A Monster Who Levels Up

(TL: This is one of the sponsored chapters I wanted to release on last week Sunday. Hey, better late than never, right?)

(TL: This chapter is here thanks to these generous donors: Gerald C, Keneth P, Donevin T, Mario R, Erik A, Maxwell G, Dale B, Timothy W, Karlis A, Jan B, Stephen M, Donald B, Robert R, Martin G, David R, Daniel T, Dennis D, and Philipp G. Thank you for your support.)

[The Ebony Wolf Form has now changed to: Lycanthrope Form.] [All Stats rise drastically after the Human Form and the Lycanthrope Form merge.] [A special Trait of the Lycanthrope, where it grows stronger the longer it is exposed to the moonlight, now applies.] [When in the appearance of ’Wolf’, the blood flow within the body will increase.] [Proficiency for all existing Skills related to the ’Wolf’ will rise up by a single Level.] [A Passive Status Constraint, the ’Unresolved Knot’ has been acquired.]

- After failing to suppress the wild instincts of the Lycanthrope, the host must assume the appearance of the ’Lycan (Wolf)’ for (570) minutes every day, determined by the value of the Stat: Energy Manipulation.

- Until the conditions: (?????), are fulfilled, certain abilities of the Lycanthrope will be locked and unavailable.

[A new Passive Skill: ’Moonlight Skin’, has been acquired.] [Proficiency Level: F]

- The skin of the Lycanthrope is on a different level compared to an ordinary wolf. Possessing higher resistance towards physical and magical attacks, and able to freely change its property, the host can reflect light in a certain way to hide his body. However, this part of the skill can not be utilised while in a human’s appearance.

[A new Active Skill: ’Eyes of the Wild’, has been acquired.] [Proficiency Level: F]

- Eyes that can decipher the enemy’s weakness. But now, with the eyes of the Lycanthrope, the Skill can cause effects of a ’curse’, which can reveal the previously-undetected weakness of the enemy by spending Mana. However, in the appearance of the human, the Skill Level will be lowered by one.]

[A new Active Skill: ’Expansion’, has been acquired.] [Proficiency Level: F]

- The host can increase the overall size of the wolf’s appearance, depending on the Skill Level.

[A new Active Skill: ’Claw Chain’, has been acquired.] [Proficiency Level: F]

- Strikes from the host’s claws will change directions according to the his will and kill the target. However, in the appearance of the human, the Skill Level will be lowered by one.

[A new Passive Skill:...]

Sae-Jin’s view was completely filled up with all these letters. There wasn’t enough time to read every single one of them, but since he was sure of his strength increasing, he rapidly changed into the Lycanthrope.

Almost in an instant, silver fur began sprouting out of his body; the Orc had vanished and in its place, a humanoid wolf stood there instead.

Possessing fur and skin that seemed to have absorbed the pure moonlight, the Lycanthrope.

A being that should not have existed in this world - an extinct creature of legends and myths.

At this sudden entrance of a Lycanthrope, all the Vampires fell into a state of panic.

"...??"

Even the Death Knight paused its actions briefly at this sudden turn of events. Its action came from the Undead possessing some consciousness, but that proved to be its biggest mistake. The ’Wolf’ took this opening and kicked the ground, heading directly towards the Vampires.

It raised a tremendous sonic boom in its wake, which even forced the Death Knight to stumble on its feet. Arriving before the group of Vampires in a flash, the ’Wolf’ swung its lengthy claw. The five arcs of horrifying slashes drawing in the air descended down and ripped a Vampire’s chest wide open - and then, they snaked around before cutting down the second, and the third Vampire down.

And so, when the

fourth Vampire got ruthlessly cut down-

The Death Knight quickly arrived, collided with claws of the ’Wolf’ and blocked his advance.

Unfortunately for the Undead, the ’Wolf’ found its sword swings incredibly slow.

He tilted his body slightly to the side to avoid the sword slash, and resumed moving towards another Vampire. The bastard tried to hurriedly erect a magic shield of some sort, but under the barrage of claws, such magic was simply too inadequate.

*SFX for blood raining down*

The terrifying claws of the ’Wolf’ easily passed through the shield and left a fatal wound on the Vampire’s chest.

"..."

And the bastard dropped dead, unable to even make a single cry.

All of this happened within the span of five seconds. The Lycanthrope had reaped the lives of five Vampires in the blink of an eye while not even leaving behind an afterimage.

The remaining Vampires got deeply frightened by the sight of the Lycanthrope, their race’s sworn enemy which they had never seen before until now, and tried to escape. Too bad, the isolation barrier they had set up earlier came back to bite them in the rear.

"Sir!! P, please, undo the barrier!!"

It was the moment when these Vampire bastards grandly fell into a trap they themselves had meticulously set up.

"Kkheuaaark!!!"

At the same time, a deep scarlet-coloured flame erupted from the side of the isolation barrier, accompanied by a pitiful scream.

Hazeline seized the opening created when the strength of the barrier weakened due to the deaths of the Vampires, and launched a spell, ’Hellfire’, which resulted in the death of yet another bloodsucker.

"This damnable...!!"

In the end, the Apostle deactivated the barrier and tried to run.

< < 24. <<<<

Of course, Sae-Jin the Lycanthrope would not accept that.

Kwajeek!!

The moonlight-coloured wolf easily avoided the sword swings of the Death Knight with some deft evasive manoeuvres, approached next to the Apostle, and then, thrust his fangs towards the neck of the Vampire.

"...Sh*t!!"

The Apostle didn’t lose his composure even while being under the attack of the wolf and fired off a beam of lightning towards Sae-Jin’s opened maw, but the wolf lightly twisted his body. Instead of hitting the wide open mouth, the beam hit the shoulder - however, the Wolf’s ’Moonlight Skin’ could negate such a pitiful attack performed in a hurry with ease.

Ignoring the ineffective attack, the ’Wolf’ successfully ripped the Apostle’s neck to shreds. With his neck bone twisted around unnaturally, the Apostle died in that instant, his body going limp.

The isolation barrier completely broke apart as soon as one of the two Apostles supporting it was killed off.

All that now remained were two Vampires and a Death Knight.

The ’Wolf’ glanced at the remaining Vampires with its crimson eyes and licked its lips.

"T, this crazy, f***ing thing..."

They tried to invoke the Vampire’s trademark reverse summoning magic to escape from this place.

However, the Lycanthrope’s claws could not only render any magic ineffective, those could also cut away the flow of Mana as well.

The ’Wolf’ slashed out towards the vivid strands of deep red Mana with his claws. In a blink of an eye, the Mana that was about to spirit away the remaining Vampires dissipated, and Hazeline fired off a huge Mana Spear towards the panicking bloodsucker.

The Apostle managed to slap away the Spear using one of those tentacles, but...

"...Oh. Sh*t."

...But, the brightly-burning Spear had divided into dozens, hundreds and covered up the entire night sky.

Following the Apostle’s will, the Death Knight quickly change its target towards Hazeline, but it was blocked by Sae-Jin in his ’Wolf’ form.

And then - hundreds of Mana Spears pierced into the remaining three enemies.

Ttukwahng!!!

A destructive explosion rang out.

A Wizard highly proficient in casting magic can accurately assign the target that would bear all of the damage from the spell. That was how, Hazeline could turn the two Vampires to ash without damaging the road or the surroundings.

The last one remaining was the Death Knight.

<<<<

Clang—!!

When the Death Knight’s sword and Sae-Jin’s claws clashed, a cold metallic sound resounded out alongside bright sparks that flew into the air.

"...Oh my. What is this? You’re still alive? Mister Sae-Jin, please take of that knight for me." (Hazeline)

Hazeline was about to help Sae-Jin out, before she changed the direction of her gaze towards the Apostle who somehow managed to hold onto his life. It seemed that he had deployed a magic barrier or shield to its absolute maximum and was able to withstand the frightening explosion of Mana Spears, even if it was only by a little bit.

Staring back at the bloodied and mortally injured Apostle who was looking at her with hate-filled eyes, Hazeline began forming a chilling smile. It was as if she had found a nice little toy for herself.

"...Got it." (Sae-Jin)

After making a simple reply, Sae-Jin activated the new Skill, ’Eyes of the Wild’ and glared at the Death Knight. Then, the whole world seemed to slow down to a crawl; the view became black and white, except for the small area near the right chest of the Death Knight which was dyed in red. He knew instinctively - that was this Undead’s weak point.

Kwaaaahang!!

The Death Knight slashed down with its great sword. As soon as Sae-Jin took a few steps back to evade it, the place he was standing on just now became destroyed and sunk to the ground by that powerful attack.

’Looks like he was a pretty famous Knight back when...’ (Sae-Jin)

Sae-Jin licked his lips. This Undead was proving to be a formidable foe. Even if he had located its weak spot, this thing’s swordsmanship left no gap to exploit.

[Your Proficiency Level is too low!!]

And even though he tried to enlarge the weak spot, as his Skill Level was just too low, he could not affect the body of the Death Knight at all.

’If that’s the case...’

He shifted his focus to the great sword swung towards his way. The weapon reflected within the Eyes of the Wild showed no weakness and was jet-black throughout.

However, at the very spot his eyes were focused on, right in the middle of the blade itself, a reddish blot began to form there.

With a wicked smile on his lips, Sae-Jin dodged the swinging sword and then, attacked the middle of the weapon with his claws.

*SFX for something splitting apart*

As per his expectations, a crack developed on the blade. The Death Knight stumbled back in confusion.

But the ’Wolf’ knew no mercy.

He stepped forward explosively, and slashed out at the Death Knight’s sword once more.

<<<<

And so, it turned out that, without the sword, this Undead Knight was nothing more than a pretty mediocre fist fighter.

*

"...Mister Sae-Jin?"

After the battle had ended.

Hazeline cautiously called out to Sae-Jin who was busy rummaging through the dead bodies to procure the loot (?). But instead of a human’s face, a Wolf stared back at her. Under the clear moonlight, his fur was shining but his breath was somewhat ragged and heavy.

"Are you surprised?"

The ’Wolf’ quietly asked. Hazeline lightly shook her head and slowly approached him. And then...

".........What are you doing?" (Sae-Jin)

...She began tickling him around his neck area as one would a young puppy.

>> >>

"Oh. Well, uh, your fur looked so beautiful, so... Wow, but why is your fur so shiny and smooth? It’s like touching silk..."

Hazeline was definitely not shocked or frightened by his appearance. Feeling relieved by this development, Sae-Jin stared at the Elf woman who was deeply absorbed in stroking his fur, before his eyes slowly closed shut. And...

"Huh? H, hey!! Eu-ark!"

He then fell on top of Hazeline, totally unconscious.

That was the aftereffect of using ’Warrior of Reversal’ three times - twice as the Orc, and once as the Lycanthrope.

*

Kim Sae-Jin opened his eyes. His eyesight was incomparably clear and the world was filled with vibrant colours. He figured that his Eyes of the Wolf was active currently. Although he wanted to stay still like this, there was this ticklish sensation coming from his side.

So, when he turned his neck to see why, he caught the sight of Hazeline, her lips tightly shut and protruding slightly, still unnecessarily absorbed in brushing his fur.

"..."

Dumbfounded, Sae-Jin stared at her for a while. Even then, she repeated the cycle of brushing his fur, toyed around with it, and grabbing a handful of it - until finally, she realised he was looking at her.

"Heh..." (Hazeline)

Avoiding meeting his gaze out of embarrassment, she scratched the back of her neck.

"What are you doing?" (Sae-Jin)

"...Weeeell, your fur is so smooth and supple and soft, so... it feels really nice to the touch, you know? It improves my mood so much when I’m touching it. It’s kinda like... popping a bubble wrap?"

"........" (Sae-Jin)

Sae-Jin narrowed his eyes and lightly flung his tail to slap her cheek. It was nothing much, but unfortunately, it seemed that in his current ’Wolf’ form, the attack power was twice as strong than normal.

"Kkyahk!!" (Hazeline)

After that was dealt with, Sae-Jin reverted back to his human appearance and searched for a mirror. This place was quite foreign to him, though. Was it Hazeline’s home, he wondered.

"Fuu-woo..."

Finding a full-length mirror, Sae-Jin stood at a weird angle next to it and began breathing in deeply. He muttered out, "Please, please, please..."

"It’s the same. You haven’t changed." (Hazeline)

From his back, he heard Hazeline’s spoiler. He got surprised by that revelation and turned to look at her, before taking a proper good look at himself as reflected by the mirror.

Thankfully, there hadn’t been any noticeable changes, if he disregarded the profile of his nose which had risen up a bit.

"Whew.... What a relief."

Sae-Jin smiled thickly, and lightly slapped both of his cheeks.

"I guess people might wonder if I had some work done on my face or something." (Sae-Jin)

As he began to speak in jest, Hazeline walked and stood next to him.

The reflection of her showed just how incredibly beautiful she was. He just could not find any blemishes on her facial features whatsoever, even with the much-improved eyesight of the Lycanthrope.

"Heheh. I think so too. After all, you have become even more handsome than before." (Hazeline)

With her eyes arching into crescent moon shape, she studied Sae-Jin’s reflection in the mirror. And then, she began lightly stroking his shoulders and whispered softly.

"...I’m really, really thankful for your help yesterday. Without Mister Sae-Jin there, I’d probably have died then."

It was a simple, and somewhat short words of gratitude from her. However, his heart beat harder the moment he sensed how sincere she was from those words.

"...Miss Hazeline, you’re taller than I thought."

That’s why he quickly changed the topic.

Hazeline always wore a lengthy robe that covered pretty much everything from the top of her head right down to her heels, so seeing her in regular casual wear, he couldn’t help but appreciate her perfectly balanced figure.

< >>>> >

"...Well, Elves are... we’re mostly like that. The average height of female Elves are around 170, so I’m just slightly taller than the rest, is all."

Hazeline blushed slightly and retreated away from Sae-Jin.

"If that is all, I shall be heading off to work now. Oh, and I’ll keep Mister Sae-Jin’s Trait as a secret between us, so you don’t have to worry."

"Thank you very much."

She picked up the large robe discarded on the couch and put it on, then left her home looking exactly like as he’d known her until now. But before she left...

"Ah, right. Mister Sae-Jin, I’m really sorry. Because of me, you had to go through that ordeal.... To think those Mafiosi would resort to learning black magic...."

However, it seemed that her misunderstanding had not been resolved yet until now.

< 25. Intensification (3) > Fin.

(TL: Okay, with this chapter, now only three remains in the queue.)