if we leave them a nice buffet how can they refuse. They might try to run after they realize what's happening but we will certainly thin out their numbers by then. Besides even if they try to escape after what you just did they probably won't get far."

"That's true, ok Sam what do you have in mind?" Damian asked Samuel, who had a mischievous glint in his eye.