NOVEL WEB Chapter 33: Always Weird
The dungeon didn’t really have much.
There were some guards stationed outside but they didn’t bother even checking us. So much for permission and all that crap.
It was called a dungeon but to me it just looked like a large hole on the ground with stairs leading down.
There were some snakes on the first floor. They didn’t look very intelligent. But they did move out of our way. Didn’t seem to be any humans around. Just a crusty floor with some cobwebs and crap.
“Rat snakes,” Josie said. “Must be rats aplenty.”
“Possibly.”
The snakes were a tad bigger than the ones I was used to. Or at least I thought they were. I’d never really come face to face with any snakes in real life. Everything I knew about them were courtesy of those geographic channels. I didn’t like snakes, but I wasn’t really afraid of them either. Looks like Josie was fine as well.
The floor wasn’t that large. Just about fifty meters on all sides. No rooms. No treasure. Just one stairway leading down. If I was in my male form, my head would have been touching the ceiling right now.
Rats!
The second floor had black rats.
They were a bit smaller than cats and were running away from us, squeaking and shitting; filthy little shits. Smelled like ass in here… no, worse than ass. Some tried to attack but Josie was quick enough to slice through them. She didn’t hesitate at all!
I absorbed one for fun and got absolutely nothing out of it other than pure disgust. Yeah, I didn’t really like these little fuckers.
At the very end, we had our dungeon boss. A big dog sized red rat. Eyes glowing, it was ready to kill.
“Hey, I want to try something,” I said.
“Sure,” Josie moved aside.
The rat squeaked and dashed towards me. I suppose it thought I was the weak one?
It crashed into me, or rather before me. On what? Scales. Arack lord scales. I’d coated my arm with miniaturized black scales and let the rat bite me. Even its sharp teeth couldn’t go through my small hexagonal scales. Crack! A teeth actually broke off~!
Let’s see, what else did that thing- oh yeah!
Squeak!
Poor thing struggled a bit as a black pointy thing formed in place of my left hand and impaled it.
It struggled and splattered some blood but that was about it.
[Simron Rat absorbed!]
[Skill learned: Rat Control (mid)]
The rat was defending a door but I couldn’t go through. If I recall correctly, Josie couldn’t enter my dungeon either.
What now Bestiary?
Bestiary: Turn into the dungeon boss and enter.
Huh. I transformed into the rat from before. I was kind of bigger than a typical hobgoblin…. How am I going to fit through this small hole?
“Woah!” Josie whimpered. “At least give me a headstart? I was literally about to attack you.”
Smaller, smaller… become smaller… I did. I became smaller, about the same size at the monster.
And this time, I did go in without any hitches.
I pulled out some stones. “Merge!”
Merge not only let me merge monsters but also dungeons. This dungeon’s core linked with me and with that, I was now the proud owner of the dungeon.
“Hey, I’m going to try warping. Stay here and count to 100 hundred.”
“Sure.”
My vision stretched, things became super small, blurry, and normalized. Familiar ceiling….I was here… to that first room. Kind of nostalgic. Rather instantaneous.
I kind of wanted to say hello to the skeleton and stuff but I had someone waiting for me so… warp!
…
“Ninety-four- ninety-five- oh you’re back!”
“Roughly instantaneous,” I said walking out.
She followed me. “Not going to create any monsters here?”
Our job here was done. If we took too long, the guards would start getting suspicious. “For now, no. If this dungeon proved to be dangerous, they might decide to conquer it.”
“Fair enough. So, how was it?”
“Teleporting?”
“Yes. Did it feel good? Did it… tickle and stuff?” She whispered.
“Why would it tickle?”
“Well, I heard,” her cheeks turned a bit red and she acted coy. “People just … you know, from teleporting; people used to overuse it all the time. Kind of why it’s forbidden across the world.”
Huh.
Fucking perverts. My eyes rolled on their own. “Sadly, this one doesn’t work that way. Besides, I already have a skill, remember?” Why am I still a rat… I turned back to a human.
We were out, and with a bit of embarrassed drama from the guards (because apparently, I forgot to wear my fucking clothes?), we were out of that zone.
Josie sighed in disappointment. “Can I like… get a reward?”
“Sure. Work hard and I’ll reward you.”
“I meant now but okay!”
I couldn’t fault her. Just thinking about it… was making me feel horny too. No, I’m not doing that again! The moment I reached the Inn, I was definitely going to switch over to a male body!
***
I reached the inn, turned into a guy and did my business. Wasn’t as electrifying as the ones I felt in my female body but hey, as least I wasn’t using any fucking skills to get on with it! No, you didn’t need skills that night either… just a fucking finger. Sigh….
Feeling refreshed, I took some time off to relish the view from my balcony. A brand-new world.
A brand-new life.
Even friends… maybe.
And yet… here I was… sighing with post nut clarity. Some things just don’t change.
Orange sky. The sun was setting. The day, ending. If you don’t change, nothing will. My sister sometimes used to say that. The same person who never changed her whole life… no she did change. She did change towards the end.
Sometimes I wonder how’d that work out for her.
Knock, knock!
“Yeah?” I said.
“You remember the mayor, right?” Josie said.
The door was open, she was just standing there.
“I guess we should have woken the soldiers first.” Whom I might or might not have forgotten about.
“Well, the thing is, he wasn’t inquiring about the guards. He was here to invite you for dinner.”
“Personally?”
“Yes.”
Huh. Interesting.
“I’ll go.”
Josie smirked. “He’ll try to assault you.”
“And you think, I’ll let him?”
She came close, smiled coyly. “I’ll let you assault me all you want, if you ever want to,” she whispered under her breathe.
Oh yeah, I’m a guy right now. No wonder she was acting so weird. No, she’s always weird.