Chapter 14 - 13

It took a while, but I'm finally back at full strength. Seriously though, I'd like to avoid doing that ever again as much as possible. Anyway, when I left that place, the number of tadpoles had decreased significantly. But don't misunderstand. It was not entirely my fault, only part of it. Well, it was inevitable, though. I mean, those guys ate each other ceaselessly while I was there. I would even bet that they were still up to it even after I had left. If I had to guess, that cycle would only end after only one was left and then it would proceed to evolve into a full-fledged Giant Frog. 'I was so lucky I didn't get reborn as a tadpole.'

After I had left that place, I continued moving forward while hunting monsters to eat along the way. Of course, this time, I proceeded with a lot more caution. I wouldn't want a repeat of what happened with that snake after all. Luckily enough, I still haven't seen nor encountered any other monsters similar to that snake. From the looks of it, that was a stray and I was just unlucky enough to encounter it.

Because of continuously hunting and killing monsters, I gained another level and I was now just one level short before I evolved once again. Some of my skills have also ranked up. The most striking one was my Assess skill. After using it continuously, it was now rank B. Because of that, now I could see a monster's race whenever I used it on them. Another thing was, I now know where I am and the name of this place. It happened when I used Assess on a boulder. The information it displayed was [Great Vicious Caverns' Rock]. So, yeah. Apparently, this place was called the "Great Vicious Caverns." For now, I still didn't know the full details of what that meant, but it was still better than knowing nothing at all. And as for my current status…

[Name: (Unnamed)]

[Race: Dire Wolf Variant]

[Level: 19]

[Status: Healthy]

[Titles: Awakened One, The RunAway, Predator, Survivor]

[Skills: Rabid Fangs (Rank A), Call of The Moon (Rank C), Night Vision (Rank A), Enhance Smell (Rank S), Enhance Hearing (Rank S), Recovery (Rank A), Detect Malice (Rank A), Scratching Claws (Rank D), Potential Boost (Rank D), Assess (Rank B), Presence of Mind (Rank D), Swiftness (Rank C), Haste (Rank C), Devour (Rank B), Hunt (Rank C), Antibodies (Rank D), Toughness (Rank D), Pain Endurance (Rank D)]

As you could see, the number of my skills was steadily increasing. I didn't know if having a lot of skills was a normal thing in this world, but I wouldn't complain. Also, remember that cliff I mentioned earlier? Well, after I had regained my full strength, I cautiously checked it out. And as it turned out, I was right, the monster bees were all coming up from there. Honestly, I couldn't see the bottom of the cliff, and even using Assess yielded no result. Probably, the cliff was too deep even for the current range of my vision. But most likely thanks to my Enhance Hearing skill, I could still hear the relentless buzzing of numerous bees beyond the darkness of the cliff. If my guess was right, the nest of those bees would be somewhere on that cliff. As for those stray bees that appeared from time to time, well, according to Mr. Assess, they were apparently called [Bee Scouts].

'Man, the number of these boulders and small lakes sure are increasing.' I thought as I continued to trek my way through the wetland area.

Actually, it has been bothering me for quite some time now. Compared to the number of boulders and lakes scattered all over on this area before, it seemed as if the more I neared the exit (At least I assumed so) the more their numbers were increasing. And the thing was, contrary to that, the number of monsters seemed to be decreasing. 'I got a seriously bad feeling about this.'

While I was wallowing on my ever-growing anxiety, my eyes happened across an enormous lake. This lake, compared to all the other lakes I have seen before was on a completely different scale. Even that nest where all those tadpoles were killing each other couldn't compare to the sheer size of this lake. To describe how huge it was, well, let's just say that the lake was so big that it encompassed the whole area from the edge of the cliff all across to the other end of the wall. It was honestly so big that the only way I could think to cross it was to either swim or hop on top of all that boulders jutting out from its water. But even with all of that, the most important thing I saw was the hole on the wall beyond it.

'Looks like I finally found the exit!!' I thought.

Overcome by the thoughts of finally discovering the out, I excitedly ran towards the lake. But just when I was about a few meters away from the lake, I froze. To clarify, it wasn't simply because of shock. The reason why I froze was tremendous fear. And it wasn't just a simple fear either. Because the fear I felt was so powerful that every fiber of my being was screaming at me to run.

My mind went black. My furs stood on end. My Detect Malice was going off like crazy. And most of all, my survival instinct was telling me that if I even moved just an inch forward, I would certainly die.

Pressed by that overwhelming pressure, I took a step back. After all, there was nothing I could do. No amount of courage nor willpower would overcome that presence, especially not in my current state. In the future, if I continuously seek strength, it might be possible for me to reach a level in which I could face that power. But for now, all I could do was take a step back and do everything I could to avoid angering the source of that presence.

Of course, I immediately decided not to defy that presence for now. The problem was that the hole which was probably the exit was positioned far beyond the lake. 'Are you telling me that I cannot get out of this place unless I beat or escape from that thing…? Are you kidding me?!'

Honestly, it might be possible for me to eventually gain enough power to beat that thing given all the perks that the skill Potential Boost was giving me. But I was sure that it wouldn't be that easy, not to mention it would surely take years. And with my current goal of searching for my little sister, I couldn't possibly stay here for a couple of years working my a.s.s off until I managed to beat that thing. That would simply take too long, and who knows what would happen to my sister during that time. Not to mention I didn't even have any guarantee that I could certainly reach that level.

'Damn it. What do I do?'

I wracked my brain and tried hard to find a way out of this predicament. And after a while of intense brainstorming, a sudden thought came to me…

'Wait. What guarantee do I have that proves that hole to be the only exit of this place?'

That was right. Up until now, I have been working on the assumption that that hole was the exit of this place. But at the end of the day, that was still merely an assumption with no basis at all. In fact, the only thing I did was moved forward on the assumption that the exit lies somewhere up ahead. So, what if my assumption from the very beginning was wrong?

'Besides, it is also possible that there are multiple exits on this place.'

With that conclusion in mind, I raised my head. 'No matter how I look at it now, it doesn't seem like the exit. It may actually just lead me deeper into this place.' Looking at the huge lake up front, I couldn't help but vaguely remember the scene on the MMORPG I played wherein you needed to defeat the floor boss first before going onto the next stage. I may have only played it because my executive wouldn't stop pestering me about it, but the knowledge I gained through that may actually help me in this world.

While I was gazing intently at that flower, it suddenly shined so brightly that it illuminated the whole area around it with pure white light. It only lasted for a second but when that dazzling light subsided, it revealed a beautiful fully bloomed white flower that was covered by small twinkling lights.

I looked at that scene without blinking. Seriously, I couldn't peel my eyes away from that flower because of how much awe I felt when looking at it. As I stood there in silence, a relentless sound of buzzing entered my ears, and that noise was coming from the left side of the cave.

Curious, I looked to where the cliff was. And what I saw was an army of bee monsters emerging from that cliff slowly rallying up above. Witnessing that scene, I unconsciously ran behind a huge boulder and desperately hid my presence.

While hiding behind the boulder, I thought to myself that whatever it was that those bees were after, I couldn't possibly fight an army of them. I mean, even one of them already has an advantage against me because they were able to fly, so what did that say about my chances of defeating an army of them? The answer was, NONE. ZERO. NADA. If I tried to fight those things, I would only be skewered and turned into Swiss cheese by those sharp needles jutting out from their b.u.t.t.

As I watched the bees behind the boulder, a strong-looking bee emerged from the cliff and positioned itself at the front of the other bees. When I used my Assess skill on it, the result it showed was [Bee General].

'Wait. So that thing was a high-ranking monster from their hive?! What the heck are those bees planning anyway?!'

As I was staring at the army of bees in shock, the army of bees consisted of probably thousands of monsters charged towards the huge lake. Wait, no. Looking at it again, they weren't charging towards the lake, but to that glowing flower from before. But before the army bees managed to break past the lake, a huge shadow emerged from the bottom of the lake.

A powerful shockwave erupted because of that accompanied by heavy rain. While I was ducked on the ground trying to protect myself, I heard multiple sounds of something solid falling all over the place. Probably, those sounds came from the monster bees that had failed to dodge that shadow.

Finally, after the shockwave subsided, I looked towards the lake and witnessed a gigantic monster standing in its center. The monster was about three-story-tall. It has four eyes, peeking on its mouth was a bunch of huge sharp-looking teeth, and its body was covered by numerous emerald scales from head to toe.

[Swamp Drake]