"Fine. You want a meal? Come and get it!" he roared in his mind, his optimism not a naive hope, but a savage joy in the face of annihilation. "Let's see how many of you I can take with me! Let's see how much EXP you're worth!"
He didn't wait for them to close the circle. He launched himself forward, a black comet of scales and fury. Weasel's Sprint and a powerful beat of his wings turned him into a blur.
He slammed into the first cluster of Terrors, his body a battering ram. He used Constrict not to hold, but to crush, feeling satisfying pops of chitin under his coils. A pincer scraped against his side, but his Scale Fortification (Lvl 4) held, the pain a distant echo.
[ Health: 58/70 ]
"Is that all?!" he mentally taunted, whipping his body around. Mantis Slash! An invisible scythe of energy cleaved through three spiders at once, their legs skittering in different directions. Ichor, thick and acrid, sprayed the walls.
He used Gecko's Grip to run along the ceiling, dropping Crystal Shard Shots into the mass below. He was a blender, a thresher, fighting with a desperate, beautiful, and utterly reckless abandon. He took hits. A barbed leg pierced his tail. Another gashed his flank. The health notifications were a constant, flashing counter in his vision.
[ Health: 42/70 ]
[ Health: 35/70 ]
But with every injury, a new notification flared, a burst of euphoric light in the darkness.
[ Defeated: Skittering Terror (Lvl 14) ]
[ EP Gained: 15 ]
[ EP to Next Level: 18/65 ]
[ Defeated: Skittering Terror (Lvl 14) x2 ]
[ EP Gained: 30 ]
[ EP to Next Level: 48/65 ]
"Yes! More! Give me more!" He was laughing inside, a wild, unhinged sound. The pain was nothing. The fear was gone. There was only the dance of death and the glorious, rising tide of power.
He saw a Terror about to pounce on the cowering horned kitten. With a final, draining burst of Weasel's Sprint, he interposed himself, taking the full force of the pounce on his already-injured back. The impact drove the air from his lungs, but he twisted and sank his fangs into the thing's face, his Paralytic Neurotoxin acting instantly.
[ Health: 22/70 ]
[ Defeated: Skittering Terror (Lvl 14) ]
[ EP Gained: 15 ]
[ EP to Next Level: 63/65 ]
He was on his last legs, his body a tapestry of pain. The horde seemed endless. But he had carved a bloody circle around himself and the kitten.
And then, the sweetest sound.
[ Ding! Level Up! ]
[ You are now Level 13! ]
[ EP to Next Level: 0/70 ]
[ Skill Point: +1 ]
[ Total Evolution Points: 246/1000 ]
A wave of rejuvenating energy crashed through him. His wounds knit shut. His bruises faded. His stamina and mana reservoirs refilled to bursting. The fatigue vanished, replaced by a fresh, vibrant power. He was bigger, and stronger than ever.
"ROUND TWO, YOU BASTARD!"
He didn't even allocate the Skill Point. He didn't need to. The raw stat boost from the level-up was enough. He surged forward again, his movements sharper, his strikes more powerful. He was a renewed storm, clearing the remaining Terrors with brutal efficiency.
When the last one fell, the tunnel was a charnel house of twitching legs and pooling ichor. He stood panting in the center, his scales slick with alien blood, his body thrumming with power and the aftermath of adrenaline.
He turned. The little horned creature was still there, unmoving. It looked up at him, its amber eyes wide, not with fear now, but with something else... awe?
A notification popped up, different from the others.
[ Voidspawn Cub (Juvenile) has bonded with you. ]
[ Acknowledging temporary companionship pact. ]
"Voidspawn?" Adam thought, the name ringing with ominous power. This was no ordinary kitten.
He had gone into the fight expecting to die. Instead, he had leveled up, gained a mysterious companion, and proven to himself that even his terrible luck could be overcome with sheer, unadulterated violence.
He looked at the carnage around him and then at the small, black cub now cautiously approaching and nudging his injured tail with its horned head.
A slow, genuine grin spread across his face. This deep dark was still a nightmare. But for the first time, he had carved out a little piece of it that was his.
"Alright, little guy," he thought, the optimism back, now tempered with hardened steel. "Let's get out of this stinking nest. We've got a whole deep, dark world to survive."
The little Voidspawn Cub, whom Adam mentally nicknamed "Noodle" for the way it wove insistently between his coils, was proving to be the most bizarre and clingy companion imaginable.
It followed him like a tiny, horned shadow, its amber eyes fixed on him with an unnerving mixture of adoration and ownership. If he moved too fast, it would let out a panicked chirrup and scamper to catch up, latching onto the tip of his tail with its tiny claws.
"Okay, Noodle. Personal space is a concept, you know?" Adam thought, though he had to admit the company was... nice. It was a flicker of warmth in the oppressive cold of the deep dark.
The real shock came when Adam, after a successful hunt against a lone, crystal-veined lizard, tried to drag the carcass back to his lair. Noodle had trotted up, sniffed the lizard, and then, with a casual flick of its horn, the entire 100-pound carcass vanished.
"What the—?!" Adam's head snapped around. Noodle just looked up at him and let out a soft "mrrp?" as if asking what the big deal was.
A new notification appeared.
[ Voidspawn Cub has stored: Crystal-Vein Lizard Carcass in Void Locker. ]
[ Void Locker Capacity: 1/10 Slots Used. ]
Adam stared. A personal, extradimensional inventory. This changed everything. No more leaving valuable kills behind. No more struggling to haul resources. This was a game-changer on a level he hadn't even dreamed of.
"A kitting in a dungeon with a void storage space... you're definitely not normal, are you, Noodle?" he mused, a wild theory forming in his mind. "A lost child of the dungeon boss? Maybe. But for now, you're my lucky charm. And I know exactly how to use this."
His goal shifted instantly. He was going treasure hunting. His Hunter's Sense was excellent for finding monsters, but plants, especially those with concealed magical auras, were trickier. But Noodle... Noodle seemed to have an innate sense for strange energies.
"Alright, partner," he thought, focusing his intent on the little cub. "Let's find the good stuff. The shiny plants. The ones that make us stronger."
He wasn't sure if Noodle understood the words, but it seemed to grasp the intent. Its ears perked up, and it began sniffing the air with renewed purpose, its horn glowing faintly. It trotted off down a side tunnel Adam would have ignored, and he followed.
Their first find was a cluster of Shadow-Root Tubers growing in a patch of pure darkness where no light had ever reached. Noodle pointed with its horn, and Adam dug them up. They tasted of damp earth and potent shadow, granting a permanent +1 to Agility.
[ Shadow-Root Tuber consumed. Agility: 22 -> 23 ]
Next, Noodle led him to a geothermal vent, not to hunt the resident salamanders, but to a patch of Ember-Moss growing on the superheated rocks. Consuming it burned his throat but completed his Heat Resistance fragment into a full skill and boosted his Vitality.
[ Heat Resistance (Lvl 1) Acquired! ]
[ Vitality: 19 -> 20 ]
They were a perfect team. Adam provided the muscle and protection, clearing out any minor threats with swift, brutal efficiency. Noodle was the dowsing rod, leading them unerringly to hidden caches of botanical power. Adam stored everything in Noodle's void locker, a growing hoard of alchemical treasures.
"This is it!" Adam thought, elation surging through him as he consumed a Glimmer-Cap Mushroom that boosted his Intelligence. "This is how I bridge the gap! I don't need to risk my life against impossible monsters every time."
The 1000 EP for his next evolution still seemed a distant mountain, but with Noodle's help, he was finding shortcuts up its slopes.