James came out from the dead end and chose the one that was next to it. Sadly, it was empty. He looked at the next room, it was another winding pathway. Corridors just like the one he entered the first time he reached here. However, he was excited. He opened the room one by one, hoping for there to be another treasure chest.

As James continued, his steps were light as a feather. The fact that he had grown stronger made him smile. If his face was still a human, he would wonder who he was, for it contracted heavily with his usual attitude. The path branched, and he took the left path. It was the basics of dungeon exploring. If you always choose the left path, you will eventually meet the exit.

James suddenly stopped as footsteps whispered in the silent room. The smell of blood filled the air. At the end of the corridor, a colossal stone door opened. Behind the opened door, a throne fit for a king. Several goblin soldiers, the ones that he knew, were there. They were all equipped with a spear and shield. There, A green-skinned monster, similar to a goblin but much, much larger, strolled as if he owned the place.

It went out while carrying a corpse. A corpse of a woman that he knew. Her jeans were soiled with blood and piss, probably her own. Her T-shirt was ripped and was painted red from blood. Blood trickled from the wide gash on her chest. James didn’t need to come closer to know that she was dead.

Unlike the pitiful goblins, sharp tusks peeked out from the monster’s maw. Leather armor blanketed his green torso, and a rusty axe lay on his one arm. Its spiky shoulder guard made him more menacing than ever, and its gauntlets made clunking noises when it walked through the corridor.

James quickly hid in one of the rooms. He was weakened. There is no way he would be able to fight that huge orc-like being. Fortunately, the orc made no attempt to search every single room. It merely disposed of one of its victims in a nearby room and returned to the throne room.

“Stupid monster.” James made a victory pose in the empty room. The orc wasn’t feeling hungry and stashed the corpse in an adjacent room. It was his chance. The orc probably wouldn’t imagine its corpse would get stolen. After all, all goblins feared it.

James quickly went to the adjacent room. And he got more than what he bargained for. Instead of one, five human corpses filled the room. James was elated. But he then scolded himself for thinking so. Five humans have died. Moreover, one of them was equipped with a steel longsword, which proved that this human had leveled up and unlocked the shop function.

James thought hard.

“System, was that orc strong? Can I take him on?” Of course, the system didn’t answer him.

[information classified]

“What a junk! Well, first thing first. Can I use her body parts?” He knew the system might not answer —if something is too good to be true, it probably is— but it’s worth a try. He has five corpses to plunder. When he looked at the woman, there was something that he wanted to try at all costs. He certainly had played games and wondered if this was possible.

[Do you wish to modify your body? y/n]

[Available body part:

* Human legs

* Human arms

* Human stomach

]

“Can I change my boobs to that of this woman?” James looked at the woman expectantly. He probably should change his face first. However, James often let his instinct take over.

[changing…] The system seemed to hesitate, but it did anyway. Motes of light enveloped the corpse and himself. This might sound ridiculous, but deep down inside every man, there was a desire to be a gender-bend, and James was no different. He had many anime figurines at home. He wished that one day, with his new skill, he would be able to cosplay as one of the anime characters he liked.

He is a simp.

“Hmm?” The motes of light had disappeared. But his breasts showed no sign of changing. It was still a man’s breast.

“Hey, I asked for a woman’s breast. Why didn’t it change?”

[change successful. Human’s torso installed.]

“It didn’t change!” James was stupefied. He felt scammed. Those dreams of posing as cosplayers were slashed. The dreams of having those gigantic mounds on his chest had been slashed. Gone! The corpse had also disappeared.

[Body modification, not possible at current skill level]

“What do you mean?”

[The base for human specimens in Chimera skill was fixed. You can not change into another human identity with your current chimera level.]

“What the fuck! This skill is a scam!” James cursed. Of course, the system, being AI, answered him with an AI-like response.

[This is not a scam. The system will provide survivors with as much help as it is allowed. Chimera skill allows you to improve yourself with the body parts of others. It didn’t allow you to change your identity.]

James sighed at the explanation. Getting angry at the system was no use. He silently switched to other corpses and returned his legs and arms to that of a human. True to the system’s words, it was James’s legs and arms and not other men’s. He recognized the hairy patch on his hand. He knew how large his hand was supposed to be. He then took the dead survivor’s longsword.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

He was supposed to be happy for getting his body back and not some random bozos. But it filled him with grief instead. His dream was slashed, posing as a sexy model, getting a harem as a handsome boy, it was all gone. There were only two choices for him now. Becoming a raging monster or becoming a boring pushover office employee. He would never become popular, he would never become handsome.

“Fuck you!” He screamed. The cry of agony resounded through the empty corridor. Just like when he was at work, nobody heard his plea, and nobody heard his complaints.

The huge stone door opened. A man with a beetle horn and wolf’s maw opened it to challenge the great orc of the first floor. He equipped an axe, just like him, and a longsword at its back. Tears flooded his eyes as he looked at the orc with hatred. It was the first time the orc saw that expression. Most of his victims wore brave expressions before finally realizing the difference in strength. Then they showed fear and terror. However, the orc felt that he was different. Both physically and mentally.

The orc stood up from his throne with a flair. Its four goblin soldiers quickly lined up next to him. Then, it roared. The girl that came before this creature pissed her pants and fell stunned with just his roar. However, James was not perturbed. He answered back with a roar of his own. A mix of human and wolf’s howl.

With a wave of its hand, it ordered the soldiers to charge, and the goblins answered in kind. They came upon him with a vengeance. James took a stance, he smirked, almost laughing at the stupidity of the orc before him. If he could kill these minions now, the orc won’t get help when he dueled it.

James charged his skill. The orc was stupefied and was about to cancel its charge order. His goblin would never win against anyone who had weapon skills. However, it was too late. Even though the goblins wore shields and armor, it was meaningless before something called a weapon skill. James cut three of them with a single horizontal swing. The goblins flew away as blood spurted out from their torso like a hose. After a few twitches, they lay motionless.

I am now an official goblin slayer! James thought to himself. He was proud to see his weapon skill take down 3 goblins at once. He wondered whether he could now withstand another goblin horde that almost killed him yesterday. James now feels like a champ, like nothing could beat him.

The last soldier wore a stupefied face, only for James to decapitate it with his trusty axe. Within seconds, all of the orc’s guards were slain. Now was the duel between the orc and the chimera. The orc felt confident. He had defeated survivors before. He was confident in his strength. The survivor before it seemed to be the strength type. In a contest of strength, the orc believed no one could match him.

Like an amateur, James prepared his skill again, trying to charge at him head-on. The orc was a veteran in combat. If you knew a strong attack was coming, you could either parry or dodge it. The orc did just that, he prepared the same skill, [power strike]. If both used the same skill and clashed with each other, the winner would be based on their stats and the orc was confident in its strength. If both strikes collided, it was confident it would come victorious.

James was surprised. He knew the orc was strong, but he didn’t know it had a weapon skill. All the monsters he had faced before had no weapon skills after all. He thought it was the survivors’ privilege. However, his skill was already launched. All he could do was meet the orc head-on.

The gleaming war axe and the rusty axe met each other in a resounding boom. A shockwave burst forth from the impact, and the air rippled as James traveled to the corner of the room.

James had his first lesson flying with his bare body. He crashed spectacularly into the wall. The wall didn’t make any circular cracks like that in the movies. But it still hurts a lot. James had woefully underestimated the orc’s strength. Again, overconfidence was his nemesis.

It needed to be noted that James was not the only one with this problem. The five corpses before him were similar. When humans received power, they tended to test their limits. Many didn’t recover when they eventually bit off more than they could chew.

You are a quick learner, James. You can do this. James encouraged himself as he stood back. The orc smiled when it saw his ragged breathing. It did not intend to give him any chance. Like survivors before him, the orc intended to kill him. Then, another skull and trophy will be ripe for the taking.

The orc closed in, trying to make mince meat out of James. James parried its strike. However, in a contest of strength, James was losing. However, hands and axes were not the only thing James had. He also had his wolf mouth. When his axe was flown away after a parry, James lunged and bit its arm.

It was not clear who was the monster and who was the human because the orc looked more human than James. James bit his biceps, trying to amputate its arm. It felt like he was biting through thick rubber and through his wolf mouth, he could only feel a trickle of blood. There was no gushing of blood that usually filled his mouth when he bit through wolves or goblins.

The orc roared in pain as it swung its arm, trying to dislodge the rabid beast that bit it. James felt his teeth rattled, threatening to shake loose from his mouth.

Knowing that flailing its arm wouldn’t help loosen the bite, the orc dropped its axe and swiped James with such force that his teeth actually dislodged from his gum. Pain surged from his mouth as he could taste blood pouring out from his gum. However, now is the chance he has been waiting for. James stood up and lunged himself to the orc, unsheathing the sword on his back.

With a downward strike, James thought he could separate its head. However, the orc saw the strike. It raised its hand and blocked the strike with its gauntlet. Metal screeched with each other. James thought he could win but his hope was dashed away when the orc steadily gained back its posture.

The orc grinned. It had let its guard down, but survived. It swore that it would not let this survivor die peacefully. It would torture him. It would pummel him to the ground, and it would rip his head off with its bare hand. It would relish in the suffering of this one survivor. Victory was close at hand.

“RAARGH! —GHK!” The orc roared. Only to be stopped when something hit its neck. James had a horn. A very strong horn from a stone beetle. It was about thirty centimeters long, about the size of a dagger. A very strong and sharp dagger was attached to James’s head. A headbutt from James was akin to stabbing someone with a dagger, and it hit the orcs right in its neck.

“ARGHH!!” The orc used the last of its remaining strength to swipe James away. Like swiping stubborn leaves from his body, James was sent hurtling through the air. James gagged as his face was having an intimate moment with the carpet in the throne room. Blood still seeped out from his elongated snout.

Nevertheless, the damage was already done. Its carotid artery was already cut. Both knew James had won. The orc walked a few steps to James while holding its neck, its rugged hand did little to stop the bleeding that spouted from the wound like a fountain. After a few more steps, the orc dropped to the ground, lying lifeless. Its hateful eye never left James for a moment.

James beat the boss on this floor.

[You have leveled up to Level 9! Coins Received: 50

[Name: James

Age: 35

Sex: male

Levels: 7

Coins: 90

Stats:

STR: 57 (up 9)

Dex: 45 (up 6)

Magic: 0

Mana: 0

Skills:

* Beginner Axe mastery level 5

Unique Skill:

* Chimera:

* Goblin stomach (Iron guts) (stomach slot)

* Lesser Mana core (Fire spell, Magic+10, Mana +50)(Extra slot 1)

* Lesser Wolf fang (Str+5)(mouth slot)

* Stone beetle’s horn (Str +5) (Extra slot) (new!)

Equipment:

* Leather armor (damaged)

* Leather helmet

* War axe

* Leather pouch

* Waterspout dagger

* Leather bag]

[Do you wish to modify your body? y/n]

[Available body part:

* Orc’s mouth

* Orc’s legs

* Orc’s arm

]

[Floor Cleared. Teleportation portal will be spawned momentarily, please wait.]

Then, a portal rose from the ground before the throne room.