Shapeshifter

Chapter 16: Undead Horde

It didn't take long for Xen and Gerald to stumble upon a legion of skeletons mindlessly marching through the sprawling dungeon. The sound of their bare-bone feet scraping on stone as they moved was a dead giveaway before they had even turned the corner.

"Never seen such a big group before," Gerald mused as he poked his head around and squinted in the darkness. "Gotta be at least ten of them."

Skeletons were among the weakest mob types, at least at low levels—especially to magic. Xen had seen some newbie Hunters lose to a group of skeletons before, but that was because they tried to fight them with daggers or sometimes swords. Meanwhile, he'd seen the weakest-looking spells easily tear through the skeletons.

"You stay back; I'll reduce their numbers first." Xen wandered into the tunnel and faced down the incoming horde. They all noticed him simultaneously and awkwardly turned to face him with blank ivory faces illuminated by their hollow eyes containing a flickering blue flame. As they were born from the dungeon's mana, they were all of similar height, as if they were copies of each other. Though some held beaten-up shields or dented swords.

I always wondered if they got those weapons from dead Hunters or if the dungeon creates them out of mana. Either way, there's something I've always wanted to do, but I'm not sure if my magic will be good enough to replicate what I saw the other Hunters do. It is F-grade, after all.

"I guess there is only one way to find out, Holy Smite," Xen said, mana surged to his hand. He aimed his finger at the frontmost skeleton, and the tunnel lit up with a flash of golden light. The Holy Smite arced through the air like unrestrained lightning and obliterated a skeleton warrior. Shards of bone went flying, as did the rotting excuse of a shield it had been holding.

As it turned out, Holy Smite was lethal to the undead, even at F-grade. Grinning as more golden mana crackled between his fingers, Xen hurled it at another undead, producing an equally satisfying explosion.

"Ugh, my head," Xen staggered on his feet as he nursed his pounding headache.

"Stop throwing Holy Smites at them then," Gerald said dryly.

"But it's so fun," Xen said, feeling disheartened. Something about obliterating a skeleton warrior with a single move made him feel powerful. Unfortunately, life reminded him of his mortality by bashing him on the head with the mother of all headaches.

"If I didn't know better, I would think you were drunk," Gerald steadied Xen by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Wait, can monsters even get drunk?"

"What's drunk?" Xen slurred. He felt like his slime body was about to melt out his nose and ears. If he could sit down and go to sleep, he would.

"Humans like to poison themselves to the point of being unable to stand," Gerald chuckled, "When I say it out loud like that, it sounds rather stupid."

"That's because humans are stupid." Xen felt smug. "Mind Slimes are smarter."

Gerald raised a brow, "Those purple slimes? I heard they have an even higher fatality rate than these mindless skeletons," he laughed, "I think I have killed more by accidentally stepping on them than actively seeking them out. Sometimes I don't even notice them dying as they are all level one and provide shit all for experience. 'Smart slimes' my ass. If they are so smart, why are none of them past level one?"

Xen didn't reply, but little did Gerald know, he had just marked himself for death. Nobody spoke ill of mind slimes intellect and got away with it. It's a shame he doesn't have the mana regeneration skill, but that Magic Missile or shield skill will be tasty. Xen licked his lips. Now, he just had to find the perfect moment to strike.

"I do wish I wasn't out of mana," Gerald clicked his tongue as the skeletons continued slowly approaching them, "dealing with these guys with physical attacks is a real pain."

"How do you get mana back anyway?" Xen had never spent all of his mana before, so he was unsure how to recover it. Devouring enemies didn't seem to fix the issue either.

"Numerous ways," Gerald said as they both slowly backed up from the approaching horde, "Just like exhausting your muscles, resting is the only way most recover their mana. Sleep is known to have the fastest recovery time, while just sitting around and watching television is a bit less effective. Other methods include having the [Mana Regeneration] skill, which lets you stimulate the recovery rate you would have while asleep during combat. There are also mana potions sold by the Ether Technocrats, which are like energy drinks but even worse for you. They do the trick, though, or so I have heard."

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Xen narrowed his eyes, "If you are a mage without Mana Regeneration, why don't you have these mana potions in your bag?"

Gerald blinked, "Because they are expensive? I can either pay rent or buy a six-pack of mana potions. Only one of those options keeps me off the streets."

Xen was baffled. "You would have died if not for me saving you. You didn't even have the mana to fend off a few wolves."

"No, I wouldn't have even been at risk of dying if you hadn't broken our formation and brought wolves in behind us." Gerald scoffed, "It was supposed to be a simple dungeon dive in a beginner dungeon. Buying mana potions for such a trip would have been silly. Nothing I can harvest here would be valuable enough to pay for them."

Xen didn't really get it. "Why don't you just take the mana potions?"

"What? Like, rob the Ether Technocrats?" Gerald stared at him, "Are you crazy? Forget prison; the guilds sit above the governments. I would be hunted down and killed if I tried to rob them."

Xen shrugged. If he wanted something, he would just take it, and if they dared to hunt him down, he would make them regret it. Or at least I will when I am stronger. For now, I must devour and evolve. Oh... and somehow get rid of this headache.

"The only other way to restore mana is to level up," Gerald steered the conversation back to the original topic. "But really, you need multiple level-ups to fully recover."

"Level ups..." Xen pulled up his status screen.

[Name: Xen]

[Level: 7 (E)]

[Race: Mind Slime (Rare Variant)]

[Current Form: Human Male (Level 4)]

[Biomass: 184]

These skeletons are too low-level to give me enough experience to level up multiple times in either my slime or human form. But if I gained an undead form, I could level that up a few times quickly.

His eyes flickered to his stats.

[Class: Shapeshifter (Unique)]

[Strength: 7 (+20)]

[Vitality: 7 (+8)]

[Agility: 7 (+12)]

[Resistance: 7 (+8)]

[Magic: 7 (+24)]

"These should be high enough stats to fight them physically," Xen muttered, dismissing the screens and balling his hand into a fist.

"Wait, what are you planning to do?" Gerald sounded concerned. "You aren't going to try to punch them, are you?"

"Sure I am," Xen said, stepping forward and using some biomass to harden the skin and bones of his fists.

"That's really not going to work," Gerald insisted.

"Neither of us has any magic left, so I don't see another solution." Xen also didn't mention that his level 7 slime form was giving him a boost in every stat, so he was actually stronger than a typical level 5 human.

Gerald continued backing up, "You can try, but I promise it won't end well."

Xen decided to ignore the dumb human's advice and strode up to the skeleton at the front of the approaching horde. The skeletons moved at around half the speed of a person, with very obvious movements. The leader skeleton awkwardly raised its sword over its head and struck down. Xen stepped to the side, letting the sword's weight carry the skeleton forward into his fist, which he rammed right into its ribcage.

The skeleton felt oddly light as it flew back, crashing into many of the skeletons behind it and sending them all tumbling to the ground.

Xen looked at his fist in confusion. He had expected to pulverize the skeleton into dust, yet the skeleton that had been sent flying seemed to have only taken some damage to its ribcage as a few bones were missing.

"How did it do that?" Xen asked Gerald in disbelief.

"The Undead, as a mob type, have many passive skills. One is [Undead Resilience], which gives them high resistance to physical attacks such as slashing or piercing due to lacking flesh. The skill also hardens their bones and makes them more resistant to brute attacks like punching." Gerald explained, "Of course, it's only resistance, so you can overcome it with enough stats."

"I see," Xen frowned, "What other passive skills do they have?"

"Errr," Gerald rubbed his head, "As a mage, I never really cared to study the undead as magic is super effective against them. But I think they have Darkvision and other resistant skills to poison and mental attacks."

Xen licked his lips. To think such weak mobs would have such useful skills for me to learn. But first, I must find a way to kill them. Punching them as a human is going to take forever. Since I am out of mana, I need a more adept body at physical fights.

"Gerald, hold them back," Xen said as he turned and dashed down the tunnel. He still wasn't used to two legs, so it was more of a crazed stumble than an elegant dash, but that was beside the point.

"Uh? What?" Gerald shouted as he hesitantly raised his fists and stood before the regathering undead horde.

Xen rounded the corner and brought up his system.

[Do you wish to take on the Wolf form?]

"Yes." Since no vessel was nearby, he had to create a body from scratch. Deciding on a male wolf body and making his fur blonde once again so Gerald wouldn't freak out, Xen also added hardened bone and a small horn on his head. He planned to ram the skeletons into the walls and use Predatory Strike to crush their hardened skulls.

[127 Biomass consumed]

[Shapeshifting in process...]

He melted into a pool of biomass before taking on his new form as a giant blonde-horned wolf. The skeleton horde wouldn't stand a chance.

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