Chương 15: Big Boss

CH 15 - Big Boss Jim slowly led the way into the cave as Grey followed. It stretched quite a ways and was littered with bones of different creatures. The two came upon a wider cavern; it opened up into a room with dried grass nestled in the corner. A mound of loot sat next to it. Jim waited for Grey before sneaking closer. The boss was likely sleeping. Grey guessed it was a nocturnal creature.

Jim looked as if he were preparing to launch forward in a sneak attack, but before he could move an inch further, a little red head popped up out of the nest. Shit. Jim hesitated just long enough for a much larger and angrier head to poke up out of the nest and stare daggers into the both of them. Uh oh. A giant fox with crimson eyes stared directly at Jim, projecting an aura not much weaker than Grey's own. Jim froze. He quickly activated his aura, giving him the ability to move.

Unfortunately, it was too late; the massive fox leapt across the cavern and straight into Jim. It rushed forward with impressive speed and chomped down into Jim's chest. The fox flung Jim's body across the cavern, straight into a wall. The sound of bones crunching echoed through the den as Jim collided with the stone surface. Grey could barely see him slumped over himself, bleeding profusely while the fox turned its attention to Grey. Crimson eyes flared, attempting to intimidate him with their piercing aura.

Grey's own aura flooded back in response, counteracting its effects. Pointing his sword, Grey prepared to face the beast. Jim getting knocked out of the fight so early was bad news for him, and so he prepared himself for the worst. The fox was the size of a horse. It had two tails and flame-colored orange fur. Its build was more impressive than anything Grey had faced yet. It took the initiative and jumped at Grey, swiping its long, sharp claws at his torso.

Grey activated (Boost) and jumped backward, dodging most of the attack. The fox's claws scraped his chest, causing trickles of blood to drip down his shirt. I don't have enough END to face these attacks… The claws were sharp enough to pierce his enchanted shirt and thick skin, and he had only been grazed. Without overthinking, Grey activated (Shapeshifting) to conjure a layer of snake scales over his body. It covered most of his exposed skin except his face and shone in the dim light of Jim's distant glowstone.

[New skill: Scale Armor (F): Reduces energy cost to summon snake scale armor across your body.] Grey couldn't pay attention to the notification he had received in his head; he didn't have time to. Activating boost at 120%, he leaped towards the fox, arcing his sword overhead. Orange fur covering the fox lit up with a faint glow. The hair floated around the body of the fox and swayed gently. The glow increased in brightness before the beast shifted, placing itself between Grey and the smaller fox in the nest.

Its lips curled into a snarl, and a deep growl made clear its intentions. She must be desperate to protect her baby. Grey considered using this to his advantage, but something about it didn't feel right; especially since he knew animals could have increased intelligence like Raccy. Grey charged ahead, slicing wildly at the fox. Worry about Jim made him desperate to end the fight quickly. Vicious claws struck back at him in response. Grey's sword dug into the fox's front left leg as he received a blow to his arm.

His new scale armor protected him as much as it could, but a spray of blood and scales exploded as he was knocked airborne. Grey twisted his body to land on his feet and began repairing his arm with his ability. That fox must be using its own boosting ability. I wonder if its mana reserves are bigger than mine? He didn't want to limit-test himself here while Jim was possibly bleeding out in the corner. He readied himself to end this fight as soon as he could to save his buddy.

Another fierce exchange of blows came together. Grey cut the fox, but his weapon didn't dig in deep enough. He had picked up the sword in the city, but it wasn't suited for fighting a higher-level enemy like this. I wish I had a stronger weapon. Something I could use Boost on. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. His new mana channels let him push mana outside himself, but a loose blade would still be a foreign object. He came up with a plan.

Grey used (bone manipulation) and grew a long, thin katana-shaped bone from his hip. He grew the bone to be the shape of a sword and sharpened the blade as much as he could. Grabbing the sword at his hip, he detached it from his skeletal system and infused mana into it. [New skill: Bone Blade (F): Grow a blade of bone from your body. Allows the growth of bladed weapons from bones for a reduced energy cost.] Channelling mana into a foreign object was slow and wasteful, but since the bone was a part of him, his mana flowed through it smoothly. (Boost) was designed to inject mana into his muscles; it wasn't compatible with bones. But Grey remembered how he used mana to strengthen his organs and used this same technique to harden the blade. [New skill: Bone Hardening (F): Inject mana into your bones to harden them. Mana will act as a shield to absorb impact until all mana is depleted.] Grey took note of his new ability and skill before focusing all of his attention on the foe ahead. With only about half of his mana left, he didn't have enough to harden the rest of his bones. Grey narrowed his eyes and pushed Boost to 150%. He lunged forward, swinging his katana with renewed vigor. The mutated animal traded blows again, not expecting this newfound strength. Grey saw the fox aiming for his injured arm. He hardened it, bracing for impact. The fox's strike landed, slashing his arm open.

Without (Shapshifting), Grey would have bled out of the fight already. His ability was rapidly closing his open wounds as he fought, keeping him in the fight. The beast's eyes widened as Grey's charge wasn't slowed by the hit. Grey's bone katana came down diagonally across the fox's head, ending Big Boss's tyranny in one decisive strike. [Demon fox (E) slain: lvl 10: +15 exp] [New Quest: Alpha Dominator]: Defeat 5 alpha beasts.

Progress (1/5) –- Jim was slumped against the wall of the cave, his chest bandaged and bloody. A few empty glass bottles sat around him as he meditated, circulating Qi to maximize the effects of the healing potions. Raccy was poking around the mound of loot with a cheesy grin on his face. Grey noticed him happily chattering with the tiny cub.

"Thanks for saving my life," Jim groaned.

"Just worry about healing up." Jim hadn't expected to meet a beast with a stronger aura than himself. The strongest enemy he had faced thus far was level 8. Level 10 was quite a large jump. Raccy poked around the loot pile, occasionally eating something sneakily.

"Raccy, save anything with mana for me." Grey told him. Raccy was mostly excited about the snacks without mana, considering he lacked a mana stomach. His only abilities were his increased intelligence and bipedal form. Grey figured that maybe he had some thieving or stealth abilities, but nothing too crazy.

"There's not too much good stuff like that. One of these pouches has some stuff that tasted gross. That might be what you want." Grey let Raccy have fun with the loot pile while he watched over Jim and consolidated his new levels and abilities. Grey popped a few free stat points into INT to get it to 30 for some benefits from his 10% bonus, and the rest into Mana.

Name: Grey Falsen Level: 11 [5/20] Race: Magic Human (E) Class: n/a Abilities: Shapeshifting (F), Bone Manipulation (E), Blood Manipulation (E), Mana Manipulation (F) (Passive): Mana Stomach (E), Mana Heart (E) Skills: Predator's Stare (F), Sense Mana (F), Boost (E), Bone Blade (F), Scale Armor (F), Bone Hardening (F) Stats (before bonuses): STR: 18 DEX: 15 END: 21 WIS: 25 INT: 30 LUCK: 11 MANA: 16 Bonuses: WIS: +10% INT +10% Titles: Noticed, Beginnings of Aura, Manaborn Grey felt good about his INT and WIS.

He had enough now to use his shapeshifting ability in battle. Being able to confidently shapeshift while under attack was a major accomplishment for him. He figured he could use some more STR and DEX, so that his attacks would hit harder. He made a mental note to try to evolve a stronger and faster body with his new (bone manipulation) ability. Grey brought his attention to the quest notification. He thought it was neat that the quest system kept working out here in the wild.

[Quest: Alpha Dominator]: Defeat 5 alpha beasts. Progress (1/5) I guess there are hidden triggers to quests. Grey wouldn't go out of his way to complete this quest. He needed to focus on his primary goal: finding his family. Although, if he could take down some alphas to gain strength for his journey, he would welcome the opportunity. After about an hour, Jim had mostly healed using his Qi and potions. They gathered up with Raccy and the fox cub.

"He's still kind of scared, but she doesn't resent you for killing his mom," Raccy said with a straight face.

"What? Shouldn't she?"

"She's sad and scared that you killed his mom, but ultimately it just means that you guys are stronger, and the cub wants to follow you around now. This species of demon fox doesn't really have familial bonds like normal foxes do."

"YAAH," the cub squeaked, looking as adorable as ever.

"Well, we can't just leave it here. We did just kill and rob its mom. The least we could do is take care of her," Jim said.

"YAAH!" the fox squeaked again.

"I'll take care of her!" Jim declared. I think Jim just wants a pet… The fox sat there looking up at Jim and Grey with big, crimson, teary eyes. It had two tails and fur bright as flames. Jim held up the little fuzzy creature and scratched its ears.

"You're so cute. Aren't you? I'm gonna name you… Red." A depressed loser, a crazy boxing nerd, a greasy bipedal raccoon, and now a baby demon fox. Their group was slowly turning more and more bizarre. Grey couldn't help but be happy, though. He hadn't had many friends before the world ended. The loot pile was full of basic supplies and rations that Grey had little use for. The weapons and armor were all pretty basic items that were bought at Prometheus City.

Grey found some magical herbs that he stashed, as well as some cultivation techniques and pills that Jim swiped up. They also found a nice supply of inventory pouches they shoved into a few hiking backpacks. Raccy looked ridiculous with an oversized backpack on, but it was his idea to hoard a bunch of junk. The group shared a meal and left the cave. Without the alpha there, the woods were safe. When they reached the other end of the woods, Red crawled into Jim's backpack and fell right asleep.

Those two bonded fast.