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Chapter 8 Monster Village
🕑 Added 2025-01-04 03:26:20 +0000 UTCJames swept his gaze from left to right, occasionally stopping to check his back. His helmet was securely placed on his head. The dent from the helmet at the back of his head constantly reminded him how dangerous this place was.
He had checked his new skill, the spinneret. The spinneret on his left hand didn’t shoot out spider’s silk like those in movies. James didn’t know the specific spider’s spinnerets. Only very few spiders actually shot out webs.
James sighed. That was certainly a bummer. Moreover, this spinneret was only sticky at the tip! James didn’t realize the solution to his problem was right in his hands. He certainly was not the brightest tool in the shed.
With a spider’s silk, he could simply make himself a home, some kind of protective covering. Instead, he spent hours walking to the campfire he saw in the distance. James is still learning. He was an ordinary office employee, after all.
“Was that sunset?” James asked. He squinted at the orange glow the sun gave. He wondered whether he was truly in dungeon floors.
[This dungeon floor emulated day and night. The change was not merely aesthetic. Some monsters’ behavior will change depending on a specific timeframe.]
“It will be nighttime by the time I reach that campfire…” He sighed at the orange glow and wondered. “Is this truly a dungeon floor? I didn’t see any walls here.”
[This floor spans about 100 kilometers square. Survivors will be met with an invisible wall if they try to cross beyond the boundary.]
“I see.” James whistled. He marveled at the intricate design of the system’s creation. His awe was short-lived, for a rustling sound was heard in the bushes. This time, he was alert. He promised himself that he would not be caught by such ambushes ever again.
“What a cutie… I missed you already! Little doggie!” a familiar wolf was seen coming out from the bushes. Unlike the lower floor, this wolf was healthy. Its sleek fur seemed nice to the touch, and its sharp eyes glistened. It walked with confidence as its maw was shut tight. It didn’t pant nor rage. It didn’t even bark.
This was the true form of the emaciated wolf from the lower floor. Again, James found himself surrounded by them. However, he showed no fear, for he already knew the limit of their strength.
“Huh?” James readied his axe, ready to make himself some quilt made out of wolf’s fur. He wondered if he could use their pelt to fix his leather armor. The wolves surprised him, though. One of the wolves let out a single short howl as if commanding her brethren to forbid something. The rest of the pack looked at their leader, the biggest wolf, with confusion. The leader then walked away to the depths of the wood while her packs followed it while stealing occasional glances toward James.
“What the heck?” James mumbled. Instead of feeling relief, he was stunned. “They were friendly?”
Lady’s luck was not in James’ favor. Once again, James was not the sharpest tool in the shed. Those wolves were monsters, created by the system to test survivors. Unlike the wolves on the first floor, where they would charge head-on without hesitation, these healthy wolves employed hunting tactics.
James thought they were friendly, he could never be more wrong. As the sun was dimming on the horizon, those wolves began to show their fangs. One by one, they rustled the bushes. Their figure remained hidden, making James wonder how many they were. Then, one of them leaped out from the bushes. However, James was ready for it.
“I hate dogs.” James roared as his axe smashed a wolf in the head. They fled again. The gleeful mood he had earlier turned into that of dread. He had a premonition that he was hunted, and their retreat was feint. His instinct was spot on. These wolves were stalking him, waiting until he let his guard down.
The wolves didn’t have an easy time either. Usually, wolves stalk their prey, and when it flees, they follow it until it is exhausted, and then it will deliver the killing blow. If the prey fought back, the wolves would keep their distance and taunt him, exhausting the prey’s strength. However, James was a monster with higher intelligence than normal animals. He didn’t fall for their taunts. James could kill a wolf with a single strike; the wolves were the ones with disadvantages.
And so, the wolves couldn’t get closer. They merely stalked James from afar, waiting until he was asleep before attacking and finishing him for good.
“Finally! A treasure chest!” James had been wandering in the dark of the night. His steps trudged through the bushes as wolves kept perking up here and there. Finally, he found something familiar. A treasure chest was placed beside a tree.
[Vambraces]
[Gauntlets]
Inside the chest lay a pair of vambraces and gauntlets, fit even for his orc’s arm. It complemented James’ leather armor and helmet quite well, making his paper body resistant to most attacks. The noise when the metals were clanking together was refreshing. It filled James with confidence as if he had finally become big and noticeable.
The wolf didn’t hide their presence well, or more like, they made their presence known to James. It was as if they were telling James that they watched him, stalking him, hunting him. Such things irritated him. James tried to make small talk with the system to divert his attention.
“System, how many survivors are there? I haven’t seen anyone.”
[information classified. Please clear the floor before querying]
The wisp of smoke James had been following grew nearer and nearer. In the dark of the night, the orange glow of the campfire flicked among the trees. James gasped as he hid himself in the bushes, trying to make himself as small as possible.
“It was not a campfire. It was a fucking village!” James hissed as he observed his surroundings from behind a tree. It was a bit too generous to call what he had seen a village. Four crude houses, all made of roughly cut logs, bunched together around the fire. A faint smell of burning meat danced together with the white smoke.
If one thought that this was a chance to ambush them while they were asleep, they were wrong, for two orcs stood guard around the fire. While they were less armored, their rusty spears stood tall. James knew firsthand that despite their lack of armor, their muscle was enough as body armor for it to resist even wolf’s fang. He vividly remembered the strength of the orcs when he clashed with the orc boss on the first floor. The boss monster he faced before also had a rusty weapon, and yet it almost killed James ten times over.
As he was crouching in the bushes, planning his next plan. A howl pierced the silent night. The howl jolted the orcs awake. Like a disturbed beehive, the doors were thrown open, and over ten orcs gushed out. James knew from their guttural sound and growled alone that they were pissed beyond reckoning.
“What the heck? What are they doing?” James whispered
He looked toward the source. A wolf stood there, howling like the king of the forest. When they locked eyes, the wolf seemed to smirk at him. At that moment, he knew the wolves intentionally baited the orcs towards him. James was confused. The wolves were the ones who woke the orc. So, won’t the orcs come to them instead?
Apparently, no. Every creature that came from the dungeon had an instinctive hatred toward humans. The system made it that way to make them compete, for this is a trial for the world. So, when the wolves came to attack James, the orcs roared. They put aside their previous rivalry to dispatch James. James understood that he was cornered once again with all of the orcs in the front and wolves on his back.
“Fucking dog. I will find your home, and I will kill all of your family!” James cursed as he unsheathed his sword and dual-wielded it with his axe.
The sneaky bastard didn’t attack head-on. Instead, they circled him like the cunning predators they were. They took their time for the longer they dragged on, the better. Their barks were like an alarm clock to the mad orcs. James made a hasty decision. He used his new spider’s silk and entwined it with his axe like a rope. Then, with a burst of energy from his new arm, James hurled the axe at the nearest wolf.
It burst its head open with a satisfying crack. Then, using the rope, he pulled the axe back to his hand. A wolf tried to intercept him, only to be cut in two by the sword in his left hand.
Before James could finish the dogs, the orcs reached him. A flash of orange light appeared in the corner of his vision. James shuddered, for he knew what it meant. Like the boss monster of the first floor, these orcs were using a weapon skill.
James prepared the skill of his own, however he abandoned the idea. The spear skill the orc used is a skill ineffective for orcs who rely on their power. It relies more on speed and dexterity than power. The system had intentionally made orcs on this floor weaker than the first-floor boss monster. James rolled on the ground as four spears left a gust of wind behind him.
James readied his axe. Light glowed on his ax, marking the beginning of skill preparation. James was surprised, it usually took more time to prepare his skills, however, by the power of his will and adrenaline, and mostly luck, the skill activated. He felt like he had become one with the axe, knowing when to strike, when to dodge.
A beautiful golden arc swept through the gaps of orcs’ defenses. James’s movement was fluid and deliberate. Not only one but three of the orcs fell as their heads drew another red curve to compliment the golden arc left by James’s strike.
All stood in silence as the three orcs fell. Even James was stunned at what he had just done. In martial arts, there was a legend where sometimes, you could feel the flow. It was as if the gods themselves guided your every move. Everything felt right. That’s what James felt right now.
“AWOO!” a howl from the alpha wolf knocked everyone out from their stupor. The orcs realized they still had a battle to win and roared in kind. James had the momentum, he knew he could win.
A war axe and a spear had different ranges, and James was at the optimum range, not the orc. James drew his axe overhead and swung at another orc. The orcs tried to defend themselves with their spear, but their wooden shaft was too fragile for James’s strike. Another orc fell, his head was cleaved in two.
The cunning wolves, knowing they would lose, let out the familiar short howl again. This time, it was shorter and a bit more urgent. Within moments, they turned tail and went back to the woods, leaving the enraged orcs alone.
Orcs were less intelligent. They didn’t know the word retreat, so they continued to fight. James might have lost in a contest of strength before. But with his new orc arms, he had the same strength as them, or even more, thanks to his stats and level-up. Augmented by his status, the 6 orcs felt like the five goblins James faced when he first came to the dungeon. They were no longer boss monsters.
They were hard but no longer felt unbeatable. Dawn peeked out from the horizon, James had won and leveled up twice. He trembled from exhaustion, the axe and sword in his hand felt heavy. However, his mouth curved into a grin, then it grew into a giggle, and then it grew stronger until it became a maniacal laugh.
For a moment, he didn’t register his exhaustion, for he had triumphed.
[You have leveled up to Level 11! Coins Received: 50
[Name: James
Age: 35
Sex: male
Levels: 11
Coins: 245
Stats:
STR: 60 ( up 3)
Dex: 53 (up 8)
Magic: 0
Mana: 0
Skills:
Beginner Axe mastery level 6 (up 1)
Beginner Sword mastery level 3 (up 2)
Unique Skill:
Chimera:
Goblin stomach (Iron guts) (stomach slot)
Lesser Mana core (Fire spell, Magic+10, Mana +50)(Extra slot 1)
Orc’s arm (STR+10%) (Arm slot)
Jumping Spiders spinneret (Thread creation)(Extra slot 2)
Equipment:
Leather armor
Leather helmet
Vambrace
Gauntlets
War axe
Longsword
Leather pouch
Waterspout dagger
Leather bag]
[Do you wish to modify your body? y/n]
[Available body part:
Orc’s mouth
Orc’s legs
Orc’s arm
]
[ level 10 Reached. Advanced shop unlocked]
