Randy was standing hunched over his friends with a half-drawn, flickering mana arrow in his bow. Blood trickled down his arms from deep gashes in his shoulders left by stray Clay Goblin claws. He was breathing heavily, begging his exhausted body to pull the bowstring back one last time.
Because if he didn't, all three of them were going to die.
"Vesper!" Randy shouted hoarsely over the snarling monsters, endlessly marching toward them across the bridges. "You need to administer CP...
2025-09-25 06:04:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
[Evolution to Necroplague Slime (Rare Variant) is complete]
[Pending experience can now be distributed]
[Necroplague Slime] has leveled up: 25 -> 32.
Xen awoke to the darkness of the lake, with only the system messages floating in his mind to let him know he wasn't dead. Well, he was technically dead, considering his human body hadn't taken a breath in over an hour. But he could always force it to move by feeding it bioma...
2025-09-22 10:57:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
Xen drifted down into the lake's depths among a landslide of rubble. Twisting his body, he looked up at the surface above him and watched in awe as dozens of monsters' silhouettes thrashed around desperately as their bodies reacted with the water, boiling the lake into steam.
Ah, it's so beautiful, Xen thought, spreading out his arms and continuing his slow descent, aided by the heavy armor he still wore. Just a few days ago, I was a tiny slime that any monster could trampl...
2025-09-18 09:18:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
It took a while for Randy's world to stop spinning. As an archer, it had been a long time since he had experienced mana deprivation to this extreme a degree, and he was using every ounce of strength he had left to keep himself upright. Even now, his vision was blurred, and the edges darkened. Such a state would be suitable for a patient in a Hunter specialized hospital, yet he lay on an active battlefield with a floor boss.
"Are you alright, Randy?" Valoria asked as her staff went whizz...
2025-09-16 07:25:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
[Devour in progress…]
[Devour Complete]
You absorbed 50% of the Clay Orc's memories.
You have unlocked the [Clay Orc] form.
The stream of system messages suddenly paused, which Xen found strange. Shaking his head to dispel the truly intense instincts and lust-filled desires held in the Orc's memories, he waited for the system to continue—his mouth still clamped on the Orc's head with his slime tend...
2025-09-11 05:54:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
Xen already had a bad feeling about what the Underworld Orc's roar entailed by the twitching corpse in his hand; however, his fears were further brought to light when the massive form of the Underworld Orc stood from its crude throne after finishing its cavern-shaking roar.
It towered over its kin at an impressive eight feet tall. But unlike the Clay Orc that Xen had been fighting with, this Underworld Orc's silhouette was anything but normal. As it hunched over, Xen got a good look at ...
2025-09-09 04:38:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hello, I'm about to board a flight to Dragon Con which will last until the 3rd so there will be no chapters for a week or so. Sorry for the delay and hope to see some of you there! Stop by the Aethon booth if you want to say hi! :)
2025-08-28 06:23:35 +0000 UTC
View Post
Randy clambered over the rough stone of the lake's shoreline and crouched beside Valoria. "She's not breathing," he said after placing a finger under her nose. Checking her pulse next, he grimaced. "No pulse either. Shit, Vesper, cover me. I need to give her CPR."
Vesper nodded and straightened up with his one dagger in hand.
Red light flickered around the cavern, followed by a roaring boom, causing the whole place to quake as Gerald unleashed his destructive Crescent Rage skill o...
2025-08-26 07:03:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
"I don't think Gerald's coming, Valoria," Randy said. "I've activated a distress beacon, so what we need to do now is try to survive as long as possible." The problem was that he was already getting exhausted.
Valoria glanced down from the hole in the ceiling and looked incredibly distressed. "How long will it take for someone to rescue us?"
"I don't know. It's unlikely anyone will come at all," Randy said as he furiously kicked his legs to stay afloat and fumbled underwater to un...
2025-08-21 06:59:45 +0000 UTC
View Post
After fighting off the initial group of Clay Goblins, Xen spent a few minutes observing the humans fighting as a party.
The number one thing he learned from the fight was that, individually, they were quite weak, but by working together, they covered each other's weaknesses. Despite there being only three of them and their levels not being that much higher than the goblins, they were able to wipe out dozens of them effortlessly—a feat they wouldn't have managed alone.
Xen unders...
2025-08-19 06:46:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
Randy ducked and shielded his face from the blast of rock. The entire cavern trembled from the impact, almost causing him to lose his footing.
"What was that?!" Randy shouted, but the question was asked more out of shock than from needing an answer. He knew who the culprit had been, as he had seen Gerald empowering his sword with mana before striking at the wall. He knew Spellblades were strong, but Gerald was only level 15 last time he checked. Yet he could cut through walls with such ...
2025-08-14 06:08:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
You have killed an opponent.
Experience split between [Necrovore Slime] and [Human] form.
[Necrovore Slime] has leveled up: 20 -> 21.
[Human] has leveled up: 15 -> 16.
Xen had been happy to take the lead for many reasons, and this was one of them—by being at the front in a narrow tunnel, he didn't give any of his party members a chance to land a hit on the enemies, meaning all of the experience...
2025-08-12 07:49:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
The intense humidity of the third floor of the dungeon made Randy's clothes stick to his skin, and the problem was exacerbated by the front line of their group, the Spellblade they had met on the dunes, effortlessly charging on ahead through the muddy forest at a pace that was hard to follow. Glancing to his side, he saw Valoria, who was panting heavily.
"Are you all right?" he asked, knowing the answer.
She gave him a weak smile. Her bangs were plastered to her forehead with swea...
2025-08-07 05:13:32 +0000 UTC
View Post
Xen had mixed feelings about the development. He hadn't been lying when he said he worked better alone, as his shapeshifting capabilities were severely crippled when others were around him.
Yet on the other hand, he wasn't in a position to say no. Before getting in range, he had appraised them and knew that their levels dwarfed his, as did their number.
[Human (Druid: Level 18)]
[Human (Shadowblade: Level 24)]
[Human (Archer: L...
2025-08-05 06:37:21 +0000 UTC
View Post
Randy shivered from the extreme cold of the Death Desert, despite his efforts to keep warm by wearing a thick coat. It was almost as if the chill had a magical debuff, helping it creep into every crevice of his body, freezing him down to the bone.
His gaze was locked onto the strike team in the distance that had made it to the entrance of the grand crypt—heaps of shattered bone laying in their wake as the large-group priest had understandably attracted a large number of undead during ...
2025-08-03 07:56:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Randy let out a groan and shut his laptop. If he had to spend another second looking at his half-written thesis due in a week, he was going to tear out his hair.
"What a nightmare," he muttered, taking off his glasses and rubbing his tired eyes. Spinning his chair, he put his glasses back on and lazily switched on his TV for some easy stimulation. The Hunter's news station flickered to life on the old television that had been passed down from one dorm user to the next. It had simply bee...
2025-07-31 04:20:37 +0000 UTC
View Post
Please choose a class from the following options: [Mage], [Priest], [Archer], [Juggernaut], or [Spellblade].
Xen recognized all of the options instantly. They were all the classes he had devoured so far.
"System, why do I have class options?" Xen asked. "Don't I already have the Shapeshifter class?"
[Humans do not evolve. Instead, they receive a Class Awakening]
[As a Shapeshifter, you may now imitate a class appropriate for th...
2025-07-29 08:39:45 +0000 UTC
View Post
Sarah was a mess—everyone was. While she sat against a pillar in the crypt's main room with her heart pounding in her chest, she saw out of the corner of her eye Aria pacing the room—her form barely illuminated by one of Jill's many fireballs. The fire mage in question looked pale and was being supported by Devon. No doubt she was suffering from extreme mana deprivation after the impressive skill she used to wipe out the Living Armors' chain attack.
Devon looked rough, but alive. It...
2025-07-27 11:51:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
The irony of the situation wasn't lost on Xen. He had berated the now-absorbed Brandon for reacting strangely to his response, but he couldn't help but stand there, baffled.
"Did you just respond to me?" Xen said slowly.
"Yes," the Living Armor replied. Its hollow voice, laced with mana, tickled his mana sense. "Is that strange?"
Xen nodded. "Yes, it is." He worked his jaw as he tried to formulate the reason. "Monsters don't talk."<...
2025-07-24 06:30:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Brandon would rub his eyes in disbelief if he could move his arms. While calling out to Joe, he had wondered if the bastard had died under the shower of rubble as he remained motionless and unresponsive. Yet, after his party members had abandoned him, a dark purple and black slime emerged from Joe's helmet and was now rolling along the floor.
It paused, and despite its lack of eyes, he could tell it was looking at him.
Brandon was speechless. What was happening? Had he gone mad fr...
2025-07-23 06:45:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
For a moment, Xen worried he had angered the Living Armor enough by destroying its home. However, as the Living Armor slowly turned to face the destroyed corridor, those worries faded. Its focus seemed to be on Aria, who had just shot the arrow.
"What?" Aria seemed to mutter in disbelief. "Why is it aggroing from that?"
A question even Xen didn't know the answer to, but he mentally thanked his [Undeath Resonance] passive once again as he lay there, unable to move due to the powerf...
2025-07-22 06:30:50 +0000 UTC
View Post
"You're a fucking liar!" Sarah erupted, screaming at Xen with everything she had.
Xen blinked, his bafflement obscured behind the helmet. From his understanding, the word "liar" was a label applied to those who said something untrue. Yet, everything he just said had been extracted directly from Jonathan's memories. The only way he could be lying was if Jonathan was so delusional that he had a completely false sense of self and reality.
"What I said is irrefutably factual," Xen rep...
2025-07-20 10:27:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
Xen knew it. They were all after him, or at least they were after 'Joe', the first body he had overtaken. Considering they had chased him this far, they were unlikely to let him go that easily. Whether they wanted to kill him for revenge or drag him back to their guilds for questioning, he had no idea.
But like a cornered beast, he wouldn't go down without a fight.
All of them could have simply walked away, left him alone, and let him live. But no. They wanted to hunt him...
2025-07-17 05:19:40 +0000 UTC
View Post
[Evolution to Undead Mage (D) is complete. As a reward for reaching D grade in your Undead Mage form, you have been rewarded a suitable new skill and passive]
Xen awoke to a system message hanging in his vision. It quickly vanished, only to be replaced by a pair of new messages.
Skill Unlocked: [Necrotic Pulse (D)]
Unleash a burst of necrotic energy in a small radius around you, dealing moderate death-type damage and applying a short...
2025-07-15 05:44:44 +0000 UTC
View Post
Sarah mulled over Jill's suggestion for a while.
"A necromancer?" she said, tapping her chin. "It's certainly possible. Jonathan claimed Joe was dead, which isn't a mistake a healer would usually make. So either Joe himself was a necromancer, or there was one standing nearby that I didn't notice. It would also explain why Joe's eyes looked soulless if he were a reanimated corpse."
"Hold on, soulless eyes?" Aria perked up.
"What of it?" Brandon asked, leaning on his shield.
2025-07-10 06:03:28 +0000 UTC
View Post
"Gerald and the naked man are not here," Brandon said as he stood in a dungeon corridor soaked with blood. Remnants of the Iron Legion's aura flickered across his body as he glanced around.
"Neither are the wolf corpses we had gathered," Aria the archer added as she circled an overturned wooden cart.
Sarah looked between them and the empty wooden cart. The smell of iron and death in the air was overwhelming. "What the hell happened here?" she mumbled. She had never seen such a sce...
2025-07-08 03:32:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
Xen squinted at the system message floating above the monster's head.
[Living Armor (??)]
"No displayed level," Xen had never seen that before. Was it because his human form lacked magic stats, or was it because the monster's level was so much higher than his that he was unable to discern it? "System," he whispered, "Why can't I see its level?"
[Your appraisal skill allows you to understand and analyze things you have sufficiently observed that are o...
2025-07-03 07:06:23 +0000 UTC
View Post
In the pitch-black darkness of the dungeon, Xen tried to drag Alex deeper into the dungeon with little success. His skeletal body weighed far less than the heavily armored human, and he struggled to get a good grip with his bony fingers.
"This isn't working," Xen grumbled, letting the body fall to the stone floor of the crypt with a clunk. He could simply devour the body here next to the staircase, but then what would he do with the armor?
Looking down at his skeletal hands, he si...
2025-07-03 07:01:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
Xen dropped what was left of the archer's half-eaten corpse and darted forward into the darkness, yet the beam of light coming from the warrior easily followed him.
"Why are you running, little doggy?" the warrior shouted as he charged toward him. "Scared of a fight?"
Xen was actually testing the range of the light beam.
Doesn't seem to have a range, but the warrior has swapped out his shield to direct the light at me. Which means his defenses are less than before. Still...
2025-07-03 06:56:34 +0000 UTC
View Post
Xen's muscles tensed as he prepared to leap. He was prowling softly on the very edge of the light as it floated over the magic-resistant cloak he had left on the ground by the pillar. He had repositioned to be almost behind them, as he knew the warrior would be leading the group from the front.
His target? The priest managing the light orbs. Having discerned the unlikelihood of the archer or warrior having skills that let them see in the dark, the battle would become far easier with the...
2025-07-03 06:51:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
