Shapeshifter

Chapter 17: A Dark Figure

[Skeleton Warrior: Common Grade]

The Skeleton Warrior is the most basic type of humanoid undead found roaming the floors of some beginner dungeons. Though they have high resistance to physical attacks for their level, their slow movement and low strength make them easy opponents for most. Magic is super effective against them as their hardened bones are loosely held together by mana, so even basic spells will cause them to fall apart.

As it turned out, Gerald had been right. [Undead Resiliance] really could be overcome with raw stats. Punching the undead in his human form had resulted in a few broken bones, but charging into them at full speed in his wolf form caused the undead to obliterate into bone shrapnel on impact.

"System, go away," Xen grumbled, flicking his head to throw a Skeleton Warrior he had impaled and half devoured into a wall. He had already learned all he needed to know about the undead from Gerald, so having the system give him the information after consuming and analyzing a bone from one of the skeletons wasn't helpful right now.

The dense wall of text that appeared after he accidentally activated Appraisal faded away and let him see his bony foes once more.

They had felt slow before, but now that he was in his wolf form with 42 in agility, they were agonizingly slow to him.

Idiot, I can see you. Xen sneered as he kicked backward at the Skeleton Warrior, who was trying to bash him on the back with a round iron shield. In my Mana Vision, you are all outlined quite clearly. It's almost too easy.

The slaughter was relatively short-lived, as none of the Skeleton Warriors could even land a swing on him. However, just out of curiosity, Xen did let one of them hit him and was quite amused at how he felt nothing but a tingle on his hardened flesh from the rusted blade.

"Gerald?" Xen swiveled his head and saw the man crouched over a broken corpse and breathing heavily.

"D-Don't worry about me," Gerald wheezed as he collapsed against the side of the dungeon and tried to get his breathing under control while wiping his forehead.

Xen snorted in agreement and returned to survey the damage. Pieces of bone were strewn all around, and he inspected them by directing the little mana he had left to his eyes.

[Undead Bone: Common Grade]

A bone from an undead monster. It can be used to create potions and weapons.

Xen had already devoured one of the skeleton's bones during the fight but hadn't gotten anything besides a few biomass. He needed a brain or something similar; without it, he wouldn't learn the undead form or gain new skills.

[Undead Bone: Common Grade]

"Useless," Xen snarled as he crushed the weak bone into dust under his paw. His head was pounding like a drum as he used Appraisal to try and find a brain of some kind among the chaos.

[Undead Bone: Common Grade]

[Undead Bone: Common Grade]

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"Where are their minds?" Xen clawed at a pile, and his eyes lit up. There was an intact skeleton skull. Devouring it, he was confused as to why it didn't provide him with any skills or a new form. Glaring at another nearby with Appraisal, he got his answer.

[Undead Skull: Common Grade]

As mindless beings, the undead are one of the few races to lack a brain. They move purely on instinct, which was provided to them during creation.

Xen howled in rage. Fighting these darn skeletons had been an utter waste of biomass and mana. They didn't even level me up once despite killing ten of them!

It took Xen a while to calm down, and once he did, he gathered the bones into a sad pile while hanging his head low. He was downright miserable about the whole thing, and it was made all the worse by how terrible the bones tasted and how little biomass they gave.

[Devour Complete]

You gained 328 biomass.

"Let's go, Gerald," Xen grumbled after finishing his pile of bones. He trotted down the tunnel, and the human trudged behind. Neither spoke as they navigated the winding tunnels and headed deeper into the dungeon.

After a while, Xen's ear twitched, and a quick sniff of the air confirmed the dry scent of death lingering. "More up ahead," Xen muttered to his traveling companion, "Are you ready to fight?"

"Um, yeah." Gerald hesitantly replied. "Just a bit tired is all."

"What use is an exhausted mage without mana?" Xen couldn't understand this human's logic to keep following him deeper into the dungeon. "You barely won a fight against a single skeleton earlier."

Gerald smiled wearily, "Yeah, but I shouldn't need to fight with you here. Don't worry. I can hold my own against one if they slip by. The mana deprivation is hitting me harder than I would have hoped, and my fitness has never been the best. Too many nights of takeout and a suspiciously underused gym membership are catching up to me. But I gotta press on! Level-ups and a brighter future in the Ether Technocrats await me!"

Xen disliked that this weak human was offering nothing of value anymore yet was going on about level-ups. If anything, he is slowing me down and stealing my experience. I'm out of mana but can run faster than our current speed. How can I level quickly if I don't hunt over a large area?

"Just don't slow me down, human." Xen reminded Gerald as he dropped his shoulders and began stalking toward the tunnel where he heard the undead.

"I will try," Gerald whispered as he awkwardly tried to crouch as well and follow him.

Xen didn't really need to sneak up on the undead, but he was curious about their detection range and what triggered it. Prowling around the corner, he saw a far larger group than before. Most had their backs turned to him, but a few were facing his way, and they seemed to spot him instantly through the tunnel's darkness as the blue flame in their eye sockets flickered with interest, and they began moving toward him.

Their view range is further than I thought. It must be that Darkvision skill Gerald mentioned earlier.

The group contained dozens of undead and glowed with a fierce blue light in his Mana Vision. Did the last group glow like this? Xen wondered but couldn't remember. He had already been slaughtering within the last group when he started relying on Mana Vision to cover his blind spots, and this undead legion was around twice the size.

Great. More tasteless bones and no rewards. Hopefully, I level up at least once after killing this many. Xen thought as he leaped forward with the same plan as last time. Smash them all to smithereens and devour the leftovers.

To his confusion, the skeletons seemed afraid of him this time. Instead of mindlessly raising their broken swords and shields to try and hit him, they began to stumble aside as if to avoid his warpath. What is going on?

Xen's eyes widened as he saw a cloaked figure in the middle of the group, which he now identified as the source of the intense mana. The folds of its cloak moved aside in the darkness to reveal a skeletal hand wreathed in black mana.

An undead? Xen had thought it was Hunter for a moment, but now he looked a little closer... the skeletal mage's mana seemed to be flowing into the surrounding undead. It's controlling them. The undead didn't move aside because they feared me. It's because they were ordered to... but why?

The skeletal mage raised their hand, and the black mana gathered into a swirling ball of death floating above their palm. "Dark Bolt," a grave voice like crashing two stones together said, and the skeletal hand pointed at Xen.

Xen used his enhanced agility and easily dodged the flying ball of death by ducking under it, but the dumb human standing behind him wasn't so lucky. With no mana to conjure a shield, Gerlad could only gasp in despair as the ball of death slammed him in the chest.

He stumbled back, screaming in agony. "No, no, no!" His hands trembled as he clawed at the place the Dark Bolt had hit, and Xen could see Gerald pulling away rotting flesh from his bones.

Xen had no idea what was happening to Gerald, but he could see through Mana Vision that the skeletal mage's mana had dipped considerably after that attack. The undead's skeletal hand retracted into the folds of their tatted black cloak, and the Skeletal Warriors moved to refill the gap.

Oh no, you don't. Xen charged forward, ramming the skeletons out of the way. There was no way he would let a skeleton capable of speech and dark magic get away. That was a new form waiting to be devoured!

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