Chapter 9

I reckon there will be some upbeat or metal bgm if I was a main character in a movie or anime right about now. After all this is a good moment. The hero holding his massive hammer is about to tame the unruly creatures of this world kinda moment.

"These guys are really noisy, if I had a phone and a headset I would definitely put it on and play wolfg*ng before smashing them with the beat."

There will be none of that. I don't know how to make a music player, neither can I play anything. I did play bass for a few days but didn't really learn much. Putting that aside, this place is extremely vibrant. The light is so beautiful, fantastic trees everywhere, grass swaying in the air. It was really refreshing.

"So the good stuff was on this side of the river!"

It was. Compared to the dingy uninhabitable stone corridors, this place thrived under the light. Or not! Light still did not give off any heat. Ambient temperature was really comfortable though. Maybe there were some other factors that contributed to it. Or maybe this was constructed like this on a whim. Who knows?

By the time I was done admiring the scenery, all the animals went off to somewhere. Only the crocodile was left there. That was fine. I needed to get a good grasp of the situation. Jumping in blind is not a good idea. 'Now then, how do I bait this crocodile out of water?'

I went near the pond to see if he would attack me! He did. 'No bait needed. I am the biggest bait.'

I don't know what is wrong with these animals. They don't seem to care who or what they are attacking. Unless they are directly under their king they will attack anything and everything. Take that boar from earlier as an example. He was attacking the air. I know there is not an invisible enemy because the boar did not hit anything nor did he die. If there was something, it would have attacked him. Nothing runs away in this place.

" Hammer in hand on our right is Echo the destroyer and on the left is Kevin the crocodile. Kevin goes for a low attack, he is trying to bite Echo's leg but he will not succeed if he attacks so slowly. Will Kevin change his strategy mid fight? He doesn't, he goes all in for the attack. Echo dodges it by a small side step. Here comes the hammer. What speed, what accuracy. The hammer connects, teets flying everywhere and goalllllllllllllllllll."

Don't worry about that. The more important thing is Kevin died after a few hits. 'Looks like I have actually become powerful this time around.' Kevin was by no mean an easy opponent. He was almost half as powerful as the flame lion. That is ⅓ rd of my current strength. 'Poor kevin.'

After collecting the crocodile core I started searching for my base of operation. This place is not bad at all, so I am taking my sweet time to find it. You can see grassland stretching for long distances. Sometimes there are few trees here and there. You can see animals fighting here and there, birds trying to make you deaf. I participated in quite a few of these scuffles. Especially when I saw a new type of animal.

After a few hours the light started to dim. Then night fell. 'Huh? So there is even a day night cycle. I would have almost believed that I would have come out of the dungen if not for the light being cold.' I cooked some meat, ate it, then climbed a big tree to rest. Nights were not really detrimental to my movements. For the last few months I have lived in a place of eternal dusk. I just wanted to get a good feel about this place.

The animals don't sleep at night. So my plan to hunt them while they are sleeping was out. There were all sorts of them here. And they even felt like magical beings. Strange patterns on them, and I had seen some use magic too. No slime yet, but I was hopeful. Slims are really the basic fantasy staple. Without them you will feel something is missing.

When morning came I started my search again. I couldn't consume the cores I had collected off of the animals in fear of going into pain again. You never know what is going to happen outside. 'I really want to try them out.'

Around four days after searching, I saw something very, very interesting. A cow. The cow in itself was not all that interesting. The interesting thing was what it was doing. The cow was licking a rock. After a while I noticed the rock is a little translucent. 'Salt!' 'Huh? Salt???' 'Saaaallllttttt??? Now that's a surprise. There is a cow and there is salt.' You can imagine what happened next.

After licking the rock myself I confirmed that it indeed was salt. I collected a few of these rocks and the cow, then went off on my search. I found the cave after six days of searching. 'It's so nice being able to count the days.'

I have tried to find the light source but could not find it with my eye. The shadow indicates that it's on the inner side of the dungen and if that is correct this must be a truly massive floor. 'I will find out soon enough.' Thinking this I started to eat the mana cores I have collected.

They were from all but one new animal I have seen so far. Crocodile, big snake, cow, pig, wolf, wild dogs, rabbit, tiger, lion and bird. I could not get my hand on the bird but I got the rest of them.

From what I have seen, it feels like a well balanced ecosystem, though the animals are absurdly strong. All of them have some kind of marking on their body. I don't understand why. I have seen the bird use some kind of air magic, I think, but not much from other animals. They are just powerful. Much more than the once I have seen before with the exception to the flame lion of course. Maybe they get those marks after becoming powerful. They make normal animals look like magical creatures.

I chopped some trees, cut them into small pieces. Then arranged them together. After arranging them in conical shape, I covered them with grass and mud then lit fire on the top. After a time I made holes in the bottom of the construction. When the preparation was done, I started eating my newly found magic cores.

'Yesssss, my days of suffering are gone.' The evolution this time does not hurt. Looks like the flame lion did something to me and now when I consume a core my body goes numb by default. 'Ahh, it feels so nice. Levelling without going through a meat grinder is awesome.'

After killing the remnants I found out why they have those markings. Seems that, unlike me the animals actually go through some kind of real evolution, and the more they evolve the more powerful they become and if they can go through enough evolution they can actively use magic that their race is good with. The markings are an indication that they have taken the first step towards becoming magic beasts.

This gets my heart racing. If I can find actual magic beasts in deeper floors My dream of becoming a spell slinging maniac will come true.

Even these ones gave me some good abilities. Let's make a list.

Crocodile- super thick skin.

Big snake- poison coating.

Cow- raw strength.

Wolf- good hearing.

Dog- good smelling range.

Pig- raw strength.

The other ones are the same as before but they are better versions of them. Lions are big cats too. 'So, normal wolves give you good hearing capabilities, maybe I did not notice the first time. It was too silent either way.'

You may be wondering what I was doing with the wood burning thing. Let me enlighten you. I was making charcoal. Why? You ask? Hehe, I have cow meat and salt. Do I need to say anymore?

I lit the charcoal and started roasting the meat. Let me tell you something. If you can stop salivating to this, you are a monster. You can probably strangle children to death with that kind of cold heart of yours. Yes, it was that good. And the test, oh my god. How can meat taste so good? Maybe I am exaggerating it a bit too much but this was the best piece of meat I ever had. I even cried a little.

"All I need is a bath and I will be a happy boy. "

Actually I wanted to take a bath since I have seen that pond, but I am sure Kevin's family is there and they will not be happy to see me and I am also sure about there being some kind of murder fish in the water. This place is not welcoming to humans, at all. So, I have put the thought to rest for a bit. Now however I desperately want a bath. With a filled belly and great mood I took a few pieces of meat and ran toward the pond.

The pond was really calm. I did not like that. So, I tossed a piece of meat in it. And low and behold there were like a few thousand fishes appeared out of nowhere. I farmed fish for living. I know how they behave. When you want to see them they are nowhere to be found but the moment you put feed in the water they will appear like they own the place.

I went to work quickly. After scattering the meats I had, I jumped up and slammed my hammer on the water. The water turned red and a big fuckoff catfish floted belly up then started sinking. It could not sink much. I was in shallow water.

I am not going into deep water. Not when that many hungry monsters are roaming around.

I pulled the fish out of the water. Feeling a triumphant euphoria. You fish with a bow? That's child play. Try fishing with a hammer. I climbed on a tree and ate the core. 'Just what I was hoping for. Underwater breathing baby. Hehe, just you guys wait.'

I hunted for a few more fish and then went in the water.

Underwater breathing doesn't work magically. I have to drink water then release them through my gills that just sprouted out from my cheek. Just like a fish. My legs have these little flappy things that help me swim. I can move pretty well but my hammer couldn't. I knew it. This dungeon is definitely forcing me to use my claws. This happens every time. I start with a tank character and somehow end up with an assassin. By the way, my nose kinda vanishes during my water breathing technique. I reckon I look like voldemo*rt's cousin or something.

Feeling dejected, I started my rampage. 'No fish should be left alive. You will all die for my selfish desire and pay for the heinous crime of being left alone with me.'

"Glug glug, glue glug."

Ya, well talking under water is… let's just forget about that one too.

Finding those fuckers was not tough at all. Let me tell you something. Fishes are always hungry. Especially those cat fishes. Mix in a little bit of red eye curse and you get passenger pigeons jumping into flame. Some slapped me with their tail. Some tried their teeths on me. Some even swallowed me whole. And they paid for it. Piece by piece.

' Hey, that's Kevin's family.'

"Glug glug" (hi guys).

'Sorry kevin. We were good friends but your family needs to go. I tried to convince them to leave this property but they just won't listen.' … ...…. ...….. Let's not makeup stories.

It was night by the time I finished them off. I started dragging the fishes and crocodiles out of the water. There were three types of fish. Catfish, eels and piranha looking carps. Now I know who tried what on me. By the time I dragged all the fish out of water daylight started to show.

I stood there on the edge of that lake. Tears running through my eyes. I had killed thousands of fishes. Hundreds of crocodiles. Went inside the fish belly. Breathed through my face. Just to take a bath. And now all I see in front of me is a pond soaked red. I know it's a small lake, but according to the standard units of measurements here it's a pond. That is not important is it? The pond is red. From all the blood mixed into it. That should be the most important thing, not the pond size.