Dominic stalked through the waist-high savannah grass. Well, it would have been waist-high on his old body; on his new one, it was almost to his shoulders if he stood properly. Actually… am I bigger than I used to be? the human-turned-lion wondered. A moment later, he pushed the thought away – this was no time to consider such things.
As it was, he wasn’t walking properly, rather slinking forward sinuously in the way lions do when they’ve spotted prey and are trying to stay unnoticed. The tips of his shoulder-blades were the highest points on his body with his hips being the second highest. His head was lowered between his shoulders; his golden eyes fixed on his target.
The trodil seemed unaware that it was the focal point of his attention. It looked relaxed, lying down on its side with its head on its front paws. The key glinted golden in its mouth.
Unlike the previous two camps of trodils, this one was positioned on and around a rocky outcrop. The key-holder was on the highest rock, though that only meant it was six or seven feet above the rest of the savannah, since the rocky outcrop wasn’t too high.
Two of the other trodils were placed on lower parts of the rock formation; the other two were on the ground around it. They almost looked like an honour-guard: like one wishing to parlay with their lord would have to walk between them – or fight them if they meant harm.
Of course, if his guess was correct about Rage, killing off the guards would then trigger the mini-boss’s boosted state, leading to the wrath of an angered monarch falling upon whoever was foolish enough to provoke it.
Needless to say, that wasn’t his plan. Fortunately for him, a six or seven foot height was well within a normal lion’s ability to leap, let alone his enhanced body. Even if it wasn’t explicitly stated, he suspected that at least one of his muscular enhancements would have to positively affect his jumping ability in some way.
Padding silently around the camp, he rounded the back of the outcrop without gaining any of the trodils’ attention. His eyes once more fixed on the trodil, now looking at its vulnerable back, he prepared to strike.
A moment later, he leaped, his coiled muscles pushing powerfully against the hard ground. He’d engaged Quick Strike so he ended up hitting the target almost before he had time to prepare.
Almost. As it was, he’d been ready for that, so hit the trodil claws first, his teeth following up. Crunch. His mouth filled with hot blood.
Unfortunately, this trodil wasn’t as much a pushover as the level 3 one had been a bare quarter of an hour ago. His first strike was enough to do damage, but not enough to kill it.
To his delight, he saw a translucent red bar hover above the trodil’s head, a good quarter of it already gone. So much easier than damage notifications, he thought to himself even as he dodged out of the way of the trodil’s return attack.
Funnily enough, although this trodil was probably a higher level than the level 5 one he killed not that long ago, it seemed slower and weaker. I guess that’s the impact of Rage, Dominic concluded.
The difference in this case, however, was that from the moment he’d leaped, he’d been on a timer. Already, the trodils from the lower level of the rock outcropping were snapping at him if he dared to venture too close. They’d have probably leaped onto the higher level itself except that there was limited space as it was.
It was a risk, ignoring the lower level trodils as he did: if his guess was correct, they were the same level as the first mini-boss he fought, all four of them. However, he was determined to down this mini-boss before tackling the minions. As it was, the terrain favoured him a little: the restricted space meant that he wasn’t surrounded.
Lunge and bite, teeth ripping through flesh. Another chunk of the key-holder’s health gone, though less than half that of his first strike.
Pain. He’d gone too close to the snapping jaws of one of the minions.
Pain. The distraction allowed the key-holder to set its teeth into Dominic’s leg. The lion snarled as shards of hot glass were sent through his nerves: the trodil hadn’t let go, but instead had shaken its head and worsened the wound. A chunk was taken out of Dominic’s own health pool.
Focus! The trodil’s position didn’t allow Dominic’s own jaws to come into play, but he had other weapons.
Throwing himself onto his back, he grasped the trodil with his available set of front claws and curved his back legs forward to kick at its belly.
The trodil whimpered and scrabbled uselessly at him with its own blunt claws, chunks of health leaving its bar as Dominic’s claws disemboweled it bit by bit.
Letting go with its teeth, the trodil attempted to bite at Dominic’s gripping front paw. Instead, it just sealed its demise. Twisting his body, the lion half-rolled on top of the trodil, pinning it. It was almost the same size as him, but Dominic’s leonine body was strong, and managed with only a little struggle.
Striking forwards with his jaws, he set his teeth into the trodil’s throat and clamped down.
He watched the health bar empty, already seriously reduced even before he’d got the trodil by the throat. It flashed briefly, and then vanished.
At the notification, the lion gladly released his hold and pushed himself to his feet.
Dominic had been suffering attacks from the minions even as he crushed their leader’s throat. His own health bar was quickly dropping, the attacks of the level 4s unfortunately noticeable.
Now that the mini-boss was dead, though, he could go to town on the weaker trodils. But first…
Yes. In a few moments, his health increased again by a noticeable margin. Above half-health. Good.
By this point, three of the smaller trodils had joined him on the top platform and it was feeling rather crowded. Let’s change the stage, Dominic decided, hopping lightly down off the rock.
There was a moment where the trodils appeared a bit dumb-founded at the sudden disappearance of their enemy, but their growls quickly rumbled through the air as they realised where he’d gone.
As he’d hoped, the trodils weren’t as comfortable with the drop as he was so they ran down the stepped rocks on the other side. The trodil which hadn’t managed to join the gang on the top had less distance to go and was naturally the first to attack Dominic again.
To its cost. A level 4 trodil attacking a level 7 lion, which now outmatched it in all ways, was no contest. Half its health bar disappeared in the first punishing bite to its flank.
Before it could do more than snap fruitlessly at him, Dominic struck it with a clawed paw which sent it slamming against the rock, bleeding heavily from five deep new gouges.
Although the two strikes had taken less than a couple of seconds, the other trodils were already snapping at him. Dominic was surrounded once more.
Unconcerned, Dominic again had an answer for that. Coiling his muscles, he leapt a second time to the top of the rock pile.
Looking down at the furious trodils, he would have grinned if his facial muscles had been capable of it. As it was, he rumbled in a strange sort of laughter as they once more turned tail to chase him up to the top platform.
Leaping down, he used Quick Strike to enhance his attack. Landing on the back of the trailing member of the three trodils to be chasing him, he broke its spine in a single attack. A bare sliver of its health remaining, a crushing bite to the back of its neck ended it.
Before the two trodils already clambering up the rock pile realised their target had moved again, Dominic leapt at the trodil he’d batted into the rock pile. The bare quarter of its health that remained quickly vanished under his powerful bite, the trodil unable to put up a fight.
With only two trodils left, and still a bit more than half his health bar remaining, Dominic felt pretty confident. Mustn’t get over-confident, though, he admonished himself.
Instead of taking on both at once, he kept the cat-and-mouse going, using the rock as his means of keeping the trodils off balance. They did get in a couple of lucky strikes, knocking his health down to just below half, but nothing too serious.
A few minutes later, two more notifications had flashed up before his eyes and Dominic was left panting among still corpses.
Having visible health bars is so much easier, he said to himself again, grateful that the System had somehow been able to accommodate his desires. Although knowing the actual damage he inflicted could be good in certain circumstances, knowing the percentage damage he was actually causing, as well as how much relative health the opponent had left was a lot more practical.
After having chosen to sharpen his teeth on his previous level-up, Dominic actually might have appreciated seeing the exact damage of his attacks, as they should have been higher. However, he’d certainly gone through each of those level 4s much faster than the first mini-boss he’d fought.
On the other hand, the mini-boss had been enhanced by Rage and Dominic had been a lower level so… In the end, he just mentally shrugged. He knew some people liked calculating exact numbers and statistics; he’d never been like that. If it worked, it worked.
As for things that worked, it was good to have his theory confirmed: by killing the mini-boss first, he’d avoided it Raging. Assuming it had the ability, that is, but he had to assume it did, based on the pattern.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
On the note of Rage though… Dominic had absorbed the body of the mini-boss, but not the Beast Core. Feeling excited, he bounded once more up to the top platform and hunted for it. Although it was no bigger than a marble – though one of the giant ones rather than the standard size – it was easy enough to see. Fortunate none of our fighting knocked it away, Dominic noted with relief.
Licking it up, he quickly navigated to his status menu.
Status of Dominic Martin Cole / Leo
Species: Lion (body) / human (mind), Two-Souled
Level: Half-step Evolved Beast Level 7 (Path of Evolution)
Progress to Evolution: 177/154 PP level up
Hunger level: 100%
Thirst level: 100%
Quests: A Noble Endeavour; Regain what is Lost
Acquired Abilities:
Quick Strike (T0) level 1 (63% to level 2) – 3 SP for +20% speed; 6 SP for +30% speed
Powerful Kick level 1 (44%)
Crushing Bite level 1 (30%)
Rage level 1 (11%)
Defensive abilities:
- Fur level 3 (6-8 Slicing damage reduction, 1-2 Piercing damage reduction, 3-4 Crushing damage reduction, 1-2 Tearing damage reduction)
- Skin level 3 (2-3 Slicing damage reduction, 1-2 Piercing damage reduction)
Offensive abilities:
- Claws level 2 (6-11 Slicing damage, 6-8 Tearing damage, 3-5 Piercing damage)
- Bite level 2 (32-50 Crushing damage, 35-63 Tearing damage, 28-40 Piercing damage)
General abilities:
- Muscular Body level 4 (max speed 24mps; max speed duration 13s) (80/80 SP)
- Carnivore Constitution level 1 (300 HP)
Disappointment running through him, he saw that he’d gained more progress towards Quick Strike rather than towards Rage. Then again, why am I disappointed? he questioned himself. Quick Strike is an ability I actually have; if I don’t find enough other trodils with Rage, it doesn’t matter if I’m 11% or 91% towards acquiring it.
He was also cheered when he realised that the single fight had given him enough PP to level up again. It seemed that fighting enemies close to his level and capable of offering him a decent challenge was definitely the way to level up quickly.
And he was sure he knew what he wanted to enhance next. Though perhaps first he should absorb the other level 4 bodies and Cores. It seemed unlikely, but maybe he’d find something interesting among their Cores?