Alyria continued on her path for several days, or at least that’s what she thought, given that she had no way of measuring time inside the cave. During this time, she had gained two class levels and encountered several blue slimes and bats.
She also got lucky and found several small lakes of water, and by using Devourer, even though she didn’t gain new skills, she stayed nourished. Fortunately, she didn’t have to taste what she consumed.
“And more slimes, great,” the princess sighed after speaking, then looked at her three companions—three large Dobermans that seemed to be made of purple smoke.
“It’s really useful that leveling up [Devouring Dog] gives me more dogs. I suppose at level ten, there will be ten of them. I wonder what the skill’s evolution options will be,” she started musing about her skill and future options, but the constant bouncing sound snapped her out of her thoughts.
“Right, slimes. Well, let’s do what we always do—you go in front, and I’ll provide support… honestly, I don’t even know why I still have this club.”
With that order, the three dogs launched themselves at the slimes. What followed was less of a battle and more of a one-sided massacre, where the dogs bit until they broke the cores, while Alyria attacked the slimes further back with hardened slime spikes—or were they blood spikes?
The small massacre was finally enough to level her up, and her dog skill advanced by another level as well.
[Name: Alyria Valenwood
VITALITY: 57 (x2 per level up)
STRENGTH: 46
DEFENSE: 44
ENDURANCE: 50
MIND: 35
MANA: 36
SPEED: 26
CLASSES: Young Devourer 5 / N/A / N/A
TALENT: Multiclass
SPECIAL SKILLS: Devour / Skill Tree
CLASS SKILLS: Devouring Mist 2 / Devouring Dog 4
SKILLS: Etiquette 6 / Mathematics 5 / Tailoring 6 / Hunger Resistance 3 / Sleep Resistance 4 / Slow Regeneration 2 / Elasticity 2 / Echolocation 3 / Disorienting Screech 2 / Quick Attack 2 / Hardened Slime Spike 5 / Improved Precision 3
BLESSINGS: Strong Body / True Beauty / Material Manipulation / Bloodletting]
After checking her status, she decided that, with several points available, it was time to revisit her skill tree. After leveling up and defeating several enemies, she now had seven skill points.
Her attention focused on the skill [Energy Consumption] and its subsequent skill [Devourer’s Ray].
[Skill: Energy Consumption
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
This skill allows the Devourer skill to absorb residual energies from the victim’s body, which then transforms into Devourer energy. The fresher and stronger the body, the more energy can be gathered from it.
NOTE: This skill only allows energy to be generated and stored, not used.]
[Skill: Devourer’s Ray
You can fire a laser ray from your body, using the energy stored by the [Energy Consumption] skill. The strength of the ray depends on the amount of energy used in the attack.
NOTE: This skill does not generate energy; it only manipulates it.]
They cost three and four points respectively, so she didn’t hesitate and bought both. At that moment, she felt a strange sensation, as if a second stomach was forming inside her. Although she didn’t feel hungry, she did feel that it wasn’t full. She looked at the remains of the slimes and, using [Devouring Mist], consumed them, which made her feel fuller, but not entirely.
“Luckily, this second stomach sensation is… easy to ignore, so it doesn’t bother me too much,” she said while petting one of her dogs, which showed no reaction to the gesture. But she liked petting them anyway… it wasn’t as though she had much company.
And so, another day passed, fighting slimes and bats in this cave.
…
Alyria was deeply asleep, curled up against the cave wall, with her smoke dogs silently standing guard. However, a subtle movement woke her up: something long and slippery was moving near her legs. She slowly opened her eyes and saw, just a few centimeters away, an enormous cave centipede. Its segmented, plated body gleamed in the dim light, and its many legs moved rapidly toward her.
Alyria barely held back a scream. Instead of backing away, she reacted precisely. Wasting no time, she lifted her club and, before the centipede could react, struck it directly on the head, smashing several of its plates. However, the centipede let out a high-pitched screech that echoed through the cave, drawing the attention of other creatures before it finally died.
Suddenly, she heard a noise like legs scurrying quickly. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw several shadows of larger centipedes approaching, attracted by the call of their fallen companion.
“No, no, no!” she whispered, giving her dogs a quick mental command.
The four [Devouring Dogs] lunged at the swarm of centipedes. Their bites closed around the creatures’ segmented bodies, but the centipedes kept advancing with their many legs, surrounding the dogs and Alyria. Determined to stop the insect onslaught, she used her new skill.
“Devourer’s Ray!” she shouted, concentrating all the accumulated energy into a powerful purple ray that shot from her hands.
The ray struck several centipedes in a row, splitting them in half. However, one of the centipedes survived the attack and lunged at her, menacingly. Alyria dodged at the last second and used her club to crush it while her dogs finished off the few remaining ones.
Panting heavily, she observed the remains of the centipedes. Her “second stomach” demanded more, and without hesitation, she used Devouring Mist to consume the remains, accumulating even more Devourer energy within her.
“Well, at least I’ll have energy for the ray if I encounter something worse,” she told herself, trying to take the battle as a lesson to be more alert.
[Skills Acquired: Paralytic Venom, Rapid Burrowing, Alert Cry, Stone Carapace, Deadly Bite]
Alyria continued forward, her dogs following her silently, when she noticed a soft glow near a small hollow. She approached and, lighting the way with her own energy, saw an Amber Snail resting on a rock. Its shell seemed to be made of hardened amber, giving it a shiny, tough appearance.
“This is going to be tricky…” she murmured, aware that the shell might be too resistant for her physical attacks.
She ordered her dogs to attack, and they quickly engaged from multiple angles, trying to find an opening in the shell. However, the snail retracted and began releasing a sticky slime that spread across the ground, making it difficult for the dogs to move.
“All right, I don’t have any other choice,” she decided, using the Devourer’s Ray again.
The accumulated energy concentrated, and she fired a powerful ray directly at the snail. This time, the force of the ray was enough to penetrate the amber shell and finish off the creature.
She had barely caught her breath when she felt a vibration from the ceiling. Looking up, she saw a horde of small cave spiders beginning to descend, their eyes gleaming in the darkness. The spiders were of considerable size, their long, hairy legs brushing the cave floor as they came down.
“I don’t get any rest in this cave, do I?” she muttered, preparing for the next fight.
The spiders lunged at her in waves, and Alyria raised her club, ready to defend herself alongside her dogs.