—–
The Duke of the town of Affnaria, Duke Allen, suddenly received news regarding the Dungeon.
“So, what is it?” He asked his assistant.
“Well… the first party reached there, but they found absolutely… nothing. The monsters were all cleansed. There wasn’t even a single monster carcass left… Only some of the juice of what seemed to be bug monsters and slime ooze was stuck to the ceilings and walls….” The assistant replied.
“What? Well, did they get to the last floor? Can they conquer the dungeon?”
“No, well, the first party and all those that were going there stopped traversing any deeper as they had reported that they felt incredibly powerful presences from deep down. The artifacts had said that there could be monsters above D-Rank there… E or F Rank Adventurers cannot possibly fight such beasts.” Said the assistant.
“That’s… So this monster just ate all the others?! We’ll have to prepare a raid with more competent Adventurers then… Where is Camilla?” Allen asked.
“Camilla… The B-Rank Adventurer of this town is currently on a mission in the duchy of Veredictus, fighting against the Monster Tide that had spawned there….” Replied the assistant.
“Damn it! That damn useless Hansel! Grabbing my strongest adventurer away!” Allen roared before slamming his desk. Duke Hansel was the Duke of the Veredictus Duchy, and was a younger sibling of Allen.
It could be said that Allen didn’t had such a good relationship with any of his siblings, which he despised.
“Duke Hansel had paid a hefty sum for Camilla’s assistance, my lord….”
“R-Right… Well, we’ll have to employ other adventurers from another place, or… we could contract mercenaries and send them to die until they find out what monsters there are so we can build a proper counterfeit….” Allen said.
“My lord, that’s quite barbaric….”
“Well, why should I care? Call the mercenary guild and put up the quests there. Adventurers can go on if they want to investigate the monster.”
“V-Very well…” Sighed the assistant.
As the assistant walked away, Allen sighed.
“Ugh, what am I going to do?”
Suddenly, a small bat emerged in the open window, glaring at him with flashing crimson-red eyes…
“Do you want our assistance, mortal?”
“Tch…” Allen clicked his tongue.
“We can do it without a problem. The night has already fallen… Just say the word.”
“I don’t want to owe any more favors to you bloodsuckers than I already owe!” Allen responded.
“You’re missing a great opportunity. The profit of owning a dungeon is immense….”
“Ugh…”
“Heh, well, if you don’t want to… But let me tell you something. Aside from the dungeon, I sensed something else going around the edge of town. Three strong monsters are roaming this place….”
“W-What?!”
“Well, let’s see how you can handle it by yourself.” Said the bat before flapping its wings and flying away.
“W-Wait! Damn it… more monsters?!”
Duke Allen began to drip cold sweat as he rushed outside his office to tell his assistant to quickly prepare a knight brigade to defend the town from these monsters that the mysterious bat had noticed wandering around.
Meanwhile, the bat flew through the air, above the forest, glaring down at the entities lurking around town…
“Hmm… This scent… Undead? Well, I shouldn’t care about this. My lord has already told me not to intervene anymore. These arrogant humans believe they can handle things by themselves, so let’s leave them to do so… Kukuku…”
The bat flew far away, leaving the town and the forest behind…
—–
We had been walking for around half a day around the forest, exploring the place and mostly resting as we just had an intense journey through the dungeon.
Night came quickly, and Kuro had also evolved in the meantime… He had reached max level from the EXP from the Hydra, and now, he looked even more beautiful. His body grew larger and more muscular, and his eyes flashed with eeriness.
He also had golden marks across his body, but when he reduced his size, he still looked like a cute black cat. Here are his stats now as a reference:
…
[Name: [Kuro]
[Race: [Undead Darkness Cat Chimera]
[Level: [1/25]
[Rank: [D]
[Status: [Happy]
[HP: [235/235]
[MP: [122/122]
[Attack: [275]
[Defense: [110]
[Magic: [215]
[Agility: [250]
Characteristic Skills:
[Undead: Lv–]
[Chimera: Lv–]
[Dark Element: Lv–]
[Artificial Elemental Cores: Lv–]
[Fiend Language: Lv3]
[Shapeshift: Lv3]
[Self-Regeneration: Lv3]
[Flesh Consumption: Lv3]
[Evil Eyes of Petrification: Lv1]
[Shadow Mane: Lv1]
Resistance Skills:
[Status Effect Immunity: Lv–]
[Physical Damage Resistance: Lv4]
Normal Skills:
[Life Drain: Lv3]
[Cursed Black Flare Breath: Lv4]
[Shadow Claws: Lv4]
[Fireball: Lv3]
[Water Bullet: Lv3]
[Thunder Shock: Lv3]
[Intimidation: Lv1]
[Roar: Lv1]
Title Skills:
[Servant of the Dark Witch: Lv–]
…
He had jumped all the way to D-Rank! And he’s quite strong! I can’t help but admit it!
Additionally, he gained four new Skills, [Evil Eyes of Petrification: Lv1], [Shadow Mane: Lv1], [Intimidation: Lv1], and [Roar: Lv1]!
Yes, he seems to have gained the power of petrification! With this, he had become quite deadly, but because it is level 1, it would take a while for it to actually do some potent damage.
[Shadow Mane] is a Skill that summons a mane of shadows around his head and neck, which he can control at will. It even comes with a small pocket space inside.
[Intimidation] releases a natural intimidating aura, which can make weaker enemies tremble and become paralyzed. Foes of equal strength might also be frightened… and [Roar] is a shockwave-based attack. It can deal damage by merely roaring.
As of now, I was sneaking around the town’s walls, stalking over them, and looking at what the humans were doing inside. Damn, there are a lot of people here… all sorts of humans… And there are also some Elves, people with pointy ears, and I think I saw some dwarves and halflings… interesting.
My goal as of now is to infiltrate a library in this world and figure out where the heck I am and where I should go. But I am a terrifying monster! How can I sneak into town?
Well, when night fell, the darkness came, and as a ghost of shadows and darkness, I am more comfortable here. Also, for the most part, the citizens went into their homes. I decided to leave my team outside the walls for now while I sneaked into the town at night.
“Come back soon! Don’t you dare get lost!” Lucifer said.
Does he thinks he’s my father or something?!
—–