Grasping the monster’s skull, I clamped my hands together with everything I had, causing its head to implode in a shower of brown debris. I heaved, breath ragged, dropping the monster’s body, watching as the creature’s clay-like body began to violently boil, turning into a foul smelling smoke.
I took a second to confirm the improvised satchel on my arm was still there, with the items I’d taken, so as to not risk the shadow stealing them from me.
The sun battered down, my blood and sweat had mingled, mixing with the dirt and dust, caking every inch of fur and scales. My muscles ached, but it was a good sort of ache, the sort you got out of pushing yourself against an enjoyable task. And the work had been just as good.
F-class monster “Rock-Hound” defeated!
+3 AP Pick your Reward!
+5 AP / ‘P: Unbreakable Bones’
I stared at the prompt for a moment, wishing I had a truck-sized bottle of water to chug down. “P”? That was a passive trait, then, meaning that just like “stomach”, it would take effect in my human form too. There wasn’t much point in pondering whether to take it or the AP, but I did hesitate for a second. The ‘unbreakable’ part sounded neat, but was this the kind of ‘unbreakable’ that would show up in a scan or an x-ray?
Staring at the core floating behind the pop-up, I tried to discern its secrets… to no avail, the system just gave me the blankest of impressions. So I just poked at it, watching as the core exploded into a thousand tiny specks of glass, spreading out and into my body.
Passive ‘Unbreakable Bones’ True Grade: [G] [1 / 10]
Effects: Bones that don’t break.
An itchiness spread throughout my whole body, seeping through my skin and straight into my bones. I shuddered, fighting the urge to start scratching myself all over as the sensation quickly dissipated.
The system bounced the little pop-up back and forth, eagerly waiting for a reaction. With a chuckle, I couldn’t help but shrug, not feeling any different than I had a minute ago, though also unwilling to start breaking my own limbs to “test” the effectiveness of the trait.
It was also a bit fun to tease the system a little.
I took a moment to glance over at my progress.
AP:
Senses:
Speed:
Strength:
Durability:
133 / 150
160
160
200
0
Active Achievements:
Aural Sight, Twitch Muscles, Concussive touch
Active Skills [Traits]:
. .∟Blades
. .∟Shimmer
. .∟Corrosion
(G: 5 / 10) -> (F: 3 / 22)
(G: 9 / 10) -> (F: 2 / 22)
(G: 1 / 10) -> (G: 5 / 10)
Passive Skills [Traits]:
. .∟Stomach
. .∟Unbreakable Bones
(F: 1 / 22) -> (F: 7 / 22)
(G:1 / 10)
Active Skills:
. .∟Webbing
(G: 8 / 10) [10 AP]
Unused Skills [Traits]:
. .∟Prickly
(G: 1 / 10) -> (G: 7 / 10)
It was a very nice haul. Two classification upgrades and a lot of AP.
And also a little insight and confirmation into my abilities.
When blades had bumped from G to F, the only apparent change had been that cutting through monsters was ever so slightly easier. However, shimmer had upgraded while the adaptation-mode was active, and it had caused the fur throughout my body to recede, replaced by polished gray scales.
If I had to make a theory, it was that having the adaptive mode chugging along meant my physiology was… well, more adaptive. It readily explained the heal-factor as well as the fact that triggering skills would more strongly impact my appearance depending on whether it’d been activated during or after.
I also had a suspicion that the traits had a certain degree of mutual compatibility… but the same applied in the opposite direction.
‘Shimmer’ was a trait that made my appearance more… shimmery, making it possible for me to mess with digital cameras. The trait seemed to be inclined towards homogenizing my appearance to make my outline harder to make out. But ‘corrosion’ went against this, the trait sought to create pustules and pimples throughout my body, mediums to spread the burning orange powder. The more I focused on it, the more certain I was that there was some sort of underlying conflict going on between the two.
Maybe if-
Active Skills [Traits]:
Passive Skills [Traits]:
Active Skills:
Unused Skills [Traits]:
The pop-up rubbed up against my face, making me flinch back a little.
Yes, the system had updated its terminology a little. I gave it a slight shrug and a thumbs up before it made a pinging sound of annoyance and vanished. My attention, however, was quickly drawn away and towards the east. I got the distinct impression of being disturbed, as if someone had just knocked at my door.
If I had lips, I’d grin.
Another of the things I’d toyed around had been “Webbing”. Using it consumed 10 AP, and I’d create (hurl) a gob of webbing. The material was sort of like infinitely stringy cheese, I could cut off pieces and stretch them out, effectively creating threads that would become narrower and narrower the more I stretched it. With the glob being roughly the size of my torso, that was a lot of possible threads, which I’d quickly placed all over the place.
Every time one of the threads snapped, this odd sense of “attention, look here” would ping me in the back of my head. There were plenty of false positives, especially if I made it so thin that a stiff breeze would cause the thread to snap. But I’d set up a pretty wide “ring” area near my current position.
Sure, the threads were not a high-def multi-signature sensor array… but it was definitely better than nothing. Especially since it made it a lot likelier to detect whether something was trying to sneak up on me.
Stolen story; please report.
Such as the marauder monster currently making its way up the hill. Apparently, the rock-hound I’d just finished off had been part of a pack.
> E-Class, Clay-type. Codename: Marauder.
It was a wolf that’d been bloated to the size of a humvee, with a body not made of flesh or bone but of soil and stone. Its proportions were similarly malformed, with a squattish body but a proportionately large head. Its maw was filled with obsidian fangs, its hide made of rocky protrusions working as a semi-armor. Most noticeable to me, however, was its core. The E-Class’ core was no less unnerving than the other monsters I’d seen so far, but it was different, less like crystals and more like a mud-ball. One that was rotten, sloughing off bits of itself as it continuously tried to reform itself, failing over and over.
I could only guess it was because it was my first E today, but the only certainty I had was that I couldn’t blindly charge in. Marauders and rock-hounds were well known to form hunting packs, and unlike the typical mouther horde, they were known to have some semblance of coordination. Seeing the rock-hounds fanning out at either side of the marauder as they sniffed and prodded their way forward, I had to assume they were looking for me, and it wouldn’t be too long before they found me.
Was this a bad fight to engage in?
Eyeing my durability stat, I frowned. I could start up toughness-mode, but the point cost would be massive. I’d be getting 5 durability out of every 4 AP used… not worth it unless I needed the heal-factor for an emergency.
But maybe I didn’t need to engage in close combat?
With an idea taking root, I picked up a rock, one roughly the size of a human head. Clawed fingers curling around my improvised weapon, I took aim at the closest rock-hound. I then threw the rock with as much force as I could muster.
BANG
Stone smashed against ground, splitting into many pieces, and startling the rock-hound. I could only grumble internally that “concussive touch” didn’t seem to apply to thrown objects. Also throwing things accurately was harder than I’d thought. So with that little pipe-dream thrown out the window, I ran at the monster.
It howled, a sound quickly copied over by the others.
The moment I reached the creature, it lashed out at my arms with a maw full of razor-sharp fangs. Rather than look for a way to avoid the attack, I punted the monster with every bit of power I could muster.
Its body bent, chest caving in and stumbling back, body malformed like a sculpture made of wet clay that’d been dropped. The rock-hound’s voice came out in a gargle as it limped towards me, still snarling.
Not giving it the chance to fully reform, I punted a second time, sending it flying off against the nearby boulder. The impact was enough that it would’ve killed a lesser monster, but the rock-hound was only deformed further, barely able to walk, but not dead. Worse, its clay-like body was very slowly pulling itself back together, and the rest of the pack was already here.
With no time for anything fancy, I just grabbed the reforming rock-hound and threw it at the nearest monster. The two crashed into each other, and I pounced, claws gouging through the hardened mud. They whined, wildly trying to escape my assault, barely managing to kill them both on time to jump away from the third one.
x2 F-class monster “Rock-Hound” defeated!
+6 AP Pick your Reward!
+10 AP / x2 ‘P: Unbreakable Bones’
The rest of the pack was starting to surround my location, I bolted, racing the pack to keep them from closing in on me. The marauder was to my right, barely managing to keep pace while the rest of the pack was being left behind.
It pounced, obsidian-shard maw aiming for my arm, and I threw myself at the ground, rolling to avoid the attack. We both scrambled to reposition, with the marauder trying to block off my escape while I kept ducking and weaving to get through. Even though I was faster, the marauder won in bulk and reach. Its maw was large enough it could potentially bite my torso in two, but its relatively short legs kept its head level with my chest.
With the pack upon me and no easy escape, I swiped at its snout, fainting a retreat to draw it in before jumping upwards and over with everything I had. The maw snapped, inches from my legs as I rolled over its back, landing behind it and delivering several swipes at its hind legs for good measure.
I bolted to add distance again. Behind me, the pack was giving chase while the marauder howled, limping as its body began to mend itself. Two smaller groups split off diagonally from the pack in either direction, fanning out, stalling slightly behind but widening the territory they were covering.
The tactic confused me, that is, until I heard movement up ahead.
Without hesitation, I twisted to the side and changed course, only spotting the hidden group of rock-hounds a second later. When had they gotten there!? I could hear footsteps from a hundred meters off with strong winds. The only way this made sense was if they’d circled here well before I even sensed the marauder and then laid in wait.
I immediately changed targets, aiming for the smaller of the splinter-groups.
All three rock-hounds saw my approach, moving closer to one another as we engaged. I pounced, landing on the first and kicking out at the second. The monster under me rolled over, but in the wrong direction, becoming an obstacle for rock-hound number three. The two stumbled, and I rushed to lash out and grab the marauder’s head and twist it.
There was no snap, the head merely spun on its axis, its chin now aimed upwards. And the monster howled, biting down on my arm. I screamed, thrusting fingers into its skull, where it spasmed, legs going limp even as the jaws remained fixed in place. Spinning around, I used its body as a flail against the other two, pulling my claw out and straight back in, over and over, until the corpse finally let go.
My left arm was bleeding, but it looked worse than it felt. No time to hesitate, however, as I rushed the other two rock-hounds before the rest of the pack could reach us. The still sizzling dying corpse of monster #3 was all I needed to use as the improvised shield, throwing it at one of them while I kicked the legs out from under the other. My target fell, and I capitalized on the opening by stomping on its neck.
The moment my foot made it all the way through, effectively decapitating the creature, it slumped dead.
I was starting to get a hang of how they worked. The rock-hounds lacked any apparent internal anatomy. Their bodies were like clay, capable of recovering from any non-lethal attack so long as they had the time necessary to reconfigure. With this concept in mind, I tacked rock-hound number three and while one hand clamped its muzzle shut, the other tore at its throat until it made it all the way through.
x3 F-class monster “Rock-Hound” defeated!
+9 AP Pick your Reward!
+15 AP / x3 ‘P: Unbreakable Bones’
I picked unbreakable-bones, watching .
AP: 148 / 150
‘Unbreakable Bones’
True Grade: [F] [2 / 22]
I felt the shift from G to F running down my spine and to the very tips of my limbs like a splash of icy cold water. Shivering a little, a howl interrupted my little moment of respite, the pack was catching up. A quick head-count placed them at a dozen strong plus the marauder, I grimaced.
If I kept this up, they would wear me out and finish me off. I needed something that would make them less capable of leveraging their numbers against me. I looked for anything useful in my surroundings, and quickly spotted a steep ravine to my left.
The marauder would get there first, though. Not that I had an alternative.
As soon as I veered off to head for my target, the pack switched directions as well. Just as I feared, the marauder was moving in to block me off from reaching the ravine. Beady black eyes stared at me hungrily as another confrontation was inevitable, except this time I had no intention of confronting it directly.
The marauder was too large, too tough, and attacking it while surrounded by the pack would be suicidal. Better focus on thinning their numbers first.
So the moment we were within reach of one another, I used its lack of verticality to my advantage.
I took a running jump, soaring overhead just as I had before.
Smirking a little in satisfaction as I soared, I noticed one of the rock-hounds had split off from the pack to better intercept me. Not one to give-up on a free kill, as soon as I landed I rushed it, pushing all of my inertia into a single decapitating kick.
I was already running again by the time the head hit the ground.
My smile was gone as a pop-up slapped me across the face.
A̸͍͔̠͐͘̚P̸̼͓͉̐̕͝: 1̵̪͇̞͛͆͝5̵͚͍̘̓̈́1̸͔͕̟̀̒̕ /̵͍̟̔̈́͜͠ 1̴̝͚͓̔͌̈́5̴̙̙̦̓͋͝0̵̡͓͕͌̾͋
The barely-legible text slapped me at the same time the system let out an ear-splitting scream of confusion, pain, and shock. The world spun around me for a split second, the blue sky looking green before I flickered back into reality.
A series of howls behind me rose into the sky.
I spun around, ready to defend from an attack.
The pack had frozen in place, each monster hunched over and trembling, their bodies writhing and spasming, claws tearing at the soil as muscles and bones expanded. Their cores were cracking, vibrating with undisclosed agonizing pain as they compacted and squeezed tighter.
My eyes widened in horror as I realized what I was looking at. My mind flashed back to the hellcat, the first monster, its sudden and unexpected transformation within the laboratory.
Each and every one of the rock-hounds was turning into a marauder.
And the marauder… its beady black eyes burned with fury, locked on to me as spines jut out of its form, the monster growing twice in height, looming over the rest of its pack, skin drying and cracking, becoming the same obsidian as its massive fangs.
> D-Class, Bull-through-type. Codename: Stonereaver.
Mind scrambling to act, I rushed to activate the webbing skill, watching the AP drop to 141 as I spat out a globule of silk. The system shuddered, perturbed, confused, and shaken, shrinking in on itself with a scared whimper as I scrambled out of there.
There was no time to deal with the situation, the pack was recovering from the transformation and I needed to get out.
I ran towards the ravine as hard as I could.
And the pack chased.