Free Web NovelChapter 24: Chapter 24: First Kill
Night stared at the swirling blue portal his heart was beating a little faster against his ribs.
This was it.
My first real dungeon.
His past life memories of spending hours meditating in quiet, secluded temples didn’t exactly prepare him for stepping into dungeons heavily populated by monsters.
Sara’s tone turned serious, though her grey eyes remained warm and motherly.
"Remember, Level 5 might be easy for your summons to handle, but your physical body is still very weak."
"Night, you are fundamentally squishy and easy target."
"Don’t play the hero and end up dying stupidly. If needed allow Eve, Lilith, Death, and Lucy to carry you."
"And if things get out of hand, crush the red talisman immediately."
"I will," Night touched by her genuine concern promised.
He reached out with his mind into his inner domain and summoned the Simple Black Knife.
The dark matte metal materialized in his grip.
He tightened his fingers around the wrapped handle as the [Basic Knife Proficiency] skill instantly correcting his posture and grip into something lethal and practiced.
He mentally reached out again and a moment later, Lucy materialized from a swirling dark portals and without a single word she melted seamlessly into his shadow, taking up her role as his hidden protector.
Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Night stepped forward and walked straight into the blue light.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the world went completely dark for a split second. A dizzying sensation of weightlessness washed over him.
It was followed immediately by a heavy, oppressive dampness and the pungent scent of mildew and decaying moss, which violently assaulted his [Sensitive Nose].
His boots hit solid ground with a small thud.
[Ding!]
[You have entered a Level 5 Instance Dungeon: The Overgrown Cave.]
[Objective: Slay the Dungeon Boss to generate an exit portal.]
Night blinked rapidly as his eyes quickly adjusting to the dim, unnatural lighting.
Thick spongy patches of glowing moss could be seen clinging to the jagged cavern walls as they illuminated the space in a green hue.
Small water drops dripped rhythmically from the stalactites above. The water drops pooled in dark, murky puddles on the uneven stone floor.
He looked around to get his bearings as he noticed it was a small, enclosed starting cave with no exit portal in sight.
The air here was cool, stale and incredibly humid which was a stark and sudden contrast to the dry comfortable desert heat of the city he had just left behind.
It was a little suffocating as if he was breathing through a wet rag.
[Energy Value (EV) – 909]
He checked his reserves quickly. His EV had increased significantly which was no doubt a direct result of digesting that highly nourishing Level 20 ’fast food’ Sara had bought him.
Not wanting to be caught off guard, he quickly summoned the rest of his friends.
Death, Eve, and Lilith stepped out of the swirling dark portals that manifested in front of him.
Death took her rightful place at the absolute front, acting as a shield with her towering, seven-foot skeletal frame.
The ambient green light reflected menacingly off her polished bones.
Eve and Lilith flanked him on both sides with perfect, synchronized precision and Lucy remained completely hidden in the shadow.
From within that shadow, Lucy’s voice echoed directly into his mind. "Night. We are not alone."
Almost simultaneously, his Level 10 [Beast Instinct] which had dulled significantly while he in the city flared to life.
It sent a sharp, electric prickle down the back of his neck, making the hairs on his arms stand on end. His body tensed automatically before his conscious mind even registered the threat.
A low, guttural growl echoed ahead, followed by the rhythmic sound of heavy claws scraping against wet stone.
Following Death’s lead they exited the cave. Outside, the terrain opened up into a massive, rocky cavern floor. Small patches of bioluminescent moss grew between the wide cracks, providing just enough light to see by.
Just ahead Night saw a four-legged black-furred, wolf-like creature stepping out from behind a large boulder it was the size of a large mastiff. With sharp looking teeth and elongated claws.
It was stood alone.
As saliva dripped from its maw; it locked its glowing yellow eyes on them.
Night lowered his stance, bending his knees slightly, and tightened his grip on his knife.
It was time to hunt.
Without any warning howl, it rushed toward them with blinding speed.
Just as it leapt into the air, aiming straight for Night’s throat who looked the weakest of the group.
Death moved.
It wasn’t a panicked dodge; she simply side-stepped with a calculated grace.
Using her rigid skeletal hand like a piercing blade she thrust her arm forward intercepting the wolf in mid-air.
Looking at this, Night gripped his knife ready to jump in and assist, but he froze in absolute awe as Death’s sharpened bony fingers pierced straight through the wolf’s thick skull with an absurd, horrifying ease.
There was a sound of bone crunching and the wolf’s momentum died instantly.
Just as the almost dying wolf’s heavy body seemed like it would slip off Death’s arm and fall toward Night, the shadow at his feet erupted.
Lucy shot out of the shadow.
Her jaws magically enlarged to match the entire size of the wolf.
She clamped down and gulped the bleeding beast down in a single bite which effectively finishing it off and swallowing it whole.
[You have slain Lvl. 3 Mountain Wolf. +25 EXP]
Night quickly checked his progress.
Level: 4 (EXP: 95/500)
Watching the flawless and brutal execution, Night came to a sudden, game-changing realization.
His skills and levels weren’t just for him, they were directly impacting and enhancing his friends.
The way Death had effortlessly used her bare hand as a lethal blade proved she was passively drawing on his [Basic Knife Proficiency].
If that’s true, Night thought, his mind racing with the possibilities, then my [Sensitive Nose] skill should theoretically enhance Lucy’s already sharp, canine sense of smell.
Meaning, no skill I acquire will ever be useless from now on.
Even if I can’t use it, one of them can.
Wasting no time he quickly opened his System menu and used 140 EV to upgrade [Sensitive Nose] to Level 5.
He looked down at Lucy and asked, "Do you sense any changes?"
She popped her furry head out of the shadow, her ears twitching as she sniffed the damp air.
She nodded eagerly. "Yes. My sense of smell has become incredibly sharp all of a sudden. I can map out the entire cavern just by scent!"
"Is it because of your skills? I can also feel that my combat instincts are far stronger than they should be for my current level."
She looked up at him with genuine excitement and praised, "If this continues, you will become a truly terrifying Summoner, Night... should you choose to fully go down that path."
"I’ll definitely consider it," Night smiled, feeling a surge of pride. "We can discuss the mechanics of this with Sara when we return."
Death looked incredibly annoyed at their casual friendly closeness.
She turning her skull to glare at the empty path ahead.
She pointed her bloody fingers down the tunnel, indicating quite clearly that they were still in a dangerous dungeon and this was definitely not the time to relax and flirt.
Taking the hint they moved further into the cave.
The air grew colder and the moss thicker.
Soon, they spotted three more wolves blocking a narrow choke point in the cavern. One of them was noticeably larger, heavily scarred and more muscular than the other two. It looked like an Alpha.
This time Death didn’t wait.
She immediately charged forward and engaged the larger Alpha leaving the two smaller wolves to Eve and Lilith.
As Death tried to repeat her previous, highly effective strategy of a direct skull-pierce which it failed miserably.
The large Alpha possessed far thicker bone density and combat experience. Her strike failed to pierce the head and only managing to gouge out and blind one of its yellow eyes.
In a furious retaliation, the massive wolf swiped a claw which slammed into Death’s ribcage, pushing her backward.
Seeing the death momentarily pushed back, Eve and Lilith sprang into action with mechanical efficiency.
Eve gracefully dodged her opponent’s wild lunge, her movements a perfect algorithmic calculation of distance and timing.
Charging her pale palm with crackling, bright blue electricity she struck the wolf’s flank with a electrical burst.
The beast froze mid-growl and its muscles locked up as it was completely stunned.
Capitalizing on the precious pause, Eve relentlessly pummeled its head with precise strikes.
Seeing such an easy target, Lucy darted out of the shadows like a bullet and bit its head clean off ending its misery.
Meanwhile, Lilith took a different approach.
She coated her hands in dark energy.
She easily dodged her target’s frantic lunges, weaving through its attacks before delivering punches to its ribs and skull.
The dark energy seemed to rot the impact points.
After a quick flurry of blows, the wolf simply collapsed and died.
While the Eve and Lilith efficiently handled their targets.
Death was still visibly struggling against the Alpha wolf.
Because it was significantly stronger and heavier she was having a hard time landing a fatal blow with just her bare bones.
She stalled the beast using her arms to block its snapping jaws using this opportunity Lucy tried to sneak in for a bite from behind only for the Alpha to violently violently twist and dodge out of the way,.
Night watched from the back noting how his summons seemed to be doing absolutely everything for him.
While it was safe, it felt wrong.
He wanted to contribute.
He needed to test himself.
Drawing upon the ancient meditation and yogic breathing techniques from his past life, he closed his eyes for a fraction of a second.
He regulated his breathing, dropping his heart rate and drastically slowing his metabolism.
He silenced his footsteps, achieving a flawless, natural form of stealth that no System skill had taught him.
He moved forward with gentle but quick steps.
The moment he saw the large Alpha wolf rear back to lunge at Death temporarily grappling with the her, Night immediately jumped into action.
He gripped his simple black blade tightly with he right hand while pouring a steady stream of his EV into the weapon’s dormant rune and used the skill [Over-Sharpen]>
The matte black blade suddenly hummed and became incredibly sharp as he slashed at the defenceless wolf.
Caught completely off guard the wolf couldn’t evade the sneak attack.
The sharp knife came down in a perfect, fluid arc.
It cut through the beast’s thick muscular neck like a hot blade through warm butter cleanly splitting its massive head from its shoulders in one single fluid motion.
The wolf’s body slumped to the floor, dead before it even knew what hit it.
The cavern immediately fell silent, save for the dripping water.
Death and Lucy both froze, staring at him in absolute awe. freewebnσvel.cѳm
Death stared because she was an absolute simp and seeing her master execute such a flawless and lethal strike only deepened her fanatical devotion. Blue flames burned brightly in her empty eye sockets.
Lucy stared because she was genuinely shocked because she knew exactly how utterly clueless he was about actual, practical combat just a few hours ago.
Yet, that strike had been perfect.
And Eve and Lilith?
They simply looked at Night with a great sense of pride.
