I stood in front of three doorways yet again, but this time I could tell that they were different. These weren’t just three different options that potentially led to a slew of other tunnels and options… they were the end. The glorious end! Though hopefully… hopefully I didn’t miss that secret boss that Shun mentioned. I still wasn’t exactly sure what a dungeon born would exactly do for me, but I was excited to see! But right now… I still had much to do!

  I shook my head and cracked my knuckles, eyeing each of the options. The far right one… it didn’t exactly smell or sound like anything, but I was still getting an intense feeling of danger from it. It wasn’t exactly the first time I had felt such an intense feeling of doom, but this time it was ten times worse. Almost as if it was screaming out at me not to even dare to think about entering it.

  I sighed and eyed the other two, stretching out my senses towards them. The middle one was… huh. It had a ridiculously pungent odor, reeking even worse than those damned undead had. I couldn’t see anything, but something about my stomach turned, and I felt a deep sense of nausea.

  The far left tunnel though… It was much more my speed! I could hear the snuffles of beasts, the rattle of bones, and the clanking of weapons from deep, deep within. Almost as if it was echoing off of the tunnel walls. That probably meant that there was a long tunnel before I would run into them, which would be a great place for traps… Hahaha! Perfect!

  I laughed and reached out towards the void, activating sprint and feeling that amazing burst of energy surge throughout me. My feet pounded on the hard stone as my senses stretched out, looking for anything that could be a trap as I flew forward. Nothing stood out to me though, and then my spatial awareness screamed out in danger as I heard a twang from a bow.

  My body moved on its own, dodge activating almost without me even having to think about it. I spun to the side as two arrows flashed by, and then activated dash, flying past two screeching goblins and coming to a stop next to the archer. It screeched and reached for its dagger, but with a roaring laugh I sliced off its head.

  From my left I heard a scream, and a kobold came rushing forward with a short axe, “You! Die! Now!”

  I roared and spun around, activating sword slash and carving its head off, “You first you hairy rat!”

  Another kobold raced forward with a shovel and screamed as well, but it didn’t even get the chance to say anything before I activated pierce and stabbed my longsword through its heart. It fell back with a gargling scream, but I was already on the move again, slashing around and knocking aside a goblins club as they raced up. They garbled and raised the club again, but that just made everything even easier as I slashed out with my claws and ripped out its throat.

  I sensed another goblin from behind, and I whipped around and swung my sword around, just in time to block the goblins shortsword that had been flying towards me. I growled and viciously shoved my arms and my longsword forward, knocking the goblin backwards and off balance. As it staggered backwards, the other goblin screamed and rushed forward, swinging its blade at me.

  I activated leap and flew backwards, spinning in mid air and using the momentum as I landed to bring my sword around and across. With a satisfyingly wet thunk it slashed through the second goblin neck, right as it opened its mouth to scream out. The first goblin had regained its balance by now, and screeched as it raised its short sword and charged forth. I easily jumped out of reach of its first strike, and then with a laugh I gripped the handle with both hands and sent it down like a cannonball. The goblin weakly tried to block the strike, but it was far too weak and still off balance, and it blew straight through its skull, sending blood and gore everywhere.

  I laughed and wiped the blood off of my face, “That’s right… now… onto the next!”

  The spear that shot forward was fast, honestly almost too fast, but thankfully dodge had just come off of cooldown and I was just barely able to avoid it. Another sword came arcing around, and I caught it on the side of my blade and flicked it to the side.

  The spear flashed forward again and I snatched it with my hand and yanked hard. It was caught off guard, and it stumbled forward with a choked screech, right into my striking reach. Power flooded my head and jaw as I activated bite and snapped my sharpened teeth down and through the back of its neck. My mouth filled with its vile vinegar like blood, but I jerked my head to the side, hearing a vicious snap as its body went limp.

  My spatial awareness sparked as a sword arced around and stabbed into my side. Pain lanced through me, and with a hiss I activated claw and lashed out, feeling my claws carve into the goblins flesh. It screeched and fell back, leaving its shortsword embedded in my side as it held its bleeding stomach.

  I spat the spear goblins blood out of my mouth and bared my sharpened teeth at the whimpering goblin, “That… the best you got?”

  It screamed out, but I made sure to end its life with a quick slash of my sword. Its body flopped to the ground with a thud, and with a sigh I leaned against the nearby wall, stabbing my sword into the stone for a moment. That had been… shockingly difficult. That spear goblin had been an absolute pain in the ass, and those sword wielding goblins had actually seemed to have a head on their shoulders… besides… how had they gotten through the chainmail so easily? Was it the fact that they were using stabbing attacks? Or was it their weapons? Ahh… Fuck… Well, they’re all dead now so it’s whatever.

  I sighed and went to grab my sword, but as my hand reached out for the handle, I suddenly felt the air shift. I yanked my hand backwards, but I was too late and one of those large snakes appeared out of thin air and latched their teeth on my arm, injecting pump after pump of venom. It hurt like agony, and pain filled my entire being so completely that for a moment I blacked out.

  My body went into autopilot once again, and the void within me roared up, consuming the darkness all around me. Nothingness was all I knew, and then that nothingness… it shifted. It flinched. It… roared. And then… It turned red.

  Rage flowed through me, replacing the void. My dissolving limbs flexed, and every last working muscle roared into action, powering me forward. My claws snapped forward and slashed across the teleporting snakes scales, denting them but not killing it immediately. That truly enraged me even more, and as the snake snapped forward and bit my side, I bit down as well, bite activating along with pierce. My teeth screamed out in agony, but with a shifting groan they broke the scales, and then searing blood filled my mouth.

  It hurt, but the rage didn’t care. My claws and teeth rended and teared until the snake was torn asunder. Anger flowed like hot lava, and I tossed the pieces aside and charged forward. My claws tore up the ground, my senses sharpened to a razor sharp fineness, and I honed entirely on the squealing beast in front of me. It squealed and charged forward, lowering its head and exposing its tusks towards me, and so the wild rage inside of me sent power into each of my fists, dual activating blow and sending them flying forward into the squealing boar.

  They slammed into the boar with a crunching boom, and then sent it flying through the air with yet another squeal. It slammed into the next howling foes, and then I was there, my body filling with power as I dashed forward. The howling beasts snapped at me, but I snapped back as well. My claws teared into their flesh, my teeth ripped chunks of meat and fur, and blood flew through the air, coating the tunnel until the only thing that was left was a pile of steaming corpses.

  My breathing came hot and my whole body shook as my senses reached out for more. The rage… the rage needed more! It needed caverns of corpses, piles of death, and fountains of blood! The rage roared and screamed white hot as it consumed me entirely, filling me with levels of power as my senses finally locked onto the three headed snake that was blocking the center of the pathway.

  I roared and leaped forward, my claws arcing around as each of its heads snapped forward and bit me. They slashed into the side of the snake, and in turn their massive coils wrapped around me. The many heavy coils crushed and crushed and crushed me, dislocating my limbs and tearing my muscles. It hurt, hurt so much that if I was in control of my body, I probably would have blacked out. However, the rage that filled me didn’t care about something so minor as… pain.

  I screamed, and once again every single muscle in my body was strained and flexed. My whole body roared with power, and as the crushing coils of the snake's body threatened to break me even more, my body decided that it wouldn’t. I roared and flexed, pushing back and straining so strongly that even the coils of the snake couldn’t crush me anymore. Each of its heads hissed and snapped down on me, struggling to try and stop me, but the rage roared back. The void activated every skill that I could possibly activate, and my whole body vibrated with surging power. The snake hissed in pain, and the rage screamed and activated blow, sending my body flying out in every direction and unsnapping the coils that had been threatening to crush me.

  The three headed snake hissed in surprise, but with a roar the rage activated blow, sending them sliding backwards. The rage roared and screamed, forcing my body to activate leap forward and then activate claw, bite, pierce, and blow over and over again until the squirming mass of coils had been reduced to a pile of gore and blood.

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  The rage screamed and shot forward, sprinting down the tunnel again until a wall of flames slammed into it. It was agony, and the rage screamed and activated dash, exploding through the wall of fire right next to the squat fire breathing lizard. It hissed and whipped around and snapped at me, sending another wall of flames in my direction. The smell of singed flesh and blood filled the tunnel, and the rage took over once again, leaping on top of the lizard and activating bite. My teeth snapped down on the hard scales, but they were far too weak and the rage screamed as they broke and shattered.

  The lizard hissed in amusement and shook itself hard, but the rage latched on hard, activating pierce and digging my claws into its sides. The lizard hissed in disappointment and took a deep breath and then breathed flames straight down, filing the entire section of the tunnel with flames. They hungrily snapped at me, singing and burning my flesh even more, causing it to crackle as my whole vision began to darken, threatening to push out the red. That infuriated the rage, and it screamed, forcing my vision to turn even redder.

  The lizard hissed and blew even more flames, and the rage roared and stabbed and slashed with its claws over and over again. Claw was useless against these scales, so pierce was activated, and then activated again, and then again, and again, and again, and again, until the scales were shattered. Then it was a flurry of claws and blood, the two of us becoming intertwined as the blood and flames mixed. Only when the flames sputtered out, and the beast fell limp did the rage finally stop. It weakly struck out once more, but all of my body's strength had been exhausted. My body fell down, limp and still, as the raging red that had filled my vision was drowned out by the overbearing darkness.

  I gasped as I shot up, feeling the sand beneath me, and groaned as I looked around at the roiling void. Holy fuck… Had I died? Ugh… What a stupid question to ask myself. Of course I had died… but, how had I died?

  I frowned and looked down at my hands, flexing my claws and humming to myself. I… I had been traveling down the left tunnel… there had been a couple kobolds, which I had killed. Then there had been a few goblins… they had managed to pierce my chainmail, probably using some skill, but I had killed them as well. I’d been checking out the loot, and then… Oh yeah! That damned snake had appeared out of nowhere and injected some vicious venom into me! It had straight up just bypassed my acid resistance skill… was that maybe because it was venom?

  I shook my head and sighed as I ran my hands along the sand. No… the skill had worked well against venom strikes and poisonous things before… which was honestly pretty fucking weird if I was being honest. That snake must have had an especially strong venom… Hmm… Maybe it had a skill as well? Huh… I bet all monsters could probably learn skills like people… That would make sense, and would explain a couple of the more odd circumstances that had occurred to me while I had been going through the dungeon.

  What was more worrisome though, was the fact that I had blacked out again, and the void had once again taken over. Ugh… no, what was really the problem was the fact that it had activated berserker’s rage again. That skill… It was unbelievably destructive. Honestly, especially with me going through this whole thing alone, it would probably be worth it to activate it as much as possible. The fact that I die pretty much every time I use it though… Fuck. I thought about this last time too, but… fuck! It’s such a strong skill! Why does it have to just straight up make me a mindless rage zombie!?

  I cursed and punched the sand, not even thinking about it as I activated blow. My fist slammed into the sand, sending it up in a ring around me and creating a little crater. I blinked in surprise and glanced at my fist. Oh yeah… I can use my skills here, can’t I? Huh…

  I considered my fist again, and hummed to myself. This had a lot of potential actually… if I could use my skills here, then maybe… maybe I could improve their proficiencies!

  I flexed my claws and looked around the island. It wasn’t exactly wide or long, but there was quite enough room still. Maybe… twenty feet either way? It really wasn’t that far, but… that was enough for me to activate leap and dash. I could probably even activate sprint and race around as well, and though there was nothing to really hit besides sand… that was still something…

  I hummed to myself and ran my finger along the sand, losing myself in my thoughts as I considered that and the implications. It was a lot to think of, but I hadn’t really realized how much I had lost track of time until I was snapped out of it by the churning void. It swirled and spun quickly, not even giving me the chance to say anything or blink before it snapped out and wrapped around me, flinging me into the void so strongly that I passed out instantly.

  I gasped as my eyes shot open and sat up with a groan, looking around and stretching out my spatial awareness. That dead fire breathing lizard was over there, its body mangled and pulverized to the point that it was almost unrecognizable. My old corpse was lying next to it, still reaching out as if it was trying to crawl towards the next fight.

  I sighed and shook my head as I sensed the absolutely ripped apart and bloody chainmail as well. Underneath that, my skin was blackened and charred. My flesh was torn and ripped, with massive ripped off chunks of it missing. That Berserker’s Rage… it always ended up with my death, but… looking at all of the damage that I had suffered… It was amazing that it allowed me to fight for so long. If it wasn’t for the loss of my mind… it would be so broken!

  I flexed my claws and shook my head. I could sense that there was more to this tunnel, but first… I needed to check my loot. I chuckled and cracked my neck as I made my way back, checking each of the corpses for anything. Unfortunately. I found nothing but some hunks of meat, a shoddy dagger, some wooden arrows, and a shovel. Nothing really of worth, but… thankfully my sword was still fine. Which was all I really needed anyway

  I hefted it and made my way back towards the corpse of the fire breathing lizard, nudging it with my foot. It was only the size of a large dog, but that wall of flames that it expelled… haha… well, it really was no joke. I wonder if I could one day gain a fire resistance skill, just like my acid resistance? That’d be great! Then I wouldn’t have to die to fire agai–

  I groaned and slapped my forehead, “Ahh, fuck! Was that the second death today!? Ahhh!!! I had been gaining so much experience from killing all these damned monsters and beasts too… Wait… maybe I lucked out? I mean… it has been a while since I last died to those zombies. Granted, I had only really won because of Berserker’s Rage too, but… ahhh! Fuck it, let’s just get this damned gauntlet over with!”

  I hissed and squeezed the handle of my sword tightly as I began to make my way down the tunnel once more. I couldn’t sense any other monsters or traps, but I still made sure to be careful. After all, if there had been one of those snakes that could appear out of thin air… maybe there would be others. Doubtful of course, but with this dungeon, I never could be too careful. Especially now that Shun had taken notice of me… What was that now, three gods and goddesses that had blessed me, or promised to bless me? Not counting my Undying Will of course… who had given me that ability? It didn’t say incomplete like the others, though I do feel like I vaguely remembered improving it when I gained Unending Vitality. But… who gave it to me? Verdant hadn’t, Grim hadn’t, and obviously this new Shun goddess hadn’t, so… who had?

  I sighed and shook myself out of it, looking up at the room that was in front of me. What… a crazy room! The walls were covered in lit torches, which was rather new! Granted, they weren’t beautiful colors like with the torches in Mahl’s altar room, but I didn’t mind. It was light, sweet, beautiful light! And not only that, but it was stable light, unlike the bursts of searing short bursts from the fire lizards. I could actually see around the room in front of me, and I laughed as I actually looked around in the room instead of relying purely on my senses.

  It was nice to see the rest of the room of course, but it really wasn’t much different from the rest of the dungeon. Just stone and dirt, looking like it had been chipped away by a massive burrowing creature. The floor flickered from the flickering torch lights. It was relatively empty, minus the massive unmoving skeleton in the middle of the room. It wielded a wicked looking sledgehammer, and it was wearing a rusted pair of greaves, plate bracers, and even a bucket helmet. Thankfully, unlike the rest of the dungeon monsters, the undead didn’t seem to attack immediately when they saw you. They usually just waited until you came into their territory or where they were patrolling. That’s sort of why those zombie monsters from earlier had been so odd, but I assumed that probably had something to do with the fact that they were zombies.

  I shrugged and gripped my longsword. Ah, I guess that was an issue for later. This skeleton had been created by Zholshun, right? Probably designed specifically for me to fight… which meant that it was probably the secret boss. I couldn’t afford to lose this fight, especially if they were watching!

  I smirked and activated dash, feeling that wild surge of power flow through me as I exploded forward. My feet dug into the ground, slowing me to a stop as I roared and activated sword slash, bringing my sword around in a horizontal slash. I didn’t expect it to be easy, but when the skeleton’s arms moved like lightning, bringing the hammer handle around and stopping my strike instantly, I was really thrown off guard.

  It shoved the hammer hard, throwing me back a few feet. The skeleton’s bones rattled as it spun around, using the hammer’s heavy weight to pick up even more speed and make the weapon like a crashing meteor. I had no time to even try to counter attack or think of a strict plan, and I just activated dodge, feeling time slow as my body flowed and dropped low to the ground, avoiding the heavy meteor.

  The skeleton stumbled slightly, caught off balance by the heavy weight of the hammer, and I took advantage of that. With a roar I brought my sword around, once again activating sword slash as I aimed for its side. The skeleton was fast though, and it leaned back and brought its leg up, blocking my sword strike on its greave. The strike dented and then shattered the greave, but the skeleton didn’t stop, slamming its foot down and bringing the heavy sledge hammer down from above with such aggressive power that I was forced to activate leap in order to get out of the range.

  The skeleton dragged the hammer back for another strike, but I didn’t let up, unleashing another sword slash of my own. This time it impacted dead on, crashing into its left forearm with enough power to shatter it in a rain of bone debris. The skeleton stumbled backwards, and I followed up with another sword slash, and then another and another until it had been carved to pieces, and a familiar surge of euphoria flowed through me once again.

  Level Up!

  Name: Will

  Race: Chimera

  Level: Twenty- Four(New!)

  Title: Einha Slayer

  Abilities:

  Undying Will

  Unending Vitality (Incomplete)

  Death's Favoured (Incomplete)

  Active Skills:

  Sprint (Master)

  Berserker’s Rage (Rare)

  Claw (Average)

  Pierce (Average)(New!)

  Leap (Average)(New!)

  Sword Slash (Average)(New!)

  Bite (Apprentice)

  Blow (Apprentice)

  Dodge (Apprentice)(New!)

  Hammer Bash (Beginner)

  Block (Beginner)

  Dash (Beginner)(New!)

  Axe Smash (Initiate)

  Passive Skills:

  Spatial Awareness (Passive)(Practicer)

  Hardened Body (Passive)(Practicer)(New!)

  Acid Resistance (Passive)(Apprentice)(New!)

  I laughed and shook as euphoria and a surge of healing energy flowed through me, “Holy shit… that had been a hell of a fight! Though, it doesn’t look like you’re the secret boss. If I know this dungeon, and I’m pretty sure I do, you were far too weak to be some kind of secret boss. Though… you did level me up, eh? I’ll fucking take it! Hahaha! It really must be a new day! Welp, onto the next one!”