Quickly crouching behind a nearby rock, Asher barely even breathed as he watched the entire demon hatching process.
The first demon he saw to fully emerge was a thin, spindly thing. It had a vaguely Humanoid silhouette, but with twisted legs and serrated ridges where a spine should be. Its mouth opened vertically, and split from its top lip past its face and even opened up from the bottom of its chin.
The strange creature opened its mouth and latched onto its eggshell, crunching through it like a sugar glass treat.
And this was just the start as more soon followed.
Some creatures hatched and slithered like snakes. Other ones stumbled forward out of their shells with spider-like limbs flailing. Whilst some other hatched and dropped down from elevated columns above, unfurling wet, leathery wings that beat through the air.
It was chaos
swarms of twisted abyssal monsters were constantly emerging all at once from the ocean of eggs that were scattered across the cavern.
When they first emerged, none of the abyssal demons showed any confusion and quickly began greedily devouring their eggshells with snapping jaws and crunching fangs.
Soon, the entire cavern started echoing with the sickening sound of wet crunching and slurping.
It was the kind of sound that would send someone with a faint heart into catatonic panic.
Horrified at the sight, Asher's heartbeat thundered in his ears.
Despite hatching just like them, Asher didn't feel any kinship with these creatures. Not even a little.
There were simply too many differences between them, be that in form, in energy, or in expression.
Even among those that looked slightly humanoid, they were all still strange, gangly and creepy
But besides that, another thing that should be noted that prevented Asher from feeling too kindly about them was another more realistic that being …
They all looked stronger than him!
Now it might sound ridiculous, but when Asher looked at their tall, strong bodies and then back at his spindly, imp form, he wanted to distance himself from them as much as possible
Some of the monsters had skin that looked like hardened stone, others had limbs that were longer and more stable than a professional athlete's.
It was as Asher was having these thoughts remembered the excess mucus in his egg, how it had clung to him like a second skin.
He'd practically fought a war just to break out of his shell, whilst these demons had burst from theirs like bullets with barely any mucus to be found on their bodies. As Ashere remembered that scene, he soon came to a dark realisation
'I came too early,' thought Asher grimly
In this new life, he was a quick shot through and through!
A premature person who couldn't hold it in and had shot out before he could fully develop!
And the thing is, no matter the race or species, being premature meant one thing…
Being smaller and weaker!
In the modern world, coming out prematurely was something that could be overcome with proper healthcare and aid, but here in this wretched cavern, being premature might just get him killed!
Before he could decide what to do, something happened that snapped him out of his thoughts
With no warning, a large demon that had finished devouring its eggshell walked over to a small demon that was a little late in hatching and had just barely managed to crawl out of its shell
Before the smaller demon could take a bite from its shell, the larger demon smiled cruelly as it pressed one large, clawed foot onto the hatchling's skull
Feeling the full weight of the demon's body on top of it, the hatchling let off a half-formed scream as it tried to crawl out from underfoot, scratching and biting back at the demon on top of it like a mad beast.
But it was no use.
With the advantage of being on top, the large demon started attacking in earnest, pounding down relentlessly on the hatchling's skull
Blow after blow fell, as the hatchling clawed and fought back, but with each attack the hatchling's scream and attacks of defiance only grew quieter until finally….
"Crack!"
There were no more wails or screams after that, only silence.
Asher flinched at the brutality of the sight, but the demon in question just revelled in it. It tilted its head back and let out an excited roar before it tore apart the and devoured the little hatchling in a crimson frenzy
That action alone seemed to be a trigger as soon as countless other demons started copying its actions and went wild, pouncing on and devouring their weaker kin.
The bloody brawl showed no sign of stopping and only grew all the more frantic and crazed until rivers of blood were starting to pool all over the cavern floor!
"Is this…is this how this damned world works?" Asher thought, his stomach twisting.
What used to be just a creepy scene of hundreds of demons eating their eggshells had now turned into a bloody arena that was now like a literal scene from hell!
It was an instinctual culling.
A competition or game of who could hatch first, kill fastest, and become stronger before they even stepped
One that filtered the weak before they even properly breathed their first breath!
Asher's throat tightened.
That scene caused Asher to remember a fact he dismissed halfheartedly.
It was often debated why monsters loved to kill humans with such mindless fervour
Monsters didn't level up like human awakeners. They didn't have systems or neat stat progression. They got stronger through constant devouring and killing.
It was rough and barbaric, but more importantly, it was effective and didn't require thought or skill
For monsters, their path to strength was unstructured and random, and that's why they constantly hunted and killed any creature they came into contact with
If these abyssal demons followed a similar path to monsters, then he would be…
No!
Asher didn't want to think of such a cruel ending.
He couldn't just sit there gawking anymore!
Asher's mind whirled as he fell into thought
He needed something useful, something that could allow him to fight these monsters
His levelling system was too slow, so he had to rely on something else. Otherwise, some frenzied demon would see his weak imp form and come and cave his skull in next!
As Asher was thinking about what to do, he seemed to hear something.
A faint seductive whisper that tickled his ears from the will of the abyss
'Plunder….'
Yes, he still had that.
A unique talent of his new body that had been given when he awoke in this abyss
[Evolve Through Plunder (SSS)]
Asher didn't know how that talent worked yet, but he knew that there was no better teacher than experience.
Asher scanned the area, his eyes locking onto a nearby demon that had just broken its eggshell and was struggling to fully emerge and hatch from it.
'Perfect.' Thought Asher
He quickly grabbed a large stone nearby and moved forward.
Every second that passed, more and more demons were picking targets, and he didn't want to get there too late.
Asher reached the unsuspecting demon standing over it as his heart thudded in his throat.
'Sorry.' He thought hypocritically
'It's either you or me.'
With that thought, Asher raised the stone and slammed it down.
"Crack!"
The stone smashed the head of the rat, the impact hitting the creature with such force that the egg surrounding it shattered completely!
Splosh!
With the breaking of the egg a a greenish sticky liquid poured out. Inside this liquid was a squirming demon rat, slick, with a narrow, deformed jaw and thin, needle-like eyes. It instinctively thrashed around, sensing the overwhelming danger Asher posed to it.
Asher saw the sight and grimaced.
He was so disgusted by the beast's wretched appearance that he lost all sense of pity in his heart and gave it two more precise strikes to the head
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Asher's body was splattered in violet coloured blood, and he was about to deliver another blow when a notification sounded off in his mind
[ Congratulations. You have killed a Level 0: Spiked-Tailed Rat.]
[+5 Experience Points]
Asher heard the notification and looked at the creature that had kindly donated him these experience points.
The ground around it had turned slick with violet blood from the demon rat's remains, which looked so twisted and disfigured that just glancing at them forced Asher to fight back a wave of sudden nausea.
But before he could dwell on the sight for too long, some notifications grabbed his attention
[ Your Talent: Evolve Through Plunder (SSS) has been activated… ]
Suddenly, black smoke, faint and flickering like dying flames, bled from Asher's chest. It coiled around his legs and the ruined rat corpse. From the broken body, the smoke thickened, forming a faint, illusory shape. Amidst the haze, Asher could have sworn he glimpsed something
A monster's gaping maw, one impossibly wide, as if it hungered to consume and take all of reality itself!
[Ding!]
[You have slain a Spiked-Tailed Rat and successfully plundered the skill - Spiked-Tail Whip(E) ]
[ Loading skill onto your body… ]
Before Asher could make sense of what was happening, a jolt of pain shot up his spine.
It was excruciating! All of a sudden, Asher felt as if a hot needle was being dragged through his spine all the way down through his tailbone. He gasped, stumbling forward, hands bracing against his knees as all the muscles in his body spasmed.
His tail twitched, coiling violently before snapping to the side in a brutal, whip-like motion.
Bang!
As Asher's tail hit the ground, he could instantly feel that things were different from before.
[You have gained +3 agility and +2 strength.]
Asher could feel the newfound strength coursing through his body
His action of striking a nearby rock had sent it flying through the air and left a long, lightning-shaped mark streaking in the ground behind it
Asher turned around and stared at the limb behind him.
The first change he noticed was that it was larger now.
Asher had completed every man's dream and had become both thicker and longer out of nowhere.
And that was not all, the chitinous skin he had at the tip of his tail could now be split open to reveal a sharp obsidian coloured bone spur hidden inside
Smiling to himself, Asher wanted to show off his newfound power and smash a stone once again
With just a thought, Asher's tail jerked and whistled through the air before striking the ground with a loud crack!
Unfortunately, Asher still couldn't be too proud as this time missed entirely,
"Okay…," he muttered, his crimson skin blushing a little red in embarrassment
The power of this new skill was obviously there, but it wasn't quite fully his, at least not yet.
—-
[Spiked-Tail Whip (E)]- Your tail becomes stronger, increasing in muscle density and flexibility and allowing for unpredictable, whip-like strikes in close quarters. It also conceals a sharp bone spur that grants 10% increased piercing damage.]
[Stat Gains: +3 agility and +2 strength.]
—-
〘 STATUS 〙
╭───────────────╮
[Name: Asher Vale]
[Race: Abyssal Imp] (Soulbound Summon/ Clone)
[Rank: Common ★]
[Level: 0 (5 / 100 EXP)]
[Talent: Evolve Through Plunder (SSS)]
[Evolution Points: 1.5/10]
[Strength: 5 (↑2)]
[Agility: 6 (↑3)]
[Constitution: 3]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Heath Points (30/30)]
[Mana: (100/100)]
[Skills: Spike-Tail Whip (E)
╰───────────────╯
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