Monster

by Sergey Belsky

  MONSTER

  The Beetle series

  by Sergey Belsky

  BOOK I

  Text Copyright © 2019 Sergey Belsky

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book can be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  Introduced by Valeria Kornosenko.

  Translated by Denis Lapenkov.

  Illustrations by Valery Spitsyn.

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  “Guys, stop lagging behind!” the captain ordered the trio that was trying to find something interesting.

  “Coming,” one of the men responded and let out a sad sigh.

  “Stop acting like those greedy dwarves!” the captain shouted reproachfully. He was a hefty man in steel armor that was dotted with numerous scratches. “There’s enough loot for everyone, so don’t dig through every pile of rocks.”

  “Yes, sir!” the warriors in less impressive armor shouted. They had worse equipment overall, prompting them to look for something better. They didn’t find anything, unfortunately.

  The group of soldiers had been going through the underground tunnels for two hours already and hadn’t encountered any serious resistance from the monsters, thanks to the detachment'steamwork, well-practiced tactics and a great deal of training. The monsters in this part of the dungeon were relatively weak.

  Really, how could human-sized beetles ever harm a strong warrior that surpassed them in every way? That’s right, they couldn’t. That’s how the monsters ended up being slaughtered by the hundreds while protecting their even weaker brethren. The party made sure to exterminate all of them as well so that the monsters wouldn’t hit them from behind later on.

  In this dungeon, the bosses would call on almost all the mobs that hadn’t been killed in the caves, and then it would become very difficult to deal with all of them. That’s why they had to do the tedious cleanup.

  Sometimes, the smaller mobs would drop something interesting, but it happened so rarely that many were skeptical of the claims and didn’t even expect to get anything. But the trio of warriors didn’t intend to give up.

  The cave was vast, and it included quite a number of levels with many bosses throughout, as well as common mobs. There were so many kinds of them that players were still finding new types.

  However, not every raid could clear the dungeon, and most were limited to only clearing the first level. As was shown in the dungeon’s status, it hadn’t been completed yet. That was why this dungeon was often stormed by the top guilds, with no success thus far, and now the first level was being farmed by the small clans.

  “This way!” one of the trio shouted. “We’ve got a couple of the more serious mobs here.”

  Karkant Warrior, level 39

  Karkant Keeper, level 37

  “A warrior and a healer,” the second one summarized, intercepting its sword with both hands and looking at the tall, mantis-like creatures with refined bodies and angular heads that looked similar to a human’s. “Okay, let‘s warm up.”

  The keeper, whose antennae formed something like a basic hairstyle, moved away, hissed something several times, and was almost hit by the third fighter, but the beetle warrior managed to repel the blow.

  “This one’s good,” the attacker grinned.

  “Check it out, guys,” the first warrior said in surprise. “They’re protecting that small beetle.”

  @$##^&@, level 0

  “That little beetle’s kinda bugged” the other one frowned. “Gotta do him in.”

  “That’s exactly what we’ll do,” the third nodded, and his sword glowed with dim light, after which, with a burst of energy, he threw the beetle warrior back.

  Meanwhile, the second one scored a hit using a sweeping attack. The keeper squeaked plaintively, clutching the stump of her foreleg to her thorax. The first warrior stuck his sword into the rising karkant, but the bug became enraged upon seeing the other two trying to kill the keeper, and despite the damage, he’d taken, rushed over to help her.

  “Ugh! Damn!” One of the attackers had blood on his face. “A skilled moron, despite his low level.”

  “Not for long,” the warrior chuckled indifferently, cutting off the head of the beetle in a single, powerful blow. The body of the karkant warrior slowly fell to the ground, coating the floor in disturbingly red blood.

  “It‘s time to finish up, otherwise RL will kick our asses,” the first said and plunged the sword into the body of the keeper several times until the plaintive squeaking stopped. “For some reason, this buggie isn’t running away,” said the player indifferently, pulling the sword out of the keeper‘s body. Blood gushed out from her multiple wounds.

  “Well, he is bugged”, their colleague shrugged, and with one blow destroyed the zero-level mob who’d tried to attack the players at the last moment.

  Chapter 1

  Small beetle. The kinsmen. The Rippers

  What a headache. Everything around me is spinning and won’t stop. Why do I feel so ill? I guess I’m lying on the floor, but I can’t see a thing. It’s hard to breathe.

  What’s happening to me? I’ve never taken anything like that before. Wait, what did I take? It had become cold somehow… and I was hungry. Hold on. Something’s wrong with my thoughts. I can’t concentrate on anything.

  This went on for quite a long time; okay, maybe not too long, but everything felt very strange. And at some point, I opened my eyes. Everything appeared to be dark gray in color.

  Cold stones lay inert all over the floor while droplets of water fell from the ceiling, splashing loudly on the surface of the stones. From somewhere off to the side came strange gnashing sounds, and I decided to go over there and see where they were coming from.

  As soon as I tried
to get up, I tripped on my own legs and fell back down. There were… six of them. Sharp but small. I experienced a vague feeling of wrongness at that. I couldn’t stand up the normal way.

  It took at least an hour for me to finally learn how to cope a little with my limbs, after which I slowly headed toward the sounds. It was hard to control my legs and my heartbeat was somehow wrong, erratic, while my breathing felt too labored.

  I kept stumbling as I walked, running out of energy, chest heaving as I fought for air. If I paused to rest for a while, everything became normal, or, well, at least almost normal.

  Soon enough, I just started counting as I walked: one, and I moved the front legs, two, the rear ones. Using this simple method, I eventually reached my destination. A small pebble was shining on the ground, slightly diluting the black and gray colors of the surrounding space, revealing the silhouettes of two strange creatures in the pitch-black darkness.

  They were somehow similar to a praying mantis and had six legs as I did, but the two front ones were slightly different and ended with three claws shaped like fingers. Perhaps they could even hold something with these, unlike me.

  I looked at my own legs once again and realized that holding anything would be hard for me. They had very refined bodies of a light gray color. Their big eyes seemed as if they were the color of emeralds, but my eyesight, apparently, didn’t allow me to see the color properly, so to me, they were an odd gray.

  The black, round pupils of the girl focused on me, and after grooming the antennae on her head, she tried to tell me something through her small jaws.

  Seeing that I didn’t understand her, she straightened her… hair, covering her slightly triangular face and thin neck again, and excitedly turned to a mighty warrior, who was bigger than her and much more powerful.

  The warrior grinned kindly and made several gestures with his forelegs to calm her down. After some time, the keeper turned to me again, and to my surprise, I found that I was now able to understand her strange speech.

  “Do you understand me?” The beetle girl’s eyes were looking at me with pity. “Yes,” I managed to get out in a strangled voice. My throat ached, and my face tightened.

  “Calm down,” the warrior put his hand on the keeper’s shoulder. “He just came into the world and can’t properly perceive it yet. Remember what the Highest said. His consciousness must stabilize. “

  “Do you even know what that means?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

  “No, but it sounds very convincing,” the warrior grinned back at her, which made the keeper sigh deeply.

  Cytrilct, level 39

  Trirlil, level 37

  I saw their names above them and something about levels. All of this was rather strange, and I didn’t understand what was happening at all, but I didn’t feel as if I was in any danger from these creatures. On the contrary, I felt something akin to a fondness for them, something warm. My heartbeat was much calmer, and I’d stopped gasping for breath.

  “Come here, dear Tesselr,” the beetle girl beckoned to me and I approached her. “Hooray! He understands!” Trirlil jumped with joy, lifting me in her arms, which were hard like stone but still felt a bit warm.

  “We had to go through a lot before you finally came into this world, child,” the man said kindly, looking at me and the keeper.

  “Tesselr, hide,” Cytrilct suddenly said, after a while. “Trirlil, get behind me. The rippers are coming.”

  “For what?” Tears appeared in the girl’s large eyes. “Why are you doing this to us, gods? Tesselr,” her gaze was filled with such sorrow that it made me feel uncomfortable. “Hide and don’t let yourself be killed,” she gently put me back on the ground and pushed me slightly forward.

  Soon, strange creatures appeared. Their shells glittered in the bright light coming from the thin sticks. It was hard to look in their direction, but I could clearly make them out before I averted my eyes.

  These creatures had only four limbs: they walked on two of them, and in the other two, they held sticks with light and strange, sharp claws. One of them shouted something to the others, and after a brief discussion, the trio headed toward us.

  “Tesselr, run!” the keeper shouted and almost took a blow from a sharp claw, but the beetle warrior was able to repel it.

  The creature jumped aside and turned to its mate.

  “That little beetle’s kinda bugged," said another one, pointing at me with a sharp claw. “Gotta do him in.”

  One of the two-legged pushed back the beetle warrior with one powerful blow, and the second, twisting its claw around itself, hit both of my parents. Trirlil pressed the stump of her claw to herself, getting covered in a dark red color, which stood out sharply against the gray tones of the rest of the place.

  The first creature prodded Cytrilct with its claw, but he became furious upon seeing a couple of two-legged trying to kill the keeper and rushed over to help her. He managed to touch his foreleg to the gray head of the monster, and I saw that red color again.

  However, what came next horrified me. The enemy struck out so powerfully with its claw that it beheaded the beetle warrior. The other two focused on Trirlil, stabbing their claws into her.

  “Run! Tesselr!” her voice was getting quieter. “Run...”

  Everything around me turned red, my heart beating with incredible strength. I felt angry, no, I was furious as I saw Trirlil’s eyes glazing over, the same eyes that had looked at me so tenderly a while ago.

  “It’s time to finish up, otherwise RL will kick our asses.” The monster said something, all the while sticking its claw into the keeper’s body repeatedly. “For some reason, this buggie isn’t running away,” the monster said in his nasty voice, pulling the claw out of Trirlil’s body. Blood gushed out of the wound, painting everything around it in that damned color.

  “Well, he is bugged,” his foul voice sounded again, and I rushed at him, but scarlet splashes struck my eyes, a severe pain pierced my entire body, and then darkness enveloped everything around me.

  Chapter 2

  Tes Sel Er. The stats. Evolution.

  I don’t know how long I was in the darkness, but at some point, I realized that I was able to open my eyes. Once again, the world was made up entirely of gray tones. There were no monsters in their glittering shells, whereas the bodies of my family still lay side by side, in puddles of red liquid.

  My heart ached, and I went to them, not knowing what to do. At some point, I just lay down near them and started to think. About ten minutes later, a bright window appeared in front of my eyes. It hurt my eyes to even look at it because it was so bright.

  Your status!

  Character name: @$##^&@

  Race: Monster

  Class: -

  Level: 0

  Experience: 0

  Health: 1/1

  Energy: 0/0

  Do you want to change your name? Yes/No

  What is this? Levels and other nonsense again. The name… something unclear was displayed there. No, this isn’t my name. Trirlil called me something else. “Tes Sel Er,” I hissed through my jaws and my throat started aching again.

  The character’s name: Tes Sel Er

  Okay, what is this level thing? How do I find out? As soon as I thought about it, a hint with some pleasant text came up in front of my eyes:

  Your level is the feature that shows the degree of your development

  My eyes hurt from looking at the bright window. Why can’t it be a little smaller? The letters could be bigger as well. Again, the instant I thought of it, the message window changed its color to black and the text transformed into a flattering, beautiful font of a dark red color, which made me recall my family and the monsters that had killed them. Letting out a sigh, I thought about how I needed to know about the rest of it, too.

  Experience is the parameter that grows through the destruction of your enemies, doing tasks, the acquisition of new knowledge, the use of skills, etc. Experience can be invested into anything you choos
e: an object, a part of your body and everything else that you can come up with, apart from your stats.

  I wondered what I could think about next, but my brain wasn’t working that well yet, and my thoughts were still scrambled. Was it possible to upgrade the brain? I should try to do that as soon as I get some experience. And as for my health, well, it seemed pretty obvious. But what is this energy and what is it needed for?

  Energy is the parameter that increases depending on your internal structure and is necessary for the use of several unusual skills.

  Well, that’s a bit vague. Whatever, I’ll see to it later. The only thing left to ask now is what a class is and why I’m a monster.

  Class is the parameter that determines the direction of your development.

  Monster is the most numerous and diverse race in Reyne. It includes so many unusual representatives that it would take more than one thousand years to compile a complete list of all the monsters. The demons can somewhat compete in terms of species diversity. Monsters are the most unusual creatures in the world, and despite their name, which people gave them, can be much more human than any of them.

  So that was the name of those two-legged creatures. But how do I get stronger? What should I focus on? After having these thoughts, I saw the windows once again pop up before my eyes.

  Basic stats:

  Mind: 1

  Evolution: 1

  Structure: 1

  Complexity: 1

  Secondary stats:

  Mobility: 0

  Knowledge: 0

  Strength: 0

  Life: 1

  Mind - allows you to more intelligently analyze and process the data collected by your sense organs.

  Evolution - this parameter is responsible for how high the possibility of absorbing and using the parts of other creatures is.

  Structure – responsible for the stability of your evolution and further development

  Complexity - increases the complexity of the available evolutions.

  Mobility is the parameter that determines the speed of your movement, reaction time, agility and balance.

  Knowledge is the parameter that determines to which degree you can develop your intellect and allows you to replenish energy faster.

  Strength is the parameter that allows you to physically influence the world around you. The larger this parameter, the higher the coefficient of your impact on the surrounding world.