"My dear Juliana, I am dying. I write this a final memoir of my life and a warning to anyone who may find my bones. This blasted Dungeon has finally gotten the best of us. The Order is dead, slaughtered by Monsters that emerged from the walls. Terrible beasts that toy with the normalcy we have on the surface and twist it into horrendous devilry. Spiders the size of carriages ripped men apart with poison-tipped fangs. Snakes with the heads of wolves herded us into a corner before we could kill them, losing half our knights in the process. Bears that towered over eight feet cut us to ribbons before we could react, forcing us to retreat and eventually split up. It has been ten days since then. My rations are all but gone, and I am naught but skin and bones. I might survive longer if I ate the carcasses of my kills, but I fear I would turn into one of those beasts if I were to sink into such depravity. While I am still able, I will warn you, should you find me. Do not trust the azure veins. They hold greater power than you could ever imagine. I only wish we had listened to the Seers more. Maybe then we could have surv..."
- Journal of a lost knight
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It isn't often I blame myself for poor foresight; I like to believe I'm pretty good with future stuff. When I dug my den, I truly felt that was the correct course of action, and I still do—a place to sleep and relax after a long day of fighting and eating sounds pretty good after waking up on some random planet after turning into a monster.
No, I'm kicking myself for another reason entirely. Like, and this is a pretty big one, how I didn't notice that the blue veins caused the monsters to spawn?! Really? It's so obvious now! I get I've only been here a couple of days, but come on, Aria. You think you'd notice that monsters weren't growing in your walls after you woke up with a bunch of monsters solely in the tunnel, for crying out loud!
The blue veins cover most of my den by now, basking my home in haunting light as if to mock me as I pick up sounds and vibrations of digging from my walls. Based on the noises I hear, I would give myself around three minutes before they break through. Fucking fuck doodles, this isn't good. I can still hear fighting out in the tunnel, even more, extreme than last time. I don't think going out there is an option for me right now. And with Emi's size, it's even more of a risk. She'd get squashed quite literally like a bug if she went out there. I don't want to risk her dying because of a stupid thing like that. I'll have to put up a fight in here. I can hear at least four monsters in the walls right now, so here's hoping they're at least aggressive to each other when they emerge. I might get lucky and be able to let them fight it out and take out the last one with a full dose of venom. My den isn't a very large space, mind you. At most, it's probably the size of an apartment bedroom you'd see selling for cheap on Earth. That doesn't give me much wiggle room to fight if there's going to be four other monsters in here. My best bet would be to try and ambush them as soon as they pop out of the walls. That way, injuries are kept to a minimum, and I don't have to risk Emi getting hurt in a front-on battle. In fact...
'Eminence, I need you to crawl on the ceiling and stay there. I don't have time to explain, but we're about to be invaded, and they'll be here shortly. You need to stay out of the way.' I say over the link, pointing to the ceiling with my tail.
'But Mistress, I want to help you fight. I shall defend our nest until my last breath!'
'Like fucking hell you will! I just reconstituted you, and I don't plan on losing you to something like this. Now get up there. That's an order.'
I only added that last bit because it felt appropriate, but it seems she can't disobey me if I give her a direct order, so that's good to know. Was it harsh to yell at what is essentially a newborn for wanting to help? Maybe. Do I feel bad seeing the sullen-looking centipede march her way up the wall? Definitely, but I would rather her feel sad about not being able to help instead of dead. Good timing, too, since I can hear my invaders getting closer to breaking out of their stone incubators.
With gnashing of teeth and tearing of claws, the first monster breaks out of the wall and stumbles onto the floor of my den, eyes ablaze with unsatiated hunger. The first thing I noticed about it is that it's big. Much bigger than anything else I've seen. At first glance, it looks much like a Wolf Dragon Cub, but this one is more than likely an adult. Probably a rank-two monster if I had to guess. Kitted out with its signature scaled tail, much more muscled and thicker than its younger counterpart, this one also sports two small horns on top of its head, and protective scales now wrap around vulnerable body parts like its belly and neck. Razor-sharp teeth glisten in its maw as it yawns and begins to look around my den, no doubt for something to munch on. Not going to happen in my house, asshole!
From my hiding spot behind it, my tail shoots out like a bullet and thuds into the monster's flank, causing it to yelp in pain and jump away from me, dislodging my stinger before I had a chance to inject much of anything. How fast! The other monsters I got into it with couldn't move as fast as that and died pretty quickly. Is this what an actual evolution does? This is going to be tougher than I thought.
In an instant, the adult Wolf Dragon has regained its composure after taking a stinger to the ass and is now starting daggers at me, growling. That's right, dick. That's what happens when you invade my home. Its jaws drip with saliva as we both stare each other down, a slight hiss escaping my mouth as I notice how shallow the stab was. Even if it takes effect, the venom will take time to get into the bloodstream. Until then, I'll need to stall. Or I would if I didn't have another plan!
Three more monsters suddenly burst out of the walls, one directly behind the adult Wolf Dragon. In seconds, my den is engulfed in chaos—more centipedes and a couple of new monsters I've never seen before begin to battle with one another. What I assumed to be a single monster in the wall was actually a colony of aggressive-looking worms. No bigger than a foot long, there are at least ten of them, and they're giving some of the larger monsters a run for their money. Like leeches, they leap onto their targets and latch on, sucking the blood out of their prey with astounding speed. They're already down two monsters, though, so I doubt they'll last long. Lucky for me, there were no other Wolf Dragons that popped out of the walls. I saw they moved in packs back in the main cavern, so I doubt more of them would be fun to deal with, especially with a rank-two to team up with.
Speaking of the adult, it hasn't budged. I can see it swatting away the centipedes and worms with barely concealed contempt for
the lower beings. It really is a lot stronger than I am. I may have underestimated how much those stats would have given me had I taken a different evolution. Oh well, hindsight and all that. Should I try to get a few cheeky stabs in while it's distracted? Maybe. The venom is still working its way into its body, but it doesn't look like it's gotten deep into its bloodstream yet. Another stab might be just enough to disable it long enough to kill it. I'm not sure how well my venom will hold up to a higher tier of monster, so I'm not going to bank on killing it outright and risk shooting all the venom I have stored up. Still, how to do it?
Glancing above me, Eminence is still hiding and not very well. Subtle hisses escape as she tries to posture her tail threateningly. At least she's out of the way. Still, this isn't a good situation for either of us. For her safety and mine, I need to make a move. I'm not worried about the other monsters. The centipedes are tough, but they have a fatal weakness on their underbellies for me to exploit. I'm not sure what the worms' deals are, but they don't seem all that dangerous if they aren't allowed to group up on a single target. No, my only real issue is the Wolf Dragon. It can't make huge moves in this space because of its size, but that doesn't mean it's defenseless. That tail is no joke. Using it like a mace, It's already injured one of the centipedes enough to where it had to back off and try to heal by eating a couple worms. Looking at the missing eye and legs, though, I doubt it'll be fighting ready for some time.
[Stealth has reached Level 3!]
Ha! And they say standing around doing nothing doesn't help you. And seeing as how my stealth skill leveled up, it means nobody is paying attention to me. I can use this.
Softly, I begin to creep behind the Wolf Dragon with my tail in position to strike. The venom is begging to work now, too. Small black lumps are growing in the area I hit, and the monster is starting to slow down ever so slightly. Fighting that hard against so many enemies increased the rate at which the venom could start working and get into the bloodstream to propagate.
'Emi, I need you to do me a favor. You see that big wolf bastard fighting the small fry?'
'Yes, Mistress.'
'If you notice at any moment that he's about to strike at me or notices me in any way, tell me. You're my lookout, okay?'
'But Mistress, you'll be in danger! Let me help!'
'No! This is very important, and I need you to do this for me. Got it? ' It's very sweet she wants to help, but come on. This is a life or death situation, love. Learn a little.
All I get in response is a sullen "Okay" from my pet. She may not like it, but this is necessary.
As I continue to get into a position to strike the Wolf Dragon, it continues its battle against the other monsters in my den. The worms launch at the beast, trying to latch on to any part they can. Most are swatted away, but a few latched on and clung to places the Wolf Dragon would have trouble prying them from in the middle of a battle. Four of the little buggers have been able to attach to places like the middle of its back and the flank, and one is even on its belly. Already they're filling with blood bit by bit and beginning to look like fleshy water balloons. To say that it's an appalling sight is an understatement.
The centipedes aren't doing too bad all things considered. With all the extra weight from the worms, the Wolf Dragon is having trouble evading some of the bites from the arthropods. Still, with one down for the count and the other hanging on by a thread, they're doomed to fail.
I'm close now. About four feet behind, I'm almost ready to strike. Unlike earlier, I'm aiming for the back. It has less muscle for me to punch through and more blood flow than what I hit before. I hope it'll allow for more effortless venom transfer. I really do hope that's the case.
Step. Step. Step.
Strike!
HOOOOOWWWWWLLLL!!
An unearthly howl erupts from the throat of the Wolf Dragon before my stinger can make contact. The howling is so loud it feels as though my eardrums are going to break! I'm immediately forced to the ground as I clutch my ears, trying to protect myself from the pain. Son of a bitch, that hurts! What is this, a sonic attack?!
The howl continues for a solid five seconds before the Wolf Dragon runs out of breath. As the sound dies down, I'm able to stand again, and I can see just what the monster was able to accomplish by using its howl. Monsters across the den are stunned, still writhing on the ground in pain. The two centipedes can barely stand, having taken the brunt of the sonic howl since they're so close to the wolf. Eminence is doing better than them, luckily. She's still stunned and clinging to the ceiling, but she didn't pass out, so that's good.
The worms, surprisingly, are doing fine. Do they not have ears? Now that I think about it, I guess that makes sense. You probably don't need to hear much underground if you can feel the vibrations. But if that's the case, they should be all the worse off because of that, right? My ears could pick up the vibrations, and the entire den felt like it was shaking because of that damn howl! Stupid system favoritism. Oh well, this is no time to bitch about it. The Wolf Dragon is winded because of that move. It must've been under a lot of stress because of the back-to-back attacks, and decided to go all out with an AOE so it could get some breathing room. Unfortunately for it, I was able to recover quickly, and it hasn't taken notice of me. Let's see if you notice this, asshole!
Tensing my body, I charge the Wolf Dragon, tail poised to attack. Being so close beforehand, it doesn't have time to counter-attack before I jump on its back and rip into it with my claws. As thick as its scales are, they have a hard time with constant attacks, much like mine, and I'm able to cause a sizeable wound before it bucks me off, smacking me in the chest with its tail as it does. A sharp crack sounds as the tail hits home, and I find myself flying Into a wall, landing with a loud thunk. That hurt. That really, really hurts. Why does that tail have so much force behind it?! The only reason I'm alive right now is that I twisted mid-air so that it hit me on the side of my chest instead of dead on. Had it hit my center, my heart would have been crushed, I've no doubt. I'm already having trouble breathing, and my health is down by half. My lung is probably crushed. I need to end this quickly.
Gritting my teeth, blood begins to dribble from my mouth as I stare at my opponent. We're both pretty messed up. The Wolf Dragon is dripping blood from multiple areas and breathing hard now. The venom has spread even more and is slowing the beast a lot. Still, I have to take this seriously. One hit, and I'm a goner. As I get ready to begin the battle again, Eminence chirps into my head with a frantic warning.
'Mistress, I feel something!'
'Not the time to bring up emotions, Emi! Quite busy!'
'No, not that! I mean, I feel a lot of vibrations headed toward us!'
'What?!'
I flex my ears to the best of my ability at this sudden development and try to hear what she can feel. And she's right. Almost too quiet to hear or feel, vibrations are coming towards us from the outside tunnel, and they aren't slow. I feel like a hammer hits me in the soul as my blood runs cold.
Wolves howl to call the pack.