It was dark in there.
It was pitch black in the dungeon, and me being the extremely thoughtful person I was, I forgot to bring a torch.
"Fuck," I groaned, turning 360 degrees in hope for the tiniest flicker of light, but there was nothing. Strangely enough, I could see the system clearly, but instead of illuminating the dungeon, it simply did nothing. I was suspicious, so I asked it,
"Hey, are you not lighting this place up on purpose?"
[That's right!] The system cackled. [How else are you supposed to run into a wall?]
"You messed up-" I began, ready to crash out at this thing, but I was interrupted by a weird sound coming down further the dungeon.
"What's that?" I whispered, instinctively crouching down, forgetting the fact that I was invisible to anybody else.
[I don't know.] Was his voice quivering?
"Well,let's find out then," I said, slowly stepping towards the sound, hunched over, Silver Lining ready in my hands.
[T-That's right, y-y-you m-must k-k-keep c-c-calm.] Was this multiversal system seriously afraid of a weird sound. What was he, a Pomeranian?
As I closed the distance, I recognised the sound. It was growling- a bloodthirsty,low growl that got louder with every step. I recognised that sound. I've been to the zoo, and I've watched enough movies, and that, my man, was either a very angry Rottweiler or an incarnation of Cerberus.
The Cerberus part was possible enough. I mean, almost every god or goddess except the Virgin Ones had children with mortals. Even Pegasus had kids with regular horses, so what was stopping my heridetary, three headed pet dog from doing so? Except, of course, my dad.
I recognised it as a wolf or something. Unfortunately, it also recognised me.
And trust me, it was not happy.
As it leapt at me, suddenly the place glew up as the System screen illuminated the place, while the guy himself screamed, [Aaaaaaaaaaagh! I never liked jumpscares!"]
As it happened, my body reacted on instinct, looking into the jaws of the red skinned wolf, foaming at the mouth with fangs big as a sabre toothed tiger. I dodged, and leapt a step back, raising Silver Lining in between us.
It landed on the ground, and turned around to face me. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say it did not improve his mood that I was holding a weapon.
It had green eyes, which glowed like a demon's in the system's light, and two fangs sticking out of his upper jaw. Its paws were clawed with things looking more like tiny screwdrivers than nails any other animal would have.
"Bad boy," I scolded. "Is that how you savages treat guests in this dumb pitch black hellhole? And look at your claws! No civilised animal has claws that long. You could take out someone's eye! Still, I can't blame you. I don't think they sell manicure kits in here, do they?"
The wolf cocked its head sideways and looked at me stunned, like it couldn't believe that I had just asked it for its beauty treatment details. To be honest, I couldn't either. I was probably hoping I could trash talk my way out of this situation. I hoped it was a choosy eater too, who thought idiots might give it indigestion.
Unfortunately, it was probably really hungry, or it just didn't care, because it definitely understood me. Or maybe it was its first time hearing someone talk rather than run away or fight.
Anyway, point is, it tensed, and as it prepared to pounce, I got ready to dodge as well, moving both my arms to each side, Silver Lining in my left one. Curious, I activated Nimrod Perception, and saw its stats.
[Monster- Low Level Dungeon Jackal
Grade-D-
Bounty-500
Claimants-
None]
500 coins. Not too bad, but isn't this a C Rank Dungeon? I thought the monsters were supposed to be C Rank.
Before I could complete my train of thought, the Dungeon Jackal pounced. I read its movement towards the right, so I jumped of my right foot, preparing to roll towards the left.
That was the good news.
The bad news was that the jackal was intelligent, albeit the dumbest monster you could find. It anticipated my roll, or maybe it was just its instinct, but it changed direction in mid air, and clamped its jaws around my forearm.
I screamed in pain, and tried to shake it off, but it was one wild jackal versus a 4 year old. It sank its fangs deeper, and my movements grew more frantic, the agony charging me up like caffeine. In desperation, I smashed it on the head with the butt of Silver Lining. The kite point pierced through its skull, but this jackal was as resillient as it was strong. It simply shook its head twice, but its grip did not decrease in the least.
I spun around, continuing to hit it with the butt, hoping to wear it down, but then, the worst thing possible that could happen in the current situation... well, the jackal started to tug at my arm.
Its hind legs found the ground, and no sooner had it found its grip, that it began to pull like crazy. I was horrified. Its strength might be less than mine, but if I tried to engage in a tug-of-war, it'd probably rip off my arm before I even started to resist.
Okay, chill. Just chill, and think with a calm mind.
I looked carefully at the jackal. As carefully as possible, and I tried to analyse it to find its weakest spots. I already knew that it was near impossible to wear it down by stabbing its skull with the kite shaped back of my scythe, so my best chance right now was...
I had a sudden inspiration. It was crazy, and there was more chance I'd become Vitamin C supplement for this guy rather than succeed. But it was the only chance I had at that situation, so I went for it.
We were both around three meters from the nearest wall, and I had back towards it. I pulled at my arm, but instead of concentrating the force towards the elbow, I put all my strength into my pulling my right wrist towards my face. It worked, mostly because the jackal had no idea what I was trying to do, and as it got close enough to my mouth, I clamped my own jaws into my wrist.
I know, I know. 'Doesn't he have any hygeine?' 'What is this, an All You Can Bite competition?' But I had my own reasons. See, for what I was about to do next, I had to pull my arm. And then there was risk of the jackal tearing my arm off. It would mean a lot of unsatisfactory explanations if Mom found me sleeping with a stump for an arm.
So by clamping my jaws around the wrist, when I pulled, it would apply pressure on both ends on my arm, and the wolf would be left with the centre part, like a dog gnawing a bone.
Let's not do that comparision though. It might affect battle morale.
I tugged back at my arm. The Jackal's grip was much sturdier than mine, and there were a few times where I slipped and barely caught myself. But the increase in strength was becoming clearer, and finally, after about a minute of push and pull, I felt the sensation of the rough wall against my back. Good.
Now, here was the tricky part. Whether I lived or died, it all went down this one step. All that remained was whether my parents' fighting instinct mastered over milleniums of hard work emerged victorious, or whether, after all, I was a Squib, and a failure to the term 'transmigrator.'
Believe in yourself. Don't overthink it. Go for it.
I took a deep breath, concentrated mana on the soles of my shoes, and activated the skill Sprint.
That's right, My body tensed as I prepared to leap upwards. Concentrate mana on your soles, apply 30 mps instead of 3, and get-
I jumped up like a grasshopper.
-to get 400% of your full speed!
My plan was brilliant, yet chaotic- concentrate mana on my soles, which to say, was fairly easy because I had been practicing for the last year and a half, and jump up at 4X my original speed.
The sudden jerk caught the jackal off guard. He resisted, but it was too late- we were already 5 feet in the air.
I said it that day, and I say it now-
Sprint is a seriously underrated skill.
Not only did it make the boost and mana cost adjustable to the user's wishes, it granted me 4 times my orignal kinetic vision.
So of course, sailing upwards, realising I had a bootleg Sharingan, was a pleasant suprise. I hadn't counted on it, but it made life easier.
As I looked at the wolf, its full body stretched out like a chicken at the butcher's, I gripped the scythe in my hands.
Please,I prayed. If you're out there, give me a bit of luck.
I closed my eyes, and slashed blindly at the body.
***
When I next woke up, it was in a pool of red blood, with my arm still hurting.
I sat up, groaned and rubbed my eyes. When I looked at my arm, I nearly had a heart attack.
The jaw was still clamped around my forearm, but the expression was what made my blood freeze.
It was a look of absolute terror etched on every part of the face. Its eyes were wide open, and the grip was pretty loose, as if it had been screaming.
I couldn't help myself. I puked.
When I finally got up with the head prised off of my arm, I looked around me. Nothing was around as far as I could see, except Silver Lining on the floor, and the headless corpse.
I didn't pay much heed to that, because I was much too worried about the System.
Since he saw the Dungeon Jackal, he hadn't said a word, nor had he criticised me when I leapt up like a grasshopper. I was about to tease him for being afraid of a mangy old mutt, when he suddenly spoke.
[Kai?] His voice was deeper, and it didn't have any of his usual playfulness.
I knew it all too well. It was the voice he assumed very, very rarely, one filled with seriousness, and devoid of any emotion. I wondered whether his dog died or something.
" Yeah?"
[Look at their necks.]
Confused, I did so, but it quickly changed to horror as I saw grey, brownish pieces of something that looked like...
Leather.
"I'm guessing that's not a layer of protective coat?" I asked, my own voice shaking now.
[No, it's leather,] The System agreed.
My eyes widened in shock. "But then,"
[Yep,] The system said grimly. [ We're dealing with intelligent life in this dungeon.]
AN-
I did keep my word, new chapter.