A piece of the crumbling ceiling fell onto the heads of three hybrids at the same time. Each one of them had their paws spread out in front as crimson blood spewed out, and consequetively turned black. Aefia avoided the liquid by hopping onto the fallen piece of concrete, and plunged at the next row of beasts. All of them, a rare and unique type, making her confused whether they were of different levels of difficulty. I know for sure that they are all spirits in their beast forms, or maybe I think so, but whether they vary in skills, I don't know.
[Beast type: Unnamed, species are new and currently undiscovered.
Common Attack: Scaled Jaws, Poisoned Blood.
Skill Insights:
Scaled Jaws - Allows the beast the strength to break through hard objects like concretes.
Poisoned Blood - Spilled blood is poisonous for the enemy.]
[Best way to defeat an aggressive animal, is to break its power source. Different beasts have different power sources, manual identification is required in order to defeat these beasts.]
"So how do I identify each one for these beasts for their power types?" Aefia spoke outloud as she used her sword to block a monster who chomped and stayed clinging onto the blade. She kicked it in its stomach and used her elbow to jab the area between the shoulders and the neck. It instantly collapsed and let go of her sword as it lay unconscious for a swift moment.
"They are also able to recover in a short amount of time! Then how am I supposed to permanently silence them out?!" Aefia struggled to keep them down as she stabbed through the hollow between the throat and the ribs of the reawakened beast.
[The area of the residing beasts type (Unnamed), has different properties compared to the main dungeon area (Dungeon of Void). View properties?]
"View!" Aefia screamed as she cut down another beast.
[Generating Passage.]
"What the heck! I have no time to read long paragraphs! I am in a life and death situation here!" She spoke as she struggled to keep herself away from the poisonous liquid.
[What if I help?]
What?!
Aefia spun her head slightly to face a floating head in the air, but she couldn't afford the time to check for the details. "Sure! Just read the contents that appear!" She spoke in a hurry as she rushed to kill more of the incoming beasts.
The screens in front of her moved towards the small head as Aefia's front view was cleared. She managed to move faster and think much clearer now that her mind was freed. Just when she thought that there were no more screens, a notification appeared in front of her, this one, an exciting one.
[Notification!
Acquired new skill: Dash (Phase one, Lvl. 1)
Skill information: Allows the user to move at fast speeds.
Disadvantage: Not silent. Alerts the enemy.]
Immediately afterwards, Aefia pressed the cross button on the panel and activated the skill. As she ran, her footsteps felt light and in a blink of an eye, she was at the other side. This is amazing!
She looked at her hand holding her sword, and moved it across two approaching beasts. Sling! Their sharp canines turned dull as the edges fell to the ground. They whimpered and ran towards the other side as Aefia caught up to them in a split second and slit their throats, although she was completely aware that she was acting like the aggressive creatures herself.
Hey wait! Wait for me! I am not as fast as you! Do you want to hear the passage or not?! The small head panted as the screens flew right behind it while it floated mid-air.
Aefia moved to look at the talking head, while waiting for the other badge of hybrids to arrive. "Wait a minute! Where is the rest of your body?" She laughed as she realized. "And why are you so small! You look like a cub!"
"Well, I can't just be a screen in my life form, while at the same time reading all the other screens popping up for you." It spoke in a cute squeaky voice, compared to the normal adult voice earlier.
The head was her screen in its wolf form, and the bright red shade was unmistakable. The head was the size of Aefia's palm with pixels slowly becoming less denser as it faded away to represent the rest of the body. The head came with a pair of hands that the wolf used to scroll through the details in the screen. The paws were much smaller and was barely the size of Aefia's thumb nail, making the wolf look like an alive plushy floating in the air.
"Well? Is the passage done generating?" She asked slightly irritated. In the distance, it was much clearer that the next pack of these hybrid beasts were slowly approaching due to the resent chaos and disturbance caused. It appeared to her, that these pack of beasts lived in this area and abandoned dungeons were probably their habitats.
But if there are really more of these, than I can already tell we are going to face more of these in the upcoming stages. I should take in accord about the details that they all come in. By the way, I didn't need to identify any one of their weaknesses when I killed them, so there was no point of trying to summon up information about them so far!
"You know what? Can you cancel that generating or what so ever? I forgot the term used to describe it..."
"So you figured it out all by yourself?" The wolf spoke.
"Yes, and I found it slightly suspicious. But if I have any further questions about them, you will be able to tell me the answer, won't you?"
"I mean, I guess? But I think it is better to have the passage near hand so if there are any unknown information, we can read it later on." The small wolf head spoke while using its small paws to wave in the air. I feel like I have an interstellar pet, like the ones in the novels that I have read.
Aefia looked at the direction of the dead monsters. "Than can I ask if stepping on these spilled blood would cause me any harm, or not? Or do I have a new 'resistance' skill?" She asked excitedly.
"Unless you are with no footwear, I guess you can still walk over this greasy, sticky liquid. When you are in a state of mind to kill, you are quite the tyrant yourself. There is no wonder why they gave you the name 'King of Tyrants'. Because there is a possibility that if a person were to offer you their throne, you would kill them first." Her small, pet wolf, spoke.
Aefia made an annoyed face at the creature and smacked it at the head before waving at its face. "I wasn't even asking about that. You haven't answered the main question and you start speaking nonsence. So, do I have any resistant skill yet?"
"A resistant skill?" Her wolf thought with a hand on its chin. "I don't think you have any sort of those skills, but your teammate has."
"Which teammates has it then?"
"The healer one. Healers are resistant to both, physical and mental attacks. They can resist up to twenty percent of the incoming attacks and when they heal after using such skills, they can get up to fifty percent more health back." Her wolf explained.
"Can I absorb that skill then?"
"Wait, what! Hold on, can you tell me your intentions first?" Her wolf suddenly panicked.
"Will I be able to kill him and absorb his resistant skill? Then I can have her lady bring him back to life again." Aefia explained with a strangely neutral face.
The wolf smacked Aefia across the face with its little hand and spoke back. "Are you insane! If you want you can unlock that skill! I was only joking and you took it seriously!"
"And when did I say I wasn't joking too! You think I don't know what skills I have and what skills I don't?! I just tested to see how much you know about my element!" Aefia smacked it back.
"Sorry! My bad!" The wolf tried to run away, but Aefia used her thumb and index finger to get hold of one of its pointy ears. "And I wasn't finished." She finally spoke.
"What are the requirements to unlock that skill?"
"Well, for you to built resistance against this poison, you will have to try and inject yourself with a small amount of poison on a daily basis. And if you want to build a quicker resistance, you will have to do it three times a day. Just don't die doing it."
"And there are no other ways?"
"Other ways....Then you will have to eat raw flesh." The wolf spoke.
"Yuck! Raw meat!" Aefia held her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Yes, you are aggressive enough to survive." Her wolf spoke again. She finally turned to look towards the dead beasts laying on the ground with still expressions. The screen which was initially generating a passage about the dungeon properties.
"Hmm...?" Aefia took a closer look at the first paragraph. "So it was also generating informations about these beasts!" She immediately started reading the first paragraph.
*
These beasts are massive creatures that stand as tall and heavy as a full grown lion. Each one has a coat of thick, short fur in a single, bright color like deep red, royal blue, or dark purple. Despite their great size, their faces look exactly like those of common house cats, with small noses and very large, pointed ears that twitch at the slightest sound.
Their eyes are bright yellow and glow with a radiant, steady light. They have the muscular bodies of well-fed savanna predators, but their soft faces give them a strange and slightly friendly look until anyone sees how powerful they really are.
Instead of regular front paws, these beasts have heavy hands made of shining silver metal. These hands had long, sharp fingers that could grip the ground or grab onto rocks with a very tight hold. The metal looks smooth and clean even when being drenched in thick black liquid.
When they walk on the hard ground, their metal hands make a loud clinking and scraping sound that echoes through the air. These heavy hands give them the strength to push off the earth with a lot of power, making them much faster than a normal animal when they decides to run.
Their tails are their most unusual feature because they were made of long, flexible metal coils that looks like giant springs. Their tails are very thick and ended in a sharp, curved blade that shines in the light.
When the beasts get ready to move, they curled their tails tightly under their bodies and then release them like a spring, which almost represents the look of playful cats. This allows them to pounce across huge distances in a single second. The sound of their tails moving is a sharp, metallic ringing noise, almost like a heavy sword being pulled from a sheath or a large clock spring being wound up tightly.
The sounds these creatures make are a mixture of natural animal noises and mechanical hums. Instead of a deep roar like a lion, they make a very loud, vibrating growl that is so strong it can be felt in the ground. When they are excited or about to jump, they let out a high pitched chirp or a long, melodic meow that sounds much louder than any pet cat.
Because of their metallic parts, you can also hear a soft whirring sound coming from inside them, which gets louder when they move their heavy arms or spring-loaded tails to prepare for a big pounce.
They live together in a group, moving with a mixture of grace and heavy power. Because they were all different colors, they look like a bright rainbow of monsters when they stand together. They communicate by touching their metal paws together, creating small sparks and a clicking sound.
*
"So....This is the passage it has been generating?! It was just a waste of time! Maybe slightly useful, but still!" Aefia spoke with anger lingering in her voice. "And the fact about this part of the dungeon, it has a lot of advantages to the intruder than to the habitants."
"Yes, what is up with that? I thought you would have been happy about it." Her wolf spoke.
"Well, yes, I am happy...but I feel a bit unfair for the beasts here. At the end of the day, they are trying to survive too, and when an intruder gets in, they are forced to kill each and everyone of them. How would you feel if your wolf pack were kicked out of your only place to stay?"
"You are simply worrying about things that are not supposed to be worrysome. You did that out of defense, didn't you? You too were just trying to survive and save the others."
"So you are trying to tell me that both entities are neutral based on who attacked who? But you could consider the fact that I could have also tried to deduce a plan to save them."
"Yes, you are smart and all. But if you are really willing to repay them, why not start thinking about curing yourself first! You are bleeding all over by your own sword strikes and you aren't focused on that, secondly, you want to build resistance for the next stages, then start doing so right now! Don't tell me you forgot all that just by looking at these dead unwanted species!"
***
"Hey! Are you awake?" Her lady asked when she noticed Helio standing up. "I just heard a noise coming from there, where your teammate was headed. Can you go check for us?" She pointed at the passageway.
"Sure, no problem." Helio got up and walked towards the dull, shivering archway. His footsteps echoed as he neared an area full of black, sticky liquid. He picked up a candle stick and walked towards the origin.
Bodies of colourful beasts appeared dead, then a horrific sight. "What the heck is going on!" He screamed.