BXBX NOVEL Chapter 4 A Demon?
\'Having a Monster\'s body isn\'t that bad...\' Mark thought.
He was devouring an unmoving Gray Wolf.
Three hours had passed since Mark\'s fight with the Orc.
That time was spent exploring the right and left pathways from Dungeon\'s crossroad(♀).
Mark was now back at the crossroad, ready to go towards the circular area.
\'Other than a few holes in the walls, this Floor is mostly just a bunch of corridors. It still is a very large place though...\'
Mark had mostly found [F] and [G] Rank Monsters, which were extremely easy to beat.
\'What\'s my rank?\'
[You are currently an [E-] Rank Monster.]
[Your Body Modifications and Skills made you surpass the [F] Rank.]
\'Nice. In that circular area, Monsters are tougher right?\'
[Correct.]
[It is also true that the majority of Monsters from the Floor are there.]
A strong feeling arose once more.
\'Yeah... Let\'s hunt. I\'m not a weak Skeleton anymore.\' Mark thought as he ran towards the circular area.
Some of Mark\'s Skills had become stronger while he was wandering around after defeating the Orc.
His Passive Skill "Silent Steps[G]" had become "Assassin\'s Footsteps[F]".
His Passive Skill "Curious Ears[G]" had become "Acute Hearing[F]".
Mark had also developed the Passive Skill "Tail Flick[F]", which increased by 20% the damage inflicted by his tail.
He also leveled up to 4, and amassed about 300 Evolution Points.
\'Mmm...\'
As Mark got closer to the circular area, he encountered more and more Monsters.
They were weak though, like Muscular Goblins or Gray wolves.
Yes, Gray Wolves had become weak Monsters for Mark.
That was what it meant to "Evolve".
They were defeated and devoured in an instant.
Mark continued running forward.
He had truly become a force to be reckoned with.
...
Mark was now halfway between the crossroad and the circular area(♀).
Loud sounds and growls could be heard.
\'Huh...\'
Mark saw a group of Monsters about to fight.
He slowed down and walked stealthily forward.
\'2...6...13.\'
Three groups of Monsters were fighting.
They made a triangle.
Each group was watching the others while making threatening noises.
\'What a beautiful sight...\'
If Mark had a heart, it would have been beating extremely fast out of excitement.
On one side, 2 Orcs were growling.
On the other, 6 Hobgoblins were hitting their chests with their fists.
And finally, 5 Black Wolves were snarling at the rest.
\'Orcs are [E-] Rank Monsters, but they\'re outnumbered...\'
Mark would have let out a smirk if he could.
\'Let\'s put some fire on this juicy situation...\'
Mark proceeded to open his mouth wide.
In front of his mouth, three balls of purple venom were formed.
The next instant, they were shot at one of the Orcs.
The balls of venom exploded as they hit the Orc\'s head.
Seconds later, the Monster started throwing up blood.
The Hobgoblins and the Black Wolves took that as an opportunity to get rid of the Orcs, a Monster Species much stronger than they were.
The two Orcs struggled, but still fought back.
They managed to take down two Hobgoblins and three Black Wolves before dying.
Four Hobgoblins and two Black Wolves were left.
The Black Wolves jumped back and took a defensive posture.
The Hobgoblins, sure of their victory, followed.
However, balls of venom rained down on the group of Hobgoblins.
Three of them were immediately paralyzed and threw up large quantities of blood.
They fell to the ground seconds later, unable to breathe.
[You have defeated one Hobgoblin. 50Gold Coins and 100Experience Points earned.]
[You have defeated one Hobgoblin. 50Gold Coins and 100Experience Points earned.]
[You have defeated one Hobgoblin. 50Gold Coins and 100Experience Points earned.]
[You have leveled up!]
\'Perfect.\' Mark thought.
The Black Wolves, seeing that the situation had been reversed, attacked the remaining Hobgoblin.
The Hobgoblin punched one of the Black Wolves with all its strength, but that was not enough to fend them off.
Eventually, the Black Wolves made it fall to the ground as they attacked with their claws.
It was at that moment that a Black Wolf\'s Skeleton bit one of the Black Wolves\' back.
A huge portion of that back was stolen.
\'Thanks to my Pierce Skill, their skin is no problem for my fangs...\'
Mark hit the remaining Black Wolf with the big rock at the tip of his tail and launched it away.
The Hobgoblin was bleeding and half-dead.
Mark finished it and the two other Monsters.
\'Alright, Level 5. Even though I didn\'t really fight. The most important thing is Evolution Points anyway...\'
Mark ate the 13 Monsters right away.
As devouring an Orc gave 100 Evolution Points, a Hobgoblin 70 and a Black Wolf 60, he had amassed, from this one feast, 920 Evolution Points.
\'How many Evolution Points do I have?\'
[You currently possess 1220 Evolution Points.]
\'Ummm, any new Skill or Body Modification?\'
[None.]
\'Too bad.\' Mark thought.
He looked in the direction of the circular area.
\'I really like this form. Hope I can evolve and stay this strong and versatile...\' Mark thought as he ran towards that location.
The circular area was nothing more than a circular corridor, although its walls had many holes where Monsters hid.
After a bit, Mark arrived at the area in question.
\'Now, I can either go for it from the right or the left. Since I\'m doing a full lap, I\'ll be back here anyways...\'
Mark decided to start the loop by taking the left passage.
\'What are these??\'
After only a couple of seconds, Mark found Monsters he had never seen before.
Some of the Monsters were about four meters tall and made of stones.
There were three of them.
Other Monsters were flying above these, out of their reach.
[Small Golems: [E-] Rank Monsters.]
[Winged Kobolds: [E-] Rank Monsters.]
Four Orcs were punching the Small Golems with all their strength.
\'And that\'s a small one? Can I even eat it?\'
[Your Title Devourer gives you the ability to eat any dead Monster.]
Mark started out by shooting balls of venom towards one of the Small Golems.
Five balls of venom hit the Monster.
The stones, that made up its body, seemed to soak the liquid in.
The Monster\'s movements stopped.
About a minute later, it fell to the ground.
[You have defeated one Small Golem. 90Gold Coins and 180Experience Points earned.]
[You have leveled up!]
One of the remaining Small Golems tried kicking an Orc.
The latter easily evaded the attack.
\'They\'re slow. Extremely slow...\'
Mark decided to get rid of the Winged Kobolds first.
They were small Monsters, the size of Goblins, with heads resembling those of dogs or wolves.
Mark shot them with his "Venomous Bomb" Skill, and, one by one, they fell to the ground.
Four Kobolds were defeated right away.
They had a very low Vigor Stat, and therefore had low Health Points.
[You have defeated one Winged Kobold. 60Gold Coins and 120Experience Points earned.]
[You have defeated one Winged Kobold. 60Gold Coins and 120Experience Points earned.]
[You have defeated one Winged Kobold. 60Gold Coins and 120Experience Points earned.]
[You have defeated one Winged Kobold. 60Gold Coins and 120Experience Points earned.]
[You have leveled up!]
The Orcs became aware of Mark\'s presence and ran towards him.
\'I already used my Venomous Bomb Skill 9 times. I only have twelve shots left...\'
Mark shot a ball of venom at each of the four incoming Orcs, before shooting the ones closest to him once more.
Every ball of venom was perfectly aimed as it hit the Monsters\' heads.
The Orcs, poisoned, partially paralyzed, and blinded by the purple liquid, found it extremely hard to fight back as the agile Mark either bit with his sharp fangs or hit with his heavy tail.
He managed to get rid of every Orc perfectly except the last one.
As Mark had just dealt with the third Orc, the fourth raised both its arms up and slammed them down his rib cage.
The bones cracked.
Mark slammed his tail into the Orc\'s stomach before biting its neck.
[You have defeated one Orc. 70Gold Coins and 140Experience Points earned.]
The last Orc died.
\'Shit. I took a lot of damage... Although it doesn\'t hurt, probably because I am a Skeleton. Not being able to feel pain is a problem...\'
The only Monsters remaining were the Small Golems who took extremely slow and heavy steps towards Mark.
\'I\'ll buy a Healing Potion, how can I use it though?\'
A red potion contained in a small glass bottle appeared in front of Mark.
It was floating in the air.
He looked at it for a second.
It started falling to the ground.
\'Shit..\'
Mark managed to grab it with his mouth at the last moment.
He closed his mouth.
The glass broke and Mark drank the potion.
The cracked bones quickly started healing.
\'Can I be alerted every time a lose Health Points? Not feeling pain is pretty cool, but it could be dangerous...\'
[A change has been recorded by the System.]
[From now on, you shall be alerted every time you lose Health Points.]
\'Cool.\' Mark thought.
He looked at the Small Golems in front of him.
Mark hurriedly moved behind one of them and hit it as hard as he could with his tail.
The rocks on the spot he hit were broken, but,
[You have lost 10 Health Points.]
\'So it\'s that hard, huh? How are my Mana Points?\'
[You have 90 Mana Points.]
He shot four balls of venom at the Small Golem he had just attacked and five others at the remaining one.
[You have defeated one Small Golem. 90Gold Coins and 180Experience Points earned.]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have defeated one Small Golem. 90Gold Coins and 180Experience Points earned.]
\'I leveled up a ton... Can I see my Stats?\'
[ Stats: Strength: 15
Agility: 22
Sense: 17
Vigor: 15
Endurance: 37
Mana: 22
]
\'Nice. Leveling up sure is worth it, but...\' His eyes fell on the different dead Monsters on the ground.
\'Gotta eat!\'
Once more, Mark devoured the Monsters.
For some reason, the Small Golem\'s hard body wasn\'t as hard when it was being eaten.
After he swallowed the first Small Golem, he got pleasant information.
[Evolution is available.]
\'Alright! You\'re going to have to wait a bit more though!\'
He devoured three Small Golems, four Winged Kobolds and four Orcs.
Mark currently had 2420 Evolution Points.
Knowing this fact, he was extremely excited.
After all, his previous Evolution had only cost him a bit more than 200 Evolution Points.
What could he evolve into now? What Skills could he develop or obtain from the Store? What Body Modifications could he get?
Mark decided to wait a bit more.
\'The more Evolution Points I have, the better my Evolution will be!\'
Mark continued walking deeper into the circular corridor.
After walking for a bit, he found three dead Orcs, one dead Small Golem and three dead Hobgoblins.
Mark did not think twice about it.
He started stuffing his face.
After Mark was done with his free meal, he kept walking.
Once again, more dead Monsters were found.
Three Black Wolves, one Small Golem, and a big Monster he had never seen before were lying on the ground.
It was about three meters tall and resembled an Orc.
Except that it was much more hideous..
[Ogre: [E] Rank Monster.]
\'What the hell? [E] Rank? That\'s the first [E] Rank Monster I saw here... Jackpot!\' Mark thought as he started devouring it.
The more he walked, the more dead Monsters he found.
Mark kept devouring them one by one, but he started feeling slightly anxious.
\'Did these die while fighting each other... Or did one Monster do all this carnage?\'
Mark kept walking and devouring.
Walking and amassing Evolution Points.
Walking and exposing himself to danger.
Exposing himself to the danger of finding the creature that killed all of these Monsters.
Still, Mark walked carefully.
[Your Passive Skill "Assassin\'s Footsteps[F]" has evolved into the Passive Skill "Assassin\'s Movements[E]".]
...
After some time, Mark checked the map.
He was more than halfway done with the loop.
\'Should I go back? Or will I find the Monster on the other side?\'
Mark did not know what the right thing to do was.
Therefore, he kept walking and devouring the Monsters found.
Suddenly, one of his Skills evolved.
[Your Passive Skill "Acute Hearing[F]" has evolved into the Passive Skill "Acute Senses[E]".]
Right away, all his senses became much better at picking up sounds and smells.
\'Smells like something is burning...\'
Mark heard sounds coming from a small distance to the front.
He kept walking stealthily, focusing on his surroundings until he found that creature.
Mark finally found the Monster that had made all that carnage.
\'Maybe I should run away... It didn\'t notice me yet...\'
A humanoid-winged Monster with legs that resembled those of a goat was flying in the air.
Its skin was red.
Its wings were dark and resembled those of a bat.
\'What the hell...is that?\'
[An Inferior Demon: [E+] Rank Monster.]
\'A Demon...??\'
Two black horns were going out of its skull.
\'I should run away...\' Mark thought.
But he didn\'t.
\'It will kill me... I\'m not strong enough....\'
Still, he stood there.
The Monster shot Fire Balls from its hands that landed on the different Monsters below.
At that moment, Mark was afraid.
But his fear was weaker than his excitement.
Not only was Mark excited, but extremely hungry as well.
The Inferior Demon was fighting three Small Golems, two Winged Kobolds, two Ogres and three Orcs.
The Fire Balls hit one of the Ogres\' leg.
The leg was immediately scorched.
Seconds later, it started regenerating.
\'What the hell? All these are Monsters! One can shoot fireballs from a safe distance, and the other one can heal its burnt limbs like it\'s nothing??\'
The weaker Monsters teamed up against the stronger ones.
After defeating the stronger ones, they would fight each other.
That was how the Monsters acted inside Dungeons.
And Mark was no different.
\'Let\'s take down that flying bastard. After that, it\'s a free for all!\'