章 8: Chapter 7 - Trial of beginnings
Once I crossed through the portal my feet landed on a soft patch of grass surrounded by tall bushy trees and clear blue skies. The portal closed behind me and I had officially crossed over into the dungeon.
This area doesn't look all too different from the first floor, maybe the Trial won't be as bad as I thought.
Unlike the outside Floor, this area seems to have a heavier vegetation growth, it almost looks like it's been abandoned.
There was a dirt trail leading up ahead of me that I decided to walk on. Maybe I should check my map, there might be a marker like before.
I concentrated on the map icon in the corner of my vision and it enlarged just as I intended.
Although…
"Why is it blank?! I thought dungeons were meant to be explored."
{No map available in summoned dungeons}
"Summoned dungeons…oh he means that swirling portal thingy? I admit that was a little weird but I didn't think too much about it at the time."
That will make things tricky…I guess I'll have to stick to the trail then if I want to progress.
"What do people do in dungeons again?"
Usually, Dungeons are just about killing everything inside and then slaying the Boss somewhere in the Dungeon but Kana told me about some Dungeons having different rules than others.
Gulp
Definitely not making me feel better about this, especially since I haven't come across a monster since I arrived.
Even though the area is open I feel kind of trapped being in here, it makes it a little uncomfortable with all this silence… I never thought I'd be anxious about not having to fight monsters.
As I progressed along the path I noticed a stone structure up ahead of the dirt road, it was an ancient building of some sort with dirty white stone and detailed carvings on it. There were damaged walls and wreckage from stone ceilings and pillars lying cracked on the grass.
Moss and flowers had already grown over them, leaving only the staircase up into the ruins preserved.
"Ruins, it's hard to imagine someone living here in the Dungeon. I wonder if that's my next stop-"
Suddenly a rustle in the bushes beside me forced my attention away. I quickly turned to it and pulled out one of the Chakram blades from my belt.
Next moment a white fluffy ear as long as my forearm perked up above the grass and was followed by a small round head. Red beady eyes stared off toward me as the creature continued to chew on a strand of grass sticking out from its mouth.
"A Rabbit?" I muttered.
I let out a sigh of relief and placed the Chakram back onto my belt. As I relaxed my body a name bar appeared over the Rabbit's head the same way that it did before with the Chakram's.
{Rush Rabbit Lv2}
"Rush Rabbit…is that supposed to be the name of its breed?"
Uriel is pretty diligent about this stuff, but geez that little guy gave me a heart attack.
Suddenly the rabbit hopped out from the bush and stood up at full length. Once it did I noticed the insanely toned muscles in its legs that showed through the hefty level of fur on its body.
My calm demeanour was instantly washed away by the overbearing anxiety that flooded my body as the Rush Rabbit took a step forward.
That thing isn't normal, it's way too buff!
The next moment the rabbit's eyes glowed red and disappeared into a blur of white that shot toward me.
The Rush Rabbit appeared directly beside me and hopped back slightly into the air with both legs retracted to its waist.
Is that a wound-up kick? I have to move!
My body moved on instinct and pulled back as far as I could, just before hitting the ground a pair of fluffy white feet burst through the air like a cannonball. The intense pressure of its paws pushed out a gust of wind from where my head ducked away.
That was insanely fast, how can it move like that?
With little to no effort the Rabbit hopped to the side and readied for another kick.
Those legs are a serious problem, I'll go for those first!
I fell back onto my butt and rolled through the grass and up onto my feet, as I reached for the Chakram a blur of white shot out to my head.
I can't risk taking a hit like that, there's a risk that even one touch would kill me as I am now!
I threw out my arms to guard with the Chakram in my hand pointed forward but nothing came of it. I opened my eyes to confirm and the Rabbit was standing there waiting for something.
Why isn't it attacking, is something scaring it?
I raised my Chakram into a brawler position with both arms up as if I were about to start boxing. The Rabbit suddenly stepped to the right outside of my vision and charged towards me and even though I knew it was going to move I still couldn't track it with my eyes.
It flew right toward me from a single step and I held out my arm with the Chakram at the end.
Suddenly the Rush Rabbits' feet wedged into the ground and stopped its charge; it hopped back and tried again from another angle.
What is with this guy, he just suddenly stops attacking wherever I… Wait that's right! Miss Kana told me about something like this, she must have meant these things then!
Trying to recall her advice, I thought back to one of the last meetings that we had discussing monsters of the First Floor.
*
"Rei under no circumstances can you fight a Rush Rabbit like a regular monster, these are coward fighters! They only attack when your back is turned or if they think you won't block it, so you need to fight smart."
"Why do I have to wait for them, can't I just attack them myself?"
Kana knocked me over the head with a karate chop and waved a finger in front of my nose.
"There's no chance of that happening, these things are wicked fast so you wouldn't be able to catch them anyways. They run away as soon as you go on the attack, it's better to just lay a trap for them with a good counter." Kana replied as she gestured with a counter punch in the air.
*
A counter is my only option at this point, I don't have time to think of other things.
Lowering my Chakram I pretended not to see the Rush Rabbit stepping into my blind spot, if I pull out my weapons too soon then it will step away again.
It needs to be just right…that's why I won't leave it up to my head. It's a gamble but… I need to try!
As the rabbit burst forward I closed my eyes, gripping tightly to the Chakram as the sound of rushing wind approached from behind me.
My body has always moved on its own when my head doesn't react fast enough, I think that kind of instinct is what I can rely on. I can do this!
I snapped my arm out with a sharp motion and put all my strength behind the swing. I felt the tough resistance of the skin against the blade which made my hand slow down.
"Kyaaaaki!!"
The Rush Rabbit wailed out as a spurt of blood released from its side, I glanced over my shoulder at the struggling rabbit and grit my teeth.
It's not deep enough…
I'm still a regular human right now, I know that much. But if killing you means that I can change that then don't think you're getting away.
"Hyaaaa!"
"Kyaaaaaaak!"
I let my body fall to the ground and pulled my arm in as hard as I could, slicing the ring of my blade through its side as I fell to the ground.
The last wailing scream of the rabbit died out as its blood filled a pool around its lifeless body.
{Congratulations!}
{User has slain a Rush Rabbit}
{25 Exp Gained}
A string of messages appeared one after another but I didn't focus too much on it because of all the adrenaline rushing through me.
I got the gist of it in the background but my eyes were coldly locked on the bleeding corpse not even 3 feet away from me. I had killed monsters before but this felt different, this felt important.
The look of horror was replaced as a smile cracked in the corner of my mouth.
"I…I did it…I killed a real monster!" I screamed out with joy.
Seeing as it was a dungeon and nobody else could hear my embarrassing cries of joy I decided to go all out.
As I celebrated loudly in the open woods a familiar whisper surfaced from the back of my mind.
{User has slain a monster for the first time since awakening, the use of Arsenal can now take effect}
"Arsenal…?"
A bubble appeared in front of me on the panel of light, containing a strange icon of a symbol I had never seen before. The words hovering over it were 'Arsenal' and at the top of the screen were the words, "Skill menu".
I can even look at my skills laid out like this, pretty handy.
"I thought Uriel was my skill, this doesn't make any sense. So you're telling me that this Arsenal thing is my skill then?"
I focused on the icon and a list of details appeared over it on a separate screen.
{The ability to consume a fallen enemy, turning their essence into a skill to aid the user}
"This…this can't be right! If this is true then I can turn monsters into skills…something like that is completely passed the title of unique skill. Is that even allowed?"
{User must select a phrase to activate skill}
If what I'm reading is right then Uriel isn't my skill but rather a side effect of the grace that Ellios gave to me. I'll need to see for myself how powerful this skill can become.
"A phrase huh…"
At that moment only one word came flooding through my mind, the words that have been etched into my brain like a dagger against a tree.
"Devour."
クリエイターの想い 
Nozomi_Masaru
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