As I walked forward deeper into the dungeon, the leftover vestiges of the colorful hell faded behind me and left me in pitch black darkness, making my eyes totally useless. I bared my teeth and hissed, feeling out my surroundings with spatial awareness, and relying entirely upon it. There wasn’t anything living nearby, but I could feel that there was… yes, a spring trap there. And over there… Was that a pressure plate? Haha! Yeah, this was gonna be fun, wasn’t it?

  I laughed and dashed forward, ducking, dodging, and hopping around all the traps I could sense. Some I couldn’t avoid activating of course, but they were surprisingly easy to duck and dodge around. My senses were forced to their limits, and I reacted as quickly as I could, laughing as I rolled under a flurry of darts and froze still as a large axe swung across the path, narrowly missing my neck. There were a lot of them, but these weren’t necessarily that hard to dodge. The archer had laid far worse traps. I chuckled to myself as I stepped over a particularly poorly hidden pitfall. What shoddy work… was this really the best that the dungeon had?

  I dived over a high trip wire, and then came to a stop, my senses exploding into life. There was something there… hmm… I cocked my head to the side and took in a slow deep breath, tasting the air and picking up the hard deep earth, burnt oil, flames, metal, and… something else. Something that wasn’t exactly… living. It reeked of rotten flesh, but as I perked my ears, I also could hear that same rattle of bones. There was only one… and it hadn’t noticed me yet, based on the random thumps and rattles. I’d need to act quick though, because I remember that the old man had told me that all the monsters in the dungeon had some sort of night vision.

  I smirked as I heard a shift in the rattling. I had been too slow to act and it had noticed me… right on time! I laughed and activated leap to fly forward, slashing out with my claws right as I felt it turn towards me. Based on the clacking and rattling of bones, I had expected it to be some kind of skeleton, but as my claws slashed through the air, they crashed into a hard, strong object. I heard a rumble, and then a sharp, jagged object stabbed into my side.

  I grunted and stepped back, ripping the blade out of my side. My body struggled to begin healing, but I could tell that my blood had come into contact with some toxin. I bared my teeth and snapped, catching the blade as it flashed towards me again. I growled and shook, but it didn’t even budge. Damn… well then, how about this huh? I reached into the void, and gently took hold of what I needed, activating bite and crushing down on the rusted blade. It creaked, and shook, but after a moment, I felt it crack and then shatter.

  I grinned and brought my arm around, extending my claws and slashing at the rock hard bones once more. The creature rattled and tried to step back, but the breaking of its weapon had definitely thrown it off, and it was far too slow to raise its shield arm. I reached into the void again, and snagged the place of power, activating claw and slashing my other arm through the air quickly. My claws and muscles filled with power and as they impacted the side of the beast they cut through one, two, and then three layers of bone and filled the air with the sound of cracks.

  The rotting beast collapsed, rattling and falling apart around where I had impacted it. I eyed the spot where it had fallen, and then reached down, searching for the leftover pieces of weapon. After a moment my hand closed on the shoddy handle and I lifted it up, running my finger along its edge. Hmm… I had thought that it was covered in some kind of toxin, but… it wasn’t exactly poison. Rather, it seemed to be rust and decaying blood. I wonder if it fought another monster that had wandered nearby? It must have been pretty strong, but this blade…

  I sighed and tossed it to the side. I wouldn’t be able to do anything with such a broken sword. I cocked my head as I heard a snuffling noise far to my left. Ugh, well onto the next one I guess! I grinned and whipped around, dashing forward and swiping with my claws, smashing into a mass of muscle and fur and hearing a surprised yelp.

  I sent it flying through the air, and I heard it yelp again as it slammed into the wall. I crouched and spread my arms wide, slashing down and across, cutting into two more fluffy beasts that charged at me, screeching at me. Blood flew through the air, and I bit down on another rushing beast, biting through its throat and shaking aggressively as I felt its life leave it. Damn it there were so many of them! And they just seemed to keep on coming!

  I laughed and spun, striking out at as many of them as I could, but I could feel their little voracious fangs and claws dig and bite into me every time I turned to fight another one. They bit down, tore and drew my blood as much as I was drawing their own, and I could feel that Unending Vitality was wildly struggling to keep up with the mass of new wounds. It was a lot to handle, and so much was going on, but I didn’t have a chance to relax and overthink things. I just had to fight!

  I viciously lashed out again with claw, catching another two in the side of the head and sending them whimpering back. Another one took the chance to dart forward and snap its jaws shut on my shin, and I roared in pain, activating blow and slamming my fist down into its head and hearing the crack of it on the floor. Fucking little shits… haha! Fuck it this hurts, but this… is much too fun!

  The two that I had knocked back darted forward and latched onto my arms, and with a roar of effort I spun around quickly until they were flung off, sending them flying through the air until they crashed into the walls with a sickeningly wet crunch. It was gruesome, but it only enraged the three remaining furry beasts.

  They howled and leapt forward, the sound of their snapping maws and clicking nails on the ground filling the air. I roared and charged forward, activating leap and meeting them midway, slashing, biting, and kicking them as they returned the favor. Blood and gore was sent flying in every direction, and the sounds of dying howls, growls, and roars echoed off of the tunnel walls until finally all went silent as I crushed the last one of their throats under my heel.

  I panted hard, and fell backwards, resting up against the rock wall behind me. Blood was pouring down my body, leaking out of all of the various wounds that covered me entirely, and I could feel Unending Vitality struggling to heal and fix what it could. Those little furry freaks… they had been like the death of a thousand bites! The damn skeleton had been stronger than them for sure, but it had been far easier than those beasts! Damn… and one right after the other too! That must have been what all of the decayed blood on the weapon had been. It had probably been scaring off this little swarm from its section of the dungeon, and as soon as I killed it, these little beasties had seen their opportunity to defeat the weakened opponent. They had rushed in and attacked viciously, but… they had also had a strategy, and thought process as well. They weren’t just some mindless monsters, but rather they seemed to be incredibly territorial beasts.

  I kicked one of their corpses and spat on the spot. Normally, I guess that I would collect the loot or anything that dropped in order to exchange them for money back at the guild, but… When that colorful hell had thrown me about I’d lost my fucking bag! I’d been so preoccupied with escaping that crazy thing, that I’d forgotten to pick it up or even look for it! Fuck!

  I growled and turned towards the tunnel again. I guess I couldn’t complain too much. This was just the experience of dungeon diving… Never knowing what could go wrong, and when it did, adapting to the best of your abilities and pushing on. It was exactly what that old man had wanted me to experience… I guess ever since I left him, I had been experiencing exactly what he had wanted me to… Ugh. I just needed to keep pushing until I got to that first boss or I hit a spot that I couldn’t get past without other gear, and who knows how long until I would get to that point?

  I flexed my claws and took stock of my slowly healing wounds. The ones on my arms and legs were still fixing themselves, but the stab wound from that skeleton had managed to mend itself enough so that it just hurt like a bitch. I had maybe ten or so more minutes until I was a hundred percent back to normal, but as it was I could walk and run fine. Though… if I was able to kill a couple more monsters and was able to level up, I’d be perfect in a flash…

  I chuckled to myself and got to my feet, reaching towards the void and activating sprint again. My legs filled with power and energy, and I dashed off into the dungeon, dodging over trap after trap once again, only pausing in order to dodge or duck around those that I couldn’t avoid but to set off. My spatial awareness was pushed to its limits in the dark tunnels, and I couldn’t help but begin to miss the daylight. It really was no wonder people normally would travel through the dungeon as a group with at least one or two mages that could use a light spell. And not to mention, just having the ability to disarm or get rid of any traps as a team had to also be a major bonus. Though…

  I bared my teeth as I wriggled underneath a swinging axe, hearing the subtle clicks of it swinging each way. I had forced my eyes to adjust in order to see in the dark before, but it was imperfect. It needed to have at least some source of light in order to make something out. There was definitely a way to get a night vision skill, especially considering all these monsters seemed to have it, but I could put that one on the back burner for now. After all, the old man had actually been right about how useful a skill spatial awareness was.

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  It might be really weird not being able to use my eyes, but the skill was able to cover for the loss of vision perfectly, if not better than before. I could ‘see’ everything and anything around me, smell if other monsters or beasts had been in that section of the dungeon recently, and I could tell where even the finest wires were. Hell, I was even able to tell the kind of monsters that were nearby through the smell and sound of fur, the rattle and dryness of bones, and the clinking and grinding of weapons, and even if they were covered in blood or not. It was almost as if I had a cheat code for the dungeon… but that didn’t change that sense of animosity and annoyance that thrummed off of the walls and the traps in my way. And speaking of traps…

  I heard a rustle from my left, and dove, just barely missing a blade that flashed through the air. I laughed and rolled, kicking off of my back and landing on my feet in a crouch, swinging my claws around and knicking the flesh of a beast that had been hiding around a corner of the tunnel. It howled and jumped back, leaving a gap that a goblin leapt forward into.

  The goblin screeched and whipped its club around and towards me, but I caught the club on my arm and knocked it aside. It screeched and stumbled backwards, but I charged forward and activated pierce on my claws, stabbing them up and into the throat of the goblin. It let out a gargled screech and struggled for a moment, swinging its club into my side with my side as hard as it could. It hurt, but it honestly pissed me off more than anything and the gargled screech quickly turned into a choking gurgle as I stood up and gripped its throat with my hands. I squeezed until it finally quit struggling and its club thumped to the ground, knocking against my feet.

  The beast chose that moment to leap forward and dig its teeth into my calf. I bared my teeth and roared in pain, forced to drop the goblin as I slashed my claws down at its neck. It growled and wriggled out of the way before yanking hard and forcing me to fall to my hands and knees with a thump. I shook my head and dug my claws into the ground as it growled and tugged hard, dragging me backwards. My leg was torn and ripped open, causing blood to explode out of my leg as my vision went blurry.

  I cursed at the feeling, but then my senses picked up on the spiked club and I wildly lashed out and grabbed onto it. The wolf growled and continued pulling, but I released my grip on the ground, causing it to stumble backwards from the sudden lack of resistance. It started to move aside, probably because it saw my attack coming, but it was far too late. The void within me lashed about, and power poured through my arm as hammer bash was activated, sending the club down and into the head of the small beast so hard I could feel the bone beneath it crack and explode, sending gore everywhere.

  I could feel that its body had gone limp, but I still slammed the club down two more times into the skull until it went absolutely still. I gasped for air and stumbled backwards, falling onto my back as I felt the blood pouring out of the wound on my leg. I focused my energies and Unending Vitality solely on the wound on my leg, ignoring the other mostly healed wounds that were everywhere along my body. I could feel the darkness coming to take me, but it was patient. Almost as if it was circling around me and waiting its turn… huh, how nice of it.

  I smirked and ignored that darkness for the time being, truly focusing on Unending Vitality and allowing it to heal my leg. Slowly I could feel the skin stretch and patch over the wound, and then it got to work healing all of the damaged blood vessels, torn muscles, and punctured veins and arteries.

  As my body struggled to replenish all of the blood that it had lost, I drifted in and out of consciousness, relying on my spatial awareness alone in order to tell me if a monster was approaching. A few came close, but either because it was the end of their territories or for some other reason, each of them ended up turning around before coming into sight or smell of me. I was thankful for that, and took advantage of it to its fullest, devoting all of my stamina and energy towards healing myself.

  When I finally felt all of my wounds heal, not just the vicious bite wound and stab wound, I stood up with a sigh and stretched out my senses once more. The corpses of the goblin and the small beast were still there, and as I took a closer look over the beast, I realized it was like a really small wolf. Something deep in my mind fluttered and told me it was a hyena, and as I looked it over again, that was confirmed even more so by that little morsel of remembrance.

  The two of them had dropped some loot, which seemed to be mostly useless for me, like a small bag of col, and a few claws from the hyena. Though… the club was a good enough drop as it was. After all, claw and bite were useful and deadly skills, for sure, but they lacked reach and pure maiming violence. The club would be good for now, but if I was able to find or loot a sword or blade weapon, I definitely was not going to complain.

  I sighed and went to take another step forward, stretching out my senses in front of me, but I paused next to the corpse of the goblin as I noted with surprise that its body had changed. I crouched and poked at it with my club, but with a grunt of surprise I realized that it had begun to decay. No… not just decay, but it had begun to dissolve, slowly sinking into the ground… How fucking weird.

  I shrugged and stood up again, considering the club again and sighing. Yeah… hammer smash being applicable to the club was good, and I had made a lot of good use out of it against the hyena, but it was about damn time I used a weapon. A real weapon that is. The extra reach, ability to block other strikes, and the most important part, the ability to learn more skills, and improve my swordplay. It would definitely come in handy, especially since some of these monsters seemed able to use weapons as well.

  I hummed to myself, and then suddenly my spatial awareness screamed out in danger and I spun around, swinging out with my club and clashing into another goblins club as it swung at my head. It screeched in surprise as the two smacked into each other and leapt back, waving the club over its head and screaming and stomping its feet.

  I growled and gripped my club, cracking my neck as I eyed where I could sense them. The little shit tried to sneak attack me… haha! Damn were these monsters smart… I guess I couldn’t blame it, since that was probably the best chance it was going to have at killing me, but still, it was going to die in a pretty gruesome manner. It was the spirit of the club after all.

  The goblin finished screaming, either because it was bored or for some other reason, I wasn’t sure, but it decided to wildly charge at me and aggressively attack me with a rather vicious club swing. I knocked it aside with my own club and spun around the other way with a laugh, my heart singing as I reached into the void, grasping at that same power from earlier.

  Power flooded the muscles in my arms, and I gripped the handle of the club with both hands and strained, swinging it back at the goblins neck. I had to take a step forward because it had stumbled back from the earlier strike, but halfway through the club's arc, I activated hammer bash, and smashed it into the head of the goblin so hard that it was ripped clean off, its shoulders, sending its body toppling with a half emitted screech.

  Spatial awareness went ballistic again and I jumped back as an arrow impacted the ground, just barely missing my chest. I jumped back as another arrow came flying my way and then activated sprint for a quick burst, racing up the wall as high as I could until I pushed off of the wall, activating leap and flashing through the air over another goblin that had appeared and towards the archer goblin in the back.

  It screeched, fear emanating from its small body, and turned to flee, but it was too late for that. I came down hard in front of it and spun around using as much momentum as I could to make the club fly faster, slamming it down straight onto its head, cracking it so hard that it was slammed into the ground and blood exploded from it.

  A screech came from the goblin I had leaped over, and I stepped to the side as its sword flashed straight down. I bared my teeth and reached into myself, feeling the coiled form of the void and reaching out for blow. It offered it, and I took that power and wrapped it around my foot, slamming it down on the archers head, cracking it open with a wet squelching sound.

  The sword goblin screamed and slashed its sword horizontally at me, and I jumped up in the air, easily dodging its path. The goblin stumbled off balance from the failed strike and then my feet slammed into its back, flattening it to the ground. It screeched and rolled over, wildly slashing with its sword, but I smacked it so hard with my club that it went skittering across the ground.

  The goblin realized that it was fucked and wildly tried to squirm away, but with a roar I brought the club down into its chest, denting it as a loud cracking noise filled the air. Blood and puke exploded from its mouth, coating my entire front self. I groaned and wiped it off of my face, cursing under my breath as I felt the goblin weakly try to scramble away. With another angry curse I gripped the club and brought it down with force, activating hammer smash halfway through the arc and caving its chest in entirely.

  The goblins squirming spasmed for a moment, and I watched the last of its life left it and it went still like the other two. I sighed and wiped more of the gore off of me, and made my way over to where the sword had stopped its skittering. I could tell it was just a shortsword, meant to be wielded with a shield or another blade but I didn’t care. It was the first blade that I had gained down here, and I would make use of it.

  I spun my newly acquired blade around and laughed before casually checking the remains of the other two goblins. There was some col, and a few gems like the other corpses had offered up, but as I kicked the archer over, I noticed a small pair of leather bracers.

  I chuckled and picked them up with a hum, before shrugging and putting them on, Well… I guess it was better than nothing. Hopefully I could find some better armor later, but for now this would just have to work.

  I hummed to myself and eyed the tunnel again. Now, who’s next?