Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

The wolfman's soul weapon stays on track for my chest, and his angry gaze doesn't leave me, his target.

This makes me scan my surroundings one more time and find that the serpent slithering through the trees toward my back is actually very well hidden, using a stealth skill.

My baseline senses are far too advanced to register this, and it just appears normal to me once it enters the small aura I've been letting out.

'Even better...' I think to myself while twisting my body and faking getting hit in the lower stomach by the attacker's blade.

Light magic mirages of my avatars cracking and a horrible wound opening up in my side are what the wolfman sees, and he laughs again, far louder.

He lunges forward again and lands another fake hit, slicing off what looks to be my right leg.

"You sure are a lucky one! A shame, such a nimble human could have been quite the tool! Now die!"

That annoying sound of the wolf's teeth grinding can be heard echoing in my ears as he closes the gap again. His body starts to shimmer white as a skill activates, increasing his speed many times over.

I would be wracking my brain for more ideas on how to dodge in style, but in the very same movement, I sense the black serpent's eyes finally lunge out from hiding in the treeline.

It doesn't unveil its stealth cloak, but it does release a wave of intimidation that paralyzes the entire battlefield.

Well... almost the entire battlefield.

My eyes subconsciously track its location right before it releases this wave, and somehow, that pale human that has been watching my fight this whole time reacts to the disturbance just as fast.

The white-haired, white-eyed human takes a single step back, and its entire body disappears into a veil of light magic just like what I'm using now...

Ava's voice rings in my inner ear as the wave of intimidation hits us, and we share a mental back-and-forth within a few milliseconds to come up with the perfect plan.

Neither of us is weak enough to actually be affected by this mental attack made from pure mana and divine threads. Having millions of low-quality ether in our true ether pools negates anything like this without even having to try.

Unfortunately for the others on the battlefield, having ether inside the avatars that do not link to the Lord's true being, no matter how much it is, does not block this mental attack without preparation. This is clear to see when all three of the wolfmen freeze in place, unable to function, paralyzed with fear.

Instead of killing them both on the spot, Ava smirks and kicks both frozen wolfmen with white, blank eyes in the chest, making them fly backward and hit trees about 30 meters away, right beside where the frail human disappeared.

Me, on the other hand, I pretend to be affected by the wave of intimidation just like the wolfmen, aiming my fall to hit a nearby rock jutting out of the ground, pretending to use this momentum to fly out of the way.

The boss with blades all over its body watches me fall, its pupils still managing to track me, but its body frozen in paralysis from the effects of a divine-grade intimidation wave hitting him.

–

The black serpent continues to lunge downward, aiming its open mouth at the frozen, energy-rich target in front of it.

However, I begin to see the wolfman's arms and legs twitch, and its grip on the blade in its hand tighten. A ranked-up buff is activated, and an even more intense white aura of mana and ether, commands only found on premium avatars, activates.

It takes a step forward, then lets out a crazed laugh, moving its gaze up toward the snake and grinning even wider.

"There you are... I knew my nose wouldn't deceive me! We've been hunting for your bounty all—"

But his words are cut short.

Although impressive that he broke out from this 2nd Class Monster's mental attack, this wolfman has forgotten that I'm the one he's fighting.

I grin and release a wave of my own intimidation through the ground, completely concealed by the trails of artificial blood and avatar fragments that appear to be debris from my wounds.

The wolfman's eyes go blank again, and he's frozen in utter horror.

A mental attack magnitudes higher than this small snake's just melted his psyche, and he cannot move a muscle or even think another thought.

There's just a loud crunch that echoes through the clearing as the enormous black serpent bites down on the wolf and breaks half the bones in his body in a single chomp.

I grin inwardly while falling to my back, faking my injuries and shock further as I watch Ava jump into action.

She leaves her position where she thrust the two younger and dumber wolfmen out of the fight and jumps up into the air, still using the small knife we took off the troll. Her movements match the speed of the snake's strike, and she imbues the blade with enough ether to slice through its scales.

Zigzags of green and white light streak through the air, paired with uplifted rocks and dirt that the flailing snake turns up.

Gash marks cover its flesh, and black scales of avatar fragments go flying everywhere.

It only prompts the wild beast to let out more intimidation and clamp down on the prey already in its mouth.

Ava's swift blade strikes paired with the whimpers of a wolfman being mutilated further, and a hissing snake that can't locate what's attacking it are the only things that can be heard in the chaos.

To not be crushed by the flying debris, falling trees, and massive boulders being flung out from the ground, I get up off the ground and put on quite the amusing act.

I use some of my divine foresight perks to make things even easier, but mostly just my normal perception, as this mock fight Ava is putting on is nowhere near a high level.

Using the cover of a 5th Class human that has been thrown into a battlefield with a shaky psyche under the pressure of intimidation attacks, I fake an uneven drunken stagger and trip from rock to rock, spinning around uprooted trees and dodging falling boulders dozens of times.

During this fake dance with fate, I realize that the Demonic Beasts beneath Ellipsia were far stronger than this serpent. It only clicks now that this is because the Grand Citadel's Avatar edits for the Wilderness don't account for additional worlds as buffs. All of the wild monsters we've faced so far are using their unaided natural strength.

So, watching Ava tear through the serpent's flesh, I can tell she's really holding back as well.

Though, once I'm within range of where we planned to end this fight, she smirks and slices the serpent in half, letting its head—still clamped down on the wolfman—fly my way.

A ripple of earth beneath the falling monster sends me flying up in the air with it, and Ava throws her dagger through the air my way.

When I catch it, it looks like a longsword, almost my full height.

I grin back and thrust it downward, landing on the serpent's head, stabbing it right between the eyes, and in turn, stabbing and shattering the true core of the wolfman struggling to survive trapped in its mouth.

A loud thud shakes the torn-up clearing, which has nearly doubled in size from all the fallen trees, but I'm more focused on the notifications ringing in my mind.

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Extreme Speed

Upgrade: Divine

[YES] [NO]

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Intimidation

Upgrade: Divine

[YES] [NO]

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Stealth

Upgrade: Divine

[YES] [NO]

[Kill confirmed!]

[Reward: 60.0993 Low Quality Ether]

[Add to Crown Pool]

[YES] [NO]

[Kill confirmed!]

[Reward: 971.5608 Low Quality Ether]

[Add to Crown Pool]

[YES] [NO]

I press yes on everything and let go of the blade once the kills are confirmed, just as the dust and debris fall away. Then, I just sit on top of the dead serpent's head while Ava walks over, satisfied with our performance.

Behind her, I see the two wolfmen she was fighting sitting up against a large tree, their eyes wide open in shock. Beside them, the pale-skinned human's glimmering light magic disguise dissipates to make it appear again, and it stares right at me with a suspicious glare.

"B-Boss...?" The axe wielder named Togi yells as he gets up from the ground.

His partner runs after him with an equally confused expression on his face.

But Ava turns around, pausing her advance my way to cross her arms and grin, looking down at the two clueless wolfmen.

"Hey, I thought we were fighting. Those were your orders, right?"

At the same time, the dead serpent's jaw loosens, and the dead corpse of their leader slides out, devoid of energy—just a shell of his former living self, with knives strapped all over an avatar casing.

Both the wolf and the snake start to dissolve into the open air as Togi and Xaden try to process what is going on.

They don't really seem sad, or scared, or angry... A look of confusion is all that shows on their faces, then all of a sudden, they both perk up and look at Ava.

"New Boss!"

"Yeah, we don't have to fight anymore, Big Boss Lady!"

The axe wielder looks past Ava toward me and points.

"And Big Boss Lady's Partner, Lucky!"

I open my mouth but don't say a word in the confusion.

Ava slaps her forehead with an open palm as the two wolves look at her with puppy eyes, but the awkwardness is interrupted by the white-haired human before she can get a chance to decline their offer.

"Lucky indeed..."

The pale human takes a step forward and only looks at me. It doesn't seem very bothered by the display of strength or the chaos that just went on here. My eyes move back up to the five crowns, all completely full, hovering above its head once another response leaves the strange human's lips.

"You were headed to the safe zone, right? I'd be happy to show you the way."

It walks closer, and all I do is nod while the avatars below me dissolve and I slowly fall down to the ripped up ground.

There is something quite unsettling about this human, and its next words don't make it any more trustworthy.

"You can stop faking those injuries now too. I can see right through them, you're just wasting your mana..."