The young hero was the first to raise his weapon in response to the beast before him.

The creature before them was only the size of a small dog; it couldn’t have been a powerful monster.

Another party must have been the one to defeat the gargoyle, and this small insect was probably just scavenging.

Without speaking a word, they all collectively had the same thought.

The girls grew squeamish as they watched the different segments of the centipede wrapped around the dead monster.

Something about seeing a creature with that many legs and segments felt wrong.

Seeing their reactions, the young hero didn’t waste a moment to step up and slay the monster.

His swordsmanship was precise and efficient as he swung his sword in a downward arc at the creature.

The sound of his sword cutting through the air was reminiscent of a swish blade being drawn as his sword cut through the hard tissue.

For a moment, a sense of relief washed over him, but all that faded the moment he looked down and saw that the creature he sought to kill was gone and instead what his blade had pierced was the dead gargoyle.

"Huh, where did it go?"

"Did you kill it?" the elf girl asked from afar, her knees knocking together as she clung to her spear for dear life.

Hearing the trembling sound of her voice, the young hero was ready to play it off as if the creature had escaped through a crack in the wall, but the moment he turned around, he felt something wrap around his leg.

Looking down, he realized that he was trapped, as if the ground itself had suddenly been given life and wrapped around his foot.

"Is this... earth magic—"

The moment those words escaped his mouth, an obsidian spike shot from the ground, perfectly placed to pierce the young hero’s heart.

But just as the spike was about to pierce his heart, it was sliced into numerous small pieces.

The speed of the young hero’s swordsmanship was almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

From the ceiling of the dungeon, the centipede watched the events unfold with caution, intelligence showing within its monster-like eyes.

’That one must have a swordsmanship talent. His reflexes are good too.’

The monstrous centipede contemplated its next move. It wasn’t finished devouring the gargoyle, nor had it retrieved its beast core.

Before it lay two choices: either escape and avoid direct conflict, or fight against these unknown players.

If it chose to fight, then it must prepare itself to do the unthinkable.

Before, it hadn’t thought it would have a problem with killing, but now that the option had presented itself, it found itself hesitating.

Its attack from earlier had been more like a reflex, like its body acting on its own when its life was threatened.

These adventurers were most likely players from its world. They most likely had a family or loved ones.

’Maybe I can scare them away? There is no rule that says I have to kill players.’

As those thoughts raced through its mind, it suddenly locked eyes with the young hero.

Having locked eyes with its prey, the young hero surged forward and leaped into the air.

At the same time, the mage fired a powerful wind blast at the hero’s feet to propel him up to the ceiling towards the centipede.

His sword carved through the dungeon wall as the creature seemed to melt out of sight once again. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The hero clicked his tongue in annoyance, but at the same time he felt a cold gust of wind brush against the back of his neck.

The monster was behind him, and what saved him was his friend’s quick action in firing a wind spell.

The air hummed as the young mage fired an onslaught of magical attacks, but even with his excellent aim, he couldn’t land a hit on the monster.

The creature’s flight path seemed completely unpredictable. The creature could change direction in an instant, and by the time the spell was fired, the creature was already gone.

It was as if the creature could predict the spell’s trajectory, which should have been impossible with a wind-based spell, especially in a dark dungeon.

The more its attacks missed, the more infuriated the mage became.

"What the hell kind of monster is this? Whoever heard of a centipede monster with wings?"

And worse, this monster seemed to have an affinity for earth magic.

While the monster was busy facing the young mage, the fox kin decided to flank the creature. The fox kin moved with the agility of a wild animal as she circled around the monster and leaped into the air, warhammer poised to smash the monster to pieces.

The monster seemed to have been caught off guard, but just as the attack was about to land, the fox kin suddenly froze mid-air as if trapped by an invisible thread.

"Myra!" the elf girl shouted as she charged forward.

Seeing this, the young hero clutched his sword tightly before exhaling deeply.

His sword glowed with a brilliant golden light as he prepared to activate his trump card: a skill he could only use once a day, after which a 24-hour cooldown would be activated.

The young mage could sense what his friend was planning so inturn he poured most of his mana into one final spell. As a result, a small twister began to form on the tip of his staff.

At the same time, the elf combined her spearmanship talent with her affinity for lightning magic. She channeled her magic directly into her spear which cause electricity to crackle around the weapon as she threw it forward like a javelin.

The spear ripped through the air almost as if she had thrown lightning bolt.

The centipede sensed the attacks and created an earth wall just in time to block the attacks, but the wall did nothing to stop the spear as it was smashed to pieces. The force from the attack sent it flying backwards and crashing into the wall of the dungeon.

This gave the young mage the opportunity to fire his spell. The violent twister pulled the monster forward. The centipede’s wings couldn’t fight against the force of the twister making it helpless.

This placed the centipede in the perfect range for the hero’s attack.

-[Photon Slash]-

For a second, the entire room lit up in a brilliant golden light. The hero’s blade struck true and split the centipede in half before the creature could even react and without a seconds hesitation, a message popped up, confirming the hero’s victory.

[You have slain a F ranked obsidian centipede.]

For a moment, the entire room was enveloped in a chilling stillness.

"We did it?" The hero was the first to speak in shock, even though he was the one who performed the killing blow.

Though fatigued, the party visibly relaxed after they realized the centipede was dead. It’s obsidian exoskeleton cut in half, revealing a glimpse of the monster core inside its body.

The party celebrated their victory as I stood in a dark corner of the room, watching from the sidelines.

No bad...

Not bad at all...

I was honestly surprised that the monster I created managed to last that long against them.

And it only cost 180 biomass to create.

This party had proven to be good test subjects, and I even managed to uncover a fair bit of information while I was at it.

As the party was getting ready to extract the monster core from the centipede I created, along with the gargoyle I killed long ago, I stepped out of the shadows, allowing my stealth skill to fade.

The first to notice my presence was the slave who hadn’t participated much in the battle.

She tried to warn the others but it was as if the words were stuck in her throat as she tried but failed to speak. But by the time she caught their attention, it was already too late.

Using my level 1 earth control spell, I levitated a small piece of rock in front of me, then molded it so the tip was pointed. My aim was terrible since I didn’t have enough biomass to evolve my brain and gain a new consciousness that could focus solely on the application of magic.

As I result I couldn’t use every spell to the best of its ability yet. I aimed the rock at the fox kin’s head as she struggled to escape my Googum with the elf helping her.

The rock exploded forward and pierced through the fox kin’s throat.

The helpless demihuman clutched her throat as a jet of blood sprayed from her neck.

"Myra—" the elf screamed, but she was soon interrupted as an obsidian spike burst from the ground and impaled her stomach, leaving her dangling in the air.

After noticing my presence, the hero, driven by grief and madness, charged forward with anger burning brightly in his eyes, but the moment he took a step forward, he was swallowed by a pool of lava that formed right at his feet.

The mage was the last one left, but instead of escaping, his eyes flickered greedily over to the gargoyle’s remains before flickering back over to me.

But the second he looked away, I was already gone, resting on his shoulder as I sank my forcipules into his exposed neck.

My venom attacked his nervous system, paralyzing every muscle in his body.

The first sign was when he could no longer grip his staff; then his vocal cords refused to cooperate as he tried and failed to speak.

Then, in less than a minute, his heart stopped as his body collapsed weakly to the ground.

With the core party members now dead, my gaze shifted over to the demon, shivering uncontrollably in the corner.