It was about a week in, as the trio was forced for the second time into their journey to fight together. Given Makhar's senses and instincts, they avoided the majority of dangerous encounters throughout the forest but once, when a dark bird suddenly assaulted Ken, it was a black bird of huge proportions, heightening almost two meters. Yet incredibly slender and agile, the death machine heavily injured the man, almost tearing off his left arm.

Still, bordering on superhuman, Ken's body did not give in to pain and managed to take hold of the bird with his still functional arm. With quick and precise movements, Makhar's claws closed into the bird's neck, tightly gripping with their reversed teeth. Yet the giant bird's vitality was truly impressive, as it kept thrashing around, even puncturing Makhar's exoskeleton with his sharp beak.

Even leaving Makhar perplexed about the abnormal flexibility of this vicious raptor. Even so, with his beak locked by Makhar's deadly claw, it took only about a minute for it to exhale its last breath. It bled out, losing its strength, only leaving for Makhar's imagination what their flesh would taste like. Of course after a good session of cooking.

'Of course, only the more barbaric and primitive species would not be yet aware of 'cooking', not that I would ever do such a thing as eating raw food.'

As young Makhar was about to separate their spoils in half, alas the bird's body, a sudden shift in the air alarmed his senses, as an arrow suddenly struck his side. He had not perceived the threat till the last second, as he tried to pivot his shell to the side, in a desperate attempt to make the impact less deadly.

Thanks to his keen senses, he managed to lessen the object's kinetic energy, even if not by much.

'It hurts, it hurts, who dares!?'

Makhar quickly rotated his head left and right with disdain, as he had just become the target of a hunter at least as capable of himself, if even more. Being on the receiving end of an ambush was always a hunter's worse nightmare, as the direction of the hunt would be, of course, decided by the hunter.

Black blood trickled down his carapace, as the thick, grey, metallic arrowhead was halfway in his exoskeleton. Whoever that hunter was, his stealth was up a notch compared to Makhar's, as he could tell the enemy was moving, circling them somehow, yet he could not properly identify him and track him down.

Through a deadly whisper, a couple of other arrows rained down on Makhar's shell, this time though they did not manage to dig deep enough in his hard chitinous shell to draw blood. The small, insectoid alien truly possessed inhuman reflexes, especially after witnessing the same kind of strike twice or more. His muscular memory was indeed that good, and he managed to adjust his carapace to the right angle, lessening the arrows' impact to a greater degree each time.

However, the enemy was no fool, and definitely way more sentient than all he had faced till now. With swift steps, it approached Makhar's direction, and before he could even react a deadly blade pierced his mouth. The pain was numbing, making him almost faint, yet Makhar held on, thinking about the abundant rewards he would get by defeating and consuming this new incredible foe. The enemy was clearly unsure about his vitals, mistaking his mandibles as a sign for some sort of head. It was true that many nerves were located in that area, yet Makhar's brain was located much deeper inside his body, protected by his shell.

The vicious attack was painful and had made him lethargic quick enough to suggest the use of poison, one particularly strong at that. But Makhar had demonstrated good resistance to all kinds of toxins his enemies had tried to kill him with, and this one was no exception.

With striking speed, almost a blur, Makhar's claw implanted itself onto the enemy's right shoulder lacerating their flesh, as warm blood painted red Makhar's dark claw.

'I wanted his neck, however, this humanoid's reflexes are quite adept to combat, he's taller than Ken, yet not as resilient, his flesh is weak and his bones are brittle.'

Having tasted a good piece of the marine, Makhar could testify to the limb's toughness, especially his bones which were at least two times as hard as that of the mirror snake.

The humanoid assailant screamed in pain, his momentum broken by the unexpected retaliation of the small insect.

'How? Why are you not dead?! This is not what he promised me, his information was incorrect!

Damn it! I should have aborted the mission as soon as I saw my arrows were not as effective against the creature. This bow is even an artifact the shadow gifted me for my promotion, its penetrating power should not be underestimated! Then how?'

The humanoid kept thrashing and hammering with his curved silver sword at makhar's claw, the was now clenching hard at his right shoulder, even threatening to completely sever his harm. The blade blade was exceptionally sharp, and even considering the increased hardness of his claw, compared to the rest of his exoskeleton, it was too much.

Without further hesitation, Makhar simply lets go of his prey. The unexpected turn of events left the humanoid with a vague sense of incredulity, which did not last long as he immediately darted away from the site of combat, or at least he tried.

Makhar's role, as they agreed so, was that of keeping whoever was called to assist 'him' at bay, leaving his companion time to finish whatever she had to do, in all honesty, it wasn't his concern.

The deal was good, he got to fight a strong enemy, probably humanoid and highly intelligent, which would boost his progress quite a lot, and potentially give him a good reward through the system. Of course, it had its risk, and it certainly wasn't negligible, at this point, being in close quarters with the enemy, he chose to let go, he was already losing much blood, he was missing one of his mandibles and his claw was heavily dented. He could not afford to lose this one as well.

At least, this was Makhar's train of thought till this point, when a system notification suddenly popped up, the second he let the elf run away.

[An hidden quest has been issued: 'Kill the rogue elf'

Gorwin, an arrogant, pretentious elf disobeyed his shadow's orders and went out of his way to exterminate an unknown threat on his own. The shadow wishes him dead to make an example out of him so that other elves will avoid such stupid mistakes.

His team also resents him for disappearing without notice, Syvis, the squad leader, will purposely avoid your location for a while, only coming after the fight has quieted down to retrieve the corpse. As she would not dare to defy the shadow's will.

Lastly, Makhar, a spiteful, vindictive alien of unknown origin would not forget any debt paid in blood and would be happy to risk his skin to both fulfill his desire for carnage and obtain a bounty for the elf's head.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Issued reward: granted access to 'Special tier 3 dungeon' as host's first mandatory dungeon.]

At first glance, it didn't seem much, yet Makhar knew otherwise, as holographic Mark had briefed him on the subject a week past.

The first event of the game of conquest issued by the system was, in fact, the 'dungeon outbreak'. The first part of it consisted of every sentient being, considered worthy enough being forcibly transported in such dungeons. This peculiar place would act as a kind of training facility for the individual, at least to Makhar's understanding, as they would battle and improve their combat ability while also earning bountiful rewards.

This event would also continue till the end of the game of conquest, where a leader would have been chosen to reign over Gaia.

'This is great! I shall make it mine! As well as your tender flesh, I can't wait to see it sizzling on our wok!'

"Gorwin, wait please!"

A feminine voice suddenly called him, only seconds since his escape, this had to be a trap, however, who could have even called him, that ugly bug? Unlikely, yet this deep in the forest didn't leave many other options. The feminine, pitched voice reminded him of his little sister if only by a little, Gorwin had to make sure.

The little girl was lost in the forest many years ago, and the elf's life became darker each day, as he pledged to make their race prevail no matter what.

Yet his rise to power proved to be much harder than expected. Frustrated, he had slowly become more arrogant and reckless, till it got to the point he would disobey the shadow without much thought.

He then turned around, only to see nothing, just the plain, blood-stained grass of the forest. Then a little girl came forward, she had blonde hair cascading on her shoulders, cute soft pointed ears, bright green eyes and was wearing a long white tunic that came down to her ankles.

"E-Eliyen is that you? How beautiful my little sister is, come, hug your brother, I've missed you."

Dumbstruck, unable to think about anything else, Gorwin shed a tear and waited for the little girl to come to his arms. Yet none of that happened, as the small elf walked away without second thoughts.

No! How could it be? Eliyen and he loved each other greatly, he could not let her go, not again!

"Eliyen wait! Don't leave me!"

As Gorwin darted to catch up to the little girl, he suddenly stopped, as immense pain shattered his delusion, there was, of course, no Eliyen, but only an ugly bug sticking its deadly claw inside his guts.

"You! You tricked me! How dare this lower life form do this to me!"

Blinded by rage, Gorwin started madly trashing Makhar's shell, uncaring for his dying body. Even if much less robust than the marine, his strength was not something to be scoffed at, as he managed to dent even more Makar's exoskeleton.

"I have him! do it now!"

Again, the feminine voice he heard earlier echoed in his ears, and looking closely he noticed the face-like protrusion present on the insect's sell, it had both mouth and eyes! How weird!

'So it was him! This damned bug!'

With newfound lucidity, Gorwin unsheathed his sword and firmly planted it on Makhar's face. To his displeasure though, the face had already been retracted inside his shell, only leaving black blood flowing around the sword stuck in his innards.

Finally, as Makhar's vision started getting blurry from pan and exhaustion, a loud bang echoed through the forest, as brain matter scattered all over his shell.

"Don't worry Makhar, I am a lady of honor, and would not go back on my words."

'It was not a surprise that she had waited for the fight to unfold, only coming to my aid when sure of a clean shot. Not that would have done otherwise.'

Seeing the smart bug freeing his claw from the ef's guts, Rebecca tossed one heavy object to his side.

"With this, we are even, you helped me and got your good rewards. I will be traveling off to a trustworthy companion Father said he managed to sneak in.

I think the faction's name is 'New Arrivals' or something, they are a sub-faction of the IHU branch that was sent to acquire dominion over this planet. In case you'd ever consider contacting me again, the humans of the IHU won't have problems meddling with strange aliens like you, we've always done so, even if I find you to be one of the most repelling I've seen so far. No offense.

Till next time Makhar, I hope you'll become stronger because I will. "

Saying so, the little girl trodded off, now hidden among the green foliage of the forest, leaving the all-battered Makhar to lick his wounds. But it wasn't all bad, since his bounty this time was truly priceless. On one side was the corpse of the elf Gorwin, while on the other lay that of Ken, his torso was littered with holes, while his face was wide open in disbelief, giving away the method the little girl used to kill him.

She sure had earned Makhar's respect now, as the young blood of their species, she managed to up the threat scale he had for humans till now. Seeing as Ken was their adult form, he wasn't expecting much from a toddler such as Rebecca. Yet what she was lacking in strength made up with wits and deviousness.

She had been conscious of the facade the marine had put on during their travels, waiting for orders from above. He surely was not a close aide of her father, but a warden to keep a close eye on her, so that they could use her as leverage against her father.

She had become conscious of that after the first week of their travels deep inside the forest, and yet couldn't do anything about it, not until an unforeseen variable appeared on the field to even their grounds. Makhar was indeed the best candidate to get herself out of the waters.

However, the bizarre alien was not easy to fool and required compensation for his work. The idea of feeding him a fellow human surely did not please her in the least, no matter how much she hated the marine.

Nonetheless, once she discovered he planned her execution together with an unknown accomplice, she knew she had to act. Fortunately, Makhar had not been greedy enough to devour the remains of the mirror snake whole, but he preserved some of its venom for his next hunt. With it, the little girl poisoned the marine, before feeding him a good amount of lead.

With a broad smile, she then helped Makhar finish off the arrogant elf. The alien in the end demonstrated to be much more valuable than she initially thought, as he was tying it against an elven scout which could even best a 'veteran' like Ken.

Who, of course, was not a real marine of the IHU, but a Veteran of the IHU Terra division. Marines where specialized in space combat and were much stronger than the man was revealed to be, especially regarding their psychic capabilities, they were two worlds apart.

She now planned to climb the ranks of the IHU Terra division herself, to earn the respect of their people through hard work, and then to aid her father in becoming the Conqueror of Valor, humanity's fifth missing pillar that had been destroyed centuries ago. Now that such a position was vacant, the political warfare on this front was something truly absurd, every politician dreamed of gaining rein of Silea, the twin sister, a mega-flagship the size of multiple continents that earning the title of 'Conqueror' would award you the control of.

Even if the ship was still half destroyed after that particular 'incident' happened, it had been under repairs for a long time at this point and was already capable of intergalactic flight. Yet, the very ship was the obstacle that prevented any rogue politician to obtain its control through illegitimate ways. Its technology was ancient and inspired by the works of a now-extinct civilization, which was said to have almost dominated the universe at one point in time. Thus to obtain its control one had to be acknowledged first by the other Conquerors, that knew of the secrets of the mega-ship.

Which meant climbing up the political ranks of the IHU in the region under the supervision of Silea, the twin sister.

...

[System prompt: host has been summoned to his first, mandatory dungeon.

Dungeons available for host to choose from are:

Tier one dungeons:

-The green expanse of Asle.

Tags: Solitary dungeon, unappealing rewards, threat scale: negligible.

-Derelict ship Erea.

Tags: Cooperative dungeon, story-driven dungeon, threat scale: easy.

-Abandoned mining site.

Tags: Solitary dungeon, story-driven dungeon, useful materials, threat scale: easy.

-Ancient bio-lab.

Tags: Cooperative dungeon, wandering monstrosities, useful artifacts, threat scale: Normal.

Tier two dungeons:

-The dead desert of Aar:

Tags: Ancient battlefield, useful artifacts, useful weapons, hidden reward, threat scale: hard.

-??? Locked ???

-??? Locked ???

Tier three dungeons:

-The dark maw:

Tags: Ancient's Tomb, Hidden rewards, Special rewards, Strong artifacts, Strong weapons, Godly materials, Abyssal corruption, Threat scale: Death]

'They must have taken me for a fool, of course, I'd chosen the dark maw, I earned it after all! Would you not eat the same bread you've gotten through hard work?!

Screw the difficulty I've almost died multiple times and I'm not even two weeks old!'

"I choose to challenge the dark maw!"