In a massive meadow void of any living creature besides two powerful entities, the clash between Dungeon Bosses continued.

The boar continued to charge towards me, seeming to have unlimited stamina, or at least a larger capacity of it than I could imagine. I, in turn, continued to dodge at the best of my ability, not willing to get hit with the force of a wrecking ball. While physical force should affect me to a much lesser degree than, say, a human, there are limits to everything. It is one thing to get punched in the stomach. It is another story to get rammed by a truck. Even getting clipped, especially by those tusks that could fill up with mana, posed a risk to me.

Like the boar, I did not appear to get physically tired by our game of cat and mouse, but I was beginning to feel some mental strain. After all, this is only the first day of my new life. So far, immediately after waking up in this new body, I had destroyed the core that made me, killed all of the slimes in the dungeon, ate the fairy partner, and without much of a break I proceeded to attack a neighboring dungeon and slaughter my way through hordes of enraged tusked pigs until the big bad boss showed up. If I was still human I would have collapsed and died a long time ago.

Huh. I should really take a break.

After one more pass from the boar, during which it managed to kick up a cloud of dirt at me, maybe in an attempt to blind me, I finally had enough. There was one idea that I wanted to try. If it failed...well, I might as well do my best to retreat. Still, I had no doubt it would work.

I waited for the blasted boar to face me once more. Every time it charged at me it got closer and closer to actually landing a solid hit, as if it was slowly learning my timing. The look in its eyes as it built up speed again told me that it was confident in catching me in this strike. Well, it was not the only one who could pay attention to its opponent.

Standing my ground, I chose not to dodge this attack. The boar was used to me jerking away at the last moment, so it could not notice my intention. That is why, as I struck the ground with a pair of tentacles and launched myself up and over its head, I caught it completely by surprise. I did not jump very far, I only used enough force to land on a particular spot.

On its back.

Quickly throwing a few tentacles around, I secured myself to the body of the boar. I may have been wary of getting slammed by a charging behemoth, but I had no fear once I took away its best method of attack. I mean, I felt no fear in general, but that was not the point. Before the boar could understand what was happening, I manipulated my body so that I would stretch out over its head. I avoided the tusks, unsure it even touching them was safe, but I proceeded to enact the plan I came up with a while ago.

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I filled its nose, ears, eyes, and mouth with my slime.

The boar immediately worked itself into a frenzy. It could not run around as I effectively blinded it, robbing it of its sense of balance. It could not breathe as I blocked its airways. All it could do was struggle frantically, rolling around on the ground in a vain attempt to dislodge me. It did not even think to bite me, although that would have been just as ineffective.

I was suffocating it. Or drowning. Really not quite sure which, but I suppose I would need to enter its lungs to fit the definition of drowning. Suffocation it is, then.

A few minutes later, the Dungeon Boss ended its weak struggles. With a last twitch of its legs, I felt it give up its final breath. A large amount of mana erupted in me, filling me far, far more than the slimes and pigs I had killed so far, about half as much as my maker provided, actually. I tried to lose myself in the sensation of it, reveling in the increase in mana, but as usual, the feeling was short lived. At least it provided me with confirmation that I won.

It was then that I realized just how big the boar was. As it was finally still, no longer rushing about me like a lunatic, I was able to judge its size in relation to myself. I had not considered my own size up until this point, but it seemed that I was about a quarter of the size of the boar, when I’m not extending any part of myself. That put me at a height taller than a full grown man, significantly taller, but my horizontal dimensions were still a bit unclear to me. Perhaps just as wide as I am tall? I truly could not tell. However...was I always this big? Somehow, I did not think so.

Instead of dwelling on my body image issues, I chose to act. For all I knew, the dungeon could try to send something else after me and I wanted to be ready. I decided to consume the corpse of the boar, because it seemed like a waste to just leave it there. It only took a little longer than I expected to dissolve the entire thing, starting from the head. In the end I had no real trouble dealing with it. At the same time, I kept watch of the surrounding area and notice any additional threats. I wondered if that meant the dungeon had nothing left to throw at me. If that was indeed the case, then my path forward would be clear.

Once the boar corpse was completely removed, I traveled in the direction from which it came. Although our battle took us all over the meadow, it was fairly easy to see where it began, as there was only one area that had a single set of tracks as opposed to the turned up, ruined soil all around me. Following that path, I eventually reached the edge of the dungeon, where I first saw the figure of the boar appear. A pleasant surprise awaited me.

Right there, in a delicately carved alcove, sat the dungeon core.