Eternal Prowler POV

Foolish humans had dared to besmirch the goodwill of the Eternal Lord. They had gathered into a group far larger than normal convention agreed upon, four groups of five had created a twenty person party of level 30 adventurers. Their purpose was to conquer those of us who had yet to capitulate to them. They had chosen my domain first as they had three groups with them who had encountered me before. All of them had lost lives but some had escaped with knowledge of my powers. Fortunately Lord Eternal would not go easy on them for breaking convention. I had already reached the new level cap of 30 due to my prolific hunting and total victories over any group that trespassed into my domain. To aid my fight against the `raid party` Lord Eternal had boosted several of my best warriors to match my level. Unfortunately I would still be disadvantaged as I was the only Superior being amongst my kind with the raid party having three of their number at the same rank as me. It would do them little good as I was blessed by Lord Eternal and they were not. No foe would survive my cutting claws, much less my crushing bite.

I continued to watch the raiding party as they moved deeper into my domain, sending several larger groups of prowlers towards them to gauge their skill and power. Once I had the measure of how well they could fight as a large group I would strike with my own party of 14 level 30 prowlers. So long as I could eliminate at least 3 of their healers or casters I would likely be able to win the fight. Even if they had the number advantage I was confident in the deadly nature of my powers. The Aether affinity allowed me unrivaled maneuverability along with many deadly spatial attacks; the Wyld affinity would let me recover from the most egregious of wounds while simultaneously giving me the power to lock down several foes. If I could defeat a party of level 30’s alone I could certainly defeat four times as many with assistance.

I watched and waited for an hour while the foolish adventurers moved deeper into my territory and were slowly led into the perfect ambush position. My pride of prowlers already had the area surrounded and even more were prepared to join the fight at a moment's notice. As the last man of the raid entered the ambush zone I ordered the strike. I myself leapt for two healers who were clustered close to one another, the other 14 all targeted similarly robed figures, some doubling or even tripling up on targets.

The clang of claw and fang against metal and flesh rung out through the clearing. I felt my empowered claws cleave through the armor worn by my two targets only being stopped by the bones of my targets. I quickly flung my paws in such a way as to throw the adventurers off of my claws, shredding more of their flesh in the process. It was a trick! They had used illusion magic to mask which members were which. Only two of their casters had been caught by the surprise attack, and all of their healers were still alive. That left me with eighteen adventurers to kill, eighteen now very angry adventurers. Fine by me, anger means more mistakes are likely to be made. With their ruse revealed the raid party quickly counterattacked, taking down several of my prowlers by focusing their damage on them. I lost 4 prowlers before we managed to disengage, so I sent the signal to change tactics.

I watched as the injured were quickly healed by the four healers. I gave a growl of satisfaction as they struggled to heal the two armored warriors that I personally attacked. I and my prowlers engaged them in hit and run tactics, those with the Aether affinity teleporting in and out of the fray trying to expose any weak points in their formation. Each time I attempted to teleport into their midst I was always intercepted by the Superior rank warrior they had brought with them, he seemed to have some sort of special movement power that always placed him in the way of my attacks. After a dozen exchanges I noticed the number of my elite prowlers had already been halved. The raid had been focusing their attention on the culling of my pride, trying to isolate me from the rest of my kin so they could fight me alone. They had yet to take another proper loss but I noticed that my efforts weren’t in vain. Two of their healers were forced to dedicate their time on the Superior warrior and the other two were constantly healing the damage done by my prowlers. I was slowly draining their mana but it was taking too long.

I ordered another change in tactics, those with the Wyld affinity would charge forward to occupy their front line while the Aether aligned prowlers would exploit any weakness. I myself changed courses. If this Superior rank human thought he was my match I would show him otherwise. I targeted him directly and began exerting more and more of my power trying to land a definitive strike upon him.

We clashed over and over again for several minutes, exchanging blows dozens of times. I would teleport in and use my Wyld Affinity to enhance the power of my muscles before striking out with my claws at the joints of his armor. In turn the warrior would maneuver himself so that his shield could foil all my attempts at properly cutting into him, he still took blunt damage from the strikes. In fact because he was using a skill to not get flung away by the force of my blows he was taking more blunt force then he would’ve by allowing himself to be moved. His need to defend his weaker party members was a vulnerability I would exploit to the fullest. I crashed into him once again, sending half a dozen rapid strikes towards the same spot on his body before quickly teleporting to an overextended rogue and going in for a bite. The warrior once more intercepted my attack defending his party member in the nick of time at the cost of taking the force of my bite directly on his arm. I felt the bone and flesh get crushed within my jaws and reveled in the feeling for a moment before finding myself being thrown backwards with immense force.

What happened? I felt the warm trickle of blood down my face and over my eyes, a large slash had been placed across my face. The Superior rank rogue they had brought with them had disengaged from slaughtering my prowlers to help his tank. I felt a movement of mana and quickly teleported several feet to the side, a six foot long spear of earth crashing into where my head just was. So their Superior mage was also attacking me now.

I looked around the clearing to see only three prowlers left, the corpses of my elite scattered throughout the clearing. It looked like only one of their healers was even out of mana, although all of them looked low. I gave a roar ordering the remaining three prowlers to retreat and rally together the rest of my forces. The two Aether affinity among them quickly disengaged to follow my orders while the Wyld affinity prowler sacrificed herself to allow their escape. I felt the full focus of all 18 people on me as the last of my forces retreated.

Fine then. I would do this myself. All I had to do was survive until those that had escaped could call down the entire forest on them. Even their large party wouldn’t stand a chance against the hundreds of prowlers within these woods, especially if they were spent from fighting me. I quickly dodged two dozen spells and attacks by rapidly teleporting several times in succession. It seems that the Superior warrior can only keep up with me using his defensive ability, so long as I never go on the attack he won’t get close, but that’s not my way. I begin rapidly leaping and teleporting around the clearing shooting out a claw every time I pass one of the humans in an attempt to injure or kill them. The Superior warrior always moves in time, practically teleporting with me. No good he’s too quick. I need to be faster.

I increase my mana expenditure to twice what it is using my Wyld Affinity to both enhance and heal my body, allowing me to take closer attacks and recover from any errant strikes that land. I make more attempts focused on the remaining healers as well as the Superior ranked damage dealers, who have landed the most strikes. It's no good, that damn tank is always in the way. Without my support the other three tanks are now each dedicated to guarding the edges, meaning the Superior tank has to cover less distance to defend my targets.

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Faster! I need more speed! More power! I am the first born of Lord Eternal, I will not be slain by those who spit in the face of his rules. I will kill this raiding party no matter what cost I must pay! I weave my aether mana together in a new formation accelerating my time flow so that everything else seems to slow down by comparison. I can feel my mana being burned through at a prodigious rate, hundreds of points gone every second I keep my enhancements active. I can feel my pool dwindling, my core running on nothing more than dregs. I can feel the wounds start to pile up as I’m forced to heal less and less. I feel a nasty gash hit my back right leg and a large spear of earth pins my back left paw to the ground. The adventures begin to close in, surrounding me now that my mobility is reduced. I manage another teleport backwards moving to a small cliff on the edge of the clearing, I pant as I feel my core start to give out.

Damnit! Not now! I need more, MORE! “LORD ETERNAL GIVE ME THE STRENGTH TO SLAY THESE FOUL HUMANS!” I roar into the skies. My call is so powerful that the soundwaves knock back everything within 30 feet and flatten several close trees. I feel something stir within my very soul and my roar echoes out over the entirety of the Forest of Endings. I feel my Pride of Pride’s skill activate and emanate over the entire forest affecting all of my prowlers. I feel the rush of power that each of them gives me, the power of the entire forest held within my body. I expand my connection with my liege and plead with him to give me the mana I need to win this battle. I feel my prayers answered and my devotion repaid as mana comes flooding down the connection. My body is brimming with power that slowly condenses my form.

Unique Conditions met. Evolution in progress.

I don’t even notice the notification as I begin to move once more. I am ten times as fast as I once was and in my first movement I cleave off the head of the Superior ranked caster before the warrior can even flinch. YES! This is the power I sought. The power of Lord Eternal! I shall strike down all of his foes! I am the firstborn of Lord Eternal and I shall be the last to die! I move faster and faster around the clearing each pass removing the head of another member of the foolish raiding party. I notice them grouping closer and closer together as one of them pulls out a vibrant purple crystal that is filled with spell formations. You think I’ll let you escape? I roar once more releasing the full might of my newly replenished mana and suppressing the activation of any aether spell using my own aether mana. I grin at the raiding party as their spell crystal fails. My form flickers once more, removing the heads from another member of their party. My claws are lined with spatial edges allowing me to cut clean through anything not shielded by aether mana. I resume my movements now testing the true limits of my new form upon the foolish humans, I shall allow none to survive.

Eternal Dungeon POV

I felt mana being drained from me even faster than when I amped up the time acceleration on the second floor. However I had a much larger reserve this time compared to then, I had over two million mana stocked up. Right now that reserve was being sucked dry as it desperately tried to fuel the evolution of two of my dungeon creatures. I was in a tough spot because all my Spiritkin were at least at Legendary rank and the evolution of one of them meant a Mythical Rank creature would be the result. As for my Eternal Prowler he was only Superior yet the mana he was drawing was comparable to Aika’s. Right, I actually knew her name now, she opened up her entirety to me, the first time I’ve ever had a spirit do that with their soul. My attention was getting too diverted, I needed to focus on my currently evolving creatures.

The system was helpfully informing me that the best way to assist my Eternal Prowler was by giving him a proper name, named monsters got better evolutions and were more closely linked to the core who gave them life. Names held power so I couldn’t just name him something mundane. I had an entire world's worth of media to pull names of power from, so long as the names held meaning to me that was all that mattered. Latin was usually one of my go to choices when coming up with regal sounding fantasy names, it helped that their writing system also matched well with english. I could pick a last name that was representative of myself. Aeternus was simply the latin word for eternal, well one of them at least, and it did sound pretty good for a last name. Could I live with giving every creature close to me the last name Aeternus? I hyper accelerated my thoughts in order to give myself more time to seriously consider this name. I tried out hundreds of variations using Aeternus and decided that it would do for a last name,or as the system was telling me a `name of origin` essentially a name that allowed one to trace its origin. In this case I would be the originator of the Aeternus name and all creatures bearing that name could be traced back to me, although them being a part of my dungeon would make their origin obvious enough.

With that decided I needed to decide on what his proper name would be. I didn’t want to use anything eastern sounding, as my Spiritkin seemed to be using that linguistic style at the moment. I could stick with latin for his first name, something that represented a piece of what he was. Leo is Lion, but I would feel bad naming my cat `cat`, that also puts pantheris out. I don’t have any perfect translations for any of his affinities and I don’t want to tie his name to something that might be subject to change. Perhaps something in a European language . . . yeah I don’t know enough of those to do much there. I could cheat and question the system since it’s likely already assimilated Earth, but I want the name to have meaning to me, to be something I picked myself. I went through defining traits of my Eternal Prowler trying to think of names that would suit him well. I tossed out several names like Triumph and Victory, as well as their other language counterparts. I was tempted to go with something representing bravery or perhaps determination but I didn’t think that they captured his character well enough. After agonizing over it for what to me was hours, but was only seconds in reality, I finally had a name that I liked. I focused on our connection and waited for the moment he striked down the last of the adventurers before sending my consciousness down the connection and linking to his mind.

“My firstborn, greatest defender of my dungeon. For your great deeds and unwavering devotion I have seen fit to grant you the honor of a name.” A bit pompous but I knew my dungeon monsters, this one loved the regal way I was speaking. “From this day on your name shall be Bellator, for you are the first and most powerful of my warriors! You shall also take the origin name of Aeternus as all my creations who earn their names shall also earn a place at my side. Now, step forth and continue to serve me well Bellator Aeternus, The First Warrior!” I finish my impromptu naming ceremony and something compels me to add a title at the end of it. I feel the power of the system flow through me and into Bellator imbuing him with greater strength and reinforcing our bond to be unbreakable. I decide that my newly mythic Aika also deserves this honor even if she’s asleep at the moment. I grant her the origin name of Aeternus and once again I feel the system influencing some part of me to give her a title as well. “I pronounce your name to be Aika Aeternus, The First Protector” I speak across our bond and feel her wake for just a moment as she accepts and processes her new name before once again losing consciousness.

They both draw mana from me for another five minutes leaving me feeling exhausted and drained. I notice the flashing of the system warning me that my mana is critically low in the reserves, I set myself to sleep mode for 8 hours so that I can recover. I’m sure that with our newly reinforced bonds neither of my new mythical class creatures will panic if they notice my lack of presence. Right before I sleep I see several system notifications that had been suppressed until now.

Congratulations you have evolved a Mythical Creature

Congratulations you have evolved a Mythical Creature

Level increased to 4 (New Perks available)

The requirements have been met. You have given birth to a new race of sentients. You will be rewarded (Error, requires administration to reward True Core. Proper administration enroute)